ハロー!
私は総ゴミ.
私はイルミナティと一緒に働いています.
しかし、あなたはそれを知りません.
日本語を読むことができない限り！
よりも、私はGoogle翻訳を使用しています.
だから、この作者のメモを解読しようとする幸運.
さて、私はweebを停止します.
ONWARDS!
Kuro woke up in a daze.
She groaned, one hand holding her head while the other pushed herself up off of the bed.
She could recognize the after effects of a ticker, but the memories leading up to the moment were fuzzy at best.
She remembered walking out the castle gates...Corvus had been irritated with something...And then, it had to be something with the towers...
Kuro groaned, holding her head, before lying back down. Maybe she didn't need to remember everything right now, one memory at a time didn't hurt as much.
She as to the point where the door creaking open and close hurt her ears, "Lady K-Kuro!" Vanth's voice squeaked, making Kuro's headache all the worse.
For a moment, Kuro's mind was nothing but fuzz. Everything hurt, there was no other way to explain or simplify it.
But, it all washed away when something cool was applied to her forehead, the hazy feeling fading away.
When Kuro was sure that she wouldn't vomit, she opened her eyes, giving the worried Vanth a grin, "Where'd you get that Amarix?"
"Y-your friend g-gave it to me," Vanth replied softly, as if she was saying the wrong thing, "He said that, knowing y-you, you'd need it."
"Well, Shax isn't often wrong." Kuro groaned, slowly rising off of the bed. While the Amarix did its work, it still took a bit of time for her head to really clear, "And when he is 'wrong', he's not wrong; he's just lying to your face."
"If I do have a say," Vanth murmured, looking around as if she were scared something would jump out of nowhere, "Your f-friend Shax is v-very knowledgeable."
"That's to be expected," Kuro grinned, shaking off the remainder of her headache, "You've got to be smart if you want to lead a group of stupid people."
Vanth only nodded with affirmation, wiping off the extra medicine, when another question came to Kuro's head, "Umm, if I may ask, what happened?"
"...Well...W-what do you remember?"
"Walking to the Rift with Corvus, and judging by how I woke up, someone detonated a ticker." Kuro said, trying to piece it together.
"A t-ticker?" Vanth asked, scratching the back of her head, "All I know i-is that you and the Prince went to inspect the towers, and a f-few of them blew up, including t-the one you two w-were in."
Kuro groaned, putting the pieces together, "Now it makes sense."
She couldn't explain to Vanth that it had been that "smart friend" to put her in the position she was in today. She didn't think that they'd get the message so quickly, nor did she think that they'd go through with the detonation just as fast.
Huh, the more you know.
"But wait...If I'm here, where's Corvus?"
"He was t-taken to the remedial w-wing." Vanth murmured, "The guards p-panicked when the prince came back holding y-you, they thought y-you were dead, and thought the prince was on his way as well."
Kuro scoffed, a small grin on her face, "It'll take a lot more than a ticker to put me down."
"Glad t-to know that." Vanth said, offering a small smile.
Finally, Kuro groaned, finally feeling good enough to rise from the bed, before looking down on the dress, "Damn, it was a nice casual one too." She grumbled, looking down at the char marks and rips, before shaking her head, "Is Corvus okay?"
"I don't know, I w-was assigned to stay here and make sure y-you recovered." Vanth whispered, tugging at her ribbon, "They w-were sure you w-wouldn't make it to tomorrow."
"Said it once, I'll say it again." Kuro smirked, "It'll take more than just a ticker to put me down for good."
Vanth laughed lightly, about to go on, before a knock came to the door. Kuro was about to get up to answer it, only to have Vanth shake her head, "Y-you're supposed to stay o-on the bed a-and rest," Vanth insisted, "If y-you get up, I'll g-get in trouble!"
"Jeez, fine, okay, going down." Kuro grinned, before lying back down, watching the door.
She noted how daintily Vanth tugged the door open, peeking out to speak with someone Kuro couldn't see from this angle, "Yes? Yes, s-she's awake...Are you sure t-that would be-Oh, okay...Yes, I'll b-be sure to t-tell her."
With that, she bid whoever it was good day, before closing the door. Her expression was doleful, as if she'd just seen a puppy get ran over, "What is it, kid?"
"I t-told them that y-you were awake a-and well," Vanth murmured, her voice then getting so soft that not even Kuro, who had trained her ears to be used to Vanth's speech, could pick it up.
"Run that by me again, would you?"
