It... was, yes.

Slavic, but he does figure in some Russian tales as well. His body can't be killed by normal means; to truly kill him, you need access to his soul, which he's hidden inside a needle inside an egg inside a duck inside a rabbit inside an iron casket buried under a green oak tree on an island in the ocean that appears and disappears using the tides. If the casket is opened, the rabbit will flee; if the rabbit is killed, the duck will try to fly away. If the duck is killed, he will weaken, and the egg can be used to control him. Break the needle and he dies.

...I don't know. I don't like the idea of the Manticore having this kind of power, but it also needs to be kept away from the Reich.

That and the presence of the Rooks and the Manticore Knights.

[Raidou is also frankly uncomfortable with the idea of intervening in another world's pantheons in such a seemingly major way... even if Koschei does die in the stories he remembers. But it would certainly prevent either side from using him.]

...And just hiding the casket probably won't be enough. Certainly hiding it in Europe would be a bad idea, and I don't think we could get anywhere else quickly enough without breaking our cover.

[Great Kohryu is fast, but he's not subtle - or invulnerable.]

There's also the question of where it'd end up - we'd need to be sure it'd be out of the reach of divers and the like. We might be able to use portals, but that depends on having someone practiced enough to open one at that depth and not let the water in.

That too.

It's possible I could take it down there, if I get creative with transformations, but timing's still an issue.

That could work...

[They'd just have to make sure no one gets their hands on the fake casket.

...Maybe they could get Yohann to blow it up.]

It's probably not going to be all that pleasant for the Rooks or the White Company, though; the Manticore does not tolerate failure.

[Raidou's own mental voice is laced with tiredness.]

I know you're not. And I don't know. It'd be one thing if we could trust any of these people, but...

Most likely.

[He suspects Yosuke in particular will have a rough time of it once he's himself again, but he can't imagine the others being particularly happy about their parts in this walkabout, either. Raidou certainly wouldn't be, in their place.]

The increased patrols and equipment "failures" aren't really helping matters either. I suppose the presence of an active saboteur shouldn't be surprising, in retrospect.

I wonder if we could get Yohann to destroy it, if it comes to that.

[Private]

How are you... holding up, for lack of a better phrase?

Yosuke's probably not going to be very happy once this is over.

[Though hopefully not dungeon-level unhappy.]

[Private]

[Raidou actually knows what PTSD is, courtesy of Thorne.]

Is there anything I can do to help?

[Besides "not die again."]

I'm not sure there are going to be very many of us on this side who aren't in it after this. If any.

[Granted, some of them are more resilient than others.]

[Private]

If you... want company hiding away, I can do that. Although Tama will probably insist on being there, too.

[There's a certain tentativeness behind that offer. This is all still very new to him.]

Hopefully the Jaunt's going better than this overall so they can.

[Raidou knows nothing about Hogwarts, but he'd like to hope that someone had a tolerable time this round. Granted, it would have been nice if they were too, but... well.]

[Private]

[Raidou gets the need for proper alone time - he'll probably need some as well - but he also needs some time to be around Gil when they're not surrounded quite so closely by other people.]

She adjusted to the demons pretty quickly, and she's gotten to like Thorne, although the vampirism confused her at first. She's not all that fond of Jules, but that's more because of all the screaming than anything else.

[Private]

So would I, honestly.

[And there's the question he was expecting. Truthfully, Raidou's not sure how to answer it. He knows what he's supposed to say ("I'm fine"), but he also knows that's a lie, and one Gil will see through easily at that. And Raidou really doesn't want to lie to Gil. Still, he's not used to just admitting things are bothering him, so there's a long pause before he answers.]

I... would very much like to not be piloting someone else's corpse right now.

[There's a slightly distant tone in his voice, one Gil will probably recognize as an indicator that he's dissociating a little. This is bringing back some very unpleasant memories.]

[Private]

The last time something like this happened, there was a week and a half left to the Jaunt. But that was an overlay, and not... this.

[This being a completely different body. No matter how alien it had felt to Jouhei after a decade or so of Ai being in near-complete control, it had at least been his body.]

[Private]

I'm not sure whether that's comforting or not.

[His mental voice still mostly sounds hollow and distant, but there's an undertone of dryness in that statement, which could be taken as a good sign.]

[Private]

[There's a pause while Raidou takes the time to absorb Gil's words.]

You're right - we can.

The Reich is the regime in charge of the soldiers who are after us. The prison camp we were imprisoned in at the beginning of the walkabout was theirs.

Koschei is a figure from one of this world's mythologies. He's a powerful entity in his own right, and impossible to kill by normal means because he keeps, or kept, his soul hidden away in a needle, which in turn is in an egg, which is inside a duck that's inside a rabbit that's held in an iron casket, and the entire conglomeration buried under a tree on an island that can appear and disappear using the tides... although if this is his soul, the location of the tree and the island are somewhat moot.

They're already watching us for signs of treachery as it is.