All of the monarchs, even Sara, had returned to their kingdoms. A war between monsters and humans wouldn't just be fought on a single front as the war between the human kingdoms had been. No one knew what to expect. For the next few days, we waited, ready to react to anything. I had been to many parts of all four kingdoms, so I could teleport my own meager forces to a lot of places if needed. But no attack came.
"Theories?" the Queen of Grand Noah asked as we met in her version of a situation room.
"I have one," I said.
"Go on," the queen prompted.
"The Monster Lord wasn't prepared for the sudden unraveling of her plan to get the human kingdoms to destroy one another. The Monster Lord doesn't have much of a standing army. She can't just order an attack on short notice."
"That's true," Alice agreed. "Especially with the situation as it is, with her legitimacy disputed. She would first have to find out who was loyal to her. Even if she was the undisputed Monster Lord, she'd have to persuade various tribes to fight for her. Our system isn't like yours, where the monarch can just issue orders and they are followed without question. Persuasion is necessary, which is difficult even when a Monster Lord is secure in her rights to the throne. Even after all that, the individual tribes have to make their own preparations. Assuming my mother wants the attacks to be coordinated, that may all take time. I think Luka is right. She was caught flat footed, so she has to start from scratch."
"But why inform us that she's declaring war when shes not ready to wage war?" a general asked. "It certainly can't be her sense of honor. She was undermining us from within."
I thought I might know the answer to that, but decided not to say anything, at least not to the humans in the room. If they knew what I knew, it would change the way they viewed the war, and might cause them to behave differently. For the time being, I thought it best that they regard this as what it appeared to be. I was also very aware of how unqualified I was to be making these decisions. But I at least needed to discuss it in private with my friends first. Alice already had her own theory, however, and she wasn't hesitant to express it.
"The answer is simple," Alice said. "My mother is being manipulated the same way the monarchs of Grangold and Sabasa were. I'm certain that if we can get to Hellgondo and confront her, we can get rid of her manipulator and she'll be our ally just as the other monarchs are now."
"But that manipulator is Tamamo," Ilias noted. "We're not ready to take on an Ancestor. We only survived because of serious intervention by powerful individuals. We can't rely on that next time."
"Is there any chance these powerful individuals will take care of her for us?" the queen of Grand Noah asked.
"If they intend to do that, they'll do it regardless of our own actions," Ilias answered. "Alice, I know how important this is to you, but this is not a mission we can take on right now. How would we even get to Hellgondo?"
"Alma Elma?" Alice asked.
"No can do," Alma Elma answered. "Your mother has put a seal on all teleportation to and from Hellgondo."
."And Luka can't go anywhere unless he's already been there," Alice sighed. "We'll have to awaken the Garuda Girl."
"The great bird?" a general asked. "I thought they were extinct."
"No, they never go extinct, only dormant. But awakening her is going to be quite a job. And as Ilias points out, we're not strong enough to go to Hellgondo anyway. At the very least, we need to get Luka the fourth spirit."
"There's also that Tartarus rift in Gold," Ilias noted. "There might be some kind of answer there. It's a long shot, I know, but I don't see any other options."
"Well, I'm not going to ask you to stay to wait for an attack that may not come for weeks," the queen said. "Do what you need to do, and when the attack comes, I know you'll assist us."
Back at the pocket castle, Alice was still in a tizzy. I was in her room, because she was due for a feeding, but for once her mind wasn't on filling her belly.
"What is she up to?" she said to no one in particular.
Since I was in the room, I decided to answer.
"I think she means to die, Alice," I said.
"What? What are you saying?"
"She's not under manipulation. She doesn't need to be manipulated. Everything she's doing, she's doing because she thinks it's the best way to save this world."
"Save it by destroying humanity?!" Alice cried. "There is no world without humanity! If they die, we die! You're not making sense!"
"Alice, please," I said. "Listen to me. I might be wrong. There is a big hole in my theory. But you need to know something. In every world I've been in, every single one, your mother wasn't alive. She always dies young, no matter what the circumstances on a given world. Always."
