A simple premise: What if Micaela survived her encounter with Gnosis atop Mt Amos thanks to Luka's help, and then decided to join him after he already recruited some less than savory characters?
How would she react to the craziness that is probably going on in the Pocket Castle? How would she interact with the various residents? Can the wise and straight minded seraph survive the zaniness of the world around her without going insane?
The answer just below.
Micaela woke up in an unfamiliar looking room. The cold stone surrounding her didn't look like the insides of one of Heaven's buildings, and it wasn't the wood that walled her house in Enrika since she fell thirty years ago. She remembered joining Luka after the latter's group nearly sent Gnosis to oblivion, and had a long discussion with some people she would never imagine having to talk with, whether it was a poorly disguised Black Alice, that malicious Yoma Mephisto, or a smaller, weakened version of herself and Ilias.
She already felt a headache rising as she went to her private bathroom. As she looked at herself in a mirror, the seraph appreciated the sheer effort that damn fox put into making accommodating rooms in this Pocket Dimension. A part of her wondered what plan needed a work so titanic, but she considered she had more important things to care about right now.
Micaela slowly exhaled, trying to relax herself as she planned what she was going to do. While her skills alone allowed her to deal with most monsters without issues, it was her strategic acumen that had saved her from ending up as a toy for the Six Ancestors during the Great Monster war. Plans don't survive at the contact of the enemy, but neither does the unconscious.
First, she'd need to learn more about Luka's adventures from a reliable source. Mephisto was skilled at accumulating knowledge about other, but the yoma herself acknowledged that she was devious by nature. Even the Grand Noah queen, whom she worked for, had been wary of the yoma's intention from the beginning of their collaboration, and was still alert around the yoma today. She realized that asking for more information from the latter would be a good start, since she was the least influenced of the four leaders.
Micaela hoped that by learning more about what Luka did on the road, she would find out how he managed to recruit such a large team and his motivations behind it. She knew enough about Monsterkind at large to guess that most of them joined either by respect for his strength and wanted for a chance to hone their skills, or just because they wanted to explore the world. But what about the more… colorful residents of the castle? Even as she mentally looked at her options, there was no decent reason for Black Alice to join them, and for Morrigan… Every reason the seraph could think of involved typical succubus activities. Sometimes done to her nephew. Micaela snarled at the mental image that appeared in her mind. She calmed her breathing as she focused once again, now was not a time where she could let her anger let the better of her. She didn't even see the succubus yet, and she was already getting on her nerve…
As a whole, she wanted to know what she was getting in and what should be her next step. She joined the hero on his suggestion and because he shared her goal of defending the world by external threats, but it really happened on the heat of the moment to make her disappear from those otherworldly angels's sight for a moment. And now, she needed to really focus on what to do next about it. Furthermore, she was having a growing doubt about how much Luka was in control. With so many monsters around, it wasn't hard to imagine him giving in to temptation, which could prove a problem should he become addicted to it.
Now that everything was planned, it was time to hunt for information. She checked her equipment one last time. The Sword of Heaven was still ready to be used. She didn't think that anyone would try attacking her, but the first seraph didn't survive for so long by leaving anything to chance. Cautiously, she stepped out of her room into an empty corridor. If she remembered correctly, the royal room where the Grand Noah queen was the most often regularly hanging out was on the last floor, near the laboratories…
The Grand Noah queen was drinking tea alone in the room reserved for royal guests. Accompanying Luka on his adventure had been an enjoyable but physically exhausting experience, and she also managed to increase her collection of small medals. Running around in the mud and being thrown in a raging sea were small, acceptable prices to pay for that.
But now was a time for relaxation. She'd have to check on that spy network Mephisto and Amira were working on, but she deserved that little rest for now. She leaned back on her chair and started enjoying the tranquility, when the sound of metal scrapping against wood pulled her out of her reverie. Of course, someone had to come her see now.
With a little bad luck, it would be Mephisto informing her that a few succubi couldn't control themselves and that everybody was in need of her authority to stomp the matter. They had three (or four, considering the strange duo) queen class succubi supposed to rein them in, and yet, they were one of the races that created the most troubles… In fact, said leaders were more often than not the source of trouble.
She closed her eyes and sighed in relief when she recognized Micaela. The seraph raised an eyebrow upon seeing her reaction, which made the queen realize what she did could be badly interpreted.
"My sincere apologies, the last days have been pretty exhausting and I was afraid a matter required my immediate intervention."
"Actually… I'd like to learn more about Luka's adventure from you."
The queen had a small hiccup, taken aback by the request that was just emitted by the seraph. "I'm surprised you decided to ask me in particular... I mean, I would gladly answer your questions and tell you all you want to know about Luka's adventures… but why me, of all people?"
