Katherina, January 14th

There, the last one.” Katherina sighed as Takahiro threw the brown king into one of the dungeon cells while Katherina shut the door.

“I’m tired. Can we take a break now?” She complained.

“Let’s just check all of Tempest, make sure the law enforcement isn’t trying to take them away and assign them figureheads. That should hopefully take like an hour.” Takahiro said. They quickly checked in on the White, Light Grey, Fuschia, and Brown. Citizens seemed confused and crowded around each palace, but as soon as Takahiro and Katherina showed up to each respective kingdom, the citizens were scared off. They assigned an associate to be puppet rulers to each kingdom and returned to the Lime Kingdom once more.

“Get in here!” One of them yelled at Katherina and Takahiro from the inside. They entered and they shut the door behind them immediately.

“What’s going on?” Katherina asked.

“We think there are still servants in here, and law enforcement was here before too.” Another associate whispered.

“Shit, did you lock everything down? Wait, did you also make sure nobody can teleport themselves in if they tried?”

“Working on it!” A third called out. They had a wand in hand, trying to sneakily cast spells by the window. The shield they were trying to place kept fizzling out.

“We’re gonna be looking for the time gods. You guys keep doing that.” Takahiro said. He and Katherina looked at the map by the entrance, nothing suspicious there.

“I can only guess that there’s some kind of entrance either in Zeta’s room or the throne room….” Katherina said

“What are we gonna do after we find them?” Takahiro asked.

“Hmm, either try to sway them to our side or just kill them. I haven’t decided yet.” Katherina said.

“What?”

“If we have them on our side, fewer people will want to go against us when we have literal gods on our side. Or, we can kill them we show our dominance, it’s a win-win.” Katherina said.

They started to look around the throne room. They looked behind some curtains and moved the throne around, but there was nothing really of note that could be useful, so they headed to Zeta’s room.

Katherina opened the door and surveyed the room. Lime comforter, lime chair, lime curtains? Not even Fuschia went hard on making everything as Fuschia as possible, Katherina thought.

“Where would Zeta hide an entrance to the time gods?” Katherina mumbled While running a hand against the wall, Katherina pressed a button in the shape of Zeta’s usual mask. A door slid open, and she saw an upward staircase. Her eyes widened, and she beckoned Takahiro over. She grabbed his hand as they went up the stairs together, Takahiro slightly blushing at the touch. When they arrived at the top, they met with the time gods. Katherina only counted twelve, the head time god was missing. She could deal with him later.

They all wore similar flowing garments and some gear-themed accessories, like how Katherina remembered. Even though most of the time, only the time travelers saw them, they still insisted on dressing extravagantly. Their garments also had crystals stitched into them because of course they did.

“Oh, there you are. Haven’t seen you in awhile.” Greeted one with a red gear anklet. She didn’t remember any of their names, and she didn’t care anymore.

“That’s how you greet me? Really?” Katherina questioned.

“What else do you want? Hello, your highness, it is I, the one you worship. Is that better?” Another with a jade gear bracelet mocked.

“Not really. Anyway, my good friend Takahiro and I have a proposition for you.” Katherina explained.

“Go on.” said the violet with a gear choker.

“You probably know how we conquered all of Tempest, and I think I can make this benefit you as well. If you tell all the citizens of Tempest that you believe in us, pledge your allegiance to us, and give us unlimited access to time travel, then once we’ve finished taking over Ayuzuma, we can spread tales about you and gain you more followers!”

The twelve time deities all paused. They turned to each other, forming a circle, and whispered.

“Would Katherina do that?”

“But she’s a criminal. Who’s to say she’ll keep her promise, let alone any promise?”

Their discussion was cut short by clocks ticking and a gear shape appearing on the ground.

From the ground appeared the head time god, who wore a Fuschia gear circlet and Fuschia hanfu. The circlet was the sign of the head time god.

Katherina smirked and crossed her arms at the floating time god, who frowned.

