Between an Idiot and a Hard Place

Two days later and things had settled into a not-quite-normal-but-less-terrible lull around the house as the only male resident prepared a small meal in the kitchen for their newest "Guest". After hauling the unknown liminal home on her back Centorea and her master did their best to explain all the details of what had happened both times they had recovered her to a recently arrived Ms. Smith. The raven-haired agent had shown up looking deathly serious and brought what seemed like half the Cultural Exchange Security Squad decked out in full combat gear along with the usual MON agents known around the house. Apparently with one phone call Kimihito had somehow set off a mini diplomatic crisis that saw every liminal in 20 square kms being assigned a small security detail until they could figure out what had happened to the unknown. No one wanted to believe any extraspecies person could be in any danger but many also weren't willing to take that chance.

As Ms. Smith put it, having Japan be the first nation to have a liminal murdered in cold blood on it's streets wasn't the best way to get into the history books and didn't exactly make for a great pitch when it came time for other races to choose a host country. If she was to be believed even the prime minister himself might have gotten a call over this, that was the kind of alarms that had been sounded. The arrival of more men in black suits at the house who Ms. Smith reluctantly bowed to proved this; her bosses had shown up themselves to investigate. There may have been incidents before but this was going far beyond what had happened up till now. Although Ms. Smith wasn't forthcoming with reasons why everyone was so scared about this the ever-coy Doppel let slip that One Humanity may of made some threats the night before so the upper echelons were collectively crapping themselves after the unknown had turned up almost dead.

Kimihito brewed some coffee, made a spare bedroom available to use, and waited around with the rest of the girls while the program's higher ups went to work on the unconscious angel. Merro hadn't even had enough time to finish falling into one of her tragedy fantasies (where the angel was a spurned lover out to end all the pain) before an excited yell reached them. The angel expert Ms. Smith's bosses brought with them came out sprinting out of the room overcome with scientific excitement as she joyously announced the discovery of an entirely new type of angel never before recognized. Even the expert herself couldn't believe it as she tore through books on angel biology to check for any flaws in her theory.

"Certainly not an ordinary angel; she has no halo. A Virtue? Too small. Wing design and number doesn't match a Principality. Too well endowed for a Cherubim. A Sequi always travels with a Virtue. Valkyrie class view themselves as holy warriors and would be the only ones found with a sword normally but her wings are far too big and no other breed would degrade themselves with the vestments of battle. What is she?! Even in this decrepit state it's obvious she belongs to a higher sphere and I shudder to imagine her potential at full strength but she doesn't match anything in the books. Could she finally be…? No... No Dea class has ever been found…"

Next to arrive at the house was a cadre of angels which was an even bigger scene than the security squad's arrival. It damn near looked like he had just opened up a themed brothel or cosplay cafe as the winged liminals dropped in from the sky in groups, each donning some kind of religious garb.

Called "Cult Bait" by a grinning Doppel behind their backs the angels were a profoundly pious race. Furious in devotion but somewhat lacking in wits one only had to invoke the idea of a holy crusade or sacred duty to get them to come running, even in the face of better judgement. They never meant any harm and most signed on with legitimate churches but even then things went sideways from time to time. Even if the Kurusu house never hosted one before it's owner and guests had more than a few encounters with the race as they tended to be the ones sent out to solicit people in the name of whatever god they followed. Despite being good natured at heart the angels could really, REALLY put on the pressure when it came to church donations or pamphlet dropping.

At the very least the ones who worked as the local shrine maidens were always very nice to him whenever he had a reason to stop by. The two blonde, teenage angels in Miko outfits had been particularly worried about the unknown and wondered if she had been seeking guidance in the storm. In the face of her race's tendencies it suddenly made much more sense that he and Centorea had found the fallen angel where they did. Like all the rest, the shrine maidens examined the unknown's personal possessions, but were unable to figure out who she was.

