Overlord of a High School (27)

Momonga could finally breathe a little freely, not because he was sure that his actions could not lead to a negative result, but because now the result of what had happened was no longer in his hands. Finally, Momonga could relax a little.

One of the most critical issues that occupied his mind, besides the Demons at least, was the subject of magic in this world. That is, the fact that paranormal beings were hidden from ordinary people partially answered the question of why magic was not massively known in this world, but he never got any answer to the question as to why. And that lack of information limited his list of possible actions on Earth very much.

Once again, he was forced to confront the fact that this world is radically different from his own… As if the giant dragon and fallen Angels didn't already attest to the fact. Though he had to admit, with how the paranormal acted, there at least exist the possibility that the paranormal existed in his world, only very carefully hidden.

Maybe some kind of ancient treaties of non-interference, or maybe even a special police units dealing with the separation between the world of the paranormal and ordinary people? Of course, it wasn't that likely, but the current state of affairs with the separation between the two worlds had to have some justification, didn't it?

And it was with this reasoning that Momonga planned to find out. Thanks to a fortunate coincidence, the girl he had noticed earlier had followed him, perhaps to find more information about him… This could be his chance, a Demon that Momonga could isolate to a location of his choosing.

Initially, Momonga had assumed that the best course of action was to take her under mind control and alter her memory. But the Hanzo, who had joined him at Demiurge's order, had slipped into her shadow before Momonga had time to decide on a suitable place to ambush her. Momonga had already forgotten that he had summoned a Hanzo at all!

But of course, as one would expect, when Momonga contacted the Hanzo with [Message], the latter only reported back in a respectful tone that he had proceeded with his plan…

Momonga's plans, that is… If only this other Momonga would be so kind as to tell him what they were supposed to be!

This time, though, Momonga's ingenious 'plan' didn't seem to have backfired on him, but actually worked as he needed it to. The Hanzo hiding in the girl's shadow was a perfect opportunity to observe her and her surroundings stealthily. Maybe he could even have a chance to eavesdrop on the Demon's meeting with the other Demons so that Momonga could learn of their plans, or even what they might have learned about him!

More than that, Momonga thought, he had been quite successful in taking a chance in confirming the paranormal's view in bringing in the mundanes into their world. Revealing information to Saji about the paranormal world whist the Demon could hear, would force the girl to report to her superiors, and from there Momonga could learn of their response to such a thing with the Hanzo listening in.

Worse comes to worst, Momonga could easily use [Control Amnesia] and make it as if he had never met Saji in the first place. It would be quite the waste of MP, but it might be much better than if the paranormal's' response to the Masquerade being broken is full-out war. Though Momonga doubt that such a thing would come to pass – of course the's also the risk of the Hanzo being discovered…

Maybe he should switch out the Hanzo to a better summoned monster? The Hanzos might be good enough for simple reconnaissance, but he's simply too low-leveled, being easily detected by level 100 Players with any levels in the [Ranger] class…

However, it was most likely an acceptable risk. So far, the information gathered by Pandora's Actor and analyzed by the Demiurge did not indicate that one of the known powerful Demons was specialized in classes for detecting hidden enemies. But at the same time, Hanzo's summoning was costly enough that Momonga, having instructed Hanzo to try to escape unnoticed in case of danger, decided to went on about his business taking things one at a time. Now, rather than thinking further about the Demons, he was recounting his interaction with Saji.

Of course, Momonga didn't tell Saji anything about Nazarick, instead saying that he simply had some magical powers. Nothing excessive or things that the Demons didn't already know. He demonstrated his physical strength by lifting a couch with one hand, then stabbing himself with a kitchen knife without injury, and that was enough to convince Saji of his magical abilities.

However, even this unexpected discovery didn't change Saji's original desire to take care of his family… Something that Momonga couldn't help Saji with without sinking in an inordinate amount of resources. He couldn't exactly repeat what he did for himself, so he would probably have to rely on the Demons to accomplish what Saji wanted.

At the moment, he certainly didn't plan to bargain with the Demons, not knowing his position or the demons' position at all, for the sake of a stranger's family at that. At least, until his situation with the Demons were resolved, Momonga wanted to keep Saji close to him, and ideally, loyal to him.

Of course, Momonga wasn't worried that Saji might be a threat to him, so it wasn't worth throwing away the opportunities he had to make possible new acquaintances in this world… No matter how insignificant they might be.

