Chapter 113: Terrifying Presence
- The Place Between, Subconscia, ??? - Love's POV -
I truly didn't understand what my Master saw in this hatchling. Sure, she was interesting, in a similar way to how an ant farm is entertaining to glance at periodically, but she was not outstanding in any sense of the term. Her memories of her past life not that strange despite the widely held belief in this backwards planet that only humans could be reincarnated. I personally had been an example of that before my assimilation after all.
No, this... Rose character was nearly entirely mundane. The only slight curiosity was that she seemed to be a mix between Gods, Demons and Dragons. A concept that should be impossible so, at least as an object of research, she had some merit. But her spirit, her soul? It was wholly unimpressive; it had even been slowly corrupted by her current body showing just how limited it was and how unlikely she was to break free from the shackles of mortality. If I had been my previous self, she would have been relegated to a laboratory somewhere and swiftly forgotten about.
Unfortunately, since my assimilation nearly 5 Billion years prior I'd taken on more and more of the aspect that I came to symbolize. Specifically familial love. Understandable considering my previous concept as a Demon but an annoying change despite the subtleness of the difference between my previous existence and my new one. But I'd had the last 5 Billion years to acclimate to those changes and while some of the shifts that came from it were irritating most of them were perks that I'd be hard-pressed to give up if I was presented with an opportunity to free myself now.
One of those changes, a comfortable top for the most annoying, was my obsessive need to protect those with any familial ties to my host or even my previous self. And this Rose was both of those at once. Although only vaguely connected with my existence previously as a Demon her concrete connection as the grandchild of my Master forced me to view her in the most positive light possible. So, I watched over her.
At first the charge had been boring. Spending my time watching a weakling teach another weakling how to defend themselves wasn't exactly my idea of entertainment after all and the quality of combatants had dropped so far since the war, I'd participated in that they wouldn't even have been considered non-combatants at the time. They'd have been invalids that deserved death as far as Demons were concerned and charges to be protected away from the combat zone by both of the other sides.
The next few weeks had been a bit more interesting but only in-so-far as the number of characters increasing slightly from one boring one to a few more. The only real thing of interest had been this Wrath character. While weak her attitude was far more pleasant to witness than most of the other weaklings participating in the play. There had also been a brief instance of outside interference that was... interesting, but the author of it had vanished as soon as whomever it was had noticed my presence. A matter that I'd bring up with my Master when we next conversed.
- The Place Between, Subconscia, City's Edge - Undine's POV -
A monster. He was a monster. Vaguely remembered glimpses of the man 5 Billion years ago haunted me to this day. Luckily viewed from a distance I had watched as the Demon before me tore his way through hundreds of my fellow Gods. I, and almost all of my companions, had been powerless to halt his trail of destruction. After the war none of our surveillance groups had ever been able to track down his whereabouts and it had been assumed that he had either faded away from existence or been killed by Dragons. Another possibility was some sort of internal power struggle between the remaining Demons but regardless the one once known as the most warlike Demon Lord had completely vanished from the face of the Universe eons before.
Yet here he was, protecting a young Demon as if she were his charge. Impossible!
