Hina had returned to her Overlord's Castle, which now boasted greater detail and the void-terrain had become flecked with stars. The once pitch black stone structures now gradated from gold-white into blue-black starting from dazzling streets broken up by patches of gray-blue floral life. However, that floral life was the only thing there outside of Hina herself.
At least, it should have been, but as she went about exploring the magical space and testing her influence over the improvised Makai, she became aware of another presence. She spun around and was greeted with the visage of a woman with jagged teeth looking around curiously.
“Who are you?” Hina said, unable to hide the suspicion in her tone.
“Hmm? Oh me?” the woman struck a pose, cocking a hip to one side, and making a peace sign over one of her eyes, magical stars burst to life around her, “Overlord Girl Chiana-chan, that's who!”
Hina blinked twice. Even as a person with experience as a magical girl, the sudden introduction threw off her pace.
There was a painfully long silence as Hina thought over the proper course of action.
“So, uh, you just gonna leave me hangin' or tell me your name?”
“Huh?! Oh! Right! My name's Yashiro Hina,” Hina blurted, despite thinking so hard she was unable to come to any kind of conclusion and ultimately was dragged into Chiana's pace.
“Hina-chan huh, nice to meet you!” Chiana looked around casually, “Still I gotta say, this is a weird place. In a good way! I love weird things! Can't really call it a netherworld...but, what else could I call it?”
“Er...I was hoping someone would tell me eventually...” Hina replied flatly, still not sure what to make of this intruder.
“Heeh? You'd listen to someone else, that's pretty rare for an Overlord, all things considered!”
Again Hina was lost for words, she couldn't tell if the comment was genuine or meant to be insulting. She sensed this person was her senior at the whole Overlord thing, but with her serious personality warping towards a mischievous one she sensed an unwelcome similarity between them.
“I just became an Overlord you see...” Hina said, deciding that things would be simplest if she was honest, she didn't have confidence in maintaining some incredibly dense web of lies.
Chiana picked up on this, or better said already knew as much. That confession boosted her impression of Hina considerably, though she could feel the former magical girl's mental gears turning full tempo to figure out her own goals.
“Nice! Then as your senior I'll give you something good!” Chiana presented her with a fancy envelope boasting a wax seal.
Hina took it dumbly, every time she thought she had some idea as to Chiana's goals the self-proclaimed Overlord Girl did something which surpassed her expectations.
“I came here to check out the dimensional anomaly first and foremost, but if there's an Overlord living there that changes things! Even better if it seems like she's a good girl!” Chiana said flippantly.
Hina clutched the envelope a little tighter, “I don't...think I'm such a good girl...” she said, deciding to stop playing as if she understood anything, she really was new to this and Chiana had her in the palm of her hand so long as she kept up her strong facade.
Chiana, again throwing Hina's expectations out the window, laughed uproariously, and gasped out between laughing fits, “That's what good girls say! Good people know they're bad, it's the really bad guys who don't know they're bad!”
Hina felt like she was being patronized a bit, but felt like if she said as much she'd get laughed at again. Her eyes found the envelope again.
“So what is this?” she asked, a bit of her frustration creeping into her voice.
Chiana wiped tears from her eyes, and held her stomache, “Huh? Oh the invitation, heh heh! Yeah, I'm holding a banquet for Overlords soon so I thought I'd invite you too. Consider us friends, since I'm only inviting guys I think can work together...To say that might be kind of untrue of a couple, but when push comes to shove they're on the same side anyway so it's probably not an issue!”
Hina froze, “A-a banquet for Overlords?” because of her flippancy, she hadn't given it much thought but the woman before her really was an Overlord. Just as much as she, or Otomi Mao were. To so casually insinuate not only the existence but a whole gathering of Overlords was an overwhelming prospect. At the same time it was also a huge opportunity. So many Overlords gathered together would undoubtedly be a huge treasure trove of information about Overlords in general.
“Yeah! I make it my business to get into other Overlord's business,” Chiana said with a mischievous grin, “Thanks to that I made a lot of good friends. This is probably the fifth banquet, but the first was just me and an Overlord from my homeworld.”
Hina had a sudden and vivid image of herself and Mao talking over tea, they were after all both born in Priripon. She had mixed feelings towards the ancient sorcerer, which was why had he been the one to suggest she go to Earth she had decided to refuse, but all things considered both of their situations were plenty tragic, and without his involvement she would surely still be trapped in the dark mirror on its way to devour Priripon.
