The first thing was obviously what I had most recently seen of him; a bastard who stood over my unconscious sister with an equally inert brother in his hold.
Of course I already checked and there were no records of an "undead cybernetic wolf man" entering the city which made sense since he showed the ability to teleport. Cities were supposed to have barriers to prevent teleportation… Yet it was hard to deny what I had seen with my own eyes.
I heard the clinking of glass, looking up, seeing that my current "boss" had dropped some ice into a short glass before she began to pour some alcohol or another. She seemed to have an idea of my thoughts as she spoke while picking up her glass. "Those wards only protect against the most basic forms."
"Basic forms?" That term of course caught my attention almost immediately and it was answered by my always excitable teacher who didn't hesitate to butt in.
"There are more than one way to pop from one point to appear at another. Most common is of course dematerialisation, folding space and wormhole generation but each is limited in their own ways!" Wagging her finger around in a way reminiscent of a conductor reigning over a grant orchestra… For some reason.
Fortunately she didn't just stop there as she continued her information dump. "Former can't cross between realms while also not being instantaneous and later two take tons of power from a mortal perspective. Not to mention that it can increase depending on how stable reality is but if it's too unstable…"
"They could find that only partial success occurred; leaving them in parts as well." I hardly needed her to tell me why trying to manipulate space when space was unstable was a horrible idea.
"Indeedy but both of them also struggle to cross over to different realms as the spoil sport in limbo doesn't like people poking holes without paying up. Folding space is even more worthless as it can't even cross between realms." She added in a surprisingly helpful moment of tutelage.
I could only nod as it actually made a lot of sense; mostly the former as I had no idea about divine politics involved in reality hopping. Deciding to add my own slice to this proverbial pie we're cooking. "You would not be able to fold a piece of paper to get a dot upon it to appear on another sheet of paper."
That caused her to snap her fingers in agreement. "Precisely~!"
"Then what form of teleportation did he use…?" Asking the questions that really mattered to me at this moment and one that caused the goddess' brow to strangely… Furrow?
It was only for a moment but she seemed strangely annoyed.
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<< {user}.[Armor-Cordis] Is Not Mistaken >>
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"Well he, how to put this, doesn't really teleport so much as just abuses the fact that he is supposed to exist in a separate plane of existence but can't keep his snoot to himself. One of the properties of his hellfire is that they can literally act as hell itself…" It seemed she really didn't like that fact.
Her smile showed more kindness yet it appeared more hollow however I soon got more answers from the woman who had previously just let us talk despite starting this topic.
"He superimposes his own realm onto other realms in a rather skillful display that is reminiscent of what the system actually does for certain fights in this realm. Of course what he does is far more difficult as he isn't merely creating a temporary subspace." Shaking her head as she took a moment to sip.
That cold piercing eye of hers turned momentarily towards the true god who had returned back to her chipper self.
Little did I know that wasn't going to be the case for long, as she continued. "Such a unique form of transport is actually quite similar to another figure who has come up recently. You see the infinite mother was so strong she could make illusions into reality which is what that release you're after does."
At that moment the goddess upon the stool jumped a little as she turned towards the one across the counter from her; hiding her face from me… Nevertheless a chill went down my spine. One the bartender promptly ignored as she continued on without any remorse.
"By literally imposing her illusion on reality itself she could trick it, for lack of a better phrase, allowing her to make fiction into reality. We often called her the mother of monsters as it is not only her energy that generates them but that is also no happenstance." Looking the god dead in the eyes.
Coldly taking a sip as that little goddess seemed unnaturally quiet. "Most monsters were designed by her and that is not even where her madness halts. Plundering the idea from your caine friend to superimpose her projected self whether she had spread her influe-"
Finally being cut off as the wooden counter cracking caused the room and conversation to still.
A little hand had pushed a finger right through it as silence reigned over the room for a moment. "It's not nice to compare the brilliance of a diamond to the dullness of basalt. One takes time and care while the other is simply a slap dash creation with no flare to be spoken of no matter how one looks at it."
Her smile was a dichotomy of logic; being warm and kind yet offering no warmth as well as being far from radiating the kindness it should have given off.
Although that would be important if that ever confident bartender gave two shits.
"Way I see it… He has had more time to refine his techniques and it shows in how he was able to come up with such a solution for a problem that didn't exist. Comparatively the diamond is merely a child throwing around their vast amounts of pent up energy in a tizzy." Putting her glance down with a heavy clack.
She wasn't done, though. "Don't take that tone with me as I will take great pleasure in reminding you the hard way that I hold no fear for you nor will I ever fear you."
That made the goddess go silent.
Quite frankly I didn't care to get between the two of them without even considering the fact that the true god definitely outclassed me and I was under no illusion that the mystery bartender had more to her.
Instead I was more focused on not only had there been no reports on that wolf entering the city but there were no reports on him in general. No one even tried to stop the fight despite it having right before a major city gate yet it was clear they were hiding something. Likely some illegal dealings they were bribed for.