“I leave to survey the situation in Tempest and think of solutions for a few hours and you’ve decided to talk about siding with the one that’s about to plunge Tempest into chaos?” Shi yelled at the twelve other time gods. They cowered and whimpered, trying to give flimsy excuses, but Shi would not hear any of it.

“And you. I thought I said you were never welcome to be a part of the timetravelers ever again.” Shi growled at Katherina.

“That’s cool. Unfortunately, I just don’t care. While I was banished from the time travelers, I realized just how corrupt you all are, you know? Maybe Tempest would be better if there were no more time traveling gods.” Katherina said. The head time god growled and floated with a weapon in hand. Katherina, in turn, drew a kunai.

She threw her kunai, which the head time god barely dodged. Katherina threw more, which the head time god couldn’t manage to dodge all of them. A few hit him, and he tumbled to the ground, some hitting a few of the other time gods. Katherina threw a few more, picking off the rest. None of them moved. They all lay still in their own pools of blood. Katherina smirked as she spun her kunai around her finger. She bent down to pick up the keys and clocks they adorned. Now they could time travel without restrictions.

“That was… what was that? Why didn’t any of them really fight back? What happened to the kunai I gave you?” Takahiro asked.

“Despite their really powerful time powers, none fought in wars or anything. They also float around very slowly and hate walking, so I used that to my advantage. And don’t worry, I still have the ones you gave me. In certain pantheons, there are many tales of immortals being struck down by golden weapons, ones specifically enchanted to kill immortals. Turns out one of my associates is a demigod, and her mother was around for the creation of the golden weapons. You remember Milena, right? She taught me how to enchant any weapon into being able to kill immortals so we can make more weapons like these, and we can target any immortal in Ayuzuma.”

“Why do they have to be gold?”

“Hm, it seems like they only used these weapons in dire situations or those who were or were especially violent. Anyone that encountered immortals with the golden weapons would know they had them for one of those reasons and could prepare accordingly, I suppose. Anyway, no more history for today. I’m exhausted. Let’s go home.” Katherina again took Takahiro’s hand in hers, and they returned home.

***

Satan hated being helped. He was supposed to be the independent man in the house, taking care of everyone else. Now, he was severely limited in what he could do, thanks to his legs being broken. Satan growled at the thought as he lay on the couch late at night, barely listening to the Netflix show he had on for background noise.

He slowly sat up when he heard his phone vibrating. He felt excitement and dread; it could be a call from Lilith or business things. He hesitated as he flipped it over. Reyes. Business time, yay. He picked up the phone, bringing it to his ear.

“Hello, your highness. Or, hello you little bitch, do I count as your superior or not?” Reyes started.

“I’m a Satanel. That automatically makes my status higher than yours. Anyway, did you finally figure out everything?” Satan said. He dug his nails into his arms in anticipation and dread.

“Yes. So in talking with the rest of your family and doing my own digging by paying a visit to Katherina and Takahiro themselves, which by the way I was spying and snooping in their castles I bribed one of their associates to let me into their palaces but that’s a story for another time. Takahiro keeps documents of his texts because…. I don’t know reasons, you knew him.”

“He’s very orderly about everything, it’s just how he is.” Satan sighed, laying down on the couch once again.

“Anyway, I found out the attack on you and your family was motivated by your friendship ending. They want to orchestrate more but they’ve been busy. Busy doing each other.”

“Oh my Diablo. At least their affair is being helpful to me in someway.” Satan groaned.

“And, as you know, all the time gods are dead. Katherina and Takahiro were bragging about killing them. I also did some research on the time gods too. Which I mean. You didn’t hear this from me, but they kinda deserved it. They haven’t conquered anything else besides all the kingdoms in Tempest. They’re both technically the rulers of all of Tempest and the Black Kingdom, but everywhere else is just figureheads. They only do legit ruling and king and queen stuff at the Black Kingdom. Their next target may be the Grey Kingdom.

