Clara and Judine were left wandering the cabinets upon cabinets of dresses and suits. Clara had many options to choose from to be sure, every single one of her ideas coming to life every time she turned the corner.

  But it certainly didn’t help that the effort behind every single dress was sort of… undermined with the sheer number. They were all designed to perfectly fit Clara, and every dress Judine eyed tailored itself to fit her as well.

  There were many beautiful outfits, one of which seemed woven out of stars itself and Clara was enraptured by it. While Clara looked at it, Judine grabbed one outfit and stepped behind one of the many dressing domains of this maze of a tailor shop.

  Clara moved on, letting the blue cloth fall back like it were held in stasis with aeromancy. She smiled lightly as she heard the clacks of heels behind her, and saw what Judine had chosen.

  It was beautiful, the corset holding up the black fabrics with engraved flower patterns in the same color, holding a different material however to add texturing to the beautiful dress. The top was held up with a red bow, and the black gloves only fit Judine ever so slightly more.

  The sleeves were poofy and had frills along the edges and even flowed similar to Judine’s regular ribbons along her back. “Ah, Clara, you have yet to choose one…” She sounded slightly annoyed as she said it, and found one that somewhat matched her eyes.

  She looked at the pink dress, it could only be called a wedding dress in how it was built, and Judine walked off for Clara to get changed. There were roses along the hips, and slowly flowed down the skirt, and at the hem which clearly reached the floor more flowers.

  It was also clearly magical in nature, with how rose petals seemed to fall from them, and Clara for some reason felt immaculately drawn to it. She placed her other clothes in her inventory, and lightly tapped it, and the clothes latched onto her flesh. The lack of sleeves felt a bit freeing but also revealing, as the air licked at her skin.

  She nodded in solemnity as she walked from behind the veil, and Judine simply clapped. “Splendid performance ma’dam.” Judine stood up, and did a light bow. “So, shall we accessorize?” Judine raised her gloved hand out for Clara, and Clara nodded quickly.

  Judine walked in front of Clara towards another section of this maze, one with hundreds of thousands of rings and earrings. There were bracelets and amulets, alongside pendants on necklaces that are just so perfectly forged, some made loosely, others made to fit Clara’s hand perfectly.

  Judine offers Clara a pair of white gloves, which Clara politely took with both hands. The classical vibe of this location was so perfect for this floor, she wondered if it really would just be a ball, as she donned a ring she found. It matched not just her eyes, but also her hair with the bronze encasing of the pink gemstone.

  The wonderful day only got better as Judine did similar to herself, applying a singular ring upon her middle finger, and a pendant with the scale of justice upon it for her neck underneath the bow, using the gold of the charm to shine against the red of her vest, and draw eyes to her heart.

  Judine walked further in and found makeup. Clara respectfully declined, but Judine applied upon herself black eyeliner in wings that portrayed her outfit, and her glare of ruthlessness almost perfectly.

  When Judine walked out of that room alongside Clara, they met back up with the kind woman that led them in there, and she let out a long laugh. “Hohoho~ Splendid work you two!” She stepped between them and opened the door to the supposed ballroom with the two by her side. “Perfect outfits for an outing with me!~”

  Her overconfidence almost made Clara vomit, but she held it down.

  ******

  Shammus and Bariton were left wandering about the many outfits, there were plenty of dresses and suits, with some even in between. Some came with accessories, others required more choice.

  Shammus passed by a suit covered in blood, with the mannequin seemingly staring at him, the power emanating from the suit was… off, felt more like a sin itself made the suit. The blood also shifted, as though it were still alive.

  Shammus shook his head after he lost Bariton, the bard out there looking for the outfit he’d place himself in. When Shammus first offered the game of ‘dress up’, he was expecting to dress himself up in various outfits that caught his eye, and Bariton would pick the one that fit him best…

  But now that he lost the bard somewhere in here, he had no choice but to just accept the fate he’ll be subject to, now that he understood that Bariton actually meant he’d pick the ‘perfect outfit’. The bard practically had stars in his eyes too, so Shammus couldn’t correct him in time.

  And now the bard was off somewhere else to pick Shammus’s outfit instead of his own. And now Shammus was left to decide the perfect outfit for the bard. He wanted to be a little mean, but with everything there fitting his taste, he couldn’t find it in himself to be such.

  He wandered between mannequin after mannequin, dress after suit after dress, some way too short for a bard like Bariton, and Shammus could never place him in such an outfit. He found one mannequin so barely covered that it looked white from a distance, despite being a very dark shade of green, similar to shrubbery.

  He had to bite down his own disgust at finding such a terribly covered outfit, and even then he still cut the mannequin down with his dual daggers. He took a closer look at the edges of them, and found them not as perfect as before.

  Another hint to him that these are unoriginal, as original Legendary gear has infinite durability as long as more stories are being made. And these blades were chipped, but the outfit of terror was gone, and behind it…

  Shammus felt a grin tug at his lip for the first time since seeing that terrible terrible piece of cloth. But now, he stared at a dress that was a little short, but nothing a little tailoring wouldn’t fix.

