Tamamo happily sauntered through the hallways of the Pocket Castle. When she was not busy training Luka or preparing for the upcoming fight, she took the opportunity to socialize with all the residents of the place. On a pragmatic standpoint, she wanted everyone to trust her and to share her wisdom: the stronger the bond between her and the other people living around, the more likely she was to come through this crisis just fine.

In actuality, a part of her enjoyed all the entertainment that the place offered, such as the gossiping that came with living in a place populated by hundred of monsters and only a few men. Hearing salacious stories about the hero's requests and preferences were a welcome source of fun in this dark era. That, and a certain idol succubus regularly offered enjoyable shows in front of everyone. Some of her music was stuck inside Tamamo's mind, and prevented it from wandering toward the duties she derelicted from.

Last, she relished in the sensation of being finally in control of her own fate. Sure, there was still a crisis to deal with and she was bound to Luka's service, but she no longer had to deal with the not so subtle pushing of the Lilith Sisters supported by the Monster Lord. She no longer was a pawn for a version of her that only wanted to sate herself.

Her nose picked the scent of Luka mixed with the pheromones of Alma Elma. The kitsune could see the hero looking depressed, wallowed on a table and in a state of mind improper to someone who just got to enjoy a consensual romp with the succubus queen. She doubted that her training him in the art of subterfuge was what lead to the deterioration of his mental state. The kitsune acknowledged that her method was intense, but there was no reason it would sink someone so low. Maybe it was time for a checkup on the hero… After all, as the caretaker of the Monster Lords, she was one of the monsters with the most experience when it came to dealing with them.

"Are you alright Luka?" Tamamo sat across the hero, one of her tail playfully caressing one of his arms. "You look like you just escaped from hell."

"It's because I already did…" His answers came out muffled. "And I threw myself right back in with the hope to save everyone."

The kitsune tilted her head quizzically. "Most people would kill to be able to do that… But in reality, hindsight is a harsh mistress, isn't it?"

Luka repositioned himself on his chair and sighed. "When I took the option, I thought I could finally get it right… But for each right, there was a wrong. I started to develop good relations with Morrigan. Ilias left us. I saved Micaela. My childhood friend Sonya died. We got you to join us. We're about to engage in open warfare with the army of a world that only want to save some of this world's inhabitants… It's like each time I do something better than last time, there's an unexpected negative consequence and, by the end of the day, everything is worse than if I did just like last time."

"Better is the enemy of the good… Is what I would say, but the reality is that you must go through it to reach the best."

"Eh?" She now had his full attention. He went from wanting to vent to wanting to learn.

"You said that each time you wanted to make the situation better, you somehow ended up making it worse. But first, you're currently feeling that you're losing grasp, aren't you?"

Luka nodded.

"And everything you do has consequences that you didn't expect, it is growing to a scale you have difficulties dealing with... This is a result of what you wanted and did."

"I didn't want any of it…"

"Really?" Tamamo offered an eerily dark grin. "Then in that case, why do you keep taking different companions on the road, including some that shouldn't be with you by then? Why do you go around with your best equipment?" She got closer, her face barely an inch away from the hero, her fangs somehow glistening. "Why did you save Micaela when you could have stood back and let Gnosis do her work?"

Luka got up, furious. "Why? Because she would have been killed! Because I care about this world and its inhabitants! Do you actually care too, or are you just like that other life wrecker who enjoys seeing everyone die?! Do you have any idea how… how hard it is to see a closed one die when you could have saved them?!"

When he remembered how old Tamamo was and how likely it was that yes, she knew indeed. The hero slowly calmed down his breath, even helping himself with the power of Undine before sitting down. "Sorry… I… Just don't want to see people I care about getting hurt. If one day I hold back in front of injustice, I won't be able to look at a mirror ever again."

