Overlord of biblical proportions: Return of the Biblical God (15)

Quetzalcoatl, once worshiped by the Aztecs as a god of war and wisdom, was in turmoil; the current state of affairs was untenable. Especiall

Quetzalcoatl, once worshiped by the Aztecs as a god of war and wisdom, was in turmoil; the current state of affairs was untenable. Especially about the resources at his disposal, more specifically the lack of it, thereby making both spheres of divinity weep.

The death of the Aztec civilization has been a death knell to its gods as well, so the appearance of an army of monsters at his doorstep, felt like the final toll. Creatures marching in orderly ranks, each of which could rival the powers of a god if not the divinity, perhaps even capable of matching Quetzalcoatl himself in his heights of power and divinity.

Particularly striking to Quetzalcoatl was the monster that was leading this rank of inconceivable monsters. Resembling a huge insect with human-like features; Cocytus, as he called himself, seemed an inexhaustible source of strength. One that, when he had confronted the pantheons that, while declining, still had a power base, to abandon their people, their place of power, their worshipers.

It was like being asked to let go of the buoys that have been keeping one alive. It was, ironically enough, an incredible act of faith. But then, what could the gods do in front of such an absolute power?

It was a simple choice, die now, or take the chance to side with the ones that could raise and control such an absolutely powerful army. An army that broke the spirits of even the Old gods of War, but really, even he had to admit that fighting such an army was more akin to suicide. It would have been easier and faster to cut one’s own wrists, or other method of ritual suicide according to their personality, rather than confronting the army of monsters.

Well, he was one such god, the one that couldn’t back down even when faced with absolute certainty of demise.

However, where Quetzalcoatl prepared to accept his final battle – Cocytus unexpectedly uttered words that resonated in his soul.

"Come. You are still needed in this world."

Needed in this world… What nonsense.

The old gods were no longer needed in this world, this was an axiom so self-evident that mentioning it alone could earn only mocking glances from one's surroundings.

The old gods lost the war for followers, marking the doom of their pantheons. They were nothing more than powerless fragments of the past, no more than an old broken pot thrown into the dump of history, to later be discovered by a bored archaeologist and disappear into a small long-forgotten archive or museum.

In other words, Cocytus’ was an absolutely obvious lie… It must be.

And yet, contrary to all logic, Quetzalcoatl had believed it.

Lies don't come with an army capable of shaking the whole world with its march. A liar certainly wouldn’t be so sincere when he had made the offer for Quetzalcoatl to join him.

Quetzalcoatl had found himself choosing between two choices. Rush forward and die in glorious battle, just as he wanted, live exactly as long as it would take any of the enemy's soldiers to make one wave of their hand… He had a feeling that Cocytus would grant him such a battle.

Or should he cling to his past delusion? All for the hope that, one day, his desperate cowardice would still prove to be a wise choice and be justified by victory.

Quetzalcoatl picked the second option.

And so he found himself becoming a member of the Khaos Brigade.

Quetzalcoatl didn't even know that such an organization existed, being locked in his own pocket dimension for so long, he didn't maintain contact with the paranormal community. And therefore, the information that Ophis, the Ouroboros, the Dragon of Infinity, was gathering their own army with the goal of storming the Dimensional Gap and defeating the Great Red? And had already managed to gather a whole army, enticing with power and their own presence, many completely different groups? It was very much breaking news for Quetzalcoatl.

But the fact that none of Ophis's followers actually planned to participate in her scheme? It was no revelation for Quetzalcoatl the moment he saw just what kind of people are flocking around Ophis.

The power granted by Ophis, something that was supposed to be a reward for pushing forward her goal, was simply taken for granted by other groups, before they each pursued their own goals.

The Old Satans, a splinter group from the Devils, yes, as it turned out, while Quetzalcoatl was locked in his personal world, the Devils had a civil war. The result of which being the heirs of the Satans being removed from power; they simply wanted to get their throne back.

The mages wanted to gain additional power in the human world. A simple, if very banal goal, but one that is understandable at least.

