AN: Sorry for the delay. Here's a chapter that exclusively has perspectives of less-used characters.


With nothing more to do in the Natalia region, the next destination for Luka and the others was the arid Safina region.

Naturally, many preparations had to be made first. Food and water would be much harder to find in the desert, so they would need to pack more rations. The heat and harsh sunlight meant that many of them would need clothing that was both loose-fitting and covered as much skin as possible.

Fortunately, they didn't need to head all the way back to San Ilia to buy these things. A week after leaving the Forest of Spirits and heading southwest, they arrived at Monte Carlo, a town near the border between the Natalia and Safina regions.

However, Monte Carlo wasn't exactly the most… welcoming of towns. Many of its buildings were dilapidated, some to the point where it was a wonder how they were even standing. There seemed to be shady alleys everywhere, providing endless places for clandestine activities. And the people… Luka didn't want to judge people by appearances, but almost every person he saw here looked like a beggar, a drunkard, a prostitute, a thug, a pickpocket or some combination of the above.

"This town isn't the sort of place to stay for the night," Alice said bluntly.

"Or for any longer than necessary," Ilias agreed.

"Let's try and be more polite, okay?" Luka suggested, noticing some suspicious glares from the local townsfolk. "Anyway, let's just do our business and avoid getting into any trouble."

"There does not appear to be anything of scientific interest here," Promestein said. "I will head back outside and engage in more interesting pursuits."

"I'll stick around," Chrome said. "Even being in a… a small town is better than being out in the wilderness. Though you might need to stay outside, Frederika… none of these buildings are big enough for you."

"That is fine by me," Frederika said. "But, Chrome, you should take the chance to have a bath if the opportunity presents itself."

"I know, you don't have to keep reminding me about that!" Chrome snapped back.

After some discussion, they split up into several small groups. Luka ended up paired with Micaela, which proved to be an… interesting combination.

Their first stop was the town's general store, where they searched for desert-appropriate clothing and other equipment they'd need. It was an unexpectedly difficult task as the wares in this shop were scattered around with no apparent organisation. Luka also suspected that some of the wares were stolen or smuggled.

While picking out some long cloaks, Micaela said, "Luka… Are you feeling alright lately? I-I mean…"

"Th-That's what I should be asking you," Luka said. "Have you recovered properly from your injuries?"

"I have, thank you for asking," Micaela replied. "But you've just had to kill someone for the first time, and almost no person in existence can do that without being changed."

Luka looked down at the floor. He'd been trying to ignore that for the past week, to appear strong, but Micaela was right.

"It's… It's something that I never imagined myself doing, while I was growing up," Luka admitted. "I had these childish fantasies of being a hero who could save everyone."

"Wanting to preserve life isn't nearly as childish as you'd think," Micaela said. "I have my own regrets about doing the exact opposite. If I'd been less merciless back during… that war, then perhaps my enemies would have been more willing to consider peace earlier."

"But that doesn't change the truth, that sometimes there's no other option but to kill," Luka said. He sighed, still not meeting Micaela's eyes. "And that guy we fought before, we killed him out of clear self-defence, but it's not always going to be that easy, is it?"

"No," Micaela admitted. "But that doesn't mean you should let yourself be consumed by self-doubt. Remember that you are not alone in your journey."

"…Thank you," Luka said.

That wasn't the end of that dilemma. Even now, Luka could still remember that moment when he cut off the berserker's head and watched its body fade away. But for now, he could focus on more immediate problems.

"Do you have any idea who that person was?" Luka asked.

Micaela was silent for a moment. "I do, and I believe that Ilias knows as well. I will leave it to her to reveal it; if she has truly changed, then she should do so. It is not a comfortable truth to hear."

That was… foreboding, but Luka decided to go along with Micaela and trust Ilias in this. The shrunken goddess had definitely changed compared to when he'd first met her, becoming much more humble and understanding of other people.

