Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Shingen sat himself on one of the couches, Levi calmly sauntered to the opposite one and leaned back…allowing gravity to take him completely as he fell into the cushions of the future rather unglamorous. There were many questions he had expected the spell caster to ask: Why was he so special? What was The Watcher? Why save him?...but instead Shingen inquired about a rather controversial moment in the Devil’s past during an event that occurred a little over a year ago. Well s**t. Levi’s eyes narrowed for a bit, and then he looked off to the side a bit as he nodded with an acknowledging frown. “That…That’s a very good question. Guess your skepticism was more than just mommy hammering ‘stranger danger’ into your brain,” Levi murmured as leaned forward and allowed his hand to hover over the table between them. He placed it palm down…just two inches above the surface of the stunning epoxy table with dark oak components. He then allowed his hand to hover across the table, from the caster’s right end to the center of the table…and as he moved it across…two face down picture frames evaporated into existence. “Answering your question isn’t a brief explanation, but I wanna start by saying I was never on their side. I was threatened, and they wanted me to step in and swiftly end that feud between the Sword Saint-led by a rogue demon- and the dragons as their capital. But how how they did so requires a long fu**ing history lesson.”

If Shingen tried to curiously flip one of the frames over, Levi would playfully swat at his hand and tell him that he was ‘gonna ruin the story’. “Now, from the beginning. I donno what the gang told you, but this thing that calls itself The Watcher is called an Omniarch; A Being that is essentially the highest form of divinity in existence. They have free reign to do whatever they wish since reality is under their dominion…now…” The Devil’s hand was beside the picture frames now…and with a flick of his wrist, several marble chess-like pieces appeared on the table…all of them somewhat similar to the game’s conventional king and queen design, but not quite either of them. “In the beginning there were actually a pantheon of them…and one of them…” Levi took one piece and moved it forward closer to Shingen, “Wanted to make mortal life and guide them…another…however…” The infernal king moved his hand to push another piece closer to shingen. “Wanted them to be acolytes built to ‘worship’... This Omniarch hated the former idea so much that She…” Calmly, levi took that second piece and one by one knocked the other pieces over…until only the first piece he pushed forward was left. As all the other pieces were knocked over, they were seemingly absorbed into the pieces Levi was holding…and as that happened the piece got bigger and bigger…and at the end Levi set a piece that was now nearly twice the size of the other next to that first piece. “Devoured…every single Omniarch who didn’t share her ideals…and then…imprisoned this one for eternity in a prison realm… She called herself The All Mother. Now this is where it gets confusing…”

Levi took the first piece, the one that he said had the idea to create mortals and guide them through existence, and moved it peripherally. “The All mother had become immensely powerful, becoming the central figure to existence…but she took the ‘evils’ of those she absorbed. You see these creatures are just as much a victim to the sins of humanity…so she split herself in two…” Levi now took both hands and grabbed the piece on both sides…and pulled it apart. Now there were two of the same large piece: one white and one black. “She hated the evil half of her power…and locked that part away as well in a separate realm. Of course that didn’t mean The All Mother let go of her darkness-afterall, she thought she was in the right.” Levi took the dark piece and set it on the opposite peripheral side.

“So, mortals were made…and a large number of them were actually aware of this ‘supreme goddess’...however, what she didn’t know was that mortals had the capacity…” Levi made a little finger gun, and everytime his wrist abruptly pulled back from an imaginary shot a small pawn appeared beside the large white piece, “to actually wield omniarch power. These individuals could not be controlled...or destroyed like all other things under its dominion-I wonder what that sounds like, maybe that’s a key point here…anyway enough of them banded together and rallied against her.” Among all the pawn pieces was one broken piece…but Levi hadn’t yet mentioned why it didn’t look like any of the others-which were all homogenous aside from that one piece. “She sent them all to the prison realm where the first Omniarch with…good?-I guess it’s good intentions-was..” The Infernal king took both his hands to collectively move all the pawns to the smaller ~fancy~ piece…kind of like a hybridization between a king and a queen. “Qeue in The First Sinner. The Omniarch said to have committed the first sin: which was essentially just having a different opinion than the All Mother; She had a Karen complex. Anyway this broken piece here…that’s me. You see I wasn’t a ‘chosen’ individual. I could have easily been done away with…but they never bothered to. I helped these heroes beat The First Sinner who had gone mad over the immeasurable amount of time he was locked away. For the record That guy..” Levi pointed back to the large dark piece on the other side of the table, “Is still alive by himself. The All Mother FED mortals she didn’t like to it every now and then…now…where were we…ah yes. So the heroes beat the First Sinner, me included.”

