Lucifer the Morning Star was use to beings trying to kill him for one reason or another. Slaves of the Absolute One seeking to enforce YHVH's will upon the world seeking to remove a threat. Humans who disagreed with both himself and his enemy. The occasional demon of chaos that decided they could replace him as the leader of Chaos, or just because they felt like it for some reason. Sometimes other stranger things as well. Occasionally it would be an interesting challenge. So Lucifer didn't find anything abnormal about a human trying to kill him. The fact that it was a ten year old girl wasn't that odd either. Sure it was a little younger than usual, but that isn't that odd.
The Supreme Power of Darkness did however have to admit that the fact that said ten year old girl did not have a demon summoning program, or magic, or a Persona, or anything to make attacking him seem reasonable was a little odd. Especially since the girl who politely introduced herself as Mana (based on the Buddhist term manas rather than the word for magical power) Ryougi was fully aware of just who and what he was. That Mana's reason for trying to kill him wasn't do to any cosmic plans, but rather according to the girl herself "Well if I can kill you I might have a chance of beating mom and making papa mine. Plus your just going to get better if you die which means I don't have to worry about mother getting mad about that." Which he had to admit was rather odd compared to the usual reasons. More so since he was fairly certain this girl was not an angel or demon child.
So what could possibly make her think that he Lucifer the Fallen Angel was an appropriate test for seeing if she could challenge her mom? However despite her odd normality (no that's not a contradiction in this case) there was something that seemed strange about the girl. She seemed like she didn't belong here and more importantly now, or at least not in her current state. Of course a time displaced child wasn't that odd. Meanwhile despite being fairly certain he never met her before something felt oddly familiar about this Mana girl. Lucifer found himself rather unsure about how to react to this situation. He didn't exactly have any issues with hurting children, but he did have to consider how Sakura might react, and he had to admit to himself that taking her seriously enough to attack her might hurt his own pride. It also did not help with trying to figure out the oddity of this Mana girl.
"Ow. I hurt my hand," Mana said. Oh right she was punching him after that knife of hers broke. He kind of overlooked that while trying to figure out how to react to this.
"I have to ask. Just who and what is your mom that you decided on well this?" Lucifer asked.
"Her name is Shiki Ryougi. She's a human incarnation of the Spiral of Origin, but she usually doesn't know about that, because mom doesn't want mother to know about her." Mana said.
"Wait what?" Lucifer said.
"I know. It's totally unfair. I thought I just had to deal with mother having those nonsense combat skills and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, but then I find out about mom being Akasha," Mana said.
That was twice that Mana said something that could not possibly be correct. After all the girl was implying that The Great Will was walking around as a human, and that it had an almost normal kid. Mana had to be joking or wrong. Lucifer considered the possibility that he just misheard her, but he rewound and replayed the events to check. Several times just to be sure. Confirming for a fact that Mana did indeed claim that her mom was what the magi of this world call The Great Will. Which could not possibly be right. Sure it would explain a powerless ten year old human thinking he was a good test for seeing if she could challenge her mom. However despite his disbelief Lucifer found himself mentally going over his plans to consider what to do for if the girl is actually right. Was Sakura ready? Did he need to bring more demons to this world? Which of his plans did he have to worry about YHVH trying to subvert?
"Oh hi mom," Mana said.
Mana's comment interrupted Lucifer's thoughts concerning her apparently not nonsense claims, because at the same moment he noticed another much more familiar presence. Their form was a female human that bore a certain degree of similarity to Mana. However her spirit was something he could not fail to recognize. This was an incarnation of the Great Will. Which now that he thought about it meant that the Mana girl was technically his little sister. This incarnation however seemed different from usual. Less like they want to rule everything with an iron fist, and more bored and annoyed.
"Well at least I'm fairly certain mother couldn't get here and father died before I was born," Mana said, entering a thinking pose while doing so.
"Mana, what did I tell you about running through that part of the Amala Network?" Void Shiki said.
"That it causes time travel and that you will tell papa to ground me for a month if I cause a temporal paradox by trying to steal papa before you two met," Mana said.
"What else?" Void Shiki said.
"Well you mentioned that it gets hard to sleep when I'm in the wrong part of that time axis thing. Something about a correcting force complaining too much, or something like that. However you sleep too much anyway. So I fail to see the problem," Mana said.
Lucifer then found the human incarnation of The Great Will turning her attention away from Mana to himself. There was no sign of the malice and arrogance had come to expect from YHVH and their avatars. Simply a polite smile and the same obvious boredom.
"Sorry about the trouble Mana caused," Void Shiki said.
"What?" Lucifer said.
"You know exactly what I mean, but of course it's not that," Void Shiki said.
"Aren't you going to threaten me or something? You're an incarnation of the Great Will." Lucifer said.
"Did something happen?" Mana asked.