He couldn't do much about Saji's problem, or if the Demons decides to silence him, except to kidnap him and take him to the Church of the Fallen Angels. However, to Momonga's surprise, Saji responded negatively to his offer, choosing to stay in his home, and even to continue going to school… Which baffled Momonga's mind.

People actually choose to go to school?

On one hand, Momonga could certainly understand, the man didn't want to lose the money invested in his education, and clearly wanted to take the chance to get a high-paying job that required a full high school education. But on the other… it's school. Was it really only Momonga who thought that school was more akin to torture than anything else!?

In any case, at least for now, he could simply order Demiurge to send one of his servants to watch over Saji. For the future however… Well, he hopes the situation with the Demons would clear up soon, and he could influence Saji to get himself one more pawn in this world… Or at least get rid of him without attracting attention, depending on how the dialog with the Demons would turn out.

And if some situation unfolds to Saji where Momonga couldn't act on it?

Well, that's an issue Momonga will deal with when it arises.

***

If Hanzo wasn't currently stuck in the girl's shadow at the moment, he would have had to exert all his willpower in order not to cry at Lord Momonga's mercy for His lowly servant.

Lord Momonga, in His infinite generosity and mercy, had required Hanzo himself to promise that he would not expose himself to needless risk and would try to avoid any danger that came his way. How great was Lord Momonga's merciful heart!

Hanzo believed that his punishment, the cursed 'rest', was payback for his willful abandonment of his post, for Hanzo's refusal to watch over Raynare, choosing instead to throw himself into Lord Momonga's defense in his battle against the red dragon. Though of course, how stupid could he be?

How could he even dare suggest that Lord Momonga could be in danger, that something wasn't going to fit into His grand plan?!

But was it possible that Lord Momonga had punished Hanzo not only for disobeying orders and being useless in battle, but also out of mercy, worried about Hanzo endangering himself by engaging in battle with the red dragon? Lord Momonga had ended that battle almost instantly, but even though Lord Momonga was invulnerable to the red dragon, Hanzo had put himself at risk by entering the battle.

Was this another of the reasons why Lord Momonga was angry at him, could his punishment have grown from Lord Momonga's concern and mercy?!

Hanzo could hardly imagine such mercy from his Lord towards His lowest servant, but Lord Momonga's concern spoke of just that.

Hanzo was therefore thankful that he did not possess a physical body while in shadow form, or he would have been rubbing his face with all his might where his eyes should have been, trying to hold back the tears… Which his body was technically incapable of, but which would surely have leaked out anyway!

And so Hanzo could in no way, not in a single gesture, allow his mission to be carried out with less than absolute and perfect precision! His every ability was trained, his hearing was sharp, his perfect perception, capable of breaking through even the stealth skills and invisibility spells of specialized types of the hundredth level, was honed. Every tiny detail in his field of perception was noticed, remembered and cataloged by him, every fraction of a moment that could be sensed!

At the moment, though, everything Hanzo saw and perceived was of no interest… At least from Hanzo's own perspective.

After the Demon tried to gather information about Lord Momonga, an effort as futile as it was ridiculous from Hanzo's point of view, the girl tried to run away… Without using a single skill or spell, either to gather information or to cover her own tracks.

The girl didn't even use [Concealment]! A skill so basic that it wasn't even worth mentioning in the throngs of creatures specializing in stealth, so what could Hanzo even take note of in this case!

However, Hanzo could devote the rest of his time to mocking the creature of this world who dared to spy on Lord Momonga, at the moment, he had to concentrate on counter-espionage.

The girl, as Lord Demiurge had informed him, having received this information from the Lord Pandora's Actor, was named Ruruka Nimura. She had hurriedly distanced herself from Lord Momonga's location, and after a dozen minutes arrived at a house that could most likely be called luxurious relative to the surrounding houses. She didn't even try to take preventive measures from being followed!

The Demon that had dared to try to spy on Lord Momonga was so incompetent that the Hanzo thought for a moment that this was a trap, that he had readied his escape measures.

He, of course, didn't have to.

The luxurious house, which in Hanzo's perception was only slightly larger than the other houses in the area, was one of the Demons' domiciles. The girl went to the lock beside the fence, to the electrical box to the side of the door, as Lord Demiurge had told Hanzo with disdain, the equipment was some sort of communication device. Archaic and barbaric in its design and function.

After doing something that the Hanzo couldn't see, the girl pressed the button, causing a loud buzz to emanate from inside the house. Waiting for a moment, the sound of a lock being opened resounded and Ruruka opened the door, heading inside.

