Crystalwatcher
(Verified GM)
- Location
- Limbo
BlurgleWording accuracy is kinda important when talking about the thing that is the core pillar of your justification for something.
Peril's Origin - A Magical Girl Quest [Complete]
- Thread starter Naron
- Start date
E4 Imagery of the Beginning
- Location
- Earth
"She went that way!"
Amanda followed her friend's shout with the usual precision, instincts she still got used to guiding her every step. Her lance was held aside and Irene's White River gently floated after them, though the other girl herself was everything but gentle at the moment. Any more angry lines in her face and she might as well have been fuming at the mouth.
Amanda had no idea what exactly angered her friend so much; Irene spotted someone looking at them as they... worked, so to speak. It could not really be called work, seeing that the two of them mainly just patrolled for trouble. Magical Girls, them. Who would have thought that two months ago?
A moment later, the fast chase slowed to a crawl as Irene looked around the intersection of back alleys they stood in. "Where... where..." Amanda carefully eyed her surroundings before doing the same to Irene; her friend appeared much more angry than she ever saw her before. "I know it's bad that we were seen, but what's with you?"
The white-clad girl turned with a scandalised expression, eyes somehow both wide and narrow at once. "She had a camera. And she took pictures of you! I'm not having that! Follow the Waves!" At once, a second Irene appeared next to her. Or rather, a second White Soul. Both of them looked at her grimly, their expressions promising bloody murder.
Then they heard a camera go off and some muffled cursing, to which both instances of the enraged girl turned. The camera-carrier was leaned around a corner, having a camera aimed at them. She also wore a fancier outfit and held what might be a stave. Amanda's eyes widened at the realisation. One of them. One of their own.
""There you are~"" two voices called with an edge of danger, making the other girl's eyes widen before she pulled behind the corner and ran.
While Irene now ran to mete out punishment, Amanda, no, Red Rose followed out of curiousity. She had never seen another Magical Girl, so perhaps they could get along... somehow? She usually did not like talking to new people, but maybe Irene would warm up to her... somehow. Or at least only hurt her a little.
The chase continued through a few more alleys and into a less populated part of town before Irene finally cornered their target in an abandoned garage. "Got you now!" "Time to pay~"
Amanda followed a moment later, only to see the White Rivers closing in...
(The White River: +500 Base Damage, no dice = 500 Total Damage
The White River: +500 Base Damage, no dice = 500 Total Damage
1,000 Unified Damage
Both attacks negated)
...and for the newcomer to effortlessly slap each River aside as if it was a solid object. She moved at a speed Amanda had trouble following, her movements little more than flashes; one Irene paused in surprise while the other sneered. The girl appeared unhappy, her silvery attire a little rumpled by the chase. She was older than them by a few years, much taller as well.
No one spoke for a moment, then another voice chimed in: "Is this going to continue?" It made Amanda turn her head, and the Spell loosed from her lips before she even fully comprehended what she saw: "Sudden Death!"
She barely registered the three black wings and pale skin when her lance lashed out.
(Sudden Death: Negated)
But the figure simply slapped it out of the way with a large staff that had a cross at its tip. It was a woman, clad in a torn black dress and so tall she had to duck under the ceiling. She considered both of them for a long moment, but did nothing else as her gaze wandered to the serene figure in front of them.
In a way, those two had a similar theme match as Amanda and Irene; it was an idle note she made while the weapon quickly returned to her hand. Now that there were two on two, well, three, the standoff continued a moment longer.
With neither side forthcoming, Amanda stifled a sigh before tapping the ground with her weapon's butt. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The girl gave her a weird look, then looked down at her camera. The other, non-human girl looked back and forth between them with a raised eyebrow. "Why exactly are we still here? If you have what you came for, we should leave."
"Sure, it's just... I'm kind of afraid to turn aside? You know, with those two and all." Neither of them could follow the conversation as the silver girl fidgeted. "I mean I know they aren't dangerous just yet, but, you know?"
A beat.
"I don't."
And the silver girl simply sighed. "Of course you don't, Lu. Look, it's-" "Hey, Amanda asked you a question." "How about you answer her, hm?"
Irene took over with two voices, forming some spikes with her viscous weapon to intimidate the other side; no one paid them any mind. The silver girl exchanged a glance with her dark partner, then shrugged at them. "I came to take pictures to sell."
That would be an explanation, but it also made little sense. "You're the same as us," Amanda found herself saying with narrowed eyes. "Going public with this will expose you, too." There was a moment of confused staring, then the other Magical Girl snorted and shook her head. "Ohh, nope. No, silly, I'm not going to sell them now. Anyway, gottagobye!"
She darted over to the dark girl, grasping her hand even as both of them deflected another run of the White Rivers, then called out something that Amanda could not hear properly. It felt weird on her ears, powerful yet wrong.
And then they were gone, as if they had never been there.
Both of them stood there dumbfounded, looking around for where they might have gone to. Irene dismissed her clone while grumbling, the appearance slipping back from insane to cute. She was good at that, considering she was barely eleven.
It was these events that ran through Amanda's mind as she watched the images on her data mine. She had not thought of this girl in years, the war effort and... other problems giving her little time to reminisce. It was little more than a footnote in her life.
Yet, the memories came back when she heard that someone sold pictures of White Soul and her in their preteen-time, when Magical Girls were still hiding their nature as best as they could. She knew there were only few of those remaining, the war having destroyed most and her having finished the job after Irene's betrayal. She just could not look at them anymore.
"No, silly, I'm not going to sell them now."
Amanda considered to do something about this, but then she saw the highest bid and her lips curled into a smile. "Well played."
She would leave this be; seeing that it was her likeness being sold however, she would ask for a twenty percent cut from the seller. And, perhaps, she could get out of this girl how she had known so early on.
Only Rei must never find out about this, or she would never hear the end of it.
Amanda followed her friend's shout with the usual precision, instincts she still got used to guiding her every step. Her lance was held aside and Irene's White River gently floated after them, though the other girl herself was everything but gentle at the moment. Any more angry lines in her face and she might as well have been fuming at the mouth.
Amanda had no idea what exactly angered her friend so much; Irene spotted someone looking at them as they... worked, so to speak. It could not really be called work, seeing that the two of them mainly just patrolled for trouble. Magical Girls, them. Who would have thought that two months ago?
A moment later, the fast chase slowed to a crawl as Irene looked around the intersection of back alleys they stood in. "Where... where..." Amanda carefully eyed her surroundings before doing the same to Irene; her friend appeared much more angry than she ever saw her before. "I know it's bad that we were seen, but what's with you?"
The white-clad girl turned with a scandalised expression, eyes somehow both wide and narrow at once. "She had a camera. And she took pictures of you! I'm not having that! Follow the Waves!" At once, a second Irene appeared next to her. Or rather, a second White Soul. Both of them looked at her grimly, their expressions promising bloody murder.
Then they heard a camera go off and some muffled cursing, to which both instances of the enraged girl turned. The camera-carrier was leaned around a corner, having a camera aimed at them. She also wore a fancier outfit and held what might be a stave. Amanda's eyes widened at the realisation. One of them. One of their own.
""There you are~"" two voices called with an edge of danger, making the other girl's eyes widen before she pulled behind the corner and ran.
While Irene now ran to mete out punishment, Amanda, no, Red Rose followed out of curiousity. She had never seen another Magical Girl, so perhaps they could get along... somehow? She usually did not like talking to new people, but maybe Irene would warm up to her... somehow. Or at least only hurt her a little.
The chase continued through a few more alleys and into a less populated part of town before Irene finally cornered their target in an abandoned garage. "Got you now!" "Time to pay~"
Amanda followed a moment later, only to see the White Rivers closing in...
(
1,000 Unified Damage
Both attacks negated)
...and for the newcomer to effortlessly slap each River aside as if it was a solid object. She moved at a speed Amanda had trouble following, her movements little more than flashes; one Irene paused in surprise while the other sneered. The girl appeared unhappy, her silvery attire a little rumpled by the chase. She was older than them by a few years, much taller as well.
No one spoke for a moment, then another voice chimed in: "Is this going to continue?" It made Amanda turn her head, and the Spell loosed from her lips before she even fully comprehended what she saw: "Sudden Death!"
She barely registered the three black wings and pale skin when her lance lashed out.
(Sudden Death: Negated)
But the figure simply slapped it out of the way with a large staff that had a cross at its tip. It was a woman, clad in a torn black dress and so tall she had to duck under the ceiling. She considered both of them for a long moment, but did nothing else as her gaze wandered to the serene figure in front of them.
In a way, those two had a similar theme match as Amanda and Irene; it was an idle note she made while the weapon quickly returned to her hand. Now that there were two on two, well, three, the standoff continued a moment longer.
With neither side forthcoming, Amanda stifled a sigh before tapping the ground with her weapon's butt. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The girl gave her a weird look, then looked down at her camera. The other, non-human girl looked back and forth between them with a raised eyebrow. "Why exactly are we still here? If you have what you came for, we should leave."
"Sure, it's just... I'm kind of afraid to turn aside? You know, with those two and all." Neither of them could follow the conversation as the silver girl fidgeted. "I mean I know they aren't dangerous just yet, but, you know?"
A beat.
"I don't."
And the silver girl simply sighed. "Of course you don't, Lu. Look, it's-" "Hey, Amanda asked you a question." "How about you answer her, hm?"
Irene took over with two voices, forming some spikes with her viscous weapon to intimidate the other side; no one paid them any mind. The silver girl exchanged a glance with her dark partner, then shrugged at them. "I came to take pictures to sell."
That would be an explanation, but it also made little sense. "You're the same as us," Amanda found herself saying with narrowed eyes. "Going public with this will expose you, too." There was a moment of confused staring, then the other Magical Girl snorted and shook her head. "Ohh, nope. No, silly, I'm not going to sell them now. Anyway, gottagobye!"
She darted over to the dark girl, grasping her hand even as both of them deflected another run of the White Rivers, then called out something that Amanda could not hear properly. It felt weird on her ears, powerful yet wrong.
And then they were gone, as if they had never been there.
Both of them stood there dumbfounded, looking around for where they might have gone to. Irene dismissed her clone while grumbling, the appearance slipping back from insane to cute. She was good at that, considering she was barely eleven.
. .
IDENTIFIED BREAK LINE
. .
IDENTIFIED BREAK LINE
. .
It was these events that ran through Amanda's mind as she watched the images on her data mine. She had not thought of this girl in years, the war effort and... other problems giving her little time to reminisce. It was little more than a footnote in her life.
Yet, the memories came back when she heard that someone sold pictures of White Soul and her in their preteen-time, when Magical Girls were still hiding their nature as best as they could. She knew there were only few of those remaining, the war having destroyed most and her having finished the job after Irene's betrayal. She just could not look at them anymore.
"No, silly, I'm not going to sell them now."
Amanda considered to do something about this, but then she saw the highest bid and her lips curled into a smile. "Well played."
She would leave this be; seeing that it was her likeness being sold however, she would ask for a twenty percent cut from the seller. And, perhaps, she could get out of this girl how she had known so early on.
Only Rei must never find out about this, or she would never hear the end of it.
Crystalwatcher
(Verified GM)
- Location
- Limbo
I AM SO TOTALLY GOING TO HAVE REI ASK HER ON SCREEN IN MAINLINE!!!!
And then Chibi Rei pics show up for sale.
I hope Heidi would avoid poking the Red and Grey wound at least though.
E5 The Duchess
- Location
- Earth
Her arrival was not greeted with anything big; she simply landed in a train station. There were a dozen different tracks leading outside, though they appeared slightly off. Wider than what she was used to, the trains themselves much larger to accomodate passengers of varying sizes. A handful of people were going through the motions below, Heidi being on a platform further above. Several other platforms were aligned with it, with the occasional portal opening and closing.
"Ah, welcome," a chipper voice greeted her. Heidi turned and found herself close to a receptionist, who smiled brightly. "Welcome, young lady. I don't think I have seen you before; what brings you here?"
Her behaviour was the slightest bit patronising, though Heidi decided to just blame it on trying to be friendly. She stepped closer so they did not have to raise their voices. "I'm meeting the Duchess."
The statement was taken with a curious hum while the woman noted it down in some kind of book. She was a pretty girl, even Heidi could say that; unblemished skin, silky hair, a nice figure. And horns. A long pair that wound around her head, almost forming a halo; her ears were long and pointed, so she was a half-elf.
The other woman nodded at herself once she was done writing. "I see, so a political occasion?" She did not appear wary, though it was difficult to say.
Heidi simply shook her head though, her next words being the first to coax some surprise out of the half-Demon: "No, seeing old friends. Could you tell me which way to go?"
She stared at her wide-eyed for long moments, then dainty fingers pointed at an extensive map displayed near the exit. "You can find what you need there; it is in English, too."
"Ah, thanks. Anything else you need from me?" The girl quickly had her sign something about when she appeared and how long she would stay, then she was free to go. With her back already turned, she could not see the receptionist's eyes going even wider; the older woman stared at her signature, 'Defiance', in realisation and ran for the phone.
After a few minutes spent studying the map, Heidi had an idea of where she wanted to go. Orux had told her which dimension she had to jump to, but no details about where she needed to head from there.
As it turned out, that slip of paper she gave Maya had led her fiance to her; their mutual friend gladly sent him to contact her.
Heidi wandered the capital city's streets by foot; she could have taken some of the busses or trams, or even the gravity road that carried people around. In this case however, she felt more like going slow and getting a feeling for the place. It was thrumming with all kinds of magic, harmoniously interwoven in a symphony where one would expect a cacophony.
Half-demons of all kinds wandered around, some throwing her curious glances. There was some play-fighting going on here and there, couples made out a little out of sight... after a few minutes, she found that this was not much different from home. It just had a decidedly demonic touch to it in both appearance and behaviour.
The city itself appeared mostly elven in its architecture, though there were some sections consisting of gleaming spirals as well. Fairies, too, made their home here. Between these two, the sturdy yet impressive stone buildings gave a weird contrast that somehow worked by not working.
It felt like a melting pot, and it definitely looked like one.
Shaking her head, Heidi brought her thoughts back to what she had been told by Orux. He had stayed here after leaving the UD several years earlier, after the first few weeks on Reluxus. Aside from her continuous indignation about the fact he went there however, she was also curious about this. Not one but two of their old friends had risen in the ranks to fill great voids.
And apparently, the Satans chose Dukes and Duchesses based on how well someone aligned with their own field of influence. They just elevated someone they found suitable and gave them their tasks.
Maya took her family and claimed, or was granted, the area around the Unaligned Front, guarding Hell's back and conveniently being far away from the war. She mostly gathered information on the side, having been granted the title of Duchess for having a loyal army at her call at any time.
Dragul, on the other hand, was residing in Hell proper. 'The Blood Count', they called him these days, though he was a Duke nonetheless and in charge of migration into Hell. Orux had not spoken to him in a long while, though they always got along when they met. He also had some notions about his old friend abusing his position to snag many of the Dark Magical Girls, which amused Heidi.
Both of them had stepped up under harsh competition until recently; with the rise of Magical Girls and most unaware of how difficult of an opponent they could be, many Dukes and Duchesses fell prey to humanity. Of the dozens that once lived in Hell, merely four remained. Maya at Hell's back, Dragul and Ashamon within, and Matilda leading the frontier toward the Elven and Fairy domains.
As interesting as it was though, that was not of concern right now.
Heidi wandered through many different places, but nobody stopped her on the way. The further she went however, the more similar it felt to home. Paper ads loomed over the streets, students complained about their homework as they walked by, adults of various kinds were hurrying this way and that. Same as home, just tilted in how it looked; the place and people both.