The Heroes… Quetzalcoatl wasn't sure what exactly the heroes wanted; but judging by how reluctantly they interacted with other factions, it was unlikely they wanted to come to some mutually beneficial agreement with the other factions. In fact, judging by the way that Cao Cao had glared at him, it was as if the Heroes couldn’t stand the presence of the supernatural.

And Quetzalcoatl became a member of such a disparate faction, part of a faction within it; the Old Gods. A faction not under the control of his conqueror, the blue chitin Insect, Cocytus, but by two children instead, dark elves as far as Quetzalcoatl could tell.

They introduced themselves as Finnish gods, but their power level placed them much higher than the level of any forgotten deity. But, theoretically speaking, if Quetzalcoatl knew absolutely for certain that their identity wasn't what they say they are, and that there were some kind of hidden dealings, affairs that are being done in utmost secrecy?

Well, then, with all the wisdom he was supposed to represent, Quetzalcoatl would be holding his tongue.

Other pantheons, all equally forgotten, were joining with incredible speed to their rapidly growing alliance. And, with equally, incredible speed, are being thinned off the number of gods who began to ask questions or try to organize their own command structure excluding their ‘leaders’.

In other words, Quetzalcoatl understood that his new leaders demanded absolute obedience and silence… Which is nothing special in the Khaos Brigade. The members of a faction, him included, pursued their own goal; while their leaders, probably, pursued goals that didn't necessarily have to coincide with the goals of the old gods gathered into their faction.

Quetzalcoatl, of course, has been given the party lines, their goals; to gather their strength into one faction, and to return to the world stage with a bang, to overthrow the major religions of the world. He, of course, views the goals with great skepticism.

Firstly, even if the leaders behind the Old Gods faction were to gather all the old, forgotten pantheons of the world. They would stand no chance to fight against the weakest of the major religions, the name of which he would not even think, lest he drew their wrath, never mind factions like the Hindus, or the Christian faction. That is, unless Ophis decided to lend her hand; but such a thing is very unlikely.

Just as the factions of the Khaos Brigade barely paid lip service to their allegiance to the Ouroboros, so does she had shown absolute unwillingness to interfere in the worldly squabbles of her ‘followers’.

Secondly, if such a thing was indeed their goal, then what role did the old gods have to play? Their meager strength? How laughable. With just Cocytus, the two Dark Elves, plus their army, it was a mass of force that was strong enough to contend with the whole world if they wanted to. If not absolute victory, then make the enemy wash themselves with bloody tears trying to defend against their blows.

What role could the old gods play?

They could, of course, be used as cannon fodder. But under such conditions, the relative combat power that subordinate pantheons could provide was small compared to the power that the unexpected ‘benefactors’ already possessed. In other words, their faction of Old Gods was trading an effective surprise factor for a small, in percentage terms, increase in the faction's strength. The question that remains then – why?

And considering that asking uncomfortable questions in this faction usually ended with the person asking disappearing before they could get an answer, Quetzalcoatl kept this thought to himself and saved it for better times. Which is ‘never’ most likely.

However, locked exclusively within his own mind, Quetzalcoatl couldn't stop thinking, no matter how hard he tried, until finally he came to a conclusion. The things he knows for sure, are incomplete; and in this incompleteness itself that answered some of Quetzalcoatl's questions.

Namely, that the plans of this faction's followers and the plans of its leaders didn't necessarily have to coincide. It could, for instance, be at odds with each other.

In other words, the vaunted mind of the ‘god of war and wisdom’ had led him into a trap again; albeit perhaps a much deadlier one.

However, Quetzalcoatl, who once had already chosen cowardice to a final battle and paid for it with years of lonely slow rotting, in which he lost drop after drop of his own strength. First unwilling, then unable, to do anything against the major religions. Simply waiting for the moment when he would finally disintegrate into shreds of pure [Faith] and return to unreality, nourishment for the next new deity.

He wouldn't allow such a thing to happen again.

He wouldn't become a cowardly puppet of someone else's ambitions again.

Whatever the truth of the situation he had found himself in, he would snatch the truth and win at least one more battle that would matter in his life.

Or at least die a dignified death trying to do so.