Levi took one hand now, and knocked over the fancy piece…and as it fell over it just vanished. Suddenly all the pawns began to glow..save for the one broken one. “These heroes now had the shared Omniarch essence-splitting the First Sinner’s core amongst themselves…Myself, however…if i tried to shoulder any of that power it would literally deconstruct my existence and obliterate me. No soul…no body…complete oblivion-remember that because it’s important too. Now…all the little heroes-and the one epic and outrageously handsome guy named Levi Pierce-me…stepped up to The All Mother and killed her, effectively usurping the tyrannical goddess who used fear to make the mortals worship her…”

The Devil sighed, realizing just how long-winded this explanation was going to be. In the end though he hoped it would not only answer Shingen’s question, but also several others along the way. The Blonde haired man took a deep breath and then looked to the boM agent. “following so far? I swear this long *ss narrative-which is still better than the story Twilight- will make sense at the end and answer your question.”

Levi waited for some form of confirmation, which he got in the form of Shingen’s tamped frustration. Levi gave the caster a nod and then took a deep breath in, before continuing with a, “Good, because turns out we fu**ed everything when we killed her. Turns out when you kill an Omniarch-in this case the ‘primary’ Omniarch that reality latches to-all of existence implodes on itself. In that moment, everything crumbled…every god…every monster…every hero…dismantled into incomprehensible particles.” Levi waved his hand in the air…and all pieces on the board vanished…save for the one large black piece at the side of the table. “No one told us that would happen, everything as we knew it was gone. Plot twist, Aella was one of those heroes…she was with a hero named Ryu-reall piece of work that a**hole…anyway…whatever existence is at its most basic components….eventually that budded into a seed of turbulent chaos and birthed a whole new reality. People lost to the reboot of existence gradually were reborn. But they were different. No memory of what happened in the forgotten life. They could be born to the same circumstances destined for them…or they could have an entirely different upbringing. And now we find ourselves in the United States of America…small quaint town…where the main character himself: Levi Pierce…was born to the love and care of criminally absent parents.”

Levi leaned back, and snapped his fingers. This time, three pawns appeared next to each other. One of them looked like the ‘hero’ pawns from before…but the other two weren’t the same. “Aella, Autumn, and myself. I was dating Autumn at the time while the two of them hoped between foster parents…Aella was…quiet and timid then, but you know what they say-you got to watch out for the quiet ones, am I right?” He chuckled and sighed. “I wasn’t super close with Aella back then, more an acquaintance by association…now…I wonder.” Levi scratched his chin a little. “What Omniarch is left to attach itself to this reality?..hmmmmm…. Ah yes, the cocktail of exalted insanity over there that was sealed away. I’m sure a box of kittens and rainbows are in store for this shi* show of a reality…Luckily the ‘prison’ the All Mother bottled that thing up wasn’t completely compromised. It was still locked away, but it leaked out its essence into the ether…and created what were called ‘Void Beasts’: monster that literally sent you to oblivion when they ate you. No soul…no nothing…No magical retcon or ancient redo button can save you from that fate…but…that’s just the setting. Back to the main character, me.”