“What's wrong, you're makin' quite a face over there?” Chiana prompted.
“Oh, it's nothing...I was just thinking about a certain Overlord who originated from my home too,” in that moment Hina had a somewhat chilling realization. She felt sad, deep sadness at that missed relationship, so much so that she could cry, but she couldn't. It was a different feeling to the phenomenon that she had experienced as a magical girl, this was in connection to her new nature. Her emotions were being regulated to a degree. Intuitively she felt that had she been in her golden radiant form, she may actually have cried, but in this dark form she took as 'default' she suppressed her feelings with some kind of magic or psychic power. That scared her a little, because that likely meant that when she became an overlord a large part of her wished to suppress her emotions, and so her body changed as necessary to fit that wish.
Chiana watched Hina's face intently, she was hard to read in a lot of ways, and her face was almost like that of a doll. Hina took notice of the intense stare and recalled what Kikyo had said when she had first awakened as an Overlord.
“That aside, isn't it tradition that when two Overlords meet they battle?” Hina asked.
Chiana raised her eyebrows, “Hoh? It certainly is!” her face slipped into a sly grin, “But it's been a while since anyone has challenged me, much less so brazenly!”
Hina gestured to a clear space among the gradated pillars, “We can hold the match over there if you accept.”
Chiana stretched, her back making popping sounds, “You bet I do! Let's go!” and she jogged off in the direction Hina had indicated.
Hina drifted after her.
They faced each other at the center of the large field, the edges of which were marked by tall gradated columns.
“So, how do we wanna do this? Work up through the levels, or go all out from the get-go?” Chiana asked, taking a variety of stances.
Hina wasn't confident in her restraint, let alone if her power could even compare to Chiana's in her fledgling state.
“I can assure you I'll be going all out, but what that will mean for you I cannot yet fathom...” Hina replied honestly, and with a wave of her arm the gigantic black mirror emerged from her shadow and levitated behind her.
Chiana made a wry smile, “Well then, I'll work my up from here. Try to keep up!”
Electricity crackled around her and the already impressive manapressure grew yet heavier.
Hina focused inwards, and shadows ran up her arms to the elbows. Like in her battle against Mao, mirror shards scattered about the battlefield.
“Here I come!” Chiana called, and in almost the same instant, she was on Hina, but she calmly dropped into a mirror shard, and Chiana's fist passed through another, redirecting the blow into the back of Chiana's own knee.
Chiana lurched, then did a front flip through another shard, “Ow, that trick reminds me of another kid I know,” she said with a grin.
The shard she had leaped through lead her far above the battlefield, but Hina's plan to keep her trapped in a hall of mirrors wasn't to last.
Cloaked in a mantle of lightning, the Overlord Girl blasted through the rest of the shards in her way, grinning the whole way down, as she closed in on Hina's true location without falling for any of the bait Hina attempted to lure her away with.
Just as Chiana thought she had Hina, the shards around her suddenly reached out with black arms, all latching onto her, unaffected by her mantle.
“Woah!? That's a new one....” she said with a shudder, 'way too many arms.'
Now restrained, she watched as Hina reappeared and a black flower blossomed out of the mirror, colors of all hues coursed through veins on the plant, coalescing at the center of its petals.
“That looks like it might sting a little,” Chiana said a touch of anxiety creeping into her tone. How serious she actually was was difficult to tell.
The flower burst like a geyser, a fountain of powerful energy rushed towards the held Chiana.
At the moment of impact there was a clash of powers! A sinister looking purple aura began to push the fountain back, the flower's beam faded, and a smiling Chiana stood rubbing her arms where the hands had held her, but she was not the same as she was but moments earlier. A dark horn stood from her forehead, her ears were pointed, her sclera black.
“Congratulations Hina-chan! You made it to Stage 2!”
Hina felt like gravity had increased, the manapressure from Chiana was so intense. But she wasn't quite losing yet, though it seemed her hands had been disintegrated by the energy released along with Chiana's transformation. Her shadow hands anyway.
She nodded, and held her arms out to her sides. She was lifted by unseen force into the black Mirror at her back, which then dropped into her shadow, which she should no longer have been casting, it splashed like water.
“Where did she-?!” Chiana began but was met with a kick aimed at the back of her head, though she caught her attacker's ankle. It was the golden Hina!
