Master of Parallel Worlds
~Volume 1~
Outworlder in Kyoto Part II
Ritsuka sat in what it looks like to be a tatami room that was open up on the side, revealing a very beautiful garden complete with a big Sakura tree and fish ponds. She was on her phone, playing Angry Bird, which also existed in this world, setting the volume high enough for her to hear the sound but low enough so she didn't disturb the people who were working here.
After saving who it seems to be the Princess of Kyoto, Ritsuka volunteered herself to follow the Princess guards to be questioned at regarding the chronology of the attack. They teleported her, using the magic that created a mini tornado she saw earlier, to some sort of alternate dimension.
What greeted her once she was teleported there was the sight of a huge traditional palace that was surrounded by walls of Sakura trees. From the looks of it, it seems to be a five stories building. A dozen of samurai-looking people immediately approached us the moment we appeared out of nowhere.
Kunou immediately used her authority as Princess to throw the Tamamo's loyalist that has been captured into the cell while also ordered them to treat Ritsuka like a royalty. One of the samurai left to summon some servants to guide Ritsuka into the palace.
That's how she ended up in here. There are a couple of female servants stationed in the room, they were ordered by Kunou to be some sort of Ritsuka's maid during her stay here. Ritsuka herself only used that privilege to get some snacks and tea, which was lay on the tray beside her.
It has been about four hours since Ritsuka became a VIP guest in this palace. She had eaten half amount of snacks that was served to her while she had drank a couple cup worth of tea. She actually was allowed to roam around the palace with the servants acted as her guides, but decided not to do it since she didn't want to attract more attention than necessary.
A rumor has already been spread around the palace regarding Ritsuka saving the Princess and most of the people working here has already gave her both curious and suspicious look as if trying to figure her out.
That was more than enough attention that she could bear with.
A notification popped out on her phone screen, telling her that the battery was about 10 percent left. Ritsuka frowned at this but proceed to close the app.
"I wonder if there is any electrical outlet in this place that I can use."
Just when she was about to ask, one of the servant, a five tailed fox lady, who was stationed here came and headed to her way.
"Fujimaru-dono, Yasaka-sama is ready to meet you now. Please follow me if you will." The female servant bowed politely as she informed the honored guest.
Ritsuka just nodded her head, stuffed her phone into her pocket and picking up her backpack before followed the servant to meet their leader, whose name was Yasaka apparently.
On the way to their destination, Ritsuka passed several corridors that reminds her to the Tokugawa Labyrinth during the Edo Singularity. She also noticed the curious glances from the people who works here and could only sighed tiredly.
After climbing up the stairs to the top floor, the servants continued to guide Ritsuka through another long corridor that looks much fancier compared to ones on the lower floors. It doesn't take too long until they arrived at the massive double doors that were guarded by a couple of guards.
The guards seems to recognize Ritsuka as the one who will have an audience with their leader as they immediately opened up the massive doors for them, allowing them to enter the room.
Said room was quite massive, but mostly lacks of furniture. There were nothing, but several lamps decorations, a couple of painting on the each sides of the room, and several small pillow seat the Japanese people usually sat on a Kotatsu.
There were three people in the room.
Ritsuka recognized the first one as the bird Tengu who also happened to be the Captain of Kunou's Royal Guard she met earlier. He sat on the left side of the room.
The second one was a red-faced Tengu with long nose and grey hair that reached his shoulders. He wore a Black kimono and a light blue haori. A katana was strapped securely on his left hip. He sat on the right side of the room.
The last one was the one who caught Ritsuka's attention the most.
A well endowed woman with a very long blonde, tied into a loose ponytail, and a pair of yellow eyes, sat on a small podium on the opposite of the room. She wore a yellow kimono with a golden obi, also wore a black pelt with gold skulls and lining printed on it. The most distinctive feature of this woman was her fox ears as well as the nine fox tails coming out form her lower back.
"This woman must be Yasaka. I can see her resemblances with Kunou." Ritsuka thought as she entered further into the room while the female servant that guided her stayed nearby the doors.
"Greeting, Fujimaru-dono. My deepest apologize for the delay, I do hope at least my servants makes you comfortable enough while waiting." Yasaka greeted as while wearing a rather neutral face.