Either way that meant my initial thoughts of stealth were way off; in fact it's more akin to making people ignore something terrifying obviously in front of th-
"Just like the kid with the multicoloured hair whose murders were reported as by natural causes who I never managed to find anything on…" Remembering those news stories that hadn't even stopped after all the years that had passed since they had started. No one else even seems to realise…
Except Alexis.
Was it actually related or not?
I decided to promptly move onto the first time I met him outside the ex-starter city that is likely some kind of dungeon now. He had wiped out the entire army while I was being taught some basics from the true god who had also happened to pick me up… After I ran into the demoness who destroyed my eye.
A demoness who was walking into the city, in hindsight.
That being the case… She couldn't have owned that pirate ship, if anything, that pirate ship seemed to have cut her off as that level of firepower from the pirate ship was too much for a city. Plus they didn't even need to use it to take out the city as they took control of a lot of people throughout the place.
So a new question comes up is why are we four strong figures congregating in one place; a wolf, a god, a demon and a pirate ship.
"Unless I'm looking at it wrong… Perhaps some of them didn't meet on purpose; maybe what I saw was essentially an assassination attempt that failed. Maybe, just maybe, that pirate ship's owner has been closer than I've been willing to admit…" Turning her gaze to a goddess who was not looking at her.
Those large eyes suddenly seemed more terrifying than ever before as she slightly tilted her head with a faint smile on her lips.
"Ara what do you mean?" Asking with a cute innocent voice is wrong as hollow as always.
I decided to take a deep breath and just go ahead with what I figured out. "You were the one who attacked the city weren't you? Likely in an attempt to kill the very same demon who took my eye which is also why you grew interested in me… An enemy of your enemy is an ally after all."
Narrowing my eye as I tried to meet her own; no matter how stupid I felt for challenging someone who could squish me like a bug. Something she didn't actively show off to me but I tried to make sure never to forget when dealing with her. She was without a doubt the most terrifying person I knew.
"I wonder what you could be getting at; why would I want to kill a demon~?" Asking me while raising her hands upwards in a nonchalant shrug as if what I was saying had nothing to do with her.
"Honestly I have no idea why you'd want to kill that demoness or why she'd attack me… But it likely has something to do with the relic of the infinite mother as well as the wolf." Resting a hand on my chin, or more specifically the metal brace for my face plate, as I tried to put the rest of the pieces together.
Then I remembered something.
"You earlier mentioned that the wolf bastard not only brought Arthur to hell but also had control over hellfire which sounds to me like they have some importance there. Especially if they can supposedly superimpose that realm wherever they like without problems." This realisation was startling.
But I was putting the pieces together whether I liked them or not.
Not even taking the chance to breathe (as comforting as it would be to take a moment to calm) as I refused to let go of this when so much was at stake. "Hell is known as a place where the guilty are punished and assuming that isn't wholly wrong… Karma seems like a fitting word to describe it."
Now it was her turn to narrow her eyes yet I ignored it with as much bravery as I could muster.
"An animal skull with a cloak… It sure sounds familiar to me; especially if you consider the high affinity for both fire and karma I possess despite how supposedly rare the latter is. Say that a demon had a grudge against the wolf without knowing that he had…" Pausing for a moment as I feel the horror well up.
"If he had a daughter like me…" Closing my eyes to look towards the goddess. "Then that demon, already caught in an attack, may just attack without second thought resulting in that very same child losing their eye only for the initial attacker to swoop in to play the good guy."
Taking a deep breath. "Perhaps that pirate god didn't want the demon getting their hand on a certain relic that can alter reality and even more so if that relic originally belonged to that very same g-"
Suddenly a clawed hand of ash was covering my entire view as the weight of death crashed down on my shoulders so hard that I found myself stumbling backwards. Forget about respawning. Something about that attack seemed ready to rip my very mind out from my spiritual form.
The only thing stopping that clawed hand from inching closer seemed to be the gloved hand of a familiar bartender which sparked with indigo lightening.
She wasn't even looking at me but instead at the goddess whose state had already transformed back to her far more familiar form before I even realsied it. Laughing merrily like nothing was wrong. "Jeez~ no need to be so serious; you are acting like I would have actually killed the girl~."
"..." I couldn't see her face but I still felt the pressure of the bartender's singular eye narrowing as she met with the jovial true god without an ounce of fear. Truly living up to her prior statement about reminding that she did, in fact, not have a shred of concern as far as dealing with the goddess was concerned.
"It's true… Merely wanted to show how in over her head she is…" Suddenly that jovial nature vanished as reality itself began to crack in a way reminiscent of a funhouse mirror falling apart. Revealing the real truth behind her that previously I could have only guessed.
When it fell away she stood there…
With not much actually different about her appearance.
Except now her eyes were truly like a bottomless ocean of raw power that made me quake just from meeting with them. Long volcanic crevices formed the slit pupils lizards were known for. "Honestly I can't tell if you are too smart, or too dumb, for your own good… Teehee~!"