Let's quickly remember what brought the current situation.
Yesterday, Basara went to train with Lars. During that time, someone visited the Toujou household. That woman gave Maria a message from Shella, who asked them to go to the demon realm. Basara accepted Shella's invitation and he, Maria, Mio and Zest went to the demon realm the very next day.
That's where they currently are.
"I guess it's been a while."
Basara said as he, and the girls as well, looked around. They were on Wildart City and were on their way to meet Shella. They were being guided by a female demon, but it was not the same woman that gave them Shella's message.
Maria and Zest explained that they felt like they knew who she was, but didn't at the same time, so Basara thought to ask the woman in question who she was. Guess I'll just have to ask Shella then, Basara thought.
They walked and soon reached Ramusas' castle. The guards at the front let them pass since they had been told beforehand that Basara and the girls would be coming.
"Zest and Maria are to wait for Basara to finish talking with Shella-sama. She said she wants to talk with both of you. Basara, I will now guide you to Shella-sama."
"Wait. What about me? Do I wait as well?"
"… Shella-sama hadn't said that you would be coming, Mio-sama. I'll go see it with her."
Not only Mio, but also all the others found that strange. The woman said that Shella had specifically told them that Basara, Mio, Maria and Zest were to come to the demon realm. Why had she not informed the maid about Mio?
That's one more thing to ask about. I don't suppose Shella just forgot about Mio, then what's going on here? Could it have something to do with that mysterious woman?
Although that's what Basara thought, for all he knew, this one particular maid might have simply forgotten what Shella had told her, or something trivial like that. Even so, Basara decided to keep that in mind.
Basara followed the maid to what seemed to be the castle garden. Shella was sitting there, in the middle of the flowers, enjoying something on a cup. They approached her. Basara sat down with Shella and he maid moved by her master's side.
"Please call Lucia here."
Shella told the maid, who left to do her job shortly after. Shella then began talking.
"I've been told about what's going on with you. Although I'm pretty sure you're not just sitting around doing nothing, I do want to help you if I can."
"I do appreciate the intention, but what exactly do you plan to do?"
Shella put a finger on her chin, like if she was thinking. After a brief silence, she spoke.
"I could just tell you about some battles I had, including some meetings with one of the heroes after you, Gavriil if I recall, but I don't think that would be very helpful. … I know. Do you want more of the special medicine I gave you before?"
"Actually, I was going to ask about that. I do want some, but I want a special one. I want one that will stimulate divine blood."
"Ohh~ you didn't say it was your divine blood, so is it for someone else?"
"Yeah. You could say I've found an ally. Well not quite, but someone that'll help me survive."
"I see, I see." Shella nodded a few times. "Also, what about you gravity magic? Do you need some training?"
Basara stopped to think for a second. He has never been much of a magic user, but the situation doesn't allow him to be picky. And he has the best possible teacher living with him, so why let this chance pass?
"I plan to start training it. I want to ask Mio to help me out with this."
Shella nodded. "Actually, there is something else that I want to talk about" Basara wanted to, but never got to say that.
"Mother, I've arrived."
Lucia, Shella's older daughter and Maria's older sister, arrived there. "Please show him" Shella said. Lucia then approached Basara and looked deep into his eyes. For a second, his vision lost focus. When it came back, Basara was surprised by the scene that met him.
… What the…?
Basara was back at his house in the human realm. But something was different. Jin was there, but also Mio, Maria, Yuki, Kurumi and Zest. Basara tried to move, but couldn't. It was like he was watching a first person movie, all he could do was look.
"So, how have things been with mom?"
Basara was the one to ask, though he didn't want to. Like it was said before, Basara could only look, he did not have control over any movements or speech. It seems he had asked Jin.
"Good, for both of them. Sapphire and Raphaeline should be moving in soon. And what about you? Any conflicts you need help with?"
"No, seems like everything's at peace now. The demon realm has reach a temporary peace, the heroes have stopped attacking us, and the gods don't seem to want to intervene."
So… is this…? Yeah, it must be.
Basara then got up. He left the house for a walk. He met Chisato, Nanao, and many others that he could call friends. During that walk, Basara was able to piece things together.
No doubt about it, this is an illusion of the future I hope for, of the happiness I want. It seems Lucia was the one to cast it on me, but how? This isn't similar to what I thought, this is exactly how I thought. How did she know what exactly I wanted?
Maybe the trigger for the illusion to end was Basara figuring out that it was an illusion, or maybe it was him making himself these questions, or maybe it was set to end there. Anyway, his sight one again lost focus and, when he came to, he was back at the garden with Lucia and Shella.
"Have you come to? I figured I should give you some motivation. Lucia wanted to show you your worst nightmare, so that you'd do your best to avoid it, but I convinced her to show you happiness for you to see what you're fighting for. Was it effective?"
"Yeah, really effective. But how did you know exactly what I hoped for the future?"
Lucia then cut in. She explained her own technique.
"Basically, he can divide illusions into two groups, objective and subjective. While objective ones are set in stone, subjective ones are not."
"In other words, in a fight, if I wanted to, I could have made you see something like Mio and everyone's dead bodies to make you lose your cool. But, if I didn't know enough about you to know what would be effective, I could have just have shown you "your worst nightmare" and your own brain would create the illusion."
"Anyone capable of creating illusions could do something like that, probably." Shella added to her daughter's explanation.
An idea clicked on Basara's mind. Nanao had insisted to help Basara and made a familiar contract with him, so she could join the fight. Being a vampire, Nanao has the ability to create illusions. Isn't that a great weapon at Basara's disposal?
"I see. Thanks for all your help, Shella and Lucia as well."
Basara said and bowed his head. He was about to leave the garden when he remembered something.
"Oh yeah. Who was that woman that you sent to take your message to me? Zest and Maria seemed to know her, so I was curious about her identity."
But Shella and Lucia only looked at each other. Lucia disappeared for a second and brought back a man with her before long.
"This is the messenger that was send." Lucia said as she pointed to the man.
"No. I wasn't there, but Maria, Kurumi and Zest told me a woman had come. It couldn't have been him."
Shella and Lucia looked at each other. Basara was starting to get suspicious about this.
"Um, excuse me. I think I can explain." The man raised his hand as he said. "Not long after I left, I met with a woman that's probably the same that you're referring to. She told me she would deliver the message and I came back."
"Huh? Why would you simply give your job to a random person like that?"
Lucia questioned, one could feel a bit of irritation of her voice. The man, apparently too lazy to care, continued his explanation.
"But that wasn't just a random someone. That woman was Sap-…? W-who was she again?"
Lucia took the man away as he tried to remember. Shella approached Basara and asked.
"Did that woman do anything that seemed suspicious? What was she like?"
"They told me they didn't remember how she looked like. I thought it was strange, but I figured she just looked too ordinary. … Ah, but there is something. She told us to bring Mio along, and she also said we were supposed to spent the rest of the day here."
"I only called for you, Maria and Zest, Mio wasn't supposed to come. And I didn't plan to hold you off for that long. What could she want with Mio spending a day here?"
Shella started thinking. She called one of the maids, murmured something in her ear and the maid soon left. Shella then said.
"This could be a trap, but let's play that woman's game. You four can spent the rest of the day here. There is only one vacant room here, and that room can be looked into from outside. That's probably part of that woman's plan, so we'll send you four there and keep a discrete guard around. If she tries anything, we'll catch her, if she's just a prankster, we can let her go."
Basara agreed to Shella. If that woman was going to go after them, then it's better for them to meet and, possibly, fight her here rather than to bring her back into the human realm.
Though, during all this, that woman was already busy with something. She was…