"They did a sufficient job." Ritsuka answered with an equally neutral face.
Yasaka nodded her head without dropping her neutral face.
"Why don't we start out our business with an introduction. I am Yasaka, the Head of Youkai Faction as well as the governor of Kyoto." Yasaka introduced herself.
Ritsuka raised her eyebrow slightly at the mention of "Youkai Faction", especially as she was remembering the ones who attempted to kidnap Kunou.
"Faction huh? Looks like I have gotten involved into some troublesome political conflicts. How vexing."
Unbeknown to her, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Yasaka then continued the introduction as her hand motioned to the red-faced Tengu.
"This one right here is Yogarasu, he is my right hand man." Ritsuka slightly turned her attention to Yogarasu and gave him a slight nod, which he replied in same.
"And I believe you're already familiar with Kawarasu. He is the Captain of my daughter Royal Guards." Kawarasu just sat there silently with his eyes closed.
Ritsuka turned her attention back to the Leader of Kyoto.
"I know you probably already know who I am, but I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka. Just an ordinary Human." Ritsuka politely introduced herself and Yasaka just nodded in response.
"Kawarasu has informed me regarding the kidnapping attempt on my daughter and how you have stepped in to save her." Yasaka then lowered herself into a deep bow aimed towards Ritsuka. "From the bottom of my heart, I express my gratitude to you for saving my daughter from those heathens who dared to trespass into our territory."
Ritsuka just stared at Yasaka, calmly thinking an appropriate response for such gesture she was given from such important figure.
While Ritsuka can just go ahead and putting an act like some sort of hero of justice who will save those who needs to be saved, that would have been useless should Yasaka found anything remotely suspicious about her.
Besides, the reason why Ritsuka saved Kunou definitely wasn't out of generosity. And if Yasaka can discern that, she possibly wouldn't getting anything from this confrontation and this would have been a total waste of time.
So Ritsuka decided to tell her the truth.
"Please raise your head, Yasaka-dono. I'm not some hero who go and saving people around. It is simply within my interests to save Kunou from those people."
As expected, the mood slightly shifted into that of hostility. Yogarasu and Kawarasu just narrowed their eyes suspiciously at Ritsuka. Yasaka slowly returned to her normal posture as she now wore a slightly more hostile face.
"Of course, Kawarasu mentioned in his report you wish to be rewarded for your deeds." Yasaka spoke with an edge in her tone. "Most people wouldn't be so open about it. Or at least, they will try to be as subtle as possible."
Ritsuka just scoffed lightly.
"Being subtle isn't my style. My deeds should give you enough obligation to reward me, even if I'm being upfront about it." Ritsuka said as she matched the tone Yasaka was using. Ritsuka then let out a small victorious grin. "After all, if what I heard from those Tamamo's loyalist was the truth, I just prevent your daughter from becoming a sacrifice for some dangerous ritual. Surely you wouldn't like that outcome, would you?!"
Yasaka clenched her fists onto her Kimono while her neutral face finally broke down and was replaced by a frown. Both Yogarasu and Kawarasu also couldn't hide their vexation towards the outworlder.
However, Ritsuka was right. They really did owe her big time.
"I swear, in the name of Amaterasu-omikami, that you shall be rewarded appropriately." Yasaka declared which made Ritsuka relieved a little bit since she can sense that the oath was genuine.
So Ritsuka just nodded her head in approval.
"Very well, I shall hold onto that oath."Ritsuka responded before she move on onto the next subject. "I believe you would like to hear about the chronology of the incident."
It was more of a statement than a question. But Yasaka nodded her head in confirmation anyway.
"Yes. With my daughter is still shaken up from the incident and her guards that accompanied her are still out of commission, you are the only one who could provide us with the information regarding the chronology of the attack."
Yasaka then gave Ritsuka a stern look.
"Cooperate and we shall discuss about your reward." Yasaka demanded.
Ritsuka complied.
"Why don't we start from the beginning. It started when I was just about to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha like any other tourist, it was just before noon when I just arrived at the front gate. And that time when I bumped into your daughter."
"You met my daughter prior the attack?" Yasaka inquired and Ritsuka just nodded in confirmation. "She was supposed to be in the school. Don't tell me she's skipping her class again?" Yasaka asked in annoyance and Ritsuka just shrugged her shoulders, not particularly care about it.