Even though the station she arrived in already stood close to the city center, the Duchess' mansion, Heidi wandered for half an hour. By that point however, the imposing building loomed high above her, easily several hundred metres high and at least as wide. She could not help but whistle.
When she reached the main gate a minute later, the guards were standing at attention before a child. At least she appeared like one, standing maybe a metre tall, with curious wide eyes. Small, batlike wings were folded on her back and a heart-tipped tail swished back and forth.
The child saw Heidi and waved cheerfully. Just to be sure, the visitor looked behind herself and found no one there; when she turned back, she already received a surprise-hug that also had surprising strength to it.
She had wondered if she could get past the guards by just appearing like she belonged there, but the fact this child seemed to have sway over them might just make it a non-issue.
"Hey there," she greeted the girl, who pulled back to smile at her; the lavender-coloured tail became straight and balanced her on the ground so they could stand at eye-level, long hair of a wine red floating in the breeze.
"It's nice to meet you at last; mother gave out a standing order to report your arrival to us immediately, so we knew you were on your way. I'm Lilith." She quickly babbled at Heidi, who could not help but smile and nod.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Heidi. Your mother is Maya, right?"
"Yup, come on, she is waiting. And big sis and everyone else, too!" The little one held out a small hand and returned to her feet, quickly leading Heidi through the soldiers; no one moved until they were out of sight.
The walk to the castle took a while as they passed through extensive gardens tended by various kinds of people; they then forewent the elevators for the stairs, just so Lilith could show her around the place. Heidi marveled at the infernal architecture, reminiscent of medieval castles yet so much larger.
Before they made it to wherever their destination was, something jumped at Heidi from a sidepath. She knew it was coming, turned to meet it, and paused when she saw what it was. An all too familiar half-elf, flying her way with the widest grin. Heidi caught her with ease, being herself caught in an almost bone-crushing hug right after. "Finally! I have been waiting for weeks!"
Paoras had not changed much, if at all. Five thousand years had passed for her, yet the biggest change Heidi saw on her was a different haircut. "Hey Pao, sorry about that." Heidi squeezed the half-elf for a bit, neither of them speaking while Lilith waited patiently. "I was busy catching up on everything at home, and getting used to having my fiance living nearby... and to having a fiance."
She let her friend down, who immediately fell into step by her side with a chuckle; they walked at a sedate pace now, Paoras offering her an understanding nod. "I get that, and I'm not mad. Took me a while to get used to it during my first marriage, too."
That made Heidi curious, who cast a glance at her old friend. "You're married?"
"Yup!" She cheerfully raised a hand and counted on her fingers, then gave up immediately after. "Uh, I can't tell you how often I was married, but let me tell you that it sucks being with a mortal. I'm not going to stop marrying them if I like them enough, though. At the moment, I have three husbands and two wives with me."
Heidi's owlish look was noted and prompted an amused giggle. "What, did you really think we're monogamous here?" Paoras shook her head at that, though she did raise a finger in thought. "Well, okay, those who want to be can do that. I make sure everyone I am with is fine being with others at the same time, though."
At this point, she had to realise that while Paoras had not changed physically, she definitely became mature over time. The child she used to be was nowhere to be seen, though her general cheer apparently remained, much to Heidi's relief.
Lilith giggled behind them and provided more information: "Most of the humans here are monogamous, it is so-so with the Elves, and it is quite normal for Fairies to have polyamorous relationships. What few Nightmares and Angels live here are almost exclusively with mother, though."
After taking that in and wondering how they had all the races here, Heidi had to turn her head to the child in wonder; she appeared like a kid, but the way she spoke and with Paoras right there... "How old are you?"
"Hm?" Lilith tilted her head in thought. "Let's see, my birthday was a few weeks ago, so I am fourty-nine now. You're pretty sharp." Her tone of voice could have made it a jab or a compliment; considering how Paoras chuckled, it may even be both.
"She is mother's daughter alright," the half-elf supplied with a smile. "Gets a quint of power every time she hugs someone new."
Heidi made an understanding sound and thought back at finding out about that little tidbit. Orux mentioned it in passing, and she really wondered how she never made the connection.
Maya grew stronger with each child she had. She had never mentioned it, even to her, keeping the secret until she grew powerful enough to be a monster in her own right.
Shaking her head, the young woman looked between the two sisters curiously. "I guess that makes sense. Is it okay to ask what mix of races someone is here?"
Paoras just shrugged, her good mood not subsiding in the slightest. "Don't worry about that, we're all quite open on that end. It's fine to ask, as long as you accept if someone doesn't want to tell you. Lilith is a full-blooded demon, though." Her sister nodded along without seeming to mind being spoken about.
Heidi nodded and looked around, taking in the tasteful carpets and furnishing; it really felt like a castle, except that the lighting was electrical and there were other modern appliances here and there.
There was one thing she did have to know, though. "Where did you get all the Elves and Fairies from?" She remembered the first Fairy, though she forgot his name or whether she ever asked for it.
The Demons considered her for a long moment; Lilith did not say anything and let Paoras speak up, though: "We buy slaves from other parts of Hell, mostly. Have done it for millennia now; mother does her best to get them out there quickly, and we give them counseling if they aren't in a good headspace. Then we let them have a choice how to gain their freedom."
"First option is ten years of work," Lilith then continued while Heidi listened curiously. "Not slave labour or something like that, just work. They get a proper place to sleep and food and anything else they need. The other option is to bring two children into the family, with any willing partner among the lot of us."
Heidi paused and took a deep breath, then she cast a look at Paoras, who whistled in faux innocence. "I am mostly surprised about the fact I actually am surprised. I really should have expected that. So men have an advantage there?" She figured that if they got the choice, it should be fine.
"Maybe a bit," the half-elf offered thoughtfully. "They still have to stay around until the kids are born and confirmed to be healthy. Honestly, most of them stay either way at that point. Those who leave are usually those who have spouses and children to return to."
She then chuckled and threw a wink at Heidi. "You'd love one of the more recent ones we got our hands on. We were bringing in all the humans we could get our hands on, but most of them kinda didn't believe the whole thing at first. So this one guy, when mother herself explained the deal, chose the kids and said he wanted her to bear them."
"Wait, seriously? What was he thinking?" The Magical Girl could not help but ask. Paoras shrugged and Lilith piped up instead.
"We don't know, but most of us agree he probably wanted to reveal it as a plot or something by making Maya retract the 'anyone' part about which partners could be chosen. Mother loved his courage and now they are married."
They all shared a laugh over the tale; Heidi could believe it easily, having known Maya for a while. The Succubus had not changed all that much.
There was a lull in the conversation that went on for a little while.
Then Paoras stopped walking, the other two stopping as well. The Demon gave Heidi a sharp look now. "Thinking of it, thank you for not warning us about the disaster on Hope." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, making the human girl avert her gaze sheepishly. "If mother hadn't made sure we weren't roped into that mess by virtue of guarding the other side of Hell, I would have greeted you with a hearty punch instead."
"Yeah, uh, sorry." Heidi continued not to meet her friend's eyes. "I forgot about that."
Paoras just sighed and dropped the matter, then she started to walk again. "Anyway, we're working on a proper census these days; it doesn't help that new children are born every other day, but we're getting there. Our family is big, Heidi," she offered in response to the raised eyebrow. "It is mostly a guess for the exact number at the moment, but we know Mother had a little more than twenty thousand children of her own. Would have been more, but she got busy with politics a long time ago."
She heard that before, but it was still impressive. Though hearing sweet and childish Paoras talk like an actual adult was also a little jarring; she made sure not to mention that.
"And all of us had a few as well. I carried sixty babies to term over the years, and most of the others had as many or more; then our children had children and so on. At the moment, we're guessing something close to a hundred million within the family, maybe a few million less if we're pessimistic about those who are born mortal."
Heidi kept quiet for a long moment, considering what to say. Then she sighed and threw her friend a look. "First of all, your family tree is a Greater Nightmare." Both sisters broke into giggles immediately; Heidi waited until they finished laughing before asking her other question: "Secondly, how do you keep track of a family that big, and with so many others thrown in? Orux said this domain is huge."
Paoras shrugged over that, her mirthful expression turning a little lost. "I'm pretty sure you said it long ago: that's how mamas are. Mother somehow remembers every name and face, every single descendant she has. I think it is part of her trick where she can draw on all of our powers for a little bit."
Heidi was tempted to ask, but figured she should not; powers were always a thing people might not like to talk about, and that one felt rather self-explaining anyway.
The half-elf kept thinking and added something else a moment later: "Everyone else just goes with their direct family and lives here; maybe you think differently, but I love meeting new family I never knew I had. Of course there are some of us who stand out, like the first half-whatever, like me." She paused and thought of something, then broke into a bright smile. "Oh, you'll love Ellen; she is our first half-human sister and became a Magical Girl just a few weeks ago. A cute Myth Maker. Remember that guy who propositioned mother I told you about? He's the father."
Heidi blinked in surprise at the change of subject and wondered why Paoras appeared so natural as a proud big sister. "I'm looking forward to meeting her... at some point. Right now, I am here for you and Maya, not to see everyone you think I should meet."
There was another lull in the conversation once Paoras nodded.
They passed by an asian girl with pure white hair and a downcast expression soon after; she appeared to be on a stroll, but quickly stepped aside and lowered her head once she noticed them. Her white dress was simple but conservative, covering every bit of her skin.
"Hey Shan," Paoras greeted the girl, who perked up slightly. They stopped once more, with Lilith slowly walking up and taking the human's hands while greeting her. She slowly returned the gesture, but was not hugged like Heidi had been before.
Interestingly, the other girl stood about as tall as Heidi herself, maybe a little taller. "G-Good afternoon," she greeted timidly, to which the demonic sisters smiled at her.
"I'll come check on you later, right now there's an old friend visiting," Paoras told her while motioning toward Heidi; some curiousity went her way, but the other girl quickly lost interest. Her expression had gained some life, though the smile she showed them was rather smug.
"Okay. I will go down to the kitchen for food now, if you excuse me." The sisters waved as she wandered off.
Heidi had held her tongue despite how sensitive she was to that kind of behaviour; when Paoras and Lilith sighed, she knew she chose correctly. Something was not right with this one, and she could not help but ask: "Who is she?"
"Hm? Oh, that was Shan," the older sister supplied. "She is one of the slaves we got out of Hell; mother went to fetch her herself. Honestly, she was in a pretty bad place." Paoras looked in the direction the asian girl had wandered off to, thoughtful. "And for that, her recovery is going pretty well. She was barely responsive when we brought her here, and we are past the worst of the tantrums and everything. She fights against her depression like a beast."
"She wouldn't eat unless we brought her food until last month," Lilith offered in addition, but Heidi had already understood what they were trying to tell her.
Paoras nodded along with her sister and gave Heidi a nudge. "I wouldn't call her defiant, not like you are, but she is plenty stubborn. We can probably let her live on her own in a few weeks; you two would get along great."
"I see what you're trying to do," Heidi told her friend flatly. "And I will think about talking to her some other time. Anyone else you insist I should meet immediately?" She exaggerated a little, but her friend did not complain.
Instead, Paoras smirked and shook her head. "None aside from those with mother; well, one, but Ichi isn't around today."
"...and who is that supposed to be?" Her friend had a look that screamed mischief and Heidi was on her guard immediately.
Lilith provided the answer to her question, though; she bounced up and down with a stray beat of her wings for effect, beaming: "It's Lady Grey! She loves to spend time here, and the children love her; she is great!"
Heidi blinked at the two and rubbed her eyes. After everything else, she really should not be surprised about this anymore. The thought of having a chance to meet her idol was enticing nonetheless; she had always wanted that.
Right now however, she was not here for Goddess Grey. "Well, maybe some other time. How big is this place?"
"Not much longer, don't worry."
As promised, their odyssey soon ended at a vast door that Paoras opened with a casual shove, leading to the handful of people inside perking up. No one appeared on edge, but Heidi figured that they were all alert; everyone relaxed when they saw who it was.
There were two obvious half-Fairies, dark and pale in their complexion. One had herself buried in a book but was peeking over its edge, the other played around with a miniature dragon sat on the table in front of her. Of the men, both stood tall and could not be more different. One appeared old and very much like a human; the other was young, with one black wing for an arm and the other one on fire.
Moreover, the entire room rang with ambient mana and power, several auras together with Lilith's and if she saw that right, the girl with the tiny dragon kept emitting a steady stream of it from her entire body.
"Soo," she let out while looking around, her mind trying to piece the sight together. Maya was there as well, clad in what appeared to be a nightgown; the Succubus closed her mouth, having been in the process of greeting her, though she did get up from her seat.
Then Heidi began to point, first at Paoras. "Half Elf." Then at Lilith. "Full Demon." Then at the two obvious ones. "Half Fairy." Followed by the winged man. "Half Angel." And at the old man. "And if this is what I think it is, half Nightmare."
Silence hung in the air for a long moment. Demons looked between Heidi and their mother, the latter of which had a mischievous smile on her face. Maya merely kept silent and closed the distance between them, wrapping the human girl in a gentle embrace. "You were always a smart girl, sweetie. Perfectly right, my elite guard has one member of each heritage. We technically have one more spot for anyone who married into the family, but it isn't occupied right now."
That part about the guard was not exactly what she thought, it being more that Maya wanted to show off, but Heidi took it. She could not stop herself from quipping, though: "I count two half-Fairies."
"Oh, yes." Maya turned them both, her ethereal hands hugging Heidi instead so they could both face into the right direction. "Dahlia with her wyvern is in the guard. Lilie always worked better as a hitwoman, the few times I do need one at least."
That explained that. Heidi immediately took a closer look at the one pointed out to be Lilie, mentally comparing her to the baby she remembered. She had a hard time associating the womanly features she saw now with the pudgy cheeks and wide eyes.
In turn, Lilie also studied her with interest, but whatever thoughts she had were unreadable to Heidi. No Helena, though.
She considered to ask where the other twin was for a moment, then she remembered that five thousand years of war could definitely claim some lives and decided not to go there. Instead of that, Heidi raised a hand in greeting, to which Lilie nodded quietly.
Meanwhile, Maya chuckled and motioned for everyone else. "Take a seat, sweetie; we have a lot of catching up to do. But, introductions first." She motioned for her children to come forth. "You already met Lilith, you know Paoras and Lilie on a technicality. I hope you brought time."
Heidi just rolled her eyes and forewent the obvious answer, to which Maya huffed softly. "Oh, right. That pun was unintended. Either way, let us start with Lilie. The last time you met her she was still a baby after all."
Forth came a short woman, head at the height of Heidi's abdomen. About average height for a fairy, but with pale white skin and sharper features than most of them. Her dark hair fell gently as Lilie hovered upward so they were at eye-level, offering a small hand to shake. Heidi took it, grinning at the other woman. "Good to see you all grown up. Is everyone in this family either spooky or cute?"
"You forgot attractive," Paoras chimed in slily before her sister could respond, arms folded under her sizable bust.
Heidi just gave her a dismissive look and a wave. "Sorry, giant tits alone don't make you attractive. Maybe if you were twice the height you actually are." Her words prompted stifled laughter from Dahlia as well as open snickering from Lilie, and made the busty half-elf pout. Lilith petted her head with a kind smile.
"A word of advice," the old man entered the conversation in a gruff but calm tone, walking closer. Heidi noted his bare chest and the throngs of muscles shifting with every motion, his mana ringing of nightmarish screams mixed with flame. "You should not begin discussions like this where we live, even in a teasing manner, unless you are willing to actually hear the subject matter discussed. I hear humans are... less inclined to matters we brush off without a second thought."
