Teaser: Ryosei happily helps himself to some ramen made out of demons, having gotten food from Loreleilorn when she saw him again. Meanwhile, Verkoria awakens out of her trance, terrified...
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"...Huh? How is me turning Ryosei a bad thing?"
A sigh came in on the opposite line of the communication orb, the sound of it giving chills to Eika—an astounding feat in and of itself.
Eika wasn't the type to worry about things she deems unnecessary, finding it less stressful to just coast through her tedious existence with a smile and a laugh, having fun along the way; for her to shiver at all meant she was overcome with a sense of unease—her sixth sense that had been so finely and tirelessly honed over the years going haywire.
Something bad was going to happen; she could feel it now, trembling delicately but desperately, a satin ribbon in the wind of foreboding.
Her hands unconsciously began to tremble before she fisted it, putting on a fake smile as she turned to Beelzebub and sweetly remarked, "That's enough for today Bell, you may leave—and don't worry, you can report to Lord Father that I've finished all the required work—thank you for all the help, I couldn't have done it without you!"
The freckled and candy-colored haired High Demon Lord's pretty face merely smiled at her, his gaze affectionate as he gently replied, "Of course Princess; I will happily tell Lord Satan your kind words, and I'm thankful I was able to fulfill my duties as a Lord. Farewell Princess, I'll leave you alone now!"
Eika kept her smiling face on until her left—then if faded into a grim, and even slightly anxious expression upon her lovely face.
She activated the 3rd tier magic circle [Absolute Sovereignty], lining her entire office with it; [Absolute Sovereignty] was an extremely high-level magic circle that made the surrounding area your domain, essentially electing the castor as the king of the selected area, ensuring that whatever "Law" was passed in the area would be obeyed with absolute obedience.
Now, perhaps this seems excessive, but she did this for more than one reason:
One, several Demons and other Supernaturals of extremely high-rank lived in the first of the nine circles, where Satan and his people—the demons—ruled, with him exercising absolute authority here; these Demons would easily be able to crack a measly 5th tier or maybe even 4th tier circle, so to prevent a leak, Eika created a 3rd tier circle, a circle that only a person of royal blood would be able to access, let alone crack.
Two, it was a message to any and all opposing forces: "Fuxx with me, and you're dead b!tches," as she would say so eloquently.
Lastly, it was a signal to her Father—the only person who could crack her circle since even her half-siblings weren't capable of doing so because of her immense skill level; it was to let him know that she was busy, and simultaneously a request that he would not intrude on her personal time.
Her father, Satan, paused his paperwork for a moment, registering the magical circle that had activated and noting the caster to be Eika, before using their blood link to let her know he wouldn't disturb her, and that she had permission to proceed.
Eika released a small breath of relief that her Father wouldn't disturb her—she could tell that Ruri wasn't joking about this; she had a tendency to cuss when she was being brutally honest, saving wholesome, clean, and flowery language for trivial, menial things instead.
["Did your hot dad say it was okay?"]
Eika laughed, unable to refute Rurielles' words, as they were 10 billion percent accurate—her dad was sinfully hot, even she had to admit that. Still, she enjoyed arguing just for argument's sake—she was a little combative that way.
"Hey, he's not hot—he's sinfully perfect, 'member?"
["Oh dear me, pardon my termanology Princess. Hot dads aside, we need to talk."]
Eika sighed, the smile leaving her face as she was faced with a conversation she wasn't certain she wanted to deal with.
"Is this because of your ability to see into the past of anyone you touch? What did you learn about little Ryo—this better be good. I have to deal with paperwork and sh!t back here."
Rurielles didn't respond clearly, dancing around the subject with a sigh.
["I always knew you were the type to walk the spiders line while it was still being woven—but even I underestimated the extent of your fatalistic tendencies; do you have a death wish?"]
Eika forced a peal of laughter at the query, a strained smile on her pretty face before she calmed down, suddenly perfectly stone-faced a she impatiently yet monotonously intoned, "Yes, but not in this particular situation. Rurielles, what in Hell's name are you talking about?"
A beat of silence passed before her eventual reply, as Rurielles noticed Eika being very forceful with her request, due to her usually playful use of her nickname being replaced with her more serious, first name calling; she had her complete and undivided attention, or as much as she could get from Eika.
["You broke the Law, Eika love, and it'll take a pretty dream and a harsh word from your father to get out of the spider's web you've stumbled across. It's a shame really... he's really is such a pretty boy..."]
A trinkle of dread slipped down her spine and her entire body turned cold. She didn't like where this was going; she reeeally didn't like where this was going. She forced saliva down her suddenly stuffy and dry throat—she didn't like this foreboding, this tension. It was bad for her hearts...
