Chrysalis Heart

by Yincira

AU. What if the story was about the plight of the demons? Nina's more heroic, Azazel doesn't disappear, Belphegor doesn't die, Kaisar's more self aware.

7. Requiems

· · · · · · ·

The post raven's pecking at the window was extra obnoxious today, not to mention early. Kaisar had sent a letter to Rita in the night still, expecting Rita to answer at her leisure, yet it was here already.

The letter had a ticked off rant telling him to stay out her business at night and no, she hadn't joined any scheme or rebellion, like they'd even be able to pay. Besides, he ought to know better than to think she'd sic any demons on her colleages. She'd just taken a paying job.

It was only a little relief. Azazel had started gathering other demons first the first time in years, right after the appearance of that dragon. Something about this was off.

Something slapped on the window post and when he lowered the letter, he saw the hand hauled someone into the window. A clutter of knightly white cloth and unknightly red afro with ponytail fell into his room.

"Favaro!"

Favaro rolled onto his feet and grinned. "Ey, Kaisar. What took you so long?"

"How did you get in here without announcement?"

"The guy at the gate recognized me, thought I wanted to rejoin," he said with a gesture at his old get up. "... and apparently isn't aware of the warrant on my head."

He was in trouble, wasn't he? And came here to be bailed out. Great timing. "What did you do this time?"

"I just saved the world, man. I dunno what Charioce tells his people, but I'm gonna guess he's after cause I was the hero of the prophecy. If the Onyx Knights see me, they'll pursue," he said. "I only here because have to tell you something really important : don't do it. You need to stay put. Don't talk to the king, don't rat them out."

"Are you involved with Azazel's rebellion?"

"Azazel?"

"If not that, then who are you talking about?"

"Azazel's actually heading it, eh? No wonder she was ..." Favaro ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, we're taking a huge risk by messing with fate. We know little on what's coming, only that we have to derail fate. Y'know you've got quite the tyrannical empire here, right? It needs to end, Kaisar. Why aren't you doing anything?"

That was more than he could process, so he responded only to what he knew. "I've spoken to the king numerous times, but each time he rebukes me. It's difficult, I can't show too much sympathy for the demons, or my status will be revoked. But there has to be a way for the tribes to live in peace, and I will find it! I won't give up on it."

Favaro smirked. "Look, after being hunted by you for years I appreciate you value talking things out now, but don't you think you're taking it a bit far? This isn't something like with my dad betraying yours. You got evidence this time Charioce is doing shit, and I don't remember you giving the criminals we used to hunt seven years to repent."

"This is a different situation. The king is not a criminal but a man in a difficult position. While I cannot explain him, he—"

Favaro's smirk dropped. "Cut it out, Kaisar. He's got more of a body count than all of our old bounties combined. What are you waiting for?"

"The king is a reasonable man, he may yet come to understand that peace is achievable. People change. Even Azazel did. He saved our lives and that vendetta of his was hot air. If even someone like him can change eventually, a man like king Charioce XVII should too. He is not a bad person, he truly cares for his people. He will come to see reason in time."

"I dunno man, I don't feel much of that care when his soldiers hunt me down."

"You must've done something to provoke that! You said yourself you don't know what he tells his men, so you don't know his order."

"I didn't do anything criminal since she is gone. I can't afford to get arrested when I have to be free to help her come free."

Kaisar frowned. "I've known you to be a liar for a long time, Favaro. I may hope we have become honest to each other, but I can't tell. What I can tell is that the king may have to reconsider some things, but you have to consider all the good he has done for the kingdom. It has never prospered as much as now."

"Man, I can't believe Azazel hasn't offed you yet," Favaro said. "You still gonna talk like this when your king tries to be a better world savior than me? He's trying to take my place as world savior, and he's risking everything for it."

"I won't hear any more of this nonsense! Your pride got to your head if you think that this is about you."

"My pride? Worry about your own, or does your chivalry not count the demons?"

It sounded so unlike Favaro to say that, and too much like what Azazel had said. Something was wrong here.

Favaro took him by the shoulders. "Charioce XVII has to die. You are in a better position than any of us to do that."

"Favaro! I swore loyalty to the king—"

"Dammit, Kaisar! Charioce XIII killed your father over losing some rocks! Who does his son have to kill before you understand that that's worthless?"

"Without law and honor, society will collapse. I refuse to listen to this vile talk any further." He shook off Favaro's hands. "Guards, we have an intruder!"

"That's what you're going to be like, eh?" Favaro only looked disappointed.

Kaisar turned to the door and didn't look back as Favaro jumped out of the window.

· · · · · · ·

Nina woke in the afternoon but stayed in her bed, paper in hands under the light of a candle. She wanted to ask her mother for advice, but the words never manifested on paper.

The king here isn't good to people and the stories the traders tell aren't complete. I wonder, could we help out the people who suffer? We are so powerful, we could end this. That would lead to describing the rebellion, and her uncertainty on Azazel's goals. With everyone being excited for imminent liberation, it was such an awkward topic to start. Hey, any of you know whether Azazel tried to invade this city once?

According to Chris that had been about a decade ago, five years before the demons were enslaved. It couldn't have been for good reasons. What if he just wanted to conquer the city out of spite?

Maybe she should've been content with her job rather than hunt down the rag demon. Everything would have been so much easier. Maybe she'd even have met Chris anyway if she'd gotten the idea to wrestle for money later.

She'd also be uncaring for the suffering around her. The demons were people and Azazel was ... well, they'd saved each other, they were allies, and she was pretty sure they agreed on the fate of the demons at least. It was the fate of the humans she was so unsure of.

Granted, it wasn't like every single human or dragon she knew had a unique name. Even in her small home down, there were currently two Lazlo's. Demons lived about as long as her dragon kin, so Azazel could be a popular name. That just made it more awkward to ask.

By the time she had to get up for a planning thing with Eligos, she still didn't have a letter on paper.

Eligos's thing was drilling commands into her head, hoping they'd stick into her dragon self. Apparently she was able to mimic animals as a dragon — quite a surprise. People at home didn't really talk much about what she did as a dragon. Said she rampaged a little, sometimes and was more stupid in the time after transformation.

Which brought her to another problem.

Her mother had always told her not to hate her dragon problem, so she tried not to. Over time she had grown more endurance to triggers. The most frequent one, handsome guys, had already started getting better when Favaro become her mentor. Really, she ought to be happy it had gotten to the point she needed hugs to go bonkers. Yet that wasn't something she should concerned about since she wasn't supposed to hate herself for her problem. Or hate her problem. She'd never understood that difference.

That just got so much more complicated. She didn't even know how to break her conflict to her mother, what was she supposed to write now? The words that were on paper didn't seem enough.

It seems I'm getting more control of one of my triggers, but things are now so that that might be a bad thing, because I might have to be a dragon to protect some friends. A lot might change here, and I don't think I'm prepared.

She ought to wish for control and yet found herself wishing her dragon side did not exist. And for there to be no need for a rebellion that needed her to go dragon. These converged in one nagging question : should she want to turn into a dragon for Azazel?

There was nothing that said he wasn't the Azazel to inspire all other name bearers to get that name, if there were indeed more.

After the work with Eligos, she wandered through most empty halls. Far outside were the cheers of the parade and the festival. Inside here, the demons gathered in the largest hall of the underground.

They had lit small fires from magic circles across the hall, lined with candles that burned violet. Kneeling around these circles, they laid thin papers with names on them as a murmur and a chant filled the space.

Humans had carried candles through the street to celebrate their deaths, just yesterday Nina had been admiring that parade. She felt like an intruder here.

Azazel sat crosslegged near the center of the hall, not close to any circle and his eyes turned down. He mourned along with them. Here it seemed so wrong to even think he'd do something like invade a city for some evil reason.

Eligos joined the mourning, but she saw neither Dante nor Belphegor, which was more than a little odd. After finding Arachna in her walls, she learned they were still in the sickbay.

Said sickbay had a lot of new faces, all sickly and scarred yet not starved. The scent of rotten wounds mixed with antiseptics prickled at her dragon senses — it prickled instincts she wanted to ignore.

Dante softly spoke with one of the newcomers who could sit up, and Adva was in a corner fussing over her friend.

When Dante saw Nina, he approached her. "Anything you need?"

"What's wrong with them?" She was dimly aware that they'd freed some people last night, but why were they here?

"They've been experimented on by doctors," Dante said. "It's considered impure to harvest medicine and knowledge from demons for humans, so they did it in secret. They also wanted to harvest hybrids and try out surrogate hosts. The doctors buy off the black market to avoid trouble, since there's a penalty and their victims are killed on sight by authorities. I figured we could keep them here until Charioce is defeated."

A human woman staggered past them, going for a bucket to throw up in.

"Oh, we have humans joining us too now?" Nina said.

"That's not a member," Dante said. "She got caught up, we're just keeping her here so she can't rat us out."

"Oh."

That was actually not alright. How'd she get caught up in a way she could rat them out?

Nina set course to Belphegor's laboratory, ready to burst in with questions.

If only she could find the door.

Arachna hadn't hidden it, but the fumes did. Kolraun sat far outside with watery eyes while Durahanem waved a cloth to thin out the smoke.

"Uhm ... how did the bomb go?"

"Tehcnically effective," Kolrain said with a finger raised. "We need to adjust a few things and make it less other things."

"It was supposed to just knock humans out cold," Durahanem said. "Some did, others didn't. We need to get this mess out of here, we can't test more since it polutes the sample. You don't happen to have handy magic for that, do you?"

She didn't, but others did. Bacchus and Hamsa were in today, so she dragged them along and got Bacchus to enchant Hamsa to grow. Oversized Hamsa could wave off the smokes easily.

Inside, Belphegor paced around her laboratory, taking only short deep breaths.

"Bel, what's wrong?" Nina asked, ignoring the unpleasant prickle in her nose.

"Nothing's wrong with me." She sounded angry somehow. "I just need to get this right in time."

"Can I help?"

