The Ship was shaking.
Umbra was built like a warship, it had taken direct fire from the pirates in battle. It has fought against demons, angels, and the abominations in between during the clean up operation following the principalities ambush and came out intact.
And yet Umbra was shaking.
Angelica frowned as she looked on at the projection where Leon was fighting against the Black Knight simulation. There was none of the guerrilla tactics that Leon used during his skirmish with the Real Black Knight. Leon was simply savaging the training hologram over and over again while ignoring his pain, because that's all that the Hologram was capable of doing to him was cause pain. And the entire Ship was shaking because of it.
"He really does fight like a monster." Julius just stared ahead stunned at what he was seeing.
"Ah." Angelica let out a sigh of contempt, a reminder that they were here. "Umbra. I'm in no mood to deal with this." And like that Angelica made a motion with her hand of brushing the five fools off.
"Oi are you just going to ignore us!?" Greg snapped angrily.
In lieu of a reply Angelica just sipped the Tea Olivia had prepared for her. Greg Stepped forward but Chris and Brad pulled him back.
"The more important question is how and why he's fighting the Black Knight right now." Julius stated as he realised Angelica held no interest in talking to him.
"Should I congratulate you three for not running your mouths off about other people's business?" A grandfather clock rolled into the room on a track and turned to face the five fools. "Would you like a cookie?"
"I'm beginning to understand why Leon is always getting into arguments with you." Chris stated glaring at the clock. "Allow me to reintroduce myself for the sake of the unenlightened. I am The Umbran Clock Tower, a demon born from the souls of hundreds of dead Umbran Witches. I am this ship's power source, it's pilot, and currently Major Domo to Leon Fia Blackmore. And as my master finds himself indisposed at the moment-" The entire ship rumbled at that. "I will be overseeing your instruction in his place, I have prepared individualised lesson plans for the five of you." Five circuit like lights lit up on the floor, purple, red, cyan, green and navy coloured and led away around the corner of the hallway. "You may follow the colours of your hair to your respective training rooms."
"You're going to oversee five separate training exercises at once?" Jilk scoffed as he looked around doubtfully.
"Currently in addition to flying this ship and exterminating any monsters that come near I am also preparing dinner, drones to repair whatever Leon breaks when we arrive at our destination-" The ship shook again. "-and maintaining the Black Knight simulation so that that doesn't snap the ship in half. Report to your lessons at once."
The five turned around to leave, which was fine because while Umbra was a stellar multitasker some things are better dealt with in relatively privacy. Angelica and Olivia had proven their competency, the little whore who thought seducing the Five Fools was a good idea was questionable but for now there were few options: all of the trouble makers and all the people who could help deal with them were in one place now. An arm hanging from the ceiling rolled in, a familiar prisoner hanging from it. Hertrude was dressed in a woman's trench coat, a fur belt wrapped around the small of her waist and her hair tied into a pair of twin tails.
"Watch her and make sure that she behaves herself!" The arm unceremoniously dropped the little spy off.
Umbra didn't appreciate Hertrude attempting to navigate the confines of the ship, not in the least. She initially used the excuse of looking for a bathroom, which Umbra had done, and when she continued to insist on wandering around by herself, Umbra had taken slightly more serious methods to detain her.
In comparison, Marie was well behaved. Course that probably had something to do with the palpable feeling of mortal terror that had consumed every fibre of her being, but getting hit point black with Leon's angry face would probably have that effect on anyone.
"We should probably discuss what we're going to do once we reach the Elven Island." Angelica stated bluntly as she folded her hands together.
"Personally I'd be okay if you sunk the whole place." Kyle served his mistress some tea to try and help soothe her nerves. "Believe me there's little worth keeping." Out of the five people in the room, Kyle was the only one who has actually been to the Elves island before, largely on account that he basically grew up there.
"For now just tell us what to expect." Angelica stated letting out a sigh.
The Elves and the Beast Men are anomalies.
The first time I encountered members of either species an Elf had stumbled upon my island apparently in the process of exploring as an adventurer.
The ensuing dissection proved to offer little enlightenment: compared to Newmans there are fewer catalyst crystals, two of them being located behind both eyes and two more underneath both earlobes. The number and location of organs remain the same as Humans but their limbs and bodies are longer and thinner with two extra rib bones to compensate for the increased height, visually they resemble elves of popular culture with average to slightly above average human height and pointed ears.
