Logically speaking, we should have received our reward by now seeing as we had just taken out Weiderly for Gaiuz, and that Meisian wasn’t part of our agreement.
In reality however, he said that only after he became a Cat King would he tell me the method of entering Abaddon. Why? Because at the end of the day, his so-called ‘way of dealing with Meisian’ involved us.
As long as we stayed by Gaiuz’s side, it would send a signal to Meisian, one that we could strike at her anytime with just a mere signal. Naturally, we wouldn’t do that at all but Meisian didn’t know that. Essentially, this was an information asymmetry. Based on that alone, he could pressure Meisian into submission.
To resist and get forced shamefully out of the fight, or to simply give up…those were the choices Meisian were faced with now. However, it wasn’t like it was impossible for herself to extricate herself from this mess either, assuming she knew what her brother was planning of course. She simply had to get into contact with Anmi and…I guess, that’s just my imagination running wild again.
Ever since that time when I stepped onto the Elemental Segregation Platform, I finally understood why Anmi was so afraid, going so far as to associate the word terror with Meisian, it was because the platform’s purification powers were truly that terrifying. Initially, when I had just stepped onto the platform, that purification sensation wasn’t all that noticeable, but as time passed, I began to notice a growing discomfort in my body. If I had to describe it, it would be like there was a void expanding inside of me as something vital leaked out of my body –a sensation that was hard to imagine, to be sure.
Normally, most devils carried within them the element of fire and yet by removing said element from us, the mere act of stepping onto the platform was akin to an ice cube being thrown into a boiling hot of water; without a doubt, there was no good outcome when that happened. Like Anmi said, long term exposure to that platform would cause an elemental imbalance in one’s body, in a sense, it was almost like we were talking about a sickness.
Like all sicknesses, human or feline, it can be prevented. In Anmi’s case however…let’s just say that he had to procreate sooner or later…
Initially, elemental imbalance wouldn’t cause too much problems but as time passed, paralysis and even death was a possibility. Essentially, this was the legendary ‘horribly slow murder with an extremely inefficient weapon.’
Yet just as I was convinced that Meisian would never try to reach out to Anmi, she did so personally…to be exact, she was trying to find me.
Without any subterfuge whatsoever, she daringly drove her Elemental Segregation Platform right into Gaiuz’s camp and stopped right outside of our mobile Cat Nest.
“Meisian…wha…what are you doing here?” Hearing some movement outside of our Cat Nest, Anmi poked his head out of the Cat Nest and received the startle of his cat life. There she was, the object of his fear, driving right towards us on a hovering platform. Stunned and completely caught off guard, he stood there in a daze, unable to recover till she was so close that their eyes met.
‘That galiant figure of her driving alone into Gaiuz’s camp…I swear, is there anything more awe inspiring than that?’ At the side, Gaiuz’s cats had basically turned on their popcorn mode and was more than ready to watch this scene playout without any intention of interfering.
“Anmi, you were supposed to be on my side and look at what happened now?” Bringing her platform to a halt, she stared unblinkingly at the cat below her. Although she was merely the size of a house cat and Anmi was basically the size of a large dog, Anmi was clearly at a disadvantage in this face-off. Just in terms of morale alone, he had lost the battle.
Like a domineering queen, she descended from the platform in her own personal carriage, in search of Anmi. Knowing this, the self-aware cat stepped out, lowering his head in the process as if he was trying to show submission.
Naturally, we couldn’t absent ourselves either. With guests at our doorstep, it would be remiss of us to leave her unattended, even if said guest wasn’t all that welcome.
Our entire entourage of me, Mo Na, Cinderel, Sasani, Sinmosa, No.3 and Big 4 strode out of the Cat Nest and stood before the princess whose expression darkened even further upon seeing us.
Her thoughts were crystal clear to me: why were we helping her brother even though we were her hired help in the first place? For such a betrayal to befall her, she must have really been infuriated by it.
“My visit this time, isn’t to find Anmi but rather to look for you, devil. You’ve reneged on our deal.”
“Your Highness, given how things have worked out…I feel should you ask Anmi instead about what happened.”