Tamamo bowed slowly, compassionate. "It is my own fault and I apologize for acting this insensitive for the sake of breaking your shell. You are a true hero and not a psychopath backed up by a petty goddess, it is written in your instinct to want to defend the weak. And this is not even accounting for the fact that Micaela's a parent or a reliable support in every possible regards. Your motivation is real and should be praised."

"But my point remains. If you try to reach for the best, there will be a moment where you will need to try to do different. It may end up better. Or it may end up with worse than what you started with. And whether you want it or not, you will have undesirable results, and nothing to do with them but to carry through. I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be fine from now on." Her eyes narrowed. "But we will fight with the Angel World, and I do not think we'll be able to steer clear from hostilities with the Monster World either. And in the meantime, Black Alice's forces are growing stronger…"

"I wish I could just orient them toward her."

"And I wish the other me would have the same mindset as me… But wishful thinking will only bring you so far. You must not focus on what can be, but rather on how to bring it."

"I know… One can dream…"

"Maybe…" She grabbed his arm with a tail. "But one must train as well. So come show me that swing in the arena!"

Luka groaned in an exaggerated way, but Tamamo could see a small smirk under it as the hero got up.

"Esta is already in sight."

Luka was accompanied by Micaela, Tamamo and Mephisto. Lucifina-chan wanted to accompany the group again, but the strategy required her to be kept in reserve for the upcoming battle. A marriage cake had to be sacrificed to sooth a tantrum and to make sure that she would do as ordered.

As the group continued progressing toward the fishing city. Mephisto chuckled darkly. "I wonder if we did not get carried away with all the preparations? After all, we never received anything resembling a declaration of war from the angels."

Tamamo answered the yoma's concern with a sing song voice. "Riiight, and Ilias is fine with the fact that we took out two seraphim and that Micaela is still alive. Do you really think she will let it slide?"

The group looked at each other, silent as they all shook their head negatively while mouthing a single word.

No.

A few minutes later, they were at the entrance of the town itself. The place had been emptied from investigators by a direct order from the Grand Noah queen, and its large buildings were now standing eerily empty.

Micaela scanned the place. The town looked exactly like in the plans they were given to devise their strategy. "Let's not lose time. We want every chosen building reinforced, everyone ready and eager to fight. Tamamo, make sure the town hall and the front buildings will be able to take the charge. Mephisto, get the queens ready to check the plan one last time. I'll watch over the deployment with Luk-… That, I didn't expect."

The hero was standing immobile, his eyes empty and completely zoned out.

"Well, Raphaela did show him a slice of Heaven last time…" Mephisto was smirking, but the two other party members could feel her underlying nervousness.

"Yes. But he hadn't fought any seraph yet at that point." Micaela leaned down and focused all of her magical senses on her nephew. "It's a forced projection. It doesn't look like they could actually harm him wherever they brought him, unless they're specialized into spiritual destruction."

Tamamo chuckled darkly. "The only ones who managed to do that were Ilias herself and Minagi. And the latter only learned it to spite the former. Even I didn't manage to learn it."

"We still have doubts about whether Raphaela can do the same or not. The skills of the Seven Archangels are not fully understood, after all."

Micaela slapped lightly her nephew. "Should we try pulling him out of it? That could be dangerous, but we're currently blocked as we are."

"No. I'm a bit curious as to what they want to show."

"Then what do you suggest? We still have a battle to prepare."

"Mmmh. You two get sure everyone is ready for the fight. I'll keep an eye on him." Tamamo started fanning herself, waiting for the hero to come back from his mental fugue.

Luka blinked twice in front of the sight that offered itself. It was Esta, but the grander version he remembered seeing when Raphaela wanted him to see Heaven by itself. Surely she didn't want to repeat her invitation after everything he did to the seraphim, did she?

Deciding that he would gain nothing by standing there, the hero started walking through the paved streets that separated the large buildings of the city. Several human citizens were present in the town, as well as a few angels who were patrolling near the harbor that led to Tartarus. He shrugged, indifferent to this sight. This world might look grand, but its inhabitants had attacked him, his allies and his family under the pretense of wanting to save the ones chosen by the goddess.