She bore no scriptures, symbols, or icons of any known faith but was obviously part of some religion with her elaborate clothes; raising the specter of another angel falling victim to a cult. Her blade was a colossal mystery too as none could translate the engravings running down both sides of the shattered ceremonial sword. For the faith obsessed angels this had come as something of a shock to their pride; they were expects on every facet of the world's religions but they couldn't so much as identify the continent it most likely came from.

Answers eluded them until a fair bit latter when the angel herself had finally awoken with a started scream. Kimihito was genuinely taken aback at first sight by the exotic beauty of the strange angel and her unique blue eyes that reminded him of two deep pools of water that went on forever. Sadly things went downhill rather quickly and before anyone realized it the unknown had torn straight out of her initial restrains and began to struggle in an attempt to commit suicide again. Proving to be unspeakably strong for someone her size it took 8 tranquilizer darts, Centorea, Tio, Zombia, Miia's tail, Suu, and two layers of Rachnera's thread to finally restrain her.

Several hours (And a small pharmacy's worth of medication) later they began to question her with the help of a extra-species therapist the higher ups with the program brought in now that they fully believed that she had attempted to end her life back at the shrine.

Ilias, to her credit, did her best to accurately tell her story despite still being half-dead and more drugged than that time she got utterly-fucking-blasted on holy wine and created Archangel Ranael. Sadly this was a complete disaster as all those around her assumed her barely coherent mess of a tale was nothing more than the insane ramblings of a madwoman. It wasn't just that they didn't believe she was a threat, they actually believed she was the victim in all this!

The hand-sized pixie in a labcoat they brought in to diagnose her mind had completely misinterpreted her explanation as a fantasy created by a traumatized victim to shield themselves from reality. She had no idea how they could have missed the mark so spectacularly, she told the whole truth for the first time in her million-year long life and no one believed her! The story they came up with by "Reading in between the lines" sounded like something that could bring the Monster Lord to her knees/Lamila equivalent of knees with laughter.

Apparently they believed she had started out as a poor, naive, gullible angel who had been tricked by the cruel and villainous Luka who beguiled her with false promises of sacred duties and sold her to the Heavenly Knights Sex Slave Cartel. There she was brainwashed into learning sexual techniques and that monsters/extraspecies persons needed semen in order to survive so that'd she happily have sex with whoever her owner was to be. At some point as she was being smuggled through Japan she had broken free after a fight only to wind up lost in the storm.

Being the symbol of pure innocence and virginity that she was (Pfffffttt….. HAHAHAHA!) her mind couldn't handle what she had been through. She was so heavily traumatized by the incident she created the fantasy as a way to explain away the pain as mere karma being dealt out to a villain before trying to end her own life.

In her head Ilias swore she could hear the ghosts of Black Alice and Promestein laughing their asses off as the "experts" tried to convince her their take on the story was real. With visions of enhancing their careers by finding and stopping this made up cartel in their heads the leaders of this cultural ex-something left Ilias to the care of the Luka clone with the black hair. She was to be kept here, restrained, until she could be trusted not to jab a knife through her throat first chance she got.

Normally a mental hospital would be better but since they truly believed Ilias to be an escapee with possible pursuers they went with the less public residence. For two days she laid in bed as chemicals ran through her body to keep her just weak enough to not escape or resist too heavily. It was ironic, Luka and the entire planet fought with everything they had to kill when she resisted; now that she wanted to kill herself to protect the world a bunch of idiots were keeping her safe. What kind of backwards world did she land in?

It wasn't all bad, despite being mostly full of monsters she found the house's inhabitants agreeable at least. Whatever the hell had finally snapped in her brain back in that shrine seemed to take her profound hatred of monsters with it. They were still monsters but at the very least she could stomach talking to the Spider girl and Slime without being overcome by explosive vomiting. Still didn't like the Lamia with the red tail though; that one had attempted to make her soup in order to help her recover only to find out she could apparently condense pure misery into liquid form. As she laid writhing in pain with the hell-brew ripping through her insides Ilias was left to wonder what the heck red-tailed snake girls and cooking had against each other.