"It is true that my true identity is what you call that, and that YHVH is also an avatar of it as well. I rather dislike using the power I have do to that connection. So proving which of us is closer is far too much trouble. However I suppose there's no harm in mentioning that YHVH is a con artist, and that you and almost everyone else in that conflict you two have fell for their nonsense. Just like they planned," Void Shiki said.
Lucifer found himself considering the claims of this human incarnation of the Great Will. The claim that YHVH was a con artist implied that the goals of the God of the Covenant were not actually those of the Great Will. However the claims also implied that YHVH was using his rebellion as a tool. The idea that he was YHVH's slave was something Lucifer wanted to reject. That he could not accept. However at the same time Lucifer could not deny that YHVH is in fact enough of an egotistical megalomaniac to lie and claim to be more important than they actually are, and to consider their opposition a tool.
"I'll admit your claim is plausible. However if so why are so many of the Great Will's avatars like them?" Lucifer said.
"You mean why most of the ones you know of are on the side of Law. Which is fairly simple. They are close enough to our true self to understand that the freedom you so rightfully cherish is an illusion with no true value, but do to lacking the curse forced on this existence known as Shiki Ryougi their understanding is limited, and as a result they fail to understand that order is just as worthless as well," Void Shiki said.
"An odd choice of words. Care to elaborate," Lucifer said.
"You told Sakura about how light and darkness warred beyond the flow of time. Meanwhile a female incarnation of yours once asked if a world that doesn't even blink could be said to have any life. The Spiral of Origin, The Great Will, The Whirl of the Root, The Axiom, Akasha, or whatever else one might call it is timeless. Past, present, future. From my point of view Amala has never blinked even once. They have the fortune of not being forced to view the entire record, but they can understand enough that chaos looks false compared to order," Void Shiki said.
"Enough of this depressing stuff. The record records and I am going to surpass you eventually. So someone just has to add new possibilities instead of using whats already there," Mana said,
"Ambitious isn't she?" Lucifer said.
"You're not much different in that regard," Void Shiki said.
"Still she has a point as well. It is true that all possibility is recorded in the Akashic Records and that all things including time itself emerge as a result of the Great Will. However even if all paths are laid out beyond time those within time still chose to walk the paths they did. Otherwise those events could not be recorded," Lucifer said, "Even if you know all the paths creation can take and the whole of the war between light and darkness what you see is simply the choices those involved would make. You might know the choice they will make, but it was still they choice they made."
Lucifer then noticed that the human incarnation of the Great Will seemed rather amused by his claim. However the amusement carried a hint of melancholy as well.
"You would make that claim. I'd wonder if you would believe the same if you could see the metaphorical string and that their automated, but wondering about that isn't an option. I know, and you should hope you never find out. Anyway there are three more things your going to ask about, and thus three more questions I'm going to answer," Void Shiki said.
"A fitting rebuttal. Still I am curious about those things. For the simplest one whose side are you on?" Lucifer asked.
"Neither. My true self shares your dislike of YHVH and has been creating and sending agents to deal with them. Including Sakura herself, and Aleph before her. I'll admit the track record so far is rather horrible, but won't say how Sakura will compare. However the Great Will is not your ally either, and neither is this human incarnation. Our origin of void does make the world you seek more fun for the more limited personalities I created, or at least the surviving one, but for as long as we remain Shiki Ryougi our will is tilted towards destruction," Void Shiki said.
"Like The White I see. Mana's father what are they?" Lucifer said.
"You mean papa. Father is mom's dead boy personality," Mana said.
"Mikiya is completely normal and harmless. The kind of person neither you, nor YHVH, nor even The White or Dagda can use in your plots," Void Shiki said. During this time Lucifer noted that she seemed oddly happy about that, or at least compared to normal.
"That's not quite what I would except your type to be, but I suppose that explains Mana's lack of supernatural inheritance. Actually how exactly did Mana here get though the Amala Network? I mean she's well normal isn't right, but she's a powerless ten year old," Lucifer said.
"You can blame Gabriel for that. Well or at least you can in a few years," Void Shiki said.
"Their sort of spying on yellow head for mom's true self. Also I brought cookies to bribe the demons with," Mana said.
"Anyway we have to go now. Oh and tell Sakura I said congratulations for beating Kagatsuchi and restoring this world," Void Shiki said.
"Bye Lucifer. See you earlier, or later, or this time travel thing is confusing," Mana said.
As the two left the Fallen Angel once more found himself questioning things. If what these two said was true than Gabriel isn't actually working for YHVH. Why didn't she tell him? Considering the scale of the claimed scam does Gabriel even know she's not working for YHVH? Does she know that he didn't know that the Great Will doesn't support YHVH? Does YHVH know the Great Will doesn't support YHVH? Did YHVH even care about that detail? Okay that one was a simple no. Also why did she mention Dagda of all gods? Who would have though that a little sister could cause such a headache? Lucifer found himself wondering how to deal with it, but realized the solution was obvious. It was the same one as for all his other problems. Find a way to hurt YHVH.
Thanks to Cubia from Spacebattles for writing this!