"No. Nononono, that can't be true. Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"
"Because for all the similarities of this world to others, there are huge differences. She's already lived longer than any version of your mother I've ever heard of. She doesn't have to die. We can save her."
"How can we save her?" Alice asked. "How can we kill her, for starters? Who exactly is supposed to kill her? And what purpose does it serve?"
"In the world I came from, she died because she thought monsters and humans would find peace with each other if the Monster Lord was slain by a human hero."
"Luka," Alice said dangerously. "You'd better tell me the truth. Are you the human hero who killed my mother?"
"What?! No! I've never met your mother. Because she was already dead in every world I've seen. Who kills her in each of these worlds varies, as well as the reasons."
"What, she just… always finds a reason to martyr herself? Is that really so much a part of her nature that it always happens? So what could possibly be the reason this time? Humans and monsters mostly get along now, so it's certainly not for peace. So what does she accomplish by wanting to die…. Oh no. I get it now."
"The correct history," I finished. "Here's what I think happened. I think that she disappeared into the Hellgondo Tartarus, and that Tartarus led to a world similar to the one I found in Noah. Instead of Angel World, it led to a world where monsters won the Great Monster Wars. The world where that evil Tamamo came from. Apparently, those worlds are in great danger from chaosization, being in close proximity to ours, and having diverted wildly from this correct history. For whatever reason, the correct history on this world matters most. So I think, either their world doesn't have a variant of your mother, or she also died. So they explained the situation to your mother and sent her back through the rift to carry out their plans."
"And they would kill so many people just to save their own world?" Alice asked.
"I think most people would make that decision. What I don't understand yet is why your mother would. I never met her, but the way you described her to me, she would have tried her hardest to save everyone. Engaging in mass murder definitely isn't her style. That's the big hole in my theory. And why you could be right, that she's being manipulated."
"We could both be right. My mother could be under mind control, forced to wage war against humanity, with the intended end result being her death. But that also leaves the question open of who exactly is supposed to kill her," Alice noted. "I know of only one human hero on this world who could do it, and that's you. Even for you, it would be difficult. So does she just let heroes kill her on those other worlds?"
"She never quite LETS them, but she doesn't fight as hard as she could. The hero has to be worthy. Someone who could beat her under the right circumstances. She just makes sure that those circumstances come about if they make it that far. But it hasn't always been a hero. On a world where Black Alice was still reining, your mother was murdered by her."
"Then the answer is simple," Alice said, seeming to make a decision. "You're not going anywhere near that castle. You're the only one who can give her what she wants. If you don't go there, then her plan fails."
"Don't you think her plan would fail for the more important reason that I wouldn't kill her?"
"Do you really think your intentions would prevent it from happening? What if she threatened to kill someone you loved? What if she was determined to kill you to force you to use deadly force in self defense?"
Alice had a point. I didn't want to bring up yet that Alice herself had tried the same gambit. I didn't want to ever bring it up, because the Alice of this world had no reason to do so. Her actions back in my world had been motivated by her guilt at ruining her mother's plans, causing her to have died for nothing. It had never even occurred to Alice that her mother's plan was insane. This Alice had no such issues.
"If I refuse to confront her, Tamamo would simply murder her," I argued. "A hero killing her is best for adhering to the correct history, but as long as she dies, it's better in Monster World's view than her not dying. So what do we do?"
"For now, we have three primary missions," Alice replied. "Get you Salamander, explore the Gold Tartarus, and awaken the Garuda Girl."
"So we need the six orbs."
"Okay, good, so you know about that. Does that mean you also know where to find them?"
"I think so," I said uncertainly..
"And when we do awaken the Garuda Girl, you're to do NOTHING unless I tell you once we confront my mother. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly, Alice."
"If at all possible, I want to be the one to face her. That's why our fourth mission, even though it's been a mission we've been on from the start, is to get me my body back."