A radiant light engulfed the area around them, and Chiana was forced to release Hina's ankle. As she did so, she turned and saw the massive golden ring bound with arms. She blanched, “Just how many arms does this girl have?”
Hina with a playful smile, and filled with a bubbly energy replied enthusiastically “As many as it takes!”
Chiana dodged a volley of radiant bolts from the ring as she did a double take at Hina's sudden shift in personality.
“Are you SURE you're okay?”
“I have no idea!” Hina replied spreading her arms wide with an indulgent smile. Energy erupted around her, and she took to the air on golden white wings. She felt great, so much so that a part of her grew anxious.
Chiana didn't give her time to worry about it though, and soon was bearing down on her with fists cloaked in lightning. Hina replied by changing places with the golden ring with teleportation. Hands grasped at Chiana's arms, while others pelted her with magic, Hina's main body didn't hesitate to get in on the casting, sending golden waves her way.
“Seriously, are you some kind of eldritch horror?!” Chiana said in mock lament, before cloaking herself in radiant lightning that repulsed Hina's attacks and fried the hands that held her. In fact, the lower quarter of the ring crumbled to ash. Hina's main body recolied, and a dark crack appeared on her face.
“That didn't feel great...” she said honestly, though still more energetically than Chiana would've expected.
The ring began to repair itself, but slowly. It teleported, appearing behind Hina again, slowly rotating clockwise.
“I'm not just gonna let that slide!” Chiana said with a grin, moving so quick she may as well have teleported, and aiming a strike at the ring again.
However, Hina had been waiting for her to do exactly that. The ring vanished, leaving Chiana undefended in the air, though her strike split the air itself and lightning struck the arena below. Exploiting the gap in Chiana's defense, Hina unleashed the spell she had been preparing. A flower of gold-white and black-blue energy blossomed out of Chiana, who grunted as the energy tore through her and she plummeted to the ground.
Chiana stood up barely a beat after impact with a hearty chuckle. She dusted herself off, and grinned savagely, “Stage Three.”
Hina herself was pummeled into the ground with the explosive increase of manapressure, and a second horn sprouted from the other side of Chiana's forehead, and her clothes had changed from casual jeans and a t-shirt to far-eastern royalty wear. Thunder crackled around the arena and Chiana's presence grew dramatically, Hina felt any home-field advantage wane away as it was overwritten by Chiana's aura. If it weren't for her own radiant nature, she would have been terrified. Not to say she was entirely fearless now, but she felt something in the aura Chiana emitted that told her had she not been a true Overlord, she would be kneeling before Chiana too afraid to even breath.
As Hina struggled to her feet, Chiana approached her, one step at a time. The pressure was immense, and got worse the closer she came. Hina had thought her concept of 'closeness' had been worn down by her ability to move through mirrors and light, but without any doubt or room for debate Chiana moved towards her. Running was not an option against her. Hina swallowed and decided to make the first move, concentrating a radiant beam she leapt backwards, teleported vertically and unleashed it. But Chiana was gone the moment her beam was loosed.
Hina's senses screamed at her that crisis was close, she knew Chiana had gotten behind her, but the question was could she move fast enough to prevent certain death? Everything seemed to slow down as she overclocked her brain, trying to think of a way to survive. There wasn't enough time to teleport, spatial magic was her forte but precisely for that reason she knew she wouldn't make it. She wished she could interface with her dark self, emotion was slowing her down as she felt the beginnings of panic setting in. What could she do? She recalled her power when she had connected with the other six, she longed for even a fraction of it now. A warmth spread inside of her, her Overlord body full of latent potential responding to her sincerest and most primal desire. A voice, her own voice, called out to her.
“Hey there! Need a hand? Let's get Ebony in on it too!” a change came over her consciousness, and time seemed to freeze. In her mind's eye a kind of space formed, and in it sat two other 'hers'. One, her dark suppressive self, the other a pale purple almost gray self. Behind her floated a clock-like pattern of energy, in one of her eyes a glowing ouroboros, the other the manaform 'epoi' representing time.
“Let's make this quick, we know Time magic isn't exactly the easiest thing to control especially since we're pretty new to it. That said, it was easier since we're already so good with space so we just had to reverse engineer the concepts!”
“Very well, what can you do?” Ebony asked.
“Well, unlike you two I can't leave our head, too much to do inside maintaining this place for future selves, BUT!” she said, raising her voice excitedly, “I can interfere with the outside with Time Magic, and make it so either of you can interact with each other and the outside when it isn't your turn on the field!”
