Chapter 23: Introduction.

(*Celia’s POV*)

Girl Who Popped Out of Nowhere: “My name is Viva, and I am a Princess of Eloateilian.” She said with a curtsy.

Celia: “Oh? It’s a pleasure to meet a fellow Princess, Lady Viva.” I say with a curtsy of my own.

Viva: “Apologies for the late introduction, and listening in on your conversation. But I assure you that it was for a good reason.” She said with a remorseful tone.

Ria: “What kind of reason? Whatever it is, I am more interested in how you managed to appear invisible to even me.” She said with a curious tone.

Viva: “Queen Yona adopting a child, wasn’t something that we expected, nor something that she ever mentioned to my mother. As such, she requested of me to make sure that Yona wasn’t being controlled.” She answered.

Celia: “I see, but you dodged Ria’s question.” I say.

Viva: “It’s just a little secret, I am sorry but I cannot explain my method to any of you.” She replied.

Celia: “Fine, but you mentioned a vessel, right?” I ask.

Viva: “Yes, I did. You see, there is a friend of mine that is attending this academy. I was happy to be able to meet up with her after so long, but she isn’t the person that I once knew anymore.” She replied.

Celia: “You want us to kill someone, and use their body for Mena, just because you aren’t friends with her anymore?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

Viva: “Goddess no. It’s just that she has been possessed by an evil demon. I’ve already checked, her soul is no longer with her body. She has long since been dead, and that evil demon is parading around in her body, living out her life.” She said with a sad tone and expression.

Looking at Ria, she gave me a nod. Ah, so Viva is telling the truth, I see. I need to make sure not to abuse Ria’s ability to just peek into anyone’s mind…

Celia: “So? How do we go about this?” I ask.

Viva: “Oh, I already have her imprisoned within my estate at this academy. We just have to go there and then we can do the swap. Though, are any of you capable of doing such a thing?” She replied.

Celia: “Sorta? Anyway, I do know someone who can help with that. Ria, can you…” I say before my words were cut off.

Despite me not even finishing my request, Ria had teleported away and then teleported back with Nia in tow. Right… I forgot that she can see into the future. Wait… if she can do that, then why was she surprised about Viva?

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Ria: “She wasn’t involved in the future I saw, Celia. These things happen sometimes.” She answered in my head.

Ah, so that’s what happened. I guess that it’s good to not exactly know what each and every day will bring you. Something like that would actually drive me insane…

Nia: “Ria already explained everything to me, shall we depart right away?” She asked.

Viva: “That would be best, but will you be able to separate their souls?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nia: “Don’t go around telling people this, but I am Death Goddess. Souls are straight up in my job description.” She replied with a proud tone and expression.

Viva: “…Lady Celia, how many Goddesses do you even know?” She asked with spiral eyes.

Celia: “Hm? Ah, not that many in the grand scheme of things.” I reply with a shrug.

Viva seemed dumbfounded, but only for a few minutes. After she regained her calm, she guided us to her estate. It was nowhere near as fancy and modern as our estate, but it was still pretty nice in the end.

She then led us to where she was keeping the evil demon. The girl was chained to the wall in the basement, but she didn’t really look like she cared at all.

Evil Demon: “And? Who have you brought this time? You already know the outcome, your friend is gone, just kill me already. I am getting bored.” She said with a nonchalant tone.

Nia: “Any last words? I’ll have you know, I am a Death Goddess, so I can easily deal with your soul.” She asked.

Evil Demon: “Why not just kill me? I am confused. If you release my soul, you will have to fight me in my spiritual form. And I will not be going down without a fight.” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mena: “You’ll have to fight her? This might be too much work just to get a vessel…” She said with an unsure tone.

Celia: “It’s fine. We’ve done this before already.” I reply with a shrug.

Viva: “You have!? Lady Celia, I’ve barely known you for a few minutes, and I think that I’ve already found out why Yona adopted you as her daughter.” She said with a sigh.

Really? I feel like there are more reasons why Yona did that than Viva thinks there are… Ah, I’ll just let her figure the rest out on her own. It’s more funny that way.

Doing as she did before with Amelie and Lia, she separated the evil demon’s soul from the vessel it took over. You see, this is where I miscalculated…

The demon was strong, very, very strong. Stronger than both Yooni and that other evil demon combined… The fight happened almost instantly, and all of us were pushed to our limits.

Mena: “Ah! I knew that this was a bad idea!” She exclaimed.

Celia: “Ria! Go get Yona and Solia! We need their help with this one!” I yell.

Ria: “I can’t leave you all alone to fight her. I’ve already contacted them, we just have to keep fighting her until they show up.” She replied with a grunt after blocking a strike from the demon.

Celia: “Wait… aren’t you stronger than her?” I ask after dodging a strike as well.

Ria: “I am, but I will explain it to you later.” She replied.

Ruina: “I’ll explain it for you, Celia! Ria is very powerful, yes, and she can easily one-shot this demon. But she cannot do so.” She said in my head.

Celia: “Huh? Why not?” I ask in my head.

Ruina: “She can mostly do as she pleases, but she cannot do anything that drastically changes the course of history. This demon is a key part of it, so she cannot use her full force, or even kill her for us.” She explained.

Well shit… I really should have thought this through before I went along with Viva’s plan… Yada yada, Viva is cute, so I forgive her. You already know this song and dance. Now we just have to deal with this demon until our strongest members show up…