Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 12th day

I woke up, the same room filled with Black Andromedese filled my eyes and gave me just a little bit of comfort. It was only 3 days until the negotiations, Samuel had gotten L0S-19 by now and held it within his hands. He was, now, more important than me for Solaria, much more important at the moment. Hm mm, if we go off wxhat I think will happen, then L0S-19 should go off, if it does that would be perfect. Finally, the last motions of my plan are clicking into place-it was euphoric, in a way. I finally felt like I had some authority, compared to the… unsavory conditions I had been in before being adopted by the Church.

I shook my head to get those memories back in their place, it was a dark; very dark, and very frightening path to walk even for me now. The memories, they were still fresh in my mind-they always will be. Having a perfect body that doesn't age, doesn't need food, doesn't produce waste also effectively makes me have a photographic memory. They will never deteriorate, "They" will always stick in my mind-I wonder if my old self predicted this before I gained this new body.

Yet, even with that experience which I can never forget-even if it happened well over 70 years ago-my body still aches. Is it not my blood, then, but something else entirely? The curse of Demenseria as that damned Quill said, it transcends just my blood. In my years, I was so preoccupied with what to do, and never did look back into myself. Heh, the Archbishops would surely get a good laugh if they saw how I presented myself outside of their presence. Just a lonely girl-with immense power-and nothing to fight for. This contemplating I did led to the memories flooding back, even though I tried to stop them.

I remembered vividly what happened, what "They" did felt as real as the day it first happened. This wasn't the first time this happened, so I already knew what to do. I closed my eyes and walked to the door with measured ease, the Black Andromedese was still in the hallway and helped ease some of my pain. The memories were painful, but that's all they were-memories. I rehashed this many times, and no matter how painful an event is, reliving it over and over would lend me some sort of resistance.

I breathed in and out slowly, a simple reaction activity. The mana inside me came to life, flooding into my brain-and then sealing the remnant memories into a little corner. They were there, and would escape eventually, but this temporary fix was better than nothing. I stepped back into my dark room and looked back on the map, Solaria and Iabrun were separated by a giant ocean. Solaria on the left, Iabrun on the right and a massive expanse of water between the 2 nations-allowing us to remain relatively contactless.

If memory serves, then Teser and Joan were influencing an island nation in that massive expanse, a medium sized nation named Batem. A good proxy to target the officials of the Iabrun Empire, and if worse comes to worst-then a nation to point the blame at if our operations get discovered. I formulated a bit of a plan, and I needed to check with Teser and Joan to make sure this is carried out effectively.

I stepped out and teleported to a secret cathedral, the one molded over and over through the generations of different Popes. Inheriting the name of the last one after their death, or resigning. Pope Adam Cathedral was built in his image perfectly, an area was sterile white and without any blemishes-my own area was a stark contrast to his, as deep as the voids and as dark as the abyss.

I landed in my own area, those other areas of previous popes were places I didn't venture too far into yet. This was the safest place in all Solaria, no one except the Pope and His Divine Majesty knew of its existence. Even then, I didn't know of its exact location either. I telepathically communicated to Teser and Joan, linking the 3 of us.

All Archbishops had their bodies carved with Suns-Suns that were carved by the current ruling Pope. Many different types of them were engraved, but the simplest and most useful was the ability to talk without restriction via telepathy. All I needed to do was inject a certain amount of my mana-and as a certain symbol-into the Sun in my hand.

Teser and Joan both joined immediately, saying "Hello Your Excellency Celestine. Why did you call for us?" Their voices were in sync, and both were clear and crisp. I replied in turn "Where are you in Kueler?" I had to teleport to the capital city, Kueler, and needed some coordinates.

Teser took the initiative to reply and said "We are currently in the 3rd guest room of the Royal House in Kueler." I had already visited the capital before and looked around extensively, so I already had the visual image in mind. I closed my eyes and stimulated my mana, easily guiding it around my body and opening a spatial crack right around me. I teleported to the area and saw Teser and Joan standing perfectly still, with neutral expressions.

I nodded and asked "When is the time to meet Helena?" Joan answered "In around 2 hours, Your Excellency." I nodded and dispelled my Pope robes, they were for meetings only-and used my mana to weave new, more casual clothing. I had a simple black, short-sleeved shirt and some normal black pants. The 2 took it as a sign and did the same, changing their robes to clothing that fits more casual wear for them. We were all in just simple clothes, Teser wore a dark blue shirt and black pants; Joan was a bit more fancy and made herself a red dress that stretched to the ground, it was inlaid with little rubies and she held a fan in her right hand.