As I was wandering around the Black Kingdom palace, I noticed that there were definitely some gods in there, too, not at all related to the time gods. Some seem on their side, some seem completely opposed to teaming up with them, and some need convincing. If one of the big gods like, I don’t know, whoever the old deity worshipped by those in the Black Kingdom turns to their side, I think Ayuzuma’s gonna be in trouble. With ruling 6 kingdoms at once, trying to get attacks on your family, raising armies, swaying gods to their side, and becoming immortal gods, I’m not sure trying to get a court date will work. The best thing we can do for now is to get everyone on high alert, and try to capture them, and once we can, we need to make their jail as difficult to escape from as possible. Do not give them their weapons and null their powers. I think that’s everything? Let me know if you need anything else. I can also repeat some things too.”

“Thank you so much, Detective. I figured they’d be behind it. I’m not sure I can lead an army to capture them in my place can be done in good conscience. But we may not have time to wait either.” Satan thanked.

“Wait, why?” Reyes asked.

“They broke my legs. I was running trying to end the war, but then they pushed a huge bookcase with books on my legs. It’s been a month, so hopefully, in another two weeks, I can get out of the casts soon.”

“Oh shit, they broke both Hope you recover quickly so you can end this war soon. If you need me to do some more spy work. let me know. I’m on Ayuzuma’s side.”

“I will, thank you,” Satan thanked one last time. He put his phone down and sighed. Then, he collapsed back on the couch and closed his eyes, taking in everything he was told over the phone.

That’s one thing taken care of, at least.

***

The next day Katherina and Takahiro met up with the demigod girl, Milena, that knew how to make immortal killing weapons. Since Melina was stationed at the Fuschia Kingdom palace, they went over to Tempest to see her. They called her before they showed up to ensure they weren’t just wandering, looking for her for too long.

They agreed to meet in the throne room, which was the easiest solution. The throne room at the Fuschia palace was smaller than other rooms they’d seen before. At the end of the room, opposite the entrance, was a Fuschia chair with fake pink wings on the sides, and the floor was made up of tiny black tiles. The ceiling had a tree hanging upside down and lights hanging from it. Melina was standing by the windows when Katherina and Takahiro arrived. They approached her.

“Oh, hey Kathy. What do you need?” She asked.

“Do you know where we’d find things to make us immortal? I know in the greek pantheon there’s nectar, but that’s about it. I know there are elixirs in the Chinese pantheon too, I think. Is there not anything we can get locally?

“I don’t think finding nectar would be easy. Its natural reserves of it died out a long time ago. I don’t know anything about the Chinese pantheon, but those elixirs were of mercury, so those aren’t even a thing. Unless you feel like dying, I suppose. Your best bet would be to go to Kansas in United States. I assume I don’t need to tell you that’s on earth, right?”

“Duh!”

“Good. When you get to The Turtle Island Pantheon’s home, it’s heavily guarded. It’s supposed to be disguised as some small town. You have to go to the gas station and tell the person working in the store, ‘Kimimela on the floor, Talia, through the door, Cosmos and Anenome around, Blake underground’. To find the elixir of immortality, you need to walk all the way down the brick path to the end. You’d be entering a forest, and from there, you can see the elixir. There’s a waterfall that goes into a heart-shaped lake you can see from there. Getting in is super difficult. I should also mention that this is the pantheon Arsene, Araya, and Arista are part of, so just be wary.” Melina explained.

“Seriously?” Katherina questioned.

“I knew that,” Takahiro mumbled.

“How?”

“After learning Arsene was the ex-wife of Satan I was curious and read everything I could on her at the library.”

“Like she was an animal?” Katherina asked.

“Okay, when you put it like that, it sounds way worse.” Takahiro mumbled.

“Okay, okay, we’re getting off track. How should we sneak in?” Katherina said.

“Your best bet is to disguise yourself as either a god or goddess or some other Turtle Island pantheon-affiliated person that only visits the lands reserved for the American mythology, not very often. I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head but Takahiro if you still have your books on American mythology, you can go do some research.” Melina explained.

“Okay, thanks!” Katherina thanked. As she walked away, she grumbled about being forced to read, which made Takahiro laugh.

