A day had passed since the demon lords left Curatos castle to let Haruki have the time he needed to prepare for the oncoming battle with the most aggressive of them all. None of his companions were on board with the idea, but since the promise was already made they had no choice but to help him set up everything and even figure out a plan to help him win.
"I seriously can't believe you've done this," walking out the front of the gates into the castle's garden, Moriyana was finally back to talk with Haruki after a whole day of seclusion.
Turning around to look at her, Haruki made the dark sword in his hand vanish. Following Moriyana's words, Riley who'd been fencing with him also shifted her attention toward the grumbling demon.
"You're finally out of your room?" Haruki muttered, delighted to see her again.
"Yeah, but don't deflect now!" Surprising the duo in front, Moriyana marched forward with her body all tensed up. "Have you forgotten what I said when I joined your party?!"
The look of joy on Haruki's face quickly died down as she began to nag. Already on his wit's end, he'd been trying not to lash out after everything he'd learned about his fabricated life in the recent days, but tethering on the edge, he was just seconds away from letting his destructive impulses take over.
"Moriyana…" With a look of pure disdain, he scowled at her. "I don't care why you've been acting like this, if it's because of your past with Asmodia, then you just have to deal with it yourself. You're the first one to be a victim of hers, but you sure as hell won't make us all miserable just because you can't get over your past with your so-called mother."
Looking back at his past, through which he'd been puppeteered, Haruki felt no sympathy for Moriyana, since despite being a victim as well, he wasn't letting it affect the people around him. Moriyana on the other hand was causing trouble all over and had even abandoned her post and the responsibilities she was supposed to carry.
"Wh-what?" Shocked by Haruki's lack of empathy, she stared at him in utter disbelief. "You can't be serious, right? You can't be fucking serious, right?!"
"Moriyana, calm down," moving past Haruki, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Master's tense too, he probably didn't mean that."
Standing right before Moriyana, Riley turned around and looked at Haruki as if begging him to just agree with her statement. Feeling a bit of guilt crawl into his heart, Haruki took a deep breath and exhaled out all the corrosive jumble of emotions he was feeling inside.
"I'm sorry, I-" Shutting his eyes for a moment, he let out yet another deep sight. "I didn't mean it, I was just…Okay, yeah, I was too caught up in my emotions and just became an asshole while saying all that."
Opening his eyes, he looked at her with his lips contorted into a weak smile. Washing off the frown on her face, Moriyana kept staring at Haruki for a while with her eyes filled with tears.
"Come here," being closer to her, Riley wrapped her hand around Moriyana to give her a comforting hug.
Quickly burying her face on Riley's shoulder, it didn't take long for Moriyana to burst into tears. Wailing out loud, a wave of her hiccups were muffled over Riley's shoulders. Shooting a sideways glance at Haruki, Riley urged Haruki to come and take over with a single exchange of her gaze going from him to Moriyana. Patting the illusionist back, she kept comforting Moriyana until Haruki was right up beside her.
"A bad parent can mess up a child in more ways than you can imagine," before handing Moriyana to him, Riley let him know something from her own experience. "I know what that feels like to some degree, but no way in hell does it compare to what she must've been through while being raised by that demon."
For the first time, Riley had corrected Haruki in his behavior, and he knew it was completely justifiable. Nodding at her, Haruki grabbed hold of Moriyana's arms and gently pulled her over his own body. Without a second's delay, she pressed her face against his chest and her arms wrapped around his shoulders as well.
"Moriyana, I'm sorry," he mumbled, his heart bleeding hurt for having made one of his closest companions cry. "And I do remember what you wanted in return for joining my party. It was-"
"Shut up.." She whispered, pulling her head away slightly to look up at him. "I don't need those riches, that wealth you'd promised or anything! I just want the certainty that you won't be taken away from me."
"If not dying anytime soon, so don't worry," gently caressing her cheeks, he leaned lower and gave her lips a brief kiss. "I didn't take the fight without a plan, trust me."
Although, reluctant still, she nodded and pressed her lips against his once again. Witnessing the two begin to make out, Riley shied away from the sight and put her arms leisurely behind her head.