"No! ... no, you're part human, you can't. You have to stay away until I'm sure it's safe." She spotted the gods. "You. Listen, we need a way to move people better. I can't guarantee this will go right, maybe I can't use it at all, we need something secure. Is your carriage air proof?"

"Uh ... I dunno," Bacchus said.

"Okay, you need to make the carriage bigger. If we can transport more people we don't need to knock so many out."

"What's your deal anyway? They're enemy soldiers."

"One bad wind and it's going to blow into the city, don't you understand?"

"I guess."

"If you can choose the size of something, you should be able to shrink things," Belphegor said. "And there must be magic that handles gravity that does internal stability support because gravity still affected Hamsa externally but not internally, because duck legs are not built for that kind of weight and yet they didn't break. We can do a lot with that, I'm sure."

"I dunno, I'm not a god of inventions. Or do you wanna experiment with my powers too?"

"No ... Then apply it on the carriage at least."

"Hey, what're you fretting on, miss?" Hamsa asked.

"I knew, but I thought I had it under control, and I even told him like it was something I ..." She dropped on a nearby chair. "I didn't. What am I doing?"

This seemed like a horrible time to ask them about what that thing with Magdalene was, but it still felt safer than bring up anything like an invasion by Azazel. Bacchus was familiar enough for it to feel under control.

"Hey, can I ask something random?" Nina asked.

"Hmm?"

"What was that about Magdalene? Why did she target you?"

Belphegor gave her an odd look, which turned tired quickly. "I used to give out magic in exchange for services in the past, and favored scholars and wise people. Some of them committed crimes with my magic, I did not run a thorough background check or track what they did with my gifts. I didn't know them as well as I should have."

"Yeah, the whole bounty tracking system just responds to demonic invocation first," Bacchus said. "Lots of other things to worry about, Nina."

"Oh, okay, so it was all a misunderstanding?"

"I wouldn't put it that way, but if you mean whether I intended for my magic to be used like that, I did not. Not then, at least," Belphegor said.

"That's good. I mean, not the battle or anything, just that— anyway, why isn't Rita here to help you with this? She's an expert at poison stuff and illness."

That got confused looks from everyone. "Why would she?"

"Don't tell me Rita isn't part of the rebellion either?"

· · · · · · ·

Dromos pounded in his head still, tearing together the injuries from the dragon, giving strength in a way that might kill him one day. The court whispered he was superhuman, and he was; none other could bend Dromos to their will like this. He just didn't use it much, he had to save himself for the right time. So the pounding remained and he just endured until the time he would prove to be the most exceptional spirit.

It just didn't quite feel so noble after spending half of last night partying with an incredibly, inexhaustibly cute girl. His habit of dutifully getting enough sleep for optimal performance was shot to hell or some other abyss the moment she smiled at him.

Nothing like the stiff, pasted faces of the handmaidens around him, who now got ready to help him dress. Less yet like sir sourface with the weird hair, who wanted an audience right now as Charioce was getting dressed.

One way the girl was a curse on his life was how much more drab everyone else felt in comparison.

"Let him in."

He didn't turn around, not worth it.

"Your majesty, I believe the demons are planning an unrising and urge you not to participate in the parade or any other public activity until we dismantle them."

"Let them attack, it'll be interesting." A successful parade or successful crushed rebellion, either was fine for his reputation.

"I urge you to reconsider. You have seen what power the rag demon has been hiding and now he has allied with that dragon. So many lives will be lost if they rampage during a crowd."

"Do you actually have any evidence they will strike today?"

"No. But we've seen suspicious activity that links that explosion at that doctor's place to an organized group of demons."

"If they plan anything and give it away the night before, they are either so foolish we can easily handle them, or they are smart enough not to strike today." It would be great if they did, however. The sooner he got the head of the rag demon, the better. "The kingdom needs a determined leader and such I shall be. Arrange for a few more wyvern riders in the air, if you must. Keep them away from the fireworks, or better yet, have them launch some fire to add to it. I wouldn't want my citizens to think I have reason to fear more than usual. Of course, unless you have a reason why you think we should fear worse ..."

Kaisar hesitated before he said, "No." What a weak voice.

"Is the reason you happened to catch wind that Azazel of yours?" Charioce asked.

"No, but ... in an indirect way, perhaps." Liar. The man was so easily read.

"Anything else I should know?"

" ... no."

Not even that there were whispers Favaro Leone had entered the castle this early morning? Such bad form. Any other day he might have called it out, but today he understood that kind of weakness a little better.

After ten years of mastering rigid self control and perfect focus on his goal, that girl just happened. Just like that. Some old guy, probably a god to boot, just set him up and he didn't even have the heart to say no. What a disgrace.

That said, he was not as weak as Kaisar, whose attachments might do worse than a little sleep deprivation, be it for the kingdom or himself. And Favaro, well, he'd catch him yet.

· · · · · · ·

Nina didn't want to hang out in the underground for long, amid the mourning and the sick people, but she wasn't into the mood for going to the parade either. Her next date meeting with Chris wasn't until tomorrow. So she took a few out door jobs, including tapping into her funds to pay Seppe and Saphant for carrying down all the escaped demons.

"Thanks for the help with the injured people," Nina said as she dumped three bags at their shack. "Here's the money, and I got you some extra food that lasts longer. I tried to get some cinnamon things, but the nearest baker who didn't recognize me had heard of me, so ... it didn't work out."

"Meh, we can't live on sweets anyway. We're spending this on a lot of meat," Seppe said. "How did you get so filthy rich anyway? We're told you're responsible for Rita's rations going through the roof. Did you rob someone?"

"It was a gift, I swear. He's a really lovely guy and I think we might be dating." Her cheeks flushed at the thought — so presumptive, nothing was official yet! And embarassing, change topic now. Let's see ... Seppe was the biggest demon she'd seen in the city, and he ate to match. "Say, what'd you even eat before I came along?"

"I'm a necromancer, so I just spread a reanimation field on the forest to summon dead animals to me," Seppe said.

"If you can summon lots of dead animals to you, could you make an army out of them?" Nina asked.

"Nah, I don't have enough exteral energy left," he said.

"The elevator take it all up?"

"What? Ugh, no, are you dense?" Saphant said.

"I am when it to magic. I've had exactly one lesson in it."

Sapphant sighed. "Okay, listen up. Everyone has internal and external magic energy. We get the latter from our realms to do things like summoning, teleportation, powering artificial armies, casting curses that remain when we leave, and so on. It needs to be stirred and shaped up, though. Hell's generic source is stirred up by; any fear really, of the dark, of death, wild beasts. It congregates in invisible rivers. We give that river instructions to do things. The more powerful a demon is, the greater is the channel they can govern. However, with hell's cities abandoned and tribe having moved to Helheim, the preexisting channels are disrupted and weakened. Less fear in general, less fear direct at demons, less structure in hell. Few of us can even uses the nexuses to travel. Oh, it'd be so useful if hatred instead could stir it up into use, we'd be in a very different position now."

"Huh?"

"Different emotions ripen different types of energy, and one can learn to employ other channel types. Technically," Saphant said. "We're not sure how that works, though. I've got a specialized in dedication to work or something, but that goes to heaven and I get little of that. On what logic Rita works beats me."

That sounded too arcane for Nina, she planned to ask someone else later in favor of that little snippet at the end. "What's with Rita?

"We're not really sure, but Rita's got a hell stream going that doesn't flicker," Seppe said. "She can even turn demons into zombies and keep it going even when she isn't the city."

Five minutes later, Nina was at Rita's door.

"Rita!" Nina burst through the back door. "I have to talk to you, it's really important!"

Rita took one look at her and said, "No."

"Just hear me out!"

"... after I'm done with this patient. And the answer will still be no."

With the worst cases already helped, Rita now made her way through demons who had allergies, starvation symptoms, infections and the like. She still handed out food and still wasn't short on anything — Nina had known that ring was expensive, but only now did it really start to sink in how much. There were hundreds and hundreds of people in the ghetto, weren't there?"

Anyway, more important was fleshing out the rebellion.

After Rita was done, she joined Nina in the back room and said, "Five minutes."

"Sooo, I've been told you can raise zombie armies because you have indefinite access to extra fancy hell juice. How come you're not a key figure to the rebellion?"

"You can't pay me enough to make myself a target."

"Pretty please?"

"I don't do altruism."

"Don't you want to save Kaisar? It's only a matter of time before he gets into trouble. Also, Azazel is pissed cause those doctors were experimenting on demons a lot, and he thinks you knew and hid it."

"Kaisar better take care of himself Azazel knows better than to pick a fight with the only competent doctor in the slums."

"Aren't you friends?"

"No."

Nina folded her arms. "What if I let you harvest magical dragon bits when I transform?"

"No."

"What if I convince the super powerful and very old old lady from my village you can reanimate her corpse when she dies?"

Rita paused for a moment, but still said, "No."

Nina hunched down. "Is there anything at all you want?"

"Well, there is one thing I want. How do you feel about stealing?"

· · · · · · ·

Azazel had sworn on his blood to never return to heaven unless it was to overthrow it. How was he supposed to know some dragon girl was going to drag him here because a zombie girl wanted a damned bible?

Not that vows matter much, save one. He would restore demonkind to its former glory and that wasn't happening fast enough. They should be on the streets, ready to land the final blow on Charioce yesterday, but noooo, here they were, crawling through a vent.

Bacchus had refused to give the black bible back to Rita over the years, either because he didn't wanna piss off heaven, or because he didn't trust her. Not wanting to alert him when he was already hesitant to help the rebellion, Nina had roped the one other person who could open gates to heavenly property : him.

As one of the watchers he had been assigned to various earth related missions, including transport of the bounty tablets on the occasional errand. He had never been inside the actual fault, however, so the best gate he could make was one to a maintenance room at the entrance. From there on they went though a vent or two, until they reached the external walkways. This was a viewing area for the youngest gods to behold the great evils demons would wreak on the world.

"That's a lot of shelves." Nina pressed her face against the glass. "Why don't you just send some snakes and teleport all over the place?"

