Chapter 134: Bury the people who got caught in blast

"Hm…" Momonga stopped and had a small thinking-session while he stared at the sight in front of him. 'I was going to check up on Koneko, but… hm… Er, I suppose that fits with Kuroka's past behavior… When I checked up on her past, I found out that she was Vali's team member alongside a couple of other people, and all of them saw Vali as their leader. Ergo, Vali was Kuroka's 'master' so to speak…'

Vali had dropped to the floor after he had brought out his white-and-blue crystalline wings, but the opening of his [Sacred Gear] was clearly hindered by a violet-coloured mist that Kuroka blew on Vali's face while she kept stabbing the man's chest, or rather his heart as the blows were quite surgical even though the puncturing strikes were rapid enough to resemble a sewing machine. Not to mention that Kuroka's initial stab had clearly been accurate enough to sever Vali's aorta, if the height and force of the splurts of blood that came from Vali's chest-wound was any indication.

'So, in other words, Kuroka feels that she needs to 'dispose of' her previous master, like she disposed her master before that. Although the circumstances were different back then, does Kuroka think that there's some sort of threat to Koneko…'

"Well, Vali over there has [Divine Dividing]. Me and Albion have been effectively rivals for a really long time as you know which means we, as in you and me, will likely come to blows with Albion and Vali at some point or another… Well, again, as I think you beat him once when you made me eat Abion's arm, although back then I was stuck in that 'Inventory' of yours. Although I'm not sure how willing Albion is to fight once I explain the 'current situation' to him… But if we consider the present then if I hazard a guess then Vali, by the factor of having Albion, posed a threat to Koneko, by the factor of her being part of your Peerage-team-entourage-whatever it is now called, as she'd likely be caught in a crossfire between us and Vali." Ddraig supplied helpfully, making Momonga pat his palm with his other hand.

'I see. That makes sense. By getting rid of Vali, she'd ensure that Koneko won't be endangered by him… And with Vali being Kuroka's old master, it fits her earlier m.o. to dispose of him.' Momonga agreed to Ddraig's theory while starting to stroke his chin in contemplation, all the while Vali was spurting blood out of his mouth and was trying to gurgle something and Kuroka was giggling with insane glee after glancing at Momonga. 'That being said… I'd rather have [Divine Dividing] than let it disappear. It is a Ero-World class item after all… Hm, Ddraig, do you know how to capture [Sacred Gears]?'

"Er, there are some ways, but Lognius-class Gears are notoriously difficult to transfer or capture, Albion even more so as he even gained a moniker 'Vanishing Dragon'. Not to mention, do you really want to have two rivaling dragons have a fight inside your head if I don't manage to eat him?"

'Hm, good point. Speaking of things inside my head, you mentioned that I fed you Albion's arm? How did that digest?'

"Badly. Moreover, please don't make me eat any more of Albion… I'm not into dragon cannibalism, and he tastes horrible… Not to mention that if I do end up eating him whole while [Boosted Gear] is stuck to you, then there's a chance that you'll go insane… more insane… or outright die from having your soul fractured when so much power is released upon me and Albion merging."

'I find your tone… Unconvincing.'

"Okay, fine, sorry, I don't think you'd die from it but even something like you would be seriously inconvenienced by it! Besides, isn't Vali the subordinate of Azazel? Won't you risk his ire if you let him die?"

'Hm… I suppose so. However, Azazel seems to be quite interested in holding good relations to me, so I don't think it'd be too bad if Vali died… although, since [Sacred Gears] go to new owners after death with a brief delay, I don't think it'd be a good idea to allow Vali to die. Who knows if the [Divine Dividing] would go to someone scary.' Momonga strategized while Vali had stopped squirming and fighting back and was lying motionlessly on the hallway, a sizable pool of blood all around him, and Kuroka was starting to slow down on her stabs with each strike taking longer and longer, while she was holding the dagger in two hands.

"I think that 'not allowing Vali die' step was kinda skipped over, you know. He doesn't look that good."

'I can just resurrect him… Anyway, Vali doesn't need to really be 'alive' in order for the [Sacred Gear] to stick to him, correct? He just needs to not be dead, yes? Can [Sacred Gear]s exit someone without their bearer's input?'