"I'll go take a walk and maybe check on the others as well," with that said she left the two alone.
***
"A coliseum? You're serious? He wants to fight in a coliseum?" Talking to her brother Deus over a cup of poison, Asmodia shook her head defeated.
"That's what Inferno told me," Deus replied, the sound of music releasing out of his metal muffins.
Seated in the dining of the castle Curatos, Asmodia was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with the preparation and Deus was willing to help, but the very fact that this whole idiotic plan was being pushed through so heavily was what bothered her most.
"Look," placing his box apparatus on the desk, Deus turned it around to show her the digital screen. "I already have the plans ready, just give me a place to build it and my robots as well as my gluttonous army will build it in a day's time."
Lowering her head against the desk, Asmodia stretched an invisible hand towards the apparatus and turned it away from her sight.
"Don't make me look at that thing it hurts my eyes and head," picking herself back up, she washed her hands down her face and peeked at her brother from just above her fingers.
"Look sis," closing the apparatus box, Deus put up a smug expression on his face. "That Dominion guy, he's freaking out in my territory so consider this a privilege that I'm willing to help."
Fanning her hand frustrated, Asmodia rolled her eyes before letting out a grunt.
"Fine, just don't put any of those, what do you call it nuon? Naon light? They hurt my head when I look at them," giving in to his demands, she caved in.
"You mean neon, right? I'll try, but no promises," pointing finger guns at his sister, he gave off a big grin. "Anyways, I'll be off to make the preparation."
Sucked into a portal from behind, Deus once again disappeared, but this time with the whole tea set.
"He's going to break those cups…" Mumbling to herself, she remembered a time in the past when they often played around and he broke whatever toys they were offered by the creator.
'Things really got derailed, didn't they?' Shaking her head lightly, she pulled herself out of those memories.
Walking out through the dining hall, Asmodia reminded herself of yet another task that needed her attention. In the form of a pure spirit she was easily able to teleport around without the restriction of a mortal shell, but now being a heavenly body with a corporeal form, she was just as susceptible to death as the god of this world.
'Thank the creator he didn't make any of us immortal, perhaps he knew that one day we'd end up in this fight and the one with the most power would turn the most corrupt.' Offering up a prayer to her true master, Asmodia kept marching out of the castle before disappearing into the otherworld to cut the distance to her destination a bit short. 'Regardless, I need to get to that library and find out what the future holds.'
Her inability to travel freely had forced her to make her journey on foot. And while she could easily teleport over places she'd been before, the library of heroes deterred such spells for anyone with a mortal shell.
Marching through the otherworld in her physical body after a long time, all her pets came around to greet her, and they even brought with them gifts she didn't particularly like. From giants with a burning eye where souls of the damned were trying to claw their way out through the eyelids to the abyssal enigmas with forms that defied all realities, and as if that wasn't enough, the eater of void brought her debris left behind after it had eaten Protherious along with the thousand other carcasses that it had devoured over the years.
"Rest for now, your time hasn't come yet," parting with the countless eyes peering right at her, she passed through the light door to appear right inside the library of heroes.
'Thank the creator, this worked.' Since traveling through the otherworld only shortened the distance between the physical plane, coming into the library through it wasn't really considered a teleportation spell. "Now to find the book with the current timeline's future."
Looking in front, she saw an infinite number of shelves docked with versions of the same book that she'd once authored. And although she should've been able to recall it all, the creator himself had stripped her of the memories once she was done recording it all so she couldn't forcefully alter the grim future.
'The natural order of things, maybe I'm messing with that order too every time I try to alter the events of the future?' Guilty of the same crime as the emperor, there was no doubt in her mind that she deserved to die so she couldn't repeat the cycle once the emperor was gone.
Scanning the infinite shelves as well as the random stairs scattered through a sky of countless stars, she wondered if to begin by checking the upper shelves or simply wander through the golden hall trying to find where the book was.
'At least that bitch who took my place as guardian hasn't seen me yet-' As if on cue, a giant shadow of a monster appeared right over her. 'Well fuck…'
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