"Because you're one likely one of the least biased person in the castle. Most monsters have a tendency to go into too much details, I know my fellow angels well enough to know their stories will turn into rants against monsters, and most of the remaining humans have a familial bias that will twist their tales.
"Fair enough." The queen snapped her fingers. The next minute, a Scylla maid slithered toward the duo with a platter, and placed a cup of tea in front of Micaela before serving the duo. Both of them nodded, silently thanking the monster for her service before getting back to the matter at hand.
"I think I should start by telling you about Luka's role in one of the more important events: The invasion of the world by the Monster Lord."
This whole situation started right after the hero discovered that the Lilith Sisters and Tamamo No Mae were the ones behind Grangold. We were celebrating the end of the war as we should when the Monster Lord projected herself in front of everyone and declared her intention to start an extermination war against humankind as well as monsters supporting us. We interrupted the banquet and everybody left to prepare for the upcoming attacks, and the next day… Nothing happened. There was not a single sign of the Monster Lord forces, it was as if she forgot she declared a war. We didn't, however, and we all started reinforcing our strategic positions.
In the meantime, Luka's help was requested by the King of Grangold to help with a few growing matters in the center of the Gold region. This makes the subject of another story, but the hero acted in a way that was expected of him, and managed to clear those situations with minimal troubles. Eventually, he managed to reach the Tartarus located in the Nightmare Wastes. Of course, the Monster Lord's armies attacked the moment the hero was away… Even today, Mephisto couldn't tell if it was an unfortunate coincidence or exactly what the Monster Lord was waiting for. Luckily, Luka could still come back instantly at that precise moment, and we had spent the last few days preparing for the upcoming fight. We were outclassed by the armies sent: San Ilia was drowned by a tide of mermaids, Grangold was getting trapped by the arachnes, vampires were at Sabasa's throat, and Grand Noah's resistance was a breeze for the elves and the fairies. We noticed another anomaly in her plan at this point, because she had decided to focus her assaults where our forces were the strongest. She didn't spare a single resource to attack a less strategically important but more vulnerable location.
Fortunately, Luka managed to strike at their leader each time, and monsters are prone to panic when the strongest ones are taken down. He proceeded to save every major cities one after the other. Barely afterward, he proceeded to a counterattack against each of the four queen class monsters that attacked us, which temporarily ended the war. Once again, we were surprised to find out that the Monster Lord didn't send backup, considering she has a powerful rapid deployment team available at a moment's notice…
Since then, said queens had tried their best to atone and take responsibilities for the harm done, but the damage in relationship between humans and monsters was done.
The only thing Luka was left to do at that point was supposedly taking down the Monster Lord, which would require bringing back the garuda girl. It birthed a whole new lot of issues, but that's another problem entirely.
"This was the point we reached before Luka took an opportunity to restart everything. As to why he did it… He decided to stay silent on the matter."
Micaela leaned back on her chair as the queen ended her tale. She blinked fast repeatedly, surprised by what she just heard.
"This is… strange. I don't know the Monster Lord personally, but… I know more than enough about Tamamo who raised her to be able to tell that she would definitively have acted against this downright suicidal strategy. And the Monster Lords are supposedly educated enough to avoid such reckless assaults."
"On that we agree. And both the attacking queens and Mephisto was kept out of the loop, so they couldn't explain what was on the Monster Lord's mind either."
"I don't think anyone could be able to. Save for the ones that are now advising her, nobody can guess what is she thinking."
"Actually…" The queen cringed. "One of those people is currently in the castle."
Micaela sighed as the realization hit her. "Morrigan. Of course. How could I not think of her?"
"I apologize, I know well enough how angels don't see eyes to eyes with succubi, and I heard enough about both of you to know that you may have an actual history together, but we never took the opportunity to get a more developed explanation from her, beyond that it was their way to save the world."
"It's fine. I thank you for your time and will try to see if I can get her to open up by myself. I should talk to her as soon as possible, but I guess a part of me wanted to never have to deal with those damn succubi again."
The queen looked sympathetically at the seraph as the latter got up. "She's often at the bar. I wish you the best then. You'll need it."
Micaela silently thanked the queen and started making her way to the bar.
"So. I am asking you this question for the umpteenth time, and I want a clear answer this time."
Morrigan was glaring at Lilith and Lilim. The twins kept playing games of logic at her own expense to avoid answering her questions, which was starting to grate the nerves of the succubus.
"What kind. Of succubus. Was named Morrigan? I want to know what legacy my name carried. Is it that difficult to understand?"