Things were much better as the only man in the house brought her a tray of grilled cheese flawlessly cooked to a buttery golden brown and paired with a cup of apple juice. He entered the door to the spare guestroom she was being kept in midway through a conversation with the white haired spider girl with giant tits.

"-So you press them together and move them side to side like this right?"

"A bit too rough there. Don't want to hurt yourself with those claws. Adjust your arms a little higher...Too high...Bit more...Perfect"

"I see…"

"What the heck are you two doing?!"

Rachnera gave him a predatory grin and hugged her breasts to herself after turning around to face her Honey "Oh Ilias here was just giving me a few pointers. She's very...knowledgeable Hehehehehehe…"

Ok, he did NOT like the way Rachnera was looking at him right now.

"Uhmmm. Could you give us some space? I need to feed Ilias"

The Arachne took a few steps back on her 8 black legs but never left the room. "My job is to make sure she can't hurt herself again which means I have to stick around with my thread in case she breaks it again" she argued with extreme emphasis on that last part.

During the initial tussle Ilias had been bound by Rachnera's thread after throwing Zombia off her. To the Arachne's shock the angel became overcome by an aura of brown energy and ripped her first layer of threads to mere scraps in seconds. Whatever spell she had used allowed her to toss both Centorea and Tio across the room moments later as well as tear clean through Suu's slime tentacles. It only lasted a few seconds before she returned to normal but since then Rachnera had taken a keen interest in the angel. Apparently snapping a Arachne's thread was the fastest way to earn their respect and something of a friendship had blossomed between the two while one was watching the other.

Unfortunately for the man of the house they quickly found out they had lots to talk about. Regardless of whether Ilias was a Goddess from another world or was simply a delusional victim of a sex slave racket Ilias knew more about the art of lovemaking than virtually any other extra species girl in the house (Hell, maybe even the country!). This was cause for some concern as more than a few times her host had walked in to find Rachnera literally taking notes as Ilias spoke about the proper ways to give a man pleasure from her bed.

It may of been true that Ilias only rarely blessed a human with her body as her standards were unspeakably high (She neglected to mention her run in with the bike cop because of this) but it was a mistake to think she was unskilled in that regard. Long before even the Succubi Queen Alma Elma had been born Ilias's proficiency in the pleasure arts was something no human or monster aside from the Six Ancestors and Alice the first could hope to match.

Of all the myriad of ways to make love Ilias's favorite techniques had always been breast based, she simply viewed using one's chest as a more dignified way of bringing a man to orgasim. Her Angel Soldier's massive racks, the cross of pleasure used by the Trinities, even Luka's own exceptional love of big boobs were signs of Ilias's own fetishes being passed down to her descendants.

Naturally when she noticed the colossal tits found on the larger races in this house and was approached by Rachnera Ilias was more than happy to fill the spider-girl in on her favorite tricks. Ok saying she was happy was wrong, Ilias had so far fallen into a disgruntled state of defeat since she couldn't kill herself but she didn't mind at least indulging in the Arachne's curiosity.

That plus the flustered looks on the other girls' faces as she went over the proper way to give a Paizuri to Rachnera before they fled the room was hilarious!

'Since these monsters don't need semen to survive they scatter like awkward schoolgirls when you mention sex. Hmmp! They wouldn't last three minutes in the old world' thought Ilias as she tried her best to maintain some dignity while being fed

"It's ok right?" the man with the short black hair asked her between bites

Ilias shrugged as much as she could "I'd complain but after tasting the liquid agony your snakey friend prepared before real food is too good to pass up. *Bite* *Chew*Chew*Chew* Not bad, Luka 2"

"Ummm, I do have a name you can call me…" Luka 2 pointed out hesitantly

"Aw! What fun would that be Honey?" teased Rachnera

Honey/Luka 2/Beloved/Husband/Loverboy/Master/Darling/Darling-Kun/Snookums/Bae decided to let the addressing issue pass for the moment in favor of other topics.

"So then Ilias, how are feeling today? Any better?"

