Reflection of an Absolute Power

by Jyggilag

This is another story that came about from my explorations of the CYOA genre. But rather than being a geek power fantasy, the entire thing failed before it even began and instead allowed Hades, God of the Underworld to gain a new vessel for his soul after the death of his body, and access to an entire multiverse of unsuspecting worlds. Plus a harem of beautiful women and Servants.

5. Prologue: Part 5

Author's Note: Well, I'm finally back after 4 months. Part of it was because of the Holydays, you know how it gets on the Xmas celebrations, relatives come from far away and you have to meet them and focus entire days on them, the entire hecticness of preparing the celebration themselves, buying sprees to have everything ready, then the parties and celebrations at work due to the season. And once everything's done and your vacations end and you have to return to work, only to find you need to start working on the end of the year annual report to declare all you have done on the office for the entire year. Pure hassle.

That's one… The other was procrastination due to the need of reworking the direction of the history. I do been reading the reviews of this story, even if I haven't had much time to pay them a great deal of attention. So yes, I'm aware of people complaining about all the waifu's introductions and how it is dragging the story down.

At first, I was like 'Meh, not much I can do to tell the truth since all 108 women have to be introduced at some point due to my need of being thematic and all that. So, I decided I would instead of making the story a monthly release, I would continue writing until all introductions were done and only when already done would I release the next chapter. Which would have been kilometric in length for obvious reasons.

But then, one annoying day as I was writing, it came to me the idea that I… Didn't need to make the introductions at this precise very moment. And when my bulb finally turned on, I was like 'Fucking stupid!' And then I began to slam my head into the wall. Anyway… So, I had to rewrite my entire mental storyboard and come up with a new approach.

To bad that I had already written little more than thirty pages before the fucking idea came to me!

But whatever, I'm going to be dispensing with the introductions altogether and focus back on Hades since that's what I know how to write the best and also because as I said, I realize I don't need to make introductions right now and can simply save them from when the characters become relevant for the story.

But at any rate, you lot will have to settle with all the work I had already done while I focus on the next chapter. Because Like I said, I already had thirty pages written when I got the idea and I'm not scrapping all that work.

Luckily for all of us there will be no more introduction chapters moving forward since I will be focusing back on Hades and the course to chart. But you will have to deal with all I had already written in the meantime.

Disclaimer: I own nothing; copyrights to the different series and/or franchises that appear in this fic belong to their respective owners.

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THIS CHAPTER IS UPLOADED ON THE

27/01/2022

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Prologue

IN THE COMPANY OF THE DEAD

Part 5

Eudial heaved a long breath in fright, out of sorts for a moment as her awareness returned to her, looking at her surroundings in confusion the pretty red-headed witch had no idea where she was. Her last memory was that of falling down a cliff after Mimete's sabotaged her breaks in an act of betrayal, as the orange-haired girl coveted her position as the leader of the Witches 5.

A deep feeling of outrage took hold of Eudial at the realization she had died due to the treachery of her fellow witch, understandably a strong desire for revenge began to swell inside of her. But first she had to discern where she was before any thought of retaliation towards her backstabber might come to fruition. She did not recognize any of the white-marble buildings around her, so she decided to roam the deserted streets of this unknown city in the hopes of finding any kind of landmark that might give her a clue as to her location.

It didn't take long for her to find familiar faces as she rounded the corner of an alleyway.

"You double-crossing harlot! I'm going to kill you!" The high-pitched voice of Mimete exclaimed as she threw herself over Tellu and tried to close her hands over the neck of the Greenette. Something her fellow witch wasn't keen on letting happen in the first place.

"Ack! Get away from me you ugly wench! You had your opportunity to eliminate the Senshi and you failed!" Tellu exclaimed, struggling to keep Mimete's hands away from her as she held the Orangette by the wrists while the rest of the Witches five; Cyprine, Ptilol and Viluy simply limited themselves to gape at the unfolding conflict but unwilling to become involved in it.

"I only failed because you interfered and sabotaged my plan in my moment of greatest triumph!" Mimete replied in outrage, redoubling her efforts in throttling Tellu.

"Well, you know what they say, you snooze you lose! So, don't come crying me a river for not having taken my interference into account, that's on you, you cheap tramp!" The Greenette simply replied with a sardonic smile, despite her difficulty of keeping Mimete at bay.

Eudial saw red at seeing the cause of her death right in front of her, so she simply ignored everything and everyone else around her and rushed straight towards the Orangette like a guided missile. "MIMETE! YOU BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!" The redheaded girl bellowed like a vengeful spirit right out of hell as she lunged towards her target.

Mimete only had a single second to turn in confusion towards the screeching voice and blink before the entire humanity of Eudial slammed into her in full and shoved her away from Tellu, both women smacking into the ground with the redhead pinning Mimete underneath her. "Eeeep! Eudial! You are alive!" It was all that the Orangette could say in her surprise at seeing her past rival hale and still breathing.

"No thanks to you slut! You made me fall off a cliff when you messed with my car's brakes, but now I'm alive again and wanting to collect my pound of flesh out of your scrawny ass! How about that!" She declared maniacally before slamming the knuckles of her closed fist right upon Mimete's nose, immediately breaking the cartilage and causing blood to flow out of the Orangette's nostrils.

"Ah fuck! Stop that!" Mimete protested as she brought a hand up her bleeding nose to stem the hemorrhage.

"Karma is a bitch you whore! So, shut up and eat knuckles! I don't know what you are complaining about since everybody here knows how much you like when men get rough on you and take you from behind…" Eudial declared before she started to rain more fists upon Mimete's battered face."

"Ah! STOP! GET AWAY FROM ME!" The Orangette wailed as she tried to protect herself the best, she could from Eudial's assault, before slamming both of her feet in the red-head's stomach and roughly pushing her away from her. Mimete could do nothing but curl up in the ground as she covered her badly bruised face.

"Oooof!" Eudial grunted as she smacked into the ground on her back none-too-gently right besides Tellu.

"Hey Eudial, so glad to see you among the living again, nice save back there by the way. Thanks for taking that yellow-dressed floozy away from me…" The Green themed girl said conversationally towards the red head.

Eudial clicked her teeth as she tried to prop herself up with her elbows. "Didn't do it for you Tellu, but it was cathartic to slam my fist into Mimete's smug face, let's see if that pompous bitch can smile so self-contentedly after I flattened her nose!" She then turned to stare at Tellu. "So, what did I miss after that tramp murdered me?"

The Greenette just casually shrugged. "Not much, you know that Mimete and I have a beef with each other the same way you had one with her…"

"Yes, I know… Mimete has always been an insufferable hussy, bitch has a knack to make herself easy to hate by other women…" Eudial briefly interrupted to give her two cents.

Tellu sagely nodded before continuing. "So true… Anyway, after she ousted you and became the new leader of the Witches5 (At this Eudial hissed in anger, but Tellu expertly ignored her and moved on) I decided I just couldn't work in any Cabal that had that trollop in charge, So I simply came with the idea of betraying her the same way she did you and successfully managed to sabotage her plans and get rid of her for good…."

At this Eudial couldn't help but laugh in amusement. "What I wouldn't have given to see the expression on that tramp's face when she got her due!" She exclaimed in delight.

Tellu smiled sinisterly at that comment. "Oh, believe me, it was just as satisfying as you can imagine…" She then moved on to finish her account. "After that I tried to eliminate the Sailor Senshi next, but I failed and died at their hands as result… I do not wish to dwell in such unappetizing memory…" She confessed with a sour expression.

Eudial simply nodded in response. "Yes… Those Sailor Senshi are more persistent than one might expect from a bunch of dumb hairbrained schoolgirls…" She stated, knowing exactly what Tellu was feeling. She turned at the Greenette for a second time with a pointed stare. "So… Want to team up and help me in killing this Yellow bitch?" The red head asked, signaling towards the curled up down form of Mimete with a flick of her neck.

Tellu grinned. "Do you even need to ask…? Let's go, I'll have your back!" She declared with obvious anticipation, the two witches rising to their feet again and slowly approaching the still incapacitated Mimete, taking their time to savor the moment.

Obviously, the Orangette wasn't blind to her surroundings despite trying to retreat from the outside world to keep the rest of the Witches5 from seeing her in her moment of greatest weakness and was quick in taking notice of her two rivals teaming up to eliminate her. Unsurprisingly, she was pretty distressed by this and attempted to ineffectually plead for mercy while trying to scramble away from her two nemeses. "W-wait, girls! Can't we discuss things first, I'm sure we could come to a compromise!"

"Indeed, there's a great deal that needs to be discussed between us…" Tellu said with a predatory expression.

Eudial simply cracked her knuckles as she looked down on Mimete. "So, we will simply let our fists do the talking for us…" She declared, finishing Tellu's sentence.

Both witches were about to pounce on their helpless teammate while the rest of their cabal simply limited themselves to watch, when a voice suddenly spoke from further down the alley catching everyone's attention. "Are these those minions under your command you were talking about, Kaolinite? They look quite the crude bunch to me…." A rich elegant voice fit for royalty declared, coming from an unnaturally beautiful young woman with white skin, pointy ears and extremely long, flowing and wavy dark blue hair wearing a black dress with beige overskirt that covers only up to the top of her breast and puffy black sleeves just below her shoulders that become skin-tight underneath and go all the way down to her wrists.

She was accompanied by a silent tall long-haired red headed woman with pointy ears wearing a purple sleeveless dress with a prominent accentuated cleavage that left her shoulders exposed, the woman was wearing big crystal earrings and necklace alongside a crown ornament in the middle of her forehead that looked like a black V. Tiny pointy horns protruded from the tips of her shoulders and the back of her wrists. She was carrying a long silver staff with her that had a red jewel held at the top.

"To be fair your highness, they never been as expressive and animated as I've seen them right at this very moment. It is a curious thing…" Another tall mature woman with long scarlet hair wearing a tight black dress with black heels and gray stockings said as she tapped her chin in thought while giving a curious look at the Witches5, the same kind a scientist would give to a particular interesting bacteria under a microscope. A black star was prominently displayed on the middle of her forehead.

Viluy hissed in displeasure at seeing the former secretary/assistant of Professor Tomoe. "Kaolinite! It's you…!"