"Not really… There are some outliers but generally speaking most [Sacred Gears] don't really migrate outside the death of their hosts, and while there are again some exceptions, most [Sacred Gear]s can't kill their host either…"

'And [Divine Dividing] is…'

"Neither of those two cases that I mentioned."

'Excellent. In that case, I know what to do.' Momonga decided on his next action and called for the full squad of his summon-'maids'. "Ahem, Kuroka-san? I believe that Vali-kun is dead. You can calm down now."

"-Ha… hahaha… ha… yessss…. master… this lowy slaveee obeysss youuu in allll thingssss" Kuroka's expression was utterly insane and she had a shadow covering half her face, as if she had snapped, while her words came out as a long hiss.

"U-umu, I see… Well, anyway, I've asked some maids to come and clean up so… Can you please not say anything to anyone else about this, and I won't mention to anyone that Vali is missing? Ah, also, please don't kill anyone unless it's with my express order." Momonga sweated a bit internally while staying calm externally as he was starting to get a bit freaked out by Kuroka's expression. 'I did wipe her mind about the whole Overlord General thing, right? I think I did… Could it be that there were some things in her from that time that it caused her to look that insane? It looked pretty rough…. Or is it just her usual expression when she's in a 'fight' mindset? I… don't think that she was that insane in her memories, outside a few occasions…'

He shook himself out of the wandering thinking with calm ease as he had gotten plenty of training on focusing on the matter by now, and reached for Kuroka's head…

Kuroka's eyes widened in fright and surprise, but she sat still as if she was feeling intense dread internally for some reason…

And Momonga reached to pat Kuroka's head. "It's alright. I know why you did that. In all honesty it had occurred to me as well, but I suppose this saves me the hassle. Now then… Koneko had that 'issue', so I was wondering if you had any ideas as to how to fix it? You're more knowledgeable of the two of us in that matter, so can you please come up with some sort of solution? Having my Rook and Pawn, or er, something like that indisposed is not particularly good, specifically if Koneko is suffering. Ah, we can talk a bit later, meanwhile I'll take care of Vali's disposal."

Kuroka nodded her head rapidly and rose to bow, then curtsy, and finally after that let a 'pop' of smoke as she turned into a twin-tailed black cat and scurried away with haste.

Momonga sighed and turned towards the corpse on the floor while the six Cherubim Gatekeepers ran to him, still in their maid-getups…

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.

'Haa… Haa…' Kuroka was incredibly scared.

She had lucked somehow, and had managed to correctly deduce the Supreme Being's whimsies.

It was no coincidence that he had driven Vali to meet Kuroka, and had followed him.

He must have known that Kuroka had attempted a romantic relationship with Vali, even though she had failed miserably.

Kuroka wasn't blind. She had endured the torment the Overlord General had forced on her, before she had been 'recovered' by the Supreme Being himself from her place of torment.

And now, her allegiances were brought to question, her past preferences and connections severed.

She had heard the stories of His fiancee, Ravel. Her 'journey', as she was tormented to His preferred shape, mentality and form, before being 'rescued' by the Supreme Being himself. And then the transformation process had continued by Ravel's siblings being murdered in brutal ways until only those that submitted to the Supreme Being remained, all the while everything Ravel had hold dear were torn from her alongside her future and past.

Kuroka was not going to wait around blindly, not when the Supreme Being's methods were laid bare by prior happenings, and matched an existing pattern.

She had doubted that she could be targeted with similar 'affection' as Ravel… Until she had randomly walked to Vali in the middle of the empty hallway, and until she had seen the Supreme Being approaching the two of them, almost as a coincidence.

In other words… Vali was the first to go and the next, and the reason for Kuroka's initial screech of despair, was to be Koneko.

Kuroka had succeeded in severing her first bond with the past, and felt as if he had done so in a way that would have been most merciful for Vali as opposed what sort of torment the master of the Overlord General could have inflicted on him, as even while Kuroka's past affection was for the man's strength and not so much for him as a persona, she still recognized Vali as someone worthy of respect and that had been her last way of showing respect to him- To ensure that he had a quick and relatively painless death.

Or, that had been what she had come up with after the first fifty or so stabs, as her conciousness's way of deflecting blame and the filthy feeling of having backstabbed someone she had considered her comrade.

