After Kiola had finished getting dressed, Lucy looked over the sub-mind with an excited look. "What is that anyhow?" Arlo asked with a smile. "A cursed thing from my world that could alter something's size and turn it into a monster."
"That sounds like me?" Kiola chimed in as she put on her sky pirate attire, sitting down next to the rest of them. They were currently hanging out in one of the resting rooms of the Dustination Colosseum, going over their plan.
"Well yes. The heart was based on our world's version of you." Lucy answered as she ran her fingers over the heart. Cyel's usual coldness towards Lucy quickly shifted as she snatched the heart and began to study it. "What was the me of your world like then?" Kiola asked with a smirk.
"From the tales spun about your legacy, you were... Pretty much the same, only you died and became a home for all of the smaller beings of my city."
"Is that why I crashed into my own skull when I was there? You keep my skull around as a home?" Kiola looked surprised before laughing. "That is awesome! I knew even in death I'd be remembered."
"And was their any mention of me in your world?" Cyel mumbled. She seemed to try and recall anything from the thousands of books she had read over her life time before shaking her head. "No. You were not even a footnote in any of the stories about Kiola."
"Figures..." Cyel grumbled as she went off to tinker on the heart. Lucy was going to stop her, but was quickly taken by Kiola. "Now then. How are we gonna take down this Tiger guy?"
Ro gave a slight cough for attention as she raised her hand. "What if you shrink him?"
"Can't. Used up nearly all my mist on Stitches and her scarf here." The dragon said while raised the jar she had been keeping Nvr and Grey in. "Kiola, let them out." Lucy ordered, lightly blowing a puff of dragon's mist in the dragon's direction.
"Alright, alright... Just don't go breathing that stuff all wild like now. Ya never know who could breath it in." She said before dumping Nvr2b and Grey onto Lucy's lap. "Actually, this is a good lesson to learn. You gotta fix their size by yourself."
Lucy begrudgingly tried to change the bioweapon's size, though accidentally shrinking her more. "Wrong. You gotta think of it like a slider." Kiola sighed, walking off and pulling Cyel back into the room to help Lucy's training.
She blew a puff of mist in Cyel's face, who eagerly breathed it in. "Watch me." The dragon said as she ruffed the kobold's silver blue hair. Kiola then began raising her tail, making Cyel grow to match.
"See? Not hard." She smirked before dropping her tail to the floor, failing to remember her own words as Cyel disappeared from sight. "Uh... That's another lesson too. Don't forget when you give mist to someone." She awkwardly laughed before raising her tail to the right height as Cyel quickly reappeared again, looking a bit dazed.
Arlo began cheering Lucy on as she blew a puff of mist onto Nvr and grey again, this time imagining a slider in her mind's eye. Raising her index finger up slowly, Nvr and Grey were beginning to grow.
"How tall are you again?" She asked. Nvr tapped her hand under her muzzle. "Three hundred and four centimetres." She said flatly. Lucy let out a sigh as she had Kiola lift her up, just to make sure everything was right.
Once Nvr was back to normal, she pulled Grey down to speak. "Now then... Since you were ever so helpful, I want to give you a favour. Does the warden want a new heart?" She said with a dramatic bow, leaning in close. Though Lucy shook her head and stood up with a summoned chain in her hand. "You are Splice and Biz's masterpieces in your own rights. I wish to have you serve me."
She quickly summoned yet another contract, though rewrote it slightly. "I want you to sign this contract and become my new personal guards. You will be at my every beck and call until I deem it fit for you to leave my employ. Do we have a deal?" Lucy's demonic voice finally began to show itself again, giving Nvr slight chills.
With a slight nod, both Nvr and Grey signed the contract together, becoming bound to the former demon.
"Hey, if you're both done... I think I've got a plan for how we could take down Clawhouser." Arlo smirked, pulling out a flyer from his pocket and handing it to everyone else. "You... Want me to enter the arena?" Lucy asked with a puzzled look.
"Read the grand prize." He motioned her to continue reading, and as she did so, she let out a slight gasp of devilish delight. "Oh now that is something I could use. Though I am nowhere near the strength to fight that many people." She sighed, summoning a chain that fizzled out rather quickly since she exerted so much strength from using Kiola's mist.
"What if the power of plagues was added to your expanding repertoire of power?" Arlo said with a devious smile, his tail starting wagging furiously as he turned to look at Ro, who was reading a book on sicknesses.
"But our deal was that I cannot have any of your powers until I manage to defeat Clawhouser. And I am a woman of my word." Lucy said with a prideful tone as Arlo gave a cheeky smile. "Well what if you were not even aware that she signed it?"
"How would you go about doing that?" She asked as she held the rolled up contract in her hand. "Like this." He said before grabbing the jar from earlier and whacking Lucy around the head before she could react, knocking the former demon unconscious.
Cyel cackled with excitement as Kiola playfully shook her head.
"You are so dead when she wakes up."
After a few hours, Lucy wearily woke up. Feeling the pain of a jar being smashed over her head wasn't exactly pleasant, but not the worse she had felt in her long lifetime. Looking around the room, she saw Ro fast asleep as Arlo held up the glowing contract in front of her face.
"We had to change a few things in it, but hey. Negotiating terms with an unconscious person is surprisingly easy." He grinned as Lucy went to punch him making him flinch. But she held back. "No, that is unbecoming of a demon lord."
"Thanks..."
"Nvr, punch him."
"Wait-" Before he could properly react, he was knocked out by a hard punch from a 10ft tall bioweapon. Kiola couldn't help but laugh even harder as Lucy sat down to read the terms of her contract.
"Hmm... Not to bad." She mumbled. The contract had only given her 10% of Ro's power instead of the expected 40% that was negotiated, but she figured she'd get it once the new contract was worked out.
"Hey, Arlo signed you up a few hours ago and your first match starts like, now." Kiola said as she pointed to her gear covered wristwatch. "I hope you die." Cyel said with a smug look as she went back to tinkering away on her latest device in the meantime.
Lucy quickly bolted away to make her way for her first fight as Kiola turned to Cyel with a cold look. "Don't speak to our new boss like that, girl."
"W-Why? She's just here to s-steal you away from me- the crew."
"If you cause a problem for Lucy in anyway, shape or form, I'll eat you alive." Kiola said as she leant in close to Cyel's face, blowing her lightly. The kobold let out a gasp, looking overjoyed. "P-Promise?"
Kiola let out a groan, leaving Nvr to watch Arlo and Ro while she went off to watch Lucy's first fight. "I never should have taken you in, ######." She muttered under her breath just loud enough for the kobold to hear.
She let out a sigh and continued to work, distracting herself enough to focus on her project that she was sure would finally let her have Kiola all to herself. And Diminutive's Sub-mind was sure to help with it.
"Just wait Kiola, you and me will be together. Forever." She began cackling to herself, thinking her plan was surely genius. "Why are you laughing like that, short one?"
"Oh uhm... No reason?"