Meanwhile both Eudial, Tellu and Mimete were simply surprised in seeing the scarlet-haired woman back in the world of the living. "Kaolinite! You're still alive too…?" Eudial inquired in confusion.

Kaolinite tilted her neck to a side and gave an incomprehensive stare. "It's that how you greet your master? I don't remember the lot of you to be this insolent, perhaps a lesson in deference is in order to remind you who is in charge…" She stated with clear disapproval in her voice.

Viluy scowled. "The hell you are talking about, you old hag!? You know damn well we only take orders directly form Professor Tomoe! Not that you would know anything about it, considering you spent most of your time doing nothing but trying to seduce him!" She accused hotly while pointing with a finger.

Again, Kaolinite gave an obtuse expression, as if she had trouble understanding the words she was hearing. "Professor Tomoe? You mean the meat puppet of the Germatoid Daimon that was used to herald the arrival of our glorious lord, Pharaoh 90? Is that who you are talking about?" Kaolinite inquired with a frown.

At that all of the Witches5 were brought short in their trains of thought and began to share looks of confusion among themselves, even Eudial, Tellu and Mimete stopped their little feud for a moment so that they could try to discern what the hell was wrong with the Red-haired assistant. "Kaolinite, are you feeling well…?" Eudial asked with some concern.

Viluy felt outrage rising inside her at the cavalier way that Kaolinite used to refer to her former crush. "What the hell you're going on about, you quack!? How can you say such horrible things about the dear professor!? Don't tell me you were just pretending to like him for all this time just so you could get close to him and his riches you… you Gold-digger!?"

The only reaction that Kaolinite gave at the white-haired girl's accusations was a plain expressionless face, but one could tell she was not pleased by such comments. Wordlessly, Kaolinite raised a hand, and suddenly Viluy was yanked by an invisible force from where she was standing and hauled all the way through the air until she was within arm's reach of the red-headed assistant, who simply wrapped her fingers around the white-haired girl's throat.

"AAACK! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Viluy exclaimed in affront, but she was quickly silenced by the tightening grasp of Kaolinite's hand.

"Now my little Daimon, let's make one thing pretty clear… In case you've have forgotten, I was the one who created and gave life to the lot of you, and that which I've built I can just as easily destroy… So, I would be careful if I were you before acting impertinent in front of your betters…!" Kaolinite threatened in a low tone of voice.

Viluy gritted her teeth as she struggled against the unnatural strong hold of the red head, she wasn't even able of budging a single finger from her throat, yet the white-haired girl managed to utter some words, nonetheless. "Kkkk… L-Let me go! You hussy! I am not a Daimon! I am human! And as sure as hell you're not my mother since you did not give life to me!" The Ice clad witch exclaimed as Kaolinite held her aloft single-handedly, throwing kicks at the black dressed woman in a futile attempt to force her into releasing her.

Kaolinite narrowed her eyes before bringing the trapped Viluy closer to her in order to inspect her more thoroughly, the white-haired girl took the opportunity to punch the red head in the face, yet the older woman simply ignored the attack as if she was being struck by a particularly bothersome insect. Only for suddenly for Kaolinite's form to shift into a hideous and hulking black creature with red eyes and hair that growled at Viluy and opened her maw right in front of the white-haired girl's face in a growl of irritation.

The reaction of the whole of the Witches5 was quick and without delay.

"AAAAAAHHHH! YOU'RE NOT KAOLINITE!"

"LET ME GO YOU UGLY CREATURE! LET GO!"

"VILUY WE'LL SAVE YOU!" Cyprine and Ptilol declared at the same time before rushing at the creature with their staffs at the ready, only for the monstrous Kaolinite to swat them aside with a single arm like gnats as she kept examining the trapped witch in her grasp.

The tips of her black fingers sank under Viluy's skin and started to spread across her epidermis like some kind of parasite infesting its victim, the sight being something utterly disgusting to all who witnessed, meanwhile the white-haired girl kept screaming for her life in full blown panic.

A couple of seconds later after going about her infestation, a confused looked appeared in the monstruous features of Kaolinite and she dropped Viluy all of a sudden with no explanation before dropping her ghastly visage and assuming a human form once more. "It seems you are truly correct Viluy… You are no Daimon, just a simple and common human… How disappointing…" The red-haired woman declared with obvious lack of expectation.

A hysteric Viluy crawled away from Kaolinite, trying to put as much distance as she could from the Daimonic witch. "Stand back! Don't get near me creature! I don't know who you are but you're clearly not Kaolinite!" She declared in a panic as she retreated back with the rest of the Witches5 who look as if they were in the verge of fleeing for their lives.

Kaolinite scowled. "Oh, but it is indeed me little witch… My battle form is simply the natural result of my experiments and increasing mastery over the dark arts granted to me by our lord Pharaoh 90. You all should already have been well aware of this fact, and yet I find you all ignorant about the dark magics under our command… Not only that, but you are no longer the higher Daimons that I created and incubated through my experiments and are now just painfully human with no notable qualities whatsoever. Which leaves me wondering, how can such a thing be possible?" She exclaimed with a truly lost expression.

The whole of the Witches5 did not know how to respond to that.

It was the red-haired woman in purple dress who offered an answer to Kaolinite's question. "It is obvious these are not the same minions you've commanded in the past from what you've told us… Perhaps they were brought from somewhere else by whoever was that brought us to this place, or it could be they are just simply flawed copies created by those who built this marble city?" She offered as reasonable answers.

Kaolinite became pensive, bringing a hand to her chin in thought. "It is a distinct possibility, though there's no way to know for sure unless we can find someone who can answer our questions my dear Beryl…"

Eudial felt a little insulted at the cavalier way that Kaolinite used to refer to her and her fellow witches. "We are not copies or whatever! We are all humans, born and raised on Earth who were personally recruited by Doctor Tomoe to help him in his desires to steal human hearts! Though I'll admit we all found ourselves suddenly back to life after having been killed one way or another in our struggles to destroy the Sailor Senshi…" She grudgingly confessed, taking the lead and standing in front of the rest of the Witches5.

Kaolinite simply gave a hum of consideration before ultimately shrugging her shoulders. "It doesn't matter anyway… Let's get one thing clear, I am the one in charge of this entire coven and I will not tolerate any kind of defiance against my authority. Otherwise… I will have to take matters in my own hands, and I promise none of you will like that not one bit, is that understood…?" The black-dressed woman threatened, giving a cold pointed look at Eudial that clearly told she was not playing around.

The younger red-head gritted her teeth before glancing at every single one of her companions (Even the hated Mimete) and finding none of them had the will to fight against this ruthless Kaolinite that hid a monstruous side to her. She sighed and sagged her shoulders in defeat. "Fine! You are in charge; we will not challenge your claim…" She declared with a noted lack of enthusiasm.

Kaolinite simply nodded without a reaction, as if such an outcome was simply the natural thing to occur. "Good…"

The black-haired woman with the royal demeanor suddenly huffed, finding these entire proceedings rather tiresome. "All that is well and good, but it doesn't tell us anything about where we are or how are we supposed to find a way out from this deserted city…" She complained, crossing her arms underneath her chest.

A strange song suddenly started to play all around the deserted street, catching the gathered witches and Dark Queens by surprise before a holographic screen showing the face of a plum-haired girl wearing a red ribbon was shown.

BMG: (Fate Extra CCC – BB Channel)

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance…" BB declared with her usual cherry disposition.

!

Ophelia heaved as her lungs filled with air again before rising in surprise from the bench she was lying on, she had no idea where she was, her last memory was of Mash holding her hand before she passed away on the infirmary of the Shadow Border due to the strain that her body suffered for overusing her Mystic Eye…

"Where am I?" She asked to herself as she flicked away some loose rogue blonde strands of hair from her face before pressing a hand over her mystic eye. Glancing around her surroundings, there was nothing that could help her discern her current location, other than she was in some kind of city made out of marble-white buildings.

"Huh!" Ophelia exclaimed in surprise as she discovered her eyepatch lying discarded on the ground just a few paces in front of her. Skipping down from the bench she was atop off, the former Crypter just kneeled to pick up her accessory before donning her eyepatch again to seal the harmful effects of her mystic eye.

Once her accessory was fastened tight again around her head, the Ex-Crypter went back to the task of trying to get a hold of her surroundings. Close to where she found her eyepatch, Ophelia soon discovered the presence of some relics that if her hunch proved correct would mean they are of the most outmost importance.

"I can't believe this… These are…! But why would I find such valuable artifacts in here? Unless…? Surtr must have intended for me to keep them safe after he was destroyed, most likely because he didn't want for his hard-earned restored power to become lost for a second time… Tsk… That Fire giant, so like him, always wishing for me to acknowledge his existence. Any other woman would have found his obsessive behavior to be quite tasteless… (Sigh) Yet I suppose I cannot fault him for bequeathing these to me in the end…" Ophelia commented to herself as she pocketed the relics inside her coat before proceeding to explore her new whereabouts further, deciding to keep herself to the main streets rather than the convoluted mazed of alleyways and back streets.

It didn't take long for the Team-A magus to find signs of company.

"HALT!"

An authoritative voice said as Ophelia rounded the corner of a building when turning at an intersection, only to find a giant blue Lance being pointed straight at her face. Not wishing to start a confrontation, the blonde magus raised her arms in the universal sign of surrender in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Easy! I'm unarmed…" She declared as she stared at the pointy end placed right in front of her nose while secretly preparing some Gandr spells under her sleeve to be used at a moment's notice. Considering the fact, she hadn't been attacked yet, Ophelia took the opportunity to take a peek at her interlocutor.

It was a beautiful long Silver-haired woman of cold features dressed in a black military outfit and mini-skirt combo with golden accents that accentuated every single curve of her body and her rather voluptuous, ahem, assets. The woman was wearing black stockings with long black boots and black gloves with black sleeves with gold, and red accents and decorations that were not attached to the rest of her uniform, leaving her shoulders and wrists bare. She had a black rapier attached to a golden belt at her waist while wielding a circular blue shield on her left hand and a big blue lance with small indentations that made it look like drill on her right hand.

The woman frowned for a moment, trying to determine whether Ophelia was a threat or not, but seeing that the Magus wasn't carrying any obvious weapon on her person, she decided to lower her weapon for now though that didn't meant she eased on her guard.