Once the stabbing had ended, Kuroka had realized that her way of thinking might damn her as there was no way the Supreme Being himself couldn't have deduced her state of mind, considering that he had been watching the whole event unfold while scratching his chin in calm collected state, observing Kuroka's blows, observing her 'test'.

Yet, what had followed had caused Kuroka to feel something odd, a feeling akin to relief… Mixed with the worst kind of indecisive despair.

'That headpat… I-it's as if to signify that I 'passed', that the past bond I had with Vali was severed sufficiently harshly… But at the same time, he started talking about Koneko! Her state of heat! In other words… S-she is to be the next bond severed!'Kuroka felt cold in her heart- Not because she'd contemplate betraying Koneko for even the slightest moment, but because the Supreme Being would know for certain that such was the case, that there was no possible world where Kuroka would do to Koneko what she had done to Vali. In other words, much like Ravel's bonds with her family, that bond too needed to be cut… Or corrupted.

Indeed, Kuroka had analyzed every single word leaving the Supreme Being's mouth, and came to a conclusion. A desperate, frightened conclusion…

Koneko was being tested as well.

Kuroka knew that the Peerage System had been destroyed. The Piece had fallen from her chest, and she was 'Momon's Pawn no longer- Yet at the same time, the fact he chose to use 'Rooks' and 'Pawns' to speak of how it was inconvenient to have the two of them out of action, Koneko due to her heat and Kuroka due to having to look after her, made it clear- He would not have a 'mistake' of using Peerage-specific terminology when Peerages didn't exist anymore, which told Kuroka that the two sisters would not be 'equal'... But at the same time, it gave her hope.

After all, there being 'Rook' and 'Pawn' implied that there were 'Two', as opposed to 'one', in which case… 'I've seen how Lady Phenix looks at Momon. I've seen how Ravel and her mother look at one another. It's clear that the two of them submitted to Momon, passed their trial… And their bond was corrupted. It was no longer the bond of a mother and daughter, but something far more insane and altered. But… at the end… The two of them were alive.'

'And when the Supreme Being told me to search for a 'solution' to Koneko's 'issue'... He told me that I would have to decide on it. That it was to be my test, to see if Koneko would become to me as Ravel is to Lady Phenix, or if I would become to Koneko as Ravel's father was to her- A sacrifice for some greater ploy, or worse, perhaps with our roles reversed.' Koneko and Kuroka had both seen the recording of Lord Phenix's 'heroic' actions at the House of Pillars, the television broadcast that had been broadcast when Rias had interrogated Kuroka, right after the group returned to Underworld after the 'meeting' of the Three-to-Ten factions. 'I- I was led to that room by Rias, His wife… C-could it be that the situation where we saw that recording was a premeditated move? Could the Supreme Being's plans stretch out that far, that accurately?'

It was illogical, it made no sense in the way how things normally make sense, but… Kuroka knew that there was no way that it wasn't planned by the Supreme Being. She had no reason to think otherwise- Not after hearing some of the 'boasts' of the Overlord General regarding its lord, and then after seeing even the most insane claims brought to reality and then some.

'M-Momon showed me that, as a way of telling me that there's two ways, and both of them are His way, only that one way ends up with me and, or, Koneko dead… Or the two us together, serving our Lord like how Ravel serves her Lord alongside her mother… D-don't tell me, Koneko's heat was also his idea?' Kuroka felt color wash off her face even more as she realized that the web of ploys was deeper than she had even realized- But in retrospect she realized that she should have expected as much. 'N-no! It had to be! Koneko stumbled to Lord Momon mounting me, and she must have triggered her heat from that- In other words, I am being tested parallel to Koneko! But I stopped her from committing her body to the Supreme Being during her heat, fearing that she'd die… B-but in doing that, I defied Him- K-Koneko, I'm so sorry, I… I almost ruined you… I have to make things right!'