It was clear that the Devil thought highly of himself, but he didn’t deliver this story with any enthusiasm or overdone hand gestures. In fact, it was almost like this story was exhausting on him, like it took a mental toll on his spirits. “One day I get kidnapped…Starlord style. Seriously, spaceship comes in…” The man leaned forward and hovered his flat hand over his pawn pieces. “And kidnaps me…” He then plucked the piece up and moved it away from the pieces he had called ‘Aella’ and ‘Autumn’. “If I could go back in time and change anything…this would be one of those moments. I heard some news about those two…that their last foster parent was abusive…but before I could do anything I was taken to be booty snatched for all I knew…turns out my mom was a prolific space pirate…a succubus AND a space pirate…so the punks that kidnapped me wanted to ransom me. Long story short…” Levi pointed at the pieces of Autumn and Aella, “Autumn dies horrifically because my a** wasn’t around…Ahhhhh.” Levi tipped over Autumn’s broken piece slowly, his little scream becoming quieter and quieter to note her fading state of life. Once it went completely flat, it vanished. “Don’t worry, she comes back… and Aella eventually gets indoctrinated into a school for special magical bozos called….you guessed it, Rengoku-bet you’re catching a bit of a pattern every time existence reconstructs itself huh? Things have a way of fitting loosely into the same roles they had been prior…Anyway. I unknowingly follow my mum’s footsteps, escape, and become a legendary pirate at 16. I was rich, infamous, chased by the Rengoku Military Alliance-or RMA for short…pretty much a galactic country club of people stroking each other’s justice bon**. ANYWAY. I hear there is a powerful artifact at Rengoku Academy…so i join the school undercover…and I find Aella…who is pissed at me for running out on them and being responsible for Autumns death in that life.”

Levi pushed himself back towards Aella’s piece, side by side. He leaned back again…looking at the two pieces. His blue and green eyes seemed…distant as his arms fell loosely at his sides. “Lot of Shi* happened after that. I killed the people who had ruined Autumn’s life…Aella meets some friends who can actually tolerate her-much to my surprise at the time. She even meets that Ryu jacka** again-guess she just liked dragonsm some things don't change. Anyway…eventually school life gets more and more volatile as Void Beast attacks focus up on the school. There were even these ‘ascended’ Void Beast generals who had eaten so many people that they had developed intelligence. Anyway they messed up the school big time..but along the way someone decided it was smart to give everyone their past memories back…turns out there was a way to survive the reboot of reality-if you were strong enough…That’s also an important subject here…anyway I learned that past reality me-despite helping the heroes-was actually a coward and a criminal…so I had a change of heart…well…the RMA also said i either got o prison for stealing so many things from them or work as a member of the Galactic Navy-one of the three pillars of the RMA…”

Levi combed his hand through his hair. “God I hate this story…anyway look there, Autumn’s back.” he points next to the large black piece that was ‘locked’ away and now a broken pawn piece was beside it. “That thing, Khalil as it called itself, brought Autumn back as a twisted void beast queen to torment Aella and cause chaos…Ran into her a few times…tried to make her normal again-not that she wanted that…anyway this is where things get rough. The Leader of the galactic navy kicks the bucket and then I am put up as the new head of the branch…I slay void beast horror after void beast abomination and essentially clear them all out-I actually eradicated the most of them in that reality…but of course, the stigma of ‘not being the prophecy child’ caught up to me…and in the moments where Khalil had managed to escape-for the record he used the corpse of the All Mother-apparently Omniarch ‘essences’ never vanish during the crumbling of existence-to break out of his prison….Anyway I got unalived with a snap of his finger.” Levi snapped his fingers…and now the only two pieces were the large ‘Khalil’ piece…and Aella’s piece. “Which left the sole responsibility of saving the world on her. I hated how things turned out. I was in love with that Aella…and my greed made me do everything in my power to join me on my crusade of justice-one I thought we could ride out together and live a life afterwards…but things never do happen like you expect…i gave her some high level enchantments that allowed the Omniarch essence we collected along the way to boost her up enough to beat Khalil…but she while she had the capacity to wield it…she just…hadn’t trained enough to do it without dying…but before she burnt out she brought me back to life along with two others…and then she was gone….And I saw it as a began to wake up-first thing to witness in my new life.”