"You do not have the look of a soldier on you… A civilian…?" The Silver-haired woman commented aloud as she came to a decision and retracted her lance before raising it at attention beside her in a perfect parade stance. "Very well… I apologize for startling you, though know that any suspicious action will be meet with swift retribution, so make sure not to abuse my mercy… Now… Who might you be?" She asked with a plain expressionless face.

Ophelia lowered her arms and took a moment to tidy her coat before answering. "My name is Ophelia Phamrsolone… And you…?" She inquired, gesturing with an arm for the name of the lance-wearing woman.

"Selvaria Bles…" It was all that the newly introduced Selvaria said, unwilling to say anything else and allowing an awkward silence to stretch between the two women.

Ophelia simply acknowledged the introduction with a nod before making some probing questions. "So, Selvaria… Would you happen to know where we are or what this place is…?"

The silver-haired woman simply shook her head in a negative. "No… I'm afraid I know nothing about this place, I suddenly simply awoke inside this city with no idea how I got here. I was hoping you could had given me some answers about the reason for my presence in here, but I see now that was simply too much to hope for…" She said in a neutral tone.

Ophelia sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead in frustration. "Yes, well… It appears I'm in the same boat as you. I too just simply awoke with no memory of how I got here…"

Selvaria seemed to be drawn to that last statement. "The same boat as me…?" She commented as she considered a new line of inquiry, only to eventually say… "Does that mean you too died before awakening in here?"

That question caught Ophelia off-guard, causing her to take a step back due to the surprise. "What? How do you know that!? I mean… What gives you the impression that I died?" She asked, quickly recomposing herself despite her bewilderment. Her senses were still a little puzzled after her death experience and sudden re-awakening after all, making it a little hard for her mind to focus.

"Because that's pretty much what happened to me… I remember dying before awakening in this place, and since you said you are in the same boat as me, I just assumed…" A careless shrug was Selvaria's sole response. "But it seems I was correct in my assumptions if your reaction is of any indication." She bluntly stated.

"I see…" Ophelia commented before letting out a tired sigh and elaborating in her answer. "Yes Selvaria, you are right… My last memory is of me drawing my last breath as I held the hand of a dear friend who was making me company on my last moments before I suddenly awoke on a bench inside this city…" She declared, feeling a little pang on her heart at the thought of Mash, yet certain that it was very unlikely for something to have happen to the little demi-servant.

Selvaria simply nodded at that. "Curious… If the last thing we both remember is the manner of our deaths, does that mean this is the afterlife?" She asked with a gesture to their surroundings.

The question brought Ophelia to a pause; it was a possibility certainly. "I don't know… It could be, yes… But I doubt it. I mean… I don't feel particularly dead at the moment, do you?" She inquired at the Silver-haired woman.

Selvaria set her shield hand atop her voluminous chest for a moment, as if to confirm some suspicions before speaking again. "No… I do not… My heart still beats inside my chest, so it is unlikely for me to be dead. But if that is case, then this is not the afterlife… So, the question to ask would be; where exactly are we…?" She stated as she began to glance at her surroundings once more.

Ophelia offered a hand towards the Silverette. "Then how about you join me in my explorations, and we try to find an answer to that question?" The blonde asked with some expectation, correctly assuming it would be safer to travel through an unknown place in group rather than alone.

Selvaria glanced down at the proffered limb, stared at it for a solid heartbeat in silence, before coming to a decision and accepting it in the spirit it was being offered. "Alright…" She simply said as she shook Ophelia's hand.

It wasn't even minutes since she and her new ally began their explorations of the city, that Ophelia stumbled upon a familiar face.

"Someone's coming…!" Selvaria declared as they were walking past another intersection, only for the silver-haired woman to turn around and raise her weapons and shield in a guard stance. The blonde magus glanced in the direction that Selvaria was pointing at, only to be surprised by the newcomer approaching them.

"Ophelia… You are alive? I am so glad to see you unharmed my child…" A wine-haired woman wearing an elaborate purple outfit that was skintight, had two long flaps that fell to the sides of her body to give the illusion of a dress, crystal stilettos and a small crown over her head, small metal pauldrons over her shoulders, black ribbon tying her head, and an opening in the middle of her chest to give a good view to her cleavage, said as she walked on the middle of the main street while accompanied by other four women.

Ophelia almost tripped on her step at seeing again someone she clearly knew to be dead. "Y-your Majesty! You're alive!? This is a surprise…!" She said with obvious shock.

The pretty woman with the sad gaze smiled as she acknowledged the blonde Magus' words with a nod. "Indeed, but a pleasant one… I must say, I never expected to see a familiar face again after the destruction of my world. I thought I was going to be condemned to the void for all eternity after having failed to protect the Tree of Emptiness from the Chaldeans… Yet, even though I'm sad that my world is now gone, my heart soothes a little at seeing that at least one of my precious children still survives. I am grateful for that…" She declares, elegantly placing a hand over her heart.

Selvaria turned towards Ophelia with her usual unexpressive face. "Ophelia, do you know this woman…?" She asked with a strange inflection that could pass for confusion in her voice, yet still keeping her guard up.

Ophelia cleared her throat a little before proceeding to make the expected introductions. "Selvaria, allow me to introduce you to the Queen of Ice and Snow. Ruler of the land of Scandinavia, Skadi…" She then glanced at the four other women accompanying the Nord Goddess. "And her companions, who I've yet to be acquainted with…" She commented, gesturing for their names.

Skadi motioned with a hand towards the other members of her party. The first, a tall giant blonde woman with heterochromatic eyes wearing a bulky steel armor with blue accents and a prismatic blue and orange crown over her head. The second, a pale red-headed long-haired young woman with pointy ears wearing a scarlet dress fit for nobility with white accents and interior and matching long scarlet stiletto boots. The girl was also wearing a small crown of black Iron over her head. The third was a rather short young-looking white-haired girl, wearing a strange-looking blue armor with glowing azure lines funning through its entire length in elaborate patterns, long high-heeled white and blue boots and a blue visor over her eyes.

The last individual is a woman clad in a dark loose black dress with blue accents that reminded heavily of a priest's vestments. Every single inch of the woman's skin was covered, as she was also wearing black gloves over her hands and a dark veil that fell from the black and blue crown over her head hid her face from view. The only personal feature of the woman that could be seen was the long platinum blonde hair that fell behind her back.

"These are my companions that decided so gracefully to grant me their assistance in this foreign city: Fairy knights Gawain, Tristan and Lancelot. And their mother and sovereign, her majesty Queen Morgan Pendragon…"

For a moment a look of unmitigated horror was plastered in the face of the blonde Magus as her mind immediately came up with the right assumptions regarding the identities of the Norse Goddess' companions. "You are all servants from another Lost Belt…" She declared as an affirmation.

Morgan chuckled under her veil at Ophelia's alarmed expression. "And you are a Crypter, one of my husband's former teammates and rival in the goal of seeing the trees of Emptiness bloom into fruition…" She simply stated in an amused tone.

"Your husband…?" Ophelia asked with obvious confusion.

"You know him by the name of Beryl Guts…" It was the lazily delivered answer from the Fairy Queen.

To say that the blonde Magus was surprise was an understatement if the look of outright disgust on her face was any indication. "Beryl!? HIM! You married that degenerate!? What is wrong with you!?" She exclaimed in a fit of frenzy, only to suddenly remember she was speaking with a servant. "I mean…"

Morgan did not care whatsoever as she simply shook her head in dismissal. "I am well aware of my former husband's tastes and predilections, but I do not care about them since his debauchery was only focused to those who dwelled outside of my kingdom."

"But why marry him in the first place!?" Ophelia asked with clear discomfort.

Morgan simply shrugged her shoulders. "It was the easiest and most direct method for my plans to succeed and ensure the continuity of my kingdom. After all, I am not keen of being the puppet of a Foreign Alien God. So, thanks to Beryl's help I managed to break the Alien God's influence over my Kingdom's tree of emptiness, so that only I would rule without outside interference and my Kingdom would spread through every single corner of the Earth. For that to happen we needed to sabotage the progress of the other Lostbelts, so I had Beryl infiltrate the Atlantian Lostbelt and we successfully managed to assassinate Kirschtaria Wodime…" She stated in a monotonous tone of voice, as if she were speaking about the weather.

Ophelia was utterly gob-smacked by that last statement, unable to form a coherent thought for almost half a minute before she finally managed to recompose herself. "You… W-what…? You are lying…" She said in a weak and barely audible tone of voice, as she had trouble in formulating the right words to answer to such distressing news.

Morgan again, simply shook her head sideways in a negative. "I'm afraid it's true… Beryl acted as a beacon so I could focus the attack of Rhongominyad and strike at Kirschtaria's location from the safety of my kingdom. The attack was a success and we successfully managed to kill the leader of the Crypters and destroy the best chance the alien god had to manifest in our world…" She stated in a drab and plain manner.

Ophelia could not speak, she just stood there staring at the Fairy Queen as her whole world came crashing down. Kirschtaria, the only man she has ever loved, dead… Morgan said nothing, there was no visible reaction due to her veil as the blonde Magus emotionally broke down in front of everybody.

The sight was enough to even crack even Selvaria's own cold exterior for a moment. "Ophelia…? Are you alright?" She said with noticeable concern as she set a hand over the Magi's shoulder in solidarity.

"Wow, Mother… I didn't know you could make people suffer using nothing but mere words! This is why I admire you!" The girl in red dress chirpily said, finding great amusement in Ophelia's suffering but receiving no response from her mother who simply remained silent. Not so much from the other people present, as while the small white-haired girl didn't seem to care one way or another and the tall blonde in armor just rolled her eyes at her, both Skadi and Selvaria turned towards her with nasty looks.

Ophelia clasped a hand atop Selvaria's own as she failed to contain her tears, despite her overwhelming heartache, a feeling of outrage began to swell inside of her as her eyes hardened and her sight zeroed in on Morgan. "I hate you so much right now… More than I have ever hated someone in my entire life…" She said in a tone that dripped endless vitriol.

