It's been quite a while since I've last been here, but… Was it just me, or the Abyss was kind of nice? I mean, it didn't have the hoity-toity literal 'crystal spires and togas' aesthetics of the Elysium, but it also didn't have two-thirds of it covered by manual farming communities either, so it kind of balanced out. It was a remarkably peaceful place with deep of history, and while the noble houses at the top were unadulterated dicks, couldn't the same be said about the leaders of most other societies?

Hell, I would even go as far as to say the Abyss would've made a cool holiday destination. The weather was always nice (which made perfect sense, considering the climate of the pocket dimension was artificially maintained), the infrastructure was properly developed with all basic amenities available and then some, and they had lots of scenic spots and historical sites just asking to become tourist traps. Like that spot right over there, by the shore. It was practically begging for a great summer home to be built on it. It had an actual sandy beach and everything, and if not for the stupid, foreboding red skies, it would've made a perfect environment for a vacation, with just me and the girls, no adds and extras.

Maybe in the future. The relatively distant one, after I was done with my whole checklist, however never-ending it felt at times.

But let's ignore that for the moment, and focus on the important details. It was the early afternoon (though it was hard to tell because of the aforementioned reddish tint of the sky), and I was sitting on the edge of the roof. The roof of what? Well, one of Castle Inanna's many fancy gothic towers. And yes, that was its official name. The noble houses of the Abyss just loved to name stuff after themselves, didn't they?

Anyhow, I stood up, bracing my feet on the back of a worn-looking yet also brand-sparkling-new gargoyle, and crossed my arms as I enjoyed the light breeze. After drinking in the scenery for a bit longer, I made sure I was properly dressed, readjusted the mask on my face, and then waited for the right moment to make my dramatic entrance.

Inhaling a deep breath, I cast a quick Far Glance at my target, and the moment he had his back turned, I purposefully shifted my waist to the left. My balance disturbed, I was just about to fall off the gargoyle, but a moment later I Phased away. With motions that I practised way more than I was willing to openly admit, I landed in the padded chair inside a certain Abyssal noble's study.

It creaked under the impact, causing the owner of the room to freeze up and turn on his heel, nearly dropping the pricey bottle of brandy he was holding in his left hand. His right, fingers spread, was pointing towards the desk (and me behind it) with a slight sparkle of magic that could be shaped for either defence or offence with just a twitch of his fingers if the situation demanded. He was dressed the same as always, meaning like someone cosplaying as a Victorian-era vampire, with the red cape and the gem-studded black clothes and everything. After the first fright passed, his sunken eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out where I came from.

Of course, I wasn't seeing any of that, because I was sitting with my back turned towards him. Swivel chairs were useful like that. That didn't mean I wasn't keeping an eye on him through Far Sight, but as far as he knew, at the moment I was just wistfully staring out through the huge gothic window dominating that side of the wall.

I remained both wordless and motionless as I continued to gaze into the distance, waiting for him to break the silence first, and the moment he opened his mouth to address me…

"I don't like this sky," I stated in a plain, disinterested voice, startling the man and causing him to almost reflexively sling the bottle at me. That would've been a pretty silly development, but he managed to stop himself at the last second. He hurriedly put it back into a nearby cabinet with a clatter before raising his other hand, two fingers extended my way in a vaguely menacing gesture. I waited for him to finish, and then added, "Red is just so… passé. Orange? I can live with that, maybe even a shade of tangerine, but red? It makes us look like we're the villains, wouldn't you agree?"

He didn't respond right away, so after a sufficiently long beat, I kicked against the floor and dramatically turned the swivel chair around to face him.

"Oh, but where did I leave my manners? Hello, Mister Crowy!" I gave him a happy-go-lucky wave but then pretended to freeze mid-motion as if I just recalled something important. "Or wait… your name was something else, wasn't it?"

"Noire Irdu Inanna of House Inanna," the man at the other end of the room squeezed through gritted teeth, and I let out a soft chuckle in response.

"Right, right! I knew it was something else, but nobody out there calls you that anymore! Weird, isn't it?"

He didn't respond, but he let down one hand. The one with the two fingers pointed at me. The other remained outstretched, and he assumed a more... maybe relaxed isn't the right word, but his posture was definitely less skittish.

"And you must be Bel of the Abyss."

"In the flesh," I nodded with an implied smile in my voice. "For the record, this is the first time we met, right? I'm just asking because it's kind of hard to keep track of these things between the timelines and whatever. It's a mind screw, I tell you." I paused and cocked my head to the side. "Speaking of which, is this the timeline where I released a thousand small spiders into your room, or the one where I filled your bed with itching powder? Just asking for reference."

Crowy's face twisted for a moment, but he controlled his emotions and only stated, "The latter," in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Ah, right! That was a hoot."