"We haven't gotten anywhere with that because we have no leads," I reminded her. "The white rabbit is the only one who knows the answer to that, and she's refused to tell you."
"I know how to get her to restore me," Alice said.
"Really? How?"
"She made me powerless because she wanted to force me to follow her, to see everything she wanted to show me. So if I want my body back, I need to see everything she wants me to see. So that Tartarus in Gold will take us one step closer. After that, there will be only two more, and we might not even have to look at the one on Hellgondo, because we already know what's there. That Monster World."
"That sure sounds like it'll take time," I noted. "How long do you think it will take before your mother begins attacking this continent?"
"A few weeks at most. Which means we get started immediately. Put your walking boots on, Luka, we've got a volcano to go to."
"I'll go get ready now," I said, happy that we were taking action.
"Not today," Alice said. "I and some monster friends will do the walking for today. You're staying here. You're going to be too tired to go anywhere for the rest of the day."
"Oh? I thought you might not be in the mood."
"It's not lovemaking, Luka, it's food," Alice said, shoving me into her bed. "And now I'm motivated. Once I get some energy from you, I plan to cover over a hundred miles today."
Alice took a lot, not that I was complaining. By the time I woke up, it was the next morning and we were in Gold Port! I remembered Ariana carrying me through the desert. Lamias really could move very fast, especially if the terrain was favorable. Alice had run into no trouble, since she was moving quickly and had other monsters accompanying her who also moved quickly. I would have just slowed her down.
"So why Gold Port?" I asked, still in Alice's room, having been drained so thoroughly that I had yet to leave bed. "I thought we were prioritizing Salamander and the Tartarus?"
"I consulted with the king of Grangold right after I left your carcass in my bed," Alice replied. "It turns out Gold has other problems they'd like us to deal with. I don't consider those problems a high priority, but they are on the way. The Tartarus is in the far west of the region. I brought us to Gold Port so we could resupply. It's also not terribly far from the problems the king wanted us to investigate."
"What kind of problems?"
"Succubus Village reports a strange monster trying to take over," Alice answered.
"Succubus village? Is it time for the Purple Moon?"
"Purple Sabbath," Alice corrected me. "And no, that's next year. We just need to find out what's going on with the monster there and deal with it if necessary. The more concerning problem is in Lady's Village. Cassandra has reportedly holed up in her mansion and won't come out. When the king's investigators went to investigate, her maid revealed herself as a monster and threatened to eat them if they didn't go away."
"So Succubus Village and Lady's Village, all right," I nodded. "So the humans here know the deal with those two villages? They aren't hiding?"
"Succubus Village is the worst kept secret in the kingdom. There's no official knowledge that the mayor and most of the prominent citizens are succubi, but most people know about it. Lady's Village is supposed to be a secret, but Cassandra doesn't seem to care anymore if she keeps it. That's interesting, as is her not seeing anyone. Cassandra is an old enemy. I'm very curious about her. I also want to know what kind of role she'll have in the coming war. She hates my mother, but if my mother wants to wage war on humans, Cassandra might go along with it."
"So lots to do in this region," I sighed. "Well, if we're in Gold Port now, let me go shopping. I'll gather a crew and we'll head out."
The "crew" was me, Sonya, and Alma Elma, who took human form. Despite the fact that coexistence was a reality in most parts of the world, Gold Port was still a hotbed of radicalism and predominantly a human city. Alma Elma decided to avoid standing out. This was a resupply mission, as we had no other business in Gold Port, not even intelligence gathering. That disappointed Sonya, who seemed determined to find even more things for us to do. But something else to do came to us, in the form of the Pirate Captain Selene.
Of course, she didn't know that I knew she was the Pirate Captain Selene. I must look the part of a hero, because she found me on my first adventure and found me on the most recent.
"Hello there," Selene greeted me. "You look like the adventuring type. Would you be interested in treasure resting in a ghost ship?"