'H-he said that I should teach Koneko Senjutsu, I-in other words, he knows all about 'it' already, and is telling me to teach her 'that'... W-wait, if I teach her 'that', then maybe there's a way…' Kuroka felt as her thoughts tied themselves into a circle and started to roll down the hill. 'I-I don't have much time, I don't know how long it'll take for Him to dispose of Vali's corpse, no, how long he'll decide to take while disposing the corpse, he could have just flicked his wrist and the corpse would disappear like if it was not there to begin with… Then again, He has given Koneko the ultimate reason to learn… G-ghuh, he is truly befitting the name of Supreme Being… A True Maou, a demon king…'

There was no way.

Kuroka knew that there was no way out.

No way other than the Supreme Being's way.

The Overlord General had taught her that much, and the Supreme Being had taught her that much.

At the same time, she felt an odd feeling in the bottom of her gut- Before she realized that she was starting to go into heat in turn.

She had suppressed the horny feeling roused by the tantric energy Serafall Leviathan had smeared on her, as it fell under the label of 'mind effects' that she could influence using Senjutsu… At least after she had regained enough of her senses to use the ability anyway, but this feeling… It was caused by something else.

Kuroka was puzzled for a half a second before she realized just what had happened- Even though she was utterly, mind-shatteringly afraid… The fact the Supreme Being desired her, like he desired his exalted fiance, was causing all sorts of things to the part of Kuroka that desired a strong male, the part of her that wanted to continue the Nekoshou bloodline- The same part of her that had driven her to confess, if unsuccessfully, to Vali.

She had thought earlier that her 'role' was complete, she was done, her given role had been assigned as that of 'a toy and a teacher for Koneko', and she was only saved due to the Supreme Being's whimsy… But now…

Her 'feral' side hadn't been so much warmed up, rather than it was set aflame from realization that she had a chance of becoming one of Lord Momon's 'inner circle', and that she had managed to succeed in her unseen trials so far.

Kuroka's mind was set.

She had seen too much to think otherwise. She only had one chance. One chance to succeed in all her goals, one chance to land herself in the Supreme Being's inner circle, one chance protect Koneko…

Kuroka had sacrificed her bond with Koneko to save her once already.

She would do so again.

There was a huge crash somewhere but Kuroka would not be deterred from her task, not even if the heaven fell on her while the hell rose to grasp at her heels.

The black two-tailed cat ran like if demons were after her, even as the windows of the entire castle-manor broke and blew inwards…

She ran without looking back, even as the corridor behind her caved in as if a huge claw-strike had landed on it and barely missed her…

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.

Momonga was currently on his back. 'Well then, that's inconvenient.'

"Told you, you already skipped 'step two'."

'I'm guessing that's not usual for the contents of a [Sacred Gear] to come out when its user dies, right?'

The feather-covered white dragon had burst from Vali's body, crashing against the walls of the hallway and breaking through to freedom while knocking both Momonga and the group of Gatekeepers aside.

"Well, from what I gathered the God's System kinda broke and that's been more or less the only thing that's keeping the transfer of [Sacred Gear]'s going, so… Eh, I figured that the [Sacred Gear] would just drop like an item, but it seems that Albion wasn't that cooperative. Tough luck?"

'It took quite a long time for Saji's [Sacred Gear] to detach, though…'

"Well, it had a shard of Vitra, I think, and not Albion, who also happens to be a specialist in running away. Moreover, do you really have time to chat with me?"

'I suppose not… But you've fought him plenty of times. Any tips?'

"Dunno, hm, maybe I could try to talk with him?" Even though technically speaking Momonga's eyes were his own, Ddraig was using them to stare at the sight of Albion who was flying in the sky while looking quite mad and was clearly searching for something.

'Do you think he'll listen?'

"Do you think you'd feed me Albion in bite-sized chunks to avoid too big of a backlash if I fail to convince him?"

'Well…' Momonga stood up to look at the white dragon who had seemingly spotted what he had looked for, and slammed his clawed hand against the side of the Phenix castle-manor, causing a few hallways and corridors to cave in. 'That sorta was my second plan, with the first one being resurrecting Vali while the [Sacred Gear] was still stuck to his soul and then turning him into a somewhat-alive spine, brain and heart in a jar and then stuffing it to my inventory when Vali's neither alive or dead and thus seal the [Sacred Gear] into my inventory as a sorta treasury, a bit like the crystal that the big red dragon left behind that's neither alive or dead…'

"...Yikes. Listen, can you materialize [Booster Gear] for a second so I can talk with Albion?"