"And… I'm sorry for not talking to you about this earlier," Micaela said. "Counting from our meeting in San Ilia, we've been travelling together for almost two weeks now, yet we've never really had a proper conversation as family."

"That… some of the blame falls on me as well," Luka said. Going back to the shopping, he picked up some canteens from a shelf. "I also never approached you for the past two weeks…"

Both Luka and Micaela looked away from the other awkwardly.

"I'll try to explain my actions," Micaela said after a few moments. "Your mother and I did not part on the best of terms… she turned against the rest of Heaven and I was ordered to capture her or, if that proved impossible… to kill her. But I hesitated to kill her, my sister whom I'd known for millions of years, and lost track of her."

The way in which Micaela casually mentioned such a huge timescale was shocking to Luka. It was a stark reminder that, although she appeared to be not much older than him, she was actually older than humanity itself.

"I didn't realise it at the time, but she'd hidden by suppressing her angelic nature," Micaela said. "However, I was unaware such a thing was even possible, so I wondered if she'd killed herself. I only learned of her existence relatively recently, when she resurfaced in Iliasville… now with a husband and living, as far as I could tell, like a human…"

Micaela looked off into the distance, clearly reminiscing about the past.

"Did you talk to her, to my mother?" Luka asked.

"I tried several times, but she wanted little to do with me," Micaela replied. "Something that was only natural, considering how we parted in the first place. Eden, our younger sister, also tried talking to her on one occasion… from what I understand, Eden accidentally destroyed a house in the process and was scolded by Lucifina for it."

"I heard about that incident as well, but it was before I was born so I didn't know the details," Luka said. "Mother… She just said that 'some fool' had come along and destroyed the house in a family squabble. Hmm… So does that make Eden my aunt as well?"

"Technically, yes, though like me, it is in a spiritual rather than biological sense," Micaela said. "Speaking of which, I haven't seen or heard from Eden in some time. I believe she is currently the leader of the angels on the Snow continent, but she has not responded to my attempts at communication…"

"Maybe you should go over there and see if anything's happened to her?" Luka suggested.

"I've considered that, but for now my greatest priority is the safety of you and your companions," Micaela said. "Eden is among the most powerful angels in this world and leads many other angels, I can trust her to take care of herself."

After a few more minutes of browsing, Luka and Micaela gathered everything they needed. They brought these wares to the shopkeeper and paid for them, then left the shop.

The noonday sun was now baking the earth with its harsh rays. Luka felt beads of sweat run down his face due to the heat.

And we're not even in the actual desert yet… Luka thought.

"Perhaps we should stop for a drink?" Micaela suggested. She wasn't sweating, so her suggestion was clearly for Luka's benefit. "And for lunch, if you're feeling hungry.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," Luka replied.

They stopped at a small pub which was just as run-down as the rest of the buildings in Monte Carlo. The interior of the pub wasn't any better, being dimly lit and populated by a collection of drunkards, thugs and drunk thugs. But there didn't seem to be any other place to drink or eat around here.

Luka and Micaela sat on some empty stools at the bar and ordered lunch, plus two mugs of water to drink. If Luka had been in an ordinary pub he would have asked for juice if that was available, but an order like that would probably have led to mockery in a pub like this.

"You said you didn't really talk with my mother when she was in Iliasville, but did you ever meet my father?" Luka asked. "He did leave a letter for me, telling me to look for you."

"I did, though I can't say that I truly knew him," Micaela replied. "I approached him before you were born, wanting to know more about the man who had somehow won Lucifina's heart. We exchanged stories about our pasts on several occasions. Not too frequently, since Lucifina and I were still not on good terms. But Marcellus left before you were four, and I have not heard from him since."

Luka mulled these words over for a few moments. "Do you have any idea about where he is now or what he might be doing?" he asked, in a quieter tone than before. "I only have vague information that he's fighting 'the darkness that's covering the entire world'…"

"Unfortunately, I know no more than you do," Micaela said. "That said, I can offer a suggestion based on what we know. Marcellus is a hero of some renown, yet he has rarely been sighted. And he shares that unique ability of yours, which may explain why he has rarely been sighted."