I said to them "Convene back here in an hour and 55 minutes, otherwise you can take a little break and relax around the capital." They both nodded and thanked me, before teleporting to their respective locations. I did the same, teleporting to a dark corner of the capital and walked into a bar. I went up to the counter-I could see the filthy, depraved, vile looks that some of the people gave me, but I ignored them-and slapped down a Solarian dollar.

I asked "Give me the strongest drink you have." The bartender, a Nephilim by the looks of it, nodded and gave me an icey-blue drink. It had 7 layers, alternating between different shades of blue. I picked it up and downed the whole thing, much to the surprise of everyone around me. It felt like nothing, my perfect body would stop me from getting drunk. The taste was pretty nice though.

I gave him a Solarian bill worth 10$ and said "Give me as much as this pays for." He didn't question me and passed me 10 more of the drinks, I picked another and downed it just as quickly, though I did savor the taste a bit more. The taste was unique, citrus was the main flavor with just a hint of other fruits. I passed one to the bartender, he nodded and downed it as well.

He was quickly inebriated, though, with his face red and a slurr being present. I was slowly sipping my 3rd as an average sized lizardmen came next to me and dropped down 8 austral.

He asked "Hello pretty lady, this enough for an hour?" The lizardmen was pretty drunk, it seems. I looked at him, his faced irked me for some reason. I shook my head, and went back to slowly sipping my drinks. I was finished with the 3rd and was starting my 4th when the lizardmen took my arm and said "Thats all I have, come with me."

He started to tug on my arm, I stayed motionless and some of the other patrons looked our way. His face looked even more ugly at the moment, and something snapped inside me. Dark tendrils formed around him and dragged the bastard down into the basement, they formed around me as well and dragged me down with him. We were in the cellar of the bar, I tied him down with dark mana tendrils-I debated getting some acid but I had an even better idea.

The tendrils around him tightened, they started to corrode his skin. He looked at me with fear, the pain getting through his previous drunkenness. I took a tendril and threaded it around his crotch, he looked at me with even wider eyes.

"Want me to take it off?" He was shaking his head with enough force to shatter rock but the tendrils held him in place, his pleas fell on deaf ears and I ripped it off. He screamed and screamed as the corrosion worsened, it sapping through his tail, legs and arms. I took a small scrap of my mana and wrapped it around his, now castrated, thing and picked it up. I moved it back to its place and stitched it back together, and then released him.

The tendrils around both of us moved us up to our respective places before we went down, I downed my 4th and started to drink my 5th. The lizardmen didn't say anything before he started to run towards the exit, he didn't make it far though. His whole body started to rot down, becoming a black necrotic tissue 2 meters from the door, bones a meter from it and then turning to dust on the spot. The others didn't look at me and stared down heavily on their drinks, I quickly finished the rest of my drinks and went to leave.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a small kid in the corner of the establishment. I disregarded his existence and started to leave the establishment, a brave soul touched my hand as I was moving. A tendril instantly formed and grabbed her, dragging her into the air-it was a built in mechanism to catch anyone who touches me. She looked to be around 26 years old and was definitely a prostitute looking for business in this bar, my sense of smell was acute enough for that.

She said "heh.. I'm sorry, I just wanted to thank you for what you did." I placed her down-her words didn't fluctuate my neutral emotions in the slightest. I didn't do anything and just walked out, wanting to see what else this city had to offer. The sunshine on the streets was nice, but they did sting a little. I turned into a shadow and jumped from the shadows cast, eventually turning up on what looked to be a brothel.

I smelt something inside-something more interesting than the body odor emitted by the people inside. I walked inside and honed in on my target, what looked to be a Fallen Angel with a black halo-thats just cosmetics but some people liked it-and grey wings. I quickly made my way to her, ignoring the looks of the other people there. The mature Angel was taller than me by quite a bit, she looked at me and said "Yes? What do you want? 1 Solarian dollar for an hour, extra for extra services of course. Just ask me what you want, and I will deliver."