Morgan simply nodded, seemingly unfazed. "Yes… I am not surprised. Beryl did tell us how much you fancied Kirschtaria…"

"I don't want to be hearing that from the woman who killed him!" Ophelia snapped bringing the conversation to a sudden halt. She took a moment to calm herself alongside a long breath before turning towards Selvaria. "I am fine, Selvaria… C'mon, let's go… We still haven't determined where we are, so let's continue exploring this city until we find some clues…" She declared, giving a squeeze to the silver-haired woman's hand before walking away without a 'by your leave'.

An uncomfortable silence followed as Skadi sighed and began to follow after Ophelia, the small knight Lancelot turned towards her liege. "Are you simply going to let her walk away just like that after speaking in such insolent manner towards you, my queen?" She asked in a monotone that held just the slightest bit of annoyance that betrayed her inner irritation.

Morgan answered to her knight with a wave of dismissal. "Think nothing of it my dear Lancelot, she is currently going through a great deal of inner turmoil after hearing the news of the loss of her beloved. It is not unsurprising to see her manners reflect poorly as result, besides words are mere wind, it will require more than just the recriminations of a heartbroken girl for me to lash out. The stature of Royalty is far above the recriminations of mere peasants after all…" She said in a blasé uncaring tone.

"So, what is the plan my Queen…?" The bulky tall blonde woman in armor asked.

"We follow the Crypter and assist her in her quest of exploring this city in search of answers, as her goals align with our own at the moment, until we find whoever summoned us into this place in the vessel of a Servant. Plus, she could serve us as a provisional Master in a pinch… You all well know how a Servant's capabilities can be greatly enhanced when paired with a capable Master…" Morgan explained with a gesture, bringing attention to their recent losses against the Master of Chaldea, her sworn knights and adopted daughter merely nodding at her reasoning before the entire group set off after the Blonde Magi.

Ophelia just kept walking through the deserted white streets with a certain stiffness in her bearing as she tried to put enough distance between her and the source of her distress, when all of a sudden music started to sound out of nowhere and a screen appeared showing a now familiar girl.

BMG: (Fate Extra CCC – BB Channel)

"Well… Aren't you looking particularly miserable even for a lowly Human…?" BB inquired with a wicked grin.

!

Katerea opened her eyes with a shudder and a long breath, immediately pressing her hands upon her body in search of the lethal wounds that Azazel had inflicted on her, finding nothing but unmarred skin. Even her torn clothes were back to a pristine state. Confused, she tried to search for clues on her surroundings, but found nothing but foreign marble buildings of an architecture that was unfamiliar to her. It appeared as if she had been transported to some unknown city while she was at death's door.

She didn't have any more time to keep pondering in her situation as a groan behind her caught her attention, Katerea turned in the direction of the voice, only to fight a member of a certain species she really wasn't in the mood of seeing again at the moment. "Fallen Angel!" The pretty bespectacled brunette hissed in anger, pointing her staff at the intruder.

A gorgeous black-haired and black winged woman in a revealing black outfit that was little more than lingerie was sprawled on the ground face down, struggling on getting back to her feet but having some trouble as she was clearly a little out of sorts regarding her current situation. However, her mind quickly recomposed at taking notice of an enemy's presence. "Devil!" She exclaimed with no small amount of vitriol of her own, her body tensing in preparation to sprang into action.

Katerea, said nothing more and simply launched a spell from her staff without further ado. The black-winged angel evaded the projectile by rising into the air, a thunderous explosion detonating on her previous spot with enough force as to send pieces of white masonry flying on all directions. The black-haired fallen Angel then proceeded to form lances made of light from her hands that she began to throw at Katerea from her elevated position, the brunette suddenly seeing herself in the need to evade as the lances of light peppered all around her, blowing smoke and detritus with each impact.

"I don't know what kind of trickery you are pulling in here! But it is clear whatever is happening in here must be the fault of your rotten kind!?" The brunette declared with great scorn, the memory of her death at the hands of Azazel still freshly raw in her mind.

"No surprise that a Devil is spewing lies left and right without sense or context. I have no idea what you're prattling about, so I will simply limit myself to kill you and then I'll worry about finding out where I am…" The Fallen angel declared as more Lances of light began to appear in her hands and hovering all around her while Katerea prepared another spell.

It was then that their little duel was stopped by an interloping voice. "Oh? What do we have here? An angel and a devil locked in mortal duel? How quaint…"

The two eternal enemies turned to see a couple of black-haired women, watching their confrontation from further down the street. One was a pale long-haired beauty on a red miniskirt, wearing a black bodice, boots, gloves, black trench coat that she leaved open to show off her impressive well-endowed figure, and a wide black hat that gave her a mysterious air. The other woman wore glasses and had short-spiky hair; she was wearing a purple business suit that had the right pants leg frayed by design. Her coat was open, except for a single button above her navel in order to leave her voluptuous cleavage in display, a red string could be seen tied just beneath her breasts with a golden brooch that matched the red bowtie around her neck. Both women possessed intense crimson eyes that caused tremors inside those who stared at them.

Both Katarea and the Fallen Angel stopped in their tracks, staring at the two women in apprehension, there was a feeling of dread that told them these newcomers were incredibly dangerous. It was the feeling one feels in the presence of the most powerful gods and devils.

"Who…? Who are you?" Katerea demanded, putting some distance away from the Fallen Angel, so that she could kept both her and the newcomers on her sight at all time.

"Oh? Where are my manners…?" The bespectacled woman playfully said before gesturing to her companions. "This lovely lady besides me is Enigma… And I… Well… You may call me Nya…" She said with a cryptic smile as she offered a bow in greeting.

"And what would your own names be, my fair ladies…?" She asked with an affable gesture.

Katerea and the Fallen Angel didn't immediately reply, too busy in trying to gauge the intentions of this Nya… Her outward demeanor might be amicable, but a deeply unsettling dark power could be discerned, lingering just beneath the surface. By her knowing smile, it was clear that Nya was well aware of the fact they could detect her true nature.

The bespectacled brunette correctly deducted it would be in her best interests not to do anything to antagonize the newcomers. "Katerea Leviathan…" She said, unwilling to offer anything more.

The eyes of Nya fell next upon the hovering Fallen Angel, and despite their obvious lack of coordination and antagonizing nature towards Devils, it wasn't long before the winged-woman answered in kind if only to spare herself from being under the gaze of those otherworldly crimson eyes. "Raynare…" She said.

"Nice meeting you, Katerea, Raynare…" Nya said with a pleasant expression that revealed nothing about her true intentions. An awkward silence then fell upon the street, as neither of the two previously rivals wanted to anything that would inadvertently draw the ire of the sinister woman. "Let me guess, neither of you have any about what you're doing here or how you arrived in this place?" She said with a coquettish smile.

"You didn't bring us here?" Katerea asked in puzzlement.

It was Enigma who answered with a shrug. "Sadly, we are in the same boat as you… We have no idea who brought us here or why, we just simply decided to team up and look for answers together since it seems the most natural thing to do. As they say: Misery loves company…"

Nya smiled again. "Indeed…"

That's when BB's projection appeared. "Oh…? Could I interest you in some directions…?"

!

Ryuko blinked in stupefaction, suddenly finding herself in a strange place when a moment ago she was out in the street with both her sister and girlfriend. Quickly turning around her surroundings, she let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding at seeing she was still grabbing her friends through their linked arms.

"Ryuko… Where are we?" Mako said when realized they were not in Honno city any longer.

"I… Have no idea…" The Sukeban girl admitted, letting go of her friends.

Satsuki glanced all around with a hard face, trying to find a point of reference that she could use to gleam their location. Failing that, she turned towards her sister and her girlfriend with her characteristically serious demeanor. "Nicely going Ryuko, I can already tell we are going to get tangled in another one of your fights…"

The delinquent girl felt a little offended at that. "Hey! I had nothing to do with is! You all well know we were simply walking down the street and in the blink of an eye we were suddenly inside this knock-off of a Greek city!" She complained rather loudly.

"You think we were kidnapped by aliens?" Mako asked with a curious face.

Ryuko wanted to shoot down that notion as another one of her girlfriend's ridiculous ideas, but she found herself actually considering the possibility seriously as she couldn't really refute it and the manner of their arrival inside this place was indeed a weird one.

The Sukeban shook her head as she became determined. "It does not matter whether we were kidnapped by aliens or not, we will find whoever is behind this and I will personally kick is ass and force him to bring us back home." She declared clashing her right first inside her left palm.

Satsuki just nodded. "I suppose I can get behind that idea."

All of a sudden, a voice none of them wished to hear again spoke from behind them. "Hey mother, look! It's my dear lovingly sisters!"

"Ah, yes that's true Nue… What a fortuitous family meeting…"

All three girls turned ramrod straight immediately at that, slowly, mechanically both Ryuko and Satsuki turned towards the owner of the voice. Only to find their mother Ragyo Kiryuin and her little pet experiment Nui Harime, alive and well back from the death.

"Satsuki… Dear daughter of mine… What have you done with your hair? That short style really doesn't suit… Your long silky-smooth hair played much better to your natural beauty…" The odious white-haired woman said in such a carefree tone as if none of them had been trying to kill each other such a scant week ago.

Immediately a look of fury erupted in Ryuko's features, and out came her red-scissors swords as she rushed towards her dear old mother. "YOU!"

"NO! Ryuko wait!" Satsuki exclaimed in vain in an attempt to stop her sister, having pulled out her own sword too but holding it in a guard stance rather than going in the attack.

Both Ragyo and Nui smiled at the predictable reaction, easily evading back Ryuko's furious attempts at literally cutting them in half. Obviously, the Sukeban wasn't deterred and simply kept trying to cut her progenitor down to size in a frenzied flurry of attacks. Eventually, Ragyo grew bored at her daughter's brutish offensive and simply stopped her by grabbing her by the wrists, the blades of the red scissors hovering just a few scant centimeters in front of her eyes.

"Well, then… That is certainly quite the greeting to your dear old mother… Haven't I ever taught you never to play with scissors? You could cut out someone's eyes…" She declared in a mocking tone with a manic grin.

Ryuko gritted her teeth in fury as she replied. "What manner of trick is this, Ragyo!? You're supposed to be dead! I killed you myself! I don't know how you did to come back from the dead, but it is clear it must be you who brought us to this place! So, I will simply make sure to put you down a second time before finding a way to get back home!" She boldly exclaimed as she tried ineffectually to push back at Ragyo's strength.

