A short time later, Jordan found himself staring down the barrel of death.

…kind of.

The dark eyes of the Koi-Devil looked up at him, staring into his soul—whispering in his mind with indistinguishable voices. The black pits sparkled with a mysterious intellect, containing a sense of unyielding determination as they leered at Jordan, socketed in a bulbous head too large to be feasible. Poking its head out of the pond’s surface, the Koi-Devil spun dangerously, like a shark examining its prey, before it… spun about playfully? Almost as if begging for a treat or affection, before darting back into the depths… shyly?

What the actual fuck man? Jordan let out a long suffering sigh.

The waters that flowed through the garden were quite something, Jordan marveled. They followed no straight path, and the entire area had many different layers and bridges traveling about. Constant tiny waterfalls crashed along fast moving streams that bordered, cut through, and wove an unseen pattern amongst the stone pathways.

This particular ‘little’ devil had shot up over said waterfalls, soaring through the air over both the path and Jordan, before landing in a stream next to him. It had scared the ever-loving bejesus out of Jordan by doing so. As Jordan was grimacing at the fresh memory, the Koi-Devil popped back up. It swam in place, opposing the light current of water and… stared at him again. Begging him? He could swear it was grinning. Could fish grin?

Jordan had been talked into going on a walk by Catella—something about him having promised the day before—and was currently ‘enjoying’ the splendors of the Estate’s seemingly unending gardens. He was happy enough to stretch his legs after having to chug another healing potion after Catella’s latest ‘hug.’

Is it actually safe for me to be left alone with her? Jordan eyed his surrogate sister warily. She was a sweetheart, yes, but also really friggin’ dangerous!

Jordan eyed said danger child warily as she leaned down to pat the ‘fishie.’ Koi-Devils, as he’d been informed by a servant earlier, did appear at a glance, to be rather koi-like. These particular fish were an innocent-looking orange with white splotches, but every time they smiled Jordan couldn’t help but notice the rather un-koi-like rows upon rows of teeth.

The Koi-Devil Catella was smothering affection with, looked pleased as punch though—rolling over several times as though it couldn’t decide if it wanted belly pats or head pats more. With some alarm, Jordan could hear what sounded like miniature torpedoes making their way towards them, and decided now might be a great time to beat a retreat. He did not want to risk being tackled to death by a mutant magikarp!

Making his way along the curving landscape, Jordan guessed at what he hoped was the main walkway. It was hard to tell, as the whole garden seemed designed to be antagonistic to the concept of straight lines and simple geometric shapes. Even the periodic benches scattered about were curved!

With a huff, and after he had a healthy distance away from the waters, Jordan popped a squat on an available marble-like seat. He wasn’t exactly tired, but he was feeling over-stimulated. How could walking through a garden feel so much like being dragged through a mall? It might be the flowery smells making me think of girl’s stores, he reminisced.

Every five feet there seemed to be a new display of bushes, flowers, or sculptures of stone. And most had precious metals or gemstone accents just… out in the open! The way it kept him walking in circuitous routes made him worry he’d never be able to leave. Thankfully there seemed to be a gardener or servant around every bend—after all, he wasn’t trusting Catella to navigate back. She got lost in her own damn house.

“Are you doing okay, Big Sis?” Catella called out after setting her fish back in the water. She had lifted the poor thing into the air and gave it a full body hug goodbye. The thing was half her size!

Jordan thought about scolding her for her inappropriate pet treatment, but the fish just looked so damn pleased with itself. It was perfectly capable of becoming an airborne SAM after all—so maybe the two of them were missile buddies? Jordan grinned at his own joke as his adopted sister approached before gasping in shock as he saw the water flowing off her apparently hydrophobic dress.

Well then. That’ll help with laundry, he supposed.

“Eh, yeah Cat.” he answered her when she was in comfortable talking distance, “Fine as I can be, I guess. Just tired. Mentally at least.” He added the qualifier when he saw the concerned look on his new sister’s face.

She seemed to understand well enough though, and sat down next to Jordan, cuddling up close. He allowed it, as it was better to be cuddled then power slammed by the small warhead. Though, he was starting to feel overcrowded compared to his normally hermit-like lifestyle, despite all the warm fuzzy feelings of early morning.

“Is there anything I can do to help, Big Sis? I’m sure you have lots of questions… I can probably answer some of them!” Jordan looked over to see the child’s face filled with Koi-Devil levels of determination. He couldn’t help the [Perfect Smile] that crept onto his features.