I ignored what she said and instead manifested some tendrils, a mature normal Angel was a baby to me. The hands that were pure darkness penetrated into her abdomen and pulled out what looked to be a droplet of blood, that was just a cover for its real form. I attacked it with 10 tendrils and the blood turned golden, blocking and disintegrating the 10 tendrils around it.

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4 people that looked to be the guards to prevent anything particularly untowards from happening were running my way. I manipulated a single tendril to shoot through the hearts of all 4, the last putting up a weak mana shield that instantly shattered.

I looked once again at the Fallen Angel, and yelled "You have the blood of Archangel Israfil, why!" She looked surprised; confused, and was coughing up enough blood to make it look like a murder scene. She said "I have no idea what you're talking about?"

My anger was boiling now, damned Israfil. I cut off the head of the Fallen Angel and turned back into a shadow, going into the street and teleporting back to Pope Adam Cathedral. I instantly notified Israfil of a set of coordinates, I then teleported there-a field in a remote part of Solaria. Israfil took but a second to come as well, and in that time he took coming here-I switched back to my Pope robes.

Israfil looked like an ordinary human at the moment, we both stood 5 meters from eachother. I looked him square in the eye and said "Israfil, do you know what kind of pact you have broken?" He feigned ignorance, I could tell. I pulled out the golden blood from my hands, and held it up.

"Why is your blood inside the body of a person on the ground!? We agreed that there will be no more Seraph presence on the land, just as there is no Godly one. Explain yourself." His presence exploded there, momentarily pressuring me to a kneeling position. I heard the thundering of a horn, and the blowing of trumpets signaling the arrival of the end, his authority over the "end" of all things.

His Divine Majesty shot spears of plasma at the ground around Israfil, shouting from the sky "This is Solarian soil Israfil, my domain. Watch yourself." Israfil quickly took back his presence, allowing me to breath a little.

He said "An eye for an eye, right? No need to mince words, tell me what I need to pay for you to bury this." I nodded, this is what I hoped for. I looked at him and said "2 droplets of Dragon blood." He shook his head and said "1 droplet would equal 1.5 of my own blood, 1.5 droplets of Dragon blood is what I am willing to concede." I nodded, "1.5 is acceptable, hand it over to me." 2 was a bit ambitious of me, but all is good. Interactions between the people at the top of their respective organizations were all short, we are all busy and didn't have the time to set up a meeting, and then discuss negotiations for hours.

He generated a droplet and a half of a thick, blue-ish blood and handed it over. I nearly touched it, the blood had a presence that attracted me, who was right on the cusp of the first step of Godhood. I contained myself, though, and handed it over to His Divine Majesty. Israfil had already left by that point, and I teleported back to the streets of Kueler. In the blink of an eye, I changed back to my casual clothes and started to wander the streets again.

After an hour and 30 minutes, I teleported back to the room and blended into the shadows perfectly-my fun was had, well, almost anyway. Teser and Joan's quipps when I wasn't around were always fun to see. It was around 10 minutes left until the designated meeting time and both arrived early, likely to wait for my arrival. Teser had a distinct smell to him, and Joan picked up on it.

"Its breeding season for you isn't it, with what little is left of your race, what other did you rape this fine day?" She said, Teser didn't miss a beat and replied quickly with "It was consensual mind you, and unlike your race. Atleast I have a designated time, very different from you and your slutty ways, Fox."

Joan didn't seem to mind his insult and said back "Well, well. With a face like yours im sure it wasn't consensual in any way, besides you don't seem to mind me being in the mood all the time." It was the first time I had seen Teser crack his stone cold face outside of combat, he replied (after 30 seconds or so of what looked like contemplation) "That was just a one time thing."

Joan rolled her eyes and quickly snapped back, "You said that the last 18 times as well, you can’t just repeat the same thing." Her voice was veritably dripping with tease. 18? Hmmm, I thought it was just 3 times, they sure do get busy. Heh, it isn't any of my business anyway-oh so fun to see their interactions though.

Teser laughed a bit "Let's not forget the time you tried to seduce Batos, I don't know why you think your sultry ways would work on an Angel is beyond me." Joan replied "I was stronger than him at the time, and it worked you know."

Teser broke out in a fit of near-uncontrollable laughter "Oh so thats why you were nearly fully purified by him, and why he avoids you. If you try and tempt him into becoming a Fallen Angel, Celestine would be royally pissed." Hmm, now that I remember, Joan and Batos don't have the best of relationships. I nearly laughed as well, which would destroy this fun little moment.