Stepping inside the compound, the Hanzo was greeted by a courtyard filled with neatly mowed lawns… And invisible guards that are all visible to the Hanzo.

Spells and abilities of such a level were no barrier to Hanzo, indeed, thanks to his abilities, the Hanzo himself didn't even have to use concealment abilities himself to avoid their gaze. No, instead of wasting his time on unneeded spells, Hanzo began to gather and analyze data on the potential enemies… Before, he had to stop himself from sighing.

The information he had gathered did not look that exciting to Hanzo either. Most of the invisible guards, if they could be called such, were demons with strength levels between level thirty and forty, utterly lacking in danger levels. Still, Hanzo could not determine their specific level and class distribution without using his special abilities, but for beings of level forty and below, using such abilities would be unnecessary.

However, when a creature of more outstanding strength appeared at the edge of Hanzo's perception, Hanzo didn't take any unnecessary risks and activated one of his more specialized skills [Mikawa Mountains]. With it activated, for the next hour, as long as the Hanzo did not do any action, it would take detection magics of the Tenth Tier to spot him. Either that or specialized scouts like the Hanzo, someone skilled at detecting invisible and hidden creatures, or their level equivalent.

And as far as Lord Pandora's Actor had informed him, Serafall Leviathan possessed no such abilities. So, all Hanzo himself had to do to complete his mission, was to silently listen and memorize everything that was going on around the Demons.

***

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Sona Sitri felt her glasses slip down the bridge of her nose, one small slip away from falling and then shattering. Figuratively speaking, of course, no glasses that an heiress would wear would be so fragile as to shatter from a simple fall.

"But nobody saw me!" Sona flippantly dismissed the words of her new pawn, who had been in her [Peerage] for less than a week, but who had already broken one of the most important orders that Sona had ever given in her life. Sona wanted to bang her head on the table, and only by a titanic effort of will did she restrained herself from doing so.

It was incomprehensible! Ruruka had been her pawn for less than a week, but already she had managed to not only disobey her orders, but to go follow the unknown threat that is Satoru. Even someone as lacking in common sense as her sister had warned her of just how dangerous Satoru could be!

From the look of her, her new [Pawn] thought everything was fine!

Sona doubted very much that Ruruka had been able to avoid Satoru's attention whatsoever. While there is too much that is unknown about Satoru, the fact that two Satans had thought that it is likely for him to be some sort of god, meant that he was a very dangerous and capable potential foe.

But, then, why had he let her [Pawn] escape, bringing in information about him, no matter how trivial. According to Rias, which is the reason she would take it with a pinch of salt, that Satoru was an old and experienced master of diplomacy and negotiation – so naturally Sona's mind began churning about the possible reasons why.

All her life, to Sona's great chagrin, she had been trained to one day become the head of the noble Sitri Clan, so Sona could well imagine just how useful an ammunition her [Pawn]'s indiscretion had been. A simple mention of how the Devils had violated his privacy could give Satoru a lot of leeway in negotiations.

Being Sona's [Pawn], Sona would be forced to give concession unless she wants to throw her [Pawn] under the bus, ruining her impression with her [Peerage]. What could he want in return? At the very least, Satoru could demand better concessions in future negotiations, at worst he might demand Ruruka's head.

And, while Serafall would surely side with her, it was quite likely that the rest of the Satans would decide to settle the matter by sacrificing her [Pawn]. Especially if they could come to a favorable agreement in doing so…

And Sona, even if she didn't have as close a relationship with her [Peerage], preferring to think of them as close subordinates rather than family, was definitely not willing to sacrifice Ruruka.

Even if she had known her for less than a week—and even if she had foolishly dragged Sona into this nightmare!

"Kaichou?" Ruruka looked at Sona carefully, a little scared, causing Sona to make the most ferocious expression she could muster, and then, the moment Ruruka squealed away, take control of herself. Okay, Ruruka's punishment should be extremely severe, but that was still a secondary concern at the moment, the primary concern was how to handle Satoru… And the first step to that is to get the full information from her foolish [Pawn].

"All right… I could do this." Stretching out each vowel to release some of the rage simmering inside the usually reserved heiress of the Sitri clan, Sona glanced at Ruruka.

"I would punish you later for your foolishness… But at least, did you find out any information about Satoru?" Sona asked.

"Ummm…" Ruruka blinked, before blurting out the next words quickly and with no small amount of uncertainty. "He's… Interested in some Second Year student?"