Catella relaxed when she saw his smile, and to Jordan’s own surprise he found himself holding her while lightly brushing at her hair. Much like the Brat’s mother had done with him.

“I don’t know, there’s just… a lot to process. Sometimes I don’t even know what I’ve asked about or what I need to ask about, or where to start asking! I mean, it’s only been, like, four days now, but I already feel like it’s been years!” Jordan gesticulated animatedly in his frustration.

It felt like half the time he’d been here he hadn’t even been thinking straight. That probably hadn’t been helped by his habit of… tuning people out.

The tiny brat looked thoughtful for a moment, before she spoke up with a suggestion. “How about you look over your Status? Maybe if you get to see it all it will make more sense?”

Oh. Oh right! Of course there would be a status page—this is HMIA after all. “Okay, let’s do that! Where do I begin anyway? Do I just… will it into being?”

Catella cocked her head in confusion. “Huh?”

Jordan met her confusion with equal measure. “Like, how do I summon the menu, or whatever? I mean, I can say menu, so I assume it has to exist. Or well, I suppose the… the… er, right, I can’t say that word—the Sphrantzes guy said menu before. A-anyway, how do I summon the status menu? Is there a key word or something?”

“No…? You have to use a deviss to see your menus.”

“Device, you mean. Really though? I can’t just say… Summon Menu!” Jordan raised his arms expectantly, waggling fingers in the air… but nothing happened.

Ugh… it always works that way in anime though! He scowled.

Catella laughed, “Hehe, no Big Sis! I think there are stories about people using Skills to make menus, but that was a loooooong time ago. No one does that kind of thing now; they use magic items!”

“Er… why would they use items? Wouldn’t using skills work better?”

It seemed utterly ridiculous to Jordan that he’d need an item to see his menu. What game used items to see menus? He was sure he’d seen menus in HMIA’s game trailers. Had they really been from items?

“Well, I don’t think People do it because it would take a long time to get Skills that worked. It also can’t be as good as magic items without even more Skills. Unless you had a really weird Class too, it wouldn’t work. It would be… er, out of Class… learning? Yeah, that’s it! It would all count as out of class stuff!” She gave a small, sagely nod at her tiny wisdom. Jordan just stared at her.

He remembered from all the hype around HMIA that classes were… weird. People loved them well enough though—they were entirely free form. There were no ‘set’ classes, and since the game had a massive single player game mode, it was designed to allow people to experiment.

While builds over a certain ‘power level’ weren’t allowed in the more extensive online gameplay features, he did know there were tournaments where broken builds competed. And since the AI kept improving, expanding, and perfecting the game—people got pretty hooked on the endless grind towards virtual power.

Which meant Jordan was… well, pretty much fucked when it came down to it.

How was he going to make a class without access to wikis and online tutorials? He was almost certainly stuck with whichever class was most readily viable for him. It would probably be based on whatever the stupid Brat had been working towards. Something with rituals? He hated magic builds!

And who got stuck in a game world and didn’t even get to make a fresh character? He would be even more limited given his six month deadline towards entering the Academy, which would probably mean… he’d just have to go with whatever was easiest.

Great. That’s so depressing, I’m probably going to need more anti-depressant juice from the old man now.

“Oh wise Senpai of the Koi-Devils, please share with me your wisdom.” Jordan intoned majestically, entirely as a sarcastic joke to himself, but Catella seemed incredibly pleased by it. He followed up asking, “Do you have your, ah, menu-item-thing with you? I’m pretty sure I don’t have one with me.”

Jordan went to pat at his pockets dramatically, only to notice that, once again, his dress didn’t have any! That brought another frown to his face. He could already tell he was not going to appreciate that particular feature missing from his forced attire going forward. Maybe he could ask Usiu to do something about that?

“Sorry,” Catella said. “I don’t carry my slate with me. But we can go get it! Follow me!”

With that, the tiny ball of energy burst up and away as the ground tremored dangerously. Jordan watched in open-mouthed awe as the child leapt more than six feet into the air and traveled a dozen yards in an instant. Her wild leaps looked a lot different when he wasn’t the target, after all.

An odd noise nearby drew Jordan’s attention. Several Koi-Devils in a pond behind him that he hadn’t seen seemed incredibly impressed by her leap. Several went belly up to smack their fins in applause.

How intelligent are those little buggers? Jordan glared frightfully at them before sprinting to catch up to the danger-child. He thought he’d gotten some distance from the damn fish, but they really were everywhere here weren’t they?