"Moving on, I bumped into your daughter, which I admit the fault was mine since I wasn't paying attention to where I go. Your daughter fell down and I asked her if she was alright. And then…" Ritsuka then paused for a moment, not sure how to explain it politely.
"And then?" Yasaka repeated in both anticipation and suspicious.
"…your daughter's stomach started growling in hunger."
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"I genuinely was taken back when that happened and before I could say anything else…it happened again, even louder than before."
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"And at that moment, your daughter started crying loudly."
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"Are you being serious?" Yasaka's right hand man, Yogarasu, asked in pure irritation after few seconds of silence.
Ritsuka just gave him a very serious look.
"Do I look like I'm joking to you?"
(Ahem)
Yasaka fake coughed to break out the argument before it escalated even further.
"Please continue, Fujimaru-dono." Yasaka requested and Ritsuka just complied.
"Obviously, a child crying out of nowhere tends to attract the wrong kind of attentions. I figured out she didn't bring any money with her at the time, so I offered her a lunch at nearby restaurant to calm her down. She accepted it quickly, almost too quick as the matter of fact."
Ritsuka let out a displeased frown before continued.
"That child ate like a vacuum cleaner sucks up all the dirt's on the floor."
"Hold on a minute…" Kawarasu, Kunous's Royal Guard Captain, interrupted as he eyes Ritsuka with accusations look. "…How do we know you're telling the truth?"
Ritsuka didn't answer him and instead, she pulled a slip of paper longer than her entire arm and waved it at everyone present.
"I don't care if you royalties spends ten times more than the amount here, but this right here is the reason why I got involved into this mess." Ritsuka commented in mild annoyance.
Of course that was just an excuse for Ritsuka to obtain more information about this world from these people.
Yasaka could only rubbed the bridge of her nose, but she fully was convinced that Ritsuka was telling the truth.
"Rest assure, every single yen you spend for my daughter will be repaid." Yasaka said to the outworlder as she motioned Yogarasu to take the receipt, which Ritsuka gladly handed to him.
"Moving on, your daughter claimed that she will repay my money once she retrieve her wallet and told me to wait at the restaurant before she left me." Ritsuka continued on, paused for a moment whether she should mention this part or not, before deciding to just go upfront about it.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't trust your daughter to keep her promise at the time since she didn't provide me with anything as a guarantee, so I followed her without her knowing."
Surprisingly, the three people from Youkai Faction didn't react. Or they were just that skilled hiding it. Granted she didn't mention about using invisibility to follow Kunou. Either way, Ritsuka took this as a sign to continue.
"I followed her until we reached the shrine on the top of Mount Inari. She then called out for her guards to come out, talked to them for a little bit before. And just when they were about to leave, everything suddenly become gray. That's when the attack begin."
The three people from Youkai Faction, suddenly perked up.
"What do you mean when you said "everything suddenly become gray", Fujimaru-dono?" Kawarasu asked.
"It's just exactly as I said, the surrounding suddenly lost their color and become gray. It also seems to negate the teleportation spell your daughter and her guards was about to use. Not long after that, purple mist suddenly appeared and surrounded them. And from within that mist, the Tamamo's loyalist appeared."
This got Yasaka assumed a thinking pose.
"Yogarasu, there was Sacred Gear with that exact description about their power, wasn't there?" Yasaka asked the red-faced Tengu who nodded in confirmation.
"The description sounds like one of the Top tier Longinus, Dimension Lost. If it's really the work of Dimension Lost…" Yogarasu answered.
"…Then it's no wonder they were able to bypass our defense perimeters." Kawarasu finished his colleague thought.
Ritsuka just listened the discussion and mentally noted about "Sacred Gear" and "Longinus" into the list of things she should look up later. Thought if she had to guess, these "Sacred Gears", if the name implied it correctly, might be some sort of magical item that was quite common in this world.
The three of the Youkai Faction seems to have finish their little discussion and shifted their attention back to Ritsuka.
"My apologize for getting a little sidetracked, please continue." Yasaka requested.
"Kunou's guard later fought the loyalist after they instructed Kunou to flee. Unfortunately for her, someone else intercepted her by binding her legs with magic."