Now it was Paoras who giggled, as did Maya. Heidi just eyed the yet unintroduced man for a moment, then flicked her gaze over the others. "Such as?"
He grinned, a soft, almost grandfatherly smile. "The fact incest is not taboo in this domain, as long as no children spring forth from the act. Most of us have opinions on our siblings' attractiveness." He gently squeezed Heidi's shoulder while the Magical Girl sighed.
"You people. I, I really should say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Anyway, thanks for the warning." Heidi shook off the moment of exasperation under snickers from various people, then held her hand out. "Anyway, name's Heidi, or Adelheid if you want to be formal. Please don't be formal."
He took it with a measured chuckle, shaking with surprising strength. "Shura, firstborn of Mother and a Child of Nightmare. I walk the path of the blade and tutor the young ones in the art. If you ever wish for a spar against a peer opponent, skill against skill, be sure to call for me."
Heidi squeezed harder in turn, grinning as much as he was. "Oh, really? Pretty high opinion you have of yourself there." Their handshake continued, turning into a contest of either side increasing the pressure until the other gives.
"Quite. If it is but skill at the blade, I find even Goddess Grey wanting."
"Pff, I don't believe you. We're getting that settled sometime soon."
"As you wish. To have a new opponent on par with her will be delight-" crack
The sound was audible, making every last person not involved in their handshake tense. Shura blinked down at Heidi, then opened his hand; hers quickly turned into an ugly purple, but the girl kept calm and studied it. "Demonic strength sucks, you know?"
A moment later, Maya had snatched the broken hand and applied soothing magic to it. The other half-fairy, Dahlia, fluttered closer to inspect Heidi curiously. "That must hurt." Her voice held little inflection, though she hugged her tiny dragon close to her chest as she spoke. Heidi shrugged.
"I had worse."
She immediately got swatted by Maya, whose smile had receded into a frown. "And you are not going to do any of the usual reckless things where I can see them, understood? Sparring is one thing, but getting yourself hurt for no reason is going to give me a heart attack sooner or later."
There was a certain sense of pressure on her words, delivered in the resolute tone of a mother expecting compliance. Heidi, being Heidi, was not impressed. "I'll try, but no promises. You know me by now." Then she turned back to Daliah and held out her left hand, the right one still being in Maya's clutches while the Duchess grumbled. "Dahlia, was it? Nice to meet you."
"O-Oh. Yes, hello. It is a pleasure." The other woman averted her gaze while her dragon slithered out of her grasp and began to sniff Heidi. "And, well, to answer your earlier question, any offspring of either Succubus or Incubus will be supernaturally attractive, pretty, cute, any such thing. I am not sure where you get creepy from, though." She spoke slowly, not meeting Heidi's gaze.
The human girl pointed her thumb at the half-Angel of the group, noting how some others tensed. "So for one, there is a guy whose one hand is a wing and the other on fire. Maybe it's just that we don't have stuff like that at home, but that is a teensy tiny bit creepy. You and Lilie, too; but that might just be dark-looking girls strong enough to rip most people to shreds creepy." The tension faded somewhat, and Heidi looked around. "Did I say something?"
"Nah," Paoras jumped in there, nodding toward her burning brother. "But most people call Agni creepy for what he is and not what he looks like."
"What... oh, right. Forgot about that." She did forget about angelic and demonic stances on procreating with the other. Then she cast a look at her old friend. "...have you forgotten who is among my best friends?
"Fair enough."
Before Heidi could turn back to the last person she had yet to introduce herself to, Dahlia spoke up again. "Um." Her deathly pale skin turned purple the moment she had Heidi's attention, which the human girl realised was a blush. "To backtrack a little, um, it is true that we inherited beauty from Mother. But there are so many of us, and after so long we are at a point where outsiders like you are far more interesting. I was thinking, maybe I could make a sculpture of you? I, uh, do that." She fell silent, her dragon finally hopping over and flapping its wings before settling on Heidi's shoulder.
The Magical Girl stared at her for a moment, then tilted her head ever so slightly. "Is that some kind of weird euphemism I don't get? Just making sure," she cut off the immediate denial. One hand went up to pet the curious dragon, deft fingers running over warm scales. "I really don't need misunderstandings here, especially now that I'm engaged."
"O-Oh, congratulations." Dahlia immediately darted closer and wrapped Heidi in a tight hug, voice growing warmer. "I'm glad to hear that!"
A moment later, Paoras and Lilith followed their sister into the hug. Then Maya embraced all of them with her ethereal arms, leaving Heidi in the middle of a gaggle of cheering girls. She just sighed. "Why is it that everyone is more excited about it than I am? It's not even official yet and I'm not going to marry anytime this year or next year." She just received some giggles and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I don't mind dropping by to be your model, Dahlia."
"Careful, most of her sculptures are corpses or fucking."
"I just like the aesthetics, and not all of them!"
"Just giving the girl a fair warning~"
"Nothing about this is fair, I'm not making her model in the nude if she doesn't want to!"
Much to her surprise, Paoras' teasing actually drew out a flurry of emotion from the previously aloof Dahlia. Mainly embarassment and denials. Heidi kept quiet so as to not make it worse for the poor girl. She already assuaged any worries with her responses anyway.
After a little further banter, Heidi threw Maya a look. "Hey, supermom. Go save your daughter already." Her comment drew laughter from everyone, including the mother in question; Paoras finally let off Dahlia and was then deposited elsewhere by ethereal hands that grabbed her under the armpits. The hugpile dissolved and Heidi could finally step free, approaching Agni.
He did not appear happy at her approach, but she did not give that much attention. Despite his fidgeting however, he offered her a friendly nod once she got close. "I would offer a handshake as well, but do not want to hurt you. It is a pleasure none...the less?" His introduction trailed off as he regarded the hand Heidi held out to him with a grin.
"I'm fireproof, don't be shy." A cheshire grin split her face while the confused hybrid looked between her and her hand several times. Then he reached out slowly, the flames running over his hand coiling forward to consume her as it came close. Except that it faded away before even touching Heidi's skin, dispersed. Their fingers touched and Agni marveled at the flesh-and-blood person whose hand he held. Heidi squeezed camly and shook. "Nice to meet you, Agni."
"...likewise."
She let go and looked him up and down, then turned back to stage-whisper at everyone else: "Is he usually like that?"
She got shrugs in return and Lilith spoke up: "Agni is Agni, he doesn't like people much. He makes funny faces if you surprise him, though."
Heidi huffed at that and turned back to the man in front of her, who was still looking at his blazing hand. She could not help but ask: "Actually, doesn't that hurt?"
He shook his head slowly, eyes wandering back to Heidi. "Not anymore. It used to be painful when I was little, but I got used to it. Mother was likely in more pain than I. I hear she insisted on holding me despite being set on fire anytime she does."
"Oh?" That was news, something which made Heidi round on Maya, who appeared completely unfazed. "So I'm not allowed to be reckless, but you set yourself on fire regularly?"
The Duchess just smiled back. "If the alternative is to refuse holding my baby right after he was born? Yes."
She left it at that and Heidi simply sighed. "Madmen and madwomen, any and all." Then she grinned at the Succubus. "But that's why you're so great." For as weird as she was, Maya cared more about her family than most. That was something Heidi appreciated. She would definitely come back, maybe bring her friends some other time.
Technically not part of the guard, but here is her sheet as well.
"Ah, welcome," a chipper voice greeted her. Heidi turned and found herself close to a receptionist, who smiled brightly. "Welcome, young lady. I don't think I have seen you before; what brings you here?"
Her behaviour was the slightest bit patronising, though Heidi decided to just blame it on trying to be friendly. She stepped closer so they did not have to raise their voices. "I'm meeting the Duchess."
The statement was taken with a curious hum while the woman noted it down in some kind of book. She was a pretty girl, even Heidi could say that; unblemished skin, silky hair, a nice figure. And horns. A long pair that wound around her head, almost forming a halo; her ears were long and pointed, so she was a half-elf.
The other woman nodded at herself once she was done writing. "I see, so a political occasion?" She did not appear wary, though it was difficult to say.
Heidi simply shook her head though, her next words being the first to coax some surprise out of the half-Demon: "No, seeing old friends. Could you tell me which way to go?"
She stared at her wide-eyed for long moments, then dainty fingers pointed at an extensive map displayed near the exit. "You can find what you need there; it is in English, too."
"Ah, thanks. Anything else you need from me?" The girl quickly had her sign something about when she appeared and how long she would stay, then she was free to go. With her back already turned, she could not see the receptionist's eyes going even wider; the older woman stared at her signature, 'Defiance', in realisation and ran for the phone.
After a few minutes spent studying the map, Heidi had an idea of where she wanted to go. Orux had told her which dimension she had to jump to, but no details about where she needed to head from there.
As it turned out, that slip of paper she gave Maya had led her fiance to her; their mutual friend gladly sent him to contact her.
Heidi wandered the capital city's streets by foot; she could have taken some of the busses or trams, or even the gravity road that carried people around. In this case however, she felt more like going slow and getting a feeling for the place. It was thrumming with all kinds of magic, harmoniously interwoven in a symphony where one would expect a cacophony.
Half-demons of all kinds wandered around, some throwing her curious glances. There was some play-fighting going on here and there, couples made out a little out of sight... after a few minutes, she found that this was not much different from home. It just had a decidedly demonic touch to it in both appearance and behaviour.
The city itself appeared mostly elven in its architecture, though there were some sections consisting of gleaming spirals as well. Fairies, too, made their home here. Between these two, the sturdy yet impressive stone buildings gave a weird contrast that somehow worked by not working.
It felt like a melting pot, and it definitely looked like one.
Shaking her head, Heidi brought her thoughts back to what she had been told by Orux. He had stayed here after leaving the UD several years earlier, after the first few weeks on Reluxus. Aside from her continuous indignation about the fact he went there however, she was also curious about this. Not one but two of their old friends had risen in the ranks to fill great voids.
And apparently, the Satans chose Dukes and Duchesses based on how well someone aligned with their own field of influence. They just elevated someone they found suitable and gave them their tasks.
Maya took her family and claimed, or was granted, the area around the Unaligned Front, guarding Hell's back and conveniently being far away from the war. She mostly gathered information on the side, having been granted the title of Duchess for having a loyal army at her call at any time.
Dragul, on the other hand, was residing in Hell proper. 'The Blood Count', they called him these days, though he was a Duke nonetheless and in charge of migration into Hell. Orux had not spoken to him in a long while, though they always got along when they met. He also had some notions about his old friend abusing his position to snag many of the Dark Magical Girls, which amused Heidi.
Both of them had stepped up under harsh competition until recently; with the rise of Magical Girls and most unaware of how difficult of an opponent they could be, many Dukes and Duchesses fell prey to humanity. Of the dozens that once lived in Hell, merely four remained. Maya at Hell's back, Dragul and Ashamon within, and Matilda leading the frontier toward the Elven and Fairy domains.
As interesting as it was though, that was not of concern right now.
Heidi wandered through many different places, but nobody stopped her on the way. The further she went however, the more similar it felt to home. Paper ads loomed over the streets, students complained about their homework as they walked by, adults of various kinds were hurrying this way and that. Same as home, just tilted in how it looked; the place and people both.
Even though the station she arrived in already stood close to the city center, the Duchess' mansion, Heidi wandered for half an hour. By that point however, the imposing building loomed high above her, easily several hundred metres high and at least as wide. She could not help but whistle.
When she reached the main gate a minute later, the guards were standing at attention before a child. At least she appeared like one, standing maybe a metre tall, with curious wide eyes. Small, batlike wings were folded on her back and a heart-tipped tail swished back and forth.
The child saw Heidi and waved cheerfully. Just to be sure, the visitor looked behind herself and found no one there; when she turned back, she already received a surprise-hug that also had surprising strength to it.
She had wondered if she could get past the guards by just appearing like she belonged there, but the fact this child seemed to have sway over them might just make it a non-issue.
"Hey there," she greeted the girl, who pulled back to smile at her; the lavender-coloured tail became straight and balanced her on the ground so they could stand at eye-level, long hair of a wine red floating in the breeze.
"It's nice to meet you at last; mother gave out a standing order to report your arrival to us immediately, so we knew you were on your way. I'm Lilith." She quickly babbled at Heidi, who could not help but smile and nod.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Heidi. Your mother is Maya, right?"
"Yup, come on, she is waiting. And big sis and everyone else, too!" The little one held out a small hand and returned to her feet, quickly leading Heidi through the soldiers; no one moved until they were out of sight.
The walk to the castle took a while as they passed through extensive gardens tended by various kinds of people; they then forewent the elevators for the stairs, just so Lilith could show her around the place. Heidi marveled at the infernal architecture, reminiscent of medieval castles yet so much larger.
Before they made it to wherever their destination was, something jumped at Heidi from a sidepath. She knew it was coming, turned to meet it, and paused when she saw what it was. An all too familiar half-elf, flying her way with the widest grin. Heidi caught her with ease, being herself caught in an almost bone-crushing hug right after. "Finally! I have been waiting for weeks!"
Paoras had not changed much, if at all. Five thousand years had passed for her, yet the biggest change Heidi saw on her was a different haircut. "Hey Pao, sorry about that." Heidi squeezed the half-elf for a bit, neither of them speaking while Lilith waited patiently. "I was busy catching up on everything at home, and getting used to having my fiance living nearby... and to having a fiance."
She let her friend down, who immediately fell into step by her side with a chuckle; they walked at a sedate pace now, Paoras offering her an understanding nod. "I get that, and I'm not mad. Took me a while to get used to it during my first marriage, too."
That made Heidi curious, who cast a glance at her old friend. "You're married?"
"Yup!" She cheerfully raised a hand and counted on her fingers, then gave up immediately after. "Uh, I can't tell you how often I was married, but let me tell you that it sucks being with a mortal. I'm not going to stop marrying them if I like them enough, though. At the moment, I have three husbands and two wives with me."
Heidi's owlish look was noted and prompted an amused giggle. "What, did you really think we're monogamous here?" Paoras shook her head at that, though she did raise a finger in thought. "Well, okay, those who want to be can do that. I make sure everyone I am with is fine being with others at the same time, though."
At this point, she had to realise that while Paoras had not changed physically, she definitely became mature over time. The child she used to be was nowhere to be seen, though her general cheer apparently remained, much to Heidi's relief.
Lilith giggled behind them and provided more information: "Most of the humans here are monogamous, it is so-so with the Elves, and it is quite normal for Fairies to have polyamorous relationships. What few Nightmares and Angels live here are almost exclusively with mother, though."
After taking that in and wondering how they had all the races here, Heidi had to turn her head to the child in wonder; she appeared like a kid, but the way she spoke and with Paoras right there... "How old are you?"
"Hm?" Lilith tilted her head in thought. "Let's see, my birthday was a few weeks ago, so I am fourty-nine now. You're pretty sharp." Her tone of voice could have made it a jab or a compliment; considering how Paoras chuckled, it may even be both.
"She is mother's daughter alright," the half-elf supplied with a smile. "Gets a quint of power every time she hugs someone new."
Heidi made an understanding sound and thought back at finding out about that little tidbit. Orux mentioned it in passing, and she really wondered how she never made the connection.
Maya grew stronger with each child she had. She had never mentioned it, even to her, keeping the secret until she grew powerful enough to be a monster in her own right.
Shaking her head, the young woman looked between the two sisters curiously. "I guess that makes sense. Is it okay to ask what mix of races someone is here?"
Paoras just shrugged, her good mood not subsiding in the slightest. "Don't worry about that, we're all quite open on that end. It's fine to ask, as long as you accept if someone doesn't want to tell you. Lilith is a full-blooded demon, though." Her sister nodded along without seeming to mind being spoken about.
