Ascending to the realm of Mega had changed many aspects of her life. Evolving into Lilithmon had granted her strength once inconceivable, and launched her mind to new heights of shining brilliance. For the first time since Scratch died and she was imprisoned amidst Alt-City, Ardat felt truly, wholly
free.
It did not however, do nearly enough to ease the monotonous purgatory that was clerical duties.
Leopardmon, that-that scandalous manipulator would feel her displeasure for this. She would drop the full fury of Lilithmon, of Ardat The Grand Empress & Witch, right on top of that feline's head! He would suffer in equal measure and be prostrated before her feet begging for merc-
The hiss of her business chamber's door opening distracted Ardat from her rant, and she looked over just as an enormous figure stepped quietly into the room. Nine meters of broadly built muscle, armor and thick fur, that all barely made a sound as his clawed sabatons slid across the ground.
Verge, Her Knight was a titan of strength, and for so long had seemed like an impossible to surpass wall. Now she could send the GrappLeomon flying across the room with a flick of her wrist.
…Not that she ever would do such a thing to her loyal companion.
Ardat's frown flipped into a confident smirk as she rose from her pathetic excuse for a throne.
"We see you've decided to take up our challenge." The Lilithmon mused, as Verge's eyes flicked over the small hill's worth of paper surrounding her desk. Maintenance reports, mission reports, requisitions and so much more had all been entrusted to her care.
And now… now her Knight would know the pain Leopardmon had forced upon her.
That devious feline was a liar, but the *small hill's worth of documents* had been a truthful description.
"Aye, I have." The nice giant cat in her life rumbled, his face impassive before the assuredly daunting challenge.
"So be it! Prepare yourself!" She declared before launching into an elaborately detailed, and definitely easy to understand explanation on how to fill out each form properly. With a word and a gesture, the preset programs of code she'd memorized flared to life, setting a hundred pens to another hundred pieces of floating paper.
"And if you require a calculator, my personal model is right there on the desk. You should find it more than sufficient for this task."
Ardat's smile took a sinister twist as the GrappLeomon tilted his head, ears faintly twitching as he digested the information.
Most mon would have missed such small changes in posture, but she of course didn't. And Verge was just so cute when he was mulling matters over like this. She couldn't wait to see him struggle with the task, then she could swoop in and help him-
"I will not require it."
Ardat froze mid-air, surprise giving way to disbelief as her Knight gingerly took a single sheet of paper between a thumb and forefinger.
S-surely that had to be in jest? Yes that was it. A joke made in poor taste. Sure she could do such a thing, but calculating so much math for hours on end would be unbearably tedious. There was no way a mere Ultimate, a combat species no less would be able to calculate such a vast set of numbers. She would simply have to call his bluff.
"Is that so Verge?" The Lilithmon murmured, sitting back in the air and crossing her legs.
"Then by all means. Entertain us." Another word, and six towering stacks of paper slammed down around him.
"Outbound slots are on the eastern wall,"
Instead of mirth, or panic, the monstrous GrappLeomon's face twitched with… indigence?
Had she gone too far? Had she messed up and hurt him again?
Her thoughts abruptly stopped as Verge inhaled, abruptly leaving her office in a vacuum as his lungs devoured her office's atmosphere in an instant. A moment later his aura exploded outwards in a tightly controlled wave, his mana enveloping each stack, then rapidly shifting to cover each individual piece of paper.
Her Knight wasn't taking any pens, what was he…
The GrappLeomon stood perfectly still for a brief eternity, his eyes shut and face set in concentration.
He must have been overwhelmed by the task, but her Knight needn't have worry. She wouldn't let him drown in the ocean of bureaucracy. In just a few more seconds she'd float over and guide him through the process.
"Now Verge it may seem like a lot, but our illustrious self can finish complete such a daunting stack in little under an-"
"It's done."
-"hour… excuse you?" The Lilithmon blurred into motion, crossing the distance and snatched up a sheet of paper from the closest pile, then another, then a third.