"You're not even sure which one?" Sona glanced tiredly at Ruruka, all the anger she could possibly feel at the moment drained out of the Devil, causing her to sigh slowly.

"Okay… What do you mean, 'interested'?"

"I'm not completely sure? You know, I can't really tell what they're talking about. Being stealthy and all, I kept some distance between us, as I followed them… But Satoru was definitely up to something! That other guy even kneeled!" Ruruka began to feel more confident the more she talked, sticking out her small chest and smiling cockily, as if she was asking Sona to praise her.

For some reason, she still thought that Satoru hadn't discovered her probably very subpar stalking. Sona could only blame herself for not getting the point across to her [Pawn] just how dangerous Satoru could've been, though it probably wouldn't help matter.

This is the girl that thought that Sona was some mafia boss, and her only thought was to confront her on it without any backup plan.

"I'm pretty sure that Satoru revealed the information about the paranormal to this guy!"

Sona didn't even bother to ask Ruruka why she thought that, it didn't seem unbelievable, and at least Ruruka had demonstrated her skills in gathering information before, so it was probably true. Of course, again, with perhaps a large grain of salt.

"What are we going to do about it, boss?" Ruruka, sensing that Sona had exhausted all of her previous reactions and therefore couldn't lash out angrily at Ruruka, went on the offensive.

"Nothing." It took Sona a second to realize that it wasn't her that said those words, and another second to realize who had said them. "No one is going to do anything about it – not us, and certainly not you."

Hearing her sister's voice, Sona was both relieved that the burden of responsibility for the current situation was at least partially lifted from her by having someone with a higher authority around, and a mix of other complex emotions.

She was somewhat irked, no matter how she disliked having to be responsible for the errant god, it was at least her prerogative on how to deal with it. The reason for her being in Kuoh is to gain some independence from her family, which includes her sister, to have a chance to stand on her own. She also disliked the fact that she had bothered her busy sister from her job, her presence here could be construed by her sister's enemy by the Old Satan Faction as favoritism, inviting criticism, baseless as they might be.

And most of all, she disliked the fact that her Sister looked so out of character, dressed not in her Magical Girl outfit, no matter how much it would embarrass her, and the uncharacteristic serious look on her face.

No, for a second, Serafall showed her face as a professional… And considering how rare and unusual it was for Sona, she felt an involuntary unpleasant sticky chill creeping up her spine at the sight. If anything could make Serafall act serious in Sona's presence, then this matter with Satoru was even more important than Sona had previously imagined.

And Sona had thought before that she was facing a catastrophic crisis in Satoru being here in Kuoh, being a god and all… But apparently she had never fully appreciated the magnitude of it.

"Ms. Serafall!" Ruruka, for all her impenetrable stupidity that may have just spelled her doom, at the sight of Serafall began palling and took a deep bow. It seemed that at least Sona had been able to imbue her with a minimal understanding of the situation.

A bit too little too late, but it's at least something, Sona could only sigh as she stood up to greet her older Sister.

"Easy there." Serafall brushed off the actions of Sona and her pawn, showing that at least Serafall didn't expect the world to end in the next few minutes, causing Sona to breathe a little relieved at that realization, but not completely. Her sister's expression relaxed just a little, but her eyes were still serious and her eyebrows furrowed.

"So, if I heard everything correctly, you tried to follow Satoru, and most likely, he let you do it," Serafall didn't even pay attention to Ruruka's timid attempt to comment on the fact that she had been careful in her spying,

"And he apparently had revealed information about magic to a student… Though we don't know exactly which one it is." Serafall paused for a moment as she finished speaking, nodding to herself, waiting for Ruruka's confirming nod, frowning as she received the confirmation, thinking to herself while speaking under her breath.

"Why did Satoru spoke with that student, and why now? What is he planning to accomplish with that, what plan…?"

Sona, unaccustomed to Serafall's serious side, remained silent, not daring to interrupt Leviathan's important musings. But, for Ruruka, it seemed, the concept of self-preservation was not in her dictionary.

"Kaichou, what about Satoru revealing information about the supernatural world? With how much you drilled us about being careful about it, is it just fine for him to do so?" Ruruka's thoughtless question made Sona wince involuntarily. Sona might not exactly approve of Rias's methods of punishing her [Peerage], spanking them like they are unruly children, something that spoke more of her proclivities than an actual effective discipline method.

But in the past ten minutes, she had actually grown more comfortable with the idea of physical violence as an educational method.