"The alarm goes off if I use any dark magic here, especially the ranged kind," he said. "This is in heaven's domain so the divine register will be optimal."

"That sounds like what Eligos calls class A information, as in the things you should absolutely tell me before we start a mission."

"Just help me get to this control panel."

He pointed at a round plate up in the wall, easily accessible to fliers. Nina hitched her fingers below his feet and lifted him. If he stood on his toes his claws could just reach the edge.

He raised his left hand. Though pale and with purple claws, it still had enough angelic flesh. If remembered the code right, it would accept him.

The system was so weakened, it flickered every few seconds. He had to try twice for the system's own fault; heaven really ought to switch to something other than fate for its systems.

The door opened, letting them into an expanse with hundreds of shelves and a few pillars. There size didn't mean millions of prisoners, though, Nina's dread was misplaced.

The storage had been designed to display : marble shelves displayed the countless small stone tablets with room for writing below. Souls were trapped these with their last faces engraved on the surface, thousands of fearful, desperate glances staring forever frozen at the young gods learning to hate demonkind. Actual demons were not on display; none of these would have power if anyone woke them here by accident.

The lanes stretched out silently, they had to keep their pace slow and measured to avoid making too much sound. Nina adapted to his gait without prompting.

He tried to get an idea of the categorization : by names, with the lesser demons in corners and more renowned ones closer to the main lane. Some of the shelves circled around prolific demons that had been slain by angels. Those were destroyed entirely, but sometimes a piece of armor or weapon that could be put on a pedestal — not for honor but to be hated.

A single angel flew across the lanes to guard and direct cleaning machines, dodging him was easy enough by slipping into one of the little maintenance stations that littered the vast hall. In there they could talk without risk. Nina talked at once, of course.

"So how do you even know what that book Rita wants looks like?"

"I gave it to her." Dropped it near her village during a monster plague that he might have had a hand in.

"How'd she lose it?"

"Some bounty hunters caught up to her," he said.

"Oh. I'm glad she escaped at least."

Azazel chuckled. "Escape? She joined them, that's how she met that knight. They just caught the book."

"They caught the book? How does this bounty system even work?"

"The system doesn't register crimes, it registers hell pacts," Azazel said. "A pact channels power from hell, which the divine judgment system can detect with a sweep system over the land. If the channel links to a book, it registers the book and a snapshot of its current looks. The zombie girl counted as related enough."

The more powerful the demon, the stronger the channel they could craft and leave behind, and the easier the system picked them up. Azazel suspected somewhere in this hall he had a shelf. The question was whether the bible would be there; he had no created it but had brought it to the human world. If they were particularly unlucky, it would be with the actual author, whom he didn't know.

"What's going on inside the rocks?" Nina asked.

"I don't know." He took out a paper on which he'd drawn the black bible and write down his best guess at the Unknown, Miscellaneous and Random categories, assuming they existed. "Look for it under this section, and don't change halls without me knowing. Got it?"

"Azazel," Nina said. "That's a class B."

"Just go find the book."

With her off to the harmless sections, he sought out his own section. If it wasn't there, he'd check for an Assorted category or whether there was a storage room for thing not on display.

He found he had a circle of shelves around an empty pedestal, awaiting a sign of his execution. Dozens of tablets were lined up here just in the primary pact category, some in clusters, some with additions as the pacted had founded organizations with members who invoked other demons.

Between his freedom and now were about three centuries. The cold war between Belzebuth trying to leech tribal loyalty and Lucifer's sporadic bursts of dominance usually kept him occupied, but often he just had time to kill. Physical torture wasn't interesting in the long run, human decisions were. He'd loved finding the most repulsive humans he could, give them a little shove and watch the misery unfold. Sometimes a single human, sometimes a number on opposing sides, sometimes to start a movement. Through the domino effect he must've caused thousands of deaths without lifting a finger.

Rita had been one of his first games and still one of the best surprises. Who would have imagined that of all people in that village, it'd be the little daughter of the doctor who would master it? What a perversion. It'd given him a taste for tempting out the wild of humans so they'd corrupt themselves.

He'd altered the course of human history, no doubt. Now humans changed history themselves and used demons as their playthings. What if he'd ... he didn't need these thoughts. Not now.

Nina burst his bubble by arriving. Cradled in her hand lay the tablet of the black bible. "This it?"

"Yes." That was quick.

"Great, we can leave now," she whispered a little too loud.

"Not yet." He swiped a few of the tablets. Lacking a large enough pocket, he took Nina's whip out of her bag and stuffed them in there.

"Hey! Where am I gonna leave my whip now?"

"If there will be a fight, use it."

She pouted. "Okay fine, but you should do some fighting too."

"We're getting out of here without a fight," he said. "These guards are so stupid, they wouldn't catch."

"Unless I punched the glass to get out the tablet and then ran around till I spotted you cause Class A on both of us, we have no rendezvous point." With embarrassed grin she held up her other hand, which was poorly bandaged.

Oh, great. He wasn't even sure whom to be angry at, her for being clumsy or himself for forgetting she had neither holy craft nor claws.

The guard flew on over the shelves, stopped dead in the air and yelled, "Intruders!" before shooting a rippling alert flare.

Azazel picked up Nina and flew off, right for the nexus point.

The exit door of the hall was still open, as were the next few doors.

The door to the maintenance place they'd used to enter was very much not. And he'd been flying too fast to slow down.

He was barely able to avoid Nina's head splitting open when they collided with the door.

They sprawled over the ground while a flock of guards closed in.

"No, don't fight him! You can't win, that's Azazel!"

They had the sense to back away in fear. Azazel was about to rush ahead and break open that door, when the ripple of the gate stopped him. Someone else had used it to enter.

The door opened. In stepped a calm woman with pale blonde hair and red wings with rounded gems embedded. He only knew her by reputation, which had been glowing praise when he'd heard it as an angel. That spelled nothing but doom for a demon. The judge Dione.

He spun around and pulled Nina along.

"Wait! Aren't we going to the portal?"

He could fight Dione on a better day, but Nina was a target when he had no shields and he should avoid injury to be at peak for killing Charioce.

He blasted over the five walls in their way and dived out of the building, straight into the raging clouds below Vanaheimr.

Lightning cracked around them and winds threatened to sweep them into a maze of air currents. At least Nina didn't start glowing; the bigger the target the more chance they'd be hit.

Lightning found them anyway. The pain sent him off course, he lost balance and had too much speed to regain it even after he would out of the barrier. The mountains below sped forward and he just barely angled.

A bolt of fire hit him between the wings and sent him careening further down to the mountains. Dione must've given chase, so he kept the speed, spun around to the dark side of a mountain and used it to dive into a snow flanked slope. Using his snakes he collapsed the hole behind him and smoothed it back up. Staying in place within the small space, he waited. Nina had lost consciousness again, like the first time she'd fallen, or perhaps it was the lightning; the scales pushing through her skin was new. For a flicker he thought she'd transform, but there was no glow and it stopped on its own.

After a while, he poked a serpent out of the snow and found a clear sky. He waited a little more, but nobody passed.

He laid Nina down, flared his wings to get rid of the snow and stood up, sword ready in case of a trap.

Nothing. Dione must've moved on or gone back. What a fool to even give chase, rather than guess he had no interest in a fight. Granted, little over five years ago he would have slaughtered her.

· · · · · · ·

Sofiel avoided the city during the day of the festival, holed in the carriage with the sporadic presence of Bacchus and the constant presence of overexcitable demon children. They really lived there, right there in a divine carriage. Unbelievable, especially since Bacchus spent half his time getting drunk in taverns.

So she learned the names of demons without a need to slay them. Siem, Arai, Kiprio, Otyan, Daurra, Mugaro.

Worse yet, they helped her adjust the system. When she needed a sample of the green rocks, they brought an old demon from the slums whose collar had not been removed yet. Sofiel and her servants spent a few hours trying to get it off without touching the rock — made harder because the former owner of the demon liked to speak the torture spell out of spite every so now and then. It left them with one sample of active power of Dromos, the bizarre situation of a demon profoundly thanking them to the point of tears and utter confusion on how to report this to Gabriel. Sure, these demons had a lot of their own to gain by taking down Charioce, but well, she'd expected more resistance to the idea. Some kind of monologue about this was only for their selfish goals or something. They didn't hate Bacchus and Hamsa, despite knowing they were gods, and they had to realize she herself was a god, right?

Three days after the festival, she had an adjustment in the justice system that could process Dromos and the decision to not tell Gabriel how she got it.

It took a lot of concentration to create a portal to heaven. A visual channel was easier, but required more concentration now the flows of heaven were weaker. For this purpose she went to a concentration of faith, one of the few churches in Anatae that still ran.

Sofiel paused at the statue before the small church, her gaze on the face of Jeanne d'Arc. It was a remarkable match, perhaps the art value being why the statue hadn't been removed yet. She could not imagine any other reason why Charioce would allow it to stand, knowing he had cast Jeanne out and hunted her down. How he must hate that even now, humans spoke in reverence of Jeanne d'Arc.

"My lady, you are late." The soft voice belonged to the priest of the church. "I worried."

"I am well." She quickly slipped in.

He was a faithful man who would not rat her out. Two years ago Sofiel had come to him to discuss ways to revive the faith humankind had in the gods, which had led to disaster. He had not been implicated, fortunately, and still took the risk to host her now.

She had installed a beacon on the altar that linked with the channels of Vanaheimr. The highest order, straight to Gabriel's palace. Behind her, the priest closed the doors and Sofiel stood close, nervous of treacherous eyes despite the precautions.

The circle soon filled with the soft colors of heaven. Gabriel appeared shortly after.

"Sofiel, report."

"I have found no sign of the holy child, but there is a demon in the capital whose description suggests Azazel. He has attempted to kill Charioce XVII," Sofiel said. "What should I do if I encounter him?"

"Avoid him. We have no interest in conflict with the demons now."