"What?" she demanded, forcing her trembling voice to steady, "Rurielles, I don't understand—how his me turning Ryosei breaking any Laws? Humans are more or less free game for our kind, as long as it's in moderation; I've only turned 3 in all of my centuries...."
A feeling of terror began crawling up her neck as a sudden thought occurred to her... but, there was no way that was so, right? Right?
'Oh, Father Satan, please tell me it's not what I think it is...'
But Rurielles' words confirmed her fears, leaving her emotions exposed, raw.
["He's a monster, love, You're screwed."]
Who'd think Rurielles avoiding cuss words would be so terrifying?
Eika dealt with fear rather unusually.
Most would panic, some would tremble; others would have their thought process halted; a small margin would repress it, and even smaller would retain their ability to think clearly.
Eika on the other hand went completely and utterly still.
No breath, no trembling, no panic—her emotions stabilized to the point of complete and absolute calm before locking in place, sealed away entirely as emotions interfered with rational thought processes.
She was stiller than an undisturbed pond, her eyes vacant—but not because she blanked out, no; it was the opposite actually.
When Eika was scared, her body froze because it was unable to keep up with her mind and her perception, her mind working at a pace so fast, it overwhelmed her high motor functions and reflexes, forcing them into stasis was she organized thoughts and created an entire spider web of connections in her brain, her synapses firing at a frightening rate.
When Eika was scared, she became smarter, fully utilizing the intellect she had been granted, all 100% of it.
Her freezing lasted only a millisecond, but it felt like an eternity as her perception slowly ceased, falling to normal levels before she exclaimed in an artificially belligerent voice, "...What?! But, he was human; Ryosei was human! The only way the Law would be broken even if he was human would be..."
She trailed off, the fabricated emotions calculated in such a way so that it would seem she would mean it, even if she was just faking. It was all a ploy to gain more information from her; emotions were unnecessary for gathering intel.
Rurielles heavy-hearted reply came as Eika predicted, along with the information she desired.
["That's right. He's like you, darling; he's a hybrid, him and his sister... half Yuki Onna by the looks of it."]
The whisper from Eika came shortly afterwards, the pieces collected after analyzing everything she'd picked up from Ryosei during their short time together.
"...He has a Japanese mother, a beautiful one at that... he said his mother and his father met when his dad got caught in a snow storm while on his way back from a photo shoot... his mother saved him, guiding him out, which led to him falling in love with her... sh!t. I thought that was weird..."
Silence prevailed before Rurielles quietly spoke up again, her voice crackling through the device as she inquired, ["What are you going to do? It wasn't on purpose, but the Law has still been broken; a half-monster like him is likely to be exterminated... half-monsters gain too much favor from the World after all..."]
Eika finished her thought with a heavy voice, a dark smile and bitter expression on her too perfect face as she muttered, "Too many exceptions, not enough restrictions... right? Makes sense though—monsters are the World's children after all; she doesn't like seeing them hurt, that b!tch...
"Well, maybe I could make it into an advantage for me, but who knows... at least I now know why his [Ice] is so d*mn fast in its progression and why the Winter Spirit has blessed him—it would weird if they rejected him when half of his blood belongs to them... Well sh!t; yeah, I am screwed..."
The quiet swept through the two best friends who were separated across dimensions. Rurielles sensed that Eika was deep in thought, and as such she quietly excused herself to give her long time friend and compatriot time to think.
["Welp, I better go back to fixing your homunculus as well as getting your little trouble child home. See ya..."]
Eika's reply came slowly, unenthused.
"Well then... good talk, good talk... see ya later you beautiful sh!t bag you."
A chuckle resounded on the other line from her friends foul mouth.
["Likewise, you gorgeous bad b!tch."]
The call ended, and the orb dropped back into its holder. Eika sat in silence, her expression void of any emotions as the clock ticked and the walls closed in on her quiet; her world was beginning to collapse, she could feel it already.
She closed her beautiful eyes, letting the silence permeate her soul.
She didn't know what to do; either let Ryosei die without understanding why, or fight for his right to live. Well, there was also the option of just burying the whole incident, but then... the "Investigator" would come.
Baal.
The man who left these runes and scars on her body from so long ago; the man she despised more than anything in the World.
The man who turned her into a guinea pig to further himself; if he caught a rare breed like Ryosei, would he—the man who took most after her father when it came to tearing things apart and researching—also do to Ryosei what he did to her when she was but a child, not even 2 years of age?
Her hands gripped the arms of her chair, her eyes shadowed by her hair and her jawline tighter than iron.
"What to do, what to do, what to do... How did that little quote go again? '"Where should I go? To the Left where nothing's Right, or to the Right where nothing's Left?"' or something? Yeah... I get what it means now..."
The office went silent again, with the words dissipating into the air and the silence smothering everything in its wake, as the agony slowly, but firmly took hold of Eika, clogging her throat.