"Was it the boy in red clothing that you killed?" Kawarasu inquired and Ritsuka nodded in confirmation.
"He later bind Kunou's arms with magic while guards were defeated by the loyalists. And just when they were about to escape…"
"You saw the merit to step in and save my daughter." Yasaka finished Ritsuka's sentence.
"Well, I wouldn't get my money back if she gone, would I?" Ritsuka simply replied with a smirk on her face.
Yasaka could only let out a tired sigh. She appreciated Ritsuka's honesty, but it doesn't make it less annoying to deal with. Yasaka had no idea what kind of reward Ritsuka would demand and hopefully, it wasn't something so outrageous beyond her power.
"Fair enough. What happened next?"
"I killed the boy and three of those loyalist before knocked out the last one." Ritsuka replied without missing a beat.
All of the Kyoto representatives raised an eyebrow at the lack of details in her testimony this time.
"Care for a little detail?" Yogarasu asked with a clear hint of annoyance.
"You mean about how I killed them?" Ritsuka turned her attention to the red-faced Tengu. "If you look at their corpses, clearly they died because of multiple stabbing wounds through their vital organs."
Ritsuka just let out an even bigger smirk at their annoyances.
"What? You think I would spell out my power to some strangers? I only agree to provide you with the chronology of the kidnapping attempt, I have no obligation to tell you anything about myself." Ritsuka then paused in mid sentences. "Then again, Kunou was the only one who saw my power on action. But I think I have traumatized her for a little bit with those rather graphic demonstrations."
They had a staring contest for several seconds before the Kyoto Faction backed down per Yasaka's instruction.
"Very well, you can keep your secret to yourself." Yasaka conceded, causing the tension to ease up a bit. "I assume that's all that happened."
Ritsuka nodded her head.
"Nothing much happened aside from Kunou lunged at me and cried into my clothes before Kawarasu-dono arrived with reinforcement."
Yasaka turned towards the Royal Guard Captain, who nodded in confirmation. She then nodded to Ritsuka and let out another tired sigh, relieving that half of the business with her was done.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Fujimaru-dono. Let's move on to the discussion about your rewards." Yasaka spoke as she steeled herself, preparing for anything Ritsuka might demands.
Ritsuka herself straighten up her sitting position as she assumed a rather serious expression.
"Then I demands for some information as my rewards."
The Kyoto Faction went silent at the demand.
"What kind of information exactly?" Yogarasu inquired suspiciously.
Information can be worth more than mountain of diamonds after all. Information can also change the tide of the war. If Ritsuka demands information that was quite confidential to them, then the Youkai Faction will have to refuse it.
"About the supernatural world in general."
The three Kyoto representatives tilted their heads in confusion. Ritsuka just sighed, she should have elaborated it more.
"If this whole fiasco taught me anything, it's that the supernatural world is far more troublesome than I initially thought. Unfortunately, my understanding about the supernatural is limited to "inhuman creatures hidden among humans". If I were to be dragged into this mess again, I would rather come prepared next time."
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"Very well, what do you want to know?"
Ritsuka let out a smile.
"Why don't we start with the supernatural political status quo."
"Thank you for your work today, Yasaka-sama." A female, Nanabi Kitsune with short black hair and red eyes spoke as she put down a tray of tea set onto the table.
The leader of Kyoto just let out another tired sigh as she let herself to be relax after today incident. After her business with Fujimaru Ritsuka and have Kawarasu to escort her back to human world, she immediately retreated back to her personal room due how tired she was today.
When she heard about the kidnapping attempt on her daughter by the Tamamo loyalists, she immediately abandoned every single of her schedule today, regardless the political backlash that could happen afterwards. Her patrons God, Amaterasu-omikami, might not be pleased by her action. But Yasaka was willing to deal with any punishment from the Sun Goddess if it's for the sake of her beloved Kunou.
Thankfully, the kidnapping attempt failed due to outside interference.
While it irked her that individual who saved Kunou only done it because of her own personal interest, Yasaka still owed her despite the not-so noble intention from the savior. After all, she had an idea of what the loyalist was planning with Kunou.
And Yasaka would rather die than let it to happen to her only daughter.