Joan (who was silent for about a minute) suddenly thought of something and laughed harder than Teser did, "Was it not you who tried to make Celestine fall for you? I remember your flirting attempts when we were just normal Bishops, 'did you fall from Heaven', cheesiest line in the book and you didn't even know her powers were darkness related."

I nearly forgot about that little experience, it elicited a slight giggle from me, but I managed to mask it fast enough. Teser groaned just a bit, "Did you have to remind me of that? I thought everyone forgot by now."

Joan scoffed, "Do you think I would forgot such a monumental occasion as your failed flirt with Celestine? Impossible, that has been imprinted in my mind for eternity." They both started to giggle a bit, but Teser didn't want to back down and replied "Oh and who is known as the promiscuous Archbishop, oh slutty one?" His tone was mischievous, unfitting for his look.

Joan, in a voice that was laced with just a bit of teasing said "And who is the most liked one of us all, oh silent, broody and unruly one?" Teser laughed and said "Samuel, he is a human and is liked more than the 4 of us. Solaria is a predominantly human nation, I can't connect with many people-and while you're very… appealing to the eye, there are only so many that would bring. Batos and Regin are both Angels of a caliber that don't interact much with humans, they have an attitude of superiority which makes sense, all of us do but the people aren't the most receptive to them." Joan sighed and nodded, "A shame too, he is the weakest of us all." Teser shook his head and said "Thats what makes him a good Archbishop, he can connect to the normal people better than we can. There was a sacrifice we made for the amount of power we wield."

"Besides, Samuel isn't the weakest, you are. He is atleast adept at traps, what are you good at?" Teser said, it was obvious that it was a joke-Samuel was clearly weaker than every other Archbisop, but he was by no means weak. Joan looked around-her fox ears moving to detect any change of noise-and said "I can show you what I'm good at." as she started to undress. He started to do the same, and I knew that this was the perfect moment to leave my little hiding place. With a little giggle, I started to walk out.

Before I could even talk, Joan yelled "eep!" and quickly weaved her robes again, Teser was even faster and formed his robes as soon as I walked out. "Uhh, Your Excellency. How long were you there." asked Joan, her tone was a little fearful.

"Long enough to know that you two were about to level these islands with your romping around." They both blushed up to their hairlines-which was cute on one, less so on the other-but I didn't really care. "Keep it to yourselves, just get ready. It's time to negotiate with Helena. Forcefully, if neccesary." The two nodded, and put on their solemn looks once again. A very stark contrast to their demeanor towards eachother before I walked out of my hiding spot-so with a slight giggle that was noticed by both, I walked out the door and headed to the chamber.

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POV Helena

I sat on my throne and fearfully waited for the arrival of the two frightening diplomats from Solaria. That big brutish nation wants me to become some proxy against their war on Iabrun. The doors were opening, I closed my eyes and waited for the speaker to announce their presence, "The honored diplomats from Solaria, Teser Livyatan, Joan D'hlar, and Celestine Mylnar." I quickly opened my eyes, there was a 3rd. When did they arrive?

My castle was supposed to be warded, and any arrivals I would notice quickly. The 3rd one was in the center, Celestine, was as cold as the night, she held a mocking smile on her face. It looked like if she was mocking me for my defenses, her smile said "I am stronger than your nation combined, and you can't do anything about it." It irked me, but I kept a pleasant look on my face. I sat on my throne, befitting a Queen.

I looked at them once again, Teser was a giant of a man standing at nearly 2 and a half meters tall. He was wearing dark blue robes, closer to black than blue, and held his head high. His robes were expertly woven around his other body parts, a gigantic tail reminiscent of an Astroangilae was what he carried around. I don't doubt he could conceal it if he wanted to, but this was all an intimidation tactic-I wasn't going to fall for it, though. 2 fins on the side of his body protruded out, glowing with various colors ranging from blue, to pink, and even purple.

Joan was more pleasant to look at, she wore her robes-reminiscent of the color seen during a sunset-well. They were also woven around the only extra she had, 3 tails protruded from her and were being dragged on the ground. The 3 were all a yellow color, their tips ending with a scarlet red-it was the same as her own hair color, a deep yellow with red tips. Her fox ears were jerking to and fro, likely listening for anything. My eyes focused on the last one, Celestine.