Sofiel certainly didn't have any interest in getting close to Lucifer's filthy court, but given their crisis, Gabriel's reply felt incomplete. Heaven was not outright forbidden from allying with demonkind if there was a common enemy. They had one now. Of course, she could understand the risk. If the demons caught wind of a child who could counter the power of Dromos they might try to take him. She didn't want to imagine what might happen if someone as wicked as Azazel got his hands on El.

"Sofiel, regardless of our common enemy, do not trust demons. Azazel was in the vault a few days ago, stealing his old pact humans. If he had any interest in cooperating with us, he would have approached us otherwise."

"I understand." She didn't, but had no room to complain. She wasn't one of the four archangels yet. "Another matter must be reported. I have found a way to register the power of Dromos within the bounty hunter system."

"What? How?"

"I aquired one of the stones and there are people down here still opposed to Charioce XVII, who were in contact with Bacchus and had prior research and assisted me," she said. "Would you be willing to place a bounty on the head of Charioce XVII so the bracelets can be used against him?"

Gabriel frowned a little, but said, "I will first see what data is sent here, and I expect to be introduced to Bacchus and his mysterious team eventually."

Oh no.

"I'm afraid I cannot easily bring them here. The city is in high tension due to Azazel's recent actions."

"Understandable. Anything else?"

"No, my lady."

There was one other thing, namely the question what they would do to find Jeanne herself, not only her child, but Gabriel had never been interested in her. Sofiel differed on that.

· · · · · · ·

"Seel So Ketom!"

The stone slab dropped into the mud and Favaro sank back against the damp rocks.

Only dim daylight poured into the cave entrance above, but it was to see the blood left on the rocks and the shadow that now fell upon it.

"Well, well, here I try to find out why the king sent out a request for hunters, and I find a mere human?"

Favaro craned his neck to the silhouette in the entrance.

"It's not me you were tracking," Favaro said. "I'm just thinning the competition."

"Oh, I know it's not you. You are human, I tracked a demon. And with you being a human, I am very interested how you defeated this demon."

Favaro vaguely gestured at the cave, parts of which had collapsed. "I just made sure he was in over his head."

He had a little help. A lot of help, really. Favaro pushed against his painful limbs and forced himself on his legs. Putting his hands on his hips, he grinned. "So, who do I have the honor with?"

"But a humble servant of the lady Olivia," the silhouette said. "She hears of interesting events in Anatae."

"Wanna join in?"

"Pfffft, no. Our lady Olivia is not interested in fruitless endeavors," the demon said before slipping away. "But it pays to be cautious."

Ah, so she might be in the game acting wayward too. What a pest.

· · · · · · ·

His captain of the Onyx Knights had ideas sometimes. Sometimes they were good, such as finding which bastard was the best king. Sometimes they missed the point entirely. Like hiring demonic dragon slayers. The very notion! Demons could be cannon fodder for the knights at best, but letting the fate of his nation in their filthy hands? Not happening.

"Our struggle is against the parasitism of heaven and hell. What good are we if we have to leave things in their hands," Charioce said.

Chabrol shrunk away and muttered an apology, but George remained unmoved. "With all due respect, we already rely on demons to propel the capital. I see no difference in letting a demons take the brunt of another, less viable dragon."

"Let's say these hunters are strong enough to handle our enemy, why would they not join forces against us?"

"Will you see what we have found? I assure you, we have verified them their magic and questioned the reputation among other dragons, they have no connections to hell. They are demonic in nature, but not in nation. Them being large and airborne, hell was never home to them. At the very least, come see them. I cannot easily explain it, but it relates to the theory of immunity."

Ah, yes. That. The power of Dromos had very little effect on humans, which was why he couldn't afford a human rebellion. A demon rebellion would be useful to avoid exactly that; humans too busy fearing the demons would keep their tongue against their protector.

Well then, he might have a look after all.

He donned the regular armor of an Onyx Knight and stepped on a wyvern — helmet firmly on, of course.. Passing all rings of the palace walls, they reached the forest behind the castle. George informed him it had been cleared, no sport hunting today. For good reason : there stood two dragons. Charioce landed in one of the arcs of the outer wall, high above them.

One was a heavy, gray dragon with thick jaw and bulky frame. The other had a prolonged crest and was lighter in limbs, beige overall. The third was most like the red dragon, similar spikes as crest, dual horns with a same curve, but overall with better proportions. All made the red dragon look like a dwarf, and a malformed one at that. None of these dragons had a dented spine or the oversized paws.

"I see what suggest our little dragon is a mutation of some kind, but I doubt that is all you have brought me here for."

"Indeed not."

They went to a lowered section of the wall, into another arch. The dragons were just tall enough to look in. Charioce remained far behind in the shadows, power ready should anything happen.

"The king has arrived," George called. "Advance."

At cue, the dragons began to glow and shot up into the arch, growing smaller until remained were three humanoid figures. Rather naked ones. Clothes didn't appear until the glow faded.

Bye bye summoning theory, hello shapeshifters.

Each looked different. A dark gray, heavy demon with a white beard, most of his face covered with a metal plate. The other a a thinner, reddish brown one with her scarred face full on display, with a brown beard. Between elongated ears, inhuman pigment and discolored noses, they were pretty recognizable for demons, but not enough they'd stand out among the usual kind. The discolored noses were something and he'd have decided to have his knights look for one of those in the city, if not for the third one.

That one looked like an ordinary human man. Purple hair in a low ponytail, local clothes, shaved face. Only the gems on his cheek suggested connection to the others. He beheld Charioce with a dim smile that for once, Charioce couldn't place as condescension or satisfaction.

"Tainted half breed," the gray one snarled when this man stepped past him. "You better not expect to share the bounty."

That smile was satisfaction, Charioce concluded, because what it changed into now was actual condescension.

"Tainted? Hardly a befitting things to say in this world, when I can cross the roads without questioning and you cannot." He settled his eyes on Charioce. "Your majesty, let this demonic filth behind you. I am at your service."

"And you would be?"

"Call me Lao, your majesty," he said with a curteous bow the other two lacked. "It would be my honor to serve the king of humanity."

Okay, maybe George was allowed to have ideas sometimes.

· · · · · · ·

It'd take four days at least until they were back; flying up into heaven through that storm was no option.

She'd woken with scales that got worse as her hunger increased. A decidedly inhuman instinct tempted her to hunt. She didn't know how to as a human, so Azazel caught mountain goats by hurling serpents at them. There was no fire to roast it on. She hated the taste of blood and raw meat, even as it kicked in those instincts worse.

He didn't complain about her needing so much food, at least. He didn't say much of anything.

Most of the time he just stared ahead blankly, more so than any long time in Anatae. It was a bit eerie knowing it wasn't just a good mask, nah, he was awful at not letting emotions explode all over his face once they were there. He just didn't feel anything all the time, did he? How could anyone like that be? She felt something all the time, herself if nothing else, and she was pretty sure others did too.

At night they slept in caves and he let her lie folded on his wings, back towards her. The bits closer to the bones were dark scales and the claw on the the joint was less hook like a bat, and more ready to stab someone, but the feathers gave some warmth. They weren't thick enough though, so she still slept uneasy. And it got cold. It was entirely too embarrassing to ask whether she could huddle closer though. Besides, he didn't like to be touched, that was clear enough by now.

About three nights into that, the thrill of sleeping so close to a hot guy had been replaced by unease. This morning she woke early again, but didn't want to get up yet. She pulled out the stone slabs and inspected them, then start stacking them next to her to build a little house.

"What are you doing?" Azazel asked, looking over his shoulder.

She froze. "I just wanted to have a look and guess what kind of people they were. I can't sleep."

He laid back down and didn't say anything else. She couldn't stand it any longer, his turned back or the blank expression. The things that felt like secrets.

Sitting up, she said, "There were so much of those tablets. It had to be thousands. Is this all Belzebuth's doing?"

"No. There's multiple countries in the underworld," Azazel sat up too and stretched his wings. "With Satan gone, Belzebuth and Lucifer vied for dominion, with a lot of undecided parties between them. I have no idea who did what and when."

"That's like two milleniums. Okay. That makes sense. So, with Belzebuth gone, your boss is now in definite charge of hell, right? Why isn't he doing something against Charioce?"

"Last time I checked, he's been reading the same book for at least seven years." And there was the slightest hint of irritation. Finally something.

"You're joking."

"I wish. Lord Lucifer is old, his sense of time is ... anyway, Lord Lucifer holds back to avoid casualties, he thinks Charioce will self destruct, but in the mean time our people die."

"Can't you send him a letter now that you know I exist?"

"There is no transit to Helheim and if I leave the city unattended who knows what will happen? It's bad enough we skipped our chance at the parade."

That didn't sound right, because if Lucifer had a hide out it didn't make sense Azazel hadn't been sending anyone there for the past five years. There was probably something more to it. Nina bumped her shoulder against his arm. "He's not here, you can say all of it. I won't snitch."

"Tch."

She bumped again. "Azazel? Come on, spill it."

No.

And a third time. "The guys at work used to say, everyone needs to vent about the administration some time. It doesn't mean you're a bad employee, it's just human."

"I am more than a mere human."

"Oh, you get the point." Another bump. "Why's lord Lucifer really being untimely?"

"... I don't get it! We should be acting, if not with a strike then with breaking out enslaved demons. Hide a young skybeast somewhere, set up a few small portals and we could be channeling demons out of any city with ease! Now he's freezing in Helheim. I bet he's still reading the same damn book."

"See it on the bright side." She held up the tablet with Rita's bible. "If he were here, he'd probably grab this very interesting book and then where would our zombie army be anywhere in the next decade?"

And he cracked an irritated grin. Bingo.

"I hope once this is over, you can convince Lucifer to start helping. Eligos keeps saying it won't be over and things about power vacuums and no kings to change the laws. Both kingdoms need help, right?"

He didn't reply, and soon that blank look was back. It settled her with an even deeper sense of disturbance.