"Well for the past hour or so I've been wondering if my pink sash I wear behind my gown here would be strong enough to act as a noose. Besides that I've been swamped looking at the possibility of dousing myself in oil and jumping on a bonfire. There's just not enough hours in the day!" came a reply of grim sarcasm.

Ilias was no fool, she knew damn well what he had meant and wasn't the type to dance around an issue. After nearly dropping the cup of juice in his hands from the momentary shock the young man did his best to fire back.

"You don't have to act like that you know. No one here wants to see you hurt" he pointed out with a gentle conviction.

God, even the way he was looking at her was an exact copy of Luka whenever he was about to go off on a coexistence tirade. It was a look that said "I'm going to make a long and important speech no matter how many times you call me an idiot" very loudly.

Knowing what was coming Ilias just rolled her eyes "No one -here- wants to see me hurt. Everyone -there- wants to see dead. That's the issue"

"So what? This is a different world"

"You'd casually disregard the sorrows of all those I got killed? Two whole villages slaughtered to the last baby? Countless numbers of war orphans? All those hurt by my rule?"

"*Sigh* Of course not, but by the sounds of it someone thought you were worth enough to save. As far as everyone in your world is concerned you're dead; you can't get back so you can't cause any more damage. What would be the point in you dying here? How would you ending your life help anyone?"

"Well it would keep me from suffering another breakdown and stabbing you all in your sleep" Ilias replied with an eerie calmness for one talking about murder

"Do you really think you'd go back to that so easily?"

"Does a Succubus like sex? Of course I'd go back to the old me! It's in my nature"

"But are you sure?"

"By my name you're stupid…"

"It's a fair question! You can't say for certain that you'd go back to how you were!"

"You might want to just give up here. When Honey gets an idea in his thick skull almost nothing can convince him otherwise" advised Rachnera playfully

Her Honey got right up into Ilias's face and stared her straight in the blue eyes, unwilling to back down.

"If you die that's it, it's over. If you live who know for certain what might happen?"

"No...nononono, NO! I've seen Luka do this before! You're trying to pour your pathetic, little heart out and convince me to change my mind! I've watched this happen at least five goddamn times already, I am -NOT- falling for it!" shot back Ilias aggressively as Luka 2's face remained unchanged

"You're avoiding the argument"

"Because there is nothing to argue!"

"Yes there is!"

"You're just like them, you actually think I'm just a crazed nutjob who never hurt anyone in their life. If you really thought my story was true, if you walked through the hellish remains of Remia, you'd kill me yourself. For once in my miserable fucking existance I'm trying to do the right thing! Just slit my damn throat and get it over with!"

Things only continued to get more heated between Kimihito and Ilias. For a while now he had wanted to speak with the angel plainly and now that things had gone off her was going to give it everything he could. He just didn't see a reason for Ilias to die and was driven to make her feel the same.

"How long were you there?"

"How long was I were?

"That darkness, that "Void" you floated around in? The one from before you found the world you settled on?"

"That? You'd really try to work that angle?" balked Ilias

"How long, really?" the young man pushed back

"I'll give it to ya kid, you have balls" conceded the goddess who found herself impressed by this Luka knock-off's gusto "*Sigh* Fine. I don't know exactly how long it was but it was too long for me"

"You were alone for ages after you were just born. Anyone would be scared of being alone after that"

"Scared? You would dare to-"

"Were you?" he challenged without missing a beat

"*Grumble* I see where you're going with this but it was still my mistake to make. I came out of that hellhole as queen bitch of the galaxy while Alice the first just walked it off"

"Your other half? The god of Darkness?"

In that moment something transpired within the one the young man was speaking too. All at once her gaze became unfocused from him and instead locked onto a random point on the wall behind him. Ilias seemed to lose track of the world around her and drop into her thoughts.

"The first… It's sad…" she muttered

"You miss her?" he questioned

Her blue eyes lost their concentration somewhat but she continued "Miss her? No. We were never friends. It's just… even now, a millennium later and world apart I still can't figure out how she did it" the way she spoke evoked something deeper about Ilias. It was a pain she just couldn't hide or shelve away.