While I mimed a chuckle, his brows furrowed and he glanced at the door, then back at me. I wasn't worried that he would try to make a run for it, but maybe he was looking for backup? In any case, he finally let down his other hand as well and levelled a frown at me that, nonetheless, felt a bit forced and conflicted.

"Were you also the one who invaded my room and poisoned me with the Blood Amalgam?"

"Sure."

My light-hearted admission of guilt took him by surprise and his glare faltered, culminating in a baffled, "Why?"

"Who knows? My ways are inscrutable, sometimes even to myself. I probably had a good reason though. I usually have good reasons for the things I do." Before he could press the issue any further, I abruptly stood up, causing him to raise his palm again. In the meanwhile, I lightly slammed my hands on his desk and leaned forward. "But let's not get bogged down reminiscing about the good old times! Do you know why I'm here?"

"... No?"

"Really? I hoped you could tell, because I kind of forgot. Wait a second, let me double-check."

With that, I Phased out of the room, and into a nearby empty bathroom I scouted out ahead of time. I counted to three and then reappeared behind Crowy with a clap. Needless to say, since he was already high-strung, he jumped back like a startled cat and nearly hit the side of his desk before coming to a stop.

"Oh, wow! That took longer than expected, but I recalled why I'm here. Sorry about that; at my age, things just slip out of my memory from time to time." I mimed a good-natured chuckle and then locked gazes with him. "So, Lord of House Inanna. Answer me this: How is your control over House Ashur's Mana Well coming along?"

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Crowy honest-to-goodness froze up for a moment but maintained eye contact, and after what felt like ages, he quietly answered, "My mastery is absolute."

Maybe as a form of demonstration, he raised both of his hands, his gloved fingertips dancing through the air as they drew dark purple traces culminating in an abrupt surge of pressure. The room was suddenly filled with the colourless glow of magic, like a thick haze emanating from the man in front of me. For a second, I felt like I was standing in front of one of the Mana Wells. That impression was only momentary though, as I could soon see a pair of thin threads originating from his chest and stretching through the walls and into the distance.

I didn't need to be a genius to figure out that those were connecting him to the two Mana Wells under his control, and they were pumping him full of power. In fact, while I was scrutinizing the threads, the swirling aura of magic around him was kicking up a storm, causing his paperwork to fly across the room and it even lifted him off the ground. Not just that, but his long hair spread out like he was underwater, and the tips of each and every strand was turning from his natural jet black to an eerily glowing pale purple.

Ugh. That was an appearance I wasn't missing at all, but even in his half-powered-up state, he looked monstrously powerful. A monster I created, even if inadvertently. Granted, it wasn't entirely a bad thing per se, but if I wasn't in need of a powerful baddie, this could've been one of those 'God damn you, hindsight!' moments.

Anyhow, he just kept floating there, with his aura getting more oppressive and his paperwork messier by the second, without any visible intention to come down. In other words, he was wasting my time, which I didn't appreciate, so I immediately wrapped two phantom limbs around his long-distance connections. I wasn't sure if cutting them outright wouldn't cause some kind of backlash, so I decided to be a bit more delicate, and only squeezed the threads, effectively throttling their throughflow. Or rather, the mana they carried hit my invisible appendages and got neutralized, but let's not split hairs about the effect mechanism.

"That's about enough," I said firmly, just in time for the effects of my actions to bear fruit, and with a sudden jolt, he landed hard on the carpet and nearly went down onto one knee. "We can't have someone notice your little light show, now can we?"

Crowey opened and closed his mouth a few times, and then, to my mild surprise, he actually did go down to one knee.

"So it was true," he said with a mixture of excitement, reverence, and just a hint of fear. "You truly are the Emperor! The master of the Mana Wells! The Lord of Tenebrous Flames himself!"

"Didn't you already know?" I asked him with just a hint of disappointment, and he froze up before putting a hand on his chest and bowing a bit. In the meantime, the two magic threads faded, meaning he was no longer drawing power through them. I also retracted my phantom limbs and crossed my arms while I waited for his answer.

"Please, forgive me. I have learned of the rumors that the Celestials have already declared you as such, but without seeing your power with my own eyes, I couldn't… I mean, it's such a…" He glanced up at me, and when our eyes met, he immediately lowered his gaze. "Please, command your servant!"

"Oh?" Instead of responding right away, I put a finger on my chin and leisurely walked around him. "What makes you think I have commands for you?"

"I have… long since suspected that everything is according to your plans, my Emperor. I have tried my best to interpret your will, and proceeded accordingly."

"And since I'm here in front of you now, you want to directly work with me?"

"Yes, if you allow me!"

He sounded rather enthusiastic. I knew that he already worked out a full conspiracy theory about how everything that happened over the past months was a huge, elaborate ploy by Bel of the Abyss, and I was planning to leverage that, but I didn't expect that he would jump at the opportunity right away. It made things really convenient for me though, and while normally a development like this would've made me suspicious (there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world, after all), it lined up with how things were supposed to go, I figured I might as well go along with it.