Momonga eyed Ddraig a bit warily but brought the gear out anyway- As he'd be likely forced to do so either way, since the item was too powerful to not use when it came to Vali's 'halving' ability, which would likely be even more powerful when used by the originator of the ability itself.

"OOOOI, ALBION! LOOK OVER HERE YOU CRACKER ASS SKIN-DISEASE LOOKING GARDEN COCKATOO!"

'...'

"Come on now, he looks really focused on smashing that bit of wall. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even notice otherwise."

'Yeah, but that slang?'

"Hey, it was you who forced me to look at magical girl TV shows."

'...What sort of 'magical girl' shows did I force you to watch?'

"The Serafall kind."

'Oh. Right. Sorry, carry on…'

"HUUOOOOAAA? WHOOOO- Oh." Albion turned around in rage and made a beeline towards the ruined and blown-out part of the hallway where Momonga stood, before coming to a near stop as soon as he realized that Momonga had been the one who called for him… At least, from Albion's point of view. "You again."

"Greetings." Momonga offered.

"Hey there cunt." Ddraig offered.

"Ddraig. Figures you'd be the one to start licking God's butthole the moment I wasn't around to pull you out of it. I recall that out of the two of us, you were the first one to go down when the Three Factions ganged up on us?" Albio huffed dismissively while the huge dragon came to a thunderous landing so that it pointed its head towards the crash-hole in the side of the castle.

Momonga sweated a bit internally as even one of Albion's teeth was bigger than he was, albeit the white-feathered dragon was nowhere near the size of the huge red dragon he had stumbled across in the Human World.

"You've grown more tolerant of insults of late. Where's the fury and bravado?" Ddraig sounded a bit resigned.

"What, you think that I'd fall for your obvious attempt to goad me to attack you andGod at the same time?" Albion's eyes narrowed. "You need to do better than that. Scale-disease looking chili-pepper colored fly. I should have expected that you'd end up getting turned into God's personal hummingbird in a gilded cage, but you don't have to chirp so loudly- I can hear you all the way here in the sky."

"Ghrrrrrrhhh…" Ddraig fumed internally and Momonga sent the dragon a wary glance inside his head. "Haa… haa… Calm down, Ddraig, I can smash his snout later, when I don't have to eat him afterwards… Huooa…"

'So, you planned on pitting us against one another?'

"Nah, no way, I just made Albion think that way so he would assume that this is a trap, because if I said 'yo, you're going to die if you attack us now' then he'd be practically foaming at the mouth to get a chance to fight." Ddraig eyed Momonga equally warily. "...I see what you're doing with that question, please don't try to goad me into making Albion attack us so you can feed him to me…"

'...Fine.' It took all of Momonga's self control to not let his thoughts show confusion as he contemplated what Ddraig had meant, but it seemed that the dragon had both a motive and a mean of avoiding having the sudden event ending the conflict or in blows, so he let the dragon do as he wished.

"Well, you were always an airhead so I figured you'd fall for it like last time." Ddraig spoke to Albion in a calm yet mocking tone, as if he hadn't just growled in intense fury inside Momonga's head.

"I see… So the reason my wielder lost was not because of God, but-"

"Nah, that was all him. I was stuck in a moldy closet while he was thinking what to do about me, and ended up feeding me your detached arm. He told me that he'd feed me the rest of you if I didn't cooperate with him, so here I am."

Albion narrowed his eyes dangerously, and Momonga glanced at the arm-stump of the massive one-armed dragon. "I see… So that is where it went. You owe me a favor, God, and I'm willing to overlook your robbery of my arm in return."

"Act hardass! Quick!"

"You're in no place to place ultimatums." Momonga sent a mental command, causing the six Cherubim Gatekeepers hiding in the rubble to spring forth in their full size and lion-headed forms while Momonga struck a sneering, contemptuous stance using [Actor]. "The Great Red fell to me. So did Ddraig. What makes you any different? What gives you the right to dictate to me what to do with you?"

'Ow, my chuuni…'

"Try to endure it, mate…"

"...Pha. Thousands of years and you've not changed a bit." Albion spit to the side, forcing one of the Cherubim Gatekeepers to dodge the spit that landed on rubble and started to melt it. "How about this- I'll not raise a fuss about my arm, and won't wreck this place because if the two of us clash here then everything within miles is going to get turned to poison-filled mire."