Heidi nodded and looked around, taking in the tasteful carpets and furnishing; it really felt like a castle, except that the lighting was electrical and there were other modern appliances here and there.
There was one thing she did have to know, though. "Where did you get all the Elves and Fairies from?" She remembered the first Fairy, though she forgot his name or whether she ever asked for it.
The Demons considered her for a long moment; Lilith did not say anything and let Paoras speak up, though: "We buy slaves from other parts of Hell, mostly. Have done it for millennia now; mother does her best to get them out there quickly, and we give them counseling if they aren't in a good headspace. Then we let them have a choice how to gain their freedom."
"First option is ten years of work," Lilith then continued while Heidi listened curiously. "Not slave labour or something like that, just work. They get a proper place to sleep and food and anything else they need. The other option is to bring two children into the family, with any willing partner among the lot of us."
Heidi paused and took a deep breath, then she cast a look at Paoras, who whistled in faux innocence. "I am mostly surprised about the fact I actually am surprised. I really should have expected that. So men have an advantage there?" She figured that if they got the choice, it should be fine.
"Maybe a bit," the half-elf offered thoughtfully. "They still have to stay around until the kids are born and confirmed to be healthy. Honestly, most of them stay either way at that point. Those who leave are usually those who have spouses and children to return to."
She then chuckled and threw a wink at Heidi. "You'd love one of the more recent ones we got our hands on. We were bringing in all the humans we could get our hands on, but most of them kinda didn't believe the whole thing at first. So this one guy, when mother herself explained the deal, chose the kids and said he wanted her to bear them."
"Wait, seriously? What was he thinking?" The Magical Girl could not help but ask. Paoras shrugged and Lilith piped up instead.
"We don't know, but most of us agree he probably wanted to reveal it as a plot or something by making Maya retract the 'anyone' part about which partners could be chosen. Mother loved his courage and now they are married."
They all shared a laugh over the tale; Heidi could believe it easily, having known Maya for a while. The Succubus had not changed all that much.
There was a lull in the conversation that went on for a little while.
Then Paoras stopped walking, the other two stopping as well. The Demon gave Heidi a sharp look now. "Thinking of it, thank you for not warning us about the disaster on Hope." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, making the human girl avert her gaze sheepishly. "If mother hadn't made sure we weren't roped into that mess by virtue of guarding the other side of Hell, I would have greeted you with a hearty punch instead."
"Yeah, uh, sorry." Heidi continued not to meet her friend's eyes. "I forgot about that."
Paoras just sighed and dropped the matter, then she started to walk again. "Anyway, we're working on a proper census these days; it doesn't help that new children are born every other day, but we're getting there. Our family is big, Heidi," she offered in response to the raised eyebrow. "It is mostly a guess for the exact number at the moment, but we know Mother had a little more than twenty thousand children of her own. Would have been more, but she got busy with politics a long time ago."
She heard that before, but it was still impressive. Though hearing sweet and childish Paoras talk like an actual adult was also a little jarring; she made sure not to mention that.
"And all of us had a few as well. I carried sixty babies to term over the years, and most of the others had as many or more; then our children had children and so on. At the moment, we're guessing something close to a hundred million within the family, maybe a few million less if we're pessimistic about those who are born mortal."
Heidi kept quiet for a long moment, considering what to say. Then she sighed and threw her friend a look. "First of all, your family tree is a Greater Nightmare." Both sisters broke into giggles immediately; Heidi waited until they finished laughing before asking her other question: "Secondly, how do you keep track of a family that big, and with so many others thrown in? Orux said this domain is huge."
Paoras shrugged over that, her mirthful expression turning a little lost. "I'm pretty sure you said it long ago: that's how mamas are. Mother somehow remembers every name and face, every single descendant she has. I think it is part of her trick where she can draw on all of our powers for a little bit."
Heidi was tempted to ask, but figured she should not; powers were always a thing people might not like to talk about, and that one felt rather self-explaining anyway.
The half-elf kept thinking and added something else a moment later: "Everyone else just goes with their direct family and lives here; maybe you think differently, but I love meeting new family I never knew I had. Of course there are some of us who stand out, like the first half-whatever, like me." She paused and thought of something, then broke into a bright smile. "Oh, you'll love Ellen; she is our first half-human sister and became a Magical Girl just a few weeks ago. A cute Myth Maker. Remember that guy who propositioned mother I told you about? He's the father."
Heidi blinked in surprise at the change of subject and wondered why Paoras appeared so natural as a proud big sister. "I'm looking forward to meeting her... at some point. Right now, I am here for you and Maya, not to see everyone you think I should meet."
There was another lull in the conversation once Paoras nodded.
They passed by an asian girl with pure white hair and a downcast expression soon after; she appeared to be on a stroll, but quickly stepped aside and lowered her head once she noticed them. Her white dress was simple but conservative, covering every bit of her skin.
"Hey Shan," Paoras greeted the girl, who perked up slightly. They stopped once more, with Lilith slowly walking up and taking the human's hands while greeting her. She slowly returned the gesture, but was not hugged like Heidi had been before.
Interestingly, the other girl stood about as tall as Heidi herself, maybe a little taller. "G-Good afternoon," she greeted timidly, to which the demonic sisters smiled at her.
"I'll come check on you later, right now there's an old friend visiting," Paoras told her while motioning toward Heidi; some curiousity went her way, but the other girl quickly lost interest. Her expression had gained some life, though the smile she showed them was rather smug.
"Okay. I will go down to the kitchen for food now, if you excuse me." The sisters waved as she wandered off.
Heidi had held her tongue despite how sensitive she was to that kind of behaviour; when Paoras and Lilith sighed, she knew she chose correctly. Something was not right with this one, and she could not help but ask: "Who is she?"
"Hm? Oh, that was Shan," the older sister supplied. "She is one of the slaves we got out of Hell; mother went to fetch her herself. Honestly, she was in a pretty bad place." Paoras looked in the direction the asian girl had wandered off to, thoughtful. "And for that, her recovery is going pretty well. She was barely responsive when we brought her here, and we are past the worst of the tantrums and everything. She fights against her depression like a beast."
"She wouldn't eat unless we brought her food until last month," Lilith offered in addition, but Heidi had already understood what they were trying to tell her.
Paoras nodded along with her sister and gave Heidi a nudge. "I wouldn't call her defiant, not like you are, but she is plenty stubborn. We can probably let her live on her own in a few weeks; you two would get along great."
"I see what you're trying to do," Heidi told her friend flatly. "And I will think about talking to her some other time. Anyone else you insist I should meet immediately?" She exaggerated a little, but her friend did not complain.
Instead, Paoras smirked and shook her head. "None aside from those with mother; well, one, but Ichi isn't around today."
"...and who is that supposed to be?" Her friend had a look that screamed mischief and Heidi was on her guard immediately.
Lilith provided the answer to her question, though; she bounced up and down with a stray beat of her wings for effect, beaming: "It's Lady Grey! She loves to spend time here, and the children love her; she is great!"
Heidi blinked at the two and rubbed her eyes. After everything else, she really should not be surprised about this anymore. The thought of having a chance to meet her idol was enticing nonetheless; she had always wanted that.
Right now however, she was not here for Goddess Grey. "Well, maybe some other time. How big is this place?"
"Not much longer, don't worry."
As promised, their odyssey soon ended at a vast door that Paoras opened with a casual shove, leading to the handful of people inside perking up. No one appeared on edge, but Heidi figured that they were all alert; everyone relaxed when they saw who it was.
There were two obvious half-Fairies, dark and pale in their complexion. One had herself buried in a book but was peeking over its edge, the other played around with a miniature dragon sat on the table in front of her. Of the men, both stood tall and could not be more different. One appeared old and very much like a human; the other was young, with one black wing for an arm and the other one on fire.
Moreover, the entire room rang with ambient mana and power, several auras together with Lilith's and if she saw that right, the girl with the tiny dragon kept emitting a steady stream of it from her entire body.
"Soo," she let out while looking around, her mind trying to piece the sight together. Maya was there as well, clad in what appeared to be a nightgown; the Succubus closed her mouth, having been in the process of greeting her, though she did get up from her seat.
Then Heidi began to point, first at Paoras. "Half Elf." Then at Lilith. "Full Demon." Then at the two obvious ones. "Half Fairy." Followed by the winged man. "Half Angel." And at the old man. "And if this is what I think it is, half Nightmare."
Silence hung in the air for a long moment. Demons looked between Heidi and their mother, the latter of which had a mischievous smile on her face. Maya merely kept silent and closed the distance between them, wrapping the human girl in a gentle embrace. "You were always a smart girl, sweetie. Perfectly right, my elite guard has one member of each heritage. We technically have one more spot for anyone who married into the family, but it isn't occupied right now."
That part about the guard was not exactly what she thought, it being more that Maya wanted to show off, but Heidi took it. She could not stop herself from quipping, though: "I count two half-Fairies."
"Oh, yes." Maya turned them both, her ethereal hands hugging Heidi instead so they could both face into the right direction. "Dahlia with her wyvern is in the guard. Lilie always worked better as a hitwoman, the few times I do need one at least."
That explained that. Heidi immediately took a closer look at the one pointed out to be Lilie, mentally comparing her to the baby she remembered. She had a hard time associating the womanly features she saw now with the pudgy cheeks and wide eyes.
In turn, Lilie also studied her with interest, but whatever thoughts she had were unreadable to Heidi. No Helena, though.
She considered to ask where the other twin was for a moment, then she remembered that five thousand years of war could definitely claim some lives and decided not to go there. Instead of that, Heidi raised a hand in greeting, to which Lilie nodded quietly.
Meanwhile, Maya chuckled and motioned for everyone else. "Take a seat, sweetie; we have a lot of catching up to do. But, introductions first." She motioned for her children to come forth. "You already met Lilith, you know Paoras and Lilie on a technicality. I hope you brought time."
Heidi just rolled her eyes and forewent the obvious answer, to which Maya huffed softly. "Oh, right. That pun was unintended. Either way, let us start with Lilie. The last time you met her she was still a baby after all."
Forth came a short woman, head at the height of Heidi's abdomen. About average height for a fairy, but with pale white skin and sharper features than most of them. Her dark hair fell gently as Lilie hovered upward so they were at eye-level, offering a small hand to shake. Heidi took it, grinning at the other woman. "Good to see you all grown up. Is everyone in this family either spooky or cute?"
"You forgot attractive," Paoras chimed in slily before her sister could respond, arms folded under her sizable bust.
Heidi just gave her a dismissive look and a wave. "Sorry, giant tits alone don't make you attractive. Maybe if you were twice the height you actually are." Her words prompted stifled laughter from Dahlia as well as open snickering from Lilie, and made the busty half-elf pout. Lilith petted her head with a kind smile.
"A word of advice," the old man entered the conversation in a gruff but calm tone, walking closer. Heidi noted his bare chest and the throngs of muscles shifting with every motion, his mana ringing of nightmarish screams mixed with flame. "You should not begin discussions like this where we live, even in a teasing manner, unless you are willing to actually hear the subject matter discussed. I hear humans are... less inclined to matters we brush off without a second thought."
Now it was Paoras who giggled, as did Maya. Heidi just eyed the yet unintroduced man for a moment, then flicked her gaze over the others. "Such as?"
He grinned, a soft, almost grandfatherly smile. "The fact incest is not taboo in this domain, as long as no children spring forth from the act. Most of us have opinions on our siblings' attractiveness." He gently squeezed Heidi's shoulder while the Magical Girl sighed.
"You people. I, I really should say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Anyway, thanks for the warning." Heidi shook off the moment of exasperation under snickers from various people, then held her hand out. "Anyway, name's Heidi, or Adelheid if you want to be formal. Please don't be formal."
He took it with a measured chuckle, shaking with surprising strength. "Shura, firstborn of Mother and a Child of Nightmare. I walk the path of the blade and tutor the young ones in the art. If you ever wish for a spar against a peer opponent, skill against skill, be sure to call for me."
Heidi squeezed harder in turn, grinning as much as he was. "Oh, really? Pretty high opinion you have of yourself there." Their handshake continued, turning into a contest of either side increasing the pressure until the other gives.
"Quite. If it is but skill at the blade, I find even Goddess Grey wanting."
"Pff, I don't believe you. We're getting that settled sometime soon."
"As you wish. To have a new opponent on par with her will be delight-" crack
The sound was audible, making every last person not involved in their handshake tense. Shura blinked down at Heidi, then opened his hand; hers quickly turned into an ugly purple, but the girl kept calm and studied it. "Demonic strength sucks, you know?"
A moment later, Maya had snatched the broken hand and applied soothing magic to it. The other half-fairy, Dahlia, fluttered closer to inspect Heidi curiously. "That must hurt." Her voice held little inflection, though she hugged her tiny dragon close to her chest as she spoke. Heidi shrugged.
"I had worse."
She immediately got swatted by Maya, whose smile had receded into a frown. "And you are not going to do any of the usual reckless things where I can see them, understood? Sparring is one thing, but getting yourself hurt for no reason is going to give me a heart attack sooner or later."
There was a certain sense of pressure on her words, delivered in the resolute tone of a mother expecting compliance. Heidi, being Heidi, was not impressed. "I'll try, but no promises. You know me by now." Then she turned back to Daliah and held out her left hand, the right one still being in Maya's clutches while the Duchess grumbled. "Dahlia, was it? Nice to meet you."
"O-Oh. Yes, hello. It is a pleasure." The other woman averted her gaze while her dragon slithered out of her grasp and began to sniff Heidi. "And, well, to answer your earlier question, any offspring of either Succubus or Incubus will be supernaturally attractive, pretty, cute, any such thing. I am not sure where you get creepy from, though." She spoke slowly, not meeting Heidi's gaze.
The human girl pointed her thumb at the half-Angel of the group, noting how some others tensed. "So for one, there is a guy whose one hand is a wing and the other on fire. Maybe it's just that we don't have stuff like that at home, but that is a teensy tiny bit creepy. You and Lilie, too; but that might just be dark-looking girls strong enough to rip most people to shreds creepy." The tension faded somewhat, and Heidi looked around. "Did I say something?"
"Nah," Paoras jumped in there, nodding toward her burning brother. "But most people call Agni creepy for what he is and not what he looks like."
"What... oh, right. Forgot about that." She did forget about angelic and demonic stances on procreating with the other. Then she cast a look at her old friend. "...have you forgotten who is among my best friends?
"Fair enough."
Before Heidi could turn back to the last person she had yet to introduce herself to, Dahlia spoke up again. "Um." Her deathly pale skin turned purple the moment she had Heidi's attention, which the human girl realised was a blush. "To backtrack a little, um, it is true that we inherited beauty from Mother. But there are so many of us, and after so long we are at a point where outsiders like you are far more interesting. I was thinking, maybe I could make a sculpture of you? I, uh, do that." She fell silent, her dragon finally hopping over and flapping its wings before settling on Heidi's shoulder.
The Magical Girl stared at her for a moment, then tilted her head ever so slightly. "Is that some kind of weird euphemism I don't get? Just making sure," she cut off the immediate denial. One hand went up to pet the curious dragon, deft fingers running over warm scales. "I really don't need misunderstandings here, especially now that I'm engaged."
"O-Oh, congratulations." Dahlia immediately darted closer and wrapped Heidi in a tight hug, voice growing warmer. "I'm glad to hear that!"