  It was a brilliant green, that sort of reminded him of the forest he had spent just so long within. The dress had thin sleeves too, so the bard would certainly not overheat. The hem had a brilliant pattern of a forest’s ground.

  There was also many thin layers of extremely thin fabric for looks over the thick fabric that would hug the skin, with gold being the main color of the secondary parts. The gold happened to also work in attaching the main corset and collar to the sleeves.

  It would also function in combat, a little something Shammus thought Bariton would appreciate. The way the lighter greens also moved up into darker greens led the eyes to the emerald in the center of the neck, and also to Bariton’s hat.

  Shammus felt good on his decision, slowly walking alongside it to the accessories, where he didn’t find the bard, but rather a million accessories on little hooks hung in foam cabinets. And there Shammus searched, and searched.

  And he found small golden earrings, shaped like harps with little gemstones in the tops of them. These gemstones almost perfectly matched Bariton’s eyes, and he smiled as he went back to where he lost Bariton, clothes and earrings in hand.

  Of course, he found the bard, dragging a mannequin behind him. He tried to hide it, but it was obviously the outfit that Bariton had chosen, especially with the accessories he tried oh so hard to hide under his coat like a shady salesman.

  Bariton looked deep into Shammus’s eyes for the first time since the hallway, and now the two simply nodded. “I have found your outfit, Bariton.” Shammus smiles a less courteous grin as he places the clothing, neatly folded on a nearby bench besides a dressing room.

  “And, I yours.” Bariton returns the same snarky smile as he places the mannequin besides a different one. “May the best outfit win the heart of the loser!”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Shammus was just about to repeat what Bariton had just said, before he stopped to realize what Bariton just said. He thought back to the moon mention, and wondered for a bit longer as he analyzed the suit Bariton had brought him. He could look at accessories chosen in a moment.

  Upon the mannequin, and soon upon himself he found black boots, similar to when he was a commander, and suit pants. The coat was where things grew interesting however, with beneath it being a cloak similar to the one he’d met the party within. He saw the suit itself was plenty accessorized as atop the pant leg was a chain and small insignia, he believes used to belong to Shadowing Voices.

  He laughed a light chuckle as he thought of the connotation of being the murderer and wearing the insignia in silver. He looked up at the ruby buttons on the suit jacket and the velvety red sash that went alongside the coat jacket and led to a fully red cape.

  The blacks and red melded together nicely, and the small dragon pinning the cape down to the outfit was also grand. The small insignia that implied holiness in general, and typically was worn by vessels was pinning the collar closed, and the gloves given with the suit better matched the boots in material.

  And so he donned it, and with it, he felt nice and warm. Certainly defended against the cold of the night, and the accessories bariton chose for him were quite nice. A pair of silver dragon wings dotted with bright red rubies.

  He donned on the earrings without hesitation, flinching a bit as the piercing went through. His absurdly high constitution certainly prevented it from going wrong, as he remembered he was not a jewelry piercer.

  The other accessory was a simplistic cane, but Shammus donned it anyways. It was sleek black with silver ends and the start of it sort of felt more like the handle of a blade, and the end on that end felt like the pommel.

  He shrugged off that feeling as he walked out of the dressing booth at the same time the bard did. And Shammus almost collapsed down with how stunning the bard looked in the dress/skirt.

  He was glad the bard had given him a cane to lean on as his eyes looked the bard up and down, who just winked in response. Shammus’s face definitely heated up during then, but he ignored it as he walked up to Bariton.

  “I hate to show arrogance, but I feel I may have won.” Shammus declares quickly, and Bariton looking Shammus up and down nods.

  “Yeah, what I got you fits your vibe… but not necessarily you, y’know?” Bariton’s admittance of defeat brought a curious eyebrow raise from Shammus, but Bariton ignored it. He walked right out the door, and the tall creature still stood.

  “Oh, alright, that’s great to see you two are ready. Follow me to the ballroom please.” Shammus nodded as Bariton followed close behind, with the tall creature stepping carefully to avoid hitting it’s head atop a chandelier and kicking over a nightstand.

  The three reached a more grand doorway, the door embroidered with gold in of itself. The lanky being opened it slowly, and opened their eyes to the best ballroom they’d ever seen. “Apologies for downplaying your wonderful looks… I wish I could look as well as you two.”

  The clear lack of self pride this being showed made Shammus feel pity for it, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

  ******

  Pallad was left alone in the armory, with all sorts of suits of armor, but many weren’t quite what Pallad wanted. Some was too heavy platemail, others were more suit than armor, others were just outright armor and could not be worn at a ball.

  The paladin was stuck in here alone, even finding a suit of armor made entirely of Obsidian, in pristine condition despite being made of a glass. It even came with a greatsword the size of a zweihander made of the glass.