· · · · · · ·

Nina had agreed to meet him at the edge of the city hillside, in the upper ring. In a grove lay a small park one could enter by jumping across the wall, this was the bench furthest back. It ought to be easy for her even if she avoided going through the city alone. Or so he assumed. She did not show up on the date or any after that. Reason told him to forsake even going there, told him it was better like this, yet he went every day. He never checked whether she could scale the wall.

He shouldn't even be waiting for her.

Yet, being remembered for something other than the king who saved the world tempted him, and this girl was so simple to please. No complications, no schemes, no need for constant vigilance and evaluation. So what if her opinions on the current state of the kingdom could use some polishing. It didn't get in the way of their interaction.

He shouldn't start caring for anything.

One of his Onyx Knights whistled like a robin, the pattern for an approaching group. From behind, two of them. Shortly later, the signal for a familiar face. They knew of course he went to meet a girl. Even on this he had no real privacy, but he could bear it.

This shouldn't be an issue.

A burst of pink and yellow from the bushes and there she was. He stood up. "You didn't come on our last date."

"I'm so sorry, I had to go on a trip and transport broke down," she panted.

"I see." Dirt on her clothes and rings under her eyes. He'd swear she just stepped off the road. "Were you alone?"

"Yes! I mean, not on the road, but I am now," she sputtered. "This is a really nice park, by the way. I haven't seen any garden this nice."

"I come by here often on my way out of the city. It is a long route, but the most peaceful."

"Oh, then what's your destination?"

"I can show you."

Entertaining himself this way skipped a fine line; it did not interfere with his duty, but he was not meant to strike roots, yet here he went. He'd let loose something personal, another step down the wrong road.

When one of the garden tenders recognized the pink haired girl with the foreign clothes and was about to speak up, he flashed his bracelet at him to shut him up and found himself more than a little irritated he had to keep doing this.

They walked on in silence until they reached the green pastures outside Anatae. There lay a cheap emergency cemetery to get rid of all the corpses Bahamut had created ten years ago.

"Stone slabs for dead people," she muttered.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something."

His mother's grave lay close to a destroyed little chapel. He could have it rebuilt, but it didn't fit. He didn't want any filthy reminders of the gods near her grave.

"This is where my mother lays. For the first sixteen years of my life, she was the only one to love me, even when I fancied others my friends more than her. She set me on my road without even knowing," he said. "She once was a concubine of a rich lord, always longing to return to the life she had lost. I do not know to what degree she desired the man she lost, or wished a better life for me, but I know some truth lies in the last. That is enough. She died in the rage of Bahamut, which is what opened the door to my chance at nobility."

"My father dies in the same reign of fire too. You didn't have one, did you?"

"All here is a sermon of mortality," Charioce said. "We cannot bring back the dead, but we can bring resurrection to the nation so less may fall in this way."

"I wish I could agree with you, but Bahamut cannot be felled," Nina said. "You know, in my village we know Bahamut as a foundation of existence itself. Our matriarch says that Bahamut grew discontent at supporting Kujata's burdens and would no longer bear it. Others say Bahamut is all that stands between the universe and Falaq, who wishes to end time itself while Bahamut only seeks to end life."

"What it wants does not matter, it is one of many enemies of humankind. But you do not need to concern yourself about any of them. They will all fall before our feet."

She turned somber for some reason. Perhaps something to do with that dead father of hers.

"Well, I hope Bahamut may fall one day, somehow," she said. "Anyway, I think I should go home. I'm really tired. Thanks for sharing something so personal to me."

"Of course."

"Uhm, I might stay in the city at least for a few more weeks," she said. "Could we, maybe, ... meet in the park more often? Only if you have time, of course. I won't always be so horribly late."

"Of course. I will show you around the park next time, and if you do not mind a late hour, perhaps we can dance to the orchestra that plays on the pavilion some times." He could make that happen easily, of course.

"I-I'd love to!" She turned red, before looking over her dirty self. "I'll look more presentable next time, promise."

"You'll always look beautiful."

Whim drove him to take her hand, raising it to his lips. He planted a kiss on the top of her palm.

As expected, she turned beet red. Less as expected was her ripping her hand loose and running away screaming. There was being embarrassed, and then there was Nina. The absurdity of her was the charm : every emotion so accessable and larger than life.

· · · · · · ·

"Why'd she turn into a dragon now?" Dante asked when he joined the group staring at Nina, who looked rather trapped and confused at finding herself within the underground hall.

Belphegor shrugged. "First time someone saw her running through the halls, she already glowed. Not a word out of her."

Eligos came running in almost as fast, with a big smile and a book to match. "Everyone, clear the way, let's see whether she memorized turn around and everything else."

"Azazel!" Dante called down one of the passages. "Why did Nina go dragon?"

They're arrived back from some mission which Azazel claimed was rebellion related, but hadn't said anything else, and knowing him Dante wouldn't get a word out of him. So, Belphegor sat with the other demons on the platform to see how far Eligos got with Nina.

Nina understood simple directions, like left and right. Follow worked too. No was a go as well. Dodge left was not, nor was shoot that. The various commands Eligos had run over with human Nina were a hit or miss depending on complexity.

It was simple material so she grew bored soon and her eyes strayed to the map behind them, still unused. She stood up to have a better look at the detail.

When Azazel entered, she gestured at him to approach.

"You're good at this," she said. "How come you never created anything like this when in hell?"

"It's not important to do. I just had a lot of time to kill, once," he said. "And a lot of that belongs to the dragon girl."

"I can see." She had added the sun, details on the buildings, statues, colored the roads, a stairway with flowers on it and people she probably knew. A baker, a meat cart, a guy in a turban, and the child Belphegor was pretty sure had been adopted by Azazel.

In a corner of the map were two circles with crude claws and tail, and empty mean eyes. Nina hadn't even tried to make herself look either nice, nor with effort.

Belphegor ran the side of her fingers over the rock, trying to erase a particularly crooked wing. The skin of her hands was too crude though; demonblood often morphed depending on exposure and hers were the hands of crafting hard matter. Azazel picked up the discarded crayon box with his black arm. What kind of story was behind his right arm, which was pitch black exposed muscle with blades over the fingers?

He went to a nearby boulder, at the edge of the hall. Manifesting his sword, he swiped off a part of it, leaving a smooth surface. To her surprise, he sat behind it and started drawing.

She sat next to him and watched him work. It seemed like a decent time to talk. "You asked me for my plans for the future. May I ask for yours?"

"That will depend on lord Lucifer."

Lucifer who wasn't here. She shared Dante and Eligos's concerns around the passivity of Lucifer, but that wasn't something she could break with a lord of Azazel's standing. Honestly, it was strange enough they sat in a decrepit shadowy corner while he drew.

"Over the past days, a lot of folks have been writing down things they'd like better in hell and I reconsidered. I think I might want something more than just watching humankind rebuild. There's a few people who want to stay here too and found things like farms or study the stars of the seas. Would I be allowed?"

"Do as you like."

"Lord Azazel, I can't just do as I like in the hierarchy."

He stopped drawing. "I can't make promises."

"With all due respect, the lady Cerberus was able to establish her own small court once she moved to this city. Wouldn't it be possible to give me similar authority?"

"Cerberus is here?"

"You weren't aware? She arrived a few months after the siege and founded a spot in the red light district. I'm not sure what she does, but she hasn't left despite her ability to teleport. Frankly, it confuses me."

"That all, or is there any reason you never brought her up before?"

"Well, she can be quite unpleasant," she said, unsure whether Cerberus was someone she could black talk about to Azazel.

"I know, but she has her uses tracking down lowlife."

Belphegor paused. That would be the exact reason why she thought Cerberus was unpleasant, she deemed a lot of people lowlife. Azazel thought the same of humans, of course. And he didn't answer her question.

Yet, that picture turned into a pretty accurate illustration of dragon Nina.

"What's it for?" she asked.

"She doesn't know what she looks like as a dragon," he said.

On the other hand, maybe she should just keep pushing for change a little more, over time.

· · · · · · ·

Nina barely saw Rita anymore since she got the black bible. She rushed between dwindling appointments and pages of the book, so when Tipa needed an abortion and the crude method didn't work, Belphegor wanted to visit an old acquaintance. So, Bel and her crew hauled Tipa off to the red light district. Azazel and Dante accompanied them because apparently, Bel's old boss or coworker — it was really vague — turned out to be a big hell name.

Nina had a cloak and boy's clothes, her hair tied back and without band, curtsy of Belphegor. So nobody would bother her, somehow.

Most of their trip went through alleys, shying away from the lit roads. Even back here, demon women filled the doors and corners. Some approached, but all backed off when they realized the group wasn't human. Adva walked with her eyes strictly on the ground, and Korlaun supporting Tipa seemed as much for her as for himself. Even Belphegor had a steely look on her face. Yet, everyone at the shops seemed to smile and laugh.

Their destination was a restaurant, full of spicy scents and a pinkish light. Demon women were inside around human guests, as far as Nina could see through the windows. None of them had their clothes off, like in other windows.

"Oh, it's a hostess club, right? I heard some people at my old job talking about that."

"The red light version of it," Belphegor said. "It's little more than a fancier whorehouse. Better than the alternative, but ..."

They skipped the door and slipped into a back alley.

"Oh, look at that, it's old Azazel," someone squeeked.

Nina didn't see the speaker till Azazel lifted a fluffy pooch by the neck. "Call Cerberus. We need to talk."

"What about, ruff?"

"We need to see the specialist, and Azazel has something else to discuss," Belphegor said.

A little later, they were seated in a back room, Nina having claimed the dog for her lap. The owner of the place was human, made it clear he wanted them away from the main restaurant area, but did not object to them being here. Without prompting, he announced Cerberus would arrive soon.

In came a woman in skimpy clothes and eyes more like a dog than a human's. Before her twin ponytails twitched pointy dog ears. On her hand was another little dog like ... was that a puppet?

"It really is you, Azazel. My darlings smelled you around the city for a few years already, yet you never visit!" she said.

"Why would I visit you stupid mutts?"