"We have plenty of gold," I said. "Unless the treasure you're talking about happens to be an orb."
"Why that's exactly what I'm talking about!" Selene said excitedly.
"Then I'd be happy to go with you, Selene."
"The name's Selena, actually," she said warily. "I'm just a humble pirate."
"Of course," I replied. "I'd love to help you."
"In that case, would you follow me to my home?" Selene asked. "I'll give you the details there."
"This sounds exciting," Sonya whispered. "But are you sure this isn't some kind of trap?"
"No, I know this woman," I whispered back. "besides, we need that orb for our mission, and I remember there was something else important about that ship."
Selene guided us to her middle class home. I'd wondered for awhile if a ghost owning a home meant she was haunting it or not. I'd tried to ask Alice once and she told me to stop asking stupid questions.
"This is a map my grandmother, the Great Pirate Selene, left me," Selene said as she unfolded a map on a coffee table.
"The Great Pirate Selene was your grandmother!?" Sonya asked. "I didn't even know she had a grandchild!"
"She didn't," I said smugly. "Sonya, Alma Elma, I'd like to introduce you to the legendary Pirate Captain Selene."
"Well, this is awkward," Selene said after a moment of confusion. "It's clear that denial won't get me anywhere, and in any case I only kept up the ruse because if I introduced myself as Selene herself, no one would believe me. So how much do you know about me?"
"Not a lot," I admitted. "But I know a little about this mission. Since you're in a situation almost as unlikely as mine, I guess I don't have to disguise who I am either. I come from another universe. In that universe, I helped you with your problem. I just wish I remembered what the problem was."
"You remembered the orb," Selene noted. "That was the enticement to get an adventurer to help me. So you don''t remember the Calamity Box?"
"Yes! The Calamity Box!" I exclaimed, smacking myself in the head.
"That doesn't sound good," Alma Elma said unnecessarily. "I've heard of that. What is it?"
"It's the box that if opened releases the Beelzebub Sisters," I answered.
"That's really bad," Alma Elma agreed. "Alice won't want us to ignore that."
"Exactly. Which is why we need to go shopping and then take care of this. Dammit, it'll take a few days too, as I recall. But as bad as our situation is, those three sisters getting loose would be…. Well, it would be a calamity. Selene, you don't need to brief us any further on the mission. I just need to know if your ship is ready. The last time I did this, you needed a couple of weeks."
"I'm ready now," Selene replied. "Why don't you go get supplies, then meet me back here? We can set sail tonight to save time."
"Excellent. Let me just get a few of my friends. I'll be back in an hour."
"The Calamity Box?!" Alice exclaimed. "We have to go get it! If the Beelzebubs were to get loose…."
"I know, this was one of the tasks I had to perform last time," I said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't strong enough. You had to help me."
"Well, even though this time around I'm a lot weaker than you, I'll still help you. You and I are in this together, no matter how formidable the danger."
"Wonderful," I replied. "But there's something you need to prepare yourself for before you board the ship."
"Oh?"
"The entire crew are ghosts."
"Okay, have fun, Luka! Good luck!"
It turned out that fear of ghosts was pretty standard among monsters, although none as bad as Alice, which left me with Ilias, Sonya, and Victoria. I remembered that aside from the Beelzebubs, the quest wasn't that dangerous, so I felt that I had more than sufficient backup.
Since we were at sea for three days, I got to meet the ghost crew a second time. As before, all of them were women, and all were long deceased. Sonya, who was an avid reader, was fascinated, and it was kinda fun to be able to interact with them knowing who they were this time. Ilias, while not terrified the way Alice was, still preferred to hide in her cabin, and pointedly told the crewmembers to knock, rather than just pass through her door. Her and Victoria also developed sea sickness. Sonya's medicinal skills turned out to be very useful, as she had some herbs for that. Still, the two angels hated soiling themselves, and so appreciated me holding their hair back while they vomited into the latrine.
