Ho'olheyak was glaring at Ash like he was her number one enemy in the world. As a schemer that thought she had control of everything, Ho'olheyak's blood pressure was through the roof.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." Ash snorted and Ho'olheyak gritted her teeth.
"If it wasn't for your meddling, I would've been able to get my hands on a sarcophagus of the ancients! Just a couple of more months." Ho'olheyak shouted with a cliche villain line.
"Well, shouldn't you plan things more meticulously next time? Not that you have a next time against me anyways." Ash snickered and she hissed at him.
"Everything was perfect! I am the only one who can translate that text! Who did you send it to!? You shouldn't have any idea if that was real or fake. Then I can use as much of your money!" Ho'olheyak struggled violently in her bindings.
"Woah, calm down there... Your face actually looks red from rage, you might have a stroke." Hannah was actually getting concerned for her.
"Shut up you! You two!" Her glare went towards Vina and Hannah. They looked at each other. "Us two, yeah?"
"You beat me up with batons! It didn't hurt much due to my bloodline. But you have humiliated me like no other! Keep an eye open alwaysss." Her forked tongue slithered out of her mouth.
"Uhhh, I don't know about you lady. But this guy and his guards? They'll turn your feathers into quills and skin you for a leather bag before you can even say eureka." Vina scoffed at her threat.
Gladiia is the only successful person to ever move inside Paradiso. But she used her extreme speed and just extracted Specter from there quickly.
If she stayed a bit longer and didn't run away immediately, she would've been hunted down by Ash or the other Feranmuts.
Ho'olheyak didn't believe them though. She is a scientist, an extreme one too. So seeing is believing.
"You tell yourself that, I won't believe your propaganda and brainwashing." Ho'olheyak sneered.
"But Sarcophagus huh? What does it look like?" Ash asked in curiosity. "Why would I tell you that!?" Ho'olheyak was being stubborn as a bull.
"I guess you don't want to know about the black structure in Chernobog that used to power the city?" Ash smirked at her and Ho'olheyak craned her neck towards him that almost cracked it.
"Is it a large box that has a terminal? Powered up with an unknown energy source!?" Now, it was Ho'olheyak whose interests were piqued.
Her pupils turned to slits and she licked her lips. Freaking out Hannah and Vina due to her freaky attitude.
'So she's definitely insane and just cares about her agenda huh? Hah, good thing I know how to control these types.' Ash sighed inside his mind.
He remembered the different kinds of researchers that he met back on earth. And Ho'olheyak's types were actually the ones who are the easiest to control.
You just give them money and leave them alone. They'll give you the results you want. Just don't restrict them on what they are doing or they'll plan against you.
"You are interested now huh?" Ash lifted her chin once again and licked his lips. Ho'olheyak is actually quite valuable for him.
Kal'tsit is withholding information from the past. The translations he tasked her with was enough proof. So Ho'olheyak who he thinks is less knowledgeable about history, but still knows a lot is quite a boon.
"Tell me more about that thing and we'll talk." Ho'olheyak demanded with squinted eyes.
"You seem to delude yourself that you're the one in control here. Should I throw you to prison for fraud?" Ash snorted and Ho'olheyak's face got ugly after remembering the contract.
"Damn it, damn it all. Fine, you won. What do you want?" She glared at him hatefully, thinking that he will deprive her of trying to unlock the secrets of her race, the Kukulkans.
"I see that you will be a member of the research division of Paradiso now. Good choice indeed." Ash nodded while Hannah deadpanned at him.
"The only other choice is rotting in prison Ash." Hannah commented, but he just ignored her.
"So, is she going to continue her research Ash?" Mudrock tilted her head. They had enough of the researchers back in Paradiso which Rhine labs have graciously given.
"She'll be in a different division, you will unearth every piece of history you can." Ash looked at the snake woman who was pleasantly surprised.
"Hmph, so you will be needing my expertise?" Ho'olheyak plotted immediately to use this to her advantage.
Ash noticed her face twitching like mad due to being pleased. So he shot her hopes down immediately.
"Not really, besides. I own you for more than a century right now due to the contract. You're not even the best in that field. Kal'tsit is, she's busy with another errand of mine." Ash snorted and Ho'olheyak gasped.
"Who is this Kal'tsit!? Is she the one who translated my fake ones!?" She immediately got angry. Ho'olheyak is a prideful woman that thought she is the best in her field.
And Kal'tsit being mentioned poked at her pride, wounding it heavily. Especially because Kal'tsit ruined her so-called master plan.
"She did, said that you were a goddamned fraud." Ash grinned as he egged her on.
"Damn, this guy's a menace. He's manipulating her wounded pride to the maximum." Vina knew that he was bullshitting her.
"Kukuku~ So I'm a fraud huh? Just wait, I will discover the ancient civilization from the past." Ho'olheyak squinted her eyes that were burning with determination.
"About that, why are you even trying to unearth those sarcophagus?" Ash was genuinely curious about what those things are.
As far as he knew, they were just fancy batteries based on the thing back in Chernobog. Kal'tsit seems to know a lot about it though. As she was the one who took the Dokutah out of it based on Maria and Gnosis' report.
"They contain a lot of information! Because you see, those black containers are actual sarcophagus." Ho'olheyak grinned.
Ash wasn't impressed though. "So you're grave robbing?" Ho'olheyak glared at him. "It's archeology! Those graves are thousands of years old! We can dissect them for their secrets!" Ho'olheyak had a mad grin on her face.
