Chapter 31

Ever since Maria had reunited with Gran, she had become but an afterthought in the plans for world domination. Yuuki was now openly ignoring her, and her great-grandfather barely paid attention to anything else but his wife. The ballpoint pen moved fast over a sheet of paper, guided by Mariabell's delicate hand, fueled with the rage of betrayal.

With Tempest openly driving scientific progress without fear of angel attacks, the rest of the world followed suit, and things like the pen in her hand were now commonplace throughout Tempest's major cities and most minor settlements. It would likely only take a few decades till the entirety of the Cardinal world was brought to at least some of the living standards of twenty-first-century Earth, and the mega-corporation that was the UTC would control most of the economy and scientific research, thoroughly monopolizing the social and cultural changes to the maximum extent possible.

She should have been happy. She held thirteen percent of all shares in the company, with Gran holding the remaining seventeen, but her influence was fading by the day, and no one even pretended that it wasn't the case. With fading influence, her frustration grew exponentially. She was a born ruler, the one who was destined to control the world! And yet her birthright was snatched away.

She needed something, anything, to tip the scales. That's why Mariabell was meticulously combing through all the board meetings and accounting reports to find anything she could latch onto, and it didn't take her long to notice a peculiar discrepancy. Metal was disappearing without a trace. To her estimate, at least fifty thousand tons of steel had just disappeared alongside two and a half thousand tons of magisteel to who-new-where. That was the only material that was traceable in the first place. Tempest did frightening amounts of ore mining unconnected to any paperwork, which put her estimates of unaccounted steel in at least two to two hundred fifty thousand tons.

That much metal could only be used for one thing: Tempest was secretly building a military-industrial complex. This meant the next conflict would not be fought with swords, magic, and landmines, but with tanks, planes, and chemical weaponry. The biggest pie of them all had been wholly hidden from her. A world war would come; that was a certainty. Even if Momonga's assassination attempt succeeded, the aftermath would likely bring one of the most significant conflicts in the history of the world, and those who lent the money to rebuild the world afterward would reap undreamt of before profits.

The question was how she could get on top of this situation. Mariabell put down the pen, took a sip from the cup of coffee, and leaned back in her office chair. Maybe it was time to abandon Gran and, better yet, fully betray him for abandoning her. If she warned Momonga about their plans, she could garner enough favor to join Tempest fully, at least with one of the Lords, Pero.

Mariabell put that thought aside for now. Betrayal was never reversible, and no one trusts traitors. It was best to leave such an option as the last resort. But there was something else she could do: reveal that she knew what Tempest was doing but keep their secret.

With that in mind, Mariabell left her office in the Ingrassia branch headquarters of the UTC and waved over the purple demon waiting in the hall. This monstrous creature who looked like a teenage girl was assigned to be her personal assistant or, more precisely, handler, so Pero always knew what she was up to, and the old fool Gran hadn't even protested it.

"I need to talk with Pero." She casually stated.

The demon approached her and silently extended her arm, which Mariabell accepted. The world blurred, and she was now standing in the main quarters of UTC Tempest headquarters, which was the central location of the whole company.

Without hesitation, she marched towards Pero's office and, upon entering the waiting room, was greeted by one of Pero's consorts, who acted as his secretary. Upon seeing her, the goblina put two fingers to her temple, then motioned for Mariabell to go in, as expected. Even now, she was still ranked third in the company right after Pero and Shalltear; unless Pero was having an important meeting with his daughter or Tempest's top brass, she would never need to wait.

Mariabell pushed the door open, entered the avian's office, and took a guest seat without hesitation, facing the man.

"Something happened?" Pero inquired, surprised at her unexpected visit.

"I went over the numbers and found something peculiar." She spoke with a smile on her face.

"Oh!?"

"It seems Tempest is building toys in secret, a lot of them. One might say your friends are cheeky with how much they try to hide." She was getting giddy.

"And?" Pero leaned forward in his chair, holding his talon-clad hands together.

"And what? You are building a modern army under everyone's noses." Mariabell couldn't believe how casually he treated her discovery.

"So is the Eastern Empire. Why are you telling me this? You want a cut for the metal?" Pero asked.

'Really? They don't even care that I can report this to Gran and the Western Nations? Or the Eastern Empire, for that matter.' She was a bit of a loss on how to proceed. But then it struck her; Pero was likely bluffing and using the best way to downplay the situation: indifference. Should she try to blackmail him, she would destroy everything she had built, and Pero knew that. UTC would enter a civil war, and the Tempest side was bound to win, albeit with casualties.

"No, I wanted to make you aware that I know." Mariabell kept up the illusion of confidence as she walked through the minefield, which was this conversation. "Truth be told, I think it is time to address my place in the company."

Mariabell reached forward and grabbed a wrapped candy from the bowl and continued as she tinkered with the colorful wrapping, "I won't do something as stupid as try to blackmail Tempest, but at the same time, I am getting tired of how I am getting pushed aside, while my ideas are used to not only fill your coffers but also to undermine me."

Pero leaned back and laughed, "Really now? Did you just come into my office to complain you don't like that I don't let you fuck us over?"

And just like that, all pretense was gone. Both sides knew what was going on, and any veil of cooperation dropped. Mariabell scowled as she pointed her finger at the avian, "You have been doing the same fucking thing from the start. Let's not pretend I am the one trying to take advantage of poor, naive monsters."