***

Rias opened her eyes, then stretched her limbs slightly, shaking off the morning discomfort, before sliding her feet off the bed, feeling with her legs for her warm fur slippers. Sliding her feet over the sinfully soft padding, she walked, half waddled, toward her personal shower connected directly to her private chambers. On the way to the shower, Rias stopped, looking in a mirror that reflected her full body, without any barrier of clothing on her.

Rias had slept without underwear or pajamas for as long as she could remember, so at this moment she could fully assess her appearance straight from waking up. And, except for the slightly disheveled locks of her bright scarlet hair, she looked simply magnificent. As much, of course, as she could assess her own appearance.

But Rias didn't suffer from false modesty, and therefore, nodding to herself in the mirror, headed forward to the shower cabin, beginning her standard morning routine.

Not so much time had passed since her father's funeral, so the memory of what she had lost always came to the forefront of her mind whenever there’s a lull. A memory that Rias would prefer not to remember once again, but the world didn't stop its movement simply because sometimes she wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

All the formalities have been settled and done, the will read out, a will had been drawn up by her Father many years ago just in case he would pass before his time. A necessary measure as the Great War was still going hot. But, even as the war petered out, he kept updating the will every ten years or so, so Rias and Millicas, despite their young age, were both written into it, as was what would be Rias's inheritance.

She was now Lady Gremory, head of the Gremory clan.

Officially, all estates, all obligations her father had, all oaths of loyalty, had been passed down to her. But, understandably, Rias herself was completely not ready for the full burden of responsibility, therefore her mother, Venelana, was responsible for managing the family property, maintaining connections, appointing responsible executives, and other such work. Meanwhile, her father's [Evil Pieces] were officially transferred to her and distributed as assistants and guardians on their properties.

However, there was one responsibility Venelana couldn't take off her daughter's shoulders, the title of Lady Gremory and her place among the 72 families as head of a Pillar Devil clan.

This title Rias Gremory had to bear herself.

In some perverse sense, there was a positive side to this. Due to Zeoticus' sudden death and the change in Rias's own status, the [Contract] engagement between Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex had been terminated. It was as if some all-knowing genie, or perhaps a monkey’s paw, had heard a phrase carelessly thrown by her in the past about how she would do anything to break off the engagement. They had fulfilled this wish exactly in the way genies fulfilled these wishes.

In a way so that the wisher themselves would fear and regret their own wishes.

However, Rias couldn't spend all her time in regret, she had already spent too much time on it. And therefore, having finished with her shower, morning facial and hair care, teeth brushing, and other beauty procedures included in her daily routine, Rias left her bedroom, looking impeccable, but certainly not feeling so. As usual, instead of wearing her usual school uniform, she wore a dress tailored to reflect her new status as Lady Gremory.

She was not surprised that she would Grayfia as soon as she opened the door.

"Lady Gremory," Her older brother's wife bowed to her ceremoniously, once again apparently having switched to the image she often wore on herself, pretending to be a simple maid, after which she raised her gaze upward.

"Lord Lucifer awaits you to break fast in the small dining room."

Rias only nodded, already accustomed to her brother’s schedule.

"Good, Grayfia, lead me."

After the attack on the Gremory family estate and everything that happened afterward arising from this situation, Sirzechs had moved back to the Gremory estate, forgetting about his personal workplace and personal estate. No one, of course, raised the topic or possible reason for such action.

No one would be stupid enough to provoke the Lucifer right now.

The attack and the subsequent annihilation of the Fallen both by her brother, and if the news was correct, by Heaven themselves, had put the whole Devil faction in a flurry. Most of all to Sirzechs, whose worry had made him triple the protection detail on the Gremory Estate, and had implemented training standards for them that only fear of the Lucifer had kept the security staff from rebelling. That, and the promise of a worthy reward, Devils are greedy beings after all.

The entire Devil community itself was also undergoing serious changes, however, this was a long-term and planned process under the control of the Four Satans. The initial explosion of militancy and worry in the people had been contained, however, the far-reaching consequences went beyond Rias's own predictive abilities.