Thankfully, Ritsuka didn't demand her anything drastic. Only few bit of information that should have been a common sense for those who knew the existence of supernatural world.
Although, this makes the girl looks suspicious in Yasaka's eyes.
"Thank you for your work too, Emiko." Yasaka thanked the Nanabi Kitsune, who was none other than her personal maid.
Emiko has always been with Yasaka ever since the beginning of the conflicts with the loyalists for over centuries. Both her and Yasaka fought side-by-side and protect each other's back. Yogarasu might be her most trusted assistant to the public, but it was actually Emiko whom Yasaka trusted the most.
It wouldn't be far fetched to call Emiko Yasaka's one and only friend.
"I'm merely doing my duty as your servant, Yasaka-sama." Emiko respectfully bowed at her master.
Yasaka poured out the tea onto her mug while adding a couple block of sugar into it. She picked up a spoon and began to stir the tea.
"Did you find anything regarding the individual known as Fujimaru Ritsuka?" Yasaka asked as she took a sip of her tea.
"Yes, but the only thing I could find about her is her basic identification from Kyoto Administration database." Emiko replied as she handed Yasaka a piece of paper with Ritsuka's picture on it. "I have tried to look into her even further, I have searched through the list of Birth Data during birthdate that was written in her identification. But aside from this, Fujimaru Ritsuka practically doesn't exist up until now."
Yasaka hummed at she looked at the piece of paper. It indeed, only contains regarding the basic information about Ritsuka, which likely to be a fabrication. There is a chance that "Fujimaru Ritsuka" wasn't even her real name.
It's a bit premature to leave her alone as it is now.
"Emiko, keep a close eye on Fujimaru Ritsuka! Make sure to watch every of her movement while she's still within Kyoto territory!"
"As you command, Yasaka-sama."
The Kitsune servant bowed respectfully before left the room to execute her order.
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However, after making sure no one was watching. Emiko put her finger into her ear and a small magic circle materialized near it.
"Tamamo-sama, I have something to report."
"I see, good work Emiko. Continue playing as Yasaka's "most trusted servant" while you wait for my order."
Somewhere in Kyoto, a voluptuous looking woman with long black hair and red eyes commanded as she disconnected the call. The woman wore a red Kimono with fancy accessories that seemingly came from to that of royalty. But the clothing wasn't the most distinctive feature of this woman.
It was the fox ears and eight fox tails that were attached to her body.
This woman was none other than Tamamo-no-Mae.
The legendary Kyuubi Kitsune who was infamous by posing as a beloved courtesan of the Emperor of Japan at the time and abusing her position to subtly worsen the people quality of life. She was later exposed by the Legendary Onmyouji, Abe-no-Yasuchika, who later led a small army in order to kill her.
Even after her death, she was still a menace to the people of Japan during that time. She haunted the plains where she was killed as the cursed stone, the Sessho-seki, that released very toxic gasses that killed everything within it's vicinity.
It was later until a Buddhist monk exorcised her spirit and banished her soul to Yomi, the Japanese version of Land of the Dead. That was supposed to be the end of Tamamo-no-Mae.
Until several of her loyalists, those who shared the same ideology as her in which "humans were nothing but food and tools for their entertainment", managed to retrieve her soul from Yomi. However, all souls who left Yomi were bounded to return to the Realm of the Dead one way or another due to the "Law of Yomi" that was engraved into every soul that entered the Realm of the Dead.
Fortunately for her, her loyalists knows how to bypass the law.
"Tomorrow is the deadline for the next ritual." Tamamo muttered to herself as her brain was working overload how to overcome the current obstacle.
The ritual she's talking about was a form of Necromancy art. One that was able to fool "the Law of Yomi". The art that allows the transferal of one soul into a vessel. However, there are several conditions that must be met in order for the ritual to success.
First, the soul and the vessel must be at least 80 percent compatible with each other.
Second, the ritual must take place in a location riches of magical ley-lines.
Third, the ritual must be done again once every 100 years since the last ritual. And they cannot use the same vessel like the last one. Otherwise, the ritual can no longer be performed with the same soul.
Currently, Tamamo resided within a Hachibi Kitsune which was the only other suitable vessel for her besides the Kyuubi.
