Mindarch's area of influence didn't encompass the whole Seventh Death Forest, let alone the Surface. For that, he would need a sort of upgrade that wasn't available on this planet. Or it was, but Levandis was unable to guarantee its validity or existence, or if it was something she could even handle on her own.
For Manager Kil, this meant good news. More work meant more problems anyway.
His little hands were kind of full right now.
[Now, now, don't cry on me, Kil.] Mindarch mocked little Tontati, speaking softly around the room.
“Is the world ending?” Manager Kil mumbled. “Tell me it is ending. Tell me that they are coming. This work will go on until I see my own End, won't it? Is there a remedy for that? I see screens... Years passing by. I see livelihood disappearing under my grasp, moving like water and a sense of despair.”
[Wanna make a poem out of that?]
“I feel dreadful...”
[Kind of fitting for this current pace and place, isn't it? World aflame, this sort of melancholy reeks of poems.]
“Shut up!” Manager Kil snapped, growing some balls and getting to his feet. Shoving his finger up and around many screens, one of them flickered into the rough appearance of Mindarch's foggy face.
[Wanna know how pretty you are right now?] Mindarch mocked him. [Not the prettiest you are.]
“What is Le... Lady doing right now?”
[Laughing and eating through the despair. Oh, and she considered the happenings in Gate 3 the most. It seems... the population in there is in a pickle. Not food, but...]
“No shit!” Manager Kil cut him off. “Other Gates with less population take things better since there are no weaklings and reputation matters. She is the Ruler! Everyone at Gate 6 and below knows what's good for them. Weaklings don't, while... it isn't everything. Nothing is.”
[Wanna slaughter Gate 3 as a whole?]
“Wanna smack that screen apart?” Manager Kil tightened his tie, shoving his fist and cracking his aura onwards, darkening the surroundings, pressing his Gravity as if this place was in the middle of the Void. He flickered the screens around him, messages in the walls included, and most flows around this room stopped flowing.
[Oy, no threatening here. Where the hell do you think you are?]
“One world... One word.”
[No. This won't stop, so stop being a miserable Tontati. It is terrible for your race. So small and good, yet you ended up like this... How sad. It isn't as if you can change the situation anyway, so don't act as if you can do anything about a single message or the screens. Levandis knows it. She is kind of lacking anyway, unlike my former master. She can be understanding like him, but she is more ruthless, savage, and wrong on so many levels, that one often wonders if she is right instead. You are included as Tontati, whereas she is like a big queen.]
“Don't try me!” Manager Kil shouted. “I got her task. Gonna finish this to the last shred of time and conscience I've got. I... promised.”
[Gonna be your End instead. Wanna show some things around?]
Some screens flickered, showing Levandis in her room all happy and feasting. There were some... devils. Men too. All naked. Blood spilled. Food disappeared.
“Nah.” Manager Kil waved his hands in embarrassment and didn't want to see anything.
The screens flickered again, showing a rare Divine Party that crashed the entrance and Undead Army alike. It was one of the funniest sights Mindarch had seen in a long time and that blackmail that forced Levandis to adapt was most peculiar. After all, it wasn't something even Mindarch knew, so it put a lot of curiosity in his spirit.
Ceila already crushed Gate 1. Behind her, Paladins followed her every step. She continued onward without caring for face or consequences, or what Mindarch was sending at her to assess her power and her Paladins. So far, nothing touched them, thus creating confusion as this party was way more powerful than Mindarch thought.
Mindarch let them slide because they had Levandis's blessing to go into the temple without any deep aversions, sets of ridiculous requirements for completions, or some curses. Manager Kil couldn't touch them either; he didn't even consider them to be important. They were just another mess to the overall pictures of these screens, and frankly, if his Lady accepted them, he did too.
Her voice was a rule, even if it was filled with some sense of blackmail or whatnot. So Ceila went on, killing and taking Mindarch's challenges for little annoyances. Undead went and became dust, beasts became torn flesh, while some demons might have been unnecessarily arrogant in their Ends. Even some Divine Beasts growled as they became mincemeat under weapons from the Divine Kingdom.
Levandis used none of her important cards; she just greenlit Mindarch to spend appropriate fools and important parts of the temple's constructs to see what that clever fox Vermillion sent her. The most passable ones were old tech, golems, and pieces of her undead.
Levandis refused to give them an easy time, but not as if it was good or bad. She was just petty. Lazily petty.
“Take that away!” Manager Kil didn't want to see them.
[Sure. Sure.]
The screens flickered again, showing a familiar side of the Encounter that this little Tontati didn't hate.