A moment later, Paoras and Lilith followed their sister into the hug. Then Maya embraced all of them with her ethereal arms, leaving Heidi in the middle of a gaggle of cheering girls. She just sighed. "Why is it that everyone is more excited about it than I am? It's not even official yet and I'm not going to marry anytime this year or next year." She just received some giggles and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I don't mind dropping by to be your model, Dahlia."
"Careful, most of her sculptures are corpses or fucking."
"I just like the aesthetics, and not all of them!"
"Just giving the girl a fair warning~"
"Nothing about this is fair, I'm not making her model in the nude if she doesn't want to!"
Much to her surprise, Paoras' teasing actually drew out a flurry of emotion from the previously aloof Dahlia. Mainly embarassment and denials. Heidi kept quiet so as to not make it worse for the poor girl. She already assuaged any worries with her responses anyway.
After a little further banter, Heidi threw Maya a look. "Hey, supermom. Go save your daughter already." Her comment drew laughter from everyone, including the mother in question; Paoras finally let off Dahlia and was then deposited elsewhere by ethereal hands that grabbed her under the armpits. The hugpile dissolved and Heidi could finally step free, approaching Agni.
He did not appear happy at her approach, but she did not give that much attention. Despite his fidgeting however, he offered her a friendly nod once she got close. "I would offer a handshake as well, but do not want to hurt you. It is a pleasure none...the less?" His introduction trailed off as he regarded the hand Heidi held out to him with a grin.
"I'm fireproof, don't be shy." A cheshire grin split her face while the confused hybrid looked between her and her hand several times. Then he reached out slowly, the flames running over his hand coiling forward to consume her as it came close. Except that it faded away before even touching Heidi's skin, dispersed. Their fingers touched and Agni marveled at the flesh-and-blood person whose hand he held. Heidi squeezed camly and shook. "Nice to meet you, Agni."
"...likewise."
She let go and looked him up and down, then turned back to stage-whisper at everyone else: "Is he usually like that?"
She got shrugs in return and Lilith spoke up: "Agni is Agni, he doesn't like people much. He makes funny faces if you surprise him, though."
Heidi huffed at that and turned back to the man in front of her, who was still looking at his blazing hand. She could not help but ask: "Actually, doesn't that hurt?"
He shook his head slowly, eyes wandering back to Heidi. "Not anymore. It used to be painful when I was little, but I got used to it. Mother was likely in more pain than I. I hear she insisted on holding me despite being set on fire anytime she does."
"Oh?" That was news, something which made Heidi round on Maya, who appeared completely unfazed. "So I'm not allowed to be reckless, but you set yourself on fire regularly?"
The Duchess just smiled back. "If the alternative is to refuse holding my baby right after he was born? Yes."
She left it at that and Heidi simply sighed. "Madmen and madwomen, any and all." Then she grinned at the Succubus. "But that's why you're so great." For as weird as she was, Maya cared more about her family than most. That was something Heidi appreciated. She would definitely come back, maybe bring her friends some other time.
Duchess Maya and her Guard
You Better Behave When Visiting Them
You Better Behave When Visiting Them
- (Unified Darkness / Thirteenth Hell) Duchess Maya
-
A.K.A. Mother of Twenty Thousand
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- (Maya) Paoras
-
A.K.A. Big Sister / Flame Devil
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- (Maya) Lilith
-
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- (Duchess Maya) Dahlia
-
A.K.A. Draconic Priestess / Team Taxi
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- (Duchess Maya) Shura
-
A.K.A. The Sword Saint
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- (Duchess Maya) Agni
-
A.K.A. Abomination / Unholy Regent
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
Technically not part of the guard, but here is her sheet as well.
- (Maya) Lilie
-
A.K.A. The Legacy of Two / One Woman Death Squad
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
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What a terrifying Greater Nightmare it must be as well, unkillable and continuously evolving. I don't think you'd be able to draw the family tree either, just on sheer size basis.
>wyvern
How the fuck did she tame one of those?
- Location
- Earth
Similarly to how MG Carnage tamed one.
Though her wyrm is not even reminiscent of a capital-D Dragon in the first place.
Which tells me I should probably change that "wyvern" to "wyrm" so there are no further misunderstandings.
Ahh. So non-Dragon draconic creature she had from birth.
Having a pet Wyvern would be quite scary.
- Location
- Earth
Correction, a being that she made with time and effort.
As far as I am aware, only MGs simply get things that elaborate to start out with. Best others can get is a normal weapon to summon and unsummon.
There might be some other edge cases, but I would not know any of them.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Huh, I just realized that Heidi would make the perfect mediator since she is on friendly terms the highly ranked individuals on both sides.
Assuming that Lucy had gotten her promotion too.
Assuming that Lucy had gotten her promotion too.
- Location
- Earth
One more thing, I added notes for how often Maya and Lilith increased their stats with their respective Abilities.
edit: for those curious, here is Lilith's baseline:
edit: for those curious, here is Lilith's baseline:
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E6 The Ashen Legion
- Location
- Earth
It was a castle. Because of course it was a castle. She was not even in Hell proper, but of course they would live in a castle.
Heidi wondered how she could expect anything else, the only surprise having been that she had gone to Reluxus of all places. Before her towered a structure of white stone that, from the look of it, someone had attempted to pretty up with flowers in various places. The result felt more off-putting than reassuring, a sensation which Heidi could deal with less easily than attempted intimidation.
Two humanoid Demons in plate armour guarded the main entryway while Imps darted this way and that; Heidi doubted that this particular place needed the guards for anything except appearances.
No one in this Local Dimensional Cluster, barring a few exceptions, would break into the home of Magical Girl Goddess Grey. There were many easier, less painful ways of committing suicide.
"Hold," one of the guards called to her as she neared. "Please state your name and business, ma'am."
The young woman could not help but blink, not having expected to be addressed so politely before even revealing who she was. She held her aura suppressed to appear less threatening, which meant that these two should not be aware of her true power.
Then again, no ordinary human would brazenly walk up to this castle while dressed like she was, in a turquoise one-piece with a greyish white jacket ending in long sleeves and long ribbons that appeared like a cape. The whole ensemble fluttered softly in the wind while both men bowed their heads in greeting.
"Huh," she could not help but comment while pulling back one of her sleeves. "This really is different." She produced a piece of writing and held it out to the nearest guard, having held onto it for half an hour. "Magical Girl Defiance, visiting your boss. I got this from Duchess Maya, she said that makes it easier to drop by unannounced."
She could have just walked in, but she was visiting friends. Behaving properly would not kill her this one time... not doing so might, though. Depending on how the owner of the place found her just barging in.
Either way, the mention of Maya had both guards stand at attention, surprise only barely visible. The closer man gingerly took the short letter and inspected it carefully. Then he folded it again and held it back out. "Of course, ma'am. If you allow, I have never heard of your name among our Magical Girls?"
His question was rather clear and Heidi merely shrugged as the latter vanished back into her sleeve. "That's because I'm not one of yours. I'm unaligned. Which way?"
The guard nodded thoughtfully, but quickly turned upon hearing her question. "Ah, down the main hall and up the staircase. I can call an Imp to lead you to Lady Grey's chambers, though she might be busy at this time of day."
Heidi eyed the man with confusion while he looked around for one near enough that he did not need to shout for; it took her a moment to realise the misunderstanding. Once she did, she cleared her throat to get his attention; the other man kept his eyes on the road now, though he was definitely listening.
"When I said 'your boss', I meant Elisabeth."
"Oh." He paused for a moment before bowing his head. "Oh! My apologies, ma'am. Visitors usually attend Lady Grey. We are set up in the west wing, you merely need to take a left beyond the main staircase and follow the corridor."
Heidi nodded at that and made to walk past the guards. "Got it, thank you." They did not stop her and her steps soon vanished down the vast hall.
Meanwhile, Heidi took in the bright furnishings; she recognised some craft similar to that in Maya's castle, likely gifts from the Succubus. Demons of various shapes wandered around, most dressed as butlers and maids, but some in armour or robes carrying the insignia of the Ashen Legion. Some threw her curious looks, but no one questioned her presence as she walked down the soft, steel-grey carpets.
Who would have thought that Elisabeth ended up founding Goddess Grey's personal combat unit?
The thought of having her idol this close made Heidi a little giddy, but she put that aside for now; she could meet the second most powerful Magical Girl some other time, right now she was here for an old friend.
The further she walked in the direction she had been given, the less she saw any servants; in turn, people of the Ashen Legion became a bit more numerous as they patrolled the area.
At this point, Heidi let go of her aura and saw the nearest Demons flinch when it washed over them; crackling weakly, challenging, but not directly hostile. They were not enemies, but neither were they allies.
More eyes were on her when she entered a vast main chamber holding a training field in its center; several dozen Demons were situated here, with two untransformed Magical Girls watching them spar.
Some actually interrupted their session to turn to the new arrival, whose eyes lazily wandered over the training as she strolled into the hall; she could take any of them and she knew it.
Moreover, the person she had been looking for was right there, overseeing one of the many spars; her eyes were hidden behind a blindfold, just as they were in the past. Even her type of dress had not changed, though she held herself a lot more confidently these days. She did not need to see her eyes to know when their gazes met, seeing how she stilled and tension became almost palpable in the air.
Then both women smiled and walked toward each other; Heidi specifically ignored the fact she marched straight through two ongoing spars; the swings of two heavy blades, a warhammer, and a spear were deflected with the flick of a wrist, an elbow, a low kick, and a weak push respectively.
"I see you have not changed at all, dear friend." Elisabeth chuckled softly at the sight of her subordinates' expressions. "Few are so brazen when the Ashen Legion is involved, but I would expect no less from our Dragonslayer."
Heidi just shrugged with a single huff and ignored how quiet the room had gotten at the mention of her de-facto title. She took note of the fact the Unified Darkness apparently still remembered her, though. "Dragons have nothing to do with that and you know it. I heard you're here, so I dropped by."
"Unannounced, of course."
She did not appear unhappy about the visit, or mad. Heidi merely grinned. "Naturally."
Some other Demons had left the room, but she paid them no mind and shook Elisabeth's hand. "Anyway, are you sure you want to talk right here?" They did stand in the middle of a rather large group of people after all.
Surprisingly however, the now ancient Demon smiled leniently and nodded. "I mind them not. We are sworn to loyalty and honour, all as one. Unless you wish to speak of secrets, we need not reconvene elsewhere."
Her words brought a smile out of Heidi, who waved the other woman off. "You really changed a lot." They remained standing there and the Ashen Legion around them quietly realigned their positions, so that the ongoing spars were held at a distance from them.
Elisabeth's facial expression, or what of it could be seen, did not change. She merely made a motion encompassing the room. "Much has changed since last we met."
"Like you talking about my past exploits so openly?" Heidi raised an eyebrow, though her joking tone and the grin she wore took any sting out of the words. "Don't pretend you aren't, Maya is spreading the word as well. 'The Dragonslayer returned' and all that stuff."
She could feel something washing over her as the sounds around them fell quiet entirely, saw new magic thrumming all around. But Heidi did not let it show and made a dismissive motion at the amused Elisabeth. "She already admitted she wants to see my presence back, so you don't need to hide it."
"Very well," the taller woman agreed with a nod. "And while we speak of hiding...." She trailed off when Heidi shook her head.
"Yeah, I know."
(Countless Arms: +1000 Base Damage, 5802 dice = 6,802 Total Damage
Attack Negated
Weapon caught)
Heidi felt it the moment it happened, a single sword sailing through the air toward her with pinpoint accuracy, aimed right for the back of her head. Yet to her, it moved deceptively slow as she took a single step to the side, hand reaching up just as the weapon would have hit her.
Her fingers closed around the sword's handle and she gave it a swift flick, the momentum imparted in it twirling her around on her heel twice.
When Magical Girl Defiance came to a standstill, her cape-ribbons fluttering softly, she stood face to face with Magical Girl Goddess Grey. The other human held a wide grin, arms crossed. Her garb was the same black and red composition Heidi had seen and admired on TV so long ago.
The two stared at each other for a long moment while the room as a whole watched. Heidi held the single blade pointed to the side, easily able to tell it was of incredible quality and sharpness even from the corner of her eye.
Then she raised the sword to eye-level, noting the faint motes of mana still clinging to it. "You lost something," she told the other Magical Girl calmly. Then, in a single smooth motion, her arm snapped down and the weapon left her hand, sailing back toward its owner while spinning like a buzzsaw.
(Stolen Sword: +1000 Base Damage, 5802 dice = 6,802 Total Damage
Attack Negated
Weapon caught
Highlander Clause is in effect. Defiance and Goddess Grey are reduced to Inhuman Skill toward each other (and only each other) until they fought for supremacy.)
She was under no delusion that Grey could not have stopped her from making such a telegraphed throw, but this was not an actual fight. Moments later, as the weapon drew close to slamming into Grey's face, she kicked up one foot and hit it at the handle, redirecting her sword's trajectory to going up.
From there, she easily fished her weapon out of the air and held it to the side, just as Heidi had before. "Sorry about that," she greeted cheerfully, "I just wanted to see it for myself. You're the real deal after all."
Everyone else in the room sans Elisabeth let out the breath they held. Then many expression turned to confusion when Grey dropped her weapon with a clutter and darted forward to glomp her guest. "I finally got a peer of my own to compete with! Today is the best day ever!"
Notably, to Elisabeth's amusement, was that Heidi herself was likely the most flabbergasted by this turn of events. After a momentary pause, the younger woman sighed and shook her head, at a loss for words. She still wrapped her arms around Grey, though. "You heard of me?"
"Yep, totally did." The other woman grinned as she held her guest at the shoulders, looking her over. Then her eyes wandered to Elisabeth. "That's her, right? The girl you talk about every month or so?"
Heidi missed the Demon's nod because she realised to her renewed surprise that her and Grey were about the same height, with the other woman being maybe the slightest bit shorter. She could anticipate her friend's response and react to it, though: "Why is it that people keep talking about me?"
"I wonder why," the Demon answered while both women turned to her again; she had one finger lying on her cheek and an unhealthy dose of sarcasm bubbling in her voice: "Could it have been the Death Squad you beat on your own, or maybe the Archangel you defeated one on one, or, Hell forbid, the Dragon you killed?"
Grey giggled at that while Heidi sighed once more. Then she shook off the other woman and made to stand normally again. "Anyway, I wasn't planning on trying to meet you just yet, but that's no longer in the cards. I'm Heidi, nice to meet you."
She held out her hand, which the other Magical Girl shook cheerfully. "Yep, nice to meet you too. I heard someone unusual came visiting Liz, so I came to check. Just call me Ichi." She kept shaking her hand in excitement, though. "Oh, this is so great, I haven't had a peer in ages, probably since around the time we all lost to Amanda! Do you wanna spar?"
"No."
"Huh?" The excitement abated and Ichi let go of Heidi's hand out of surprise.
Heidi herself slowly shook her head, eyes never leaving her new acquaintance. "Sorry, but no. It's flattering that everyone seems to think so much of me, but this won't work." Then she grinned, more daring than she set out to be. "I can't beat peer opponents fair and square and if I pull out all the stops to win anyway, chances are they're dead."
"Ah," Elisabeth interjected as she understood the problem. "I see. You would get frustrated and angry if you held a spar you can not win, if it is not meant for practice."
"Yeah, pretty... much."
Heidi almost stumbled over the words when she turned back to Ichi. Who had pushed out her cheeks and lowered her eyelids, crossing her arms and turning sideways. She was pouting at Heidi.
The visitor took in the sight for a moment, then she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. If you want to act like a child," at which point she started patting Ichi's head, "then I'll treat you like one. There there, don't throw a tantrum just because I'm not playing with you."
