Lilith welcomed her two sisters inside Grangold's castle with a worried expression: Morrigan was still recovering from the trap Mephisto had laid in her own university, and her movements were still extremely stiff, while Astaroth was in an extremely sour mood, frowning and occasionally muttering that she was "played like a fiddle."

"Huuurgh, couldn't you have brought more sofas? I feel like I'm going to fall apart."

"I apologize, but we originally didn't want to waste any single more resources than needed in this place." Still, she used a spell to spawn two large comfortable pillows her sisters happily wallowed on.

"Whatever. Thank you I guess."

Lilith looked once again at her two sisters. If their behavior was anything to go by, it was clear that their plans had all gone wrong. Both were looking apathetic and weaker than usual. They spent a minute in silence before Morrigan groaned once again.

"So when does the bossy vixen comes? It's not like we're in a hurry, but I kinda wish to get it over with and start taking some sweet time with a few prisoners."

"Lucky you… Simply thinking about those two guys back there makes me want to hurl…"

The trio suddenly felt a static discharge, informing them of the arrival of the kitsune ancestor.

"Good morning Lilith." Tamamo No Mae started fanning herself. "I see your sisters are also there! How fortunate it is!"

Both sisters remained silent, their groans of displeasure dying in their throat. Nobody was eager to deal with the kitsune's antics.

"Yes. Let us not lose time. First, we must talk about what happened at Esta."

The kitsune chuckled darkly, which didn't inspire confidence into anybody. "Minagi failed to seduce the hero. He was brought back to his senses by my counterpart in this world before she could succeed." Her tone suddenly became threatening. "Would you care to explain to me how she did manage to escape your watch to support the hero while remaining undetected?"

"Probably the same way you managed to remain unnoticed for so long here. Sly manipulation." Lilith was impressed by Astaroth's stand against the kitsune, but was worried the latter might end up wanting to avenge this slight later. "She must have joined him some times between Yamatai and Esta, and Morriluka should only report to us in a few days."

"She should have reported her presence immediately. Her usefulness has become questionable as of late."

Lilith contemplated the likely fate Tamamo had in mind. Even if it wasn't exactly the Morrigan she shared those last days with, it was still her dear little sister, and she still wanted to protect her. "If I may, maybe she simply didn't see the kitsune? That sly fox has more than one way to hide herself, after all."

Tamamo No Mae stopped fanning herself, and asked in the most sarcastic voice one could muster. "Are you seriously saying that a castle filled to the brim with monsters somehow manage to keep the recruitment of Tamamo hidden from Morriluka?"

Astaroth groaned. "With all due respect? They did manage to keep away the fact that Sonya was an apoptosis from herself. And if what I got from Morriluka is true, almost nobody gives a single fuck when Luka recruits someone, no matter who it is."

Lilith frowned. Did her sister simply stop caring for her life? Still, the kitsune was silent and could only concede the point for now.

"Mmh. We'll have to find a way to deal with her later. Report on what happened in Esta afterwards."

"Astaroth?"

"I'll make it short. A small army led by Uriela and the three seraphim attacked Luka and his friend. The latter were more than prepared to welcome them. The hero beat them back with only a few deaths on his side, and most angels escaped. Then Tartarus threatened to explode while unleashing apoptosis, but Luka threw someone I identified as the Spirit of Chaos inside, which stabilized everything for the time being. That's all."

The room became uncomfortable silent for a moment.

"That was…Very synthetic."

Tamamo started fanning herself again. "But the important point is there. The hero is a game changer. We need to get him on our side."

"I'm not sure that's still possible." Lilith was staring emptily in front of her. Everybody looked at her expectantly. "Convincing him in the past apparently failed. Seducing him also outright failed. He has an ideal vision of wanting to defend the world against intruders, which would technically include us. And this vision is supported by Micaela and Tamamo, both whom he thinks highly of, and who -if what Morriluka told us is true, but I have no reason to think she lied- also want to take us down. Last, the Monster Lord let the truth slip about our role in Finoa." She looked at everyone. "There's no way he will willingly join us, and getting to brainwash him will be extremely difficult should his companions further train him."

"I see. In that case, you should actively get back to working toward transferring souls. Don't bother doing effort to conceal anything. Start with Grangold as soon as possible."

"YEEES!"

Tamamo glared at the blue haired succubus. "You would only multiply cross world contact by doing it yourself. Have the ant girls do it. It was a possible outcome in the true history, after all."

Morrigan calmed down and hunched like a scolded child as the ancestor started talking again.

"I will consult the other to see how we modify our plan of action. But I shall remind you that you can still take care of Pornof in the meantime. See you later."

The kitsune disappeared, leaving a disheartened trio. Astaroth slammed her fists together, making it clear that if she went to Pornof, she would violently slaughter its inhabitants. Lilith decided that it was better for now to have both her sisters go back to their post and take a rest.