“Er, so is that a skill, or whatever?” Jordan panted lightly from the sudden sprint. Just how out of shape is this Brat’s body, anyway? He grumbled internally.

Catella turned to look at him. “What? Oh, my jump? Yeah! Or well, a Talent really. It’s like the only Talent I have too, ‘cause I haven’t gotten my Birth Talent yet. Mom wasn’t… happy with it though.” She turned a bit red before looking away.

“Ah, talent? That’s one of the special skill things, right?” How did that organization go again?

“Oh, ah, no?” She met Jordan’s quizzical gaze, “It’s like a Skill, but it’s not, like, special or anything. You just get it from your family, is all.”

“Right—yeah, I remember now.” He mostly spoke honestly. “And is there anything else we have?” He still couldn’t keep them straight in his mind, but as he asked the child his question, he noticed she began to shift on her feet looking awkward.

He narrowed his eyes at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“This is so weird! You’re the one who taught me about these, you know? When I couldn’t understand the tooters you… this is just…! Ugh… I’m sorry.”

“Tutors, Cat. Also, it’s fine! Just, do your best to… to have patience with me, okay?” He tried to console her.

She nodded and with a deep breath, clearly determined to give it her all, said “Um, so there are your Abilities, and your Talents, and your Skills. There’s also… Qualinies and Condoshuns.”

“Er… Qualities and Conditions?”

“Yeah! See, you still know stuff Big Sis!”

Jordan stared at her smiling face, beaming starshine and light into the universe. He briefly wondered if she was messing with him, but…. she was just so damn sincere. He sighed.

“Yeah, okay. Abilities, talents, skills, and whatnot. What’s these qualities and conditions then?”

“Well… they’re like Talents, in that you get borned with them!”

“Er… born, I think it is.” Jordan absentmindedly corrected her again. Which was… not really like him now that he thought about it. Brat instinct?

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Oh? Okay! You get born with them!” She happily enthused.

“R-right.” Jordan said, “And… they do what exactly?”

“Oh, ah… well I think they’re race stuff mostly. Like our tongues! Or how us Freyhells like fire. Um, us Demonkin also have… black bones? I think there’s a skellyton in one of the mansions I saw once, and it was all black.” She nodded with a tiny grimace as an ancient trauma crossed her face.

“Black… bones. That’s kinda creepy. Are you sure about that?” Jordan stared at her teeth, perplexed.

The young girl quirked her head, then gained a triumphant look as she shoved her hands up at Jordan’s face. He looked at them inquisitively, wondering what the hell she was trying to accomplish there, but stopped when he stared more at her wiggling fingers.

Her fingernails were black. He had originally thought they were just painted, like his had been, but they were black on the top and bottom. A quick check on his own Bratty fingers confirmed that he too had completely black fingernails, though still polished with a cheery rose red.

“Wait, I don’t understand—how come we have white teeth then?”

“White… oh. That is weird! Why do we have white teeth?” Catella’s face illuminated brightly with worry.

Right. I’m talking to a child.

“Okay, so let’s just… move on from that.” Jordan suggested, much to the gratitude of his new sister.

They walked for a while, making good time on their way back to the mansion, when Jordan stopped to ask Catella another question. She had been… ‘skipping’ lightly in the air, several feet each time.

“Can you… not actually turn that off? I mean, I know I heard about these permanent skills and talents or whatnot, but do you really have no control over that?”

Jordan didn’t want to be rude, but he’d been on the receiving end of her jump several times now. It would be nice to know whether that was beyond her control or just her being… beyond control.

“I… can’t. I’m sorry Big Sis for… but you know Talents are like that! It makes them cool and all but it can also make life hard.”

Jordan didn’t need a skill to see the guilt on her features. She… really didn’t mean to keep power tackling him, did she? He sighed dramatically before shaking her shoulders slightly.

“No worries, Cat. Sometimes I deserve a good smack. How high can you jump, anyway?”

“Um… I’m not sure. Wanna see?”

Jordan… stepped back.

“S-sure.”

“Okay! Watch this Big Sis!”

Jordan stepped back even further, and was rewarded by the tiny child bending down, flexing hard, and then leaping dramatically into the air, cracking the ground around her. It was like a superhero landing done in reverse!

He craned his neck to get a look at the child’s skyward ascension, which was accompanied by a quickly fading ‘weeeeeeee’ sound. After a few seconds, and nearly three stories in height, she came back down, destroying what little was left of the ground in a giant crater.

Jordan could hear a gardener nearby make a whimpering noise at the sight, and in panic gave a shaky, apologetic wave before dragging the child away.