The bird-looking woman just chuckled. "You are indeed correct my dear Ryuko… We are dead and you did kill us in a most remarkable fashion. Honestly… I'm just as surprised as you at the fact we are alive again… Not that I'm complaining mind you…" She declared uncaringly before kicking her own daughter in the gut, driving her back to her knees with a grunt of pain. "But I must confess… I have just as much idea as you as to how it is that we arrived in this place. Being dead and all doesn't give you much awareness about your surroundings after all…"

Ryuko just glared at her mother with open hatred. "A likely story, you must think me stupid to believe I will simply trust anything that comes out of your whore mouth!"

"Such language… I thought I had taught you better than that…" Ragyo stated with faux offense.

The Sukeban girl was even more incensed, if such a thing was possible, after hearing those words. "You didn't taught me anything at all! You got rid of me and threw me to the fucking trash the moment I was born! Remember!" She retorted in outrage.

The white-haired woman simply waved in dismissal. "Regardless, you can believe whatever you might want, oh sweet daughter of mine… But it does nothing to change the fact that we are all stranded inside an unknown foreign city, without any idea as to why we were brought here, who did it or for what reasons… Now, as much as it pains me since I too would prefer to be anywhere else but near you, a feeling I'm sure you can relate with. It would behoove us to put down our grievances for the moment and try to work together in finding a clue as to where we are. Or we could simply say the hell with it all and go back to try to kill each other again, leaving us vulnerable to any action from whatever third party that brought us here… It is your choice in the end, Ryuko…" She declared with a contemptuous grin.

A stormy expression fell upon the features of the delinquent girl, her red scissors-blade rising between her and her mother again. "I will never work willingly with you Ragyo… Not after you have done! To me! To father! To my sister… We moved past that point a long time ago… There will never be peace between us…" She said as she assumed a stance.

"Ryuko is right… We don't want anything to do with you! In fact, we will prefer if you simply drop dead again and stop tormenting us with your unwelcome presence…" Satsuki declared, walking from behind her little sister and showing support by standing beside her with her katana high on her own fighting stance.

For the first time, the smile disappeared from Ragyo's face as she let out a long-drawn sigh. "I suspected as much, still… Can't me blame for trying… So, to the death it is then, my daughters…" She stated as her nails stretched into long pointy blades, Nue wordlessly standing beside her master with a deranged smile, ready to spring into action.

Both duos simply stared at each other tensely for a moment, ready to begin the onslaught when all of the sudden…

Maleficent simply walked out from a nearby alley, followed by her retinue and glanced between the four women facing each other before commenting aloud. "Are we interrupting something…?"

"LOOK RYUKO! THAT WOMAN HAS HORNS! AND SHE'S GREEN! SHE'S A GREEN HORNY WOMAN!" Mako yelled in one of her usual over-the-top outbursts completely breaking the moment between mother and offspring as it caused everybody to glance in the direction, she was pointing to see what was wrong.

"What did you just call me, young lady!?" A rather upset dark fairy exclaimed in outrage while Ultimecia blatantly chuckled behind her.

"Huh? AH! You are right Mako! That woman has horns! Man, that is weird…" A rather distressed Ryuko said, completely forgetting about the confrontation with her mother due to the non-sequitur.

"Eh? Is true… That woman does have horns! But I like her style! Usually black is such a boring color, but she is rocking it quite impressively. Simple but elegant, I can respect that…" Nue declared in her usual scatterbrained self.

Mako simply continued with her antics as she addressed every single one of Maleficent's companions. "AND LOOK! THIS OTHER WOMAN HAS WINGS! AND THIS OTHER ONE IS WHITE WITH WEIRD BLACK EYES! AND THIS ONE…!" She turned towards Lucy last, only to come up short at the appearance of the Diclonus queen. "And this one, this one… This one is pretty much normal, man what a disappointment. But is alright, not everybody can look awesome after all…"

Lucy simply blinked in confusion, not knowing how to react to someone calling her normal.

Salem just stared down at the brunette girl imperiously. "You are an annoying pest, girl…"

"Hey! Don't call my girlfriend annoying or I'll kick your ass whitey!" Ryuko threatened, feeling offended at a stranger calling names at her partner.

Mako just rubbed the back of her head with a devil-may-care attitude. "Yes, people tell me that all the time!"

Two new individuals suddenly walked into scene from another alleyway.

"Look Velvet! There are other humans in this place…" A rather bored childish voice said.

"Huh? So, it seems Laphicet…" A Female voice said.

Maleficent just stared, failing to find a reason at what she was seeing. "Child… Why are you naked…?"

The child in question, a blonde long-haired boy simply looked down at his own state of undress wordlessly before looking back at the dark fairy and shrugging uncaringly.

Ultimecia glanced at the newcomers with a curious face. "Naked people, now that is a new one… You must be quite the deviants to walk around like that without a care, not that I disapprove, it's just that is not something you see every day…"

The raven-haired woman, Velvet, simply stood there with a complete unimpressed face as she crossed herself in arms. Her own modesty being preserved only by her own rather long and loose hair that covered her in strategic places. "You try spending a few millennia sealed away and then you can tell me if your clothes fare any better than mine did…" She stated rather aloof, causing Ultimecia to raise an eyebrow in intrigue.

Ryuko attention was drawn to the new arrivals. "Naked people you say…? They must be members of Nudist Beach, here to help me fight against the tyranny of my mother once more!" She exclaimed in realization.

Raygo groaned in disgruntlement and suppressed the need to facepalm. "Oh, for heaven's sake, Ryuko! Do not remind me of those annoying idiots while in my presence!"

The Sukeban girl simply ignored her mother's request and again prepared to resume her battle with her progenitor. "It is the least that you deserve, you old hag! See, people do not forget your crimes that easily and they are already lining up on the streets to help me beat the crap out of you a second time! Which reminds me…" Ryuko appeared depressed for just a moment, as if being saddened by a recent memory, but it was a momentary thing and soon enough she became full of determination once more. "Since I no longer have Senketsu with me, I have no choice but to fight you in the buff due to your annoying tendency of using the Life Fibers to control other people's clothes!"

"Wait, what?" Salem exclaimed with obvious confusion at the bizarre statement.

Ryuko simply ignored her and kept speaking. "I really do not want to do that since I'm not a pervert, but I hate you that much that I don't care whether I'm nude or not when I shove these scissors up your ass, so needs must!" She declared hotly before reaching for the hems of both her shirt and skirt and taking both attire pieces off in a single move, leaving her in just her underwear.

Velvet's hands immediately rose to cover her little brother's eyes, she was not amused. "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!? Don't go around showing your bits to my little brother, you skank!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU! DON'T INTERFERE IN OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS YOU NAKED FREAK!"

"I'M THE FREAK!? I'M NOT THE ONE WHO IS TAKING HER CLOTHES OFF IN FRONT OF A MINOR!"

"OF COURSE NOT, SINCE YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY CLOTHES TO TAKE OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE! WHAT ARE YOU SOME KIND OF EXHIBITIONIST PAUPER!?"

"BITCH! COME HERE AND TELL IT TO MY FACE! I'LL FUCKING DEVOUR YOU!"

It was in that moment that Velvet's demonic arm came out, completely freaking out all the people in the street watching the naked girl's confrontation due to the sheer surprise.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR ARM!?"

"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

It was all that Velvet expressively said before launching herself at Ryuko with the clear intention of crushing her with her demonic hand, obviously, the Sukeban girl wasn't just simply going to let herself keel over like that.

"AHHHH! KEEP YOUR LEPER ARM AWAY FROM ME! SATSUKI! HELP ME FIGHT THIS BITCH!"

Maleficent let out a long-drawn sigh at the headache she felt incoming, she turned towards Lucy with a helpless expression.

"Lucy my sweet little girl… Could you be a dear and assist me in reining these rowdy-children in? Gently, if you don't mind…" The dark fairy pleaded towards the pink-haired girl.

Lucy just nodded. "Okay…" And then simply stretched her invisible vector arms forward and taking hold of the brawling naked girls, leaving them hanging in the air where they would be unable to hurt anyone until their tempers calmed down. From an observer perspective, it looked as if both Velvet and Ryuko were floating aimlessly in the air.

"Hey! What is happening? This is not cool, put me down!"

"LET ME GO! I MUST DEVOUR HER!"

Raygo turned towards the trio of black witches with a considering stare. "Mmmmph… You people have some intriguing abilities…"

!

Several minutes later, an annoyed Maleficent was standing in front the two still restrained naked girls, who were still trying to break Lucy's hold on them so that they could get on the walloping.

"That's enough you two! I grow weary of your infantilism! Now… Are you going to behave yourselves like proper ladies, or will I see myself in the need of tying you up and banish you to some corner to leave you thinking over your actions as if you were little children?" She rhetorically asked with clear irritation in her voice.

Velvet grunted and simply turned her gaze away "Tsk… She started it!"

"Who are you calling a lady, you fairytale witch reject!?" Ryuko said confrontationally, looking up aggressively at Maleficent.

Obviously, the Dark fairy wasn't amused. "SILENCE!"

With a wave of her staff, the Black-clad woman took away the Sukeban's capacity for speech. Ryuko trying to say further insults, but found herself unable to utter a single word, which quickly made her grown increasingly desperate with each passing second at her apparent lack of speech.

"Now… Could someone explain to me what is going on in here and why this girl saw herself in the need of start taking out her clothes right then and there in the middle of the street like some loose woman!?" Maleficent asked out loud in general for anybody to give her some answers.

Mako immediately raised a hand up. "Oh, Oh! I can explain! I can explain! Pick me!" She exclaimed with her usual boisterousness.

Maleficent felt her headache worsen, but since she didn't have any better options. "Why must I always end up dealing with the idiots? I'm going to regret this; I just know it…" She gestured towards the tiny brunette as affably as she could muster. "Very well girl… Please explain to us what the issue is in here?"

And so Mako began her unsurprisingly loud and expressive retelling with ridiculous gestures about the epic tale that narrated the heartbreaking feud between a Mother and her own daughters. All brought about by an ancient alien space yarn that can give you superhuman powers when you sew it inside your body and allows you to take control over other people's clothes in order to bend them to your fingertips or if you wish a more direct approach, outright brainwashing by sewing it directly into people's brains.