In the meantime, Lilith stepped up and made her way to Queen Ant's cell. She looked at the monster and imposed her will upon her.

"Have your daughters kill every prisoner and every citizen from Gold Fort to the western checkpoint."

The Ambiance was solemn in the front area of the Pocket Castle. All humans and monsters were present, silently paying respect to those that had given their life in the last battle. Even the most selfish, the greediest and the most cannibalistic monsters that had joined Luka remained silent. This day was a grim reminder that everybody could die or disappear just like that, no matter how well prepared.

Luka offered a small speech, saying he was grateful for being surrounded by such companions, and that he wished he had known them better. He also reminded everyone that they were free to leave, and that nothing would be held against them. A murmur echoed, and soon enough, everybody announced their intent to stay to defend the world. Some of the monsters gave sidelong glance to each other, as not everybody accepted the dubious motivations some of their partner had, but by the end of the ceremony, everybody was shouting strongly his or her desire to protect their world. As cheesy as the speech was, both Micaela and Tamamo couldn't help but shed a single tear.

But the hero didn't.

A few minutes later, Luka was back on the road, accompanied by Micaela, Alma Elma, and a still disguised Tamamo. The small group made its way to Plansect Village, and got welcomed as soon as they arrived by Alra Priestess. The latter told them about a duo of ancient monsters that reignited the war between plants and insects after Neris forced everyone to make peace. A cat-like monster had more or less taken control of the plant tribe, while a bird like monster rallied the insects.

Then a third monkey-like monster had arrived, taunted both which led to them giving chase until they met each other and started fighting in the middle of nowhere, leaving both tribes alone in the process. Since then, the hostility died down considerably, and the alraune priestess considered sending an envoy to ask the Queen Bee for peace. As a neutral third party, Luka and his group were fitting choices.

After some back and forth, peace was made without fanfare by both queens. Any sensitive issue got solved in less than half an hour of discussing, and they exchanged a final handshake before going back to their respective domain, smiling. Micaela suggested keeping someone here just in case one or the other monster came back, but Tamamo reminded her that between Sun Wukong's inability to stay in one spot for long and the rivalry between the two others, both tribes would have more than the time to recover before either came back.

Soon after, they made their way to Undine's spring, hoping to get Erubetie to join them. However, as they got closer to the small pond, Tamamo instantly stopped and stared at a spot in front of her. Not taking a chance, Micaela drew her sword, soon followed by Luka.

"Hold on."

She sniffed the air and looked at a patch of grass in front of the spring. She kept muttering "strange…", and walked around for a few seconds before turning toward Micaela.

"You feel it too?"

Micaela shrugged. "Something happened here. There are traces of time magic in the air…" She looked around her. "But the place hasn't been destroyed… Someone displaced a target? Too distorted, some spells clashed"

Tamamo ground her teeth in frustration. "There's more…" She made a few more steps and grabbed a small sheet of paper of the floor. "A talisman. Extremely advanced. I'm not even sure Yao would be able to do that."

Micaela warily looked at her surroundings. "Did you ever use time magic?"

"Nothing like that, and I'm pretty sure my other self wouldn't consider taking time to reach that level either. Or I'd be able to detect her."

Luka sighed. "Sounds like those twins and the White Rabbit met here then."

Tamamo sniffed the air a last time, and shrugged as she relaxed ever so slightly.

"Based on the description you gave me of both, that would make sense." Her expression turned into a frown. "It's too bad such powerful beings are busy bickering. They would make for great allies."

"I got the same feeling between those from Monster and Angel World." Upon noticing the wide eyed stare his companions gave him, Luka corrected himself. "Not that they're good people overall. Or even really helpful in the first place, but they have the power to stop the Chaos goddess…" He groaned in despair. "At least if they did stop making things even worse for a moment or attacking each other…"

Tamamo and Micaela both nodded. "Agreed."

Luka jumped into the spring, the remainder of the party soon following.

The group slowly progressed through the cavern. Luka felt a bit reassured by the slimes watching them from afar. At least Erubetie was still likely alive. He asked Tamamo more questions about the Slime Queen, since he didn't really knew anything about her despite having met her a few times already.

"She's a huge colony made of thousands of slime fused into a single conscience. She's… to be blunt, she's conflicted. She had participated in the fight to get the Monster Lord's throne a few years ago in hope of culling mankind to prevent water pollution, and failed to access it. She isolated herself further and was barely present since then, mostly taking care of her brethren… And then Alice got sealed, her mother came back on the throne, gave new orders to attack Grand Noah which Erubetie… didn't follow either."

"So she wanted to kill humans, but when ordered to, she couldn't go through it?"