The Devil’s feature sank a bit…his tone deflating as he swiped his hand towards the table…which magically dissolved all the pieces but his…which suddenly faded onto the table instead of out of it. Now it was just his piece. “Surprisingly the existence I was living in wasn’t crumbling…which I should have found bizarre…the reason for that was because Khalil-in a weakened state- fled and made a whole new distant dimension…after all that it actually survived and just hid like a coward…but…again…I’m derailing from the point.” Levi looked back to his piece. “Aella is a daughter of Gaia…the Earth mother…and something remarkable happened…in the home I built in the place I was reborn…a flower bloomed…and in the center was a baby girl, cabbage patch style. She had the same arcane aura as Aella did. I’m gonna fast forward through this bit…” Levi waved his hand again…and a ‘hero’ pawn appeared beside him.

“The Aella I knew, the one I fell in love with, wanted nothing more than to have a normal life…So I took it upon myself to raise this iteration of her with that in mind. When I was slaying void beasts, I took over and united the 9 circles of Hell against Khalil’s acolytes…So I raised her as the daughter of the Devil. I ran a tight ship though. The majority of demons stuck to their ‘torturing evil people’ jobs…some still profited on devil deals, but I had actually forbid that practice. I even had demon hunting demons… Aella grew up with the ‘good’ “ Levi did little quotation fingers on that word…seeing how demons could never really be perfect. They were still violent, still craved destruction…but Levi had redirected those urges when he was their leader…and the demons he was the most close to brought a comedic face to those normally frowned upon qualities in the presence of little Aella. “This is where I picked up the philosophy that I needed to branch out of my traditional supporting role…I was a healer by trade…but i chased power so that no one could mess with me or those i cared for…now my adoptive daughter and myself had a rocky phase as she grew older. Someone told her that she wasn’t my daughter…she demanded the truth…I…told her the truth.” Levi winced, “And that didn’t go well…now…this is where things kinda come full circle…Zen’s little parasite…”

This time, Levi leaned forward and slammed his fist on the table. For the first time amidst his story…he felt rage…and when his fist unfurled…there was a ‘hero’ piece…radiating with sickly green aura. As the devil leaned back in his seat on the couch across from Shingen…his gaze became severe…a black mucus began to drool from the base of the demented hero piece…much like how Shingen experienced at the club so long ago. “Galvesar…a multiverse horror. Just because you were ‘chosen’ didn’t mean you were automatically nudged along the path of goodwill with a humane moral compass and a sense of right and wrong…We ran into him once along the way…wanted to use what was called the Divine Nucleus…which is essentially the core of an Omniarch that allows them to control reality…and just make everything quiet…send everything to the void…anyway he found the realm Khalil was hiding as it turned out…and actually killed him while he was crippled…but Khalil effectively hid his core from Galvesar…which pissed him off…and so he took his power…and began destroying everything around him…planets fell…universes were left barren and lifeless…and then he found Earth…”

Levi scooted Galvesar’s piece close to Aella’s…and then he tipped Aella’s over…and it vanished. “He killed her before my eyes. I lost her twice…loved her with two different parts of my heart and she was taken from each one of them…Reality was finally crumbling during all this…since Khalil was actually vanquished…and in a last ditch effort I sealed galvesar away…because out of every single lifeform, Galvesar was the only one who had somehow survived complete oblivion…that monster is the only one who has crossed the veil even i don’t know of…So I sealed him away…for what I hoped was forever…I then used the same method that one old man who gave us our past memories used to survive and created the space you see around you…the last remnant of my reality…and waited for existence to blossom again…except this time there were no Omniarchs left…or so I thought…turns out reality NEEDS one…so it made the Watcher…a being alone and unaware of what it really was. Anyway I take over hell again because it was a familiar job…and then I get a call that Aella would die…if I didn’t stop some battle between a rogue demon and some dragons…Annnnd that’s when I ‘was working with them’...according to you. The watcher had learned of my affiliation with Aella…and used it to ensure her survival…”

The devil waved his hand one more time…and now the table was empty…clean again. “Didn’t fall asleep I hope during my soap opera narrative.”