She almost wished she had taken her phone along, as having a picture of the gobsmacked expressions all around would have been great. Ichi herself just pouted harder, then huffed and turned back to face Heidi fully. "Eh, I don't like it, but I guess I get it. I'm always open for a spar if you want to, though. Or a romp, if you prefer?"
The roles had been reversed again and Heidi was the one to be surprised. She blinked at Ichi in bewilderment, who looked her over with a playfully critical eye. "You are a cutie and I don't think anyone would mind." A glance was cast back to the other two Magical Girls, who gave her a thumbs up. "Yep, looks fine. No dates though, that's for girlfriends only."
Elisabeth likely was the only one who noticed the way Heidi's features hardened for a moment. The latter took a deep breath and stood silent... then she flicked Ichi's forehead, to a surprised sound from the other woman. "I appreciate the offer, but no. I am straight. I am monogamous. And I am taken. Okay?"
Ichi nodded quickly and raised her hands defensively. "Sure, sorry. I didn't know you already have someone. But-"
"You better not start any offer about threesomes."
Ichi quickly closed her mouth with an audible click, Heidi sighed, and Elisabeth chuckled in barely restrained mirth.
This was not the kind of visit she had expected, but she brought some time to spend with her old friend. If only this had not also made to destroy a good half of her early teenage dreams, she would call it a good day.
It was time to change the subject. With a deep breath and one hand carding through her hair absentmindedly, Heidi turned her attention back to Elisabeth. "How did you two meet, anyway?" She could have sworn that most of the Demons surrounding them were scurrying closer, curious. Even the Magical Girls became attentive.
Ichi just scratched the back of her head and giggled weakly. "Hehehe, well, I, uh, I don't really remember anything special. Liz just showed up at my doorstep and swore her loyalty a few years ago. Then I thought hey, that would be a neat thing and we built the Ashen Legion together, and here we are."
There was some muttering around them while Heidi frowned and glance back to her old friend, whose expression remained unreadable with the blindfold on. Elisabeth made a dismissive motion with one hand. "I have not forgotten the words you spoke to me so long ago, friend. When Goddess Grey herself was suddenly in my reach, I knew it was time for some change."
Yet her other hand clenched into a fist; the first gesture drew attention away from it, but Heidi noticed. She knew Elisabeth well enough to tell, from a time where she was less capable of hiding her true feelings. Even now that she stood as a true master of the art, some tells remained. Heidi kept silent about it, though. Understanding the Demon woman's intention, she nodded and made to change the subject again, but this time Ichi intervened with a smile: "Now I get to ask, how did you two meet? Liz always tells us how many great things you did, but she never goes into how it all started."
She almost hopped in place, giddy to learn more; Heidi threw her friend a look, who shrugged. "I know you and your pride. Go ahead if you wish."
Ichi had been looking between the two and Heidi knew they had a bit of an audience, but she ignored that. After a moment of thought, she shrugged and decided to just explain. "Right after I got my powers, I blasted myself into the past and landed on Sheol. Without knowing how exactly my magic works or how to get back or even just how to aim it. A scout team picked me up, I beat one of them to not become loot, and they brought me back to Charon's Keep where Liz was in charge.
"Then I basically worked for her in exchange for a place to stay, a teacher, and time to figure out how to get home. I didn't really have a choice, but it worked out. Her approach to getting in someone's good graces worked wonders," she could not help but snark at the end, "who would have thought people like you if you're nice to them." Elisabeth giggled softly, as did Ichi.
Then however, the other Magical Girl looked her over again and tapped her foot on the floor. "Okay, that's kinda scary to imagine, being trapped in another time. But I don't get why you didn't have a choice. You could have just fought your way out... right?" She already began to trail off when she saw Heidi's dumbfounded look; eyebrows raised almost to her hairline, eyes wide open.
The younger woman blinked at her once, twice, then breathed out slowly. "Are you stupid?" Her question sent several people in the room to their feet to defend their confused lady's honour, but then Heidi frowned again and rounded on Elisabeth. "Wait, what else didn't you tell her about-oh fuck you too!" The Demon's grin told her all she needed to know, though her outburst led to some more angry muttering about having no respect.
Ignoring anyone else, Heidi sighed deeply and turned back to Ichi, who waited for her to speak. "Okay then, listen up. I'm not an Epic like you. I'm no Legend or Myth or anything up there. I'm a Story Maker, and my only trick was time travel when I started." She ignored how wide Ichi's eyes grew at the news. "When I arrived on Sheol? I could barely, barely beat a single one of those foot soldiers Hell has tens of millions of. So no, I couldnt 'just fight my way out'."
Her piece said, Heidi frowned at Elisabeth, but was distracted when Ichi invaded her personal space to look at her from up close. "You, you mean it? A Story Maker?"
"Yes?" Her question might come off as a little more aggressive than she meant it to be. Heidi stood proud of how far she made it despite everything, so if someone refused to believe her on this, she would likely get mad.
Then however, her exasperation was buried in a renewed hug. "Wow, you're even more amazing than I thought! A Story Maker that makes it this far, that's incredible! Tell me more, tell me everything! Who else did you meet? I wanna know!" Likewise, the angry mutters had turned into curious, sometimes even excited chatter.
Heidi tried to dislodge the bouncy woman from herself but had no success. Then Elisabeth decided to make it worse for her: "Duchess Maya, for one. When she was still a humble healer."
The resulting squeal almost shook the castle. At this point, Heidi realised she would not leave anytime soon.
A long afternoon of tea and snacks, tales of the past, and some light sparring with the Ashen Legion later, Heidi and Elisabeth were walking on the upper castle wall. They were on their own, even the Imps having been instructed to leave them alone.
She had proven herself second to none of the Demons under Elisabeth's command, a few exchanges with the woman in question revealing that they stood close enough in power for Heidi to need her extended bag of tricks in an actual fight.
As it were, Heidi was content with the day. "She's different than I imagined her to be," she finally told her old friend. Elisabeth nodded sagely, a soft breeze caressing her face; she took off the blindfold once Heidi said her goodbyes to everyone else. A chance to converse in private, for secrets to be shared.
Heidi knew it, too. She remembered. "So, why did you really join her?"
Elisabeth kept quiet, the expressive flames in her eyeballs shrinking to pinpricks of light; she took a deep breath before unclasping her robe. With each clasp that opened, the old Demon explained: "I have never forgotten you, not even in all this time. Your time with me marked something I could hardly explain in words, even today. I, I still miss Argus, it still hurts." Her eyes began to quiver with tears, but she blinked them away. A black robe dropped to the floor, followed by a red chemise, and Heidi took a sharp breath.
Elisabeth's entire torso was covered in scars. Small patches of them, marks of shallow slices, points where only tips had punctured her flesh. They came in various shapes and sizes, standing out even against her pale skin.
"I got these wounds when my battlegroup scaled Elysium's wall," she began softly. "We were greeted by a wall of steel, more blades than I ever saw in one place. She danced among them, greater than anything but you. Tired, worn down from countless repelled assaults, unyielding." A hand gently ran over the old scars. "I thought I would die that day. Without achieving anything in my last moments, where this human girl threw her every breath into battle to stave off the inevitable."
Elisabeth met Heidi's gaze, the flames in her eyes having turned into two tiny firestorms. Her voice lost its softness and became as steel: "She did not even notice me in her endless dance with death. Never noticed I was still alive and unable to move. I saw it, Heidi. I saw her final moments before she died. Defiant until the last moment. So much like you, yet oh so different. You both have something that inspires those around you." Heidi made to interrupt and ask about what she just heard with Ichi's death, but stopped herself and let her friend continue. "So I made my choice, too; I could not help you when you needed me so long ago, too weak."
Elisabeth crouched and picked her garment up, fingers stroking the soft cloth even while she kept holding Heidi's gaze. "So I swore to myself that I will grow stronger still. Beyond just following orders in a war that I will never see end. Until the day I die, I will now follow my heart. Until the day I die, I will protect this inspiring star to the best of my ability."
The flames flickered and faded once more, leaving behind an old soldier and a fallen champion. Elisabeth gently pulled her chemise and robe back on while Heidi made sense of what she heard.
"I do not wish for anyone to know this. My loyalty is no longer to the Unified Darkness, but to her. If she leaves the war, so will I. If she joins the Light, so will I. No matter where or how, as long as she will have me, I will follow." She fell silent while pulling the robe over her head, giving Heidi more time to digest what she learned.
Silence reigned between them. Heidi had her eyes closed in thought while her old friend became presentable once more. The two of them then looked out into the distance, watching Reluxus.
In the end, Heidi broke the moment by wrapping her arms around Elisabeth, who stiffened before reciprocating. "Thank you for understanding," she muttered softly.
Heidi simply patted her back and squeezed a little tighter. "No need to thank me. We're friends and we will stay friends."
They held each other for long moments, basking in the simplicity of their ancient bond. When they separated, Heidi yawned loudly and sighed. "Ugh, I have been up for far too long. I should get home and catch some sleep. See you around, Liz."
She waved lazily, putting additional emphasis on the nickname Ichi pushed onto Elisabeth; not that it bothered the older woman, who simply smiled and waved back. "Stay safe, Heidi."
The casting of a spell later, Elisabeth stood alone under the evening sun. Feeling lighter but also heavier than she had for a while, more conflicted than she had in centuries. Her first real friend returned at last, on top of everything else she gained in recent years... and she had to lie to her.
She leaned onto the battlements and stared into the distance, where somewhere, she knew, Gabriel still hid with a group of survivors she gathered. A woman that had cost Elisabeth many of her treasured troops, and likely even her own brother; she never learned who placed the killing blow so long ago, but she could guess. She was in charge of tracking Gabriel down and prevent her from escaping Reluxus.
No one but a select few knew, not even the Dukes and Duchesses were aware that the Avatar of Light remained alive. It had taken years of harrying and would likely take even longer, but they would get her in the end.
Elisabeth was not happy having to lie to her friend, and she still considered Heidi to be one. In this regard however, her feelings made her choose against that friendship.
She dearly hoped it would hold through this or, preferably, for her old friend to never find out.
Heidi wondered how she could expect anything else, the only surprise having been that she had gone to Reluxus of all places. Before her towered a structure of white stone that, from the look of it, someone had attempted to pretty up with flowers in various places. The result felt more off-putting than reassuring, a sensation which Heidi could deal with less easily than attempted intimidation.
Two humanoid Demons in plate armour guarded the main entryway while Imps darted this way and that; Heidi doubted that this particular place needed the guards for anything except appearances.
No one in this Local Dimensional Cluster, barring a few exceptions, would break into the home of Magical Girl Goddess Grey. There were many easier, less painful ways of committing suicide.
"Hold," one of the guards called to her as she neared. "Please state your name and business, ma'am."
The young woman could not help but blink, not having expected to be addressed so politely before even revealing who she was. She held her aura suppressed to appear less threatening, which meant that these two should not be aware of her true power.
Then again, no ordinary human would brazenly walk up to this castle while dressed like she was, in a turquoise one-piece with a greyish white jacket ending in long sleeves and long ribbons that appeared like a cape. The whole ensemble fluttered softly in the wind while both men bowed their heads in greeting.
"Huh," she could not help but comment while pulling back one of her sleeves. "This really is different." She produced a piece of writing and held it out to the nearest guard, having held onto it for half an hour. "Magical Girl Defiance, visiting your boss. I got this from Duchess Maya, she said that makes it easier to drop by unannounced."
She could have just walked in, but she was visiting friends. Behaving properly would not kill her this one time... not doing so might, though. Depending on how the owner of the place found her just barging in.
Either way, the mention of Maya had both guards stand at attention, surprise only barely visible. The closer man gingerly took the short letter and inspected it carefully. Then he folded it again and held it back out. "Of course, ma'am. If you allow, I have never heard of your name among our Magical Girls?"
His question was rather clear and Heidi merely shrugged as the latter vanished back into her sleeve. "That's because I'm not one of yours. I'm unaligned. Which way?"
The guard nodded thoughtfully, but quickly turned upon hearing her question. "Ah, down the main hall and up the staircase. I can call an Imp to lead you to Lady Grey's chambers, though she might be busy at this time of day."
Heidi eyed the man with confusion while he looked around for one near enough that he did not need to shout for; it took her a moment to realise the misunderstanding. Once she did, she cleared her throat to get his attention; the other man kept his eyes on the road now, though he was definitely listening.
"When I said 'your boss', I meant Elisabeth."
"Oh." He paused for a moment before bowing his head. "Oh! My apologies, ma'am. Visitors usually attend Lady Grey. We are set up in the west wing, you merely need to take a left beyond the main staircase and follow the corridor."
Heidi nodded at that and made to walk past the guards. "Got it, thank you." They did not stop her and her steps soon vanished down the vast hall.
Meanwhile, Heidi took in the bright furnishings; she recognised some craft similar to that in Maya's castle, likely gifts from the Succubus. Demons of various shapes wandered around, most dressed as butlers and maids, but some in armour or robes carrying the insignia of the Ashen Legion. Some threw her curious looks, but no one questioned her presence as she walked down the soft, steel-grey carpets.
Who would have thought that Elisabeth ended up founding Goddess Grey's personal combat unit?
The thought of having her idol this close made Heidi a little giddy, but she put that aside for now; she could meet the second most powerful Magical Girl some other time, right now she was here for an old friend.
The further she walked in the direction she had been given, the less she saw any servants; in turn, people of the Ashen Legion became a bit more numerous as they patrolled the area.
At this point, Heidi let go of her aura and saw the nearest Demons flinch when it washed over them; crackling weakly, challenging, but not directly hostile. They were not enemies, but neither were they allies.
More eyes were on her when she entered a vast main chamber holding a training field in its center; several dozen Demons were situated here, with two untransformed Magical Girls watching them spar.
Some actually interrupted their session to turn to the new arrival, whose eyes lazily wandered over the training as she strolled into the hall; she could take any of them and she knew it.
Moreover, the person she had been looking for was right there, overseeing one of the many spars; her eyes were hidden behind a blindfold, just as they were in the past. Even her type of dress had not changed, though she held herself a lot more confidently these days. She did not need to see her eyes to know when their gazes met, seeing how she stilled and tension became almost palpable in the air.
Then both women smiled and walked toward each other; Heidi specifically ignored the fact she marched straight through two ongoing spars; the swings of two heavy blades, a warhammer, and a spear were deflected with the flick of a wrist, an elbow, a low kick, and a weak push respectively.
"I see you have not changed at all, dear friend." Elisabeth chuckled softly at the sight of her subordinates' expressions. "Few are so brazen when the Ashen Legion is involved, but I would expect no less from our Dragonslayer."
Heidi just shrugged with a single huff and ignored how quiet the room had gotten at the mention of her de-facto title. She took note of the fact the Unified Darkness apparently still remembered her, though. "Dragons have nothing to do with that and you know it. I heard you're here, so I dropped by."
"Unannounced, of course."
She did not appear unhappy about the visit, or mad. Heidi merely grinned. "Naturally."
Some other Demons had left the room, but she paid them no mind and shook Elisabeth's hand. "Anyway, are you sure you want to talk right here?" They did stand in the middle of a rather large group of people after all.
Surprisingly however, the now ancient Demon smiled leniently and nodded. "I mind them not. We are sworn to loyalty and honour, all as one. Unless you wish to speak of secrets, we need not reconvene elsewhere."
Her words brought a smile out of Heidi, who waved the other woman off. "You really changed a lot." They remained standing there and the Ashen Legion around them quietly realigned their positions, so that the ongoing spars were held at a distance from them.
Elisabeth's facial expression, or what of it could be seen, did not change. She merely made a motion encompassing the room. "Much has changed since last we met."
