DEVIL'S PLANS

Light of the hanging lanterns faintly lit up a small, squared room filled with chairs and tables. On a small platform facing north, six or so men were playing musical instruments while the rest of the tavern danced and sang, creating boom of sounds which echoed into the night outside. In a small corner of the tavern, one cast in shadows, a youthful-looking man was sitting near a scantily clad woman, his hand gently caressing her thigh. The woman was biting her lower lip softly as she stared at him with glistening eyes, while the young man smiled brightly, his eyes cascading down her body lustfully.

“Ah, I remember now.” the young man exclaimed lightly. “Sh’eera is old Dwarven for a Star, right?”

“You really do know your tongues. In more ways than one.” the woman replied with a seductive smile.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” the young man leaned in slightly as he licked his upper lip. “Appropriate, too, for you’re shining brighter than any celestial object I’ve ever seen.”

“You must have drunk quite a lot to say that.”

“Hardly,” the young man said. “I merely don’t hesitate to speak my heart’s thoughts. What is beautiful is, and should be praised to no end.”

“You’ve given this old lady a wonderful night,” the woman said as she slowly got up. “How about you make it even better?”

“… it should be me saying that,” the young man said, smiling as he got up and followed the woman outside the tavern, into a small, coastal town. Night above them hung lit up by stars while a full moon cast its brilliant light upon the world. “To think I’d find such a stunning gem here of all places. Gods must be smiling at me.”

“As they are on me.”

The pair slowly walked toward a small house at the edge of the town where the woman unlocked the door and let the young man in. She suddenly halted the moment they stepped in and moved her arms slowly toward her shoulders, pushing the simple – but beautiful nonetheless – gown away. A moment later, the gown fell onto the floor, revealing a fully naked body of a woman; as though sculptured, her curves caused young man’s eyes to shine for a moment and lick his dry lips.

“What do you think?” the woman asked.

“What do I think?” the young man said as he took a step forward and placed both his hands on the woman’s neck from behind. “If only you were as smart as you were beautiful.” as he whispered thus softly into her ears, he wrung her neck strongly, shifting her head opposite of what it ought to be, facing his directly unlike the rest of her body. There was a faint trace of shock and confusion lingering on her face, causing the young man to sigh. A mere moment later, a small monkey appeared out of nowhere and leapt onto the young man’s shoulder, his mouth curved up into a smile.

“I thought Mages from Divine Realms are… you know…” the monkey said.

“Yeah. I can’t believe this,” the young man said, sighing yet again and sitting in a nearby chair as he let go of the woman, whose body immediately plummeted onto the ground. “Everyone I meet is a gullible idiot. Tell men they’re handsome, courageous, pamper their asses for a day and they’re trusting you as though you were their father. Tell women they’re beautiful, alluring, stolen stars, and they’re crying rivers downstairs. Retch wasn’t kidding when he said that power of Divine Realms is maintained by the old farts.”

“You’re really wicked,” a black shadow wrung from the floor and appeared standing in front of the young man; a moment later, the shape formed into another young man, wholly clad in black. Ryuuk smiled faintly as he looked at the young man sitting indifferently. “The poor woman thought she would have the night of her life. Turns out, it was merely the last night of her life.”

“I never realized that effective equals boring,” the young man said. “Wouldn’t it be much more fun to just storm their asses directly and battle it out like legends?”

“Perish the thought,” a spark of flame appeared next to Ryuuk, quickly transforming into a shape of a woman. Ely’s expression remained unchanged as she spoke. “Your task is to train and get stronger while gaining information about the other side. Not to have fun.”

“Bleh, this is more boring than I thought,” the young man said, leaning his head backward. “Look at her. She was more confused than angry in the end. She didn’t even figure out that I was going to kill her. For fuck’s sake, she was at least an Empress!! Back home, she could have ruled half the realm! Wait, no. With that brain, she would have ruled jack shit.”

“I think I finally understand why women find you so charming,” Y’se suddenly appeared behind the young man, donning simple, silver clothing. “You only tell them the things they wish to hear.”

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“And being handsome doesn’t hurt, right?”

“Yeah… sure…”

“It’s not just women,” the young man said. “Everyone likes to hear certain things. It’s in our nature to seek acceptance and approval from others.”

“Where’s Retch anyway?” Y’se asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Heh.” the young man smirked for a moment as a brief laughter escaped him.

“… what did you do?” everyone except the young man muttered as they glared at him for a moment.

“He ought to relax sometimes, you know?”

“… tell me you didn’t buy him a woman.” Y’se said, sighing.

“A woman? Certainly not.”

“… how many?”

“He looks like a man who can handle a decent amount.” the young man said.

“How many?” Y’se asked again.

“Nine.”

“… he’s going to kill you, you know?”

“Nah, he’s a cool dude.” the young man said. “He’ll understand.”

“It’s Retch.”

“Yeah, I’m dead. But at least I’ve got a night free from his eyes. I can’t even properly sleep with him around,” the young man complained. “It’s always training, training, training and, guess what? Fucking training.”

“It’s for your own good.” Ely said.

“Ugh, enough about that,” the young man shrugged, taking out a black gourd and drinking some. “Let’s plan, plan. What now? Should we finally go after Han Clan?”