Vanth tried, only to stop, clearing her throat before she went on, "They s-said that, if y-you were up, the king w-would like an audience w-with you."
"...Fuck."
Corvus had been lying on the same white cot since he'd arrived back at the castle, unable to really do anything else.
His mind was still reeling, or maybe it was a side effect of whatever that explosion had been made out of.
Yes, that's how the headache could be answered, but as for this other feeling…
If was like the one he had gotten at the meeting, when Kuro- No, that wasn't right. This wasn't right, it didn't feel right.
The door opened, as a maid/nurse peeked inside, "Prince Corvus? Are you doing well?"
"Leave me."
Knowing better than to question it, the nurse left, closing and possibly locking the door behind her. She left him to the chaos that was his mind, the utter confusion as to what could cause this unholy fluttering in his stomach, or the unnatural giddy feeling on his chest.
What the hell was wrong with him?
Meanwhile, Kuro stood before a brand-new grand door, one that made it very obvious what was behind.
She tugged at the collar of her rather fancy dress. It dragged on the ground, with many ruffs and a bit too fluffy for her taste. But, at least it was a consistent black.
It made her look like she was ready for a funeral.
Her own.
With a gulp, she said a quick prayer, only to slap herself in the face. Praying wouldn't do anything good, if anything, that would come back to bite her in the ass.
Nothing could save her from this.
With a deep inhale, she knocked on the door.
"Enter."
Kuro shuddered, unable to ignore the command, before pushing the door open.
She felt as if she'd been in a place like this before, or maybe it was because it looked like your everyday stereotypical throne room.
A long red carpet on the black ground lead up to the throne, where a swirl of black with two red eyes sat.
As she got closer, too scared to take her eyes off of what could be a threat, she could slowly but surely see the outline of something humanoid.
At his right, Legion sat, looking as indistinct as ever. It was uncanny how similar the two looked, to a point.
While she expected those two, she didn't think that the sin of sloth would be sitting off to Satan's left.
He sat on the steps, relaxing as he leaned back on the upper step. He seemed to be more or less wearing the same thing as she'd last saw him in, white dress shirt stuffed into long khaki dress pants, light blue hair swept to the side.
Out of all of them, Belphegor yawned in greetings, to which Kuro gave a small wave, "Yo."
She stood there awkwardly for what felt to be a century, before it snapped in her head, as she got down on one knee, "Your highness."
"...You may rise."The king said, to which Kuro did so quickly. Her knees didn't like being bent for too long, "I do hope that this meeting isn't too strenuous for you. I'm told that you are still recovering."
"It is no problem," Kuro grinned, before it hit her, as she hastily added, "Your highness."
"While there is nothing wrong with this small talk, I press that we get to the point of the meeting, sire."Legion said, his voice sounding like sandpaper, or maybe it was feeling like sandpaper?
Could you hear sandpaper?
Kuro inwardly slapped herself in the face, now was not the time to ask herself that.
"Tell us of what you saw during your inspection."The king's voice drew her out of her mind yet again, "I've yet to have a chance to speak with my son; nor have I had the time to...inspect what the mind behind it has to say."
Even though he didn't out right say it, it was pretty clear that Satan wasn't too pleased with what Cresil had created.
"Well, if I'm honest sir, a lot of it is still hazy," Kuro said, being careful with her words. She didn't have to lie if she didn't say anything about Yoru, "But I remember something, a bomb, going off while we were in the guard tower."
"Is that so?"Something about his tone told her he already knew that much, but Kuro ignored it, surely, they could have seen the explosion from the castle, "Do you have any thoughts on why it was done, or who could have done it?"
It was like the conversation with Cresil, there was a lot of underlying meaning to what the king was saying.
"I don't know much, but I think that I won't be the first to assume that it was a Rifter," Kuro stated, keeping a level tone, knowing fully well what would happen if it even sounded like she was lying, "I mean, they're Rifters. They don't want to deal with the guard, or royalty in general, for longer than they have to."
"I find that point of view very...intriguing."Satan spoke, seeming to recline ever so slightly on his throne, moving to rest his chin upon his open palm, "It is...interesting how Tempters work, is it not?"
"It's very different." Kuro conceded, feeling uneasy. What was this guy's play from here?
"We have reason to believe that there is one, if not many, groups that are working to overthrow all that we have created."Legion voiced.
All the while, Belphegor sat on the side and watched, his pitch-black eyes making it hard to see what he was thinking.
Heck, for all she knew, dude could just want a nap.