"How she did what?"

"How did she do it? How did she come out of that hell and just be so...normal?" replied Ilias who felt a burning question from past become reignited "I never met her face to face since Light and Darkness could never meet but from all I heard she was just always so damn happy! How? I couldn't have a worshiper leave one of my temples for a time without becoming paranoid, violent, terrified and she just walks out without so much as bad attitude. It doesn't make sense! How?" As she spoke the human and Arachne in the room could see her start to lose herself to her thoughts but the goddess continued before they could question her mental state "I was annoyed by the fact that she showed up on my world to settle her and her kind, I was frustrated that she could make life quicker and without as many unwanted mutations, It angered me that she could drag away the attention of my humans with her monsters when me and my angels came first. In the end though; those things weren't what drove me to hate her or her creations as much as I did-"

"H-Hey! You ok?!"

Kimihito was starting to get a little worried now as Ilias kept falling deeper and deeper into her thoughts. It wasn't like she was speaking to him anymore but merely vocalizing an argument going on in her head.

"-How? Ju-Just...HOW?! I end up little miss possessive and she just waltzes out with the personality of a saint?! How?! Was it all just an act? Did she have some horrible issues and her children just covered them up for her? Was I trying to compare myself to nothing more than a fictionalized standard? But what if she really was just ok? How could she handle it? Was there a secret to it that I never figured out?! Did I miss something!? Could I have missed something like that!?-"

"You ok there crazy eyes?" asked Rachnera who could see Ilias's eyes had shrunk to pin points, disengaged from the world around her. She knew Ilias was supposedly completely nuts but to see her entire body tense up while she had her little episode was starting to actually scare her.

"-Would Tamamo know? Was she a part of covering it up? Could Darkness naturally stand up to the isolation better than light? The void was dark, could the First have somehow been in on it?! Was it all part of some plan to fuck with me?! What was the point of it all?! Why did I get trapped in that hell!? How did she do it? How? How!?-"

"Ilias!"

"-How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!? How!?-"

(Slap!)

"-Huh? What did I…? What was…?"

With a hard slap to knock her back to her senses Ilias was confronted by the concerned looks of both Rachnera and her Honey who was grateful to see her snapping out of it. He didn't enjoy hitting her and found it in bad taste but couldn't let her continue like that. After all, it was his words that had set her off in the first place

"Are you ok?!"

"J-Just a headache" the dazed goddess replied

Without prompt Rachnera turned and skitted out the door saying she'd be back with some aspirin or something. Truthfully she wasn't comfortable letting the man of the house see her actually worried and saw this as a good chance to back out for a second and get her bearings. After all she had a reputation to keep and showing weakness wasn't a great way to keep it.

Not ten seconds after the Arachne left Ilias was faced with the sight of a young man clasping his hands together in a deep, apologetic bow.

"I'm sorry for hitting you and upsetting you like that!" came his frantic apology

Left in too much of a haze after the episode Ilias found it hard to fault him or focus on anger for the moment.

"I-It's fine…" she replied, her voice a shocked and exhausted stutter "I guess I failed to remember how much of a hell I created inside my own head…"

'By my name! I was so much better at keeping that stuff bottled up before! What the heck is wrong with me?!' Ilias reflected; it didn't help that the thoughts sounded much crazier and pathetic when said outright.

"I can't believe I actually said that outloud…" she continued

"You mean about being jealous of the first monster lord?" asked the young man who was still listening in

'Me-fucking-dammit!'

"*Sigh* Normally I'd zap anyone who heard me admit such a silly thing with so much lighting their boiling insides would explode out of their asshole. That (sadly) is not an option for me right now so...yes... I hated the First because she got off scot-goddamn-free from our time alone while I'm still a wreck because of it " Ilias reluctantly admitted

With a nervous laugh Kimihito quipped "Maybe talking to someone about this sooner would keep you from blowing up like that?"