“As much as I’d love to do it,” the monkey said. “We still don’t know where their center of operations is. We’ve only caught small fish so far.”

“We should head south,” Y’se proposed. “Maybe we’ll have more luck there.”

“You just want to visit Maiden’s Tears Lake.” the young man scoffed.

“And you don’t?” Y’se asked, arching her brow.

“Well, yeah, I do, but—“

“It’s settled then. Southward we go!” Y’se exclaimed. At that moment, the doors suddenly opened, startling everyone inside. Through walked a tall, muscular man with angry expression on his face. The moment he spotted the young man sitting, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

“Lynne!!” he exclaimed angrily.

“Oh, Retch. Nice of you to finally join us.” Lynne said, faintly smiling as he took a gulp from the gourd.

“Just how many stunts are you planning on pulling?!” Retch shouted as he bashed the doors close behind him. “First it was sleeping powder, then it was ‘hidden treasure’, then it was you suddenly ‘wanting’ to see how it ‘feels to be a woman’, and now you even pay some brothel whores to keep me away?!”

“Hey, only the sleeping powder was planned! I truly believed in everything else!” Lynne said. “Besides, I didn’t pay them to keep you away. I paid them to keep you company.”

“What’s the difference?!”

“The difference is that you were supposed to be fucking them right about now, not accusing me of some silly things.”

“…”

“Ah, Retch, Retch, Retch,” Lynne sighed, getting up slowly and walking over to the tall man, gently fisting his chest and leaving his hand there. “You gotta relax. All these muscles… they’re like storages for stress, you know? You’re too tense. That’s no good.”

“I need to be,” Retch said. “And all of you,” he turned toward others. “Can’t you at least pretend to be helping me?”

“It’s Lynne,” Y’se said, smiling lightly as she sat down. “Didn’t you learn you can’t keep him on a leash already?”

“I gave up on trying years ago.” the monkey said.

“It’s more fun for me this way.” Ryuuk said.

“I can’t be bothered.” Ely said.

“See? Aren’t we one amazing party?” Lynne said, his smile beaming. “Anyway, I didn’t set you up with some ordinary hookers.”

“I know,” Retch said, frowning. “When they completely refused to let me go, I figured something was wrong. Especially when they saw you walking off with that woman.” Retch said, pointing at the corpse on the floor.

“They’re probably linked to the Han Clan subsidiary Sect, Immaterial Succubus Sect.” Lynne said, sitting down.

“… so your plan was to alarm them?” Retch said, arching his brow.

“Well, yeah,” Lynne said. “Or do you perhaps know where exactly their Sect’s at?”

“… no.”

“Figured as much,” Lynne said. “All of those present tonight were low-level figures, so my goal is to attract some senior members and have Y’se pretend to be a possible Disciple candidate.”

“No.” Y’se immediately said.

“Yeah, I didn’t ask.” Lynne said right after. “Besides, you’ve seen me work my magic. I kind of want to see you work yours.”

“… there’s no magic involved,” Y’se said, smiling lightly. “I just show them what they’ll be working with.”

“… you gals are so lucky to have everything given to you at birth.” Lynne said, sighing.

“Tell that to the ugly ones.” Ryuuk commented.

“That’s true.” the monkey nodded.

“Enough already…” Retch said, sighing. “So, what if Y’se gets accepted? We follow after her?”

“That’s the plan.” Lynne said.

“And if she doesn’t?” Ely asked. “Do you want me to give it a try?” everyone slowly turned toward her and looked at her oddly. “What?”

“… nothing,” Lynne said, shaking away his thoughts. “Besides, there’s no way they’ll reject Y’se.”

“I never said I’m doing it.” Y’se said.

“And I still never asked.”

“… I’m beginning to sympathize with you, Brother Retch.” Y’se said.

“Let’s all get some nice sleep in this conveniently provided house,” Lynne said. “We’ve got to get up early. They’re probably already on the way.”

“… I love when Lynne makes plans.” Ryuuk said, laughing for a moment. “It’s never boring.”

“… you’re the only one.” Y’se, Retch and the monkey said at the same time as everyone divided up neatly into the corners and sat down cross-legged as the night lingered on.

At the same time, roughly four thousand miles eastward, a group of ten women was flying at high speeds through the high sky. All wore extremely revealing outfits, barely covering anything. The leading woman appeared to be in her early thirties, her golden hair fluttering backward like coiling serpents, emerald-green eyes looking piercingly into the distance. Her angry expression was echoed on the faces of nine others, their eyes already set onto a small tavern in a small coastal town where, just a few minutes ago, ten of their Junior Sister’s Soul Remnants placed in the Sect vanished, meaning they died.

The leading woman’s name is Tyana and she was one of the eighteen Elders of the Sect. It wasn’t unusual for two to three girls to die in short span of time on occasion, but ten wasn’t a coincidence – it was an invitation. Someone specifically targeted them, telling the Sect that the Junior Disciples weren’t worth their time. Tyana, upon realizing this, immediately headed out as she was the only available Elder at the moment, bringing with her nine Senior Disciples. Invitation or not, the ten deaths were clear provocation against her Sect – something neither she nor anyone else from the Sect could ever tolerate.