"Like you talking about my past exploits so openly?" Heidi raised an eyebrow, though her joking tone and the grin she wore took any sting out of the words. "Don't pretend you aren't, Maya is spreading the word as well. 'The Dragonslayer returned' and all that stuff."
She could feel something washing over her as the sounds around them fell quiet entirely, saw new magic thrumming all around. But Heidi did not let it show and made a dismissive motion at the amused Elisabeth. "She already admitted she wants to see my presence back, so you don't need to hide it."
"Very well," the taller woman agreed with a nod. "And while we speak of hiding...." She trailed off when Heidi shook her head.
"Yeah, I know."
(
Attack Negated
Weapon caught)
Heidi felt it the moment it happened, a single sword sailing through the air toward her with pinpoint accuracy, aimed right for the back of her head. Yet to her, it moved deceptively slow as she took a single step to the side, hand reaching up just as the weapon would have hit her.
Her fingers closed around the sword's handle and she gave it a swift flick, the momentum imparted in it twirling her around on her heel twice.
When Magical Girl Defiance came to a standstill, her cape-ribbons fluttering softly, she stood face to face with Magical Girl Goddess Grey. The other human held a wide grin, arms crossed. Her garb was the same black and red composition Heidi had seen and admired on TV so long ago.
The two stared at each other for a long moment while the room as a whole watched. Heidi held the single blade pointed to the side, easily able to tell it was of incredible quality and sharpness even from the corner of her eye.
Then she raised the sword to eye-level, noting the faint motes of mana still clinging to it. "You lost something," she told the other Magical Girl calmly. Then, in a single smooth motion, her arm snapped down and the weapon left her hand, sailing back toward its owner while spinning like a buzzsaw.
(
Attack Negated
Weapon caught
Highlander Clause is in effect. Defiance and Goddess Grey are reduced to Inhuman Skill toward each other (and only each other) until they fought for supremacy.)
She was under no delusion that Grey could not have stopped her from making such a telegraphed throw, but this was not an actual fight. Moments later, as the weapon drew close to slamming into Grey's face, she kicked up one foot and hit it at the handle, redirecting her sword's trajectory to going up.
From there, she easily fished her weapon out of the air and held it to the side, just as Heidi had before. "Sorry about that," she greeted cheerfully, "I just wanted to see it for myself. You're the real deal after all."
Everyone else in the room sans Elisabeth let out the breath they held. Then many expression turned to confusion when Grey dropped her weapon with a clutter and darted forward to glomp her guest. "I finally got a peer of my own to compete with! Today is the best day ever!"
Notably, to Elisabeth's amusement, was that Heidi herself was likely the most flabbergasted by this turn of events. After a momentary pause, the younger woman sighed and shook her head, at a loss for words. She still wrapped her arms around Grey, though. "You heard of me?"
"Yep, totally did." The other woman grinned as she held her guest at the shoulders, looking her over. Then her eyes wandered to Elisabeth. "That's her, right? The girl you talk about every month or so?"
Heidi missed the Demon's nod because she realised to her renewed surprise that her and Grey were about the same height, with the other woman being maybe the slightest bit shorter. She could anticipate her friend's response and react to it, though: "Why is it that people keep talking about me?"
"I wonder why," the Demon answered while both women turned to her again; she had one finger lying on her cheek and an unhealthy dose of sarcasm bubbling in her voice: "Could it have been the Death Squad you beat on your own, or maybe the Archangel you defeated one on one, or, Hell forbid, the Dragon you killed?"
Grey giggled at that while Heidi sighed once more. Then she shook off the other woman and made to stand normally again. "Anyway, I wasn't planning on trying to meet you just yet, but that's no longer in the cards. I'm Heidi, nice to meet you."
She held out her hand, which the other Magical Girl shook cheerfully. "Yep, nice to meet you too. I heard someone unusual came visiting Liz, so I came to check. Just call me Ichi." She kept shaking her hand in excitement, though. "Oh, this is so great, I haven't had a peer in ages, probably since around the time we all lost to Amanda! Do you wanna spar?"
"No."
"Huh?" The excitement abated and Ichi let go of Heidi's hand out of surprise.
Heidi herself slowly shook her head, eyes never leaving her new acquaintance. "Sorry, but no. It's flattering that everyone seems to think so much of me, but this won't work." Then she grinned, more daring than she set out to be. "I can't beat peer opponents fair and square and if I pull out all the stops to win anyway, chances are they're dead."
"Ah," Elisabeth interjected as she understood the problem. "I see. You would get frustrated and angry if you held a spar you can not win, if it is not meant for practice."
"Yeah, pretty... much."
Heidi almost stumbled over the words when she turned back to Ichi. Who had pushed out her cheeks and lowered her eyelids, crossing her arms and turning sideways. She was pouting at Heidi.
The visitor took in the sight for a moment, then she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. If you want to act like a child," at which point she started patting Ichi's head, "then I'll treat you like one. There there, don't throw a tantrum just because I'm not playing with you."
She almost wished she had taken her phone along, as having a picture of the gobsmacked expressions all around would have been great. Ichi herself just pouted harder, then huffed and turned back to face Heidi fully. "Eh, I don't like it, but I guess I get it. I'm always open for a spar if you want to, though. Or a romp, if you prefer?"
The roles had been reversed again and Heidi was the one to be surprised. She blinked at Ichi in bewilderment, who looked her over with a playfully critical eye. "You are a cutie and I don't think anyone would mind." A glance was cast back to the other two Magical Girls, who gave her a thumbs up. "Yep, looks fine. No dates though, that's for girlfriends only."
Elisabeth likely was the only one who noticed the way Heidi's features hardened for a moment. The latter took a deep breath and stood silent... then she flicked Ichi's forehead, to a surprised sound from the other woman. "I appreciate the offer, but no. I am straight. I am monogamous. And I am taken. Okay?"
Ichi nodded quickly and raised her hands defensively. "Sure, sorry. I didn't know you already have someone. But-"
"You better not start any offer about threesomes."
Ichi quickly closed her mouth with an audible click, Heidi sighed, and Elisabeth chuckled in barely restrained mirth.
This was not the kind of visit she had expected, but she brought some time to spend with her old friend. If only this had not also made to destroy a good half of her early teenage dreams, she would call it a good day.
It was time to change the subject. With a deep breath and one hand carding through her hair absentmindedly, Heidi turned her attention back to Elisabeth. "How did you two meet, anyway?" She could have sworn that most of the Demons surrounding them were scurrying closer, curious. Even the Magical Girls became attentive.
Ichi just scratched the back of her head and giggled weakly. "Hehehe, well, I, uh, I don't really remember anything special. Liz just showed up at my doorstep and swore her loyalty a few years ago. Then I thought hey, that would be a neat thing and we built the Ashen Legion together, and here we are."
There was some muttering around them while Heidi frowned and glance back to her old friend, whose expression remained unreadable with the blindfold on. Elisabeth made a dismissive motion with one hand. "I have not forgotten the words you spoke to me so long ago, friend. When Goddess Grey herself was suddenly in my reach, I knew it was time for some change."
Yet her other hand clenched into a fist; the first gesture drew attention away from it, but Heidi noticed. She knew Elisabeth well enough to tell, from a time where she was less capable of hiding her true feelings. Even now that she stood as a true master of the art, some tells remained. Heidi kept silent about it, though. Understanding the Demon woman's intention, she nodded and made to change the subject again, but this time Ichi intervened with a smile: "Now I get to ask, how did you two meet? Liz always tells us how many great things you did, but she never goes into how it all started."
She almost hopped in place, giddy to learn more; Heidi threw her friend a look, who shrugged. "I know you and your pride. Go ahead if you wish."
Ichi had been looking between the two and Heidi knew they had a bit of an audience, but she ignored that. After a moment of thought, she shrugged and decided to just explain. "Right after I got my powers, I blasted myself into the past and landed on Sheol. Without knowing how exactly my magic works or how to get back or even just how to aim it. A scout team picked me up, I beat one of them to not become loot, and they brought me back to Charon's Keep where Liz was in charge.
"Then I basically worked for her in exchange for a place to stay, a teacher, and time to figure out how to get home. I didn't really have a choice, but it worked out. Her approach to getting in someone's good graces worked wonders," she could not help but snark at the end, "who would have thought people like you if you're nice to them." Elisabeth giggled softly, as did Ichi.
Then however, the other Magical Girl looked her over again and tapped her foot on the floor. "Okay, that's kinda scary to imagine, being trapped in another time. But I don't get why you didn't have a choice. You could have just fought your way out... right?" She already began to trail off when she saw Heidi's dumbfounded look; eyebrows raised almost to her hairline, eyes wide open.
The younger woman blinked at her once, twice, then breathed out slowly. "Are you stupid?" Her question sent several people in the room to their feet to defend their confused lady's honour, but then Heidi frowned again and rounded on Elisabeth. "Wait, what else didn't you tell her about-oh fuck you too!" The Demon's grin told her all she needed to know, though her outburst led to some more angry muttering about having no respect.
Ignoring anyone else, Heidi sighed deeply and turned back to Ichi, who waited for her to speak. "Okay then, listen up. I'm not an Epic like you. I'm no Legend or Myth or anything up there. I'm a Story Maker, and my only trick was time travel when I started." She ignored how wide Ichi's eyes grew at the news. "When I arrived on Sheol? I could barely, barely beat a single one of those foot soldiers Hell has tens of millions of. So no, I couldnt 'just fight my way out'."
Her piece said, Heidi frowned at Elisabeth, but was distracted when Ichi invaded her personal space to look at her from up close. "You, you mean it? A Story Maker?"
"Yes?" Her question might come off as a little more aggressive than she meant it to be. Heidi stood proud of how far she made it despite everything, so if someone refused to believe her on this, she would likely get mad.
Then however, her exasperation was buried in a renewed hug. "Wow, you're even more amazing than I thought! A Story Maker that makes it this far, that's incredible! Tell me more, tell me everything! Who else did you meet? I wanna know!" Likewise, the angry mutters had turned into curious, sometimes even excited chatter.
Heidi tried to dislodge the bouncy woman from herself but had no success. Then Elisabeth decided to make it worse for her: "Duchess Maya, for one. When she was still a humble healer."
The resulting squeal almost shook the castle. At this point, Heidi realised she would not leave anytime soon.
. . .
IDENTIFIED BREAK LINE
. . .
IDENTIFIED BREAK LINE
. . .
A long afternoon of tea and snacks, tales of the past, and some light sparring with the Ashen Legion later, Heidi and Elisabeth were walking on the upper castle wall. They were on their own, even the Imps having been instructed to leave them alone.
She had proven herself second to none of the Demons under Elisabeth's command, a few exchanges with the woman in question revealing that they stood close enough in power for Heidi to need her extended bag of tricks in an actual fight.
As it were, Heidi was content with the day. "She's different than I imagined her to be," she finally told her old friend. Elisabeth nodded sagely, a soft breeze caressing her face; she took off the blindfold once Heidi said her goodbyes to everyone else. A chance to converse in private, for secrets to be shared.
Heidi knew it, too. She remembered. "So, why did you really join her?"
Elisabeth kept quiet, the expressive flames in her eyeballs shrinking to pinpricks of light; she took a deep breath before unclasping her robe. With each clasp that opened, the old Demon explained: "I have never forgotten you, not even in all this time. Your time with me marked something I could hardly explain in words, even today. I, I still miss Argus, it still hurts." Her eyes began to quiver with tears, but she blinked them away. A black robe dropped to the floor, followed by a red chemise, and Heidi took a sharp breath.
Elisabeth's entire torso was covered in scars. Small patches of them, marks of shallow slices, points where only tips had punctured her flesh. They came in various shapes and sizes, standing out even against her pale skin.
"I got these wounds when my battlegroup scaled Elysium's wall," she began softly. "We were greeted by a wall of steel, more blades than I ever saw in one place. She danced among them, greater than anything but you. Tired, worn down from countless repelled assaults, unyielding." A hand gently ran over the old scars. "I thought I would die that day. Without achieving anything in my last moments, where this human girl threw her every breath into battle to stave off the inevitable."
Elisabeth met Heidi's gaze, the flames in her eyes having turned into two tiny firestorms. Her voice lost its softness and became as steel: "She did not even notice me in her endless dance with death. Never noticed I was still alive and unable to move. I saw it, Heidi. I saw her final moments before she died. Defiant until the last moment. So much like you, yet oh so different. You both have something that inspires those around you." Heidi made to interrupt and ask about what she just heard with Ichi's death, but stopped herself and let her friend continue. "So I made my choice, too; I could not help you when you needed me so long ago, too weak."
Elisabeth crouched and picked her garment up, fingers stroking the soft cloth even while she kept holding Heidi's gaze. "So I swore to myself that I will grow stronger still. Beyond just following orders in a war that I will never see end. Until the day I die, I will now follow my heart. Until the day I die, I will protect this inspiring star to the best of my ability."
The flames flickered and faded once more, leaving behind an old soldier and a fallen champion. Elisabeth gently pulled her chemise and robe back on while Heidi made sense of what she heard.
"I do not wish for anyone to know this. My loyalty is no longer to the Unified Darkness, but to her. If she leaves the war, so will I. If she joins the Light, so will I. No matter where or how, as long as she will have me, I will follow." She fell silent while pulling the robe over her head, giving Heidi more time to digest what she learned.
Silence reigned between them. Heidi had her eyes closed in thought while her old friend became presentable once more. The two of them then looked out into the distance, watching Reluxus.
In the end, Heidi broke the moment by wrapping her arms around Elisabeth, who stiffened before reciprocating. "Thank you for understanding," she muttered softly.
Heidi simply patted her back and squeezed a little tighter. "No need to thank me. We're friends and we will stay friends."
They held each other for long moments, basking in the simplicity of their ancient bond. When they separated, Heidi yawned loudly and sighed. "Ugh, I have been up for far too long. I should get home and catch some sleep. See you around, Liz."
She waved lazily, putting additional emphasis on the nickname Ichi pushed onto Elisabeth; not that it bothered the older woman, who simply smiled and waved back. "Stay safe, Heidi."
The casting of a spell later, Elisabeth stood alone under the evening sun. Feeling lighter but also heavier than she had for a while, more conflicted than she had in centuries. Her first real friend returned at last, on top of everything else she gained in recent years... and she had to lie to her.
She leaned onto the battlements and stared into the distance, where somewhere, she knew, Gabriel still hid with a group of survivors she gathered. A woman that had cost Elisabeth many of her treasured troops, and likely even her own brother; she never learned who placed the killing blow so long ago, but she could guess. She was in charge of tracking Gabriel down and prevent her from escaping Reluxus.
No one but a select few knew, not even the Dukes and Duchesses were aware that the Avatar of Light remained alive. It had taken years of harrying and would likely take even longer, but they would get her in the end.
Elisabeth was not happy having to lie to her friend, and she still considered Heidi to be one. In this regard however, her feelings made her choose against that friendship.
She dearly hoped it would hold through this or, preferably, for her old friend to never find out.
Founder of the Ashen Legion
Goddess Grey calls them 'her minions'
Goddess Grey calls them 'her minions'
-
(
Unified Darkness / Thirteenth HellGoddess Grey) Elisabeth -
A.K.A. The Gatekeeper / Commander of the Ashen Legion / Anime Eyes
- Stats
- Weapon
- Spells
- Abilities
- Battlefield Modifier
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- Location
- CA
It remains funny that being heterosexual and monogamous is unusual within Heidi's spheres.
Not sure how I feel about Gabriel being alive. On one hand, she's a very fun character to see, but on the other it feels like it undermines the sheer threat the UD represent as of prime. That being said, I enjoy how being a friend of Heidi's doesn't stop Elizabeth's quest for revenge.