Truth be told, I was a little embarrassed by her straightforwardness, but this whole debacle was really wasn’t my fault at all. No matter what the reason was, there was no way I would even consider taking the blame for Anmi. After all, I hadn’t even settled my score with him yet, why would I ever repay his betrayal with benevolence?
“Anmi, the devil told me to ask you, so what do you have to say for yourself?”
With my plot to divert the fire a success, the Princess turned her withering gaze onto Anmi who was currently quaking underneath his fur right now. Hesitating for an eternity, he finally managed to force out an answer.
“Nyah…it’s all my fault, back when we faced off against Weiderly, it was me who forced Mo Ke to switch sides…Gaiuz too…”
‘I actually did not expect this at all. To think Anmi had it in him to shoulder the responsibility like that instead of pushing the blame onto me. All this is still his fault though, I’m just an innocent bystander.’
“You…” In an instant, her regal bearing disappeared and what was left behind was the vulnerable look of a girl whose eyes burned with both fury and sadness as she glared at Anmi: “Do you hate me that much?”
“…no, I don’t hate you…” Anmi refuted her claim while secretly sneaking a glance at the Shadowcat’s expression. Upon seeing her face lighten up, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as well.
“Then do you know why I’m fighting for the throne of Cat King?”
“No…no, I don’t.”
‘Come to think of it, didn’t Gaiuz say that the Cat King can pick a mate, and from the way he said it, I doubt that mate has any say in it at all. Given that, I guess it’s safe to say that Meisian is basically pursuing a one-sided love right now…sigh…as they say, the falling flowers wills it but the flowing water is merciless…perhaps Anmi might have liked her as well, but with that very practical obstacle standing between them, was there any surprise that Anmi was pushed to the opposing side instead?’
(TL: The falling flower wills it but the flowing water is merciless: just refers to romance between a boy and a girl where only one side likes the other.)
“Fine then, let me tell you why.”Meisian breathed in deeply upon saying that and bravely proceeded to confess her reason.
Before she could speak however, Anmi was already sweating buckets. His heart was in turmoil right now. On one hand, he hoped that she would say that all this was for his sake, on the other, he hoped that it was for another reason as well.
Should she express her interest in making him her mate, then Anmi would have nowhere to run to. Whether or not she ascended, there was no way he could ignore this comment.
If it was for another reason, then he would undoubtedly be really disappointed…at the end of the day, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
‘Normally, in soap opera-like situations like this, this would be where some potato would cut in and interrupt the scene…’
Naturally, that didn’t happen and Meisian proceeded to spell out her reason.
“Because I hate Gaiuz.”
Anmi: “…”
‘What’s with that dejected look on your face? Did you really expect a princess to openly confess to you in front of everyone? Don’t kid yourself…you’re just being a…er, that thing, you what that thing is right?’
Truth be told, hating Gaiuz was really enough of a reason for her to run for Cat King. After all, the Cat King held an absolute authority to pick his or her mate with no way for the other party to reject. Furthermore, Gaiuz was a rather unique cat to say the least…as everyone knew, he was a Max Lv. Siscon, and not everyone loved their elder brother unreservedly like a certain hellhound.
“Little Sister, why do you hate me so?” Speaking of the devil, just as Meisian brought up the matter of her brother, the cat in question popped up.
Honestly, with how large the Elemental Segregation Platforms were, there was no way he didn’t notice the ruckus she caused while flying here. The fact that he hadn’t shown up till now was probably because he wanted to suss out what her intentions were. Now that she had made bare her distaste for him, he finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore.
“Do I need a reason for hating you?” She gave the approaching cat an expressionless scowl: “If you don’t wish for me to hate you even more, you’d best get out of my sight, NOW.”
“But Little Sister, this is my base…”
Gaiuz originally intended to put up more of a fight but that little bit of resistance was quickly stamped out by a lazy but curt reply from Meisian: “Scram.”
Surprisingly, Gaiuz did just that. As he drove off, we could hear traces of his mumbling from his slowly shrinking figure…I doubt it was anything important anyway.
