The Goddess of Duty and Loss attempted to resist Aperio's mental grasp, trying to get her Dominion to hold off the unseen intruder. Sadly for Epemirial, it did nothing to stop the will of the All-Mother from being forced upon the realm. A moment later, Aperio held the Goddess by her neck — her desire to just squeeze and end it all bigger than she had previously thought.

"Hello," she greeted, letting Epemirial crumble to the invisible ground. A small flex of her mental muscles caused the Goddess of Duty and Loss to stand up straight, much like a puppeteer pulling the strings of their marionette. "It is time to answer for your crimes."

The Goddess did not reply immediately, but instead just stared at the All-Mother as if she could not quite believe what she saw. "You had to know I was back," Aperio said, taking a step closer. "Even Vigil and Inanis knew, and they do not hold as much sway as you do."

"I have nothing to say to you," Epemirial hissed through clenched teeth. "Do what you must."

A small touch of Aperio's magic caused some of her mana to wrap around Epemirial's Soul, preventing the Goddess’ own mana from accessing it. "I have seen that trick before," she said. "And I won't let it end in death again."

While her mana flowed around the Goddess' Soul, Aperio took the opportunity to inspect the glowing orb as well. She did not expect to find runes or anything else engraved upon it — the Goddess behind that vile idea likely not stupid enough to try it on herself.

Much to her surprise, however, there were a few formations present on Epemirial's Soul. They were small, perfectly clear and quite unlike the previous examples Aperio had seen. The Goddess of Duty and Loss did not have the marks of slavery to tarnish her Soul. Instead, the runes came together in a formation that was supposed to channel mana into the Soul itself: an endeavour that did not work on the mana under Aperio's control.

Judging from the slightly widened eyes of the Goddess in her mental grasp, that particular quirk of the All-Mother's mana had not been part of the plan. "Did you think you could take what is mine?"

"You have no right to any of this," Epemirial hissed. "You never had!"

"I made it," Aperio said, taking another step forward and raising the Goddess a little so she could take a good look at who she held captive. "You are the one who has no right to do what you are doing.

"Experimenting on Souls?" she continued, tightening her mental grasp. "For what? So you can grow stronger by taking the mana of entire worlds? So you can take my place?"

The Goddess struggled in her grasp for a moment, fruitlessly trying to draw on her own magic. How can she be responsible for all of this? Did I just really want to… die? Aperio suddenly let go of Epemirial, the magic that had held the Goddess aloft simply vanishing.

She ignored the grunt of pain that came from the woman as she hit the invisible ground. How does that even hurt you? You're a Goddess.

"Why?" Aperio asked, looking at the woman at her feet.

Epemirial propped herself up, her arms shaking as they struggled to support her weight. "You enslaved us all with that System of yours," she said, clearly out of breath. "And you tell me that once I do the same it's suddenly wrong?"

"You drained worlds of mana — and stole Souls — to build an abomination that thought it could make a better world by killing everyone," the All-Mother said. "How does that compare to a System that enables every mortal to achieve what they want?"

Aperio furrowed her brows as no reply came. The Goddess of Duty and Loss lay on her side, her breathing now so shallow that the All-Mother barely noticed it. Aperio lowered herself, a touch of her magic keeping her dress out of the way, and placed a hand on Epemirial's chest as she tried to figure out why the woman was so pale and out of breath.

"What's wrong with her?" Caethya asked, stepping up beside Aperio only to be blocked by a wing.

"I do not know," the All-Mother replied. Search though she might, she was unable to find anything wrong. Is it because I blocked her Soul?

A thought let a sliver of mana flow from Epemirial's Soul into her body, causing the Goddess to gasp and turn. She took deep breaths, coughing again and again as if she had drowned and was trying to rid her lungs of water.

"You enslave us," she rasped, taking another breath. "Torture me" — another cough interrupted her words — "And you have the audacity to question me?"

Aperio sighed as she stood up again. Are they all stupid? None of the deities affiliated with the Repens Nabu had made any amount of sense once she had captured them. They all just started accusing her of things she either did not do, or could not remember. And they know that I can't remember… Right?

"I made sure you did not try to destroy your own soul like Miesto tried to," Aperio said. An unneeded wave of her hand caused reality to twist apart and Epemirial to appear on a sofa that the All-Mother had just conjured. "I did not enslave you, nor do I torture you. I know how that feels; I have been through both. This does not compare."

You're just closer to a mortal now, Aperio thought.

"I made you a Goddess," the All-Mother continued, "and you repay me by having me live a life as a slave? Why?"

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It made no sense to Aperio — the only reasons she could think of being jealousy, or a misplaced fear that she would cast them down if she found out what they were doing. But I knew what they were doing then and did nothing. Perhaps she should thank them for teaching her the error of her ways, but she doubted that was their goal — no matter what Epemirial claimed now. It just doesn't add up.

Their actions and words were so far apart that the All-Mother was starting to believe that they suffered from delusions, mental or otherwise. A small flex of her mental muscle caused a bit more of her mana to flow through Epemirial and the nothing surrounding her. If she was under some form of illusion spell, Aperio would know soon enough.