"And in turn?" 'Hm. Good point. It'd be inconvenient if everyone around here died, it'd take along time to resurrect everyone, not to mention the mental damage and the fact quite few people around here have [Sacred Gears], that'd sent a huge chain reaction if the users die and the [Sacred Gears] break...'

"Eugh! No! Not good, don't give Albion an inch or-"

"Hm, now we're talking. In turn you won't chase after me. And you'll release Ddraig at some point or another so we can finish our… Chat." Albion narrowed his eyes.

"...Actually, that sounds more reasonable than I thought- It has to be a trap! Don't fall for it!"

'...Or that's just Albion pulling a fast one on us, like you pulled on him.'

"Oh."

"Very well- But I have a pair of conditions for both of your requests." Momonga narrowed his eyes at Albion, who was practically squinting in turn as he narrowed his eyes more in response. "First one, I will dictate when Ddraig is released… And the second is that you are to confine yourself into the Human World while staying out of the areas that I hold claim over."

"...Fine." Albion looked quite angry, but nonetheless sighed and nodded his head just a bit. "In turn, you are not going to intrude your 'areas' into areas where I take residence."

"If I do, then you will move… Or be moved."

"Getting a bit dangerous, mate… Us dragons are a bit territorial so…"

"...However, I'll attempt to exclude your specific areas of residence, but won't go as far as to say, exclude entire continents to you just because you happen to be squatting there. That is our deal- Take it, or be destroyed here." Momonga walked his statement back a bit while he put a strong stance forward externally and the Cherubim Gatekeepers took a combat-stance, lighting-cloaked javelins at a throwing stance. '...Haa… When I woke up today I didn't think I'd be doing this sort of thing again… Ah well. If Albion doesn't back down, at least I get a chance to use 'that' item…'

"...Fine. But don't try to restrict me too much- I may be weaker than you, especially if Ddraig is deciding to discard his pride as a dragon to play the role of an obedient lapdog to bait me into an unwinnable fight, but I will not tolerate disrespect." Albion huffed, causing poison-like mist to waft out of his nostrils. Momonga dispersed the mist with the wave of his hand and a silent wind-spell. "...Ddraig. I will destroy you the next time the two of us meet, should you decide to find what remains of your spine and stop cowering behind the one who imprisoned us both."

"Tough." Ddraig lollered externally while his attitude was slightly different internally. "GHRRAAA! ALBION I WILL TEAR OUT YOUR SPINE AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT! I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL RIP YOUR FEATHERS OUT UNTIL YOU LOOK LIKE UNCOOKED CHICKEN!"

'Volume, please.'

"Sorry…"

"...I'll take my leave. And I'll take Vali's corpse- He was the strongest wielder I had. I will not leave it in your hands- I know what you get up to under that holier-than-thou look." Albion reached to grab the mangled body that had fallen amidst the rubble… Only for the massive claws to hit a barrier that caused the claw to let a hissing noise and smoke a bit.

'[Anti-Life Barrier] seems effective… Good to know…' Momonga analyzed the effect of the spell that he had cast silently as soon as he saw Albion reach for the body. "My my. We had no such deal. But… I suppose Vali's corpse is not of much use to me."

Albion narrowed his eyes, his massive claws still almost against the now-invisible barrier while poison-like mist started to flow down from the corners of his mouth.

"Hm, you were quite fixated on breaking the wall over there. Since I saw Kuroka go that way… I'm guessing that you were planning on committing a small vengeance-killing. So… As Vali died in my domain, his body belongs to me. But I do recognize that you have an emotional connection to seeing your wielder buried, so here's the deal- You won't attack Kuroka or her affiliates, and I'll let you have Vali's corpse."

"..." Albion was clearly getting quite mad and Momonga used another card in his now-stacked deck of lies and bluffs.

"Oh, and I'd like to remind you that Kuroka is part of my entourage. Attack on her is a direct attack on me, and therefore, all of us- So, do you feel lucky, Albion-kun?"

"...Grhh…" Albion seemed to force himself to calm down with extreme effort, even if it caused his feathers to rise in a threatening manner. "Lower the barrier. I accept."