Takahiro teleported him and Katherina to the black kingdom’s palace library. Upon seeing it Takahiro launched into a rant about how unnecessary the changes to the palace were, all the while he grabbed research books and dumped them on the table. Katherina took one and sighed. Her eyes already felt heavy, and she could almost feel eyebags despite sleeping relatively well last night. She scrunched her face up as she tried to read. Takahiro sat down and finished his rant, flipping through one of the books, scanning pictures and renditions of various gods. He stopped when he came upon a black-haired man with gold eyes.

“Kathy! I think I found who I should disguise myself as! Arima was the youngest child of The Shadow King Kotoku and his wife, The Shadow Queen Hiroyo. It was believed he went to the planet Ayuzuma and was a revered figure in the modern-day black kingdom; as of now, he is a mostly forgotten figure,” Takahiro read aloud, “Do you know what this means?”

“You’re gonna basically cosplay as your kingdom’s former deity?”

“Okay, well, when you put it like that, it sounds horrible, but basically, yeah. This is interesting though I need to read more.”

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Katherina stopped reading and opted to flip, stopping at a fairy queen. Katherina noted how she’d probably need to buy a wig and fake fairy wings but somehow make them realistic. Katherina groaned, trying to think about it.

“Okay, so growing up I worshipped the goddess Miyako, and it seems Arima was her great-grandfather. Anyway, have you found anything?”

“Their queen of the fairies, Enya, looks like me. I need to get a wig and figure out how to get convincing fairy wings.”

“I know an illusionist that can have illusions last for a day.” Takahiro suggested.

“Don’t those come off if the illusions come into contact with hands?” Katherina asked.

“Never mind, maybe let’s just buy clothes and wigs and everything.

Despite the thought that their plan would take less than a day, they still needed to have perfect replicas made of Enya and Arima’s clothing and accessories. So Katherina and Takahiro got wigs of the ones they were to pretend to be. Thankfully, sewing the costumes only took two weeks, so they planned to sneak in in just a few minutes.

They were in Katherina’s bathroom, which had light pink walls and a floor made up of white tiles. The toilet and cabinets were matte black, and the trash can was unusually clean. Back when Katherina lived at the palace regularly, it was almost always overflowing to the point of garbage getting on the floor.

Katherina looked in the mirror, adjusting everything to fit the photograph of Enya. She applied heart-shaped black lipstick and put on much more blush than she ever needed. She applied mascara and put on dark purple, glittery eyeshadow, then some long-winged eyeliner. If only this wasn’t to sneak into the Turtle Island pantheon, otherwise she’d never put this much effort into her makeup.

She wore huge pink wings that she hid the straps underneath her dress. She draped a black cape over her shoulders in case the wings' straps fell from under her dress. The dress was Fuschia with black crystals decorating it, placed strategically to look like wings. The wig was a dark purple and very long and poofy. Katherina kept tripping over her hair and dress, much longer than she was ever used to.

Takahiro wore a patterned black kimono with a golden kamishimo, a coat with fabric jutting out over the shoulder like shoulder pads. Over all that, he wore a grey hakama, which were skirt-like pants. He stuffed his long shoulder-length hair into his wig cap and put on much shorter hair with bangs in his eyes and hair down the scalp. It was a saddening sight to see Takahiro forced into having short hair. He switched out small rectangular glasses for circular lenses. Finally, he put on socks and geta, wooden sandals, and tested maintaining his shadow form for longer.

Looking in the mirror, Takahiro’s skin turned jet black, like his body was made of shadows. His sclera, iris, and everything all glowed yellow.

“This feels weird… Do I look good?” Takahiro turned to Katherina.

“Yes. Rest in peace to your long hair though.”

“I didn’t cut it though.”

“Still, rest in peace because I won’t see if for like an hour,” Katherina fake cried. Takahiro smirked and rolled his eyes. As Katherina finished getting ready, he rested his shoulder on the kitchen sink and his head on his hand, staring longingly. When she finished, he quickly turned away.