Levi’s lips made a tight line as he gave Shingen a nod of approval…then narrowed his eyes as if he had to convince himself that Shingen’s brief explanation was actually on the mark. “Khalil wanted chaos, Reality’s first Karen wanted people to idolize her, the Sinner’s ‘sin’ was arguing with a women…or…well she identified as one….more of a primordial cosmic force but whatever… yeah I would say your right in the money.” Levi nodded at his own far more derogatory version. “And yeah: those are currently the two big contenders for biggest douche bag…”

Levi had finally reclined back into the couch…but quickly pushed himself straight again when Shingen asked a crude inquiry that insinuated that death *wasn’t* a big deal. “Slow down there psycho, while your math is mathing, her dying is still very real…it’s real to her…real to whomever she cared about…and real in the way that her life and it’s opportunities are robbed from her-don’t normalize that s**t just because it may not seem like a big deal on paper.” Levi snapped at the young BoM agent…errr…fired BoM argent?
The Devil gave him the ‘I’m watching you’ fingers from his eyes to the sorcerer’s in front of him before sinking back into the couch. “I don’t want her to die because some greater fate condemns her to it-like it had in every other life I have known her… it’s ******** bullshit…end of story.” Levi spat out and crossed his arms…clearly unimpressed with Shingen’s statement.

Then came another off the wall assumption. “I mean I don’t think she is actually alive kid. Best case scenario, she was in the reality Khalil escaped to…but then Galvesar came. I don’t see him leaving anyone alive.” His argument was…valid. The Xenocidal poster child that made Hitler and Satan…errr…the Satan before him…look like good Samaritans that did s**t like feed the homeless on weekends and pull cats out of trees…there was no way he would let anyone live willingly. Little did Levi know that there was indeed…a chance that the Lord Unholy actually never laid eyes on Khalil’s dimension he gifted Autumn. Levi let Shingen continue after that. When he was finished Levi scratched the bottom of his chin. “Maybe? What I know for certain is you are an enigma he can’t really since you are ‘chosen’…he might have wanted to just…figure out how you tick…” even with that reasoning, Shingen’s subject of the beast inside him seemed to have caught Levi’s attention. “Hey kid, do I have your consent to take a walk through your soul?”

“Eh?” Levi blurted unglamorously as his eyelids sank halfway, his visage unquestionably detailing just how unimpressed he was with the way Shingen rejected his request. The ******** did he think he was trying to do? Rob him of his soul and bind him to a hellish slavery for eternity? Not only that, but the guy literally gave him the gold shoulder like some jaded girlfriend. Seriously, everyone was a goddamn child…it didn’t matter whether it was Mephitis, Zenith, or ******** Hockey puck over here. “I don’t even know why I even asked…” he grumbled to himself as he lifted both hands up slightly and clapped…transporting them elsewhere just as seamlessly as the two had arrived in this Levi’s private dimension. Permission?….nah, not with that kind of attitude. Plus Levi had felt something…something…off. Shredded remnants of magic designed to bind and secure…shredded and rendered useless by something…capable. If The Watcher had its eye on it, then it was something clearly formidable to say the least-and thus likely dangerous. So…Levi let his invasive thoughts win over being considerate and kind…because he was Levi ******** Pierce.

He did, however, give Shingen the privilege of being warped in a way that left him already in a standing position during the immediate transition. This place Levi had taken them, the fragment of the Maeda Sorcerer’s soul that was stained by his friendly little parasite…had been disfigured into a shape of its own design. Here, the ground was barren, gray, and someone beyond lifeless-like a carcass of some wasteland far beyond decay. Before them…was a splintered and broken Tori gate…the wood rotted in some place…and the top horizontal prince fractured off and leaning on the right most pillar. Along each side piece were characters specific to the Maeda clan sealing magics….and beyond that sealing gate…was a massive black citadel that pierced the dark curtain of cloud overhead. How…interesting.