We arrived at the ghost ship early on day three. A small improvement on my first experience was the use of a gangplank instead of a rope ladder to board the ghost ship. Sonya was even more enraptured upon boarding the decrepit ship which had sailed aimlessly for decades. Ilias and Victoria, on the other hand, were a little weak from their ordeal with nausea, and in their vulnerable state were skittish, fearing they might encounter ghosts. Never mind that they had been traveling with ghosts for three days. Those were ghosts they knew, you see. It was strange ghosts they were afraid of. Selene assured them that there were no ghosts on the ghost ship, which seemed weird to all of us. The true danger were the Beelzebubs, as well as sea monsters that might have called the ship home.
As soon we boarded the ship, I felt a tingle. Ah, yes, there had been a barrier here to keep the Beelzebubs in. It allowed people in, but trapped certain evil beings, although I couldn't imagine how that could be measured. Oh well, it was magic, so I couldn't hope to understand it.
Thankfully, the ship didn't seem to have any permanent residents other than the trapped fly monsters. Selene guided us to a door below decks.
"Behind this door are the Beelzebubs," Selene explained.
"How did you seal them in here?" Ilias asked.
"I had a jewel that could create barriers against evil. Once I opened the Calamity Box and realized what I'd done, I used the seal. Alas, my entire crew was killed fighting the monsters I foolishly released."
"Okay," I said. "Now when we go in there, there are going to be three very ravenous monsters inside. They'll probably attack on sight. So on the count of three.. One…. Two…."
I turned the doorknob. Locked.
"Really?!" I exclaimed.
"Sorry, the key is on the upper deck," Selene said apologetically. "Wait here, I'll go get it."
As Selene left, Ilias grumbled.
"There goes the element of surprise," Ilias said sourly.
"Maybe it's for the best," I mused. "Let's plan while we wait."
"I am physically the most durable," Victoria volunteered. "I shall open the door and charge in first."
"I've got rear!" Ilias said helpfully.
"I'll be right behind Victoria, and I'll try to take out any of the sisters I can see."
"Don't hold back, Luka!" Ilias warned. "Those sisters are pure evil. They'll destroy the world if they get loose."
"I'm not going to be looking to obliterate them, Ilias. But I promise you, I recognize how dangerous they are. I'll be hitting them with a lot. I don't want to kill any of them, but if it happens, it happens."
"I guess I'll go in after you, Luka," Sonya said uncertainly. "How powerful are these monsters? Will my club do any good?"
"Their hitting power isn't as dangerous as a Tamamo or Seraph," Ilias replied. "You're nowhere near powerful enough to defeat them, but you can definitely get them to notice you. And if they hit you they won't kill you with the first blow."
"What makes them so dangerous? Magic?"
"Their reproductive abilities," I answered. "But they have magic as well, as I recall. I know I couldn't take them down myself the first time. But I should be able to handle all three now, especially with Victoria and you helping."
Selene returned with the key. We got ready, Victoria in the lead. Selene inserted the key and opened the door. The four of us rushed in. Rather than being immediately attacked, we found the Beelzebubs looking quite bored. They perked up when they got a whiff of me. Like keep saying, I might not look like much, but I'm a perfect ten when it comes to smell.
"Hello there, delicious boy," one of them said. "You've gone to a lot of trouble to get drained."
"He didn't come to get drained, Striga," another of them said. "That pirate finally brought some help back with her. We were wondering how great of a hero would come for us, but he looks pretty weak."
"That may be so," Striga replied. "But he's delicious. I'm afraid there won't be anything left of him when we're through. But take heart, young man. Your legacy will be hundreds of thousands of children."
"I'm afraid it's not your day, ladies," I said. "How about you get back in the Calamity Box rather than doing this the hard way?"
"You negotiate from a positon of weakness," Striga laughed. "I feel the barrier weakening. You will entertain us while we wait to be freed."
"He has angels with him!" the third one exclaimed. "I've always wanted to taste angel meat!"
"We taste terrible, or so I've heard," Victoria said.