"Lord Azazel, with all due respect, you had no idea she was here until recently," Belphegor said. "Lady Cerberus, we are here because—"

"You need something."

Azazel took that as cue. "The time has come for rebellion, and for you to make yourself useful for once."

"Excuse us, you would never have found a certain key if it wasn't for our effort!" the puppet on her hand said.

Dante stood up. "Can we first get the doctor thing out of the way?"

He pointed at Tipa, who had curled up on the couch with her arms over her stomach. Adva sat next to her, hands on her shoulder and worry in her eyes.

"She had the complications of a hybrid fetus. Probably a wing that grew into the womb wall when randomly manifesting," Belphegor said. "Our doctor is too busy to learn how to deal with."

"And even though neither you nor her work here, you want to use our doctor? That'll cost you," the dog on Nina's lap said.

On her cue, Nina produced a sack of money. "Here you go. Is this enough?"

This dog shifted into a handpuppet too, grabbed the money and teleported right onto Cerberus's hand.

"Oh nice," Cerberus said. "You're paying me three times more than I'd have asked. You're very welcome."

"It's okay, I'm filthy rich," Nina said. "And maybe there will be more if you help us figure out some things."

"And what would that be?"

"We need intel on when the humans will raid heaven again, rather than leave the city for ordinary drills," Dante said. "I'm told you're an excellent tracker. Might you be able to get information from inside the palace?"

"Oh, I might, but let's say you win : this gold won't be useful to me anymore. There are a few others things you and Azazel could arrange for me. Bel, show your new friends the way to the doctor, will you?" Cerberus dropped herself on a couch and stretched out. "I'm willing to negotiate."

Kolraun and Adva helped Tipa stand, and Belphegor held open a door. Nina wondered whether she should follow, but nobody asked her to. She didn't know any of the magic stuff and political things Dante talked about with Cerberus either, so she wandered to the door to have another look at the restaurant. Or rather a smell, the food enticed her. The liquor not so much, and not the drunk people. Especially not the one at the center.

"Whhyyyy?" An awfully familiar voice roared out. "It's ss-oooo unfair!"

The source was from a corner table, seating a rough, broad guy in his mid fifties or so a much younger guy with blond hair. They had a whole swarm of demon girls around them.

"I signed up to hic become a glorious khict and meet the hic gorgeous Jeanne, and what do I geeeet? hic I get nothing and Jeanne was hic gone. I get a captain with weird hicr."

When he turned his head sideways, she was sure it was him.

"You!" Nina stormed into the restaurant and planted a foot on the back of the couch. "Why did you try to burn me?"

The guy turned around and said, "Hey, I haven't seen you hic before!"

"I was just having a look from the tower and you sic all those wyverns on me? What for?"

"Well, that'sssss what we hic do to bad demonsssss," he slurred.

The other, less drunk guy stood up now, reaching for his sword.

Nina held up her wrist with the (fake) bounty hunter bracelet. "I happened to be a bounty hunter on the look out for my prey."

The big guy relaxed, but the blond guy blanched. "I attacked a human? That's bad — very bad hic."

He climbed over the back of the bench and grabbed her hands. "You're not gonna tellll right? I really can't hic use that right now."

She pushed him back and he toppled over the back of the couch, two of the women caught him before he fell off. "You shouldn't be firing at anyone like that whether or not they're demons! I wasn't even armed!"

"Miss, you shouldn't have been hunting the rag demon," the other guy said. "There isn't ..."

His eyes shifted to behind her and widened in fear.

Azazel had walked up. Though he wore his hat and more formal cloak, the horns and unnatural whiteness of his skin would tell anyone he was a demon.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"It's the guy who said he'd get me, and then he blew up the tower," Nina said. "I'm trying to get him to apologize but he's doing it all wrong."

Without a word, Azazel grabbed the man by the neck and hauled him over the back of the couch. He dragged him out the alley door, ignoring the sputtering. The demon women turned quiet and didn't move, except for the nagini, who curled her tail around the other guy to keep him in place.

"Hey, what ..." Nina ran after him.

Outside, Azazel had the man up against the wall, a black serpent wrapped around his mouth and throat and a common blade in his hand.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"Obviously, he's about to meet the rag demon," Azazel said.

No, not gonna happened. Nina launched herself at his arm, forcing the blade from the man's throat.

She might have a benefit for lifting things, he had more mass and height. All he had to do was lift his arm and she lost her footing. A wing shot out and she stumbled back before she could even consider picking him up.

"Just stop! You didn't kill any of them when you saved me, so why now?"

"I thought you were a human. They tend to not be fireproof and I have no shields," he said.

In his distraction, the man had pried off the dispersing black serpent.

"You aren't a demon, are you?" the man sputtered at Nina. "Don't let him kill me, please, I don't want to die!"

"The funny thing about that is, she was an enemy until you drove her to us." Azazel flicked the blade at his throat

"Azazel, stop! I just want him to apologize."

Something malicious flickered in Azazel's eyes. "And let him walk, so he can burn more defenseless 'suspects'?"

He tossed the blade before Nina's feet. "Kill him and his stupid captain can replace him without someone less murderous."

She ignored the blade. "Why not ask Kaisar to do something about it?"

Azazel scowled. "He did nothing for five years. Do you think he's going to do anything against his precious fellows now?"

"Well, this isn't fair either, to just kill him like this."

"Fair? There is nothing fair in this kingdom," Azazel spat. "Learn that."

"There's never really been with us demons either," Cerberus said somewhere behind them. "But what they do have here is customer service and status. Precious little Allesand there is from the Visponti family. If he dies in the red light district, where everyone knows he's a regular at my place, that'll be very bad business."

"There won't be any business here soon," Azazel said.

"Maybe, but until then we have to survive, don't we? So why don't you just let me deal with Allesand, hmm?"

To that, he relented, throwing the sobbing man to her feet.

"Aww, did the big demon scar you?" Cerberus patted his head. "Don't worry. Play nice and nothing will happen."

"I will hic I wiilllll."

"Don't come inside again, got it?" Cerberus said to Azazel. "We already got enough trouble keeping the big dog restrained."

She whispered some spell and Allesand passed out, after which she swung him over her shoulder. Ignoring the back door, she walked out the alley while loudly saying, "Can't believe your sorry ass got mugged so easily!"

That left just her and Azazel in the dark alley.

"You killed countless knights when you turned into a dragon, what's the problem now?" he asked.

"That was defensive! Also ... I don't remember that. It's different to kill as a dragon than like this." She couldn't look him in the eye. Part shame, part that unwanted unease crawling back up. "I get it, and I get why you kill the slavers and the rich people in the mansions, but this guy was so ... so pathetic. And I'm here now, so you don't need to kill people anymore to keep them from hurting others. It'll be over soon, we could just lock him up. That's what she's going to do, right?"

"Tch."

When she looked up, Azazel vanished into the dark of the alley.

Nina startled when a heavy hand descended on her shoulder.

"Right, what just went down here?" Dante asked.

"Azazel wanted to kill that guy," she said. "I don't think that's right, even if he tried to kill me. He wasn't dangerous in a way we couldn't stop. Say, what's Cerberus going to do to him?"

"Probably something smarter than Azazel. She got by pretty well here, considering the circumstances."

She couldn't muster a smile.

"It'll be okay, Nina. We won't let him go too far," Dante said.

Could he make that true, though?

· · · · · · ·

When Azazel walked up the sand road to the riverside, someone followed him. The pace familiar enough, but he didn't slow down for him.

Dante caught up a mere hundred meters before the carriage. "Azazel, we have to talk."

"Not now."

The door opened, Mugaro already knew he was coming. Somehow.

To his surprise, Mugaro ignored caution and ran up to him. In her hands was a paper, which she held out to Azazel.

Wanted, dead or alive : Charioce XVII.

Somehow they had gotten that machine working. It'd do no good since Bacchus could only give bounty hunter bracelets to humans, but the gesture was well meant.

"Thank you," he said.

Mugaro pointed Dante and curiously tilted her head. Oh, right.

"That's Dante, he works with me," Azazel said.

"Yeah, mostly," Dante said. "And you are?"

"She can't talk," Azazel said. "Her name is Mugaro."

"And you know this. Okay. Why do you have a mute kid staring up at you in adoration?"

"Think whatever you like, as long as you keep this a secret. The last I need is anyone of hostile factions getting the idea I have a weak spot. Understood?"

"Understood," Dante said. "Who's going to believe me that you adopted a kid anyway?"

"Mugaro, go back to the carriage, I'll meet you there."

She looked a little disappointed, but obeyed. Once the door was closed, Dante said, "The more Eligos says, the more it's clear we're going to have a full out war on our hands once Charioce is dead. We don't have enough people to hold this city. I've decided that we're going to flee."

"Why? Once Charioce is dead, the city will be ours!"

"And surrounded by provinces with their own armies eager to fill the power vacuum. Even if you bring in Lucifer and his armies, we'll be sitting ducks for a kingdom full of Dromos's power."

"And keep running? They won't think twice about killing us! If we keep the seat of power, we can work from there to free everyone else!"

"That's a wasted chance when we could be opening portals. I know what that's going to be : a bloodbath. Tell me, did you think twice about killing us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I used to be a human," Dante said. "I know what they're like, and I promise you Nina isn't the only one who's afraid you'll go too far."

That caught Azazel off guard. The rumors had been there, it was more that Dante so readily admitted it. Not knowing what to do with that, he just stared.

Out of one of his coats, Dante produced a bundle of papers, secured between leather folds.

"I won't be part of a full out slaughter of humans here, and I'm not alone in this. Kill our enemy, kill soldiers, anyone who signed of for battle, but it ends there. Got it?"

He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either. Dante was just going to have to be disatisfied.

"In case we run, I want to store these inside the carriage." He held a stack of papers. "They don't want you to read these cause they're afraid. But I think you should, if the reason they're afraid no longer is true."

Azazel grabbed the bundle without another word and went to the carriage, slamming the door behind him. Dante took the cue and left.