My preliminary genetic testing confirmed the presence of DNA the origin of which I haven't been able to identify, and I've had centuries to perform similar experiments on Angels and Demons, I have confirmed that they have a extended life span compared to Newmans, though I do not know the full extent, to my knowledge there's no record of Elves who have died to old age.
The Beast Men are relatively straight forward, I've been able to confirm genetic material from multiple animals such as various felines, canines, birds, some sea life, reptiles and a few non-human primates even in ones that do not have the corresponding animal features. I have no logical explanation as to why someone would do this, but it would appear that at some point in time various humans were spliced with the DNA from animals resulting in non-human features such as tails, animal ears, reptile skin, or feathers.
According to interviews I've conducted, when Beast Men of the same sub-species mate the child produced is the same species as the parent, but when two different subspecies reproduce the result is a child of a completely different sub species, a dog man and bird woman could end up producing a reptile type for instance. Overall both Demi-human species have better physical statistics than that of Humans or Newman's at the low end of their Level Growth, with the Beast men having the better physical ability and Elves the better magical power and control.
Culturally, both Demi-human species are treated as second class citizens in Holfort, there is no Beast Men or Elves serving in the army, none of them hold positions in any sort of office outside of their small island communities, and the majority of them serve as either manual labourers or, more infamously, as sexual servants for the members of nobility.
Male Demi-humans and female Newmen are biologically incompatible, as such Newman women can have sex with as many Demi-human men as they can afford without suffering through the ensuing pregnancy, though the risk of Sexually transmitted diseases still exist there is expensive treatment with healing magic than can cure that.
Male Newman and female Demi-humans is a different story however, as explained by the testimony of the recently arrested Forest of Ladies members many of their non-human lovers are in fact Newman demi-human hybrids, born from mothers who had managed to 'acquire' the amorous attention of their human employers. Standard policy was to recall these women back home when this occurred terminating their contracts at all costs, it would be bad for the Elves business if it came to light that hybrids are indeed possible, or so it was thought.
Turns out the Forest of Ladies got off on the idea of getting to cuckold their husbands with their half Newman lovers. Near as I can tell, the offspring of a demi-human Newman hybrid and a normal Newman is simply another normal Newman as well, so things like magic armour that normally rejects Demi-humans don't even get set off, I'm also told that a hybrid Elf or Beast Man mating with their respective non-human species simply produces a normal demi-human of that species.
Further research and observation required.
Luxion's notes about Demi-Humans
The training exercises for the five fools were relatively straight forward, at least for some of them. Some members of the group were less hard headed than the others were, Brad and Chris have both made great strides of progress already, all that they really needed was to train.
"So it's you again." Chris commented as he was reunited with an old associate, Alastor.
"Ah yes, the mediocre swordsman who has completely ignored his own magical affinity in favour of a weapon he has no talent for." Chris picked up the familiar sword that Leon had loaned him before, the demon sword Alastor.
"Still as scathing as ever." The White room fell away in favour of the school's courtyard, a familiar figure walking towards Chris, Leon with the Alastor. "Not my preferred wielder, but he'll do as an opponent for you for the time being." Alastor's voice commented to Chris's surprised.
"If there's a better wielder for you than Leon then I am terrified to meet him." Chris replied, and then he charged forward.
Agni and Rudra: A pair of spirit scimitars turned demons.
Agni, born of the heat of battle, controls fire while his brother Rudra, used to master a thousand swings, controls the wind.
Individually the blades are terrifyingly effective weapons, together they play off of each other's affinities to enhance their attacks: Agni manipulates temperature to generate wind and enhance his brother's attacks, Rudra generates oxygen, hydrogen, and other flammable gasses to fan his brother's flames together making a terrifying combination.
Uniquely, since they were already swords before they were demons their natural form is that of Devil Arms, though they can generate headless giants to act as bodies for themselves they prefer to have a skilled third party as their wielder.
Excerpt from Rodin's Weapons Catalogue
"Brother, the one that Sister Umbra told us about has arrived." A red Shrunken head acting as the pommel of a red scimitar spoke up.
"Hmm. Hmm. We must do our best to make our guest feel at home." A matching blue shrunken head on the end of a blue scimitar gave a natural follow up.
"After Alastor talking swords isn't even a surprise any more." Brad simply picked up both of the blades in question and flipped them around a couple of times. "Okay I can see how this'll wor-" The white room fell away and was replaced by the school's courtyard, approaching Brad was Leon, carrying a familiar pair of red and blue scimitars. "I take back what I said." Thus Brad's beating began.