“It’s always a black castle ain’t it kid?” The Devil chuckled, potentially interrupting Shingen’s oncoming complaint to how invasive he had just been, “I must say Shingen…you really stumbled upon an old relic with this one…” it was and odd and ambiguous comment…but what was particularly unnerving was the *way* Levi let the words slip from the mouth…amused and predatory…and the glimmer in his eyes was like a wolf that had just found prey. “Now I understand where The peeper Nan is coming from? And I likely have some similar questions…” with that…Levi took a step forward…but when he did both him and the Maeda sorcerer took on a most like form…the small wisps of fog blowing quickly to the wicked spire, through the labyrinthian halls….and finally to a throne room where their forms manifested back into what they were originally.

The throne was elevated, perched above the reception hall in the vast space in a traditional way that indicated the difference in status and authority. Above the twisted chair…was something truly uncanny and horrifying: a bound reflection of Shingen Maeda, hung by semi-loose chains that bound his limbs. The mirror image looked particularly lifeless…and then…sitting in the seat of self proclaimed power…was a singular man who dawned a crown of abyssal magic from a time king lost.

Levi took a step forward, his posture relaxed…unthreatened. Of all people, Shingen was escorted by the one man who had killed the most of this creature’s kin, Levi ******** Pierce…the Starfarer…and he had done so far from his current prime. When he was in his early twenties. “To think a Void Beast still lived, playing pretend king in a chosen’s body. Tell me, you nope rope ********, by which ugly bands were you crafted from?”

As Levi finished, his hair once again steadily grew black starting from his roots…what Shingen couldn’t see, however, was the way Levi’s eyes changed. From the edges of the whites of his eyes…several different pupils began to peek through…a pale colored one-that of the first sinner…a purple one-that of the All mother…and finally a deep crimson one that radiated with primal fatality-that of bone other than Khalil the fallen one.

Starfarer…Just hearing the old title of The devil’s past come from the serpent’s lips earned Alduin a narrow glare from Levi’s awakened eyes. That name had been thrown around more than he wanted these days. The Watcher learned of his prior epithet after it guiltlessly tore through Aella’s memories and felt it had earned the right to address him as such…but doing so robbed it of its entire meaning. Galvesar had sullied it the very moment it hissed through those fetid teeth of his. If that wasn’t enough, now a void beast let his once famous sobriquet roll off its insidious forked tongue… That title was really starting to sour since it seemed to be reminisced exclusively by threats that were all hell bent on setting this reality on a path of ruin. Still, the Devil returned the beast before him with a crooked grin. ”So you’re saying you are of Khalil’s design? Must be an aimless existence without him, eh? Perhaps even more disheartening is the fact that I weaponized what was left of his corpse.” Levi returned in a mocking tone. He assumed that there was no other option than to be molded by the madness of the dead Omniarch; There couldn’t be, after all…

Levi’s irises fought for central dominance in the whites of his eyes, sinking in Alduin’s eyes through the varied lenses of power. He had partially adopted this form to plainly speak for how outclassed the Void Beast was…However, it was also done to absorb the intricacies of not only his surroundings, but of the bond between this monster and the arcane architect. And when Levi saw the truth of Shingen’s soul…he realized exactly why this monster was sitting so confidently in the Infernal King’s presence-...no…the presence of the Starfarer.

Before the old hero could further his investigations, Shingen stepped forward with his own demanding inquiries…but was quickly silenced as the flesh over his mouth was fastened together. It seemed this beast had really taken siege within the man’s soul. Levi’s eyes drifted up to the hanging reflection of the agent while Shingen struggled with his new condition, which was by far the least of his worries since his life was bound to Alduin. Before Levi let his attention drift back to the World Eater, he looked back to Shingen and tilted his head. ”Yikes, you look like dead pool…but like…the one nobody likes…” he smirked and turned back to Alduin…but as he did so…a voice echoed in Shingen’s mind.