Belphegor had as good as said that she wanted to emigrate, Dante was still attached to his irrelevant legacy and Azazel was pretty sure these letters didn't have much praises to demon pride. He put them in the closet without another glance and tried to focus on what Mugaro showed him — where had they gotten one of those gems? — but the thought remained nagging. Too much thoughts did that lately. He diverted himself by trying to explain Mugaro a little of what he knew of genders and heaven, only for the conversation to get taken over by the other kids, and what they knew of hell. From their parents. It again contained things Azazel didn't know.

· · · · · · ·

Nina sat with Chris on what was now their meeting bench. The morning was beautiful, they had ducks to feed, the company was excellent and she could smile. She was used to an answer presenting itself to her worries over time. Not now. Perhaps because for the first time, the answer depended on her. She didn't know how to word any of that, however, so it came out in a specific complaint.

"He's such a nuisance to work with! Okay, more than a nuisance. Sometimes he won't say a word for hours and then he'll just tell me to do something not okay!"

She couldn't go into details like that pyromaniac knight or the captive housekeeper without giving anything away to Chris. There were no humans in the rebellion, even though people like Chris existed. That didn't feel right. What if Bacchus had been right after all, what if he and Hamsa only joined the rebels cause he was desperate to stop his fellow gods from being killed? No way a bounty can be a good guy, he'd said. Azazel's current bounty might not even cover everything he'd done.

"If it concerns you so much, why bother keeping him in your life at all?"

That didn't do much. She'd hoped Chris would have advice, but it was probably all too vague to really say anything about.

Chris put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. Nina tensed up, fearing the dragon, but her pulse remained steady enough. It was alright, she wouldn't change, it was safe.

"Don't fret too much," Chris said. "Isn't that your strength?"

It was, right? It should be, but more than ever before it felt like she had no real strengths. Between her waning trigger and the growing realization just how little time the mission had, and worst yet the question whether the mission was right — what would happen to Chris and everyone else, once the demons overthrew the king?

Maybe he'd flee along with his family. She wanted him near, but part of her hoped he would go. What if any of his family had done anything bad to a demon, ever? Would Azazel kill them for that? Kill him, too?

"Can I ask you something heavy?"

"What would that be?"

"What do you think about killing people for justice? You know, just if that saves lives."

"The primary attribute of justice is to make the criminals pay," Chris said. "Of course, there is no universal law. We must create our justice in the best interest of ourselves and our people, not just to survive but to thrive. So that would depend on what your own kind of justice is."

That only made it more confusing. "I don't think I have much of that."

"Maybe you won't need it. What you need is your brightness," he said, pulling out the pulse again. He might as well have said he needed her, and unlike certain jerks, it didn't sound like an accident.

"Don't worry, it's not going anywhere!" She had a lot of practice keeping it in place, after all.

· · · · · · ·

Rita sure did like having superpowered people working for her. Today she had a fallen angel, a hellhound trifecta, a half dragon, and soggy papers, versus the castle of the king.

Built from muted browns, the castle had been rebuilt with little semblance to the old regal palace. The central sturcture was a thick tower with a dome, flanked by rounded, shielding buildings. A bit like book stands in a massive scale, as far as Rita was concerned. Before it lay domed mansions with gray roofs, surrounded by a gate with watch tower. This in turned had another wall around it, followed by a third defensive wall. And just for some overkill, there was a fourth, much taller wall full of arches. Three layers atop the other for stationing the wyverns and their riders, also serving for immediate anti air attacks.

In short, there was no getting close to the castle right up until Cerberus entered. It wasn't perfect, quite disappointing actually, no hell maw? Cerberus's dogs might be able to teleport, small fluffy dogs tended to inspire people to pick them up and wonder where the owner was. There were limits to using them to spy on a castle with wide, clean rooms. For long runs anyway.

Now, wouldn't it be convenient to just get some people outside the castle to talk, with inside knowledge? Rita didn't need the black bible for anything corpse related, but the spells of life simulation, memory imprints and illusion? Too ethereal for her talents, but oh so useful for information.

Everyone in the guild knew people died easily in the castle for infractions as small as accidentally cutting the king while shaving him. It had its own morgue, which was of interest to her.

The mutts got her two disembodied heads from dead servants. Azazel summoned two skeletal warriors, nabbed their heads off and helped Rita attached the heads onto the bodies, at which point Rita channeled her power through the head of her umbrella. Two glowy red eyes later, the heads rotted and gaped for air they didn't need.

Rita began the chant under her breath.

One's typical 101 zombie couldn't even reason, but the illusory spell of the black bible was able to impose visuals, sound and behavior as illusions within those who inhaled the mists of time. Rita didn't quite know how it worked, but it summoned accurate behavior and information from the past. As long as one was near the location being invoked for the living imprint, that could preserve some of the cognitive information.

The air shimmered as fog escaped the book. Demons and gods were immune and Rita herself had lost all touch with it upon death — and had no interest to tamper with her own mind — so they had prepped Nina to observe for them. "And? Visuals?"

"You know when you put something close to one eye and you see things simultaneously? It's a little like that, I see both. A bit more of the illusion's there though," Nina said.

"Good. You two, what have you heard of preparations for a siege anytime soon?" Rita asked the zombies. "Not a training drill, that's very important. We need a time of combat."

They appeared to do little more than stammer and groan,their arms swaying.

"They're happy to meet new faces," Nina said. "The lady wants to know where her tea pot went. The other one wants to know how we got in."

"You'll get it later," she said to the female head. "And we didn't get in, you're in our house."

Something shifted in the mists, adjusting to Rita's will. How annoyed she couldn't see.

"That lady says she's just a cleaner, but thinks they're doing something around July 20 something cause there's triumphant return expected later in the month. Preparations usually take a week. There's talk of defeating a demon plague to the north, according to the guard guy."

"Hmmm, so soon," Cerberus said. "Weird, there's lately been months between the raids. I keep track of it, it affects customer timing."

"He's getting anxious because of the red dragon," Azazel said. "For good reason."

"Anyway, let's wrap this up before any guards come," Rita said. She closed the book and Azazel beat his wings a few times to dispell the mist.

Nina stared at the makeshift zombies, particularly the borrowed bodies covered in armor. "Hey Azazel, those skeletons, are they people you killed?"

"I don't waste my time raising corpses, I can fight on my own. Lucifer just has them at hand as low level guards or servants. I grabbed the summon code when I was in Cocytus the other day."

"I don't know why you bothered. Honestly, they suck," Rita said. "I could defeat them with off game zombies."

"Lord Lucifer's creations don't need extra programming to keep them from wasting time on food," Azazel said.

"Neither will mine simply by casting a 102 spell. I'd like to see your Lucifer to raise undead armies as easily as I can. Really. Where is he anyway?"

Azazel kept quit, but Nina said, "Still reading. I don't get that guy, can't he at least send some other people to help?"

"Oh, I'm here, keeping an eye on things. Honestly, if Azazel hadn't stormed out he'd have known that."

"He does neglect a lot, doesn't he?" Nina said.

Rita doubted the loyalties of the dog of Hades when she could have easily tracked him, but it didn't concern her enough. Now she had the black bible and a wider range, she had a chance to master illusions. It made things safer for herself, and those few she cared to protect. Especially since no matter what happened, things shaped up so she would have to step in. Nina hadn't been blushing around Azazel for a while now.

· · · · · · ·

On the 26th of July, Cerberus reported that Charioce had left the capital with an army. It would be just a day or two before the expected return of the raid, so Dante wanted to run a few more experiments. Rita was already full at swing with developing an illusion spell that could temporarily affect demons, preferably enemy demons since the Orleans Knights had a demon faction. They'd be freed eventually, but shouldn't raise the alarm as the zombies got into position.

At night, Bacchus and Hamsa brought the carriage down into the tunnels along with a final batch of food. By now Azazel got just a tad curious about Nina's money source, but there were bigger concerns : the gods hadn't cleared the children out of the carriage, so all six of them poured into the hall.

The kids raised some surprise, but nobody connected them to Azazel specifically, and it better stay that way. Last thing he needed for next year for someone to target Mugaro for being connected to him. He made a point of not responding to them, and Mugaro didn't initiate contact — he'd once primed her to pretend to not know him if he were to get in trouble while she could pass for human.

When Bacchus started experimenting the kids moved to the side.

The carriage blew up so much it nearly hit the ceiling, and the hippogryph had to squeeze between the wall and the front.

"Too much," Dante said. "It'll stand out like a sore thumb even if it goes low to the ground. Try about half their length."

"Bacchus, let me see that spell up close," Rita said.

Once again, Azazel was left on the sidelines and he hated it more than ever. Very soon they would put an end to Charioce and still, yet he was little more than an addition here. Nishaol didn't even include him in her formations. His role was designated to be near Nina and clear the way, get rid of as much non-Dromos enemies as possible.

Nina went around the edges of the hall, handing out better food than usual.

"It's special things from the upper ring," she said when asked.

"I thought you had to be careful with going around the city now?" Kolraun asked.

"It's okay, I got a new friend, he looks after me." She reached Azazel. "Hey, I got your favorite! You better say thanks this time. Some time."

Nina pushed a cheese sandwich stuffed in his hands, before continued to hand out more to others whose preference she also had learned. Where did she find the energy to know everyone, yet not figure it shamed him to stand here with everyone now aware he liked brie on bread. With salad. Worst part was she was correct.

"You're eating that like you're trying to get it over with as fast as possible," Dante said. "Just don't take the damn human food if you don't want to."

"Mind your own business," Azazel said while he snatched a bag Nina had no doubt set aside for herself.

She was far off, but heard it and spun around. "Hey, that's mine! Put it down."

"Well, I am a demon." He took a bite and chewed slowly this time.

Nina jumped at him, but he teleported a few meters away. It was enough to amuse him and get back a little for the embarassment.

Also enough to distract him. Between bites, bursts of purple haze and a mix of wall and Nina being a very poor cat, he heard Cerberus say, "Something's wrong with this one."