“Holy crap, kid, we need to get you like a warning sign or something.” Jordan admonished.

“Huh? Is that like a shield?” She asked.

Jordan rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

“Oh, then I’m fine!” She said. Jordan looked at her questioningly, and she pointed at an amulet on her chest. “I broke it yesterday when I, er, w-well, anyway Father said he’s going to replace it with a stronger one, so I don’t keep breaking everything.” She beamed at Jordan happily.

“O-oh. That’s… good.” Cracked ribs, destroyed furniture, splintered floor, and that was all with something reducing the strength of her jump? This child is literally a weapon! At least this explains why she was glowing yesterday but not today.

“Wait,” Jordan said suddenly, caught off guard by his own thought, “If your leap is so powerful that it needs a magic item just to tone it down—why is the Brat’s Mo, oh, er—mother, I mean, so upset about it?”

“Well…” She hesitated, “it’s kind of… crund?”

Crund? That doesn’t make sense. “Do you mean… crude?” Jordan guessed.

“Yeah! A-and because of my… Rank, I only got one.” The child leapt onto a short wall of stone that fenced off a row of flowers protectively, and walked balancing along its waving path.

Jordan sensed there was more to it then that. “So what, she’s just mad it’s not an awesome power? That seems a little petty, even for her.”

Catella eyed Jordan, but said nothing. Instead she hummed gently, though a bit out of tune, as she continued walking along the wall. With a start, Jordan realized she was avoiding the question. Subtlety really isn’t her thing, is it?

“Is there… something wrong with your blood stuff then?” he asked.

“Eh!? W-why are you asking that?” She blushed.

Jordan raised his hands defensively, “W-well I want to know what kind of talent stuff I have, and you’re my only comparison. Don’t you get talents based on your blood rank stuff? I want to know if I have any cheat powers? Like can I jump like that if I try? So far all I know about is the smiling thing and the fire that…”

No, I’ll think about that later. He gripped his shaking hands tightly until they stopped.

Catella didn’t see Jordan’s distress, but did her best to answer him. “…um, well, Bloodline Ranks are really important to people. They kind of, like, rank nobles by them too. Some families won’t even talk to you if you have a low Rank and Co—er, if you’re like me.” She said with a quiet, but stoic shrug.

Jordan didn’t need his mysterious talking skill to see how much that little admission embarrassed Catella.

“What’s… what’s your rank? Wait, can I ask that? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to!”

“It’s… fine. I’m a Blood Rank [D], which is just above the lowest. It looks kind of bad next to your [S], Big Sis. And mother gets upset about all of it sometimes, that’s all.” Little Catella couldn’t even meet Jordan’s eyes, which only made him feel like a bully for asking the next question on his mind.

“How… how are bloodline rank’s determined then? Why do you have such a low one compared to mine?” Assuming ‘S’ is higher than D in this case, I suppose. Stupid anime ranking bullshit.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, but Jordan could tell the topic in general was getting to her. He was about to change the subject when the silence lapsed, but she answered him.

“Mother told me… it’s because she didn’t follow her waiting period. People have a special love that they save up, and they’re supposed to wait for it to grow ‘cause it takes a long time. You use your special love to summon babies, but she told me she accidentally summoned me before she had enough special love saved up. I don’t know why it happened but she said that she had to use up all her special love to save me. She told me she was sorry because… she’s why I’m weak. A bit different. And now she can’t save up anymore special love, ‘cause she broke her summoning stuff. She never gets mean about or anything, she… she’s a good Mother, Big Sis. I wish you wouldn’t fight. She only gets sad a lot… like you do.”

She stopped walking on the wall, and turned to look at Jordan.

“But I don’t care! I don’t care if I’m weak! I don’t care that I can’t cult-y-vayt good. I just want you to be happy Big Sis… I’m supposed to be the weak one, but… you would be so tired you couldn’t hold your head up. You couldn’t hold your books! When we read together, I’d have to turn the pages ‘cause you shook so much. It isn’t fair! I’m supposed to be the weak one, not you. Mom learned Skills and had magic items and potions and everything so that she could give you all the special love in the world! She gave you all of her love. She said you were our family’s miracle. But… you’re not supposed to be—I’m the weak one! I don’t want you to… go away. I was so scared you’d leave like Justinian… and Lucius… I—I love you Aury. Please don’t leave.”