And, if Sirzechs had information about those, he definitely wasn't sharing it with Rias.

Still the walk allowed her a moment to think, but having passed through the long corridors, not empty at all, as was usually the case before, but filled with guards stationed at their posts, Rias found herself in a large room that was the ‘small dining room’. Small only relative to the ‘large dining room’, in which all 72 Devil Pillar families could be accommodated without problem, along with their retinue, and each family would have more than enough free space.

She immediately greeted the people who were already seated before her. "Mom, Sirzechs."

In response to the greeting, her mother, Venelana, only nodded, while Sirzechs waved his hand in greeting.

"Good morning, Rias, sit down. Today the cooks have really outdone themselves, excellent omelet, eggs Benedict, dessert, everything as you liked it."

Despite the fact that the table wasn't even a tenth filled with the dishes, this was so only because of the size of the table itself. For the four visitors to this room, there was enough food for several days of continuous feasting.

However, Rias's gaze wasn't fixed on the dishes set before her, but on the emptiness of the dining room. The absence of her own [Peerage], when surely at least Kiba and Akeno had already woken up, meant that the breakfast wasn’t just for eating. There would be discussions that her [Peerage] shouldn’t, or couldn’t know.

Therefore, taking her place at the head of the table, a position to which Rias still couldn't get used to, she steadily picked a toast towards her plate, swallowed a couple of pieces of omelet, and poured herself tea. Before deciding that she had waited long enough before starting the discussion with a sigh.,

"What exactly did you want to talk to me about?"

Unlike her, Venelana and Sirzechs didn't feel any awkwardness in the current situation, a result of their much longer existence in their official positions. Therefore, Sirzechs, unhurriedly taking a sip of tea, turned his gaze to Rias before he spoke.

"Are you sure you want to return to the human world?"

Rias's first impulse was to answer ‘of course yes’, however her status had changed greatly in the past days, so instead of a quick answer she fell silent. Then she considered what had been said, as befitted Lady Gremory now, before coming to an answer that suited her at the moment.

"There are some serious problems with this, aren't there?"

"Presumably," Sirzechs answered after a second of thought, before continuing. "When we left… Retreating from Kuoh, we took all the personnel, and along with us all the significant representatives of the paranormal world left as well. The city was abandoned… And assuredly, Satoru had taken full advantage of this fact, judging by Kyoto's swift actions regarding the city."

The memory of Satoru suddenly struck Rias's mind like an electric shock. In the turmoil of the past days she had completely forgotten about the existence of the god in her territory… If, of course, it was still her territory at all, and not Satoru's territory, as her older brother was blatantly hinting.

The appearance of an unknown unannounced god in Kuoh was a problem quickly lost against the outbreak of hostility with the Fallen, their attack breaking the sense of fragile peace that had held for so long. And with the business of her inheriting her position, it had fallen by the wayside. It was only when Sirzechs reminded her of his existence, that Rias suddenly realized that not all problems from her past had been resolved at the moment.

Satoru… Negotiations with him had broken down due to the Fallen Angels' attack, after which the general evacuation from the human world had completely scrambled everyone’s priority. Because of which, right now the Devils not only didn't possess any new information about Satoru, but had also completely ceded the initiative to him.

And, judging by the quick takeover of Kuoh, he had made very good use of it, occupying Kuoh, now left temporarily without any of the Devils’ control. Sona had also been evacuated back to the Underworld too, after all.

In other words, the Devil had not improved their negotiating position with Satoru, but had in fact even worsened it. What could the Devil do now, now that their holdings have been lost, with Satoru, seemingly already taking it over, and judging by Kyoto’s movement, already approved by the original holder of the land?

And the funniest thing? The Devils could hardly get this territory back. That is, of course, without basically opening open hostility with the Shinto faction.

Kuoh was territory that the Devils had obtained as a result of what was essentially a hostile takeover. Worthless monetary handouts meant nothing in the paranormal world, where people were ready to sacrifice trillions for just one vial of miraculous [Phenex Tears] or the right to eternal life as a Devil. Even factions, of the barely existing European elves or forgotten Inuit pantheons, stored at least several such trump cards. [Phenex Tears] vials, for a rainy day.