Look at this town. Look at its inhabitants.

A voice that was not his started to echo through his mind. Every human he came across was wearing an uncanny smile. Each time he talked at them, they kept talking about how they were glad that their lives were so closely managed by Ilias, how glad they were that she had chosen their ways and their soul mates… In fact, most of them couldn't speak more than a minute without making a comment that praised Ilias. He continued walking around, but as soon as he got close to the "harbor" that lad to Tartarus and was guarded by angels, the latter reacted by drawing their swords. They didn't move closer to him, but the message was clear. He steered clear of the place as the sound of a dispute attracted his attention.

This is the future for those that follow the goddess of light.

The voice echoed once again within his mind. He couldn't associate it with the angel or the yoma that had appeared last time. There was an irresistible ringing to it despite sounding extremely monotonous.

His thoughts passably disturbed, the hero continued to make his way through the village and could see the source of the commotion. Two men were discussing, surrounded by a crowd. One of them was muscular and seemed to limp. Probably the result of some back-breaking labor. The other seemed like an artisan, although the hero couldn't be sure, even as he started talking.

"You only got your rightful share, as everyone else did. I don't understand what you're asking for."

"I don't say that I don't appreciate what's been done for me. I only say that I'd like a little more after having almost broken my back with that work!"

"Are you saying that you are unsatisfied with what the Goddess provided you?"

A gasp ran across the crowd, and people moved back slightly. The man answered with a voiced tainted by fear.

"No, of course not! I only say it's natural to want more when you did more, right?"

The next second, the worker got smitten by a thunderbolt and instantly disappeared, reduced to a pile of ash before a voice echoed from the sky.

"Please, return to your work. Do not forget that the goddess watches over you to protect you."

At that precise moment, Luka heard the bells ringing, and he could see the doors of the cathedral opening. All the human population entered the place. Luka let themselves do so, engrossed in contemplation.

This is the life that has been chosen for them. Everything has been chosen from their birth to the end of their existence.

It cannot even be called a life.

Everything he saw about the Angel World so far had created a feeling of emptiness inside him. Promestein was apparently correct. Those people had their lives dictated entirely by angels above them under the guidance of Ilias.

Luka couldn't see the inside of the light-filled cathedral. As grand as it was, it didn't look boring, but uncanily regular and unpersonal. In fact, the lack of life that came from the population reminded him of some mechanical toys he saw the Mecha Pope craft in his spare time: Stiff movements, limited by what their designer intended them to do, a need to turn a key in their back to get them started and keep them going, and a tendency to fall without the ability to get up as soon as they encountered an unforeseen obstacle.

Still, he decided to step in the illuminated building, apathetic to the world around him.

The next instant, he found himself surrounded by an all too familiar void between the dimensions. A staff wielding angel appeared near him, her eyes concealed by her green hair. Her robe looked a size too small revealing most of her curvy body, and her voice sounded like the one of a disappointed mother.

"You have disappointed us, fallen hero. You allied yourself with the descendants of the whore that should have remained in the darkness of hell."

"And you should have remained away from my world."

Raphaela's mouth was agap. She was in shock that the hero showed himself to be so insolent.

"You do not understand the power of Ilias and her armies. You will be swept aside like insects by the might of the One whom none can stand against. You won't be able to discern and counter her great plan. Nobody has ever been able to."

Luka refrained from groaning as the Archangel had just tempted fate. "Please wait a minute, only so that I can see your reaction when you're proven wrong."

Raphaela held herself back, more surprised by the hero's words than because she wanted to obey his order. She shook her head disapprovingly.

"You really are a bug. Below notice. An annoying ant to the goddess."

"Oooh, on the contrary, I think he's quite noteworthy."

The next second, a figure appeared, surprising both participants. While Raphaela was surprised that indeed the hero was right, Luka was more shocked by the newcomer herself.