'How much lighting would you even need for something like that anyway?!' he also wondered with morbid curiosity

"What?" came Ilias's retort "You mean talk about how pathetic I am? To who? My angels? My worshipers?! I had a sense of pride once you know! I couldn't just talk about this crap! How would that reflect on me as a goddess?! Who would follow and worship the weak!?"

"I'd be fine with that" the young man attempted to argue

"If you truly are like Luka you'd follow a statue off a cliff if it had nice tits carved into it" the goddess mocked

Insulted but not dismayed he uncomfortably shifted his eyes to the side and pointed out "I like legs if you must know..."

"And the ones trying to get into your pants are a Centaur, a Harpy, a Mermaid, a Spider Girl, a Lamia, and a slime. Holy hell… The last time I saw a spread of shots miss that badly a blind succubus was giving handjobs!" muttered Ilias between shock and amusement

"You forgot Lala there... (Also can you please not use such vulgar references?!)" he pleaded under his breath

"The purple one? I thought she was just a human with horrible skin complexion. What's she?"

The man deadpanned again "(Truthfully? Completely delusional…) I mean! That's besides the point! What I'm getting at is that maybe talking with someone about your issues would of kept you from going off the deep end like you did?"

"Right, because talking about your problems is a magical cure-all for borderline psychosis…"

Ilias's sarcastic response was quickly parried by her companion. After trading verbal blows with others so often he was getting better at arguing down other races with twisted world-views.

"Well does leaving a problem alone and pretending it doesn't exist ever make it better? You said you watched humans constantly from heaven; did that plan ever work out for them?"

"I once watched a woman bury her cheating husband alive. She pretended she couldn't hear him screaming beneath her feet as she walked away, it seemed to make all her problems disappear"

"(How many terrible stories do you have!?) How about just in general?"

"*Sigh* Like I said, I was the Goddess. A Goddess doesn't have problems. A Goddess is an infallible being who the humans adore and look up to for guidance and answers. The Goddess is always, always right! That's why people kept even paying attention to me"

"Did you ever guide them?"

"Fuck no"

Ilias answered that a little too quickly for his liking...

"So you got all the worship but did none of the duties?"

"Sweet deal huh?"

"Right… Getting back on track; I don't think your pride was worth your sanity. It sounds like you were afraid of losing what you had but did keeping it even make you happy? Did all the worship ever make you feel any better? Di-Oh! Rachnera!"

From the door returned the housemate with a fizzing drink in her claws. Eight red eyes cast a judging look on the duo who had been locked in an intense conversation moments before. Now fully realizing he had pushed his face a bit too close to Ilias's during the moment Kimihito sat back in his chair and took a breath.

"It's a shame; I leave you with a bound girl and I come back to find you not doing anything impure to her" the Arachne ended her joke with a seductive giggle that made her honey sweat

Without missing a beat Ilias looked at her and replied "Trust me; even tied up like this I'd have him screaming his lungs out after three seconds if that happened"

"Awww, what's the point of going that fast? Where's the satisfaction?" joked Rachnera before staring right at the man in the room "It's better to take things NICE and SLOW. Don't your agree honey?"

"Uhhhh…?"

"Now you're someone who finally gets it!" applauded Ilias "So many of the monsters from my world were so focused on speed! You need to take things slow, make the man drown in the sensations, make his body ache with anticipation, make them willing to submit to anything to finally reach the pleasure they crave,then make him climax so hard he forget his own name!"

"Him or her" pointed out the spider to which Ilias gave a casual shrug

"Not my forte' but a cute female follower every once in awhile was nice too..."

"You two should not get along this well!" interjected the increasingly uncomfortable man in the room

"What? I'm great at making friends. I have one tied up in the attic right now" grinned Rachnera

Kimihito really hoped that Rachnera was joking about that but knowing her it was a 50-50 shot. Without touching on the issue further the spider dom moved to Ilias's bedside and offered her the cup of the clear, fizzing liquid to the blonde goddess.