"If I may speak, sir?" Kuro asked as politely as possible.
You are free to speak."
"Of course, there are demons in the Rift that would love to overthrow you," Kuro said, keeping her eyes on Legion the whole time, "There might even be some right here, within our very capitol."
"A fascinating ideal, from someone who, from what I've been told, was brought up in the Rift."
"Interesting indeed."Legion agreed, before turning to the demon on the stairs, "What do you think of it, Belphegor?"
"...It has nothing to do with me."
"Spoken like the king of true detachment."Legion said softly.
"As I was saying,"Satan murmured, his voice holding a warning, "I believe that your input could help to unify all of hell, being how you are one of the only the make it this far from where you started."
"I am honored to know that my say means more here." Kuro said with a small grin.
"Then you must feel equally privileged to be let in on a…secret, if you would."Satan murmured, his posture screaming dignity. Kuro found it kinda funny that Legion was trying to do the same but his, unlike the king, made him look like that one fanboy that was trying to get close enough to steal something off of his "idol", "Due to recent events, there has been a lot of belligerence going around the Rift."
"That's to be expected." Kuro murmured, not sure where he was going with this.
"By chance, do you know of any of these offending groups?"
Oh. That's where he was going.
...Fuck.
Corvus was going mad.
His confusion went from having him lie down to pacing the room, trying to figure it out. His mind came up with many ideas, but none of them seemed to fit the puzzle he'd been making.
It was driving him crazy, leading to him from pacing to over-turning the nightstand and the dresser in the far corner. The sheets from his bed were on the floor, pillow and pillow case also strewn about.
It looked like a child had just finished throwing a tantrum.
The whole time, Corvus' mind was about to explode, as he continued to try to find the answer.
He'd never felt like this before, it had only begun to happen after...After bringing Kuro back.
Was it because he got to carry her? No, that can't be right, he'd done that before.
Not to mention that, now that he thought of it, he's done it with many others whom he needed something from.
Demons, humans; the women were usually the same, they'd do anything just to feel a sliver of "love" and "affection".
But, if that were the case, he should have been feeling this from much earlier on.
Maybe it was a worse internal problem, maybe he'd eaten a bad soul, and this was some form of food poisoning.
To this, he nearly slammed his head into the wall for how stupid he sounded.
Of course, that wasn't a possibility, he was just being stupid!
But what else could it be, there is nothing else! He's been to the Rift before, and this hadn't happened. He's been on a date with Kuro before, and this hadn't happened.
What was going on here?
What was he missing here!?
When the feeling of being locked in finally got to him, he pulled his coat over his shoulders, nearly ripping the door open before slamming it shut behind him.
Surely a quick stroll outside would help to ease his conscience.
Right?
"I do believe that our king asked you a question, Tempter."Legion scowled, looking as if he was scolding a child, minus that evil glint in his eye.
All the while, it took all of Kuro's willpower not to snap under the pressure. What could she say? What sounded believable?
"With all due respect, your highness, as I said before, I'm sure that there are many small groups that are working to overthrow you."
"I am well aware of that possibility."Satan sighed. It was hard to get a read on this guy, maybe it was because of all the damn smoke, but from what she heard, the only one to see his true form was the queen, and she'd never heard much on the lady before.
Maybe he was just so ugly that he had to do that, and the queen died from how ugly the king is.
Or, maybe he got sick of her and ordered a new one every time his sons got a new bride.
Or maybe-
Maybe now wasn't a good time to speculate.
"What I want to know is if you know about any of these groups."The king sighed, his regal stance slowly morphing into one of, "What we need to know is their location, numbers, that sort of information."
Kuro gulped, doing all she could not to show the tension that threatened to bubble over. There was no way that she'd sell out Shax, but at the same time, what would she have to do to hide them?
"I don't know any exact locations of any of these teams," Kuro said, keeping her voice steady as she looked the king in the eye, "But, if it is required of me, I will do what I can to help."
To this, Legion scowled,"Your highness, she spews only lies. She is not to be trusted, let alone should she be allowed to leave alive."
"You're one to speak of lies." Kuro nearly snapped.
From the side, she could see Belphegor slowly gaining some interest, as Satan took a more rigid stance, the only thing she could use to explain the tornado-hidden silhouette being "bewilderment","...Legion, what does she speak of?"
"Trickery and nothing more, my lord."Legion snarled, giving Kuro a look that could have and would have killed, to which Kuro only wore a smirk of amusement, "She betrays her words, there is a hidden meaning to them."