So Father is spending most of his time in other worlds? Luka thought, realising Micaela's implication. Just what exactly could he be doing there?

-ooo-

Sonya gripped her staff threateningly. The drunkards in front of her got the message and slinked away.

"That's the second time I've been mistaken for a prostitute in this town," Sonya grumbled.

Sonya resumed walking down the street, Alice and Nuruko at her sides.

"Well, to be brutally honest, you don't exactly look like any priestess of Ilias I've seen," Alice said, gesturing at the tight leotard Sonya was wearing. "Just where did you get the idea to wear that?"

"This is the outfit of a battle priestess!" Sonya replied. "My mother wore a similar style of outfit!"

"Your mother had… interesting tastes in fashion," Alice said. "More importantly, have we bought everything we need?"

"Yes… we should have enough food for two weeks," Sonya said, taking another look into a bag she was holding, which was full of various dried foods. "We should be able to get to Sabasa in that time, assuming everything goes as planned."

"Kyuu! Kyuu!" Nuruko said, hopping up and down.

"Huh? Oh, thanks for the reminder, Nuruko," Sonya said. Turning back to Alice, she added, "Nuruko just mentioned that village along the way, Rubiana. We could stop there for a break."

"Isn't that the village whose inhabitants all disappeared?" Alice pointed out.

While exploring Monte Carlo, Sonya's group had heard about the mysterious disappearances of Rubiana. This was once a normal fishing village on the south coast of the Safina region, but one day travelling merchants arrived to find that every single villager had disappeared. According to the rumours, there were no signs of a struggle or anything other possible cause. It was just one of the many strange stories going around lately.

"It is, but it should still be a good place to stop for a break," Sonya said. "If it's a former fishing village, then we should be able to find fresh food and water there."

"And we could try to investigate what happened there," Alice said.

"Kyuu!" Nuruko said.

"Nuruko says that she also wants to know what happened there," Sonya translated.

"I still have no idea how you can understand what she's saying," Alice said. "You're the only one who can do that. How?"

That was a question Sonya couldn't actually answer. She was hardly an expert on languages and Nuruko's speech was completely incomprehensible to everyone else, yet she could understand the strange scylla from the moment of their first meeting. It should have been disturbing at the very least, yet Sonya saw nothing wrong with it. Perhaps this was because Nuruko didn't feel like a threat at all.

Back to the present, Sonya's group arrived at the end of the street. Situated here was a two-storey building—the tallest in the town and also the most intact by far. According to local rumour, this was the headquarters of the Elka Company, a group that controlled all organised crime in southern Sentora.

"I still can hardly believe that criminals can work so openly," Sonya said, keeping her voice low.

"It sounds like they do plenty of legal business as well," Alice said. "And in a frontier area like this one, neither the San Ilia nor the Sabasa authorities would have much influence."

"Kyuu…" Nuruko said.

Sonya wondered for a moment if she could try bringing evidence of the illegal activities in Monte Carlo to the San Ilia King. If she could get enough evidence, then it might be possible to clean up this crime-ridden town.

"There probably isn't much that we could do to change things," Alice said, obviously guessing Sonya's thoughts. "San Ilia must have some idea of what's happening here, and I doubt we'd be better at rooting out crime than their agents. It would take a lot of time and effort to properly fix this town, and time isn't something we have a lot of."

"I guess you're right," Sonya said, sighing internally. "Anyway, we've bought everything we needed to, so let's try meeting up with the others."

Sonya and the others turned around and headed back along the street.

"I wonder how the others are doing," Sonya said. "I doubt that Ilias, in particular, is liking this town all that much."

"She's grown a lot since the beginning, so I think she might be doing alright," Alice said. "But it's not like I've been paying that much attention to her. I'm just making an observation."

"Kyuu!" Nuruko said, waving a couple of her tentacles around. "Kyuu, kyuu!"