Three stomps on the floor; Mugaro's signal for help. He stopped the game at once.

Cerberus circled Mugaro, her puppets having jumped off her hands into their full form : two legged dogs whose white fur hung loose over their skeletons. They had Mugaro cornered from both sides while Cerberus leaned in.

"You're right, this smells like angel," Coco growled.

"No, more like human," Mimi snarled.

"Now now, darlings, it's obviously both," Cerberus said. "Maybe we should just try a nick of blood—"

Azazel let go every single serpent he could conjure up, throwing the hellhounds into the walls. They yelped on impact and Cerberus opened fire at Azazel. Two blasts hit his shoulder, but he didn't budge. Mugaro ran to him, which only riled Azazel up further and he fired a flare of serpents at her— if Cerberus landed anything on her ...

Cerberus's next shot hit the ceiling instead, because Nina had wrangled her arm up. Cerberus turned on her, but found herself unable to wrestle out of Nina's grip.

"I don't care what all that magical stuff is about, you leave Mugaro alone! Why does it even matter what kind of hybrid she is?"

Cerberus leaned in to her. "It matters because last time, the god key was stolen by a chimera of divine and demonic soul. We failed to retrieve the key for lord Lucifer, and guess what happened? Bahamut."

Nina frowned. The hall fell silent.

Azazel kept the serpents out around Mugaro, eyes locked on Cerberus still.

Tension broken when the dogs whined trying to get on their legs.

"Let me go," Cerberus said to Nina, who obliged but kept an eye on her.

Cerberus turned the dogs back into their smaller shapes and hugged them close.

"What's wrong with you, Azazel?" Eligos asked. "You can't just go attack allies right when—"

"Shut up. Mugaro is a demon and the only reason she smells like that is because she's been living in that damn carriage, and Cerberus knows it. Tell her that this isn't the time to play."

Cerberus fixing her eyes on the gods instead. "Have humans been living there too, hmm?"

Neither of them moved to deny or confirm. What?

Dante stepped in their middle. "Look, I don't want this to escalate. Azazel, how long has Mugaro been with you?"

"Two years. She isn't a spy, she isn't anything unusual."

"Is too!" Mimi yelped.

"Yes, my dear, I think there is something more to it. What would lord Lucifer think, if he knew about this, Azazel?"

"It is none of your business!" Azazel snapped.

"It is if our more or less lord of hell benefits from it. Where did you find that child?" Cerberus said.

"She was with demon slavers, like many others."

"Yes!" One of Mugaro's friends said. "We were there. She was the weakest of us, she's nothing special."

Cerberus tilted her head. "You're lying."

The kids kept a stubborn silence.

"Why don't we ask Lucifer what might be up? Or perhaps Azazel already knows? It's so strange that of all children you free, this one just happens to get attached to you."

Belphegor stood up. "Lord Azazel, when the Onyx Knights caught you, who saved you? Did you ever find out?"

"Huh? You know something?" Eligos asked her.

"That child was the one who led me to him," Belphegor said.

"Right," Dante said. "This is all suspicious, but let's not act rash here. This child is no threat to us, right?"

"Actually, when did he save Azazel?" Eligos said, settling a look on Bacchus and Hamsa. "Because I believe lately we've had gods snooping around the city, haven't we?"

Dante stood up, placing himself at the center. "I'm pretty sure we can hold off on investigating this until after Charioce is dead. Cerberus, that means you back off too. The second to last thing we need is for Azazel to walk out because we're endangering his kid."

"His kid? Really? What's wrong with you, Azazel? You used to be up for gutting angels," Cerberus said. "To imagine you would ever get more boring than Pazuzu. Pfffft."

Mugaro took a step away from Azazel. She had never looked at him like that, with a mixture of disbelief and maybe even fear.

Then she did something she'd never done before : she ran away.

Without thinking, wings out he went after her.

"Azazel, wait!" Nina called.

He ignored her, but when she grabbed his ankle with her whip he couldn't go on.

Nina had braced herself against a rock and didn't look ready to let go. "Azazel, what was that all about?"

He tore the whip off his ankle, but she was close enough now she could grab his wing before he could fly off. "What did they mean with gutting angels? How do you know Pazuzu?"

Almost like begging, if it didn't sound so angry, but he had to go after Mugaro now. He manifested a black serpent, wrapped it around her waist and set her back twenty meters.

"Azazel, tell me! What will happen to the people of this city if you win?"

"Will you shut up already?You'll alert the night guard!"

He flew into the tunnels Following distant steps, out the caves.

Mugaro ran so fast, the way only possible when one could alleviate their weight. He was fast enough to keep up with his wings out, and it didn't matter if he was seen. This couldn't be left hanging.

At the same time, he didn't know what to do. Just scoop up Mugaro and risk scaring her further?

Mugaro went up into the city, through the streets, but not so far from the slums and soon slowing. Between the houses was a small church, one of the few left. Mugaro stopped outside before a statue.

Azazel would've ignored it if Mugaro hadn't fixed on it. It was ... his defeat at the spear of Jeanne'd Arc.

Mugaro's gaze shifted to Azazel when he landed. She didn't seem angry, more uncertain. No signals or signs.

"Mugaro ... are you a demon?" he asked softly.

Mugaro shook her head. She looked around for something, but didn't find it. So she pointed at the statue instead, at the demon that was him and then the human woman.

"Yes, that was me."

That startled her all over again, for some reason.

Azazel knelt down and drew his wings back. "Mugaro, I won't ... "

Hurt you. Unbidden, memory of Amira pushed to the forefront of his mind. Strapped her on the torture wheel, brought her to the point of drowning, let Pazuzu loose on her while Cerberus's dogs begged for a chance for something more diverse than dunking and chain whips. He'd considered giving them that chance. The image of the frail woman mingled with Mugaro, and his gut revolted. Even picturing Mugaro in the same position made his blood boil and ready to rip to shreds anyone who did it, but freeze at the same time with the knowledge he himself would've done it if ten years ago, he had been sent to retrieve this hybrid rather than Amira.

She might think the worst he'd done was invade Anatae and kill angels, perhaps only during warfare. She didn't know he could be worse. No words came to mind to offer her.

Mugaro pointed at Jeanne again while giving him a harsh look. Then at herself.

What did she mean? Something about her connection to the gods?

When he took a step closer to either offer she write letters on his arm or go somewhere they could write, Mugaro stepped back. Once, then another step.

That he understood well enough. Small things meant a lot with Mugaro.

He took off without looking back.

She had always managed to find him, to the point of showing up in the abandoned monastery. He hadn't intended to take her in, but once she had found his home, it had become harder by the day to send her away. If she wanted to be around, she'd show up herself. She always done so in the past. For the first time, he felt anxious whether she would want to, but he'd wait.

· · · · · · ·

Nina met Chris the next day with the whispers of the underground loud in her mind. More than just intimidation at the power of their leaders, they feared any plans Lucifer might have. Some trusted him, some doubted it, and a few said that these things were exactly why humans had come to have demons so. The woman they kept prisoner still was afraid and hadn't stopped coughing. Politics based on only power were not for the good of the weak, even Dante said that.

"I believe this is the first time you've arrived without smiling," Chris said. "Did something go wrong with your friends?"

She hesitated before sitting next to him on the bench. The park's atmosphere was lovely as always, and so was he, she didn't want to ruin this moment. But she couldn't pretend all was okay today. She sat down.

"I don't know whether they're my friends."

"Are they demons?"

Nina's head jerked up. "How, I mean why do you think that?"

"It's obvious. Your curiosity about demons, the way you avoid mentioning names."

"You don't mention names either, so I thought that was just a thing we did."

"Fair enough."

"I don't really know anything about your life either, you know. Neither of us know much about demons, I think. It's just, I want them to be okay, but I also want a lot of other folks to be okay, but I'm not sure whether they want the same."

"They are demons still. We have centuries of proof for what kind of beings they are."

A lot of the demons had never left hell, so that didn't mean much. But those that had were their leaders, including Azazel.

"What if I'm making a mistake?"

He stayed silent for a long before saying, "Then don't go to them anymore until you are certain of what your true goal is."

"What do you mean?"

"Try to describe, just to yourself, what your goal is."

She wanted to free the demons from suffering. It wasn't difficult.

"Now ask yourself what for, and what it will do for the future."

She had asked that question out of desperation, but only now did the weight truly set down on her. It was her responsibility what happened to this kingdom. The demons didn't deserve this, so many of them were innocent, but that was true for the humans too.

If only she could control her dragon form, maybe she could do more when she transformed. She wouldn't have to rely on Azazel either. Everyone said she was the key for the rebellion's success, yet she had so little control over it. And she needed that control, because she wasn't going to stand for Azazel gutting anyone innocent.

· · · · · · ·

Dante's little group of conference had grown a bit. Beyond Eligos and Belphegor, it now contained Rita, Bacchus and Nishaol, as well as Cerberus, Coco, Mimi and Hamsa. The latter group had little useful to contribute, but were hard to shake.

It wasn't a close group, especially now the demon side suspected Bacchus was in on some secret with the gods about Mugaro. That worsened once Eligos started suspecting they also knew what Nina's transformation spell was, given they'd let a few indirect things slip. Particularly that Azazel had to be around. Maybe he needed to provide some kind of circle, but why were they so awkward about it? And insistent everyone be out of the carriage before Nina transformed?

She hadn't thought much of it, but after seeing that strange child's response to learning something unsavory about Azazel, she had seconds thoughts. The gods, Azazel, who else had an agenda she didn't know about. She didn't think her doubt could get worse, until Azazel marched into the plotting chamber and threw five stone slabs onto the table.

"Wake them up," he told Bachus.

Bacchus's eyes widened. "How did you get these?"

"You know where," Azazel said. "Wake them and we will have cannon fodder. All of them had a pact with me and have yet to pay. They'll do quite fine for the front lines.'

Bacchus picked up one of the slabs. "You sure about this?"

"I promise you, they deserve to die. If they disobey me, I'll do it myself."

· · · · · · ·