~Listen kid, the horror flick piñata version of you above the guy who clearly doesn’t get enough sun…it’s a personification of just how gnarled this thing is around your soul. I can’t kill it-and it knows that-because doing so would also kill you. And, unfortunately, I won't be around long enough to free you from it…but I’m going to help as much as I can-just know that. I’m not going to leave you high and dry with this thing unthreatened.~

With Levi’s telepathic message received, the Devil took a step forward. ”Gratified? You really are spoken like a parasite that hides behind a young mortal instead of facing me head on. I’m sure you feel…safe” Levi’s infamous grin pulled at the corner of his mouth as that final word was easily interchangeable with ‘cowardly’ or ‘scared’, “but tell me, since you know of my name…it’s only polite to share yours. What can I call the final heir to the Jaws of Oblivion?”

Levi was notorious for being uniquely scorned by those of higher power, and as it turned out this ‘Victrix’ was no exception. He just had a knack for reaching into the soul of another person long enough to pluck out a hymn of sterling ire. In this case however, the vexed reactions brought light to the many trials and tribulations on the horizon for Aella and those close to her. She was the one who felled Khalil singlehandedly in the last reality-and that was likely enough to keep the embers of this creature’s grudge alive. God, it was becoming increasingly annoying to watch the laundry list of dangers just kept increasing during his final days…still… There was an inquisitive voice that echoed in his mind: just how had he missed a Void Beast of this caliber? How could it survive the collapse of existence?

As the Devil pondered this mystery, Victrix’s vile temple began to tremble. The entire tower seemed to mechanically groan and shriek as if it was voicing just how furious it was with Levi’s behavior…and then the snake spoke. Those ascended eyes narrowed as The Devourer touched upon his ‘dwindling light’. Could it see just how weak his soul flickered? He had tapped into the Divine nucleus twice now, each time it feasted in the very concept of him like a voracious animal in exchange for true power. While his eyes coil read the laws of existence and his mind drink in the incomprehensible knowledge that would allow him to delay the inevitable, the damage was indeed done. His time was short. Ascending a third time would mean offering the last of himself to the appetites of exalted potential. But the creature at least began to humor his question…but these varied names…were just an ingredient to the efforts Shingen would need to employ later amidst all the other struggle awaiting him.

And then The worm threatened to feast on the elementalist. So they were trading blows it would seem.

Levi flinched a bit, the idea of Aella being completely lost without any return poisoning his mind for a moment…but then he smiled that infamous crooked grin that was somewhere between charming and infuriating. “Oh? That so?” Levi cooed devilishly, suddenly growing more amused by the antics of this surviving Void Beast. His irises continued to fight for dominance to sit in the center of his eyes, but whichever one became the dominant one bore into those ominous blue eyes of Victrix…unafraid…unchallenged…and confident.

The small space the three of them were on grumbled again as the platform began to lift from the stage they were on earlier. All the while, Levi didn’t once let his eyes drift away from the monster before him. The machinations of this creature’s realm did not impress him in the slightest. What was surprising, however, was that this wretched thing was actually trying to turn the Devil into an Ally. It promised eternal life, safety to those important to him, and cooperation…how metaphorical for a snake to tempt one with such delusion; it was practically biblical. Levi chuckled again and combed his fingers through his smooth black hair. ”You know, despite how insatiable you make yourself out to be, I think you don’t realize that you’ll be biting off more than you can chew if you wish to commit to those threats of yours. *She* defeated your master once before…so you’re not special-just a small and insignificant mold of Khalil’s ambition. So don’t speak anything of ‘logical purpose’ if you haven't wrestled with that yet.”