Those were the good cases, the other three would need more extreme measures to be taken if they were to make any real progress.
Case in point.
"What's the red liquid for?" Greg was rather suspicious of the mug of red liquid that was waiting for him inside of his own training room.
"Refreshments." Umbra lied as easily as it breathed, considering that they were a clock you understand Greg's suspicions.
"It's boiling hot though." Greg looked at the clock mounted on the wall with suspicion.
"So's coffee." If coffee was served at that temperature then the person drinking it would likely spit it out. "You can drink it while we go over the finer points of your lesson."
"What? We're just talking?" Greg snapped looking suspicious.
"At first, the techniques you'll be using are somewhat complicated, so some general knowledge is useful." Umbra stated as the room manifested a chair for Greg to sit in. "Sit down, Drink, and then we can begin the lesson."
Greg shrugged his shoulders as he did what he was told, though he did think of a question he probably should've asked sooner.
"Hey what'd I just dri-GAH!?" Greg held his throat as he gasped her air, the magic circle that was underneath him, as well as being underneath Jilk and Julius in their respective rooms, subsequently came to life. Umbra had no time to wait for Greg and the others regain consciousness of their own accord, instead injecting them with various stimulants to forcibly wake them up for their lessons to begin.
"Ohhh..." Greg groaned to life as he pulled himself to his feet and looked around the room. "I'm going to kill that clock."
"You are going to have to get in line first, brat." Umbra instructed as a new hologram appeared before Greg. It spanned several square feet, though Greg knew that what it represented was much larger, a sky island. "Do you know what this is?" Umbra asked though Greg could swear that it was being sarcastic.
"The Bleichrocher Island." Greg stated making his annoyance known. "Home of the Bleichrocher Kingdom." A kingdom is what it said on the tin, though the island was by no means small it was only around the size of the duke Redgrave's territory. "What about it?"
"It's one of your ex's biggest clients." Umbra stated bluntly.
"Aight I'm ou-GAAAHHH!" An electrical buzz rudely kept Greg from Leaving.
"That was the lowest setting. Further disobedience will result in an increase in the voltage." Umbra warned as Greg pulled at the source of his discomfort, a shock collar wrapped around his neck while he was unconscious. "Sit down. Pay attention. Answer questions asked to you. Ask questions when you don't know something. Keep your complaints to yourself."
"What does this have to do with training!?" Greg snapped and Umbran's clock-face glowed dangerously.
"Dangerously close to a complaint, but a valid question." The glow receded as Umbra continued. "You are a arrogant brat, who for a prolonged period of time has been operating under the presumption that your natural talent for battle means that you can get by facing any threat with whatever random crap you pull out of a dungeon. Perhaps you are right, most likely though you are not. You will learn the role that the Weapon's manufacturer that you so despise plays in maintaining peace. You will come to understand the value of proper equipment, and when you are done you shall write a formal letter of apology to the woman to whom you have hurled countless words of abuse to." Umbra wasn't negotiating, it was stating absolute facts. If it were able to it would turn the information that it had been tasked to teach Greg into nails and hammer them directly into his skull. "Now then. Do you know for what reason Bleichrocher purchases weapons from Winchester?"
Greg remained silent, the light on his collar indicating an impending jolt lit up in response to his stubbornness.
"I don't know." Was Greg's honest, and more importantly valid, answer.
"Bleichrocher is in the path of a monster migratory route. It requires weapons in order to defend themselves year round." The Clock stated simply and without complaint.
"Then why don't they build them themselves!?" Greg snapped again. How Darwinian, 'a people who cannot stand on its own merits does not deserve to exist.'
"Let us test your theory shall we?" A new hologram appeared, a simplified representation of a factory the size of a loaf of bread.
"Pick a location on the island to plant this factory. Keep in mind that we will be excluding uneven and unstable territory unsuitable for construction." Red patches appeared across the island indicating places that the factory couldn't be placed.
"Alright." Those seemed to be reasonable terms for Greg, who quickly picked out a patch of farm land to put the factory on. There were lots of farms around it, so Greg figured they could afford to lose a few. Immediately the farms surrounding the newly built factory disappeared.
"What the-?" There was a large portion of farms that had disappeared, definitely enough to be concerned. "What happened to all the farm land!?"