Murai was sitting on a plush bed, looking as if he was dreaming or sleeping. His Will was gone deep into the Heavenly Shaping Manual that was open in front of him, glowing in bright mana and resting on the bed.
[Wanna bet what he does with Pillage?] Mindarch said. [I have numerous plausibilites and what they could mean. Heavenly Shaping is peculiar, similar to the sense of direction that followed that book. I mean, how does it even work? For years, it looked like dogshit, while taking it out was more than weird. It was just a while ago too, otherwise, it would rot in her garden.]
“Can't care about it,” Manager Kil refused.
[Shouldn't we at least talk about that Beast Sect, followed by Old One's attempts, growth, and how he got it? What will it do? What wilderness will it change, or what sort of option it will create as its new foundation?] Mindarch wondered to no bitter end. It was extremely gratifying entertainment. He was ecstatic to see Murai's unknown.
“We have limited connection to such sect. Don't try me. I am fully fixed on Levandis. Whatever this cursed duck does and will do is no longer my problem.”
[Bullcream. You are just lazy and depressed. You would be more than willing to be interested. After all, you did what you did before. It is your race that matters to you. No need to lie. Then, you have your ideas and her interest. This is the same thing. So yes. You are very insulting to yourself, which means to her too. Liar.]
Manager Kil grunted, huffed a breath, and secured his tiny arms around his chest, appearing tougher than he looked. “That is wrong. Does my care make some sense? Is it something good? Anatidaes are wild beasts, while Pillage was an old fool who died so long ago, that Tontati were just a small race beneath the Fairies. That Manual was here for a long time, yet I still question why and where this is supposed to end. Then, the question remains why did that ghost bring that to him, when... it shouldn't have been available to begin with, right? Who took it there? You? Levandis? It didn't go through my hands.”
[Age is a tough thing to beat, little Kil.]
“Says someone who is older than any God in this world.”
[Oh,] Mindarch seemed hurt, his ghostly face grimaced in one little screen. [Well, it isn't wrong. Nevermind. That is true. You just don't want to accept that Levandis cares for something else than your little head.] Mindarch sounded apologetic.
“Stop showing me him and that.”
[You were curious about it yourself, don't like to me. This is fun! I will show you something nicer. Make you forget the current mess.]
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“No!” Manager Kil flapped his arms around and ran in circles, but no matter what, the screens followed him behind, shoving Murai's face in numerous histories straight to his face. There were many interesting fights, moves, faces, and powers Midnarch crisped up and improved.
[Aha! You are dishonest. Don't refuse me. You are curious little Overlord. The smallest I've ever met.]
“And you are a wide and big aloof idiot.”
[Awww. Stop praising me! I will grow bold and grey. Ah! I am already grey! Fuck. I will get older! Ew.]
In the end, Mindarch kept Murai out of the picture, even though the topic of the Pillage Emperor was still pending as an interest that wasn't something forgotten and not important. Mindarhc cleverly ended the curious question that showed some of Manager Kil's troubles. After all, that Manual wasn't simple and Levandis did take it for a great spoil of war. It was something Manager Kil knew, as history in this world was a very important topic to him.
One way or the other, Levandis tolerated the loss of that Manual with a smile on her face, which was all that Manager Kil needed to know. But it worried him what it meant for open reason alone. That ghost. That chance...
It was an interesting event that Manager Kil didn't want to consider because of his current depression. He would think about it if he could.
Yet, nothing else mattered when the Hell Haven acted for most cares of its Ruler, and the world stopped spinning right.
Murai was still a different kind of a headache, similar to Razmund, who flashed at some screens before disappearing in a heartbeat after Mindarch deemed his topic as a bother that wouldn't put something funny into Kil's heart or face.
But then, Mindarch remembered an excellent idea.
He flashed some screens, making many of them more fancy and crisp. Many large sides of Lisa, with David and Ulitum aside, were surrounding a table, taking care of their plans. This was a picture from the past, Mindarch knew, but they would get the job done.
Things changed, so they were no longer in Helltrim City because more than a day had passed since that curious Pledge.
[What about these? Could they solve your Dread?]
“No. Nothing will. What are you even doing with showing me these?”
[To cheer you up.]
“How... nice,” Manager Kil sighed. “I am fine... but Gate 3 and the world isn't with them in the way of that Encounter and Hunt. It got elevated with their involvement. Lost Brothers are... not weak. Hell Haven is growing in crisis. Nothing that some power could count, but why is it the case that everything went wrong so quickly?”
[Without Boosts in sight, even I can't work that well. The Will of the Battleworld kept the world in peace. Relative peace.]