He instantly felt the most primal of desire rise through him when he simply looked at her. Even if he hadn't seen her before, he knew that she was the Ancestor of all the succubi, the mother of the infamous Lilith Sisters. Her mostly naked body was surrounded by a small ribbon, and her overly feminine forms were further accentuated by waving tattos that seemed to highlight a certain part of her body. Her long white hair and her three pairs of wings seemed to sway in a non-existing wind, and her red eyes promised otherworldy but fatal pleasures.

"Minagi?!" Raphaela spat the name as an insult. "Did you whore come to taunt me with your latest toy?"

The succubus emitted a long drawn, sensual sigh. "I'd wish he would already be by my side, the stories my daughters tell of him each time I hear from them are by themselves better companions than the men that come to my bed lately."

"You… you filth will be eradicated and thrown into hell with your daughters!" She leaned forward, fuming in wrath.

"Wish on a star at day…" The succubus turned to look at Luka, who was sweating in a mix of primal fear and desire. "Now, boy, don't you want to come with me? I can offer you a world better than what that snake oil salesman can ever give you -not that it means much-. But what I offer you is indeed a world filled with pleasure." She was now caressing his cheek with a hand. Luka hadn't even noticed the succubus had moved as she was now by her side. "I can see that you already tasted the pleasure that one of my daughter could give. Why would one ever consider joining the pathetic existence offered in Heaven after that?" She whispered. "And know that it is nothing yet to the pleasure I would gladly offer you. You just have to seize me here and now and I will make your wildest dream come true…" Her words and her smile were sickly-sweet, but her eyes were those of a lion looking at an antelope she just caught.

Luka felt a small, dull pain where the succubus had touched his cheek. The succubus tilted her head in surprise. Then suddenly, the hero felt pain taking over his body and the sensation of being thrown back before disappearing.

Minagi smiled and rested her cheek on her hand. "I wonder if my daughters will be able to bring me the finest fur coat… Nevermind that." She turned toward the Archangel and licked her lips. The latter instantly disappeared, leaving the succubus alone.

Minagi pouted for a second, disappointed by her lack of success. Well, she still had men back home. And the little hero would still come to her if he freed himself from the fox's influence.

Luka awakened upside down against an half crushed tree, his stunned gaze fixated on the sky. He could see a vague form running toward him, saying something he didn't quite right understand. Even when it was up close, Luka could barely hear a thing. He suddenly felt another sharp pain in his body, and finally, he could make out Tamamo upside down. The kitsune was repeatedly fanning herself while nervously asking him if he was alright.

"Please Luka, answer, I might have overdone it but please tell me you're fine."

"You're going to be disappointed. I'm not fine."

Tamamo sighed in relief. "You still have enough spirit to snark at me. You're fine indeed."

She grabbed him with her tails and sat him down correctly on the ground. The next second, Micaela was also making her way toward the duo.

"What happened? I swear everybody heard that from as far as Yamatai."

Luka explained what he had just assisted to. Micaela and Tamamo both started frowning as the hero told them who he encountered.

Tamamo was fanning herself stiffly."Sooo, Raphaela invited you to gloat, then rather than have Saja convince you, you dealt with Minagi trying to outright seduce you?"

Luka nodded.

"Be glad that you didn't give in. If you weren't careful, she could just have been able to capture your mind and brainwash you. We wouldn't have been able to do anything." Her tone was unusually devoid of her signature playfulness. "Hey, are you sure you'll be fine?"

The hero was indeed wavering, as if he was about to pass out. "I'm mostly good, I just feel… slightly violated."

"I can understand that." Micaela shivered. "Being in the care of the ancestor of all succubi isn't something to be wished for."

"Oh, I'm sure you know what you're talking about."

"Are you trying to insinuate something?"

The discussion was interrupted by a ball of lightning forming at the edge of Tartarus.

"Well, it looks like we got a declaration of war from the angels after all…"