"No, but we told you that Morrigan was the name given to lively and spirited succubi in reference to you."
"That means reckless and thick headed!"
The blond twins tried looking at the source of the voice, but nothing could help them identify the offender amongst the numerous monsters currently enjoying themselves. When they looked again at Morrigan, the blue haired succubus was fuming, and her aura was slowly flaring up while her tail was rising and pointing forward, uncannily reminding any onlooker of a scorpion preparing to strike. Fortunately, Lilith managed to find a solution to placate her interlocutor.
"Look at it that way. Lilith was a name given to exceptional succubi, but those were seen as dangerous predators by humans and a lot were killed through history. Astaroth was preferred for the ones who were calmer, but I remember hearing about a few of them starving because they were too passive. And so, succubi who were more active were called Morrigan in deference to you as you are extremely lively, but some of them also had difficulties holding themselves back. I remember a human philosopher saying that one's greatest quality could also be his worst weakness."
"Oh yes, I think it was Remian Orlen or something like that?" Lilim raised a hand at her mouth while looking at the ceiling.
Her sister sighed. "No, it was Bill Stillsword. Remian Orlen was the guy that hosted us when we were during our undercover trip in San Ilia."
"Oh yes, shame he had to be committed. I think we got carried away a few times too many with him."
Morrigan looked at Lilith and Lilim, and decided to finally get rid of them. "Speaking about guys, huh? I remember hearing Sara saying that she was not happy to have found her commander slumped against the wall after being drained. I heard she asked for the support of Sphinx to deal with the issue once and for all."
Lilith & Lilim looked at each other awkwardly before jumping toward the exit, half running half flying. "We're leaving now bye!"
Morrigan found herself alone, and started feeling an all too familiar craving raising deep inside her. Her sessions with the hero were satisfying, but too sparse for her taste. Maybe she should tempt him the next time he passed by. Meanwhile, she commanded a parfait to eat to compensate. Sweet, luxurious food helped her calm that hunger for energy, and it would be a shame to not enjoy the work of the Pocket Castle's cooks.
When it arrived, the succubus instantly started gulping it down fast. Her sisters always reproached her to not take her time to enjoy her food, but she didn't care. The stray thought about her family made her miss their company for a split second. Still, if her flapping wings and swishing tail were any indication, she enjoyed gorging herself on the delicious ice cream, until a voice called her from behind.
"Morrigan?"
The succubus groaned as she turned toward the interrupter, ready to tear her apart. "What do you-ooooh it's you. Fuck."
The succubus's wings lowered themselves and her tail went limp. Micaela was looking at her with stern blue eyes, awakening several bad memories in the latter's mind. She looked around her for help, but nobody reacted to the presence of the seraph.
"We need to talk." Micaela invited herself and sat on the chair in front of the succubus. "I want to know more about some of the things you did."
Morrigan grinned awkwardly and scratched her neck nervously. "Look… About what we did with Luka a few weeks ago-."
"I do NOT want to know what you did with my nephew!"
The room fell silent for a split second before Micaela realized she had screamed and slammed the table. Her face reddened for a second, but fortunately, everyone returned to their activity as if nothing happened. The seraph calmed down and looked at Morrigan straight in the eyes, challenging the will of the succubus.
"The Grand Noah queen told me about the invasion of the world by the Monster Lord's forces. Since we couldn't make head or tail of what happened, we supposed the plan came from you and your sisters… Could you enlighten us on the matter?"
"Correct! This plan was Lilith's idea. But I already heard that little ruler's version enough times to know she didn't tell you everything. So let's get started!" The succubus's enthusiasm was worrying the seraph.
But first things first. It was faaaar from our first plan. At first, we tried killing key characters like the Sabasa King and other dangerous figures. However, the apoptosis don't like it when people from different world interact too much, and every death generated so many ripples, so much chaosization and so much apoptosis attacks that we pretty much gave up after the third or fourth. We kept testing a few things here and there, and found out that they were more forgiving when we limited those interactions, hence why we started influencing people behind the scenes.
So we made due with the Grangold King, pushed him a little over the edge, and started a war between this kingdom and the three others because it could have have happened in true history. It was a win-win situation. Either they resisted and it was a bloody stalemate, or they gave up and we invaded and killed everyone!
Oh yeah, I should have talked about why it's a good thing first, huh? Well, we found out about how Ilias manages her heroes. Their souls get transferred to her for "evaluation", and then she sends them back to their body and rewind the time a little. So we basically use that, but instead of sending the soul back to the same planet, we transfer it to our world so that it can fuse with the same guy there!
