It was almost midday. Summers had just come back to her room after spending the morning relaxing on the beach. But she hadn't just been wasting time.
Ever since her previous fiasco at killing Stella, Summers had been busy trying to think of a plan that could work, but that was incredibly hard. To make things better, she couldn't even find so much as a replacement for Lunatic, so things weren't looking her way.
But Summers was no stranger to misfortune and setbacks. Her hatred for Stella ran deep enough that this much wasn't enough to make her give up.
So, once she got to her room after taking a bath, Summers had recently had an idea that just might be crazy enough to work. And as luck would have it, after Death's Group disbanded, it seemed that her target had also separated from Lost, which was very good for Summers.
"Thank God I don't have to deal with that guy."
"Which guy? I hope it's not me."
Summers hadn't heard that voice in a while, but she still recognized it. Lost, the person she least wanted to meet, had just popped out of thin air.
Summers nearly let out an ear-piercing scream, which would have been entirely understandable, but managed to hold herself back just enough.
She didn't really know Lost's full power, but she knew that it would be a very bad idea to antagonize him in any way. Luckily, Summers had full confidence she could make any man into her toy. While her instincts screamed at her to get away, she knew she couldn't.
Lost's wolf-like ears were also a surprise for Summers. So he was a mixed-blood devil? If not for a human, Yuuto, being present in the current Devil King War, Summers might have been much more shocked at Lost. As it was though, she was able to feign calm, and simply had to remind herself to not belittle Lost.
"To what do I owe this visit? Actually, how did you even get here?"
"Don't worry about the details. As for why I'm here… you know. I was just thinking, I really want a cute girlfriend like Summers. I remember you wanted to deal with Stella, so don't you think you could use a strong man's help?"
"… Yeah, I could…"
If she was being sincere, Summers had once thought of using Lost as Lunatic's substitute. He seemed more than fit for the job. The only reason why Summers didn't go through with it was simply because her instincts told her not to.
But if Lost was being sincere here, then she could very well use him for her plans. As it was, Summers had resigned herself that, even if her plan worked, she would have to fight Stella herself. But if she can get Lost to do that, then she might as well.
Just as Summers was thinking things might go her way for once, she felt something around her neck. By the time she noticed, it was already too late. She had been enslaved by Psyconnect.
"Ah, just to be clear, I wasn't really lying before. I do plan to fight Stella and figured I might as well see what you were up to. But hey, if you snuggle up to me, I could maybe get more motivated."
"Whatever, if I must."
Summers then gave Lost a kiss on the cheek. He was a little surprised by the effects of Psyconnect on her. It simply forced someone to be loyal to the user, so the exact effects varied from person to person.
So Summers was either a tsundere or she simply viewed everyone as tools for her own convenience, even if her loyalty is maxed. Lost found it interesting, but didn't really care for it more than that.
"Anyway, I was checking your plans before you arrived, it seems rather interesting. But I guess we need to find Hisoka before."
"As long as we can get her to cooperate, we can get rid of Stella's Horoscope. Without it, she is simply a noble devil girl."
"Guess we better get on it then. Her show a few days from now seems like the best place to attack, so we have some time."
Summers' plan wasn't too complex. A few days from now, Stella would be performing another one of her shows. By getting Hisoka to use her Characteristic Magic then, she could get rid of the source of Stella's seemingly limitless mana, her fans.
Though there was a slight miscalculation from Summers. Without the mana from her fans, Stella wasn't just a normal noble devil lady. As luck would have it, she was born with a very low mana capacity for noble devils. Without her fans' mana, she was as helpless as a fish out of water, at least when compared to another Candidate.
"I'll have Marios find her and Rinne. Before that, we have someone else to visit."
"Who, master Lost?"
"Oh, just a friend we haven't seen in a while."
Balance was currently in a troublesome situation. Yotaka, who had promised to help him get Summers, was killed. He was once again stuck without being able to do anything directly.
And whatever he tried to do in an indirect way also seemed to simply not catch Summers' attention. That, or she simply ignored it.
Balance considered going after Yuuto and the others who killed Yotaka, since he could spin it in a way that would make it seem fair from Temperance's point of view, but he decided against it. He'd be picking a fight with many Candidates, and really he simply didn't care enough.
His desire for Summers had become almost an obsession. Getting her after being rejected was the only thing that could calm the fire on his heart.
While he was wondering what to do now, he heard a voice that wasn't supposed to be there.
"Yo. I'm not even going to butter you up."
By the time Balance noticed it was Lost and Summers there, Psyconnect was already around his neck and then it closed itself.
"Pathetic."
"What's that you bitch? I'm not pathetic. As if you'd do any better against master Lost!"
"I'm confident I can last at least a few seconds against master Lost. Depending on the type of match that is."
Summers pressed her chest on Lost's arm, which made Balance fume with rage. Still, his loyalty to Lost wouldn't let him touch his master's woman, so despite everything in him telling him to just rape Summers where she stood, Balance didn't do anything.
Incidentally, this wasn't much later after Lost enslaved Summers, so they hadn't had time to have sex as she implied. She really was just having fun teasing Balance.
"Whatever. Let's just go back. We have to find Rinne and Hisoka so we can get moving with the plan to take down Stella."
"Finally, a man who can get things done."
"What would you have me do, master Lost?"
"I'll be really honest with you, you're kinda useless as far as I can see. I just figured I'd get you because I could. Just try to not get in my way and I can't ask for more."