"Then that means the boy gets tasted first!" the first fly yelled, darting at me.
I already had all three spirits summoned, so I easily dodged her attack.
"You dodged my breasts?" the Beelzebub said in wonder. "I was going to send you to heaven with these before I forced you into my abdomen. Sisters, hold the angels and the other human off while I have fun with this boy."
Striga and her other sister attacked Victoria, Ilias, and Sonya with their multiple arms, which were equipped with pincers on two of their four hands. Victoria held her own with her great sword, but Ilias and Sonya were taking a beating. Ilias, for the first time in a long time, drew her long knife and engaged in a melee duel with the fly monster. Sonya swung her club at any fly who got near, but they were quick. I'd forgotten just how quick. Sonya's weapon was simply too clumsy to actually score on them. I feared that would do nothing for Sonya's self esteem.
Meanwhile, the last Beelzebub was trying to corner me so that she could rape me, clearly taking me way too lightly. Could she not sense that I had the spirits? Or did she simply not care? I decided to make her respect me, using a move I hadn't used in some time, Demon Skull Beheading. The close quarters made it an ideal place to try it. I jumped, came off the wall, and landed a crushing blow on the fly monster's head. That pissed her off, which caused her to use a power I hadn't even known she possessed. She blew a foul smelling gas into my face. I felt immediately ill. Weakness spread over my body as my lungs absorbed the toxic gas and it began spreading through my bloodstream.
Her two sisters were done playing with my companions as well. Sonya finally managed to land a hit, which didn't seriously injure Striga, but caused her to open her abdomen and release thousands of flies all over the room. While the flies didn't bite or sting, they were everywhere, getting into our mouths, covering our eyes, and crawling all over our bodies. Ilias took care of that problem, however. She had indeed become more powerful in recent weeks. With a cry of rage, Ilias lit up like a small star… no, I'm exaggerating. In her current state, it was more like a light bulb. But her spell incinerated every fly in the room, as well as the hairs on most of our arms and legs.
"So the angel has fire!" Striga exclaimed. "Well so do we! Sisters! To me!"
Much greater fire flew at us. I barely got a shield up in time to save us from incineration. I retaliated by releasing my power at all three of them. They were strong indeed. It knocked them all nearly senseless, but they were far from defeated. I needed to get to my feet and seal them at once! I could barely stand, though, sick as I was from one of the girls' poison breath. The Beelzebubs quickly lost interest in fighting, however.
"Sisters! Do you feel that!?" Striga exclaimed.
"The barrier is down! The fool destroyed the barrier with his strange power!" another said.
Before any of us could recover, the sisters were gone, teleported off the ship. Sonya rushed to me with some herbs to counteract the poison in my system.
"This is very, very bad," Ilias breathed.
"This is very, very bad," Alice repeated.
"I know," I admitted. "I was such an idiot."
"No, this is my fault. I should have been there. I let my fears get in the way and rationalized that you were more powerful than they were. And you are. But you need help in order to be effective. We at least got the purple orb?"
"We did," I said.
"So it's not a total loss. Maid!"
A simulated maid appeared before Alice. "Maid, please go summon Alma Elma. I have a job for her. Assuming she'll obey."
Alma Elma arrived a few minutes later. "What's up, Monster Lord?"
"The Beelzebubs are loose on the world," Alice informed her.
"That's very bad," Alma Elma repeated.
"Tell me about it. You're the only one who can teleport just about anywhere. Please find out where they went and come get us when you find them."
"What if they're on Hellgondo?"
"They hate the Fateburn line," Alice answered. "If they start making trouble on Hellgondo, my mother will undoubtedly deal with them. But they won't be there, trust me. No humans to reproduce with. Even if they did go there, they won't stay long once they figure out Remina isn't there anymore."
"I guess I have my orders then," Alma Elma said. "I'll return here and report my progress daily until I find them. And to get some refreshment," Alma Elma added, looking at me meaningfully.