“That's so handy!” golden Hina said, generally calming down.
“Heh heh, thanks Hotaru!” Time Hina said. Hotaru, the golden Hina took a step back, not expecting to get a new name. If she were to chose one, she probably would've chosen 'Ivory' as Ebony's opposite, not the Japanese word for 'Firefly,' but she didn't mind too much.
“Before we get too distracted we should do something about Chiana, should we not?” Ebony pointed out, “Have any more specific plans, Sage?”
Ebony said with a wry smile, Hina's mischievous side coming out even in her.
Time Hina, now Sage, “Of course! Okay, here's what we'll do-”
Chiana had leapt behind Hina, and went for the kill. At least, that was what she wanted Hina to think, she had all intentions of holding back so as to not snip the fledgling's bud, but Hina probably didn't realize that. For Chiana time moved perfectly normally, so normally she had no reason to suspect Hina was even capable of altering it. Especially since space and time were traditionally opposing elements. Suffice to say, she was more than surprised when she found herself back on the ground, and back in her Stage Two form, Hina floating in the air but all her memories up to the moment before laying the smackdown on her intact.
A tremendous pressure came from Hina now, actually multiple pressures. The effect was discomforting even with her level of experience basking in the presence of three or more actual Overlords, this was a discord of the same consciousness three times over, and all focused on her.
She wasted no time, and staged back up, and launched herself at Hina again, but again found herself at that crater, staged down again.
Now she was perplexed, she wasn't very familiar with Time magic. 'Time to think very hard!' and so think she did, Hina didn't move from her place in the sky, why? Pressing her advantage while Chiana's stage three form was effectively sealed seemed like a better play, which meant perhaps she couldn't. If that was the case, it must be a limitation of the chronomancy which held her. But would she actually try something that simple? Chiana leapt at her again, this time without staging up, but again she was back at the crater. 'Hmm so even if I change what I do the spell doesn't break...that might actually put me in a bit of pickle...' She had been planning to just change tactics, like blasting Hina with lightning from range, but if this chronomancy was activating based on her attacking Hina that might not work either. She spent time thinking without acting when she felt the spell activate again, without her even moving. Chiana smiled savagely again.
“I know that spell!” It was Ouroboros, a spell that locked its target into a fixed loop in time, the specifics of it varied with its caster, and Hina's variety was pretty potent, she had to admit. It was limited to a certain number of loops, but there wasn't much she could do until those loops ran their course. Meanwhile, Hina could spend that time unaffected to make as many preparations as she could.
Still, even Hina seemed to know that even with all that time secured there wasn't much she could actually do to hurt Chiana effectively. That said, she wasn't going to just cast Ouroboros and give up, not when there was still so much chronomancy to test on top of her other abilities! And Chiana wouldn't expect Ebony's abilities so surely that could be used to do something. At least Hina hoped so.
Ouroboros' loops finished, and the moment they did Chiana burst toward Hina, staging up as she moved. Hina waited, seeing Chiana move in slow motion thanks to Sage's thought acceleration, until they were face to face. When she saw the black of Chiana's eyes, a myriad of arms both gold and black seized the Overlord, slowing her down significantly. Hina reached her arms forward and unleashed a raging torrent of golden light. Chiana was pushed back, but her lightning mantle mitigated the damage to nearly nothing and she continued her assault, extending an arm forwards almost like a talon.
Black reflective shards appeared in the air around them, and chaotic energy pellets peppered Chiana. Golden Hina's halo intensified as she concentrated, the torrent grew more slender as its energies were focused into a tighter beam. Chiana was pushed back smiling.
“Now we're getting somewhere!” her own lightning mantle focused around her talons, and the beam broke around them like water overflowing from ones hands.
Hina anticipated this, the torrent of light was only a distraction. Behind Chiana the Black Mirror rose from the shadows, numerous tendrils of darkness reaching towards the Overlord Girl greedily.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Chiana, sensing something amiss jumped away from Hina, looking like an arc of electricity as she disentangled herself from the onslaught. The beam continued along its path, crashing into the mirror, but around Chiana several mirror shards revealed themselves and from them the beam blasted forth, now from many odd angles.
“Whoa! Now that's tricky!” she sounded more excited than worried now.
“Man, I really thought that would work,” Sage remarked, watching Chiana duck and weave around the beam, “How're you holding up Hotaru?”