"I promise you, my lord, I have no reason to lie." Kuro said, doing all she could to appeal to the king, "Yes, I grew up in the Rift, but in the tyranny of the iron fist most gangs held! If I knew anything, I'd be the first to volunteer information to bring them to their knees!"
"...Prove it."
Kuro broke into a cold sweat, "I'm sorry, sir?"
"Surely you have reason to hate these groups,"Satan murmured, Legion growling next to him, the two's demeanor looking more different than night and day, "I have no reason to rival that. But, if you truly abhor them, I'd like to see some physical proof."
Where the fuck was she going to get that?
She thought for a moment, just a moment, when the idea came to mind.
Zagan, you sick genius.
"This is all I have, it's also all I need." Kuro stated, before pulling up her dress.
Not too much, no, she wasn't that desperate (yet) to get out of this, but she pulled it up to her mid-thigh, just high enough to show a long-jagged scar running from the back of the top of her calf all the way down to her ankle, slowly growing sparse on its way down, like a claw mark.
"What is that?" Belphegor finally spoke up.
"It was my first and last warning to stay out of their way." Kuro murmured, letting the dress fall back into place once she was sure they'd all seen it, "I was young when they caught me trying to steal their supplies, a bit of gold and such, things I needed to survive in that hole."
"They caught me before I could get away. One of them managed to drive a knife down my leg when I was getting away."
"That could be from anything."Legion scowled.
"But only shards can cause demons to scar." Kuro shot right back.
"In that case, it is also highly probable that you had a run in with the guard at a young age."Legion scoffed, "It's not unknown for Rifter children to be caught for petty crimes."
"But there is also a law that says that, while the guard is allowed to use force against a child if needed, they're not allowed to draw blood." Kuro said, before turning to the king, "Unless that law has changed, sir?"
"She is right..."The king murmured, looking lost in thought. Again, hard to tell how someone looks when they're in a cyclone of evil, "We have what we need from you, you're dismissed."
From those words and his tone, Kuro couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. She'd just dodged a bullet, no, more like matrixed a whole armada of angry cannons, "Thank you for your time, my king." Kuro said.
Now that she thought about it, it was kinda of an off parting, since he was the one to call her in, but he didn't seem to worry or care, waving her off.
She then quickly walked down the hall, managing the pry the large door open once again, before disappearing into the hallway.
At that very moment, one thing crossed her mind.
"Where can I find a nice cozy closet with nice cozy blankets to crash in?"
Wrong.
Fresh air didn't do anything to help.
Of course, it could have been for the fact that hell didn't have any fresh air, but either way, it didn't matter.
He was still confused.
He quickly found himself outside, in the back of the castle. Once he made sure he was alone, he turned to the obsidian wall, throwing his fist into the brick.
All the while, Corvus breathed heavily, still shaking as he clawed at his dress shirt, hands purple from the bruises the wall.
What was this, this feeling? He felt too hot, but also much too cold. He felt sick, light in the head, but at the same time, he felt as if his head had never been clearer.
All the while, she danced through his head.
Corvus couldn't help but laugh to himself for a moment, imagining Kuro in a nice dress, acting civil and ladylike and charming and…and…
He felt a fluttering feeling in his stomach, as if he wanted to vomit. He nearly did so at the very suggestion his brain gave him.
But why?
"...Damn it, damn it all…"
It then hit him. Holding his head, he squeezed his eyes shut.
But no, he thought, a hand running through his hair, the other one shakenly holding himself up against the wall.
It couldn't be less likely, he knew how to play the game, some of his older brothers liked to joke about how it was a family tradition passed down...
But then...was it possible…
Was this how it felt to those he's seduced?
Was this the feeling of falling under someone else's spell?
He let out another growl, his fist going from pushing himself up to angrily attempting to create a new hole in the wall.
There was a part of him that wanted to fight back. This wasn't right, but even then, nothing about it felt wrong.
He growled, punching the wall in anger. How dare she do this, slowly taking him over when he'd been trying to do the same to her?
"No, no no no, this isn't right...None of this is right..."
He wasn't supposed to fall for her! She was supposed to fall for him! That's how it always works out.
Soon enough, the dark obsidian was covered in craters, some deeper than others. One portion of the wall was very close to crumbling, but who cared, the only ones to come back here were the caretakers.
Looking down at his bloodied fists, he growled, irritated.
He could practically hear some witty comment that Kuro would come up with upon seeing his hands.