"And I thought I would finally get some answers…" the All-Mother mumbled, looking at the Goddess at her feet. Useless, she thought, letting the sofa upon which Epemirial sat disappear. If she did not know what Epemirial had done, she might have felt pity for the woman, but as it stood, Aperio had to constantly tell herself that she would bring Epemirial to the Court to be judged. …Could have summoned her directly there.

"So what do we do if she does not talk?" Caethya asked. "Find another member of their group?" She sighed. "I am starting to feel like they don't know why they are doing this themselves."

"I know what I am doing," Epemirial said, her voice still rough from the previous ordeal. "You are the ones that are blind to the truth."

"Your truth is slavery for everyone that does not offer their all to you," Aperio snapped, drawing a bit of her Void into the white abyss. She breathed in, the black nothing filling her lungs as a calming comfort spread through her very being.

"Fuck your truth."

Her words carried her anger a bit too well as Epemirial was physically pressed into the nothing by the mana that accompanied them. Aperio did not care about that, however, as she set her mind back to looking through Epemirial's Dominion. There has to be something.

The All-Mother refused to believe that the Goddess of Duty and Loss had nothing in her Dominion that could help her understand what had happened. Or do I have to look at her memories somehow? Moria had made it seem like she could look at someone's memories even without a crystal, but Aperio was fairly certain that it would require some tactics she would rather not use. If I can even do that.

Aperio was still not quite sure how that would work. The memories Moria had shown her had been neatly packed into a crystal as easily-understood magic; it was just mana that carried information about the past instead of instructions on how to make a fireball or something else.

For a memory that was still in someone’s Soul, Aperio doubted it was that easy. Doesn't help that I don't know how any of that works. She might know what a Soul was and what it did, but she did not know how it stored information or actually channeled mana. Messing with something so vital seemed like a bad idea. Not that the Repens Nabu cared about that.

With a shake of her head, Aperio twisted reality apart, bringing Caethya, Epemirial, and herself into the [Court of Heaven]. She let most of her mana recede away from the Goddess' Soul, trusting in the modifications she had made to this realm to take care of most of the shenanigans Epemirial could come up with. The possibility that she might try to destroy her own Soul was there, but that was why Aperio had left a bit of her mana behind and dedicated a small part of her mind to observation.

A Celestial in a dark blue robe bowed slightly at their arrival, seemingly unconcerned that the Goddess of Duty and Loss was crawling on all fours. "Welcome. Your arrival has been anticipated and we have prepared a room for you." The robed figure motioned towards one of the decorated doors that lined the wall. "If you would follow me."

Aperio only gave a nod in reply, dragging the Goddess of Duty and Loss behind her with but a thought. There were a few other people in the entrance of the Court; most of them were Celestials that obviously worked for the divine institution, but some were mere mortals that looked at their small group with wide eyes. Do they recognise Epemirial? …Or me?

The Court did feature more than a few murals that depicted her with surprising accuracy. Even the wings, she thought. Didn't Ferio say I had no wings in the past? She dismissed the thought for now, as getting answers out of Epemirial was more important than figuring out why a mural of her past self had wings.

"Please wait inside," the Celestial said after they had crossed the short distance towards the already prepared room and opened the door. "The Judges will be with you shortly."

"Thank you," Aperio said, stepping into the room. The Celestial only nodded, leaving once everyone had stepped inside.

"Warn me next time," Caethya said, briefly touching Aperio's arm as she passed her. "Being teleported around is weird."

"I will try," the All-Mother said, setting her eyes on the by-now standing Goddess of Duty and Loss. "Do you have anything to say before the Judges arrive?

"Anything of value, that is," she added on as Epemirial opened her mouth to presumably tell her how she was enslaving everyone with a System she did not even directly control. "You telling me how I am the greatest evil to ever exist is not something of value."

The Goddess of Duty and Loss simply stared at her for a moment before she sat herself down on one of the chairs. "I know that I did the right thing," she said. "Sacrifices had to be made so all worlds could live a better life. Yours in particular did not work. You still live — never truly died like you were supposed to — and thus refuse to let us live in peace. We therefore needed to try something else."

"Ah, yes — sacrificing entire worlds so you can grow stronger. How noble," Aperio snorted. "You would fit right in with the scum that inhabited the Inaru Empire. Maybe I should send you to them?"

A hand sneaking past her wings and resting on the small of her back caused Aperio to hesitate. The soothing voice of Caethya that followed stopped the magic she had started to weave around Epemirial for good. "Let the Judges handle her, please."

"They do not understand the extent of her crimes," Aperio said, pulling her eyes off of the Goddess after a moment. "Cannot understand them."

"They can listen to you, though," the Demigoddess countered. "Killing her won't solve the problem and it won’t get us any answers.

"She obviously does not want to tell you what she did," Caethya continued. She hesitated for a moment before speaking her next words. "Maybe she is actually saying what she believes to be true. Fact is, we need information and our best bet is the Judges."

Aperio squinted at the all-too-calm Goddess of Duty and Loss, brushing her hand over the armlet. The slight tingle that danced across her fingers was calming in a way. Just what she needed at the moment.

"Fine," she said. "We will wait."