“Grrr...” Hotaru was too focused on the golden beam to reply.
“The best defense is a good offense, let's keep up the pressure,” Ebony said flatly.
“Yeah, um, a good idea in theory, but I don't know how long Hotaru can hold out.”
“Can't we just go back in time to when she wasn't worn out?”
“Uh, sure, IF WE WANT CHIANA BACK IN TIP-TOP SHAPE TOO!!”
Ebony covered her ears, “Okay okay, no need to yell...”
“Stop arguing!” Hotaru hissed through gritted teeth.
“Let me take the field, you take a break,” Ebony offered.
Hotaru simply nodded, Sage meekly accelerated time to reduce their defenselessness.
Chiana weaved her way around Hina's onslaught, but couldn't close the distance to her main body, such was the intensity of it. Then suddenly she felt a chill as the golden form was replaced by the dark one once more.
“Here I come!” she called, sensing that the golden beams would fade in moment, a chain of lightning struck out towards Hina.
“Too simple,” Hina said calmly, vanishing into a mirror shard.
However, Chiana smiled. When Hina reappeared, the lightning arced towards her instantly. Her eyes widened slightly but she didn't seem too phased, merely disappearing into another shard. This time however, Chiana was waiting for her. As soon as she exited the connecting shard, Chiana grasped her neck, and the lightning bolt raced towards them.
Hina suddenly vanished from her grip, true teleportation. The lightning bolt was absorbed back into Chiana's mantle.
“That was too scary!” chirped Hotaru.
“A close call for sure,” sighed Ebony.
“No time us!” Sage warned, as Chiana bore down on them.
“All you do is run away, c'mon let's play!” she said wildly.
“We're not gonna get a hit in without taking some damage ourselves...” Ebony said hesitantly.
“Yeah, we're at a disadvantage on the run anyway,” Sage mused.
“Then it's do or die time!” Hotaru cried.
Chiana and Hina exchanged blows at high speed. Chiana looked like a martial artist, meanwhile Hina's real arms made a diamond with her hands in front of her chest close to her body, while gold and shadowy hands fended off Chiana, who punched and kicked through ten at a time, filling the air with black and gold dust.
Chiana was closing the distance, by now getting a feeling for the pattern, or lack thereof, from Hina's summoned arms. However, Hina wasn't simply letting her arms take a beating, the black and golden dust glittered, then upon touching Chiana's lightning, detonated. Hina and Chiana were flung in different directions, Hina looking a little scorched. Chiana didn't look any worse for wear, but she grimaced a little.
“Okay, note to self, that dust is actually dust not just scattered mana...” Chiana said.
Hina didn't give her a chance to think about it any harder, immediately going on the offensive. Arms gripped Chiana, and Hina extended one of her real arms forward, a flower blossoming out of it. Multicolored energy focused down its petals, and a beam blasted forth. Chiana shook off the arms, using brute strength to escape their grip instead of lightning. In an instant she was in front of Hina, the beam totally off its mark. She gripped Hina's outstretched arm, but this was what Hina had been waiting for! As Chiana tore the limb, Hina's other arm formed a finger gun.
“Bang,” she said totally deadpan.
Chiana was thrown away by an explosive force just as she had torn off Hina's arm. A chain of magical flowers, now boasting a pale purple alongside their white-gold and black-blue, pushed her way and ate at her mantle!
Hina had wanted to capitalize on the blow more, but magical energy drained out of the torn limb. She focused her energy on restoring that first. The limb regenerated, the tips of her fingers just returning as the final stage of her Flower Chain burst, creating a veritable fireworks display, leaving Chiana to fall to the ground.
Chiana stood up, lightning mantle looking a little depleted.
“That's a neat trick, and you showed me how serious you were! It would be rude of me not to respond in kind! No more stages, I'm going all out!”
Hina paled, she had thought Chiana would work through at least a few more stages so that she could get a better handle on using all of her powers at once, but appearently the Overlord Girl thought her resolve to lose a limb admirable enough to skip the formalities.