"Nuruko agrees with you on that, Alice," Sonya translated. "And she's also asking if you'd like to stop for lunch."

"I thought you'd never ask!" Alice said. "Let's try out that pub over there. You never know what new foods you might taste in a place like this."

The trio thus entered the pub. Finding Luka and Micaela already inside, they sat down to join them.

-ooo-

Meanwhile, Sylph was zooming through the sky above Monte Carlo, flying circles around the local birds.

It's been so long since I left the Forest of Spirits! Sylph thought. Feeling the wind of the outside world is always great!

Sylph went into a steep dive, causing the ground to rush up towards her at formidable speed. She pulled up when she was just a moment away from crashing, then she rose up high again.

And our next stop's Safina, which is where Gnomey is! I haven't seen Gnomey in so long!

The Spirit of Earth, Gnome, was Sylph's polar opposite in many ways, being silent, patient and slow to act on anything. But she was still Sylph's best friend in the whole world, so Gnome would definitely be happy to see her again!

Come to think of it, doesn't Luka have to make a contract with her as well? I don't really get all this "true history" stuff, but it's great as long as it means being with Gnomey again!

Wielding the power of multiple spirits was even more difficult than wielding the power of a single spirit. Out of all of Sylph's contractors, only Heinrich had ever been able to achieve such a feat. But Sylph was confident that Luka would be able to do the same. He even looked and acted a lot like Heinrich, to the extent that it was almost creepy.

But they're different in other ways. Luka's a half-angel, and he's got lots of other people with him, instead of… instead of…

A series of uncomfortable memories came to Sylph's mind. She shook her head to get rid of them. It was better to focus on the present rather than being crushed by the past.

Sylph continued flying over the town, though much more slowly than before. The wind around her didn't feel quite as pleasant as it used to.

From her high vantage point, Sylph saw many things happening in Monte Carlo. She saw hooded figures meeting in alleys to exchange packages, people drinking alcohol from bottles in the middle of the day, several brawls and a succubus attacking a human for food…

Well, maybe "attacking" wasn't the right word. The succubus' supposed victim was crying out "Oh no, someone save me!", but judging from the flow of the wind around him, he didn't really want anyone to save him. Sylph therefore flew on and left him to his pleasurable fate.

-ooo-

Ilias patted her coin pouch yet again to make sure that it had its expected contents. While she didn't think that any pickpockets could steal from her, there was nothing lost from being cautious.

"It seems that we've seen everything this town has to offer," Ilias said. She glanced at a two-storey building off in the distance. "Everything accessible to the average visitor, at least."

Pyrrha glanced briefly up at the sky, where the Spirit of Wind was flying around. "Shall we see what the others are up to?"

"I'd definitely be keen on sitting down somewhere out of the sun," Chrome said. "Let's see, where would be a good place for that—hold on a second!"

Chrome turned her head around to look at a nearby shop. She ran over to the open door of the shop and looked at the interior.

"Some of the things here might be useful for dollcraft!" Chrome said.

The interior of the shop was chaotic and disorganised, but Chrome didn't seem to mind and she browsed the shop's wares with extraordinary energy. It didn't look like she'd be sitting down anytime soon.

"Do you have anything else you'd like to buy?" Ilias asked.

"Not that I can think of at the moment," Pyrrha said. "What I want is to focus on improving my strength so that I can—"

"You've spent more than enough time training," Ilias said flatly. "You've been training for almost every single second of your free time on the way here. If you try training any more than this, it will only be counterproductive as you'll wear down your body."

Pyrrha's shoulders slumped. "I know that on an intellectual level, but it's not easy to restrain myself," she said. "Still, thank you for the concern."

Ilias looked back at the shop. From the looks of things, Chrome would be busy in there for quite a while. At the very least, she should be busy for enough time for Ilias to deal with an issue of her own.

"Pyrrha, would you follow me here for a moment?" Ilias asked.

"Yes? What is it?"

