Arthur opened the door to his room, a penthouse suite at the top of the hotel, and noticed that someone was already inside. He remembered telling the management not to let anyone in without his permission, and he didn’t remember giving anyone permission. Either that person came from outside the skyscraper or the management let someone in, or someone who had control of the management forced them to let someone in. Either way, someone messed up bad.
“Finally, you come.” From the darkness of his penthouse, a woman's voice came. “I thought I would have slept waiting for you.” She stood up and turned on the light switch beside her. “What‘s taking you so long?”
Arthur raised his brows. The woman sent to seduce him before paled compared to the blonde beauty standing before him now. And that hasn’t even considering how she presented herself. The black see-through negligee that left little to the imagination, the garter belt, the high-heels, and the way she made her hips sway left and right as she walked towards him, everything about her was out of this world.
The woman handed the silent Arthur a filled wine glass and tap it with hers. “Cheers.” She turned her body away, giving him a view of her exposed back while shaking her hips invitingly. “You must be tired after meeting all those scummy men and women. Do you want to take a bath fir-” Arthur’s strong hand grabbed her waist. “Ah, very impatient~” His hand went down, stroking along her smooth, flawless white thigh.
Her face flushed, and she bit down her lips as Arthur’s golden aura enveloped her. Her breath ragged and her heart thumping fast. It was her job to seduce him, yet it was she who ended up seduced.
She put their wine glasses on the table. They won’t be needing that anytime soon. As Arthur dragged her body by the waist to the bed, she followed him.
She faced him by the bed. Her finger deftly traced around his broad chest and unbuttoned his shirt. But he grabbed her wrist and shoved her down on the bed without restraint. She let out a playful cry and opened her eyes.
Death
The amorous atmosphere in the air was blown away, replaced by overwhelming dread. Her body refused to move as it felt impending and unavoidable doom.
Death
Death
Death
His sharp golden eyes that sent her heart fluttering before now spelled only of her utter and absolute destruction. His cold gaze stripped her of any semblance of security and chilled the very core of her soul. All her knowledge, her skill, her training, rendered useless and trivial by the existence before her.
The necklace on her neck suddenly let out a strong ray of light, enough to light up the dark penthouse and blind anyone who saw it. A pair of raven wings sprouted from her naked back, each as big as her own body and strong enough to smash human to puddle. But as strong her wings were, they were nothing.
Regaining control of her own body, she immediately reached out to her thigh and stroked it. “Wha- Where is it?” She found nothing. The things she prepared for such situations were gone. The light should distract her target for a while, but if she couldn’t find her wea-
“Searching for this?” An ice-cold voice sent her body back to its paralyzed state. The only movement she could execute was a reflexive movement of her head towards him. Towards Arthur who held a long black curved sword in each hand.
From the start, Arthur wasn’t fooled by her acting. Back when he grabbed her wrist and thigh, he knew she was concealing her swords with magic, and took it without her even noticing..
”Speak!” Arthur’s word threatened to shatter her very existence. And in that moment his command rang out, her throat and tongue moved again.
“W-who are you?”
Arthur raised his brows. “Ah-“ The overwhelming aura crushing her body dissipated, causing her to immediately gasp for air. “Oh ... Are you trying to assassinate me without knowing who I am?” He ruffled his own hair and sighed. Then came the chuckle and laughter “Ahahahahaha I’m so so sorry. That whole thing was unnecessary. Man, how could I forget-“ He checked his breast pocket. “I’ve even prepared it before.”
The woman, still holding her nearly crushed throat, was confused at the sudden change of situation. The sensation from before, when she had accepted her fate, was now replaced by a calming and kind sensation. A complete opposite aura, changed on a whim.
“Well, whatever. What done is done.” He threw the two swords next to her. “I’ll return this.” He turned his body and reached for the wine glasses she put down before.
She knew she shouldn’t do this, this was beyond stupid. But she had to complete her given mission, to assassinate the man in front of her. Her hand inched towards the two swords he returned, careful so he wouldn’t notice.
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“Don’t bother.” Of course, it was a futile attempt. “If you want to live another day, that is. Put down your weapon. There’s no need for unnecessary bloodshed. Unless you’re feeling suicidal, but I know you’re not.”
“I-I come here to kill you.” The golden aura returned her confidence, to the point of recklessness and stupidity.
“No.” He picked up the two glasses and walked back. “Someone like you will only hurt yourself by trying. Your blood is the only one that can be shed in this room.” He dragged a nearby chair and sat on it, facing her. “Who sent you here?” He asked that, but her answer was of no importance. The way he questioned her was so casual he might as well be asking the weather.
He extended his hand, offering her the refilled wine glass. She reached out but stopped before touching. After all, she was on a mission, and she drank only to support her acting. It slowed down her reaction, blurred her mind, and left her unprepared for unexpected situations. But thinking about how she already failed made her want to wash it all away with some drink. She took the wine and quickly gulped the whole glass down.