She faced away from Jordan, hiding tears though not her sniffles. Jordan just… broke inside quietly at the child’s words. Heartfelt, sincere, and… painful to hear. He clenched his fists, before wiping away fresh tears of his own.

Yeah… I chose the right path yesterday. Thorns and all. For now… now it’s time to start being a better brother. Er… ‘sister,’ I guess.

After a moment more, mostly to let the crying settle down to reasonable levels, Jordan did the only thing a good sibling could do in a situation like this.

“Wha—ah! He… hehee! Big Sis, what are you doing?” Catella brightly cheered as Jordan walked up and lifted her off the wall.

He hefted her over his head crying out triumphantly “Ha, could a weak Sist—”

And dropped her almost as fast. It was inevitable, really.

On the bright side, he broke her fall and she laughed the whole way down. Well, until she began to cry about having killed her sister with her ‘butt.’

----------------------------------------

The rest of the morning passed by quietly. While Jordan got a brief scolding from his new mother, all while Catella cried over the dangers of her rear-end, he made it to lunch without any significant trauma or trials. The meal was a plate half filled with curry, and half with rice balls wrapped up to look like rotund little cats wearing green togas, holding back the tide of deliciousness. It, too, brought out that inevitable squeal.

After the food, and another dreadful visit to a certain unmentionable facility due to small Brat bladders, Jordan found himself with… Rahm. The old man had re-emerged in the afternoon, telling the rest of the family that he was ready to begin training with Jordan, but before they left he just needed to make a quick stop to pick up his apprentice and wanted to take Jordan with him.

Mercia was skeptical and questioned him, but Rahm stayed evasive, merely repeating how they ‘wouldn’t be going far.’ Eventually she acquiesced, with great reluctance, giving permission alone as her husband was already in town for work. Jordan had missed the departure of the Brat’s father while he was out on his walk, but learned that Constantine coming and going from the city was a common occurrence.

Catella, of course, was terribly worried about Jordan leaving, having not left his side after her Mario-esque Ground-Pound. She seemed determined to not let him out of her sight, but after a quick aside with the Brat’s mother, she was somehow placated—though not happy.

After that, Jordan found himself following Rahm once he was set free from the possessive, sunshine-filled koala, heading off through yet more parts unknown in the endless sprawling Estate. Rahm told him their stop wouldn’t take long, and that necessary ‘possessions’ were being packed and would be waiting for Jordan after their return. Then the real training would begin.

Jordan assumed ‘possessions’ was just code for unmentionables, and appreciated that Rahm didn’t mention them. Somethings were just best left unsaid, after all.

“So, ah, what is this quick stop anyway? Is it far?” Jordan broached his questions with his usual tact as he found himself turning down yet another gilded hallway. The building they were in, one of dozens on the grounds, reflected the same dark style and designs as the ‘House of Brats,’ as Jordan lovingly thought of his and Catella’s building.

“Hmm? Oh, not far. Not far… just need to go… where was that blasted thing again anyway…” The old man trailed off mumbling, and with a start, Jordan realized that he recognized the painting in front of him.

“Huh? Is this… the same picture from the last hallway? Wait, are we going in circles!?”

“Oh? Oh! Of course. Great catch Aury! Thank you!” Jordan was about to snap at the old man’s sarcasm, only to find it hadn’t been sarcasm at all.

Rahm was smiling as he walked next to the painting and suddenly… there was a hallway there.

Jordan’s jaw dropped in surprise, but he realized it had always been there. He had seen it three times as they walked around in circles. He hadn’t remembered it before, but now he could recall specifically not remembering it. Distressed at… mind manipulating hallways and the slowly fading view of Rahm, Jordan raced to catch the stained lab coat fluttering off in the distance.

After only a minute more of walking, Jordan and Rahm found themselves in an internal courtyard. The grass was green and vibrant, though a bit long and wild. A few rocks, and a small stream gave it a natural meadow feeling, despite its obvious artificiality.

The largest feature of the small glade, however, was a nearly four story tall tree with light pink leaves, jutting up just shy of the surrounding roofline that parted to give it an unobstructed view of the partly cloudy sky above. Jordan glared at the tree, thinking it was trying to get cute with him now too, only to suddenly realize it wasn’t leaves on the plant at all.

It was… petals? Wait, I know what this is! This is a Sock-o-rah tree? Er, a flower tree at least.

“Hey, old man… what kind of Sakura Tree is this?” Jordan winced. He’d tried to say a flower tree, and sure enough, the damn Brat’s body had said the very word he’d struggled with internally moments prior.