"I'm so glad you asked." Umbra's tone of voice implied this wasn't really the case. "You see the Factory's industry poisons the surrounding territory rendering the farmland unusable." Which is why the Winchesters explicitly builds on islands that can only be described as barren rocks. Not much for a farm, but it was a suitable foundation for a large building like a factory. "Would you like to select a different location for your factory?"
Greg picked up the building and the farms returned to their previous immaculate state. He tried to pick out different locations but the end result was usually as bad as his first pick or worse. Greg made a dissatisfied noise as he finally found a place that he deemed suitable.
"Moving on. As you may have noticed there are no dungeons where materials for armour may be harvested, so that material must be bought instead. Even if there were you must still go through the process of importing mana stones from Alzer to power the armours and your new factories." A slider appeared. "Please select how much of your remaining crop you want to sell off so that you can purchase the materials you need."
Greg thus began a cycle of selling off the grains grown on the islands in increasingly larger amounts, buying materials such as mana stones and dungeon materials in increasingly larger amounts, and then watching the island and it's people being mauled to death by the monsters, after all they were farmers not warriors. Finally Greg just got frustrated and sold off all the grain and they managed to pull through by the skin of his teeth.
"Congratulations. Your people won the battle but lost the war. The island has been ravaged by the monsters, your people are starving to death and on the brink of revolt, and two thirds of them are already dead." Umbra made a sarcastic sound of hands clapping together to 'congratulate' Greg.
"Would you like to try again? Perhaps you'd like to use one of Sarah's other clients this time?" Greg rudely waved his arm through the illusion brushing it away in the process.
"Sarah's company helps a lot of people, she keeps people safe from monsters and I owe her an apology when I get back." Greg was tired. Not just mentally exhausted by this exercise, but he also suspected this clock had eaten a chunk of his mana too while he was unconscious. "I'd like it if she took time to make sure her shit didn't end up in the hands of pirates and criminals though."
"She has." Umbra stated bluntly. "After your first argument on the subject Sarah concluded that you had a point and so installed a 'key slot' into the armours so that they would not be able to function without a specially made blade inserted into the slot, unique to each armour." Greg was actually surprised by Umbra's statement.
"Sarah listened?" Greg asked looking shocked.
"Do you mean that she was upset to learn that the products she created were turned against Holfort? That she listened to and valued your opinion and made adjustments to prevent a repeat incident?" Umbra felt on the cusp of a breakthrough as Greg just let out a sigh.
"I really owe her an apology." Greg simply concluded without a ounce of hesitation. "Good boy. I'd give you a cookie but this should be more effective a reward."
A table slid out of the nearby wall, with several items that bore the familiar horse symbol of the Winchesters, but also a weapon that Greg recognised from working at the Guild, after all he was working the desk when Leon hauled the thing out of the dungeon the other day.
Cerberus Fire: A member of the Legendary Cerberus Demon Tribe.
The Cerberus Tribe, a race of giant three headed demon dogs, have long since acted as gate keeper's and guardians.
Not to be confused with the Similar Looking Greed, a Cerberus is born with an affinity for one of the three elements of Fire, Ice or Electricity. Cerberus pups go on a pilgrimage into places of wildly different elements to their own, learning the intricacies of manipulating the other two most common elements to expand upon their affinities with the other heads mutating to acquire the new affinity. Cerberus who can survive the full length of these trials and acquire all three Affinities becomes known as a Cerberus King.
Excerpt from Lemegeton's Guidebook of Demons
The staff was longer than Greg was tall, ending in a round blunt, with a little bit of magic Greg turned the tip of the staff into a flaming spear head.
"Sweet~!" Greg stated as she smiled nastily at the spear in question.
"Your attention please." Umbra drew Greg's attention to the rest of the items on the table. "Traditionally, when humanity has encountered opponents they could not defeat with their own power they have forged weapons to increase their own combat effectiveness. Appropriately enough, the spear was the first of these weapons. As a result to improve upon the effectiveness of the Spear additional innovations were made and new techniques were created to take advantage of those techniques." Each of the items were branded with the Winchester logo, but they were made at Leon's request, who has studied countless different weapon techniques and styles, and these three were part of those that he favoured. "This handle simplifies stabbing techniques with the spear. The inside is lined with Graphene creating a smooth friction-less surface, instead of having to thrust forward with both arms you'll be able to do so with one enabling rapid stabbing movements." Greg slipped the handle onto his new Devil arm and gave it a test run, his movements closer to using a pool cue to strike a pool ball but it was effective in its execution. "This rod is called a Atlatl. It helps to improve your throwing reach with the spear, simply attach it at the end like so..." A Hologram played of Greg hooking the Spear to the Atlatl and then using it like a catapult to toss it several yards over and accurately hitting a target, the stick in question had a lanyard for convenience sake. "Lastly is this flag."