"In that case, arise Crowy, Lord of House Inanna."

I could see his eye twitch at the mention of the nickname, but he obediently rose to his feet with a smile and a hand still on his chest, looking every bit like the adoring, loyal retainer he absolutely wasn't. After letting the silence linger for a while, I abruptly put a hand on his shoulder, making him shudder.

"I'm a busy person, and I'm in need of a Herald," I said, strategically dropping a keyword from the Abyssal prophecy that got Josh nearly kidnapped way back when, and it immediately made the mildly petulant glint in his eyes turn into a fervent greed. "Go forth in my name, and bind the rest of the Mana Wells to your will. Once you have secured all of the Abyss, you will stand by my side upon the completion of the Great Plan."

"It would be my honor!"

His answer was instantaneous. Not that surprising though; I knew that ever since he figured out how to bind the Mana Wells to himself, he had been planning to go to war with the other noble houses of the Abyss. Me telling him this did nothing more than accelerate the process. That said, there was one more thing I needed to say before leaving him to his devices.

"Oh, and while you're at it, make sure to keep collateral damage and casualties to a minimum. It's bad PR, and a good emperor needs not only land but subjects as well. Lots of subjects who are good at pretending to be happy and loyal."

That command seemingly didn't sit well with him, but I didn't care. Yeah, sure, just straight up exterminating the other houses, especially with his power boost, would've been more than doable, but that was bad for the long-term stability of the realm. Also, my conscience, even if I knew that such a small thing would have little effect on the events to come.

"Understood." He uttered that word with some difficulty and kept eyeing me for a while. Seeing that, I gestured for him to speak his mind. "My Emperor… If I may be so presumptuous to ask… why are you still wearing that mask?"

"Oh, this?"

I tapped at the thing on my face, and he nodded.

"Rumors say that Deus of the Celestials, or rather his reincarnation within the body of a young girl, has already identified you in front of witnesses. I… just can't fathom why you would still hide your face. Why don't you just announce your return? What is the reason?"

Once again, I forced out an amused chuckle, and put a finger in front of where my mouth would've been if not for the mask hiding it.

"It's a secret, but since you're my Herald, I could let you in on it. Do you really want to know?"

"I…" He might've mistaken my playful tone for testing him, but after hesitating for a while, Crowy nodded with an expression that said he hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake. "Yes, please."

With hum, I Phased behind him and leaned over his ear.

"I wear this mask so that if I were ever to meet myself, we would recognize each other," I whispered with the kind of cryptic tone one would use when telling a riddle, causing his expression to slacken as he tried to figure out what I meant.

Anyhow, I had already achieved my main goal here, so I Phased over to the window and gazed outside, once again adopting my best forlorn expression (even if it didn't show) and exhaling a sigh. I waited until Crowy finally turned around to look at me, at which point I glanced over my shoulder to deliver my final words.

"Go forth, and conquer, my Herald. I bid you farewell until we meet again." That was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty good, dare I say theatrical way to conclude the encounter, with my silhouette framed by the red sky of the Abyss and everything, but it was a bit too plain. "Also, purple monkey dishwasher. Bye."

And with that, I disappeared from the room and stood on the gargoyle jutting out of the tower of the castle again. I stretched my back and sat down, my feet casually dangling on the sides of said gargoyle as if I was riding on its back. Not a very photogenic pose, but then again, I wasn't exactly a nocturnal echolocating flying mammal man trying to strike fear into the hearts of the criminal underbelly of the Abyss, so it didn't really matter.

With a flick of my consciousness, I returned to Crowy's side through Far Sight, and watched him frantically power-walk through the castle while trying not to look too agitated.

"Dimas! Dimas, where are you?!"

A door opened on the other end of a long corridor, and a familiar long-haired man in a light-coloured navy uniform rushed through.

"My Liege? Is there an emergency?"

"Yes! Call the war council, and tell everyone we're having a meeting within the hour! I don't care what they are doing, tell them that if they don't show up, I'll personally make them wish they were never born!"

"Wait! Calm down, please! What happened?"

"I'll explain during the meeting! Now, go! Also, inform Warmaster Redmane to start arming the Fauns, and…" Crowy was just about to rush off somewhere else, but then he stopped and turned back. "And also ask the Matron what 'purple monkey dishwasher' means!"

"A-As My Liege commands!"

And with that, the whole castle was soon buzzing like a hornet's nest. Good. This took care of the Abyssal side of things. Now, let's see what else I had on my bucket list…

"Allrighty…" I stood up and rolled my shoulders. "There's the Indian Draconians, and the thing under the School, and after all that… Huh. It's already time for that?"

With a hum, I crossed my arms and whispered, "I guess I have to start practising my glove-catching technique for the next couple of days…" before disappearing from the Abyss, just after casually sparking the biggest war in the pocket-realm's long history. I felt a little guilty, but not too much; like death and taxes, some things were simply inevitable.