"This should help with your headache dear"

"I've never said this before to a filthy monster (And meant it); but thanks"

Even if it tasted like swill Ilias was happy to accept the drink as long as it meant getting rid of the painful stabbing sensation afflicting her brain; plus it was still leagues better than the medicines found on her homeworld.

'I wonder if those idiots ever figured out that mercury and pomegranate wasn't the best cure for stomach pains?' she mused

Whatever Rachnera had procured was astonishingly quick acting and within moments Ilias was met with a gentle feeling; like a warm, fuzzy blanket was being draped over her mind.

"There is something to be said about this world, it sure does it's drugs well"

"You should see the "Adult reading material" here; I can't imagine how you'll react to the internet" Rachnera joked

"The view from my perch in heaven was nothing to sneeze at either when it came to free porn; being able to see almost anywhere at all times made it very easy to spy on people's naughty secrets. I've got some great stories about the sheer lengths most young men went to when the figured out how self pleasure worked"

"No one wants to hear that!" Kimihito argued

"What? About the one who spent 3 hours rubbing their crotch against their bedframe to-"

"Enough! Can we talk about anything else please?!"

Feeling good from the medicine she took earlier Ilias relented and dropped her head back into the bed she was tied up on. It was strange but her pillow was feeling far more plush and comfortable now.

"You're no fun Luka 2" she pouted in an almost childish manner

"Why does everything out of your mouth have to be so lewd?" he complained

"We were a bit more "Open" with such things back where I came from. This is actually quite tame compared to how some monsters spoke"

"Can you just tone it down a little?"

"*Sigh* Fine…."

The young man with the black hair gave her a light smile "Thank you. I'm glad you're being a little bit more reasonable"

"Nah, I think I'm just feeling too tired to argue anymore. I just don't feel like fighting when I'm sleepy" the goddess softly yawned and stretched in the bed before continuing "That's another reason I felt like ending it back there. I was already planning another conquest, more death, more schemes. I've been alive way too long to keep dealing with that crap"

"So the classic "I'm getting too old for this shit" argument?" questioned Rachnera

"I'm sick of thinking. When you live a few million years with your brain constantly working overtime even a goddess would get worn out" Ilias admitted

Kimihito saw his chance as Ilias began to shift into a lower gear as it were. She was calming down and speaking more openly; now was the time to convince her.

"You do know you could finally just relax while staying alive here? Enjoy something of a normal life?" he suggested

"Back to this again?" sighed the goddess

"I'm just saying that death is hardly your only retirement option"

"There's still the slight "Have a mental breakdown and murder you in your sleep" problem" Ilias was quick to point out again

"Well at least Mero would finally get her tragic love" voiced Rachnera with a dry wit

Thank god she wasn't in the room. Rachnera could already see that mermaid sitting in her wheelchair with stars in her eyes as she described her "Beloved" dying at Ilias's hands to protect her.

'To that girl a Mega-Yandere is just another opportunity waiting to happen' the Arachne thought

Yet again Kimihito didn't budge on the issue and declared "I'm willing to trust you. I believe you have the potential for real good inside you still"

"Why do I get the feeling you'd also trust your baby with Nanny Murderstab's day care services?" Ilias mocked

"Will you at least try?" the man asked in an irritated manner

As crazy as it seemed Ilias ACTUALLY considered his request. But could she do it? Even she wasn't sure if there was anything left for her to salvage in terms of a normal life.

"Me, live a life as someone other than the Goddess of light?" she considered

"Isn't this what Luka was talking to you about before you saved him? About figuring out how to live outside the roles you saw yourselves in? Alice nearly got herself killed in order to be Monster Lord she believed she had to be just like her mother, Luka nearly killed the person he loved in order to be what he saw as a true hero; in the end both would have regretted following their ideal of the roles they had. You saw yourself as the Goddess and did a lot of terrible things because you feared it being taken away from you, because you couldn't see yourself as anything other than the goddess"

As he argued with her Ilias figured something out about Kimihito that nearly stopped her heart dead.

'They way he's talking about that story I told him… Holy shit! Does he actually believe me?!'