"I remember this one, Leon kept waving it around during our first spar to keep me distracted." Greg explained as he hooked the flag into the blunted circle that spat fire.
"Correct, though currently it's an incomplete combination, the flag techniques are meant to be used in combination with a shield after all." With all the accessories equipped the table slid back into the wall. "A suitable one is over there." With this a hidden room that Umbra was keeping out of sight opened up, releasing the demon that came out of Greg when Umbra performed the extraction ritual on him. A Pride, or rather Greg's Pride made manifest, a Fallen Angel resembling a huge red coffin that transforms into an Armour sized creature with wheels for arms and legs, wheels that were spewing flame. "Remember this is an actual demon, so you will likely be killed if it hits you." Umbra explained before the clock's consciousness left the room proper.
"Sure. If Leon can fight an armour on foot why can't I?" Greg looked less confident than his words implied.
"I acknowledge that I am a selfish and inconsiderate person." Jilk's tone of voice implied that he had to repeat that statement far, far too many times. "Before I act, I will consider how my actions will affect other people that I care about. If I determine that the action I intend to take will hurt them or cause them harm I will not take them. I will work to become an empathetic person who understands the feelings of those around me." Jilk's biggest problem was that he was use to being told what was what instead of figuring it out on his own, his powers of observation were absolute garbage and it was getting hammered home to him with this exercise. "How many more times do I have to repeat this?" A counter appeared for Jilk. 48/500, which then reset to 0/500 and Jilk let out a sigh. Umbra would give him a break after five more resets and sick Jilk's own demons on him. Leon would later comment that this was the blind leading the blind, or a psychopathic demon teaching a sociopathic spy empathy to be more accurate.
Julius stared ahead with deep bags under his eyes at the massive line up of individuals that had been prepared for him.
"Is there a point to doing this?" Julius asked looking up into the air.
"If you knew what it was then there wouldn't be any point." Umbra replied bluntly.
Frankly speaking, it wasn't going to hold its breath that this was going to work. Even after removing Julius's resentment and storing it off to the side somewhere in here teaching him not to be a huge ball of paranoia constantly looking for people who want to screw him over was going to take a lot of real people in the real world. For now though it was making sure that this got back to the people who really needed to see it.
Being told what her son's problems are and how they are entirely the fault of her and Roland was one thing. Getting to witness a creature that she understood was a physical embodiment of resentment pulled out of her son through Luxion's spy drone was frankly speaking another. They couldn't even change channels and explore a different part of the ship at this point. Umbra had destroyed all but one of the drones that they tried to sneak aboard the ship, and the only one left had been brought into the training room just so that they could witness Julius's utter lack of social skills.
"This is a disaster." Ignoring for a moment how their disastrous upbringing has affected Julius, he'll never be able to trust his own vassals at this rate seeing only vipers and not his flock. Then there were the rumours of him being gay circulating like a plague because of the books Angelica had been publishing, and the worst part was that Mylene couldn't deny that they were true.
Each of the five had been paired up with beautiful women, in terms of looks, personality (Well not Offrey) or resources they were each the kind of person that any normal man of the Kingdom would trip over themselves and get into honour duels just for the right to speak with them, and they had been discarded for someone who for anyone with the common sense to tell was never going to grow beyond the androgynous child like figure that she likely had since before she crossed over into double digits.
"Being gay eliminates him from the line of succession?" Luxion questioned suspiciously.
"...it lowers him in the line of succession." Mylene commented drily as she let out a sigh. "A line requires successors. Julius isn't necessarily incapable of producing them but there are problems if he forces himself to do so. But that isn't the biggest problem. The one girl he is seeing is also seeing four other guys on the side." Five if you count the half elf servant. "Even if you do tell people about your blood science, convincing them that you can figure out which of Marie's many children goes to which family is still going to be an exercise in futility." Unless Marie can manage her harem very well, then preventing a civil war is going to be an exercise in futility.
"One of the King's other children? The Captain perhaps?" Luxion immediately went to the obvious solution. It wasn't that all of the King's children were incapable, on the contrary many of them were very capable but...