Not sure how I feel about Gabriel being alive. On one hand, she's a very fun character to see, but on the other it feels like it undermines the sheer threat the UD represent as of prime. That being said, I enjoy how being a friend of Heidi's doesn't stop Elizabeth's quest for revenge.
- Location
- Earth
I mean, she will be dead around the start of mainline. That she still lives at this point was not my decision either way; I am just including it out of coincidence, like Elisabeth actually being on Reluxus because Goddess Grey has her home base there.
To clarify further, Gabriel having actually survived but was stuck in enemy territory for years before dying for real has been an in-setting detail since before this quest was even in the planning stages. This is just the first place it's shown up.
In this setting she may be the only strait magical girl period. Apparently because Gaia thinks is funny or something. She is ignoring that rule of being a magical girl. Heidi probably blew a bunch of those magical girl's minds with that factoid. She has mastered the concept of 'No', which is impressive and all she can ignore massive levels of negative HP for a while... but she managed to veto one of Gaia's rules without actually knowing it was a thing.
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
Nah, there's plenty of straight MG's. But since most of them are background characters, or of the one's people encounter their sexuality isn't revealed, while the non-straight MG's tend to be rather open about that fact(plus tend to cluster and interact with similar MG's), it gives a biased impression.
Crystalwatcher
(Verified GM)
- Location
- Limbo
It wasn't Gaia, it was my libido.
A good number of background characters are straight. Sin WEAPON is straight... much to Angel and Hero's shared frustration.
A good number of background characters are straight. Sin WEAPON is straight... much to Angel and Hero's shared frustration.
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
The Fire That Burns is also almost aggressively non-canon.
- Location
- Earth
Yeah, FTB is quite non-canon.
Although, being involved with that one, I can say that was more the QM wanting to work with unreliable sources (people think Gaia makes MGs like girls, but that is not actually the case and Gaia never clarified) and failing at doing anything with that.
E7 Champion of Light
- Location
- Earth
"It was quite the surprise indeed. You could have been a bit more polite to the guards."
Before her sat a woman whose presence could be felt even though it did not affect Heidi; a Valkyrie with grey hair and pure white wings, her armour foregone for a comfortable robe. Lucifer, or Lucy, as the human woman called her, carefully sipped from a cup of tea after her quip.
Heidi, her own silvery white hair bound into a tight ponytail, lowered the cookie she had been looking at and shrugged. "Sorry about that. Old habits, and I got used to it during my time with the UD; being commanding helps keep idiots from dumb ideas; I'm tiny in comparison to them, so a few thought they could muscle through me."
The younger woman finished her explanation by taking a bite out of the cookie after all; her eyes widened in surprise at the soft texture and faintly sweet taste. "That'sh good," she told the other two people present while chewing quickly to take another bite.
The third person sat at this table was only perceived by her, or rather only she could actually see them. It had been quite the pleasant surprise to encounter them here of all places. While without an actual face or what could be called a physical body, Neverwas nonetheless enjoyed the tea. Wherever it went.
Lucifer chuckled and nodded toward the seat that was empty for her, long since used to the Lesser Nightmare's presence. "I am sure he will be happy to hear that."
"Wait." Heidi quickly swallowed and turned her attention to Neverwas. "You made those? Teach me, I can't bake to save my life!"
An ethereal chuckle echoed through the room, audible only to Heidi herself. The Nightmare's headless hood moved a little. "I would not mind teaching you, friend. Baking is a nice pastime for when I am not busy sorting through documents and reports. Quite relaxing. Perhaps during your next visit?"
Heidi quickly nodded her agreement. "Sure, that's fine with me." Then another thought made her look from Neverwas to Lucifer curiously. "You two get along pretty well, don't you? How did you meet?"
The Nightmare nodded, as did the Valkyrie. "It took some getting used to," the latter mused before answering her other question: "Our meeting was a chance encounter some three or four hundred years ago. I will spare you the details, but Neverwas has been here with me ever since." She took another sip from her tea and smiled at the seated Neverwas. "We grew quite close."
"Convincing the remainder of her staff that I mean no harm was more difficult," Neverwas added after Lucifer finished. "But they came around over the years. You would not believe the difference that a few baked goods can do." The last bit came with another chuckle which Heidi shared; she currently had another cookie in her mouth and could attest to their quality.
Once she was not chewing on sweets for a few seconds, Heidi responded to her friends: "I see, that's good to hear." Then she averted her gaze sheepishly. "Though, uh, Lucy? With how the guards reacted and what I see, I can kind of tell you've got a strong presence, but I still have no idea how far you made it.
Her words were a bit of a jumble, but neither of the two minded it. Lucifer chuckled and took another sip from her tea. Her eyes were directed elsewhere, but Heidi could not say for sure where.
"I... became Selector not too long ago, together with a dear friend; it was already planned, but the loss of Grand Selector Hildr made the Legion forward the ceremony by a few decades." Heidi raised an eyebrow at that, not too surprised about the revelation; what bothered her was the other name she just heard.
"Hildr? She made Grand Selector?"
The now revealed Selector nodded. "Yes; she did speak of you in the past, now that I think of it. It is a shame you could not meet her again, though maybe you will do so anyway in due time." Lucy paused before sighing. "She went with Gabriel and fell on Reluxus. I think that is part of the reason they crowned me Grand Selector immediately after my appointment. Losing our Grand Archangel and the Grand Selector was a heavy hit to morale."
Lucy lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes for a moment, then she shook off whatever heavy thoughts she might have had; Heidi figured she should not interject at this point and let her friend speak. "It is a great honour either way, though also a great burden. As Grand Selector, I took command of the entire Valkyr Legion."
She sighed and refilled her tea. "You have met Bell on the way here?" A nod from Heidi, who was munching on a cookie again. "She is working directly under me and in charge of the Valhallan theater. Quite young for her position with about four hundred years, but she makes up for her lack of experience with impressive intelligence and foresight."
The human made an understanding sound and swallowed once more. "Wow, that's pretty high for both of you. Mind if I ask something ignorant?" When her friend motioned for her to continue, Heidi asked her current question: "What does the 'Grand' actually stand for?"
This brought Lucifer up short; the Angel blinked a few times and considered her response, not having expected this particular question. "Hm. In general, Heaven handles the hierarchy that way. Archangels and Selectors can be anyone, but it is a blessing only the oustanding receive. And of those, the most outstanding is the Grand Archangel and Grand Selector."
Which drew a parallel with the UD's creed of individual power that Heidi did not bring up. She merely listened as her friend explained: "Gabriel held her title for two millennia; due to her wisdom, ability, and kindness, everyone agreed to have her take command of not just Heaven's Host as is customary, but of the entire Unified Light."
Lucifer leaned back with a sigh, gulping down everything in her cup in one swing. "I still can not understand how she did it all by herself," she admitted to the two of them. "Father and I already run ourselves ragged overseeing False Heaven, and she also had a close eye on the Elven and Fairy affairs all on her own. I was on her command staff for a long time, I know she barely delegated anything to others."
Neverwas quietly pushed a tray of cookies closer to Lucifer as she complained; moments after she finished, she immediately grabbed for it and stuffed her face in a manner most of her underlings would have found improper. A display of frustration only they were allowed to see.
Heidi merely listened and could only offer a weak smile. "Well... Gabriel was crazy to do it all by herself. Delegating is important, too." She took up another cookie to nibble on as well. "I think you'll do fine. Your father was Michael, right?"
"Yes, he is. Is something the matter?"
Heidi shook her head in response. "Not really, just curious." She had heard about it in passing before, and it made for a good distraction from both work and the friend that was now lost. Which reminded her that she had to talk to Gabriel sooner or later.
Now however, her mind returned to another lost friend. As if the Angel had read her mind, she carefully eyed Heidi. "If it is alright, would you be willing to tell me more about my predecessor? You have been spending much time with her, yes?"
She nodded, though curiousity got the better of her: "It's weird, though. Lu was an enemy of all that you stand for; why are you so interested in her?"
At that, Lucifer only shrugged and fell into her own thoughts. Neverwas, however, took up the conversation in her stead; from how Heidi's head turned to him, the Angel knew it as well. "From what we spoke about before, Lucy sees not only her deeds, but also her reasons. Fallen Lucifer lived a painful life and grew accordingly, thus her successor can not cast judgement on her this easily. She wants to bring new glory to their name not only for herself, but to be the person her predecessor was never allowed to be."
Heidi nodded slowly as she listened, considering what was said about her friend. She sighed and poured herself some more tea as well, then leaned back. "Okay, ask. I'll tell you if I know."
Before her sat a woman whose presence could be felt even though it did not affect Heidi; a Valkyrie with grey hair and pure white wings, her armour foregone for a comfortable robe. Lucifer, or Lucy, as the human woman called her, carefully sipped from a cup of tea after her quip.
Heidi, her own silvery white hair bound into a tight ponytail, lowered the cookie she had been looking at and shrugged. "Sorry about that. Old habits, and I got used to it during my time with the UD; being commanding helps keep idiots from dumb ideas; I'm tiny in comparison to them, so a few thought they could muscle through me."
The younger woman finished her explanation by taking a bite out of the cookie after all; her eyes widened in surprise at the soft texture and faintly sweet taste. "That'sh good," she told the other two people present while chewing quickly to take another bite.
The third person sat at this table was only perceived by her, or rather only she could actually see them. It had been quite the pleasant surprise to encounter them here of all places. While without an actual face or what could be called a physical body, Neverwas nonetheless enjoyed the tea. Wherever it went.
Lucifer chuckled and nodded toward the seat that was empty for her, long since used to the Lesser Nightmare's presence. "I am sure he will be happy to hear that."
"Wait." Heidi quickly swallowed and turned her attention to Neverwas. "You made those? Teach me, I can't bake to save my life!"
An ethereal chuckle echoed through the room, audible only to Heidi herself. The Nightmare's headless hood moved a little. "I would not mind teaching you, friend. Baking is a nice pastime for when I am not busy sorting through documents and reports. Quite relaxing. Perhaps during your next visit?"
Heidi quickly nodded her agreement. "Sure, that's fine with me." Then another thought made her look from Neverwas to Lucifer curiously. "You two get along pretty well, don't you? How did you meet?"
The Nightmare nodded, as did the Valkyrie. "It took some getting used to," the latter mused before answering her other question: "Our meeting was a chance encounter some three or four hundred years ago. I will spare you the details, but Neverwas has been here with me ever since." She took another sip from her tea and smiled at the seated Neverwas. "We grew quite close."
"Convincing the remainder of her staff that I mean no harm was more difficult," Neverwas added after Lucifer finished. "But they came around over the years. You would not believe the difference that a few baked goods can do." The last bit came with another chuckle which Heidi shared; she currently had another cookie in her mouth and could attest to their quality.
Once she was not chewing on sweets for a few seconds, Heidi responded to her friends: "I see, that's good to hear." Then she averted her gaze sheepishly. "Though, uh, Lucy? With how the guards reacted and what I see, I can kind of tell you've got a strong presence, but I still have no idea how far you made it.
Her words were a bit of a jumble, but neither of the two minded it. Lucifer chuckled and took another sip from her tea. Her eyes were directed elsewhere, but Heidi could not say for sure where.
"I... became Selector not too long ago, together with a dear friend; it was already planned, but the loss of Grand Selector Hildr made the Legion forward the ceremony by a few decades." Heidi raised an eyebrow at that, not too surprised about the revelation; what bothered her was the other name she just heard.
"Hildr? She made Grand Selector?"
The now revealed Selector nodded. "Yes; she did speak of you in the past, now that I think of it. It is a shame you could not meet her again, though maybe you will do so anyway in due time." Lucy paused before sighing. "She went with Gabriel and fell on Reluxus. I think that is part of the reason they crowned me Grand Selector immediately after my appointment. Losing our Grand Archangel and the Grand Selector was a heavy hit to morale."
Lucy lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes for a moment, then she shook off whatever heavy thoughts she might have had; Heidi figured she should not interject at this point and let her friend speak. "It is a great honour either way, though also a great burden. As Grand Selector, I took command of the entire Valkyr Legion."
She sighed and refilled her tea. "You have met Bell on the way here?" A nod from Heidi, who was munching on a cookie again. "She is working directly under me and in charge of the Valhallan theater. Quite young for her position with about four hundred years, but she makes up for her lack of experience with impressive intelligence and foresight."
The human made an understanding sound and swallowed once more. "Wow, that's pretty high for both of you. Mind if I ask something ignorant?" When her friend motioned for her to continue, Heidi asked her current question: "What does the 'Grand' actually stand for?"
This brought Lucifer up short; the Angel blinked a few times and considered her response, not having expected this particular question. "Hm. In general, Heaven handles the hierarchy that way. Archangels and Selectors can be anyone, but it is a blessing only the oustanding receive. And of those, the most outstanding is the Grand Archangel and Grand Selector."
Which drew a parallel with the UD's creed of individual power that Heidi did not bring up. She merely listened as her friend explained: "Gabriel held her title for two millennia; due to her wisdom, ability, and kindness, everyone agreed to have her take command of not just Heaven's Host as is customary, but of the entire Unified Light."
Lucifer leaned back with a sigh, gulping down everything in her cup in one swing. "I still can not understand how she did it all by herself," she admitted to the two of them. "Father and I already run ourselves ragged overseeing False Heaven, and she also had a close eye on the Elven and Fairy affairs all on her own. I was on her command staff for a long time, I know she barely delegated anything to others."
Neverwas quietly pushed a tray of cookies closer to Lucifer as she complained; moments after she finished, she immediately grabbed for it and stuffed her face in a manner most of her underlings would have found improper. A display of frustration only they were allowed to see.
Heidi merely listened and could only offer a weak smile. "Well... Gabriel was crazy to do it all by herself. Delegating is important, too." She took up another cookie to nibble on as well. "I think you'll do fine. Your father was Michael, right?"
"Yes, he is. Is something the matter?"
Heidi shook her head in response. "Not really, just curious." She had heard about it in passing before, and it made for a good distraction from both work and the friend that was now lost. Which reminded her that she had to talk to Gabriel sooner or later.
Now however, her mind returned to another lost friend. As if the Angel had read her mind, she carefully eyed Heidi. "If it is alright, would you be willing to tell me more about my predecessor? You have been spending much time with her, yes?"
She nodded, though curiousity got the better of her: "It's weird, though. Lu was an enemy of all that you stand for; why are you so interested in her?"
At that, Lucifer only shrugged and fell into her own thoughts. Neverwas, however, took up the conversation in her stead; from how Heidi's head turned to him, the Angel knew it as well. "From what we spoke about before, Lucy sees not only her deeds, but also her reasons. Fallen Lucifer lived a painful life and grew accordingly, thus her successor can not cast judgement on her this easily. She wants to bring new glory to their name not only for herself, but to be the person her predecessor was never allowed to be."
Heidi nodded slowly as she listened, considering what was said about her friend. She sighed and poured herself some more tea as well, then leaned back. "Okay, ask. I'll tell you if I know."
Greatest of Valhalla
The true Avatar of Victory
The true Avatar of Victory
- (Unified Light/False Heaven) Grand Selector Lucifer
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A.K.A. Lucy
Supreme Commander of the Valkyr Legion
I am Gabriel's successor, there is no denying it. I refuse to let the light she fought so hard to preserve be extinguished. No matter the cost, no matter what I need to give for that. No matter how long or how hard I have to fight.
How ironic. I succeed the duty of the greatest warrior of the light, while my name once belonged to its greatest enemy. She would laugh about it, too. No, both of them would. - Stats
- Weapon
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- Abilities
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