Balance was stunned with Lost's honesty, and Summers laughed at him right to his face.
It really wasn't a lie though. Lost didn't want to deal with Balance's power, so he couldn't eat him. And Lost also didn't see any way Balance would be useful as a slave. The only real reason why Lost figured he might as well get Balance with Psyconnect was just in case he needed another body for the Frankenstein. But otherwise, Balance had no utility to Lost.
But of course, Balance wanted to be useful for his master, preferably alive. While all Summers did was look pretty, Balance got together with Marios to try and locate Rinne and Hisoka as quickly as possible. He wanted to prove he wasn't completely useless.
It took about 2 days, but they did manage to find them. And with great timing to boot.
After Lost's fight with Marchosias, Rinne and Hisoka knew they had to stay far from him, he was clearly losing control of himself. They quickly dropped by where they'd been previously living, got some things and then disappeared.
With nowhere to go, the 2 girls have been living on the streets for weeks now. Of course, that made them troubled in various ways, but being devils, and of noble lineage to boot, made them much tougher than normal human girls. That's what allowed them to survive this far.
Still, after so long, things were tough even for them. Rinne and Hisoka were currently hiding under a bridge in a riverbed. Hisoka was sleeping, or maybe she'd passed out, but Rinne didn't have that luck.
"… This might be it."
Some people were going about near where Rinne and Hisoka were hiding. Normal people might not have been able to tell, but these were devils.
If Rinne had to guess, after news that Death's Group had disbanded, her family and Hisoka's had probably sent people to look for and capture them. Of course, Rinne knew very well that it wasn't a happy family reunion that awaited them if they were found.
Times had been tough for the 2 girls. They hadn't eaten properly in weeks, only drank water every now and then, and that's not to mention the mental toll it was having on them. Rinne knew Hisoka was having it especially tough, due to her being younger and also her trauma.
So Rinne grabbed her knife. Her Characteristic Magic required Rinne to hurt herself to activate, so she needed something like a knife around. But Rinne wasn't planning on using her Revival.
Instead, she took aim at Hisoka's neck. Her sleep didn't really seem peaceful, but it would surely be preferable to die a painless death now than to continue this. Rinne's Bloodline Magic, Regenerate, wouldn't let her take such an easy way out, but she could do it for Hisoka.
"Please don't wake up."
Rinne resolved herself. Just as she was about to do it… she couldn't. It was as if her arms just couldn't muster up the strength. It wasn't a literal lack of strength problem, Regenerate and being a devil ensured that she was still in top physical shape even going weeks without food.
No, the problem was psychological. Rinne would never forgive herself if she somehow found salvation after putting Hisoka to rest, she just couldn't completely let go of hope. In the end, she just couldn't do it.
As Rinne was putting her knife back in her pocket, her fingers felt something else, a card. It was Wheel Of Fortune, the Arcana that caused this whole mess to begin with.
But Rinne remembered something. Back when classes were still going on in Ginsei Academy, Lost had sent Rinne to keep an eye on Yuuto in case he needed some help. Rinne isn't a ninja, so Yuuto easily found her and she simply decided to keep an eye on him openly.
On the last day of classes, Yuuto had done something Rinne dismissed as some kind of perverted act. He put his Lovers Arcana to her Wheel Of Fortune Arcana, and told her that it would work as some kind of signal if she needed his help.
Rinne didn't really believe it, but she figured she might as well try. It's not as if she has anything better to do with her time.
So Rinne faced her Arcana. Rather than a praying position or anything like that, Rinne seemed more like she was going to give order to a troublesome child.
"Tell Yuuto that-"
*splash*
Rinne heard something fall on the riverbed, so she turned to look. She saw parts of a body, but it soon disappeared, eaten by some black thing.
But it wasn't long before someone else appeared. A boy with red hair and wolf-like ears on top of his head. Lost.
"These people that were after you 2, they weren't half bad. I could make a habit of eating the people that come chasing you both."
"Lost…?"
It was only then that Rinne noticed that there were no more presences around them. There was no way Lost would have used some spell or something to drive people away, so the only answer left was that he killed everyone nearby. Devils and humans both.
"I'm not mad at you 2, I told you to run and you did, so I won't punish you for escaping me. But, the rules of the game are different now. I need Hisoka's power, so here's how it's going to be: you let me put Psyconnect on both of you and then I can take you both to Marios' place, it's at least better than being on the streets. Another option is that you try to resist, I beat you up, take Hisoka, and then I leave you here unable to move so I can come grab a bite of the people after you every now and then. So which do you prefer?"
As Lost spoke, Rinne simply stared into his eyes. She had done something similar when they first met, but what she saw couldn't have been more different.
"… You're not the Lost I knew."
"I've changed a bit, but I'm still me. I won't ask again, what are you going to do?"
"I can't resist you even if I tried, so I might as well go along."
Lost nodded, indicating Rinne had picked correctly. It wasn't long until Psyconnect was around their necks.
Lost took Rinne and Hisoka to Marios' tower. Hisoka was obviously surprised about waking up somewhere completely different, but maybe because of Psyconnect she handled it really well.
As Lost had said, it was better for them to be at Marios' tower rather than on the streets. At least there they had proper shelter and food.
All Lost had to do now was wait for the time to strike at Stella, but before he got that chance, something else that required his attention came up.