"Repard will likely be a issue in the future." Mylene stated letting out a sigh.
Mylene was a princess of Repard before she was Queen of Holfort, her marriage to Roland was meant to help bring their nations closer united in peace. The fact that Roland has tossed Mylene aside was already well known, if it became apparent that Repard's current King's grand children were being removed too the situation could degenerate further.
"Erica is still too sickly to take the responsibilities of leadership. And if the right to the throne is opened up to Roland's endless chain of bastards, a civil war worse than a war with Fanoss or the Redgraves could erupt." Instead of one, rational enemy acting for the sake of the people of Holfort they will instead be left with dozens of disjointed enemies acting independently aiming for the throne. According to Luxion's best calculations, Julius being rehabilitated into a competent mature King who can accurately judge his retainers abilities and intentions and plan his actions around that was still the best case scenario.
"Perhaps you should consider producing another heir with the King." For scenario's actually based in reality, Mylene and Roland should be trying to conceive a new child at this point so that he or she can be raised with a accurate idea of where they went wrong the first time and how to compensate. "I still lack the specific expertise to correct the genetic defects that has led to your daughter not being able to process magical energy, I would like to be able to find the adequate technology to do so, and take preemptive measures with the next one."
Mylene snorted.
"Roland hasn't so much has gotten hard for me since Erica was born." Mylene stated bluntly with eyes of a dead fish. "Quite frankly the feeling is mutual at this point. The thought of trying to force myself onto him..."
"Then in lieu of that scenario. I can construct an android for the purpose of harvesting his genetic material, and impregnate you via artificial insemination using that material."
Joy. Yet another member of Roland's harem.
Angelica entered the sparring room that Leon had been using. The area had taken so much damage from Leon's rampage that it looked like some wild animal had torn the place apart. Still it had served it's purpose, it's lone occupant was spread eagle in the middle of the room, a look of total and utter exhaustion and apathy on his features.
"Have you finished your temper tantrum?" Angelica asked looking down at the spread eagle Leon.
"Mhm."
"Or can you simply not move anymore?" Angelica was beginning to understand why his family slapped a limiter on him.
"... I'm not angry. I'm frustrated." Angelica sat down next to Leon, lifting his head up and giving him a lap pillow. "This Kingdom is on the brink of war, and the King is an idiot. I honestly do not know why I'm here fighting for this Kingdom."
"Because that is who you are." Angelica stated simply as she started petting Leon on his head.
"If you're about to give this speech about me being a good person..."
"You are even if you don't realise that." Angelica cut in sounding amused. "You are also Wrathful, Spiteful, Apathetic and Violent. You have no qualms with defending those you have affection for and no sympathy for those who have hurt them despite their own circumstances. You do not waste your time with words and choose to act to resolve an issue immediately." Angelica was petting Leon's head with affection. "You are the man who chose to defend me when no one else would. And while I do not know your circumstances you are the man whom I love." Angelica gave Leon's forehead a kiss. "So try and sort out your personal life soon okay? For our sake if nothing else." With that Angelica left Leon to sort out the rest of his life. "We'll be arriving at the island soon. Try and clean yourself up by then."
Review Section:
Chronos0305: Alternate timelines fusing together tend to have that effect. I'll explain the Fae in due time, around the same time I explain why they have no interest in getting involved.
RonaldM40196867: There are similarities yes. Both characters are cocky, vain, fight in both melee and range, and are closely related to demons. There are also notable differences in their character arcs and in their fighting styles as well Dante making use of his four styles while Bayonetta has her demonic attack dogs. Simply put, it's like comparing Gandalf to Dumbledore, they are similar looking and behave similarly but they are very different.
RedRat8: She had a crush in the Light Novel and Manga if memory serves, you can thank the third rate romance Novels that she and her sister have convinced themselves have basis in reality for that. Spoilers for the final Arc: Hertrude even blackmails Leon into taking her on as one of his wives as a condition for lending her forces for the final battle.
hnh058513: "So you guys spent 10 years working on this game?" "Yeah?" *Reads Bio for main Baddie* "What were you doing during that time again?" "Adapting for the Switch and integrating Scalebound's assets mostly." "Wasn't Scalebound supposed to be a Xbox Exclusive?" In all honesty? If not for the Bio I wouldn't know a thing about Singularity, that is not a problem I had with Aesir and Balder. Souls Style Storytelling is not a good way to get your narrative across people!