"Abwuh-huh-no you you have to be mistaken!" Signatures, calculations, reprimands. Everything was written down with impeccable detail, and perfect legibility.
"I am not." The truth of his words hit her like a cuff on the head from Sir Scratch. The truth in his words impossible to argue against. "I quadruple checked my work."
No. This wasn't right. This wasn't possible! This wasn't fair! He hadn't even used a spell!
"Mayhaps I should partake in this more often?" The cantankerous dolt murmured thoughtfully, and it was all Ardat could do not to burst into tears or smite him where he stood.
Instead she just watched as the Martial Artist flexed his will again.The minor effort of intent picked the completed forms up and launched them towards the outbound slots in a steady, somehow neat and tidy flow.
"Its simplicity was surprising. Leopardmon must have eased up on your punishment." He continued, unaware that each sentence was driving another stake into her heart. "It's a simple matter of using Qi to shift the papers, read the contents then apply the proper-hold… are you crying?"
"No…" Ardat sniffled, definitely not crying. At all.
"It's just… our eyes are watering from the unfairness-we mean the dust. Y-yes the dust."
"But it… isn't dusty in here?"
Stupid, dense, feline.
Ardat paused, tears drying up even as her mouth curled in vengeful glee.
Verge took a step back from her, hackles rising in caution. The GrappLeomon knew what that look of hers meant, he'd grown familiar with it over many months of suffering defeat after defeat.
Yes, it was right of her Knight to be at unease. He might have brought her low in this passing, however. She would not be the one slumped in defeat before the day was over!
"My Knight, after you help me finish up here. Why don't we…" Ardat flared her bat-shaped wings outwards, and brought her golden claws up in front of her face to facilate her grand, imperial pose.
"Play a few games of cards." And just like they practiced, the Lilithmon urged her familiar to manfiest spectrally behind her, looming menacingly in all it's eldritch, five fingered glory.
The GrappLeomon stared at her display impassively (clearly hiding his awe of her!) before sighing.
"Very well."
===In An Office Now Devoid Of Paperwork===
You blink down at your hand of cards, utterly, and terribly confused. The rules of *Poker* were simple enough however…
Am I supposed to get a hand like this?
"Four Aces." Ardat chirps happily, bouncing up and down behind her desk, causing… interesting things to happen with her kimono top.
"It's only natural that I. this world's future Empress would end up with such a strong, and glorious hand."
You frown at her words, then glance back at your cards, Seven, Eight Nine, Ten, Jack. All of the same suite.
A straight flush, and one of the few combinations that can defeat your Lady's hand.
This isn't right. How can my hand be better than hers?!
===
[] Fold & Move On: This doesn't feel like a victory you've earned, just accepting sudden good luck feels… wrong.
[] Display Your Victory: After losing so many games to "Bad Luck" and "rules bending" on Ardat's part, you'd welcome this win over her.
===
AN: I'm terrified to show my face here again after such a long hiatus, but after everything everyone has done for Inheritance I can't just abandon it. Welcome back everyone. For those of you not on discord, the short of it is in late march I went down hard because of a chronic illness and was bedridden and incredibly depressed until the last few weeks, where I've steadily gotten better. I'm still not fully recovered, but after months of struggling and searching I finally found something to help me get better.
That doesn't change the fact that vanishing like that was real shitty, and I can understand not trusting me. The depression and low energy making writing untenable for me at the time, and my will wasn't strong enough to carry through. I deserve whatever criticisms, or insults are thrown at me for it.
Since I've gotten better I've managed to write this update, plan out more of this arc, and even make small backlog of snippets so I can post something tomorrow too if something goes wrong. You'll also notice that there is now a proper glossary in place that is mostly finished. There's been a ton of characters so I probably missed a few. Feel free to being up who I missed, and descriptions are welcomed if you're up for it.
Edit: On the AN for the actual update. I couldn't manage to write it from the normal perspective and found Ardat's POV flowed a lot better for this. 