Anyway, Luka broke it, so we decided it was time for a full frontal assault. We didn't want a victory, we wanted the bloodiest conflict possible. So to fuck this up, we did three things: Leave time for them to prepare, focus on the heavily defended capitals and their leaders, and specifically have the assault led by queens that hated humans for a reason or the other and did betray the Monster Lord in the true history. Worst case scenario, four less liabilities. Best case scenario, everyone's dead.
…Except Luka screwed us once again, and the body count remained exceedingly low. Still, we ended up bailing him out a bit later because his death would just end us fucking up everything. I ended up weakened because of it and I joined the hero's party to help him and hoping to make him see us in a better light. Afterward, he decided to restart his adventure for a stupid reason if I remember correctly.
"Yeaaah, I know what you're thinking. Lilith would have been a better choice to convince him… But she still considers him as below her. Anyway, what do you think?"
Micaela joined her hands in front of her face and slowly exhaled. "…So that was your whole plan… A mass genocide and use the evaluation system to transfer everyone's soul to the Monster World, all while remaining as close to true history as possible."
"Yup! Pretty crafty, huh?"
The seraph leaned over the table, locking eyes once again with Morrigan. "But tell me… what's the point?"
"Huh?"
"You kill people to transfer their souls to the Monster World, where they'll fuse with their counterpart once there. In the end, you will still have one person, who will just be feeling a little more confused with its memories… And that's not considering the difference between those two worlds that diverged around a thousand years ago, meaning that quite a lot of them won't have counterparts."
"Hey!" Morrigan raised her hands defensively. "I admit, there are kinks to work out. We weren't even sure we could originally come back when we entered this world. But now, we know that Luka can get us back home."
"And how did you intend to convince him to do everything? As much as he got a chronic hero syndrome, I have difficulties imagining him following you like a puppy. Did you have a plan to secure his loyalty? Besides seducing him like a harlot I mean."
A single drop of sweat ran alongside the succubus's cheek.
Micaela's mouth hanged slightly open in disbelief. "You have to be kidding me."
"Aww, come on, don't be like that! I'm pretty sure you'd also be dying to taste the pleasures we can offer!"
"Glad to see that even when monsters win, some things didn't change... Last question then. How do you know what was the true history and its different branches?"
"Bwuh?" Morrigan looked at the seraph wide eyed, completely clueless."
"You made your choices because they were close to the true history or were possible deviations from it. But how did you know that?"
The succubus looked cross eyed for a moment as she tried to remember.
"Yeaaaah, you better ask Tamamo No Mae for that one. Our, not the small kitty in this world."
The seraph ground her teeth. "Thanks, but I think I will pass an opportunity to visit your homeworld, as educating as it would be."
Morrigan pouted. "Aww, come on, not Even San Ilia? You have no idea about the things you would be taught…"
Micaela closed her eyes and got up. The succubus's voice ended up on an unnerving lascivious note that made her message way too obvious. It was time for her to get out of there before her martial instinct took over and tried to cleave her interlocutor in two.
"Well, I thank you for your time, and I'm going to check on my alternate self then."
"Sure! You can come back anytime you want me to do something for you. Or to you if you want."
The seraph shivered when she heard the succubus's offer. Too many bad memories about her fights with them started resurfacing… However, it looked like the succubus had settled slightly, likely at least by respect for Luka. Maybe her initial worries were misplaced after all.
She herself needed to move on right now, and decided to make her way to the chapel. Speaking to her younger self would probably help her gain more insight on what the hero did, and, of all the angels, she was the more likely to address her without either sugarcoating things, licking her boots, or insulting her for leaving Ilias. She just hoped that Eden would at least tolerate her presence. While the seraph wanted to talk furthermore with her counterpart, she definitively wanted to avoid needless bloodshed with her sister.
Micaela reached the entryway of the chapel soon enough. By the look of it, there only were a few angels in it. She could only see Eden, Micaela-chan, Cupi and Victoria. The third seraph looked angry at the duo, and was apparently scolding them near an indifferent Micaela-chan.
"I cannot believe that during that time, you two became such monster sympathizers!" The valkyrie looked wounded by the words coming from her superior.
"We only spar against them and work with them on the hero's word! We would never consider giving up on Ilias!"
"And yet, I keep seeing you going about with monsters, talking, socializing with them, treating them like something more than the scum they are!" Eden spat those words like one would throw daggers.
Victoria looked on the side, slightly ashamed. It's true she had taken a liking to sparring with monsters like that kitsune samurai or that demon yoma, and she enjoyed listening to the tales from the different queens. But there was no harm in learning more about your… enemies, right? A new, somehow familiar voice pulled her out from her train of thoughts.