Momonga resisted the urge to use a businessman-like confirmation of the trade, as he felt as if he was treading on thin ice while Albion's self-control was being tested, and instead just flicked his hand in the direction of Vali's body to signify that the barrier was gone.

Albion grabbed the body, alongside a huge chunk of the hallway out of spite, and flew off without saying anything else, before disappearing into a swirling portal some mile or two away from the castle-manor.

'...That went well.'

"...Phew. Haa, I seriously thought Albion would try to use [Divide] on you while reaching for Vali's corpse."

'I'm glad that didn't end up being the case. I really want to just go and laze around right now…'

"Hoo? Unusual to hear that from you."

'I'm getting tired of… everything that's happening… Shees, I wonder if I'm getting old or what…' Momonga sighed while rubbing his eyebrows, although he motioned for the Cherubim Gatekeepers to calm down before he did so. 'I really need a few days off, actual days off instead of that half-a-day I spent with Rossweisse that ended up with me killing the Great Red, somehow… I want to recharge a bit, organize some stuff, decorate the interior a bit, grind some experience… er, actually, that has a different meaning here… '

"...Hm." Ddraig looked more than a bit wary. "...Well, I suppose the weave of reality won't come entirely undone if you eat some souls to recharge, if you keep your promise and won't go overboard with it, and it definitely won't unravel if you screw your entourage senseless…"

'...Forget I said anything…'

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Sairaorg Bael fell from his hospital-bed as the entire castle shook with a huge, explosion-like crash.

The mind-purged Young Lord of House Bael fell down like a brick, even though Kuisha attempted to grab him mid-fall… And his head hit the floor with a huge crash.

The hit was not enough to seriously harm him… But it was enough for his mind to switch to a gear, activate a instinctive defense in face of physical harm.

In short, for that small moment of pain, Sairaorg's empty mind activated Touki.

Touki, in turn, was a discipline of Senjutsu, and allowed Sairaorg to channel his power through his body, reinforcing it, strengthening him, and improving his reflexes… But at the same time, it caused a surge to run through his mind.

It was like a wave of water coming down to wash over the earth that had been salted and barren of all life, causing the salt to flow off… And revealed old memories buried underneath.

It was not a complete process. There were patches, irregularities, changes… But as Sairaorg started to realize what he was, who he was, what had happened to him, he channeled the Touki with greater power, drawing from his memories that were slowly getting restored- His 'true' old memories he had hold were corrupted, destroyed, warped, but as a practitioner of Senjutsu, even if in small part, Sairaorg's mind was still 'saved' deep in his soul.

And crucially, the ability allowed Sairaorg to restore his old memories from a mental 'backup' even if his surface-level memories had been wiped out.

The memories crashed down, all at once- The desperate rescue-attempt, the sight of Seekvaira in a forlorn, scared stance as Sairaorg approached, the desperate charge at Momon, only to be blasted back, helpless as a child…

Sairaorg slammed his hands down against the floor, back in reality.

The restoration of his memories had taken less than a second.

"Ah… My doll, are you hurt?" A sweet voice came from somewhere and Sairaorg felt as someone put their hands on his shoulders.

"...Kuisha?" Sairaorg looked beside himself to see his Queen who was clad in… A nightgown? "Is Seekvaira alright? Did we manage to save her?"

Sairaorg analyzed the situation, and realized that Kuisha's nightgown was particularly revealing, and she was wearing it during the day?

Kuisha's eyes widened in sudden realization and her face paled to the complexity of a sheet of paper. "M-my… d… K-khah, ahem, my k-king?"

"Kuisha, what's wrong? What happened?"

"A-ahem… I'll… I'll get back soon! Please rest until then!" Kuisha attempted to flee, but Sairaorg grabbed her hand instantly.

"What is going on? You're not prone to panic. What happened after I got knocked out? Did someone force you to wear that dress?"

"Eh… ehhe… heee…." Kuisha seemed to suffer some sort of critical malfunction as she heard the questions… And the woman slumped over, in utter hysteria. "Hh..hhhaaa… hehhahaahhhaahh…"

Sairaorg reached for her… And pat her back. 'What is going on here…'