[Inconceivable! Why are you alive?!? Why are you here?!?] - Undine
[Hmm...? Oh? Who're you? Some weakling God?] - Love
[I was a during the First War! You vanished! Why here?!? Why now?!?] - Undine
[Ah~! You must mean what have I been doing since? I see no reason to enlighten trash. All I will say is that this... Rose, is protected by someone far beyond your feeble reach. I only don't extinguish your existence because of boredom but if you refuse to leave this child even still I will... D̸̢̛̮͎̥̼̦̟̻̀̋̊̉̌͊̋̍̇͒͝E̵̛̠̝͇̘̼̪̖̩̜͚̖̬̙͂͆̓̿̿́̿̆̂̇̚͜ͅV̶̨͕̣̞͇̜̟̟̦̐̅̈́́̈́̒̇̆͗̓̓̅̉̿͘͜Ǫ̸̘̟̹̱͚̜͍̔͋U̵̩͗Ŕ̸͍͍͎͙͉̜̓̿̇̔̇͆͊̀̈͘͠ ̶̧̡̮̝̤̭̼̰̘̞̤̜̎̅̋̒͆͂̓͘͝͝͠͝Y̷̩̟̹̙͈̠̰͎̣͙̾͂̓̈́͂͊̀̃͐̀̓͝Ơ̵͙̭͓͎̪͒͋̐͛͋͑̅͑̇̔̃̿͆́Ų̶̡̱͎̖̼̗̮̝͖̪͒̇̿͌̏̑͆̈́́̀͠R̸̛̬̦̦̝͉̲̖̯̈́͗͆͊͌̊ͅ ̸̨̮̼͓̫̹͎̬̘̤̈́͂͠S̷͔̠̞̗̓̓͒̽͗̀͊͘̚P̴͉͎͎̫̣̗͎̭͎̩̤͕̙͊̍̀͆̐̕A̶̛̛͖̘̻͈̐́͋͗̈͑͋̐͐̉̕͝͠R̷͈̳͗̌̄͌̃̕͘͜͜͠K̷̨̭̹̙̺̫̩̼̝͓̞̺͎̭̪̈́̌̉̋̓̃͘!̸̧̖̫͎͖̣͕̱͕̲͐͛̾͂͗̓͗̑͊̊̈́͊̕] - Love
[H-Hiii!] - Undine
- The Place Between, Subconscia, City's Edge - Rose's POV -
I still didn't know what to think of this sudden shift over the last few minutes. I'd been there, on the edge of the wall separating my city from the surrounding field of water and suddenly a tall, handsome man in a tuxedo had appeared behind us as if he'd been there the entire time. Instantly realizing that he was so far outside the realm of us putting up even a token resistance I'd initially been terrified that it was the end for me despite what he had just finished saying about some sort of disparaging remarks about his "Master".
It had taken me a few seconds to realize that his presence felt familiar to a certain annoying Dragon and...
[G-Grampa Mors? No that's impossible.] - Rose
[Hahahaha! That's a first! Mistaken as that meddlesome fool of a Master!] - Love
[W-Who are you?] - Logic
[Ah, the foolish bookworm speaks. Mayhaps even trash is able to roar feebly at the approaching storm before it swallows them.] - Love
No, it's definitely not him. Realizing as I spoke that, while he felt somewhat similar to Grampa Mors, he was putting off an entirely different air I immediately changed my mind on his identity. Even if I assumed that damnable Dragon had a human form, he most definitely did, it was unlikely that this was it.
Luckily, most probably for all of our sakes, the man seemed amused at the mistake. His laugh elegant while still retaining a dangerous tinge to it. The feeling was disconcerting. Logic, likely realizing that we'd have no chance at any sort of direct conflict, still moved in front of me as if to hide me behind himself. A futile move as my new body was nearly double the size of his as it was a near perfect clone of the one I'd had in my previous life. This attempt seemed to amuse the man even more as he suddenly vanished, his hand grabbing my aspect by his throat lazily while he struggled.
[Logic!] - Rose
[Ah ah ah! Not a move from you. Logic is your aspect correct?] - Love
[<ptu> F-Fuck you!] - Logic
[...this aspect of yours is not very logical indeed. Would you like me to eliminate it?] - Love
[No! No, I'll keep him under control in the future. Just please, please let him go.] - Rose
The mild smirk on the increasingly menacing man turned into one of cold fury as Logic spit in his face at the question. The cold way he turned to me afterwards chilled me to the bone as the only thought in my head was to somehow save the aspect that I'd grown attached to despite his painful appearance.
[Granted. Make sure to keep your word. Now... as for the one watching us...] - Love
[H-Huh?] - Rose
Suddenly all smiles as he opened his grip without a care, I immediately nodded my head vigorously while helping Logic to his feet. My eyes, following the man's as he turned his head, witnessed a shocked looking slime? No not a slime, whatever the being staring at the man in horror was it was more transparent than even Karen, to the point that it seemed more like sentient water than anything else. The water? person, finally breaking herself out of her stupor, immediately proceeded to scream at our supposed savior as if in a frenzy. Mentioning something about a "First War" she seemed even more terrified than we were at the appearance of this man.
What happened next was a bit less clear however as suddenly an inhuman voice came from the one seemingly defending us and I passed out an instant later. I'd find out after everything was over that I'd been so out of it that I'd missed almost everything that came next.