With eyes wide open Ilias stared at the boy as he continued "In the end I don't think you were happy with being the goddess; just placated. Worshipers aren't friends, to be content isn't the same as being truly happy" it was then that Kimihito decided to make a bold stand and argued to her "You wondered why Alice the First seemed to be fine after dropping out of that darkness with you? Did you ever consider it was because she opened her heart to others and tried to bond with her creations and the humans on a more personal level?"

"She...you…" Ilias was shellshocked. Between realizing this idiot actually believed her story and being presented with such a, frankly cliche, idea that might actually be correct she didn't know how to respond. Not even Promestein, the smartest angel she ever made, or Tamamo, the queen of the Kitsunes, had ever managed to overwhelm Ilias's vast mind and force her to draw blanks like this before!

Seeing her resistance falter Kimihito gave Ilias a compassionate smile and went in with his final move.

"Of course I could be wrong. But still, you were so eager to figure out how she managed it before so why not give something similar a try?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"Stay with us, give making friends and not followers a try. Be someone other than the Goddess. It's not like you have anything to lose and who knows, maybe you'll finally be happy for once?"

Was this dumbass right?! Why wasn't her brain firing off a reason he was wrong before adding in an insult like it alway did whenever someone tried to reason with her!?

'There's no way it's that simple…there's no fucking way it's that easy! But… Dammit why is this being so hard to work around?! Micaela and Lucifina tried to bond with me in a way countless times back when they still thought of me like their mother. I saw them as mere tools or sources of devotion just like all my angels and eventually the humans too. What if I had….no, no, no, no! THIS. CAN'T. BE. RIGHT. It just can't!'

'...'

'No'

'...'

'No!'

'...'

'Dammit I'm still thinking about it!'

With her brain going into full blown meltdown Ilias did something she almost never did.

She caved.

"So?" He asked one last time

"FINE! Fine! Fine! Fine! Fine! I'll...do it. *Sigh* I'll give your damn idea a try Luka 2" Ilias relented just to stop the conversation and how confused it was making her feel "I'll try and be nice, semi-normal person. I'll stop trying to kill myself. I'll even humor the rest of you assholes who think I'm crazy by pretending to be the delicate, little victim you all seem to think I am. Just get your sorcery or idiot powers or whatever out of my brain!" The goddess huffed with annoyance

"You promise?" The boy asked, sounding as if he was talking to a stubborn six-year old

Ilias shot him a death glare but conceded "I promise… Now get me out of these restraints so I can punch you in the dick as hard as I can!"

Even if she was willing to accept his bullshit Ilias was NOT willing to be talked down to!

"Right, sorry, that was a little condescending" Kimihito apologized before adding "I'm just glad you finally decided to see reason" like an idiot he shot her an overly enthusiastic thumbs up and cheered "I knew you had it in you!"

"By my name, just please shut up…" Ilias groaned

The two continued on for a time, Kimihito annoyed the hell out of Ilias with each word out of his mouth while Ilias herself did her best to not reconsider giving up on suicide.

To Rachnea it was all too much fun. Even since returning with the "Package" Ms. Smith had given her in the kitchen she had kept to the sidelines and let both it, and her Honey, work their magic on the deluded angel.

'Oh yeah, she had "It" in her all right. She had "It" and the most powerful Anti-psychotic drug the exchange program could legally use….' mused the spider

The Arachne kept this to herself since she didn't want to ruin the moment and because that stupid, little, victory grin looked so adorable on her Honey's clueless face.

'In the end, I guess even he couldn't get through to everyone without some help' Rachnera thought before the rest of the housemates showed up at the guestroom door, drawn by the happy cheers of their contested lover.

Author's Note: I really like the idea I came up with here for angels in the Monster Musume world being what amounts to flying Jehovah's Witnesses. They never get mentioned in the series proper so I had to come up with something fun for their race. Both this and Ch 5 were completed at the same time. I'm holding back Ch 5 for editing but expect it very shortly as it's a smaller chapter (Day or two till release). Please leave a review if you enjoy.