She had hair as black as the deepest black, eyes were much the same and so were her robes. She looked like a normal human, except their was something deeper to her. Even with no mana, I could sense that she hid something under the surface. I avoided looking her directly in the eye, something inside me warned me not to. The 3 walked steadily, with ease and grace-they arrived at the bottom of my throne. Celestine spoke first, asking "We would like a direct audience with Her Majesty."

I could detect only neutrality, but something told me that her voice was dripping with mock. That she thought this was just a farce of a meeting, but the show must go on. I nodded, everyone except my royal guards left the chambers-they could still listen in through other means though.

Celestine started, her tone perfectly neutral and gave me nothing to work on. "Your Majesty Helena, we would like to propose a deal. We will help your country expand, provide different resources that you can't procure on yourself-all at a discount of our normal trading rates." I nodded and replied positively, saying "A very generous deal, but nothing comes without a price. What do we have to do?"

Celestine nodded, expecting my response and said "For all this, and if you're cooperative-even more. The capital will have to act as a proxy base for the actions of the Solarian Church." I narrowed my eyes and said, "Act as a proxy against Iabrun? No, I will not become a tool in this battle between giants. I do not want my country to become a scapegoat and be crushed under the iron hooves of either of your countries, you must understand Celestine. I only want what is best for my people, and agreeing to this would put their lives at a monumental risk."

"I understand Your Majesty, a ruler must rule for the people and not themselves after all. Consider this, I will allow your ships free access to Solarian ports that lead to the Twisting Ocean." She said, her smile never wavered, her eyes looked at the throne and not me; she was frightening, not in the way of a wild beast, but in the way something is uncanny. I don't know whether she was a big threat or not, and it bore through to my soul.

"My stance is firm on this." I said, my voice wavering a bit, but my point was understood by her-I hope. She nodded, "If your so sure on your stance, Your Majesty. I would advise you to rethink this little decision, this meeting between us is a farce, it is a formality that Solaria has agreed to-a way for us to be cordial. Do get this in your mind, Your Majesty, your country is nothing in the eyes of us or Iabrun, we have no obligation to provide you trade, care for your people, or even you. If you're being so firm on your stance, then we will do what we must. The removal of you is always on the table, and you mustn't forget this Your Majesty." Her voice was oozing with animosity and malice; she had a mocking tone as well, it only got progressively worse as she talked, and the horror of the situation finally caught up to me.

Celestine, for the first time in this conversation, looked me directly in the eye. Those were not the eyes of a human, or a simple beast. They were of a monster, they were hideous and disgusting. She revealed her teeth, razor sharp and oozed with a black substance of what could only be blood, I nearly forgoed all etiquette and wanted to run-I barely held down the urge and nodded shakily. She reverted back to the tame diplomat immediately, saying "Thank you for your understanding, Your Majesty." They walked out from the chamber and my decision finally set in. How was I ever going to recover from this?

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POV Celestine

I left the chambers and all 3 of us teleported back to the guest room, I looked at the 2 and could see some lingering fear; but they also contained admiration, awe, and especially reverence. I said to the two "Our mission here is complete." and changed back to my casual clothes.

"Take your time, relax. You have a 3 day break before I will relay your next orders, enjoy it together." I emphasized 'together' especially, and the two understood me almost immediately. Teser coughed into his fist and Joan choked a bit behind her fan, the two changed back to look like normal humans and then into their casual clothing. "Oh, would you 2 like to go on a stroll with me?"

They both nodded and I teleported all 3 of us into the streets, we started to just walk around and take in the atmosphere. The food, street food that was different than the exquisite food we usually ate, but equally good. We were on a walk near the beach when Joan thought up of something, a light could be seen in her eyes. The beautiful emerald water was pleasing to the eye, it was clear and pristine.

Joan went up and whispered "Hey, hey. Change into your whale form and give us a ride underwater." Teser shook his head, but eventually cracked when Joan kept insisting that she would "give him a special surprise" whatever that meant. He led us to the water and dived down, we followed in suit and were eventually near what looked to be a massive coral reef. Teser sighed and changed his form back to what he once was, a gigantic whale 50 meters long-though that was him being conservative with his size. We hopped onto his back, and he started to speed around the reef. Joan was having a whale of a time, but I just laid down and closed my eyes with a small smile. If this is what I get in exchange for what "They" did, perhaps that was worth it.