Tamamo nodded. "As I said, she's conflicted. A part of her wants nothing more than to follow on that order and avenge herself and her kin. But there is another one telling her that this is fundamentally wrong to exterminate everyone just like that, and then there's yet another, more pragmatic one that tells her that would either lead to her kin getting slaughtered, or to destroy their source food, making it a lose-lose situation."

Luka continued, silent.

"Are you alright?"

The hero shrugged indifferently.

"Yes, I'm fine, why?"

"Just worrying about the hero. I have a looong experience dealing with people like you."

"He's going to snap."

Tamamo jumped, startled. Luka instantly drew his sword.

"False alarm, ehehe… I got surprised by a droplet from…"

The team looked at the ceiling to see a large pinkish carnivorous slime. Upon seeing the party react to her presence, she instantly disappeared into the cracks at the top of the cavern.

"Nevermind. How did we miss that one?"

"We didn't. We just thought that she wouldn't be a danger." Micaela hadn't even pulled out her sword.

A second later, the group was back on its track, Tamamo focusing inwardly.

"I forgot about the telepathic link! You couldn't have warned me earlier?!"

"Sorry…" Even mentally, Alma Elma had a way to make it clear that she didn't really care. "I also forgot. But my point remains. This whole mess is getting into Luka-boy's head."

"I did notice during our training. He's like Micaela when she served Ilias. Totally indifferent to other's lives as long as he gets his mission done. No. Fuck. Given."

"Indeed, he's more and more just like I was. I don't wish that to anybody. Also you should learn to secure your mental link next time."

"…When did you join?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude but I couldn't help myself when you jumped like a scaredy cat."

"One more intruder for the party…Couldn't you just all leave me alone?"

"Noooope."

"No!"

"No."

A few seconds later, the group was in sight of Undine. The water spirit was leaning over a particular spot of the spring. Right afterwards, Erubetie manifested herself, her red eyes looking in indifference at the newcomers.

"And I suppose you have a good reason to come disturb us?"

"It depends how important this world is to you." Tamamo stepped forward. "And that includes you and your kin."

Erubetie sneered. "I already heard that from a certain purple haired succubus."

"We already guessed so. But you've known us for longer than her and we're finding ourselves in opposition to her and the Monster Lord. And unless you actually step up, the latter is no longer supported by any of the Heavenly Knights."

"Granberia is still following her."

"She's not." Luka spoke in an even, monotone voice. "She quitted the Monster Lord after one threat too many."

Erubetie's eyes narrowed. "Can you prove it?"

"Erubetie..." Tamamo sighed. "Please, I'm sure at least ONE slime talked to you about what happened in the colosseum…"

"So what of it?"

While Tamamo guessed correctly without a risk, it was clear the slime was remaining stubborn and wouldn't change her position for now.

"At least tell us you're going to do something, anything."

"I will keep protecting my brethren until the Sixteenth come back on the throne."

Tamamo's ears perked up.

"What if she gives you orders but is not on the throne?"

"Then…" Erubetie looked down. "I don't know what I shall do."

Undine glared at Tamamo.

"Don't you have anything better to do than tormenting her? And you…" As the Water Spirit looked at Luka, her confusion grew. "What…what are you? I don't remember making a pact with you, and yet… even with that damn lizard?"

"Well. It's complicated…"

Luka repeated once again his story to the duo of slimes, although passably abridged. In the meantime, his trio of companions was patiently waiting a bit behind. Undine silently listened.

"That's… That sounds crazy. But it explains so much…I will join you as soon as you beat me. You know the deal."

Luka readied his sword.

The fight in itself lasted barely a few seconds. Once done, Undine joined back Luka and fused with her another self, leaving a very confused Erubetie to piece out what was happening. Still, she didn't relent in her refusal, and everybody was eventually forced to leave her alone.

On the way back to Grand Noah, Tamamo seemed to remain particularly cheerful, even more than Alma Elma for a reason.

"I'd thought you would have taken your defeat more badly."

She turned toward Micaela. "Mmmh? Oh, you mean with Erubetie? Well, I'm a bit disappointed, but I certainly didn't expect to be able to get her to join us just like that either. Besides, I'm fine as long as she doesn't side with those fools from the other world."

"About those fools… Next is our infiltration in Gold Fort. I wonder how the other me's doing?" Alma Elma stretched her wings while licking her lips. "Maybe I should do everything myself."

Luka groaned. "We won't know, Mephisto was the one who contacted her and now she's dead for good. That, and she did also provide a way to pass through a horde of golems."

"Don't worry, we'll be able to manage that."

Luka scratched his head as he tried remembering everything. "She also had contacted the mafia to bomb the city to distract the guards…"

"I'm pretty sure we'll still be able to start one by ourselves." Alma Elma stretched her arms behind her back, flaunting her body in the process.

The hero shrugged. "We're fine then."

Micaela looked at her nephew with fear growing in her stomach. No. It wasn't fine.