"Let one be always aware of the true nature of monsters, as they defile the Goddess's creation and deviate them from a righteous life. We shall stand in front of the ones that want to harm the weak, and push them back to hell."
"Exactly! See, this fellow angel get it. It is our duty to defend-" Eden turned toward Micaela and shook her head while blinking, surprised by what she was seeing. She then slowly raised her hand while her expression slowly contorted in pure anger. "You… YOU!"
"Greetings, Eden. Still loyal to Ilias's ideals to a fault, I see."
"Quoting… Yourself… from a time when you were still a valuable ally… YOU TRAITOR!" Eden was screaming at the top of her lungs. "Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down right now!"
"Because I'm currently helping Ilias, or at least an incarnation of her, because there are rules in the castle about not attacking each other, and last because killing each other would only worsen the pain Ilias is going through." Micaela stepped in closer, not breaking her gaze away from the seraph for an instant, challenging her will.
"Or is it because of power? You're stronger than me, but I have the goddess will for me! Can you say the same?"
Micaela sighed. "As a matter of fact, yes I can. I'm still the first seraph, and you're still my sister. We both came from Ilias, but I've just chosen to walk my own path, far from…" she gestured around. "…All of this."
"Then leave! Leave out of my sight with your rage against the goddess that gave you life!"
"Not until I talked with Micaela-chan about a few things."
"Do you intend to corrupt her with your deviant teachings as well?"
"No, I want to ask her about Luka's adventure to avoid going down the wrong path."
"And by the wrong path, you mean…"
Micaela had still her eyes locked with Eden's in a contest of willpower. However, the third seraph could see a bit of sympathy that aggravated her. Eventually, she gave up and left, closely followed by Cupi and Victoria.
An awkward silence covered the chapel as the two versions of Micaela looked at each other.
"Did you want to see me for something in particular?"
"You travelled with Luka for quite a long time, and I wanted to know more about it. Specifically, about the invasion of the world by the Monster Lord's forces. I got the gist of it, but I wasn't there, and since you're the closest to think like me…"
"You wish to know more about what the enemy will do? Very well then…"
The Monster Lord had started her attack in retaliation after Luka broke her devious plan in Grangold. Fortunately, her lacks of strategic acumen lead to a focus on where the human kingdoms built their defenses. They got pushed back up thanks by Luka's timely intervention, as he was lead by the will of Ilias, and only the ones who gave up on the goddess paid the price. With the support of the goddess he managed to push back each of the attacking armies, and eventually came to defeat each of the four cruel queens that lead the assault. All of them begged the hero for mercy, and in his generosity, he accepted to recruit them to use them against the Monster Lord and her minions.
However, not all was well. To kill the Monster Lord and end this war once for all, the hero needed to awaken the cursed Garuda girl, and one of the hellspawns had destroyed one of the orbs required to awaken it. Guided by the omniscient goddess, the hero travelled far and wide through time and space, and managed to snatch the orb from the grip of the 8th Monster Lord.
However, before going there, the hero decided he needed more preparation, and restarted his adventure, once again guided by the Goddess.
"This is all. Luka keeps telling that he couldn't have done it without the support of the monsters he recruited on his adventure, but I am sure he won thanks to the grace of Ilias and that those monsters only held him back."
"…" Micaela swallowed loudly as she looked at her younger counterpart when the latter ended her diatribe.
I have difficulties to believe I used to be like that. Lacking any critical thinking abilities, blindly following Ilias, hating monsters, and not a single care for anyone that didn't worship the goddess…
"This is all I know on the matter. Next time, we shall smite the Monster lord and all who follow them, it is their destiny."
"Well, I thank you for telling me about this…" The adult seraph felt more and more uncomfortable in front of the fanatical behavior of her younger looking self. "Can you tell me more about Luka's adventures?"
"Unfortunately, not much, I accompanied him a few times, but I am not the best one when it comes to count his tales. I should take you to the most fitting resident for this job, as she accompanied him since the beginning of his adventure."
"Who is it?"
"Amira."
"Amira… That strange reverse lamia? The one that manages the intelligence in the castle? She joined Luka at the beginning?"
The living proof that Alipheese didn't plan her creations' evolution for so long?
"Yes. By her own words, she accompanied the hero on quite a lot of his adventure, and followed the others with a close interest."
Micaela sighed. Going by what she kept hearing, Amira made herself very important to be sure that people would not kick her out for her more than grating tendencies. "Very well. Let's go see her then."
"By the will of Ilias."
The older seraph started following her younger counterpart, hoping to have an opportunity to get her less enclosed in her worship of the goddess of light.