Ilias led Pyrrha to a nearby alley and cast a quick spell to muffle any sound leaving the alley.

"There is…" Ilias said. "There is something I must tell, something relating to myself."

"But why would you want to tell me that?" Pyrrha asked, confused. "I have a limited understanding of this world—"

"It is precisely your otherworldly origins that have led to my choice," Ilias said. "The others… this is nothing but cowardice on my part, but I am not ready to tell them such a thing yet."

"…Then what is it that you wish to say?" Pyrrha asked.

Ilias took a deep breath and looked into Pyrrha's eyes. This was much more of a struggle than she'd expected, and it took all of her willpower to not look away.

"That bizarre entity who attacked us in the Forest of Spirits…" Ilias said. "I know who he is, or rather, who he was: the hero of legend, Heinrich Hein."

Pyrrha frowned. "Heinrich Hein? Wasn't he a hero who slew a previous Monster Lord?"

"He was," Ilias confirmed. "He slew the eighth one, commonly known as 'Black Alice'. And according to the legends among humans, he was raised up to Heaven for his efforts… but the truth is quite the opposite. You see, Heinrich was unusual for his time in that he wished for coexistence between humans and monsters, something that was contrary to my own wishes at the time. And… to simplify a complex and painful tale… this led to conflict. I sent many of my angels to bring him to heel, but he slew hundreds of them."

Ilias shivered involuntarily at the memory. Until that day, she'd perceived humans—the current race of them, at least—as weak beings who needed her help to survive against monsters. Yet one of them had proven himself more than a match for an army of angels, who were individually stronger than monsters. On top of that, he did that solely using his own strength, having severed the contracts with the Four Spirits at this point.

"In the end, Heinrich fell, but not because he could not defeat my angels, but because the holy energy emitted from their deaths eroded his body," Ilias continued. "I took his soul and… and decided to punish him by imprisoning his soul for all eternity, denying him both reincarnation and oblivion."

"Then… Then…" Pyrrha said, clearly trying to come to terms with this revelation. "Then does that mean that Heinrich broke out from his prison and took on that form?"

"Possibly, but I am not sure," Ilias admitted. "I am not the Ilias of this world, and it is possible that this distorted Heinrich also isn't native to this world. But one thing is clear: I treated a true hero in an abominable manner, and there is a hero in this world who has been twisted into a vengeful berserker."

With this, Ilias had finished her explanation. While her treatment of Heinrich wasn't even the most heinous sin she'd committed in her long life, it still ate away at her conscience. When she'd seen Heinrich, or one version of him, again…

"You can now see my cowardice in only revealing this to you," Ilias said. "Heinrich is practically worshipped by most residents of this world, and rightly so, for his actions. To let them know what I did, what has become of their hero, would crush them. And even Promestein and that odd scylla are too closely linked for me to reveal this secret to them. I am revealing this to you alone… all because of my—"

"At the very least, I'd say there's courage in revealing this secret to anyone," Pyrrha said, grasping both of Ilias' hands. "You could have continued keeping this to yourself—"

"Micaela is aware of this as well," Ilias pointed out. "She has yet to reveal this to the others, but it is only a matter of time."

"It has already been a week since then, and I doubt that Micaela would delay simply because she fears hurting your feelings," Pyrrha said. "She already turned against you in the past, after all. I think she may be hoping for you to reveal this secret yourself."

"How could I possibly do that!?" Ilias shouted suddenly. "I treated a hero of legend worse than I've treated actual sinners, all because of my narrow-minded arrogance! I did something worse than anything you could have ever possibly dreamed of!"

As soon as she said these words, Ilias regretted them. She'd chosen Pyrrha to confide in, and now she was insulting the girl, accusing her of knowing nothing about true sin. It was a terrible way to treat anyone, especially a girl who was already filled with regrets over he friend's abduction.

"I… I'm sorry…" Ilias began, trying to pull her hands away from Pyrrha's.