~”Remember those name’s kid, no matter if they seem unimportant…no matter if they may be a deception…a name holds a great deal of power when it is tied to the concept of a being…and you will need to use each one to discover this thing’s true name…I’ll teach you the first language…but you will have to decipher it yourself to make it practical in any way…”~ Levi’s voice spilled into Shingen’s mind once more.

”Admittedly, you have me in check, Void Beast…so you should thank your host…because if it were not for how tightly you have coiled around his soul…” Levi mused darkly over these final words with an infernal grin, and then Khalil’s eyes took center stage within the whites of his eyes, ”Then you would see just how gluttonous I myself have become while at the end of my restraint. I have feasted on more luxurious things than yourself, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t chew you up…and shi* you out if those cowardly measures hadn’t been taken…Now… Thank you for your hospitality, Victrix…but I think we have reached an impasse. So, unless you have something of actual substance to say, we will be taking our leave.”

Victrix’s rage was palpable, his ire bleeding out into this mental domain of his as the entire mindscape seemed to rattle and rumble. All Levi could do was smile that infamous cocky grin; It was too easy to torment this little snek. The Devil’s chest swelled a little as he let that pompous nature of his get the best of him. This interaction had already granted him everything he needed already, so at this point he was just trying to break this creature’s spirits. Perhaps the infernal king’s disheartening words could live rent free in this monster’s head and torment him long enough for Shingen to work behind the scenes and free himself of this wretched parasite. And yet…even when this little battle of quips had seemed to lean heavily in his favor…something was off.

Levi’s eyes remained locked on the ominous glowing blues of the Devourer as the Void Beast walked backwards until his heels met the edge of the shared platform. After that the being surrendered himself to the gravity of this realm and leisurely fell back…and plummeted swiftly through the air. The Devil thought nothing of the amusement that had suddenly usurped the creature’s fury…nor was he at all impressed with the seemingly limitless dragon that the man had transformed into. Sloughing off the mortal disguise seemed to awaken the skies as harsh jagged flashes of lighting crashing all around the wasteland surrounding the black tower. How dramatic.

To add insult to injury, Levi just facked a yawn as Victrix spat venom at the fact that the Devil was just like the Void Beasts. After already saying that he was a gluttonous man, the comeback hadn’t really found its mark…especially because Levi considered himself far much worse of a threat than Victrix’s kind on every level-to include his appetite for power. The ascendant eyes of his did glance back at Shingen though…monitoring his condition as he endured the worst of this thing’s anger; He might have to get them out of here himself.

The Infernal king’s attention was ultimately drawn back to Victrix as the massive snout of the dragon hovered uncomfortably close to him…though even then it was Levi wore that mocking pride of his too well, raising a brow back to the Void beast as if to say ‘Oh, are you still talking’. The demon god scoffed as every taunting syllable bounced off his of vanity as if it were some kind of impervious armor. The Devourer smashed the platform quickly after, and both Levi and Shingen plummeted off the rubble and descended into the darkness that began to swallow them…but before that Victrix gave the Devil his last parting words.

Suddenly that superiority complex of his shattered, and Levi’s beautiful visage twisted in shock. ”H-her?...Wait! What do yo-...” But it was too late to ask questions now…as the abyss consumed them both..the only thing other than the two of them were the distant uncanny golden glow of the Snake’s eyes…and then even those vanished.

The two of them were thrust back into their bodies then, their consciousness rooting comfortably back in their native home. Here there was no suffocating aura weighing on shingen, so it was likely a breath of fresh air for him. Levi, however, was clearly troubled. The Devil sank back into the couch he was sitting in and combed a single hand through his golden locks while his eyes just stared distantly into the floor. ‘Her regards’… the wretched voice still echoed in his mind… clearly nudging Levi to suspect that She was alive. But that was impossible. Could he be misinterpreting things? Could it be Onyx? No…he had killed her…Then…then it had to be a lie…Right? Or someone else entirely… Clearly what had been said bothered the Devil so much that he had forgotten what he had intended to do after they returned.