Not to mention the fact that no one would go to war with an unknown god over a couple dozen, hundreds, or even thousands of people… Least of all, just one person.

"Until he starts performing acts of miracles live on national television, giving info about the paranormal is the problem of those who dare to do such a thing… Not to mention the fact that the powerful simply has more leeway. Besides, what are we going to do about it? Going to war over one person being inducted into the supernatural, would seem like a great act of overreaction. Nobody would praise us over picking a fight with a god over something like that. Satoru could do such a thing with all the population of Kuoh, and we'll probably just ask him to stop. Nicely at that." Serafall easily dismissed Ruruka's words, mirroring Sona's thoughts.

As long as the disclosure of such information did not cause the destabilization of society, the supernatural denizens preferred not to pry into each other's private affairs. The scene of Serafall acting serious, once again made Sona involuntary shudder. How bad was the situation really if such a thing was happening right now?!

Serafall, however, seeing Sona becoming uncomfortable, quickly adopted her usual persona. The situation might be serious, but it doesn't mean that she would let Sona act so awkward around her.

Adopting a huge smile, Serafall summoned her usual outfit and magic wand, before adopting a pose from her magical girl show, speaking with her usual boisterous tone. "Sona-chan! There's no need to worry, your big sister will always protect you from all the bad boys! If Satoru tried to do anything to you, I'm going to bonk him with my magical staff!"

A moment later, Serafall seemed to teleport next to Sona, taking her in a tight embrace, from which Sona could not physically escape because of the Leviathan's unmatched strength.

"Mistress Leviathan, please control yourself!" Sona reacted to Serafall's actions with an ingrained reaction and phrase, attempting to disentangle herself from the strong embrace.

No matter how many times she told Serafall that she couldn't afford to behave this way with her position, each and every time her words would only fly between Serafall's ears without lingering in her mind. Though, this time, Sona's annoyance at such childishness from the head of Foreign Affairs for the entire Devils' faction was less noticeable than usual.

"Oh, can I take a couple pictures?!" And of course, Ruruka decided to butt in the situation, causing Sona to look away from her older sister and squint her eyes with a completely unhappy look at Ruruka.

"Speaking of punishments…" Sona used the phrase despite the fact that no part of the conversation so far had mentioned any punishments, her glare priming death.

"Ruruka, it seems that I've been lacking in educating you about the supernatural world. About what you can do as a part of my [Peerage], about what you can't do, and exactly how to deal with a clear order like 'don't come within a hundred meters of Satoru'. Yes, I believe I just have the thing to make sure that my instructions stick this time…"

"Em…" Ruruka swallowed a nervous gulp, taking half a step back instinctually, looking at Sona, then tried to crack a smile as she looked at Serafall.

"Mistress Leviathan, don't you think it's been a long time since you've seen your little sister? Maybe you two can spend some time together on a date!"

"Oh, definitely," Serafall smiled, but Ruruka's joy was short-lived. "And I'll be so excited to see how my little Sona-chan has grown up and is now able to manage her [Peerage]. Especially just how she could discipline an errant [Pawn]!" Serafalf spoke cheerfully with a wide smile on her face, but none of it reached her eyes. In fact, Ruruka could only see the glint of chipped ice, so cold that it promised death in those.

It seems that the two sisters have many things in common.

"Em…", Ruruka coughed into her fist and took another half step back, as a rash of goosebumps ran along her spine and she broke out in cold sweats.

"It won't happen again?"

"Absolutely," Sona nodded favorably, but Ruruka didn't trust her mistress' smile, "And I'll make sure of it…"

Ruruka, shifting her gaze from Sona to Serafall and back again, raised her hands and smiled a silly smile, knocking on her head as she stuck her tongue out. "Oops?"

***

Kalawarner had never really thought about how exactly insanity could manifest itself among Angels, especially fallen ones, until that moment. But, she was absolutely certain that she was insane right now. There was no way that her current life was not the result of hallucinations in her finally deranged mind.

Sadly, it was nothing but objective reality.

How could it be otherwise? The Biblical God had suddenly returned to this world, killed some of the strongest legendary dragons. He then proceeded to send a super-powered Devil in his service, to create a church for him. Oh, and her boss, Raynare, that had died like a dog, had been resurrected and been forgiven for her sins, tasking Kalawarner, who, incidentally, had fallen to the bottom of the Fallen Angel hierarchy, to begin preparations for the Apocalypse.

Even in the magical world, there was a limit to when 'magic' ended and 'fantasy' began, and Kalawarner's life story had long since crossed that threshold.