Manager Kil gave him a long look, knowing that Will of the Battleworld was pivotal in the arts of war and essential in creating missions that could potentially end in all kinds of wars, create them, or pivot many politics with rewards seen by Gods. That was the height of things as far as mortals were concerned. There were mountains worth of other topics, turning the world into a fitting position and growing it into what it should be.
The Will of the Battleworld was simply essential in letting things remain as they should. The less developed a power was, the more they depended on it. Mostly in hopes, that was, second to actual benefits and view that power was obtainable with less bother.
Hell Haven shouldn't be depending on it, but tell it to the place close to Chaos that... for once, relied on and cherished in the Boosts. It was hard to overlook how useful it was, so most places took the lack of it as a bad thing.
“So, what will happen next? What are your suggestions and plans?” Manager Kil asked, hoping to shift his attention and topic to something else than these screens.
[They have plans,] Mindarch zoomed into the sitting triplet of interesting figures. Some were more interesting than others. Manager Kil knew them all, so he eyed the screens, knowing that what they were talking about must be difficult for them. For him, it was just another day. He didn't want to listen to anything or see a face.
[They are plotting some interesting things. Wanna help them? Hear them? I am listening, unless...well, I can be sneaky. Get you some pictures or even voice mails if you want.]
Manager Kil grew a little restless, yet didn't refute him. “Do you want to help them so much, you cheeky little spirit? Behind her back?”
[Says a little person. But yes. It seems possible right now if Levandis wants to show it some interest or flow. If she won't, we can still help them. You or me, it doesn't matter to me.]
“Why would we do that? Wait.. you would go behind our backs?”
That was a good question that Mindarch expected.
So he showed him a few screens with Razmund, facing Illak in a tense-up hall. [I planned to. The opposing Side just arrived at Gate 3. Fresh but tired, Boostless, and less full of shit than I thought. He took the loss of his Voice well. Way too well...]
“I... see. So? He is a Blessed seeking his prey and his history and power are varied and weakness is for weaklings. He is... neither. Then we have... On Gods, not again! You overlooked Old One's task! Ip'ur Mountain is...” Manager Kil shook and glanced at some flowing large words down below, almost crawling through them. He lost his voice when the room tensed and something was coming and changing.
Work.
Job.
A visit?
[Oh, Levandis is getting somewhere... Oh! Here? Physically as well.]
Suddenly, the space shuddered and a thin red line appeared aside some of the screens. As if walking through veils of soft silk, Levandis walked into the Screening Room, half-naked, but she didn't care. No one here should care.
At least she had the conscience to wear her robe that enunciated her long red hair, buoyant hips, breasts, and long legs.
Manager Kil kneeled in a second, not uttering a peep, unlike some cheeky spirit.
[Welcome. Welcome on this joyous occasion. What might you want here, my... master? Can I show you something nice?] Mindarch said and didn't even bother hiding any of the surrounding screens or mess around the walls that he showed to Kil.
Levandis glanced around in wonder, watching the screens surrounding Manager Kil. Most showed zoomed Lisa in numerous possess, some of which were clearly manufactured, made up through Mindarch's enchanted imaginations and giving her a crisp look and nice figure. Secretly, Manager Kil was impressed.
Her smile was perfect like most of her enchanted properties. In a sense, she looked less like her current profile and even stranger than her former one.
It was within his plan.
“What do we have here?” Levandis asked.
[Just depressed Tontati,] Mindarch said, turning and changing a bunch of his screen before her face, [and a bunch of other problems.]
Levandis regarded him with a smile. “Is that so? Problems, I mean.”
The screens flickered and Lisa's perfection disappeared like ink to water. Instead, many curious pasts arrived into the grey and black. One showed Lisa touching and moving her sona right into a sitting Murai who was lost in his Boost. It was unknown if this picture happened in the previous Gate, or the one before that. In fact, it wasn't just one side. Others were showing similar things.
A different screen showed Murai's struggle in Island 93 where the crazy battle happened and a single elven boy struggled to keep his life.
That one piqued some of their interest, and Midnarch hoped Levandis would address it in some way.
She didn't and only scoffed at them.
[Problem? Oh, yes. Big bad. Big trouble. Those pictures, those screens. I am full and reading.]
“So?” Levandis shrugged and glanced around as if she was bored. A lot of other things were on her mind, and Mindarch recognized that she was lazy and horny.
Mindarch pivoted some of them. [I am curious about something.]
One showed Murai and that elven boy and a successful defense mission that changed a lot of things.