“Wait, we got all of this together but we don’t even have reasons for why we’re going to the Turtle Island mythology town or reasons we can give if we’re caught taking the elixir.” Takahiro realized.

“Shit, you’re right. For Enya, I think her coming out of boredom is on brand; the book said she gets bored easily. And for Arima… doesn’t he have family there? You can just say you're visiting them. Arima has a huge family where the earth equivalent of shadowlings so you can rattle off a name and say they’re getting married for the elixir thing. Enya seems to immortalize certain people in her court so I think that can be my excuse. Okay, are we ready?”

“Yup!”

And they were off. Takahiro teleported himself and Katherina into a forest outside the American mythology town. They covered their elaborate clothing and inhuman features with hoods at the sight of seeing humans. They walked to the left of a road with cars. The town had dirty buildings falling apart and seemingly no residents, only tourists stopping for gas or food. Finally, they spotted the gas station, also in poor condition like the rest, and made their way over. Katherina looked over to Takahiro, upturned eyebrows. Takahiro slightly smiled and rubbed her shoulders wordlessly.

They hesitantly stepped inside, ensuring it was only them and the cashier before taking off their hoods. The front had candy below and snacks, food, and drinks lined the shelves. Just a standard gas station. They started to say the entry code, but the cashier interrupted. It was only to be used for deities not belonging to the pantheon. Seems Katherina’s friend didn’t remember things quite as well as she appeared to. Hopefully, the stuff about the immortality elixir is still true.

“Enya, what are you doing with Arima?” The cashier asked.

“Ran into each other on the way, obviously.” Katherina dramatically flipped her hair. Takahiro stifled his laugh.

“Oh. Neither of you visited in a while. Do you need help getting around? A lot has changed.”

“I’m sure we can figure it out ourselves.”

“Alright. Enjoy your visit!” Said the cashier. She led the disguised Katherina and Takahiro out the back door. It was entirely different compared to the town they first wandered into. There was a transparent dome-like shield over the entire thing, likely to make sure humans couldn’t see the gods. The grass was green and finely trimmed. The houses were painted in vibrant colors. The path in front of them even had stones cut to tell stories of the gods and goddesses of the pantheon. In the distance laid a palace, five thrones at the top, each with someone sitting there.

In front of the palace lay the lake, and the waterfalls were to its sides.

The cashier was long gone then, so they were free to let down their acts, at least somewhat.

“Why are they watching? Do you know who they are?” Katherina whispered as she started walking down the path, attempting to not make them suspicious.

“The five main gods mentioned in the code word. I’d hope it’s because the real Arima and Enya haven’t been here in awhile.” Takahiro mumbled. They continued down the path, making their way to the lake, stares burning into them and the creeping feeling of being caught looming over them.

As if visiting didn’t seem suspicious enough, they felt the stares more harshly as they sat in front of the lake.

“You brought the bottles, right? I forgot to check.” Katherina mumbled.

“Everything needs to be planned out when your me and checked five times, so yes, I have them.” Takahiro took out the bottles with lids, so they don’t spill, making Katherina sigh in relief. Katherina glanced up. The deities were still there. They sat silently for a few minutes before Katherina decided to take the plunge and start filling the bottles. Takahiro hesitated before joining in.

“Hey!” A voice from above sounded.

They froze, hiding the bottles like they would do anything. Sweat dripped down their foreheads, bodies tense and frozen in place as they awaited their punishment.

“What’s the occasion for the visit?” A lady, one of the goddesses sitting on the thrones now standing in front of them, asked.

“My brother’s getting married, and Enya is stocking up immortality elixirs to immortalize her court members,” Takahiro explained.

“Oh, how nice! Do you plan on staying long? I’d love to discuss what’s been going on in your respective kingdoms.”

“We’re busy.” Katherina flipped her hair dramatically again, and Takahiro clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.