People were ready to give anything for the smallest crumb of magical abilities, longevity that is basically immortality, the ability to teleport, and all other tricks that the inhabitants of the paranormal world operated daily. They couldn't be evaluated in terms of monetary sums.

Therefore, the ‘buyout’ of Kuoh from Kyoto was essentially a simple act of absorption of territory without compensation except for a symbolic handout. The Youkais leaving ‘of their own will’, before the Devils took up shop, in the ‘empty’ land.

Because of this, Kuoh couldn't be declared legally belonging to the Devils. At least not in such a way that Satoru couldn't respond with exactly the same level of justification that ‘the territory was left empty, therefore it was no one's, therefore it belongs to me by right of the first to occupy the empty space’.

And, of course, the Devil couldn't count on any level of support from Kyoto for the dispute, moreover, judging by Kyoto's movements, they would rather support Satoru than the Devils in this matter.

Of course, there’s always, forcing the matter by the sword. But, the use of force would be only effective if the Devils possessed absolutely overwhelming power in this matter. After all, when legal disputes reached a stalemate, any question boiled down to who is stronger, and the Devils are certainly stronger. Even if Satoru possessed the power of a god who somehow managed to avoid regression, the devils had Sirzechs and Ajuka on their side, which was enough to coerce even beings of great gods like Hades or Thor. The question was whether Satoru might prove stubborn enough to refuse to retreat before a superior force, as has happened with numerous gods, half of whom held grudges and worldviews older than the Devil race.

If that were the case, the Devils would have to escalate, and would most likely be inundated by challenges after challenges. After all, having raised an issue of territory seizure by a deity, they couldn't back down and thereby invite all other willing opponents to grab a piece of Devil territory and resources.

However, a full-scale battle with an unknown deity, should the situation reach that point, would end in nothing good; the destruction of Kuoh would not only be the expected outcome, but rather the most positive of the options. The most expected outcome would be the devastation of an entire region of Japan, and aside from the loss of countless innocent civilians, this would mean absolute reprisal from Kyoto. Already dissatisfied with the devils' presence in Japan, they would be one more faction that would add to the pile of other religions and pantheons that smells blood in the water.

And this, of course, assuming that Satoru was just acting alone, and no faction would decide to intervene should conflict start. Kyoto and the other factions would at least employ the wait and see approach for a time, should there be a faction behind Satoru, the Devil would be at war immediately.

Therefore, Rias bit her lip as she was confronted with the scenario, subjects that are so unfamiliar to her; being the heiress of the Gremory clan was completely different from being Lady Gremory. As an heiress, Rias could have thrown up her hands and demanded her Kuoh back. She knew herself well enough to understand that she would have demanded exactly that, and let her parents, or most likely, her brother, handle it.

She liked Kuoh, liked the human world, and liked spending time in it.

But as the head of the family, Rias suddenly realized that her careless desire right now could provoke a crisis even more massive than the Fallen Angels' attack on her family…

Rias furrowed her brows, then looked away, as if that could help her avert her inner gaze from the problem she saw and its expected solution. But Rias's inner voice couldn't give up just like that, so she returned her gaze to Sirzechs and exhaled, taking her feelings under control, before speaking.,

"What option do we have?"

"We can leave the issue alone for a time. Both not acknowledging the loss and not taking open action, at least for now," Sirzechs spoke calmly, but the slightly heavier intonation at the end of his words told Rias that he was no more happy about this than Rias herself. Perhaps even less so, because he understood the political implications of this issue far better than Rias, who was just taking her first steps as Lady Gremory,

"At least that's what Serafall told me. We can't postpone the question of the territory's status forever, but formally they were the personal property of the Sitri and Gremory Family. We can simply turn all this into a private matter of the two devil Family, there will be damage to reputation, but the other Families won't demand an immediate response. After that, we can prepare and study any potential adversary, try to establish some kind of dialogue, or put pressure on Satoru… At least delay a confrontation with him for some time."

