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Adho returned to the table silently, basking in the terrified stares of the rest of the guests. Behind him, the golden-auraed god that had banished Hifumi sat motionlessly, staring into nothing.
Adho took out the small metal object again, rolled it once more, looked at the result, and turned to the floating guest, nodding simply. The floating guest returned the nod, rising easily, and departing with Adho to another nearby table without a word.
The game continued silently, the attention of everyone at the table focused on Adho and the floating guest. Unlike the first, the floating guest appeared much more casual toward Adho, although reverence was still clear in their body language. The floating guest has a mission, Hifumi remembered. It was not impossible that Adho was the one who had assigned it to them, given how casual they were with each other.
Hifumi glanced at the distant conversation between her sister (She would know that aura anywhere) and a top-heavy demon. It was only the faintest remnants of her self-control and her fear-frozen body that kept her from dashing over to embrace her. Hfumi could scarcely imagine what she would feel if something were to happen to Yuuki, and even from this distance, she could feel the deep despair that had taken root in her sister’s heart, presumably from the news of Hifumi’s disappearance.
Her sister laughed at something her conversation partner had said and took a dark object in her hand, sending shivers down Hifumi’s spine. The sound of her laughter, bright as it was, seemed drowned out by the constant droning un-noise of Adho’s anti-presence.
Hifumi tore her attention away from her sister, and back toward Adho, who had just arrived at the table again. The conversation between Adho and the floating guest had been longer than between Adho and the golden-auraed god, though not by too much. It took several long minutes before it ended, and when they finished, both returned to the table seemingly satisfied, the floating guest retaking their seat and picking back up their cards without hesitation.
Once more Adho drew the metal object and rolled it, and after analyzing it for a moment, he looked to Hifumi, his anti-attention washing over her in a freezing wave. “Shall we?” his voice droned, causing several players to suddenly choke on nothing at the un-sound of his noiseless speech.
Hifumi stole one more glance at her sister, another to Nahi, and then rose from her seat.
She left her hand of cards on the table, facing down.
There was still a chance of victory if she played them right.
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They sat at the same table that Adho had sat at with the floating demon, not so far from the games table that they were out of sight, but too far for anything said to be overheard.
Adho, a truly empty silhouette that made the demons around her seem like bright lights in comparison, sat silently for a moment like a judge determining guilt.
When he spoke, his voice did not reverberate, like Akira’s had when Hifumi had heard her speak once. Rather, it seemed to blend into the ambient noise, being somehow perceptible while not being audible. “Congratulations on your ascension,” his almost grandfatherly voice sounded. “Are you proud?”
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“I am,” Hifumi answered honestly. She was proud. She had reattained godhood plenty of times during her adventures as mortal races, but this was the first time she had ascended to godhood. “It feels. . . good.”
Her ascension, no matter how painful and violent, and no matter the events that led to it, had been one of the best moments she had ever experienced. The exhilaration of destroying her slavers, no matter her failure to kill the young royal who she had been gifted to, had been cathartic like no other act and was the memory she replayed over and over when she had trouble falling asleep.
Adho hummed, a semi-tone that could have been positive, or perhaps curious. “I am as well. None of my creations have achieved such a deed before.” Hifumi felt a swell of pride in that moment, at the notion that he was proud of her. That she really was the orc that she had pretended to be, and not just a god wearing an orc’s skin.
“And I am just as proud of your other recent achievement,” Adho’s voice was wearing a smile. “Though I must ask: what do you plan to do with it?”
Words came easier now, practically spilling from her lips. “I want to make a second universe. One of my own, with life of my own creation,” she said, perhaps slightly hysterically. She could not blame herself though. The act had taken her so long and had been a catalyst in perhaps the largest emotional breakdown of her millennia-length existence.
Adho laughed good-naturedly under his non-breath. “A goal worth praise, to be certain. I’ll be sure to keep a close eye. How has Nahi been?”
“Nahi is. . .” Kind. Selfless. Grandfatherly and mothering at the same time. An island of stability in a sea of uncertainty. The anchor she fastened her sanity to. The silhouette of a bright light that guided her whenever she needed it.
Adho’s smile didn’t waver at her vocal silence. “Fascinating. I would not have predicted such an effect when I first crafted them, but it seems they are doing even better than I hoped.”
Hifumi couldn’t even be shocked that Adho had sensed her thoughts. Adho was a being of immense power, akin to Akira. Truthfully, she would’ve been surprised if he couldn’t sense thoughts.
Focus.
“Why celebrate my ascension so openly?” It didn’t make much sense. None of the interpretations of the Dark One would have hosted a party and invited their worst enemies unless it was a trap, which this by now was obviously not.
Adho’s vocal smile turned to an animalistic grin. “You’re correct that it is not a trap. In truth, it is a game. A taunt. I want Akira to be afraid. To fear what comes next, to fear not just what I do, but what I could do. And besides,” Adho gestured widely. “I wanted to bring you into the fold. To introduce you to my other creations. What fun is there in being alone?”
Hifumi looked back to the table. Most of the guests there shied away from the gaze of her and Adho, but a handful didn’t.
Nahi. The floating guest. The blade-limbed demon. The white-cloaked demon. They met her eyes without apology, exemption, or fear.
They met her eyes as equals.
She felt herself smile under her wrappings. A feral grin spread across her face, one to match Adho’s.
Time to go make some friends.
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