A thick layer of dark storm clouds gathered over the arena, no, Hina's entire Netherworld. Lightning struck the battlefield in a multitude of places. Hina braced herself, sensing Chiana's manapressure rising to heights she could scarcely imagine. Chiana's body began to change, her face elongated into a reptilian? No, perhaps bovine? No, draconic must be the word, her horns elongated and split like antlers at the tips, long curly whiskers grew from her snout. She walked on four hooved legs, but was covered in golden scales. A long tail ending in something like a fin trailed behind her, a fantastic mane not so different from her hair adorned her neck. She was covered in jewelry and chains, this was a yellow dragon, a Kirin or Qilin depending on who you asked.
Hina was awed, there was no way she could stand up to this thing. Even with just a glance she knew the toughness of its scales. She knew the whiskers could sense her every breath. The tail would blow her away if she so much as moved. The horns gore her such that she would have to spend every bit of mana on regeneration. That wasn't even to speak of the depths of its manacapacity, so vast it may as well have been an ocean. Before her now was less of an Overlord and more of a divine beast!
“I suppose I should re-introduce myself～☆” Chiana said, or rather telepathically communicated directly to the Hina's.
“9 Cardinal Demon Emperors, representing the Center, Yellow Dragon, Qilin, Chiana-chan, that's me!”
Hina forced herself to stay standing, Hotaru and Sage had been completely cowed, but Ebony through her suppressed emotions managed to stay steady.
Even still, Ebony gulped “Th-that's quite a shift...”
“Isn't it?” Chiana communicated, posing her Qilin form at various angles, showing off both its musculature and innumerable accessories.
Something she had said caught Hina's interest, “9 Cardinal Demon Emperors...does that mean where are 8 more Overlords just as strong as you?!”
“Something like that～☆” Chiana communicated.
Hina laughed hollowly, what had she gotten herself into?
“Anyway, I'm gonna make my move now, get ready～☆!”
Hina had no time to react as Chiana's Qilin eyes fixed on her, glowing intensely through narrowed slits.
“Danzai no Rakurai.”
Chiana's voice was uncharacteristically cold and intense, and Hina knew in the pit of her stomach she had no chance of fending off the attack, let alone avoiding it.
Divine lightning rained down from the thunderclouds, the most ferocious and thick bolt bore down on her.
It struck, and Hina thought she was dead. But she felt nothing. She slowly opened her eyes, wondering if Chiana had called off the attack, but she was still in the midst of a terrific onslaught of electrical energy, or so she should be, but it didn't hurt her in the slightest.
After some time the lightning faded, and Chiana stood in front of her in her human-like form again, a huge relaxed smile on her face. She pulled Hina into a warm hug.
“You pass with flying colors!” She pulled away, and looked a bit sheepish, “though I suppose I should apologize for testing you all of the sudden.”
“I-I pass?” Hina couldn't fathom what was going on, even with three of her, too much had happened and she didn't have enough context.
“Ahahaha, I guess you wouldn't get it right away,” She turned on her heel and threw a glance back at Hina, “A little perk of being a Qilin is beign able to pass divine judgment, scary right?”
Hina felt her knees knock together, that sounded terrifying, but given that she'd lived and Chiana said she had passed that meant she had been spared, right?
Chiana seemed to be able to pick up on her thoughts, perhaps after experiencing telepathy that shouldn't be such a surprise.
“Don't worry, I just get to wield the power. The one On High actually decides whether to exact justice or mercy.”
Hina didn't know how comforting that was, a part of her felt totally unworthy, another indescribable relief that even as wrong as she felt sometimes that there was still mercy there for her.
“Aaanyway, that was a fun little sparring session, let's do it again sometime!” Chiana said cheerfully.
“No thank you...” Hina said, the words barely making their way out of her lips.
“Aww...” Chiana looked a bit lonely, but quickly her expression changed back to the happy-go-lucky smile, “Well, at least come hang out at the banquet, yeah?”
“R-right...” Hina replied, more afraid to refuse than actually wanting to go.
“H-hey don't be so down, you're just a fledgling after all! I've been at this for millennia!”
That actually did brighten Hina a bit, she couldn't even imagine one millennia just yet. All in all her perspective was still stuck as that of a Magical Girl;s. Looking at it that way, she should be thankful Chiana went out of her way to broaden her horizons.
“You're right...Thank you for the match,” Hina said with a deep bow.
“A-all right! We've seen the depths of strength, let's work our way up to those heights!” Sage whispered.
“M-mm,” Hotaru affirmed.
“We must remain positive,” Ebony said. It was a brutally rational breakdown of all of Hina's current feelings, a truth of fact rather than optimistic outlook.