"And how much time can we buy with such a delay?" Rias grimaced. A week ago, it seemed to her that her life would end at the moment of her wedding, that Satoru's appearance was her chance for victory in another stupid [Rating Game]. That the days of her carefree youth would continue for many more years. And now, here she was, forced to make decisions regarding a potential international crisis because of that very Satoru, trying to consider all possible factors. Realizing that the fates of hundreds of thousands of people rested, quite literally, on her shoulders.… And in a certain way, the future for the devil faction itself.

"It's difficult to predict right now, it entirely depends on the reaction of Kyoto, Satoru, and the other factions, on their behavior and aspirations," Sirzechs shifted his gaze to the side, clearly uncomfortable at the prospect, as, being one of the Devils’ strategic assets, he would most definitely be on the frontline should war break out.

And, despite his reputation to the contrary, Sirzechs Gremory despises bloodshed.

"The issue of Japan’s Northern Territories has been on the agenda for decades and doesn't look like it would escalate into direct conflict anytime soon, but it's still a problem requiring discussion between diplomats. On the other hand, there’s a precedent of disputed territories only lasting just a few months… Before conflict escalation began. Leaving things be is no guarantee of peace."

As a Veteran of the Devil Civil War, Sirzechs know such facts quite well.

"So at the very least, we have several months…" Rias said joylessly, before sighing and twisting her lips in a sardonic smirk, "And to think I was once even glad to see Satoru in person…"

Sirzechs didn't comment on Rias’ words, allowing her to think on the matter, gather her thoughts, and make the only expected response.

"So we have no other way out of this situation… We need to gather information about Satoru and his actions… While not acknowledging the loss of territory."

"Then so be it," Sirzechs nodded, clearly not looking forward to the future and its forbodence, and seeing such a look from her elder brother, Rias felt the lump in her stomach slowly coil into a tight knot.

***

Her consciousness returned slowly and reluctantly, coming in waves, one after another, each new one bringing a bit more clarity about her current situation and how it had led to it. However, as her mind was muddled at best, the information was mixed together, merging into a single mess. It made her unsure of how she should act at the present.

The memory of her attempted escape was mixed in with the waves of pain she was feeling right now. All she remembered was the cold, and her younger sister, of the experiments and her current paralysis, memories of the distant past, mixing in with her recent present. She, certainly, would have remembered meeting with her younger sister.

Until, finally, a concrete thought emerged out of the mire of pain and old memories.

Kuroka. That was her name.

That realization brought with it other memories as well, that she is a Nekoshou, a rare species coveted by the Devils, that she was a Stray Devil, a criminal, and that she misses her sister dearly. Then, like a thought pulled from the depths, the memories of her recent encounter with a monster rose to the surface of the murky waters of her memory.

A fight, if it could be called that, a hopeless confrontation with an unknown opponent, Bikou's death and lastly, her subsequent capture.

Her eyes snapped open before just as suddenly closing again. The sudden exposure to light hit too hard for her sensitive eyes. The dry, metallic taste in her mouth told her she must have bitten her tongue when she fell earlier.… But all this information was trivial.

Kuroka tried to turn over, but her body didn't follow her commands, her legs seeming to try to move but couldn't complete the movement. It didn’t take a second for her to diagnose her condition.

"A severed spine," It didn’t take long for Kuroka's mind to put two and two together, the monster’s strike on her back when she was distracted had caused her spine to fracture. A diagnosis of recovery soon followed, as a severed spine might mean permanent paralysis to the mundane, but for the supernatural, it was a mere matter of time.

"Half a year… Maybe a year of recovery. But it should heal cleanly."

Now clear with her bearings, her mind started replaying the battle, if that five-minute confrontation could even be called such. It was a simple conclusion, there was no way they could’ve won that battle; if they’d perhaps started the battle by using their trump cards, or if Vali had used Juggernaut Drive, or was in any condition to fight… But, what ifs are useless after a battle, only what had happened was important.

That was why, rather than languishing about the past, Kuroka focused on surveying her surroundings.