Suffice to say, her audience was pretty much flummoxed at her ridiculous explanation, even Velvet couldn't remain impassive, her face showing a clear 'What the fuck am I hearing?' expression plastered all over.

Maleficent soon had enough. "Stop! Just shut up girl, you're making my brain hurt with all your crazy ramblings!" She pleaded, rubbing her forehead with a long dainty green hand.

"So, let me get this straight…" Salem began to say, not a single trace of amusement in her bearing as she pointed towards Ragyo. "Your family was guarding some ancient primordial fiber that came to your world from the far reaches of outer space which you decided was a good idea to sew into your own body, and somehow it gave you superhuman physical attributes and regeneration, the ability to fly and control all manner of clothing, and even allows you to transform your entire body into threads?" She inquired with mounting disbelief.

Ragyo was pretty nonchalant at her impromptu interrogation. "Pretty much yes… My daughter's little friend has an annoying way of expressing herself, but she was pretty much spot on every single point of her explanation…" She stated uncaringly as she inspected her nails.

Salem just stared, in all her eons of life, never has she heard such an absurd and bizarre tale. It was indeed a first for her and not necessarily something good. She wasn't the only one to stare, as pretty much everybody else who wasn't familiar with Ragyo did little to hide their incredulity. An awkward silence followed.

It was Lucy who at last broke the silence. "That is dumb…" She simply stated with the most deadpan expression ever.

Ragyo scowled. "Well, no one asked you little girl…!" She said less than friendly.

"Right… Let's shelf that particular subject for latter. Meanwhile, why don't you tell us what's the reason for you and your brother nudity, girl… And please don't say it is because of alien threads…" Maleficent pleaded at velvet.

Laphicet quickly interjected. "I can explain that…"

"Please, do so…?" The Dark Fairy pleaded.

"My sister is a Demon, a being made out of the pure undiluted malevolence that grows inside the hearts of humans who becomes stronger and reaches increasingly higher thresholds of power by eating people with her demonic arm and spreading death and destruction wherever she goes…" The long-haired blond child succinctly explained, surprising many with his bluntness.

"Okay… I wasn't expecting that, but serious Kudos to your sister for being an engine of destruction, my respects…" Nue declared with a delighted smile as she gave two thumbs up at Velvet's general direction. The Ravenette simply grunted in response.

Maleficent was intrigued by the child's response. "You say your sister can gather the evil within people's hearts into herself…? Intriguing… Very intriguing indeed… Then what does that makes you my dear child…?" She asked at the naked blonde boy with considering eyes.

Laphicet simply stared back with an unexpressive face. "When I was but a mere human, my body was weak as I would be constantly bedridden by recurrent bouts of disease, forcing my sister to constantly look after me and worry for my health. It was later that I discovered that I was suffering from a rare incurable affliction that would kill me before I saw my twelfth summer. Therefore, seeing my life was under an inevitable death sentence, I decided that I would make it count. I would give a meaning to my death and finally stop inconveniencing my sister with my constant sickness…"

"Laphicet…" Velvet murmured with what clearly was great concern in her voice

Yet the boy kept speaking, heedless of his sister distress. "So, I decided I would give my life in exchange of ending the Demonblight that ravaged my world. A scourge that brings ruin to all nations every few centuries and heralds the incursion of demons upon the land. To do this, I offered my life as living sacrifice to Innominat, one of the Empyreans, powerful spirits whose might is so great as to rival that of a God. To do this, I asked my brother-in-law Artorius, the Head Exorcist of the Abbey, to end my life in ritual Sacrifice so that Innominat would use my body as a vessel for his power. The ritual succeeded, but Velvet became aware of it before we could complete it and tried to stop it, so Artorius simply finished the ritual before she could interfere in front of her very eyes and then proceeded to incapacitate her. That's when she became a demon, due to the great hatred she developed towards Artorius for what she believed was my apparent murder."

"So, you became a Vessel for this Innominat…?" Maleficent asked with outmost seriousness.

Visible power began to exude from Laphicet as a surge of energy blazed from his body. "Me and Innominat became one being and we were reborn in this form you see before you…" He declared, retracting his power back into himself. "But it was still not enough, even all the power in the world was insufficient to stop the Demonblight…"

"And why is that…?"

"Because the Demonblight was just a mere symptom of a much greater disease, not the cause of the affliction. It is humanity itself who brings forth the demons as every time their collective Malevolence passes a certain threshold, demons will inevitably soon follow, humans who have been warped and mutated by their own hatred that dwells within their black hearts. So as long as humanity exists, new demons would continuously be born over time… Therefore… A new approach was needed…" Laphicet explained as if quoting by memory.

"Oh? Then what it was that you decide to do then, little boy…?" Ultimecia asked to the incarnated Empyrean, finding his entire tale much to her liking.

"We decided, that in order to stop new demons from being created, we would simply remove humanity's capacity to create them in the first place… I would use all of Innominat's power in order to cover the entire Planet and draw all of humanity's malevolence into myself and devour it, alongside all of the unnecessary emotions that create malevolence in the first place… Only then could a perfect peaceful world finally be achieved." Laphicet coldly stated.

Satsuki was shocked by that revelation. "Wait… You're saying you can eat emotions? And you tried to divest all of humanity of them!?" She exclaimed, unable to comprehend such a train of thought.

"I feed on the malevolence that humans create in order to sustain my own existence, it just so happens that malevolence is a product of human emotions, so dealing with one means dealing with the other nothing more…" The blonde boy lazily stated.

For a moment Maleficent was taken aback from what she had heard, to take away all of humanity's emotions and leave nothing behind but empty husks, it is something not even the likes of Xehanort ever dared to entertain. Though she had to admit she was intrigued by what this boy had just revealed, were these demons that ravaged his world a new breed of heartless? Were they the result of a failure during a heartless creation process? Or are they the result of a new higher evolution? To be able to have the powers of a Heartless without losing your own heart to darkness was something she never would have believed possible. This opened a new avenue of research.

Regardless, she wasn't the only one having inner misgivings as even Salem was impressed by what she had just heard, for it there was someone capable of doing what this boy is proposing, then even the threat of the Grimm could finally be brought to an end. It is a distressing thought.

Velvet let out a growl all of a sudden. "A very stupid plan as I've ever heard!" She exclaimed with obvious distaste.

"I assume you did not approve of your brother's plan…?" Maleficent observed.

"Of course not! What kind of idiot would think living your life like some sort of plant, without any kind of ambition or desire would be a good thing?" The Ravenette exclaimed with boundless derision.

Laphicet simply nodded along. "Velvet, feeling betrayed for what we had done to her decided to tear down all of our plans and kill Artorious. At first, we did not mind since her rebellion played perfectly into our plans, as a great amount of Malevolence was needed for me to devour in order to carry out our endgame. So, Velvet, going out in a murder spree through the entire length of the world, causing mayhem and destruction wherever she went had the favorable result of creating the Malevolence needed thanks to the despair from the survivors of her rampages. More and more she began to consume and attract Malevolence into herself…" He retold.

Satsuki blinked. "You speak as if your sister was nothing more but another piece in your chessboard, just another sacrifice necessary to bring your plans into fruition." She stated with a frown that obviously told of her disapproval.

Again, Laphicet simply nodded, uncaring of any accusation. "As I said, a great deal of Malevolence was needed, and thanks to her indiscriminate quest of revenge Velvet ended up becoming a walking source of Malevolence. I tried to eat her…" He confessed, shocking the blue-eyed girl. "But she proved much more relentless than what we had anticipated, she successfully destroyed every single obstacle standing in her way, murdered and devoured her way through the ranks of our exorcists in order to reach our top leadership, killed our entire inner circle formed of our most powerful warriors and devoured their souls before offering them as sacrifices to the rest of the Empyreans in order to open the way to my inner sanctum. Killed Artorious in single combat, even though we had used a special spell in order to fuse our existences so that he could make use of Innominat's power. And yet… None of that was enough, and Velvet ultimately was the only one standing victorious, all our plans and dreams dying in flames at her feet…"

"And she didn't kill you…? Why…?" Ragyo asked in puzzlement at what she believed a strange occurrence.

"Despite everything that Laphicet did! All the pain he caused… He is in the end still my brother… And although I've done a lot of horrible things myself, killed and caused a lot of suffering to bystanders and innocent people, brought entire cities to ruin… The only act I'm not willing to commit is that of Kinslaying…" Velvet stated seriously. "So, in the end… Despite everything… I forgave him…"

Her listeners acknowledged her words, some with nods of her own. "Then you have more scruples than I ever did…" Salem declared, a sad nostalgic look falling upon her face for a moment.

Satsuki just stared with a harsh expression. "Your brother does not deserve you…" She unforgivingly stated.

Velvet just shrugged, uncaringly. "Perhaps… But it is always the duty of the elder sibling to look after the younger siblings…"

Satsuki let out a long tired. "I suppose you're right…" She said, glancing at her own younger sibling who at the moment seemed to finally have calmed down and was now sitting with a pensive look on her face.

"You said you had spent Millenia sealed away when we first met. I take it that's what you did as an alternative to killing your brother after you defeated him." Maleficent declared as a statement rather than a question.

Laphicet gave another nod. "Correct… But Velvet did not have the Arcane knowledge necessary to seal a powerful Empyrean as Innominat on her lonesome, so she had to improvise with what she had…"

"Meaning…?" Ragyo inquired.

"A great deal of Arcane experimentation and research went into devising a way to raise a powerful spirit like Innominat into life while containing it inside a mortal vessel like I am… Suffice to say, my particular physiology demands that I must devour a considerable amount of Malevolence in order to sustain my own existence and power up my spells. And as I have already explained, her nature as a Demon makes it so for Velvet's soul to be a constant source of Malevolence. And thanks to her demonic arm, she is capable of devouring others in order to sustain and heal herself…"

"Oh dear… I see where this is going…" Maleficent commented.

"Velvet, figured out that the only way to seal me away without the use of great magics was by forcefully triggering a feeding loop, I would feast from her flesh to consume the malevolence inside her soul while at the same time she would slowly devour me with her demonic arm in turn. Effectively, consigning us to eat each other for all eternity." Laphicet finished his explanation with all the emotional spectrum of a rock.