“Oh, I see. You should come again soon, though! That’s all I wanted to say to you. See you soon,” She said as vines raised her back to the palace roof. Takahiro and Katherina sighed as they finished filling the rest of their empty bottles just in case and rose.

“That was fun! We should do something like that again.” Katherina said.

“Fuck you, I was dying back there. Literally covered in sweat right now,” Takahiro fanned, laughing a little as they made their way out of the pantheon area and into the dingy town, not without hiding their inhuman features. They teleported back to the black kingdom as soon as they made it far from the people. As soon as they entered the palace, they hid the immortality elixirs away and changed out of their clothes.

“Okay, these elixirs don’t mean shit if we don’t officially divorce Eris and Nico. You have ways to contact Nico, right?”

“Yes. God, this has been years coming, but I’m glad I can finally divorce that loser….” Katherina mumbled.

Katherina

I want an official divorce.

No funny business.

Finances were already split, and you already have Bree full time, let’s just sign the divorce papers and have it be done.

Loser Ex #1

Finally.

Don’t even dare attacking me or anything.

Satan is on my side.

And don’t contact me my family again.

Leave us alone after this.

Katherina

That’ll be done, as long as you don’t try anything.

Go to the Black Kingdom palace, knock on the bubble, and wait a few seconds.

Takahiro will teleport you in

Nico jumped at the noise of his phone notification. He felt his stomach drop upon realizing it was Katherina. At least she finally was divorcing him. No more leeching off him just for immortality, thank The Unknown. He started shoveling the rest of his lunch into his mouth.

‘Wait, we’re doing this at the Black Kingdom palace?’ He realized.

Eris must be a part of this.

And when he heard her greeting him as she seemingly appeared at the table out of nowhere, he also jumped again.

“Slow down, dude.” Eris eyed her surroundings before leaning closer to Nico, “Does Katherina wanna divorce you too?”

“Yes, why are we both divorcing our partners at like… the same time? Something feels off….”

“They’re scheming something, not sure what. If anything happens, I’ll protect you of course.”

“Uh, I think technically I’m the one that is supposed to be doing that. I’m the bodyguard in this palace.”

“And you’re Satan’s close friend and Katherina’s ex, they can’t do shit to me, but Satan would not be happy if something happened to you. Or Arsene.” Eris smirked when she mentioned Arsene’s name...

“Let’s just go. This should take us maybe ten minutes at most, I hope.” Nico stood up. He hid a dagger in his pants pocket. Can never be too careful around Katherina and Takahiro. He opened up a bottle of blood he stored in the other and used it to teleport him and Eris to the Black Kingdom palace.

As they opened their eyes, the shield of the Black Kingdom lay in front of them. Nico nervously looked around, seeing the eyes of multiple shadow elementals on him. He hesitantly knocked.

Darkness swirled around them, and they found themselves in the palace, with Katherina and Takahiro standing right in front of them. Eris guessed they were in the kitchen from the looks of the table.

“Why the fuck does everything look so different….” She mumbled to herself.

“I know! Anyway, hi, I have the divorce papers for all of us. Kathy brought the god of giving immortality to take mine and Kathy’s immortality away as soon as we divorce you for good.” Takahiro explained.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Nico sighed, grabbing one of the papers and signing his name on the table, then slid it in front of Katherina, who also signed it. As soon as she finished writing out her name and the pen left the page, the immortality bestower lifted his hands up in the air. Above their heads was a scene of two rings, shattering as they broke apart, and liquid lifted from Katherina’s body.

“What the fuck was that?” Katherina questioned.

“Your marriage is tied to the elixir. Now that your marriage has ended, the elixir left your body, so you aren’t immortal anymore. Standard practice for mortals marrying immortals that end up divorcing,” Nico explained. The immortality bestower nodded, though their name should also be the immortality stealer.

Takahiro and Eris quickly signed their papers, and the same ceremony was performed. The immortality god was still there, even though he should’ve left at that point. Nico pulled the blood out of his bottle, half getting ready to leave, half preparing for whatever might go down.