Chiana stretched again, perhaps she had used more energy in their battle than Hina had thought, or perhaps it was just part of the theatrics she seemed so fond of.
“Well, now that I'm done with my investigation maybe I should head out,” she glanced at Hina as she said so.
“Before you go, at least stay for tea!” Hina said, half surprised at herself. Then again, Chiana knew a lot more than she did, so any chance to talk was a chance to learn more about Overlords.
Chiana's grin doubled in size, “I can't turn down an offer of tea from my junior!”
“Oh good! By all means, please follow me, I have something of a garden just for such a thing,” Ebony channeled Hotaru trying to be a welcoming hostess.
Hina lead Chiana into the castle interior and out to a terrace that flourished with the gray blue floral life. There was even more abundant color in the terrace garden, along with a small building perfect for a small group to host a tea party.
Hina's host of arms prepared tea and snacks that she had managed to synthesize from the plants of her Netherworld. They weren't perfect just yet, but they were sweet and showed promise.
“Hoh? You made this from these plants?” Chiana asked.
“Mm, still a work in progress though. I would appreciate any feedback you have to give!”
Chiana sipped the tea lackadaisically, “Hmm, I'm not an expert on tea or plants so take my words with a grain of salt...It could probably be a little sweeter? I can't tell if it just hasn't been brewed long enough or if this is just how the leaves taste though.”
Hina took notes, and Chiana gave her opinions on the tea and snacks. All in all as she had warned Hina, it was very vague advice, but better than nothing. In fact, even just having someone give feedback gave Hina a warm feeling she had missed. She felt very alive, and the fact that Ebony didn't suppress those feelings told her how much she had missed them indeed.
Now it was Hina's turn to ask questions.
“So...how many Overlords exist, exactly?” she asked, expecting a straightforward response. After all, Overlords were powerful entities capable of, to some degree, creating and overseeing worlds as far as she knew. Chiana's response was an unexpected one.
“I have no idea, probably infinite I'd have to guess.”
“I-infinite?!”
“How much do you know about the Astral Sea?”
The Astral Sea, the 'place' said to make up the area between worlds. Little to nothing could survive it, it superseded space in the universal outerspace sense, it could be said that every universe was merely a bubble carried along on the Sea's currents and waves. This was the brief explanation Hina was familiar with, though she had never tried to prove or explore it. She had barely managed to grasp the situation of her own universe, with Priripon and Makai Alevia existing parallel to the Mundane Earth, and her Dark Mirror Netherworld parallel to those. Any further than that and the distances and magic necessary to influence them exceeded her knowledge and capabilities at present. Thinking about it like that, she suddenly realized how simple it must be for an entity like Chiana to wander between worlds. Again she was humbled by the senior Overlord.
She communicated what she knew to Chiana, who then supplemented her knowledge.
“You've got a decent handle on it, now just add to that the idea that in the 'Sea' all the foam, every individual bubble, is another universe bundled up within. Of course, there are some other weird objects out there too, kind like driftwood. Maybe even living things too, though I haven't met any myself, I wouldn't be shocked it there were, though. The Astral Sea is too vast for anyone to explore in full. Even if somehow one did, that possibility would create a mirror Astral Sea that would need to be explored, and that would happen again and again and again unto infinity. Think of it like how there's a theoretical infinity between 1 and 2. And then a bigger infinity between 1 and 10. The Astral Sea takes that to it's logical conclusion, but even the Astral Sea is dwarfed by the Ethereal Sea, which separates the living from the dead as it were. I'm not an expert on that one, since I'm not gifted with Ethereal Energy. But I suspect you might learn some things as you develop your dark half.”
There was practically smoke coming from Hina's ears as she tried to process the vast infinity, an infinitely infinite infinity, and yet even that was apparently so disparately smaller than the Ethereal Sea that it really hit home how tiny she was, especially since someone as powerful as Chiana even seemed to balk at the vastness. She recalled some of the celestial objects purported to exist within their own universe that dwarfed the tiny Earth, Sun, and entire solar system. All of those confined to the same tiny bubble in that infinite Astral Sea.
She shook her head, focusing back on their conversation, “You think I'll be able to use Ethereal Energy?”
Chiana nodded in a heartbeat, “Oh absolutely. I mean, anyone who practices spatial distortion long enough uses it in magic, even not knowing what it is at first, but I have a hunch you'll be tapping into it on a deeper level in the future. But that's up to you of course. Good luck,” she said with an encouraging grin.