There was also an issue with that armor.
“That one? Oh, defense. I reckon one gets what one is worth. Poor little things. I support a chance where one changes. It is adequate.”
[Poor? Good...] Mindarch raised his voice and pivoted the other ones to her face.
These screens were about Razmund; a big shift and change, as well as a strange bond.
A little girl standing in an arena, surrounded by nothing and nobody. Approached by Razmund, she was death set on her End and aware that she wasn't getting out of this alive. Monsters will kill her. She was a slave to her time and...
Razmund clutched her neck, whispered to her, and snapped her of her life in a moment.
For dramatic effect, Mindarch included the voice.
“I am sorry, slaves of hell and people have no remedy. Consider it as my mercy.”
“How melodramatic,” Levandis sighed and at least her eyes frowned a little.
[Nothing else?]
“Nothing worth mentioning. I have described the rules. Are you saying something else?”
[Hm... Why have you let that Judge interfere? I could have sent him back where his Authority remained.] Mindach shifted his topic, moved screens away, and changed some of their content.
“Pissing off any Judge is a terrible idea. After all, I have a representative there, and things are a little sensitive in my place right now, aren't they?”
[They could be worse if I am honest but...]
Levandis stepped forward and glanced around one more time until her eyes stopped at a kneeling little person.
“Is he that depressed watching his purpose turn to this, or are those screens that bad?” she asked, walking ahead without showing much change in expression, but some screens showed interesting things that piqued her eyes. Some, she didn't know, but she felt as if she should.
[He likes to pretend he is, I think?]
“I bet he does. Anyhow, I got my fill of bliss so it is time to get ahead of myself. I want to address my Authority and Divinity,” Levandis laughed, smiled like a devil she wasn't, and eyed the little Overlord. She decided to focus on things that mattered rather than watching these screens. “Now, do you want to hear my plans to fix this mess, my little subjective tools?”
[I grew bold!] Mindarch said and reforged his curiosity. [Or so... I think? How does one grow older in my capacity? Is it the stress? Tones? Could I be darker, or is it about the greyness? Could my Laws strain themselves and let my voices grow old? Oh!] He panicked, imagining the results, and hated it straight away.
Levandis was used to him by now, so she didn't give him any privileges over her answers.
Manager Kil loved her idea as he knelt. He knew things changed from that time in her dining hall. Half of that time no longer mattered, if not more.
Vermillion crushed that completely apart, but he didn't know much about it because of his depression.
Levandis did, thanks to Mindarch.
[Yes, talk to me.] Mindarch changed his mind and cheered, showing a bunch of starry and exploding screens around the room. It was a wonder from where this scenery originated from.
“For a good start, Hunt in Gate 3 shall start with many of my interesting subjects and ideas. Clever ideas, I might add, so listen to me and talk to me, as you will be dealing with it. I will watch aside.”
[How do you wish it, or... how well it is right? Mind you, some things worry me, as you are kind of ignorant of what can occur over your land, head, or straight under your palms.] Mindarch showed a bunch of screens in her field of view, showing Murai, Razmund, and Ceila. Even that room with figures around the table was there, but Levandis waved her hand, shattering the screens to mist.
“Get lost. Not now. Perhaps later there will be time for that.”
[When is when?]
“Why do you ask?” Levandis perked up, showing a smile to one screen aside that showed a ghostly smile. “You are usually not that demanding or pressing.”
[Because. This is still my home. It matters to me even if it was stolen and honed to a different kind.]
“I do want to talk to you about some things then, Archie,” Levandis smiled, showing no small affected on her significant helper. “But some things need more attention. I don't have time for everything, nor does it count.”
Mindarch sighted, thinking that some Rulers do what Rulers want. After noticing that she stubbornly refused to elaborate further, Mindarch accepted her reasons.
She explained what she wanted, standing and seizing the situation for her own good. It wasn't time for the Encounter to shine completely. She wouldn't mind it, but the Hunts were one of her favorite things about Gate 3 she personally created. Her work and tries won't solve the entire situation in her temple. Just Hellscape.
For now, it was what interested her. She shouldn't care for the Surface, so she didn't, while that divine party had more than enough reason to validate her lacking voice.
Manager Kil straightened his back, accepting that things wouldn't be calm even with her voice of reason. He overlooked some things. Perhaps it was better to let them be as Mindarch stated all those days ago.
Good, he thought. I was getting worried that I was making a fatal mistake. Now, my Lady will do them instead. Great!
But then, he realized that Levandis wasn't often sticking her fingers to the business of the Challengers, so perhaps this wouldn't end well either.