There was a brief silence after the blonde boy finished with his retelling, but it was soon broken by Mako. "Kid, that's fucked up…" For once her usual upbeat attitude was missing and replaced with an atypical severity.

"Well, it was the only option I had at the time…" Velvet commented mighty unconcernedly, despite her situation. "And it worked… Otherwise we wouldn't be here speaking with you all…"

"I take it something must had interrupted your feeding loop…" Maleficent speculated.

Laphicet nodded. "Yes… We don't know how is that we arrived into this city, it's not important since a lot of things must have obviously changed in the span of thousands of years. However, a sudden immeasurable burst of malevolence interrupted our loop, pulling us out from our forced slumber and allowing us to take our first steps back into the mortal world after countless eons… I do not know exactly just what could be behind such a feat that could flare so much Malevolence as to leave the atmosphere completely saturated even now… But we are keen of finding out." He stated, for the first time showing a trace of emotion, in this case curiosity.

"Yeah, now that you remind me… Are you alright, Laphicet? Are you not feeling any cravings now that you are not constantly feeding from me?" Vlevet asked with some concern.

The blonde boy simply shook his head in a negative. "No, Velvet… For the first time since I was reborn as Innominat, my hunger has been sated. There is so much Malevolence all around us, it is as if all of creation has been covered under a thick layer of oil, I can just simply part my lips and drink it from the very air like you would water…" And just like he just described, Laphicet opened his mouth and black swirls of visible Malevolence began to appear and churn their way down his throat. It was something a little bit unsettling to watch.

"Yes, little boy… We too have taken notice of this particular phenomenon…" Ultimecia stated, taking some interest in Laphicet's ability to eat the Malevolence from their surroundings.

"In fact, that is the very reason why we are here in the first place…" Maleficent took after the winged woman. "We too are looking for whoever is responsible for having brought us to this place and released that much dark energy into the atmosphere." Before she could continue, Ryuko began to wiggle on her spot again, as if trying to draw attention to herself due to her lack of speech. She even went as far as to try the dreaded puppy eyes technique that although ineffectual, considering who the recipients of it were, proved quite distracting, nonetheless.

The dark fairy just sighed in resignation. "You have a question, I assume… If I return to you the ability to speak, would you promise to be more mindful with your words…?" She addressed the Sukeban girl as one would do while lecturing a particular naughty child.

Ryuko just nodded fervently in response. "Very well…" Maleficent simply said, and with a wave of her hand returned the delinquent girl's capacity for speech.

For a moment Ryuko said nothing, instead testing her tongue to see she was indeed able to speak again, but then she addressed the Dark fairy in full. "Do you know who is responsible for bringing us here?"

"We were contacted by someone who called herself BB and all she told us was that this city belongs to Hades, the Greek God of the underworld and that he wishes to meet us personally…" Maleficent simply replied. "From what I've gathered, he is the one responsible for saturating the environment with so much dark energy." Something that greatly baffles her in the inside since she doesn't remember for Hades to be so powerful as to do a stunt like that. Perhaps she is dealing with another Hades from another world? Either that or some great change took place.

"So, he is the one whose ass I must kick in order to have him return us to our home?" Ryuko exclaimed with zero hesitation.

It actually managed to pull out a chuckle from the dark fairy. "My dear, I seriously doubt you'll be able to force anyone capable of releasing that much malevolence into doing anything against their will…" She stated with an amused smile. "But nevertheless, if you are so intent to meet him, then I guess we could provide some guidance. BB gave us the task to pick up any straggler on our way to see Hades, so I suppose you could tag along if you want…"

Maleficent's face became stern again. "However… First, we will have to fix your little case of nudity, we cannot have the lot of you entering in the inner sanctum of a god in just your bare-skin." The dark fairy mentioned with a look of open disapproval as she looked down at the naked teens.

"And what is wrong with showing a bit of flesh? One should be proud of its own looks when there's nothing to be ashamed about." A voice said coming from above.

Maleficent glanced up only to find a voluptuous, completely naked long-haired red-headed woman idly resting on the edge of a roof, a look of complete boredom in her face. Besides the naked woman, a second blonde woman dressed in a skin-tight red outfit that left her shoulders bare and exposed a great deal of milky-white cleavage, wearing long purple heeled boots with matching purple pearl necklace and an accessory over her brow that looked like red horns in a 'V' shape was standing at attention on the roof.

The Dark Fairy quickly averted her eyes with a sigh. "What is it with this city that is attracting all the deviants?" She asked with some annoyance as she took notice of Ryuko's sudden red tone of her entire body as she attempted to cover her eyes with her hands while secretly peeking between her fingers. Oh great, that's just what she needs, to know the leanings of a lustful teenaged girl.

"A deviant? According to the weak social standards of the humans, I suppose I am one…" The naked, long-haired redhead woman said with a shrug, completely uncaring of Maleficent's opinion. "But really… Is that such a bad thing? None of you strike me as the sort of letting themselves be influenced by the presumption of your lessers." She stated with a smug smile.

"Yes, well… We also are not of the mind of flashing ourselves to the plebians like some cheap strumpet…" Salem said with blatant disapproval in her voice.

The face of the blonde woman in tight red leather hardened and she simple dropped from the roof with a single step, the marble of the street broke under her weight as she slammed to the ground like a rock. The woman was completely unharmed as she simply stepped out from the small crater, her skin turning into a white pallor as her limbs elongated and her teeth and nails grew into inhuman proportions.

"I would be very careful with my words if I were you…" The blonde woman said as her mouth lengthened in a long line of serrated teeth while her bones creaked loudly and she began to grow in size, towering over the albino witch. Most of the villainesses present simply stared back without a hint of either fear or intimidation, others like Mako or Lucy began to shake in fright.

"That is enough Jill… Stop trying to scare our new friends…" The naked red head in the roof ordered in a bored tone.

Jill simply stared down intensely at Salem without blinking, but after a moment of silence she simply took a step without breaking her stare. "As you wish, mother…" She replied, as she walked backwards towards the crater she made, her eyes never leaving the Albino woman.

The naked woman chuckled, before jumping down from the roof and floating down to the street with all the grace of a feather swaying in the wind. Her dainty feet touching the white cobblestone without a sound. "You'll have to forgive my dear Jill. She can be quite overprotective of me at times…"

A flash suddenly appeared, and the naked woman was replaced by a towering humanoid figure, taller than anyone of the people present. The figure was female but covered in dark fur, except for her torso, her long thin limbs ended in wicked-looking red claws with a second set of smaller limbs coming out from her shoulders. Her hair also ended in spiky protuberances as her green face sported a devilish deranged expression. The terrible sight was just a blink-and-miss-it occurrence and was soon replaced by the amused face of the naked red-headed woman.

Yet those watching knew not to underestimate this newcomer, who suddenly began to emanate a dark an oppressive aura.

"And who might you be, if you care for introductions?" Maleficent replied, gesturing with a hand towards the naked woman.

"You might call me Panther Zora…" It was all that the woman said in response before she began to pace around the cobbled street. "So… You lot are supposed to guide us to the rulers of this magnificent city? I must say I am intrigued to meet whoever is behind out arrival into this place. I take it there will be no issue if my daughter and I were to follow you…?" She requested with a rather pleasant expression, veiling the oppressive power lingering just beneath the surface.

Maleficent kept her composure and offered no visible reaction, despite acknowledging to herself that the dark power of the woman in front of her far surpassed her own. "It doesn't seem we will be able to oppose you if we were to think otherwise, so do whatever you wish… Just try not to be much of a delay or…" She gestured to her lack of clothes. "Distraction…"

Panther Zora chuckled. "Not my fault if other people suffer of wandering eyes, but I'll try my best from drawing attention to myself."

"Somehow I doubt that…" The dark fairy said before turning away and start marching towards her destination again. She casually summoned a set of robes for Velvet and Laphicet as she passed by the siblings. "Very well… Let's get back on the road, the sooner we meet Hades, the better. And make sure to put your clothes back on, girl…" She ordered at Ryuko.

Salem suddenly was on guard. "Do you feel that!?"

"A large source of malevolence is approaching towards us…" Laphicet stated idly as he finished dressing in his new robes.

From the shadows of a nearby alleyway, a lithe figure appeared. It was a small female, a white-haired amber-eyed girl with feline features (Ears and tail), dressed in a navy-blue coat the same color as her shoes with stripped orange shorts and long calf-length socks. The knees of the cat-girl were weird, looking more like the joints of an insect. But what was certain was that all of the eldest villainesses were immediately on edge at the sight of the small female.

It was as if a specter from the underworld had risen to the Earth in order to drag the condemned and sinners into hell, a dark miasma of dread clung heavily from the cat-girl, emanating so much raw malevolence that it seemed to take the form of a snarling demonic face. The feline girl simply acted ignorant, seemingly unaware of what effect her sheer presence caused to the world around her.

"Oh? What do we have here? Humans…? Are you prey or predator I wonder…?" She then turned to look behind her and address an unknown person. "Hey Drone, come over here! I found others that might tell us where we are…"

"My name is Zazan!" A tall Amazonian looking buxom woman with purple skin and fuchsia long haired dressed in little more than a green bikini that barely covered anything and a black half-corset over her navel said as she appeared from the confines of the alleyway behind the cat-girl. The must striking features of this new woman wasn't either her beauty, curves or the tone of her skin, but the fact that a giant scorpion tail swayed from behind her. Her joints and articulations too were reminiscent of that of an insect.

"Yeah, I don't care… You are just some low-level squad leader from the food collectors" The cat-girl replied with clear disinterest.

"I am a queen!?" Zazan protested with clear outrage.

The cat-girl suddenly appeared in front of Zazan's face, giving a rather malicious smile at the purple-skinned woman. "You keep calling yourself that, but we both know you are nothing compared to the king so you would do well to keep your mouth shut before I decide to kill you…" She threatened, not once breaking her seemingly pleasant smile. "Just because you might have gotten a tad stronger than the last time I saw you, doesn't change the fact you are still little more than a hindrance."

"You…! Who are you, that possesses such a powerful and dark Aura?" Salem demanded, pointing a finger at the little feline girl, never has she felt such a powerful dark aura coming from a single mortal, whether human or Faunus.