Hina gave it some thought, but decided that was better saved for later.
“Who's the strongest Overlord you know, then?” Hina asked, honestly unsure what kind of answer Chiana would give her.
“The strongest Overlord would old man Gildread, for sure,” Chiana said lightly, and as though Hina would know who she was talking about. Hina, of course, had no idea who this 'old man Gildread' was.
In response to Hina's even blanker than usual stare Chiana followed up with an explanation, though Hina also thought it odd the way Chiana had stressed the word 'Overlord,' as though something beyond them existed. In fact, in the pit of her stomach she instinctively felt that to be true. She shivered a bit, but waited for Chiana's explanation. It wasn't much of an explanation though.
“Old man Gildread will be coming to the banquet, so you can see for yourself!”
“The strongest Overlord will be attending the banquet?!” Hina asked nervously.
“The strongest Overlord I know,” Chiana corrected.
“W-what is he like?” Hina asked with trepidation.
“Like an old geezer,” Chiana said teasingly, “I'm kidding, but really he does act like everyone's grandpa. He's definitely also the oldest Overlord I know, he's been about since close to the beginning of his Universe, give or take a couple millennia.”
Hina imagined a bearded hermit with wrinkles like a raisin.
“Will you tell me about the other Overlords?” she asked hopefully, but Chiana put a finger to her own lips.
“That'll spoil the fun. But, I guess I'll tell you about one, since she's the one who helped me get here.”
That surprised Hina, “I thought you came on your own?”
Chiana laughed, “Do you really think if would be fair for someone who can bestow divine judgment to go wherever she pleases without restriction? I don't, and the one On High seems to agree, since he didn't give me an ounce of talent in spatial distortion. As much theory as I study, and as good as my mana manipulation gets, I can't use it. So I have to get my friends to do it for me.”
Hina wondered if that defeated the purpose of that restriction. She supposed it would be difficult to make friends with someone powerful enough to send her absolutely anywhere so maybe things worked out that way.
Chiana continued, “Her name's Kyoki, specifically Realmweaver Kyoki, she's represents the North East and is a black and white Spider. Her webs span many dimensions, and she's my best bud～☆” Chiana seemed proud of her friend. Hina put together from that introduction that she must also be one of the 9 Cardinal Demon Emperors. That also cleared up what Chiana had meant by 'center' when she introduced her Qilin form.
“So her final form is a spider?” Hina asked innocently.
“Hmm, not quite...” Chiana looked thoughtful for a moment, “You know what a centaur is?”
Hina nodded.
“She's like that but, instead of a horse, it's a spider. And rather than her human part making up for the spider's head, the spider half gets a head too. If you didn't know better you'd think she was just riding a giant spider.”
While Hina was trying to picture her, Chiana continued.
“I'll just give you a brief idea our whole deal actually, I'd feel bad giving you 2 out of 9, and for that to be the end of it since only Kyoki and I will be at the banquet. Representing the North is Genbu Hokua, the Black Turtle. Representing the East is the Azure Dragon Seiryuu Hisui. Representing the South East is the Dragonfly Tonbo Eris. Representing the South is the Vermilion Bird Suzaku Mifuyu. Representing the South West is the Fox, Dakki Mikage. Representing the West is Byakko Suika the White Tiger. Representing the North West is the White Serpent Hakuja Kokusho. Then me in the Center and Kyoki in the North East.”
Images of powerful creatures filled Hina's mind just hearing the names.
“But that's enough exposition on stuff that probably won't matter to you for quite some time yet,” Chiana said with a smile.
“Thank you for telling me though,” Hina said, it fueled her motivation to get stronger at the very least. Someday she would meet with these 9 Demon Emperors, she swore in her heart.
Chiana stood up, “Thanks for the tea and a fun chat!”
Sensing Chiana was set on leaving this time, Hina stood up to see her off, “Thank you for giving me your time.”
“No, no! I had a blast!” Chiana said with a dismissive wave.
“I suppose, I'll see you at the banquet then...” Hina said hesitantly, wondering if before then the whimsical Overlord Girl had plans to stop by again.
“Yeah, catch you later～☆!”
Hina caught a glimpse of a thin thread, not unlike spider silk, and when Chiana grabbed it, she vanished in an instant. Hina could scarcely think she was actually gone it happened so quickly.
“We'll need to get on that level...” She said with both hesitation and determination all at once.