“Oh wait, don’t leave yet. There’s something I need to do.” Katherina stopped Nico, who still held onto the blood, waiting for whatever it was.

Katherina threw a kunai at Nico, and he dodged it. Next, he noticed the wine glasses at the end of the table, except there wasn’t wine.

The liquid was gold. It had to be the elixir of immortality.

Nico used his blood magic to lift the glasses and bring them to himself. Takahiro started using his shadow magic to pull it back to him while Katherina took out more golden kunais and raced up to him, trying to stab him, which Nico dodged while downing them. Katherina cursed out.

“Kathy, don’t worry! There’s still more hiding in my room!” Takahiro announced.

“Hiro!” Katherina growled.

“Fuck, sorry,” Takahiro mumbled, covering his mouth. Then, he used his shadow magic to teleport away.

“Quick, where’s his room?” Nico asked quickly.

“Should be the room left to the stairs on the third floor,” Eris said. They quickly teleported there.

Too late.

Takahiro and Katherina already had cups of gold elixir flowing into their lips. Nico raised one of Katherina’s golden kunai at them, and Eris went into a fighting stance, but Takahiro quickly teleported them outside the palace’s shield. Nico tried to teleport back in, but it was no use. Whatever they used to keep them from teleporting back in had already worked.

Nico and Eris immediately teleported back to the Red Kingdom palace.

Satan needed to know.

“Satan! They divorced us!” Nico said.

“They’re immortal now on their own! They got the elixir of immortality,” Eris said.

“Wait, is that why Enya and Arima were supposedly in my hometown? My pantheon’s group chat is blowing up about it,” Arsene commented.

“I thought you were raised in space,” Lucifer asked, walking into the TV room and inserting himself into the conversation when he didn’t need to be.

“Yes, but that’s beside the point.” Arsene huffed.

“What have they not done at this point.” Satan growled as he sat up from the couch, hair a mess, “I can’t do much myself. Is there a chance we can send someone over to… wherever they are?”

“The Black Kingdom palace has that shield and teleportation isn’t an option either, I tried to teleport back in, but it was like getting electrocuted. There’s also this,” Nico took out the golden kunai, “I can’t explain it, but I feel something off about it.”

“Well we’re not sure about its origins, but for my pantheon and other pantheons, there have been times when gods and other immortals would use specially enchanted weapons that were golden to kill other immortals. I know someone that might know whether this weapon was made for that purpose or not. Do you mind if I send this to them?”

“Of course.”

“I’m gonna text the other royals then return to my nap,” Satan mumbled, pulling out his phone and typing.

Nico returned to the kitchen, hoping to finish his lunch. Eris followed him on the way.

“Hey, that was pretty cool what you did back there.” She said.

“Um, thank you?” Nico said.

“Now tell me everything between you and Arsene.”

“Oh baroness, another one,” Nico sighed. Eris sat down, her gold eyes sparkling as she laid her head on the dining room table, waiting. Nico sighed, “So… we’re sleeping together.”

“What?” Eris yelled a little too loudly. Nico had to shush her before he continued.

“Not in that way, Arsene was just… feeling lonely and sad with everything going on recently. It’s quite literal, one of us will crawl into the others’ bed, and we’ll just cuddle and talk. I also want to get into dating again, but I want Bree to have a potential mom who would, you know, actually be a mom to her.” Nico quickly explained.

“Good for you! I don’t think I’ve ever met Bree before, though, where is she?”

“She spends a lot of time with her friends. Since she’s an adult now I think she wants to move out. She wanted to inherit the Fuschia Kingdom and be a ruling queen alongside some of her royal friends, espcially since her mother never enjoyed being a queen herself but with everything I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon.”

“Have you considered protesting in Fuschia? You could get the civilian fairies to rally to overthrow Katherina and have Bree rule instead.”

“I’m a demon, which fairies don’t like all that much. I mean, when I was king consort I was definitely a more well-liked demon compared to other demons, but still. I suppose that’s something I can talk about with her though.”

“Perfect.” Eris smiled.