And, the craziest thing about this whole situation? It's not that Kalawarner's life is all that terrifying or unbelievable at this point.

Normally, even setting aside the impossibility, talking about super-powered Devils, or the return of the Biblical God, and Apocalypse would be something incredulous to imagine. It was just as ridiculous as the heavens being covered with bloody rain, the Sun rising in the West, or the Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping across the Earth… Well, maybe not the last one.

If she wasn't right now, punching in letters after letters, with no end of her hallucination in sight, she just had to accept that this is her reality now. In fact, right now, Kalawarner was in negotiations regarding the purchase of a share of stock in some business… Kalawarner wasn't even sure which one, the name escaping her at the moment.

For the most part, her entire role was simply to punch in correspondence with answers, following a previously prepared instruction created by Lord Demiurge and Lady Albedo, an incredibly scary Devil, a new face in the church.

She's the second incredibly powerful Devil, who, as ridiculous as it might sound, was also one of God's subjects, and incidentally, was even stronger than the Demiurge, causing her to question her true identity. Who could this 'Albedo' be, an obvious fake name, for her to be even stronger than the Demiurge?

Her job now was not much different from that of a robot, or perhaps an answering machine might fit better. Her job was in just keeping track of a dozen different negotiations, periodically punching in answers that the two Devils, who apparently could read people like an open book, had predicted in advance. In fact, it was not that much different from the office job that Kalawarner herself had once dreamed of…

It was simply an idle thought whenever Raynare or Mittelt were being especially annoying, just a simple job where there's no danger of her dying. Well, jokes on her, huh?

Speaking of which, Kalawarner seemed to have forgotten to mention the powerful Vampire, that for some reason possessed an extremely powerful Holy presence. When the Vampire walked into the church, it was as if Michael himself had descended into her little ruined, recently rebuilt, church

As fantastic as a sight it might be, it had been put into the back burner when the Vampire and Albedo had gone into an argument over who was more worthy of the title of 'chief wife' of God… Oh, and who was better in bed, and had made God feel better, something that they were very proud of.

Not that Kalawarner didn't understand their sense of pride at all in this case – getting in bed with God? Up until this point, Kalawarner wasn't sure if anyone would dare to speak of such a blasphemous thing out loud… The Virgin Mary didn't count. Her situation was too far removed from the usual conception most races were accustomed to.

Madness. That was the only way Kalawarner could describe her current situation, complete and utter madness. Somewhere in the small town of Kuoh, the Son of God was walking around. Just outside of her makeshift office, two very powerful entities that could delete her entire existence as an aside were figuring out, read; arguing, which one was better in bed, or when is their next turn to share God's bed. And then there's Kalawarner, who was negotiating to buy shares in companies using the money Raynare had accumulated, all in order to prepare the world for the Apocalypse.

Somehow.

Speaking of which, while she was distracted for a moment to work with potential stockholders, a powerful Devil wrapped in shadows had just captured probably the strongest warrior of the entire Fallen faction. In about ten seconds. All the while, Kalawarner was taking a sip from her coffee mug.

And there wasn't even a struggle, as even as in the depth of her madness as she might be, there's no way that she would miss Tobio Ikuse, wielder [Canis Lykaon], being kidnapped in broad daylight.

What kind of monster could accomplish such a thing?

But that was such a small thing compared to everything else around her that Kalawarner didn't even want to mention such a thing. And the most important thing of all? No one around her even blinked at what was happening to Kalawarner at the moment. It was simple, everyone shrugged and got to work, as if her presence and duty was nothing to be put to mind.

Kalawarner had lost her mind. That was the only rational explanation for everything Kalawarner had been doing lately and the situation she found herself in. So as she sent another email, Kalawarner paused for a moment, looking at the instructions that had arrived in her inbox.

So, she was to compose an email to Kokabiel to provoke him into attacking the Devil faction while Lord Demiurge was busy with more 'critical' matters. As if provoking a Cadre, one of the oldest and strongest Fallen Angels in existence, was something one delegate to a secretary, and one at the lowest totem pole at that.

Kalawarner reached for her coffee, took a sip, looked around at her surroundings, her dorm room converted into a temporary office, and returned her attention to the computer screen, satisfied that she had indeed not gone to an insane asylum.

Great, so what would be a good place to start this letter?

Kalawarner had completely lost her mind and lost the thread of what was real and what wasn't in the current world…

But at least she had coffee.

In the current reality, that was the only real thing left that made any sense at all.