“No answer? Fine then. Looking at your wings, no doubt you’re a fallen angel. There’s a possibility that you are a mercenary hired by someone else, but I think that’s very unlikely considering you don’t even know who I am. And you fallen angels are very loyal to your cause ... as strange as that sound considering how you ended up being a fallen angel in the first place.
“Is it Grigori? ... no, he isn’t the type to send assassins.” His monologue raised her suspicion and guard. He acted all friendly now, but they were enemies. He might check her reaction to confirm the truth of it. A sly smile appeared on his face.“Don’t bother. I’m not checking your reaction. And even if I do, it’s not like there’s anything you can do to prevent me. There are many more efficient ways to get the truth.”
He cast his gaze down to the stirred wine in his hand. “You see, I rarely have a conversation partner who I can talk with as equal. People come with agendas, or pre-conceived notion of my position, status, or what kind of person I am. They either revere me like a god or hate me to death. It’s rare for me to meet someone who doesn’t know who I am. My friends and allies know me and my enemies know me better.” He sipped his wine. “I’m not asking you to converse with me, considering how we started on the wrong footing. But please humor me with the rambling of my thought.” He took another sip. “Who knows, maybe you can get something useful after all.”
He raised his gaze again. “Is it Lucifer?” The woman tried her best to maintain her poker face. The matter concerning lord Lucifer was a taboo topic among the fallen angel. It must not be discussed nor uttered to outsiders. “No ... he went missing five years ago, didn’t he?” She shuddered but didn’t answer.
“Samael, maybe? He’s the type to send spies and assassins.” Arthur finished his drink. “Well, whatever, the answer won’t change anything.” He raised three fingers. ” There're only three ways tonight will end for you. First, you will raise your swords and will not see the light of day ever again nor will your soul ever find the afterlife.
“Second, you‘ll exit this room with empty hands and return to wherever you came from. You will continue whatever futile mission you have and will live for five or six more years before death finally embraces you. Maybe you’ll see the end of the world, Armageddon, Ragnarok, whatever you’re calling it. You will die then, and everything you have worked on for all your life will become null. Then you will be reborn in a better new world, unaware of your previous life. Or third-“
He brought out a piece of paper from his breast pocket. She couldn‘t not accept it, it wasn‘t even a possibility.
His crushing aura had taught her about absolute terror and the meaninglessness of her existence, then his soft aura returned her to a previous state of ignorance and bliss, but his speech just now brought her a terrifying realization. The man before her wasn’t on the same level of existence as her or her master. She was - since her very first breath until the day her soul faces oblivion - on the mercy of his whim. She was merely an ant, a speck of dust to the radiant sun that was his being.
“You will go to this address the first thing tomorrow. There’ll be a plane waiting for you at the airport, and a car after you land. You will find a friend of mine there and you will spend the rest of your hitherto miserable life with otherworldly bliss and joy until the day of reckoning come.”
Arthur stood up from his chair. “Take all the time you need before deciding. Though there’s never actually a choice for you. Everything your parent taught you, your teacher taught you, your master taught you. Every relationship you had, every trauma you experienced, everything you saw, heard, tasted, smelled, and felt have shaped the present you, have made the choice for you.”
He pointed at the bathroom and the bed. “Feel free to use everything here to your heart content.” His gaze moved to the clock on the wall.The night had well passed its mid-point.
Putting the wineglass on a nearby table, Arthur walked to the open area of the penthouse and raised his face towards the unnaturally dark sky. No moon and star in such a clear cloudless night.
It was happening undetected and unnoticed by anyone but him. Despite the best Rose and Albert and Rein did that night during the raid, this chain of events was unstoppable. Rein’s choice, Rose’s choice, Albert’s choice, a few actual choices in this unforgiving world, all contributed to this eventuality. The ‘Other’ some called them, the Ancient Horror, the Old Ones, the Great Ones, many were their names and terrible they were. The beings of Outer Realm.
The gate opened.
Though he couldn’t say that Rose and Albert and Rein failed in their endeavor. This outcome wasn’t the best for them, but neither was it the worst. The ‘Key’ and the ‘Gate’ the Dollmaker hoped to make was incomplete, but no one ever said it couldn‘t be used. Rein didn’t kill the love of his life and the Dollmaker failed to make him kill seven women. And thus, even if it opened, it was only a little and for a short while.
Powerful the ‘Other’ were, they were still bound by stars and dimension, else this and countless other worlds would have been overrun since the dawn of time.
Tonight, only one can pass, and with a great price. The gate couldn’t handle its full might, and If it was caught between worlds when the gate closed, it would perish. How shameful and laughable that would be. For something so powerful and transcendental to disappear into obscurity due to mistiming.
Would the risk cause the thing to hesitate and lose its only chance, or would it throw part of its transcendental power for a chance to nest, to set anchor in this virgin world? The thought made Arthur smile and chuckle in excitement of what was coming. “Come now, make your choice … or are you too afraid?”
The ‘Thing’ heard Arthur’s taunt.
It made its choice.