She hasn't told them that the ruins of the ancient civilization is responsible for the fake sky of Terra.
Ash still didn't think that some coffins would get them a lot of information. But something clicked inside of his mind.
"The Dokutah was put inside of it so he could heal and be in stasis..." Ash blinked. He then frowned immediately at the implications.
"Goddamn, the Dokutah of Rhodes island is one of those ancients." He rubbed his chin, his mind running a mile a second.
"What!? There's a live specimen out there!? Not just a brain turned AI that was put inside a robot?" Ho'olheyak slipped and she went wide eyed.
"Hoh? So there's a robot out there that's actually a person from thousands of years ago? Is that right, Ho'olheyak?" Ash grinned and what better way to get answers than to ask someone who is directly involved in it?
"Sadly, I don't know where their current location is." Ho'olheyak shrugged and he checked her heart rate and brain waves. She was unfortunately telling the truth.
"If I got my hands on him, I would've picked its internals myself and received answers." Ho'olheyak sighed.
"Come on, let's return to Paradiso for now with my new employee." Ash grabbed her on the nape like a cat and she hissed at him. Biting his arm, but she just hurt her teeth due to his extremely hard skin.
"Let me go! You humiliate me further!? I will kill you! Keep an eye open at all times Asmodeus!" Ho'olheyak was wriggling around.
"Oh, stop being a drama queen. You were planning to extort hundreds of millions from me you know? That's the hard earned money of people who are buying food and products from us." Ash rolled his eyes.
"That's right, you're wasting money you know? There are tons of children in Kazdel that are starving." Mudrock nodded sagely, but due to their shipments. That has decreased drastically.
Vina and Hannah then remembered that was what all parents would say to kids who don't eat their vegetables. But now that they knew they would kill each other for food, the weight of it was much, much heavier.
Everybody returned to Paradiso and Ash released Ho'olheyak when they entered a training room.
"Okay, I actually want to ask if you know anything about this." Ash took out his sword and Ho'olheyak shivered upon seeing it.
Due to how full of energy it was, the sword was leaking a chilling aura of gluttony and bloodlust.
"Ope, sorry about that." Ash reeled it in and it transformed back to its more normal form.
"Is that... A demonic sword? Wow, there has been records of that thing. But this is the first time I have seen it." Ho'olheyak tried to touch it, but he just waited for her to do so.
'Don't kill her, just give her a little scare is all.' Ash ordered his sword and it obediently agreed.
When she touched the flat of the blade. An eye opened on the hilt and stared right at her. Making her freeze on the spot.
A mouth then appeared on the blade and it sucked on her arm. "Ahhhh! I can't feel my arm! Get it off! Get it off!" Ho'olheyak tried to pull her arm out, but she was slowly getting sucked in.
And when she was about to cry, he took it away. "W-what just happened?" She looked at her arm warily and checked if it was still there.
The sword put her arm in total sensory deprivation. Giving her the illusion that it was cut off.
"That my dear, is what happens if you try to touch sentient weapons that aren't yours. You're lucky I'm the one using this thing." Ash imagined what it would do if he wasn't the user of it.
It will most definitely kill anyone that gets in range of it. The damned sword is a bloodthirsty motherfucker. It can also taint the surroundings by imposing its will. Turning the affected area into a different dimension that is much stronger than what the emperor's blades can do.
"O-okay..." She understood what was right and wrong with demonic swords immediately. Don't touch them, at all.
"Ash~ you rang?" Surtr arrived while bringing in a large container of ice cream with her.
"Ahhh, Surtr. I've got a specialist here actually. So, Ho'olheyak. How about Surtr's sword? Do you recognize it or anything?" Ash pointed at Laevateinn and Ho'olheyak squinted her eyes.
"The burning sword of the end. Laevateinn, I just know what it's supposed powers are. Like the ancient gods summoning its demon to manifest on the world." Ho'olheyak looked at it with interest.
"What?" Ash almost choked when he heard that. He most definitely not want the entity inside his sword to walk around.
"It's bound to the user's will. It is a gigantic demon that is as tall as mountains. And it will rain fire, heralding the end of the world." Ho'olheyak remembered what the description of it was.
"Wait... So Laevateinn who I was summoning when I use it isn't supposed to be that small?" Surtr almost dropped her spoon in her tub of ice cream.
"That's what it says on the ancient texts about it, yes." Ho'olheyak shrugged, of course she didn't believe it. Because stories are almost always embellished.
But Ash was different, how can anybody else understand more about the dangers of those things? The Feranmuts were hailed as gods.
And even he thinks that the potential of their demonic weapons are insane.
"Okay, enough of that for now. Thanks Surtr, how about you practice more in using Laevateinn? If you need more energy to control it, come to Kjera or me." Ash instructed her and Surtr wanted to try.
Who doesn't want to summon demons that are taller than skyscrapers? Sane people, but Surtr isn't exactly a model picture of mental health.
"So, what am I supposed to be doing here?" Ho'olheyak snorted, thinking of ways to maximize her time in order to unearth more relics and history.
"You will continue your operations, just report back to me on what you find. Actually, we will also be giving you potential places where you can find more about Terra's forgotten history." Ash remembered the church of the deep.
He's got a feeling that those pricks have more information about the behemoths.
'Hmph, Kal'tsit is too secretive. This one will suffice, I need more data about the things we'll be fighting.' Ash squinted his eyes as he planned the potential sites to explore with Ho'olheyak.
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Thanks for reading everyone, and what would I do with two Chongyue? I wanted the deerussy Quibai. Anyways, ciao.