"How are you gonna take care of a kingdom if you can't take care of yourself, ya Goofball?"
Peeling his hand from the crater, his growls turned to uneven chuckles. That slowly but surely turned into laughing.
It would seem as if it wasn't only his brother that knew how to weave and spring a trap.
No bother, now she was even more enticing.
"To think that the prey would involve herself as a puppet master." Corvus murmured to himself, as if Kuro could hear him from where ever she was at the moment. He sighed, shaking his head as he shoved his hands into his pocket.
Feeling a lot calmer, he wondered if that was all he really needed, just sometime to surrender himself to the insanity of the game, to be enveloped by the condemned edict that had so graciously decided to befall him.
"To think that she could ensnare both of our black hearts," Corvus smirked, walking back for the entrance of the castle, "Now I can see what you did, Aranea. The way that she entices you so, without seeming to notice, no less."
"You've had a chance to spring your trap, and I have no intention of rigging our little game, but maybe it is time for me to go on ahead and begin moving the important pieces into play."
Corvus grinned to himself, he knew exactly what to do next.
"I swear by it, dear brother; by every avaricious and vainglorious detail that makes me what I am, she'll be mine and mine alone."
Leviathan usually hated staying around the castle.
So many things to hate about the place, like the prideful son of Lucifer, or maybe because of the deal with Legion going sour.
Either way, this wasn't one of those moments.
He stood in the lab of one of his followers, under the castle. He watched as the follower ran a hand through his dark blue hair in frustration, "I don't get it, I built it to perfection! It was tested, it's been tested for centuries! I don't understand!"
"Do all you want, it still failed." Leviathan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He did not have any sort of fondness of this place. It had been Beelzebub's original office, before Legion moved in. He remembered how many times he had been forced to stay down here.
But, with Legion, many changes came.
"I don't understand," Cresil growled, slamming his hands down on the table before him, before throwing all of the blueprints off of the table in his rage, "Our king won't be happy with this, I've failed more than enough times."
Leviathan scowled, holding his head. Out of all of the Envy representatives out there, of course this nerd is the one that is taken in by the royals.
Suddenly, from behind the door, a knock came.
"What!?" Cresil shouted, nearly making Leviathan jump. Usually the demon was calm, even if he was irritated. But, at the same time, there was a good chance that, with all the gold that their king put into this project, his follower could lose a lot more than just his job.
The door was thrown open by someone dressed in all black, like a ninja, "Lord Envy, we found something from the blast sites!"
"Oh?" Leviathan said, faking concern. Judging by the outfit he wore, he must have been a Nigrum from his team, Cinis. Honestly, while it was one of his most important jobs, it was still super boring. They had one main job, and even then, it's been awhile since they've had any sort of lead.
The Nigrum pulled out something from his back pocket, "Take a good look at it, sir! I'm sure you know what it is!"
Leviathan scowled, taking the item from the Nigrum, before looking it over. No, it could be a prank, it had to be a prank, "...We haven't had them use this calling card in decades…"
"What are you talking about?" Cresil moaned, holding his hands over his head on the table, "My 'demotion'?"
"While you managed to waste away gold on your stupid art project," Leviathan grinned, excusing the Nigrum before slamming the calling "card" down, a gold coin with a hole right through the middle, looking like it was shot through with a very precise gun; or, maybe a very precise shooter, "I'm sure it'll be overshadowed by this."
Leviathan tossed Cresil the coin, said demon almost dropping it, "...I thought that they were fake. You said your team hasn't had anything documented on them in the last decade!"
"I may need to get new employment soon then." Leviathan said, his expression a mix between a scowl and a grin, before rolling his shoulders, "Come then, Cresil; we have a damage report to give to our king."
This, like most chapters these days tbh, took a lot longer than I thought it would.
A good friend of mine read it over and told me that I put more thought into this story than I do for my homework.
Which, sadly, is fairly very true.
Oh, before I forget, leave a review if you can read the beginning author's note without google translate. I legit tried to write in Genji's ULT, and the translation I got was "Climb the fence."
Imagine Genji doing that for an ULT. He's so sick of this shit, he's gonna climb his way into Platinum.
I should stop before I offend people who actually play and that get offended by people like me that pretend to play.
...ANYWHO!
I hope you guys enjoy, do feel free to leave a review, and I'll cya guys next chapter!
Whenever it comes out. Cause, let's be honest, there is no schedule for these things. The moment they're ready, they're out.
But with that said, till next time, bad bad!