There’s ice on the walls, embedding what were surely once proud banners inside them. In the room that she’s in, there was a table and a couple of chairs, all frozen over with a layer of ice. Next to the bed that she had woken up on, there was a night stand, both also frozen over. The blanket covering her form, by Kuroka's estimation, was a magical artifact, and yet despite that, the cold around her felt more biting and more piercing than the coldest polar nights.

It was an unnatural cold, Kuroka, at least have experience with that.

What was important, however, was that she could not see a door.

Though the cold… It was certainly of a magical source, though not a spell to cool the air, but the cold was just a byproduct of a special protective field. The kind that are spread around particularly outstanding ancient mansions of magical families.

But why the cold? It seems to be a rather strange side effect to a protective barrier. Still, the mystery behind the barrier was not important, her captivity was.

“So I have been taken captive…” The thought both reassured Kuroka slightly, at least she was still alive, and frightened her. If the monster had gone out of his way to capture her… That meant interrogation. Intensive interrogation.

Or something even worse. She was very much aware of her beauty, and the rarity of her species, there are many a fate worse than death and torture that could befall her.

Kuroka had survived many experiments in the past, but that didn't mean she wanted them repeated, even if she could endure pain and torture better than many others in her place.

The sound of footsteps made Kuroka's popped-out cat ear twitch before returning to its resting position as she laid back down to feign sleep. Any scrap of information about her current situation was as valuable as gold, but the voice that reached her, like a silk noose, tightened around her mind a moment after the measured footsteps stopped in front of her sleeping form.

There was no sound of doors opening, making it clear that just like her blanket, the door was of a magical nature.

"There's no point in trying to feign sleep anymore, I know that you are awake."

Kuroka still continued lying down, unmoving, testing whether her captor was bluffing or not. But, rather than hearing a reprimand, or even being struck, she only heard a disappointed sigh.

"How sad it is the lot of working with lesser beings. [Stand]."

A singular word, not spoken loudly or forcefully, but Kuroka abruptly raised her body upward, even without her eyes being open, her body obeying the command like she was a marionette. What was most surprising, however, was the fact that she was trying to stand on her two legs, despite the fact that she was supposed to be paralyzed from the waist down. She could feel a pressure behind her eyes and mind, commanding her to stand.

The surprise was enough to force her eyes open, allowing her to see who it was that was speaking with her.

It’s a man with a long metal tail, wearing an expensive looking, red suit and a pair of glasses on his face. Of course, she immediately tried her best to break the bonds that she was in, the invisible bonds that somehow controlled her body better than she did. However, despite the continued attempt to direct her legs forward, she couldn’t, leading to her falling on the ground, sprawling on the cold ground. She would have face-planted on the ground, if she hadn’t managed to put her hands on the ground, the contact causing freezer burn on her skin almost immediately.

"Ah yes, your absent control over your legs makes my command quite difficult to fulfill. My apologies," Kuroka could perfectly understand from his voice, without looking at the speaker's face, both that he had not forgotten that fact at all and that he wasn't really apologizing.

Her position was the intended effect of his command.

"[At ease]."

The invisible control loosened over Kuroka so strongly and suddenly that she almost fell down again when control of her body returned to her. Looking up at the speaker from her current position, with no small amount of side eye.

She might have a fate of torture ahead of her, but needlessly humiliating her was a bit much.

"Your [Resistance] has been lowered to an appropriate level, so I can simply order you to tell everything." The speaker looked at Kuroka as if he was looking at an insect crawling at his feet, which, given Kuroka's position at the moment, wasn't too far from the truth.

"But where would my manners be in that case?"

Smiling a smile so sincere it could be nothing but the cheapest fake, the man made his way to the nearest chair, then sat on it, completely unconcerned with either Kuroka's condition or the piercing cold around him. He then smiled again, a smile so cold that it was chilling despite the cold already, around them.

"My name is Demiurge, and you are not the first to be in this room, nor I would think that you would be the last. You are also not the first to be honored with a meeting with me. I do wonder, will your fate be different from the one that befell your predecessor? I believe that we could find that out, together."

Kuroka was wrong, the man’s last smile was positively balmy when compared to the smile that he was giving her now.