"Eh? Are you asking who am I…? They call me Neferpitou…" The cat girl answered with a terrible smile.

!

Hades lied in his throne, pleasantly hearing the sweet tones of Pandora's harp as he held his daughter in his lap, the other people in the room were mostly silent as the raven-haired girl proceeded with her concert. But even, so, one could tell they still were not quite used to their new situation.

The bountiful woman in the yellow sweater, Masane, stood awkwardly in her place as she obviously tried to ignore the broken remains of Hades' former divine body lying in the middle of the room in a pool of his own blood. Her curiosity was so blatant as to be palpable.

With a gesture of the hand, The Lord of the Underworld signaled for Pandora to pause in her recital, the violet-eyed maiden doing it so immediately. Everyone in the room began to turn towards the short-haired brunette at taking notice of Hade's focus on her.

"You have a question…" The king of the dead states.

Masane blushes a little at being called out and finding herself to center of attention. "Well… I mean… I didn't want to say anything…" She frantically replied while gesturing towards Hades' divine remains. "But what is the deal with the dead black-winged angel in the middle of the room?" She asked.

"That is no angel, though you are correct about its divine origins…" Hades began to explain with a dismissive wave. "That is my own corpse…"

"Excuse me…!?" It was the exclamation that came from Shiori, who hadn't expected such answer. No one did.

"Haven't I explained this already when I first raised you all back into new life?" The king of the underworld lazily asks with a tilt of his neck. He gets a bunch of heads swaying in a negative as response, which causes Hades to hum in contemplation.

BB turned away from working on her terminal for a moment in order to address him. "You and I have spoken about the subject already my master, but you have not elaborated much about it towards the lowly humans except for a single comment…" She happily stated before turning back to her work.

"Very well then…" Hades states before gesturing to himself. "What you see before you is nothing more but a mortal vessel that I am using to host my divine spirit after the death of my body at the hands of the Goddess Athena. As a god, I am beyond the limitations of the physical world, even if my body were to fail me, my spirit and soul are still capable of continue my existence past the death of my corporeal form and allow me to find a new vessel in which to inhabit and exert my influence in the mortal world. In short, a god does not die even if you were to kill his physical body, his spirit will simply bide its time and muster its strength until the opportunity to acquire a new vessel presents itself…"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Masane began with the universal gesture for time out. "You're saying… You're hijacking that body!? Possessing it against his will like some kind of evil spirit!?" She exclaimed rather alarmed at the realization.

Hades did not appreciate such comment as his features hardened and the smothering darkness of his Cosmo began to physically suffocate the people in the room, except for his most and loyal servants. "Be very careful in your choice of words, I do not suffer any kind of insolence in my presence, whether unintentional or not. Remember that you are alive right now because I wished so, if you are foolish enough to stoke my anger, I would simply take the gift of life from you as easily I granted it to you in the first place." He lectured unamused.

Masane was incapable of giving any kind of response, as she suddenly found herself squirming on the floor unable to breath due to the sheer pressure of Hades' Cosmo. Others standing near her like Reina or Shiori did not share the same affliction as her, but they still felt short of breath all the same. Aleria was spared because she didn't hesitate to once more get on her knees and show complete deference, just the same as Presea, alongside Kaiyo and Okatsu who followed her example. Chizuru and Megumi on the other hand, became completely besotted once more by the choking aura of death that bleared from the seemingly young boy.

Hades' eyes glanced briefly to the supplicant forms of the kneeling women for just a moment before he became distracted by a cry from the baby in his lap as little Hotaru didn't like when the all-encompassing Cosmo of the king of the underworld was used in order to hurt other people. Having his attention being called away by his daughter, the lord of the dead gave one last look towards Masane. "Do you understand, mortal…?"

Incapable of speech, Masane could only nod. Wordlessly, the lord of the dead retracted back his boundless Cosmo into himself, allowing for the poor woman to be able to breath easily again. All of a sudden, blood began to trickle down the corners of Hades' mouth as a cough cause a flower of crimson droplets to bloom in front of him.

Pandora was immediately on her feet in concern. "Milord Hades!"

The King of the underworld simply raised a hand for her to settle down. "It is nothing my dear Pandora, it is simply a combination of this mortal body being too weak to handle the entirety of my divine spirit, coupled with the injury that Athena was able to inflict upon my very soul… There's no need for you become concerned, it will pass…" He stated dismissively, even though it did little to reassure the raven-haired maiden.

"If you say so Milord Hades..." Pandora ultimately acquiesced, though it was clearly she wasn't wholly pleased.

BB was suddenly looking over the Divine corpse of the God of the underworld. "So, this is your true appearance my Master!? Oh my, even if you were not possessing the body of that Bishonen boy you would still be quite gorgeous! Perhaps even more so… How come you can look so pretty, even after death!? Is this what they refer to as Godly looks?" She asked out loud with faux puzzlement.

"Those are the looks given to me by my mother Rhea and my father Chronos. A face that is the work of the Titans themselves…" Hades then shifted a little uneasily in his seat before focusing his entire attention upon his own corpse. "It is not common for anyone, be it man or god to have the opportunity to stare at his own corpse. It makes for quite the unique experience…"

"Yeah… I bet…" Clementine commented a little awkwardly.

"You do not seem very pleased at the moment my most terrible and gorgeous master..." BB simply stated as she glanced at the seated deity.

"Why would I? This is my body, given to me by my Divine parents, which for untold eons I strived to safeguard against any harm of affliction in honor of the life-baring gift it represents. And look at it now… Broken upon the cold floor, with my divine blood spilling upon the tiles. All because of that traitorous Goddess, Athena and her saints. Who decided to not only side with the lowly humans and turn her back to her Divine heritage, but to actively stand against the Gods themselves and rebel at their edicts! Raising her hands against us, her family, and ultimately, striking me down and forcing my spirit to be consigned to this prison of mortal flesh that its incapable of withstanding my own might…" Hades declared without a single trace of amusement, his Cosmo leaking out of his body again, drowning the entire universe in his darkness and causing blood to seep out from his face's orifices. He finally stops as he starts to cough ichor out of his mouth again. "No, my dear BB, I am not pleased in the slightest…" He said with a harsh expression before he began to clean the blood and tend to his daughter that had begun to cry again after that display.

!

Outside the great double doors leading to the inner sanctum of the god of the underworld, Maleficent's hand came to a stop just as she was about to knock, her entire limb trembling erratically after feeling that surge of endless darkness. Behind her, all the people that had also been transported to this city were standing sporting different expressions of shock.

Laphicet simply turned towards his sister with that flat eloquence of his. "See Velvet, this is why I haven't been feeling any hunger as of late. There's just so much Malevolence choking the ambient around us as to allow me to gorge on it at my leisure whenever I want, I've never felt so full in my whole life…" He stated with a nod.

Velvet had a green expression on her face, as if she was trying pretty hard to keep the contents of her stomach from spilling out. "Urgh… I think I can relate with that feeling Laphicet, I feel as if I'm about to burst at the seams. My arm cannot take any more Malevolence…." She states, clutching her concealed bandaged arm to her chest. "I think I'm about to throw up…"

A young teenage girl dressed in a white militaristic outfit and skirt combo, immediately turned towards Velvet with a scowl. "Don't do that anywhere near me, you skank!"

"Uck! Screw you…!" Velvet replied more than a little under the weather.

"So, this is where we will finally be able to meet out new Master! Oh, I'm liking what I've seen already!" A long pink-haired woman dressed in a white flight attendant outfit declared with a delighted grin.

Ultimecia turned towards Maleficent. "Well, it is clear this is the right place. No point in dallying, we should get this little meeting our of the way…"

"You think that is wise…?" Eudial asked from where she was standing, feeling like crapping herself.

"No…" But is not like we have any other choice. What would be the point of running away considering this Hades is capable of projecting his endless darkness wherever we might try to go?" It was the blunt answer from the Gray-haired sorceress, grudgingly earning nods of acceptance from her listeners.

Maleficent sighed. "Let's just get this done, already…" She declared before thumping the end of her staff upon the ground and causing the massive double doors to open as if on their own volition with a loud sound of scraping stone. As the doors slammed open, a massive throne room was revealed in which a single seated figure prominently stood out right in the middle.

"Oh, so you finally made your way here little piggies. You sure took your sweet time!" The uncaring form of BB declared with an impish smile.

Pandora, who had retaken her spot on the right side of her lord again, walked forwards to address the newcomers. "Welcome mortals to the hall of my Lord Hades, King of the underworld and ruler of the dead…" She declared grandiosely, opening her arms wide.

But before she could continue speaking, she was interrupted by a couple of cloaked silhouettes making their way to the front of the procession, stopping Pandora mid-speech and causing her to feel no small degree of affront. "You! How dare you mortals!"

"Silence, Girl! For you are speaking to a god!" One of the figures declared, raising a hand before taking off her cloak to reveal a lithe fire-headed woman in white silks that had a strong likeness of a bird thanks to the four red wings sprouting from her back the same color as her hair.

"Brother… It's that really you…? Are you truly back from the realm of the dead…?" The second figure asked, taking of her cloak to reveal voluptuous blonde woman with her hair tied in a long braid with a small green laurel crown on her head and dressed in a green outfit that leaved very little to the imagination, not to mention the great deal of cleavage that was left exposed.

Hades was left stunned for a moment by the two women standing now in front of him. "Aphrodite, Goddess of Love… And Demeter, my dear sister… What are you two doing here?" He asked with no small degree of shock.

---

All right, enough with this chapter. That is all regarding my backlog, now to work on the actual plot. Busy, busy, busy, busy…

At any rate, I've started an account in questionable questing and I'm actually surprised at the quality of the stories I've found in there. They're actually pretty good and are not that much saturated by badly written smut, which was my fear. I do actually recommend for people to take a peek in there.

As for recommendations, go read Anderson's Quest in sufficient velocity. It's father Anderson from Hellsing Ultimate in Bloodborne. Pure gold.

But whatever, as I've said, I'm done with introductions, next chapter we return our focus to Hades.

As always, leave a review and tell me what you think. Recommend this story to your friends, and visit my Pa- t. re-on if you feel like tossing a coin my way and I'll read you all next time…