“Well,” He replied, “interesting you should ask Aury. This isn’t your average cherry blossom tree, after all.”

Jordan looked dumbly between the tree, and the old man. Rahm was tapping a finger to his nose, as though this was an inside joke, or perhaps just some great ancient wisdom he was having a laugh at.

“Oh! Ah, is this your… apprentice?” Jordan asked, trying to be open minded. Could trees be apprentices? Could trees be people? Was this tree secretly Flower-Groot?

“Ah, no Aury. Not quite, but wait a moment. You’ll love this! Oho, I’m so excited. We’re breaking so many rules right now! Xegreash is going to lose her tail over this, he he!”

“Wait, huh?” Wasn’t his apprentice named koko or something? Also, breaking rules? What the hell was—

With a flourish, the old man waved his hand, speaking a word that made Jordan’s ears itch in confusion as the wind began to blow. Where it touched the blossoms sang, and petals bloomed. They fell, swirling in the air, flowing around them both. The petals were light pink, like a kitten’s nose, and had a soft, silky texture. Despite them filling the air and the sudden growing warmth they brought, the smell they gave was elusive and faint.

As Jordan breathed the flowery air in, it filled him with a new sense of warm tenderness, one that banished the cold inside completely. He could hear voices on the wind, filled with kindness as they gave him an offer, calling out to him. It brought an innocent giggle of mirth unbidden to Jordan’s lips as the flowing stream of petals whirled around Jordan and Rahm, enveloping them.

The pressure in the courtyard built, startling Jordan with the gentle ferocity of the moment until, with a flash, the leaves coiled around the two of them with a surge, covering them head to toe, filling Jordan’s entire world. They left nothing in his sight except the soft flowery color.

When the petals finally slowed to a gentle swirl and fell to the ground, disappearing in splashes of lightly colored motes of Essence, the two of them were nowhere to be seen.

----------------------------------------

“Did you feel that?” Mercia asked a nearby servant.

The maid, not the Harlot, began to activate a magic device at her belt, before a flash of burning blood and thick black metal burst into the room, manifesting dramatically.

Mercia snapped her gaze towards her husband’s familiar. “Neriah, is there something going on?”

The Fury nodded her head gravely. “It feels as though Rahm just activated a Crossing Point.”

Mercia’s eyes bulged in shock. “A Crossing Point? In the Estates? I thought he’d torn it down years ba—Wait—is that where he left his apprentice? Ugh, the old fool!” Mercia began to pace around the room, irritated at Rahm’s inevitable irresponsibility, but not overly put out. It was just—the least the old man could have done was warn her about this! Inconsiderate old—she stopped pacing.

With a slow twist of her gaze, Mercia noticed that Neriah was… quiet. Far too quiet.

She narrowed her eyes at the Demon, before opening them in full blown panic, not needing a Skill to see the truth. The demon wouldn’t care about a Crossing Point being activated, not by a member of the family. There was only one reason she’d agree this was an emergency. One task her husband had charged Neriah with.

One very important reason the Fury should not be here, in front of her, now.

“Neriah… where is Aureliana?” Mercia asked quietly. “Where. Is. My. Daughter.”

Overlord Neriah Zarallas, Demonic Fury, Familiar to Freyhell Constantine, and occasional Dominatrix, looked away from the Duchess before answering with uncharacteristic demureness, “I last detected her near Rahm and the… Crossing Point. She is no longer on the Estate’s grounds.”

Mercia turned pale as she stood there quivering. In a flash of fire and power, horns erupted from her head, burning into the air with a malevolent light. But she stood silently. Calmly.

“He did not… do this.” She whispered, barely audibly, but multiple buildings around the Estate shook from the force of her emotions. She quietly walked out of the room as servants fled her presence.

Neriah blushed fiercely. She was… aroused from the intensity of the Duchess’ sudden anger, despite its repression. It had been truly magnificent. Thoughts of the Duchess beating her, tearing her armor off, splattering her entrails around as she ripped Neriah limb from limb to ravish—she bit her lip, shuddering. Demons had their Passions, but now was not the time.

Neriah fought off the urge to chase the Duchess and goad her into mauling her, and instead dematerialized, planning to wait for her Master to return. Her senses told her Constantine was already running out of the city’s council chambers, likely in panic from the message Neriah had already sent him, and would be in the Estates soon enough.

While she waited, maybe she could go torture the Harlot to placate her Passions? No matter what happened, though, things were certainly going to be interesting until the Forsaken hellspawn returned.

And then the fun would really start.

----------------------------------------