But Pyrrha maintained her grip. "You're right, I don't fully understand what you've done," she said. "But I can clearly understand that you regret what you did to Heinrich and would never repeat it. I also believe that Micaela has some faith in you, and she understands you much more than I do. I believe you can be brave enough to reveal the truth to everyone else."

Ilias felt tears well up in her eyes. It was unbecoming of a goddess to cry… but right now, she lacked the power or the influence of a goddess. And it was her efforts at being one that had led her to atrocity after atrocity.

"Do you… truly believe that?" Ilias asked, trying and failing to keep her voice steady.

"I do," Pyrrha replied. "You might call me naïve for it, but I've known you for some time now, fought alongside you, and I know that you've changed from your previous self. Your willingness to cooperate with Alice, a Monster Lord, is also evidence of this."

Ilias brought one hand up to wipe away her tears. "Thank you. I… I'll try to reveal the truth to them tonight, after we leave this town."

"I'll be there with you," Pyrrha promised, letting go of Ilias' remaining hand.

"And in return, you have my vow that I will see you reunited with Ruby Rose," Ilias said. "Do not try to deny it out of modesty, for I make this vow regardless."

The two of them left the alley and returned to the shop where Chrome was still busy looking for… whatever it was she was after. It took another five minutes before the necromancer was finished.

While she waited, Ilias reflected on her situation. She had revealed some of her past, that was true, but there were so many more secrets that were known only to herself and a few others. Some of these secrets made her treatment of Heinrich look like nothing in comparison.

And I have not even told the full details of Heinrich's story, Ilias thought grimly. The actual relationship between him and Black Alice is something that few could possibly imagine.

Speaking of which, the Black Alice of this world is one of the Monster Lord contenders. She is not the most powerful among them, but it would be prudent to keep track of her movements. We ought to ask around for any information on her…

-ooo-

While sitting alone in a room, Cinder picked up a report from the table and skimmed through it. Income from the northern market of Sabasa was now stable, thanks to the gang in charge of it no longer contesting her dominance.

A little application of violence worked wonders for persuading stubborn people, after all.

And the city guards of Sabasa didn't even need violence to keep them from being a problem. The vast majority of them were corrupt, incompetent or both. Using a mix of bribery, blackmail and the occasional threat, Cinder ensured that none of them dared to stop her operations.

The queen truly doesn't care for the security of her city, Cinder mused. I'm still not sure how she became a succubus, but her overactive libido prevents her from ruling properly, giving me the perfect opportunity to increase my own power base.

And if I could learn how she became a succubus, that would probably aid my own plans for personal improvement…

There was a knock on the door, followed by the words: "Miss Fall? It's Alec."

"You may enter," Cinder said.

The door opened and a small boy, no older than eight or nine years of age, stepped inside the room. He was carrying a thick leather-bound book in both hands.

"I'm sorry, Miss Fall, I couldn't find any people that knew about turning into monsters," Alec said. "But I did find this book about monster history, maybe it has what you're looking for?"

"While you haven't achieved everything I asked for, you did come back with results," Cinder said. She reached into a bag and pulled out two gold coins. "Leave the book here and go buy your food for the day. But try to do better next time, if you want a better reward."

Alec hurried forward, deposited the book on the table and took the coins from Cinder's hand.

"I will, I promise!" Alec said.

Then Alec hurried out of the room, though he did remember to close the door behind him.

Cinder opened the book she'd just received and looked at the table of contents. The book chronicled monster history starting from the era of the Great Monster Wars up until roughly a hundred years ago.

Let's see… it's likely that humans would be transformed into monsters more frequently in times of war, to replenish monster numbers…

Cinder flicked through the pages to reach the section on the Great Monster Wars, then began reading.

She read about how monsters once ruled most of the world, keeping humans as second-class citizens and, in the worst case, as mere livestock. Angels appeared one day and launched dozens of attacks on monster settlements, beginning hostilities.

