Panila was sat behind her desk, reviewing the incident report from Diminutive Domain's recent attack from their own Domain Leader. It had been a week or so since Arachne's rampage and She was going over every little detail, trying to figure out what caused her to go mad.
Panila lamented over Eido's condition, it was a bizarre case. She has no heart yet was still alive. She has a pulse, is moving, speaking and acting like she would before. Except she has no access to her Heart's powers or any form of magic. And most alarming to her was that when she had a life sensor on her, it showed that she had no actual soul in her body. She was in a state of limbo without a heart.
As she finished her report, Panila heard a knock on her door. "Come in." It was Tophi, one of the two leaders of Devouring Domain. He seemed slightly panicked as he sat down in front of Panila's desk, scratching his curly blonde hair with a nervous smile. "T-Thank you for seeing me so quickly, Miss Vincula..." He said as he tipped his top hat, trying not to look to scared, though Panila caught on rather quick.
"What is it, Lollicore? You almost seem scared. Did Wendy eat your latest stash of candy?" She snickered, not seeing why he seemed so panicked.
"I-It's Wendy, Ma'am. The recent food shortage has affected a few restaurants and cafes, but we've had enough resources to keep them afloat... Except for meat... We've ran out of the "You know what" type..."
Panila froze up a bit, knowing how dangerous Devouring becomes in times of food shortages. She quickly shot out of the office, beginning to make some calls as Tophi followed quickly behind. She issued a basic order to every Decaynine she could spare.
"Devouring Domain is to be kept in lockdown effective immediately!"
"That was the the finale!?" Avis yelled at her TV as Vinea looked rather bored. "What did you expect? I thought it was a decent ending." He said as he used his now regrown vines to grab the remote. The two had been binge watching old TV shows from Ven's time, as they had all been laying low after Arachne's defeat.
Ven was looking over Heartbreaker with Tid-bit and Senshi, who had stayed with the group as she had nowhere else to really go after the situation at Diminutive. The 3 were working on adding a new function to the weapon to make it capable of crippling a person's heart while not killing them.
"From what I understand, we'd need to get a really thin material that's strong enough to hold up the miniaturised suppresser." Senshi said as she crawled along the barrel of Heartbreaker.
Tid-bit took control of Ven and let out an annoyed sigh. "Arachne's webbing was capable of such a thing, yet..."
Before Tid-bit could finish, Ven snatched back his body and chimed in with: "We know she's in Detainment. We can't get to her, and we still have 5 more hearts to get. I say we just go with my plan of knock out and grab."
Avis turned back to the trio sitting at her table, throwing a cushion at Ven which he quickly used a portal to redirect it back at her. "Can't you three just take a break? I mean, we took down Eido! Correction, me and Ven took out Eido." Avis said with a laugh.
Tid-bit snatched back control and had a thoughtful look. "Speaking of that, are none of you going to address how Rat knew to place my heart in your speaker? It was rather strange how she knew that, right?" She asked.
Everyone had already agreed that Rat was just an oddball who was just really lucky with her plans, never really questioning her.
Vinea was the first to speak up. "Maybe she's just much smarter then we give her credit for? She was a domain leader, so she probably had access to the records on how those things work."
Ven took back control and snapped his fingers, quickly rushing over to The New Heart they got, that they had been using as battery for the heating. He pulled out the phone Rat gave him and called her. The two spoke for hours as Senshi joined Avis and Vinea watching TV.
Avis began getting bored of the show they were watching and swapped over to the news, only to see an advertisement for Devouring. A Deer antlered woman with white hair that reached the floor stood next to a man in a blue and gold candy covered suit, quickly realising they were Wendy and Tophi, the Duo Chef Leaders Of Devouring.
"Hello my deers." Wendy said in a cheerful voice as Tophi placed some utensils on the counter. It seemed that the two were presenting their cooking show, which confused everyone as they thought they were watching the news.
As the show went on, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Tophi was asked to bring out the special ingredient of the night: Human flesh. After a few moments, Tophi whispered something to Wendy, which caused her to crush the spatula she was holding.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE ARE OUT OF FLESH!?" She looked outraged, the cameras shutting off as it seemed to freeze over. Everyone looked stunned as Ven entered the room to see a press conference held by Panila, saying that Devouring Domain is currently in lock down until further notice. "Uh... Is that normal?" Ven asked with a nervous laugh as the three sitting on the couch shook their heads.
After much debating, the group decided that they should wait until Devouring's lockdown was lifted before trying to get in. Avis and Vinea began to relax with Senshi, bingeing another old TV show from Ven's time. Though the undead rabbit decided to get some air, despite not needing it. Tid-Bit appeared next to him with a smile as he leaned against Heartbreaker, staring at the Cavern's simulated night sky.
"Bit... Do you think that there is an actual end to your story?"
"No. But once our mission is done, I will let you rest in peace and be locked away like I need to be."
"You really are a mood killer." He snickered, staring off into the distance as he put his hood up, covering his face with one of Avis's face masks. He began walking down the streets before noticing a glint on a store window, quickly ducking as the tip of a lance barely grazed his hair.
"THE SEVEN HELLS YOU PLAYING AT!?" Ven yelled as he quickly dropped through a portal and onto a rooftop. He went to reach for Heartbreaker. "Shi-"
Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a piercing sensation in his head before falling to the ground.
"Ohnonononono!" A voice said as they looked over Ven, seeming to think they'd killed him.
"Relax, Honey. It was a tranq dart. Still, to think this is Rat's new 'friend'. Heh, he ain't that special" A familiar haughty feminine voice said as they crouched over him. Ven was barely able to see, as the simulated night sky obscured the figure... Or the hole in his head.