She got up, going back and forth. Her empire was crumbling, her closest people had slipped through her grasp, and it was when, not if, she lost everything. Mariabell let out a growling snarl, struggling against her skill. She was Mariabell the greedy, and her birthright was the world itself; she was a predator swimming among the small fish. Yet she knew she wasn't one of the big sharks. She had only deluded herself into being one.

'I won't be used! I won't be shoved aside. I won't… I won't… I won't be led astray by my own fucking skill! I am not in a position to reach the top. I never was.' It was time for the nuclear option.

"Call a meeting with Momonga. This cannot go on, and I want to make a deal with the man on the top," She demanded.

"What makes you think you are important enough to make such a demand?" Pero replied, his amusement evident.

"Tell me, Pero, do you think I will go down without a fight? Are you ready to pay the price for just ignoring me?" She retorted.

"And what exactly do you have left? A few agents? You have overestimated yourself so much that it is almost comical. Your unique skill has messed with you; it's made you arrogant. I could just kill you and send your corpse to Granbell, and what would he do? Send humans into the last suicide march. All the Western Nations combined are nothing. We keep humans alive because we want to, not because we have to." Pero appeared before her and condescendingly patted her head, grinning.

Her hands shook as she held back the overwhelming desire to kick the smug monster. "Bastard!"

"My, what a foul-mouthed child you are."

"Enough! Either call a meeting with Momonga, or I am pulling out my part of the company now!"

"Fine, fine." Pero chuckled and motioned for her to step through the appearing gate.

She didn't waste any time, so she crossed the portal and arrived directly at Momonga's office. The overlord's burning eyes and bare skull were as unreadable as ever, especially with his creepy angel bodyguard standing in the background.

"I am listening." He spoke in his deep, regal voice as he stood up from his chair and walked around the table, looming over her with his impressive stature.

"I want to switch sides. I want a permanent position in your cabinet, and in return, I will reveal a conspiracy against you. Should you reject my offer, I will take my assets and leave," She stated brashly, leaning forward.

"How curious. What makes you think I would let you leave?" Momonga inquired.

"If you don't, you'll only accelerate said conspiracy," She bluffed. Another thing in her endless arrogance she had overlooked. What exactly prevented Momonga from just killing her if she was about to leave anyway?

"Let me guess. You plan to tell me that Yuuki and Gran are working together, and they have Chronoa? Oh, and I think I will be so bold to assume you know about the goddess behind Yuuki, the real mastermind. Did she push you aside, and now you are grasping for straws to not drown in the mess you made?" The overlord might as well have taken a hammer and bashed her skull in, shaking her to her core.

"You knew…" She glanced up, stunned. Nothing. She had nothing, no leverage, no cards, nothing. At this moment, she was at the mercy of the being she had tried to undermine since they first met. And she had just served herself on a golden platter, deboned, stuffed, and ready to bake.

"Of course, we knew. If only you weren't such an arrogant little shit, we might have some use for you." Pero said.

"But… no… not like this. I can't be reduced to… to this. You need me! You have been feeding off my ideas, my brilliance. UTC is as it is because of me! ME!" She screamed. "I won't be pushed aside. I won't be denied!"

Her sanity was starting to slip in the face of the truth. She would not go down like this. She would take everything with her if she had to!

"Well, it looks like we'll use plan B. Momonga, would you feed her to Rubedo?" Pero's voice shocked her from her temporary insanity. In her rush, she hadn't realized the birdman had followed her through the portal.

She gasped as Momonga grabbed her face with his skeletal hand and felt him do something to her soul and mind, although what she couldn't tell. She tried with all her might to remove the hand, but the overlord refused to budge.

A moment later, he pushed her to the ground, and as she fell, she saw an exact copy standing in the room. She barely caught Momonga mumble while stepping over her, "Let's hope Granbell doesn't immediately discover she is a doppelganger now, I would've preferred to refine the abilities for another month."

"You can't! Not like this!" She sobbed. "You bastards can't do this to me!"

"Since you have not caused notable damage, I can offer you mercy." Momonga turned his attention back to her while Pero and her copy left through the avian's initial gate.

"Mercy? I am not stupid. You monsters don't even know what mercy means!" She pushed herself off the ground.

"A clean death. No torture, no humiliation." The skeletal monster offered.

"I won't take my death lying down! Bring your worst, you asshole. Feed me to your monster as you plan to do anyway. I won't beg!" She hissed.

She would not give Momonga the last satisfaction. She would die with her head held high, start over in the next life, and learn from her mistakes. Her unbreakable will was her most valuable trait and the one thing no one could take away. She had heard stories of even powerful primordial demons breaking under him, but she would not.

"Rubedo, she is all yours." Momonga declared, and the angel smiled.

That smile would have broken a lesser woman, but not her. The unfathomable dread she felt when the angel broke apart would've shattered most. Few could have faced it without flinching, but she did. Like a born ruler about to be executed by their peasants, she walked into her oblivion without screaming, showing fear, or shedding a tear.

In mere moments, Mariabell disappeared into the depths of Rubedo and was no more.

Editing by Nich L and aidan_lo.

Proofreading by Alassandro, mfkz_rocker, clagan, IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, fvvck, Omnax, and aidan_lo.

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