She read about the Battle of the Clouds, a mid-air battle between various flying monsters and an army of angels. The former were led by Saja, the ancestor of harpies, dragons and lamias, while the latter were led by Micaela, the First Seraph. The battle resulted in intense casualties on both sides, though there was no mention of human-to-monster transformation at this point.

She read about the Garden of Death, an immense garden that was grown by Kanon, ancestor of plant monsters, seemingly in order to feed the monster armies. But when angels came with the goal of cutting off their enemies' food supply, the garden's plants assaulted them with toxic pollen and thorny ivy. Over five hundred angels were ultimately devoured by Kanon.

She read about a failed attempt by a group of succubi to capture some angels. If this plan had succeeded, the succubi could have turned the angels into their playthings and learned of Ilias' plans from them. But these angels were led by Lucifina, the Second Seraph, who proceeded to water the ground with succubus blood.

"—and as a result of this, the succubus ancestor Minagi conceived the ritual of the Purple Sabbath," Cinder read, becoming more alert with every word. "By exploiting an accumulation of dark energy that only occurs every hundred years, she was able to transform several hundred human women into succubi in a single night. The ritual was a perfect success, with none of its subjects failing to transform or suffering negative effects from the transformation."

That was the end of that passage. Cinder paused to consider this information.

This seems like it holds great potential… though the book does not offer more details. I will need to find out more about the Purple Sabbath. And if it only happens once every hundred years, it is possible I will never be able to use this within my lifetime.

Moreover, even if the Purple Sabbath was available, a succubus wasn't Cinder's first choice for her new race. Becoming a creature designed to sexually pleasure men—even more so than most monsters—wasn't exactly ideal, even if this would improve Cinder's magical skills.

Still, this is a start. I have no pressing business for today, so I can spend the rest of it reading this book—

There was another knock on the door, and this time the knocker opened the door without a greeting.

Cinder looked up from her book, wondering if she should incinerate this insolent intruder. She saw a woman dressed in a weather-worn hooded cloak, with pale skin and red eyes and red hair.

"Just who in the world are you?" Cinder asked irritably.

The intruder pulled off her cloak, revealing backwards-curling horns, bat-like wings with red membranes, and a spaded tail. She was exactly the type of monster that Cinder had just been reading about, and judging from the way she held herself, she was confident in her own strength.

"You're the criminal boss who's been making waves here, aren't you?" the succubus said.

"If you have business with me, you should make arrangements first," Cinder said. "I'm rather busy."

The succubus eyed the book in Cinder's hands. "I'm sure I won't waste your time. Now, you came from the Tartarus, didn't you? We should be able to help each other."

Cinder narrowed her eyes. Her origin from another world, and the particular abilities she had as a result, was a major advantage for her. She was again tempted to incinerate this intruder… but she refrained. It would be more beneficial for her to first learn how this intruder had learned her secret.

"Just what sort of help can you provide me?" Cinder asked. "And what sort of help do you want from me?"

"From what I've been hearing, you're after ways to increase your own power," the succubus said. "Something I can definitely understand, and help you with. I can also give you information that might help you return to your world. And there's one more thing…"

The succubus took out a scroll… a Beacon-issued scroll, Cinder realised. Then the succubus opened up the scroll, with some difficulty due to the unfamiliar device, and showed a certain photograph on its screen.

A photograph depicting four girls, one of which caused Cinder to tremble in anger.

Ruby… Rose…

"She's now a prisoner to some of my… allies," the succubus said. "But the faction I belong to is in need of more allies in this world. You've got a decent amount of power, and we'd also be interested in learning more about the world you two come from. So… what are you going to do?"

Cinder considered this question for a while. She already had one master whom she served… but said master was currently in a different world and had made no attempt—no successful attempt to contact her. Moreover, Salem had always given Cinder considerable freedom in carrying out her missions.

And above all else, Cinder wouldn't be satisfied unless she killed that insolent brat with her own hands.

"I accept your offer."


AN: By the way, the events I describe in the Great Monster Wars are all my own invention, as I needed details to flesh out this section.