  But he couldn’t wear such terrible armor attire, and that’s when he found exactly what he was looking for on one mannequin. It was less practical, but it befit a warrior such as him. It wasn’t nearly as bedazzled as Wrath’s, but it’d do for now.

  Pallad looked at the gold, and the intricate patterns that were clearly handforged. The breastplate had two dragon-like lions fighting one another alongside many other ordainments that drew the eyes to the family crest at the center.

  On the shoulderpads was a lion’s face, staring outwards being as intimidating as possible alongside the elbows. The armor was over a reddish-brown leather that fit his usual attire just enough to stay familiar.

  The belt came with a nice golden pommeled and guarded sword, and while it didn’t come with much of a helmet, Pallad knew there was no need for accessories, for he was the accessory in this case.

  The outfit would either draw eyes from or to his party, and he knew precisely which of the two options were more likely. The leather gloves were clearly more for protection than attire, but they worked together to put the knightly look in play.

  And so, he left, donned in the heavy metal. It wasn’t too functional; being made of a soft metal such as gold, yet he walked out in fully confidence. His natural healing worked ever better and he was fully healed by the time he left to speak to Wrath.

  Wrath took one good look at Pallad’s outfit and let out a roaring laugh. “HA! Of course you’d wear that!” Wrath was finally shoulder to shoulder with Pallad once more and walked with him towards the ballroom, and simply opened the door to cause a clear uproar with his voice.

  ******

  Clara walked into the ballroom alongside Judine and the kind lady, who wandered off to talk to someone else. Clara finally let out a breath of relief as the beauty was gone and she could finally try to find her party. She saw her party members on the other side of the railing, but one was still missing.

  She saw Bariton in an odd green dress and Shammus in a black suit that looked quite nice. The green dress certainly fit Bariton though, she could not deny that much. But she quickly approached them alongside the lanky man besides them.

  “Ah, finally I found you.” Clara spoke as she walked over to Shammus and Bariton, Judine following close behind waving. Shammus looked over at her and waved back at Judine.

  “Oh, great to find you two. Have either of you two seen Pallad just yet?” Shammus’s question was like a stab in the heart to Clara, as she almost took a step back to avoid answering it with words.

  Judine took it up with a shake of her head, and Shammus nodded solemnly. Bariton looked at the conversation more confused as the lanky being walked away from the party of four. They were still missing their teammate, but Clara felt more inclined to leave the stairs.

  The ballroom was extravagant, wide open tiled flooring made of both Marble and Onyx to get a white and black checkerboard pattern, the wood probably some kind of mahogany but still stable with a red carpet working to mark the stairway and the way to.

  It was certainly also splendid how the interior’s chandelier was much more grand than the hallways, being a crystalline one similar to the Sanctuary’s, granting a wide array of colors through the ruby, amethyst, amber, and even emerald.

  It was clearly several meters long, and the stairs made the room feel like it was massive. The party were given their own little sector of floor space as those dancing to the slow piano playing in the background granted them it.

  The roomspace was definitely wide enough for the two duos making up the party for now to dance, but Clara was more curious as to where Pallad was. Her answer was given as the door on the landing that split the stairway slammed open, a loud booming voice Clara recognized as Wrath pierced the music.

  “Welcome, one and all, to my ballroom!” Wrath spoke out, with Pallad right by his side. Pallad caught Clara’s eye and waved. “And now, the music is fun and all, but I want you lot to mention the guests of honor!”

  All other lights went out except five. One ruby red, another emerald green, a third was pink tourmaline, the fourth amber and the final one was Sapphire blue. The five lights shone upon Shammus, Pallad, herself, Judine, and Bariton respectively.

  “These five had made it through not just the first half of the tower, but decided to even dress themselves to the occasion out of their own volition!” Wrath kept talking, and Clara waved back to Pallad. He moved quickly over to the party’s floorspace, jumping in his suit of armor.

  He soared through the air as cheering erupted through the crowd, and the light followed him unnaturally well, similar to a rehearsed play. Pallad landed right besides his party members and Wrath’s moment of silence was ended as the cheers and applause died down.

  “Yes, we all agree these heroes deserve the pride they feel I’m sure…” Wrath’s speech died down for just a moment, and then wrapped up with a line that made a stone form and drop in Clara’s stomach.

  “And of course, we Seven Sins decided they deserved plenty of rest! Especially with those new quest rewards they earned!” Wrath’s speech ended as he vanished from up there, and Judine let out a sigh.

  “Damn it. Of course there’s just more divinities.” Bariton’s speech broke in without warning, and the hall went back to playing music and slow dancing. But there were clearly six pathways from the Tower heroes to six other people, all similarly oddly built.

  The six were chattering, but two of them looked familiar to Clara. One was definitely the woman that got Judine and her into their closet, and the other was the one with Shammus and Bariton.

  The other four looked interesting as well, but she ignored it for now. “Alright, our quest rewards first then we talk to the other six sins supposedly?” Clara let out a breath of relief as her party all mostly agreed to do the quest rewards first.