The problem is…
"This vessel is the last Hachibi Kitsune. I need to get my hand on that Kyuubi brat soon."
One fun fact about that Necromancy art was you can ignore the third rule should the vessel was 100 percent compatible with the soul.
Tamamo later found out that her soul and Kunou are a perfect match. Even Yasaka, a more mature Kyuubi, wasn't 100 percent compatible with her.
Tamamo should thanked to whoever it was who impregnated Yasaka 90 years ago, if they were still alive.
"You seems troubled with something, princess." A male voiced was heard, causing the legendary Kitsune adopting a disgusted face.
Tamamo immediately throw a couple of talismans that created a couple of icicles and launched them at the source of the voice.
The person didn't move an inch when the icicles flew towards him and just let them passed, fully knowing that the legendary Kitsune wasn't aiming at him.
"Don't ever call me that again, you filthy human." Tamamo spat out at the newcomer, her voice was clearly filled with disgust.
The newcomer was a well-build young man with short black hair and blue eyes. He wears a combination of Gakuran and an ancient Chinese attire. Resting over his shoulder, was a very long ornate spear with dark blue rod and silver tip. The spear has golden metal decoration in form of small arrows that that spiraled around in double helix pattern.
The young man doesn't seem to be intimidated by the hostility the legendary Kitsune was showing and just laughed it off.
"Sure…sure…" The young man just waved off the threat before his expression shifted into a more serious one. "…But seriously, your underlings and my comrade haven't return yet. Is there a problem?"
Tamamo didn't answer him immediately. They had a staring contest for good few seconds.
"They failed to kidnap the Kyuubi brat. Three of my men were killed and one was captured. Your comrade was killed as well "
The young man blinked in pure surprise.
"Georg died?"
His comrade wasn't weak, even for a mere human. On top of being a top class magician capable of performing many kinds of magic, Georg was the wielder of "Dimension Lost". A top tier Longinus ranked among top 4 alongside with "Annihilation Maker", "Zenith Tempest" and his "True Longinus".
The lost of his second in command to a simple kidnapping mission was indeed rather unexpected. However, the young man thought there is nothing he could do to change it. It's not like he wouldn't be able to see his comrade again.
After all, he had heard about a certain Longinus that capable of resurrecting the dead.
"It seems that we have underestimated the Youkai Faction's prowess if they have someone capable of killing a High-tier Longinus user." The young man simply commented while rubbing his chin with his finger.
"It wasn't one of Yasaka's underling who thwarted the kidnapping attempt. It was a human woman who just happened to be on the location."
Now that caught the young man full attention.
"A human you say?" The young man wondered with genuine curiosity.
"The name is Fujimaru Ritsuka. My spy found nothing on her except for the basic identification. Another thing my spy has discovered that the girl knows only the very basic about the supernatural world. She doesn't even know multiple factions exists."
Tamamo explanation only magnified the young man curiosity even further.
Someone capable killing his second in command and mostly oblivious about what happened in the world of supernatural. And moreover, she was just a human. Someone like that could be a valuable ally or a very dangerous enemy to him and his faction.
"Interesting. Anything else your spy know about her? Like her power for example?" The young man asked the legendary Kitsune.
"Nothing too exact, but it seems it has something to do with dealing stabbing wounds, that's how my mens and your comrade were killed."
The young man just nodded to himself.
"I would like to add another condition to our contract." The young man suddenly spoke out, causing the Youkai narrowed her eyes at him.
The contract was the only reason why Tamamo hadn't attempt to kill this young man, despite how infuriating he was, especially regarding his "Human Supremacy" ideology. The initial conditions were already enough lose for her, adding another one might be pushing it.
However, lacking man power was the main reason why she agreed to cooperate with this Human faction in the first place. And now she just lost another three of her men, she wasn't in the position to negotiate.
"What is it?" She managed to ask while gritted her teeth.
"Leave the girl to me. Do not interfere with what I'm planning to do with her." The young man answered as he walked away and left.
Tamamo frowned at the condition the young man demanded. Though she was enraged that her precious underlings were killed by that human woman, she can put her anger aside if it means to maintain this temporary alliance.
After she fulfills her goal obtaining the perfect vessel for her soul, she would come after him and his faction next.
To be continued
