“So that’s how terrifyingly powerful a Devil King is…”
“You said it, nyah.”
“…” Other than abject shock, there really wasn’t an expression I could think of right now that was appropriate.
Humans…often it was said that ignorance was bliss because one couldn’t fear what he didn’t know existed. Those so-called supreme beings wouldn’t show any interest in you and even if they did, you wouldn’t know about it…
Compared to those supreme beings, we were nothing but ants and insects. Was there anyone who cared about insects then? The answer was no, and even if they did, it wouldn’t involve too much interference either; mostly at the level of a child toying around with ants. Adults rarely messed with insects, barring researchers of course.
Right now, Meisian and I were the insects in the story. Just talking about ‘that being’ I could see her body shake ever so slightly –she was definitely afraid. Yet us popcorn munchers were still blissfully ignorant and were all dying to get an answer. Please?
However, the next sentence she said threw me into the abyss.
“Taking into account your words, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Prison of the Dead was actually constructed to provide troops for the undead of Gehenna, though its original purpose was to serve as a gaol for criminals…mhm, at least before your arrival, the Prison of the Deads that I knew of allowed a devil to leave once he or she has cleared certain requirements.”
“About that, so what you’re saying is that we might have just done something really crazy?”
“That’s right, at least to me, it’s crazy.” Meisian shrugged her shoulders before giving me a helpless look:” Seems like you unknowingly destroyed one of the supply camps for the undead.”
“…”
‘If that’s true, aren’t I in deep sh*t?! I won’t die a horrible death, right…’
“Alright, enough talk about these unrelated matters, let’s go back to the question at hand. If my hypothesis is correct, that prison you broke out of had connections to ‘that being’ since it was even linked to the Blood Sea…well, at least that’s the only possibility I can think of, either way, you need to be careful from now on.”
“…don’t scare me like that, my heart can’t take it.”
At that point, Mo Na flew over and with a confident pat of her chest, reassured me like some kind of tiny adult: “Don’t worry Mama, Mo Na will protect you.”
“…I haven’t sunk to that level yet.” I wryly smiled before giving her a little pat on the head. Just like always, she then proceeded to wrap herself around my neck before closing her eyes to enjoy my warmth.
Perhaps envious of our father-daughter interaction, a slightly sour Meisian suddenly interjected herself: “Ahem, can I continue?”
“Ah, my bad, go ahead.”
I promptly let go of Mo Na and turned my eyes onto the dainty little house cat in front of me, hand placating a noticeably dissatisfied Mo Na.
“Because the time of Sable Radiance’s sealing coincided with the construction of that Prison you were in, I’m unable to collect a lot of information. However, thanks to the barely sufficient amount of information you brought back, I’m still able to remind you to be careful or else you might die.”
“…I just said not to scare me, can you just tell me the method of entering Abaddon?”
“Fine…since you’re so insistent on it, I’ll just be magnanimous and tell you just this once…”
“Prepare for trouble…and make it double…to protect the world from devastation…”
“Huh…what are you talking about?”
“…my bad, you reminded me of someone so I couldn’t help but remember something…”
‘How about I call you Me*wth from now on, you’re as arrogant as those three potatoes from Team R*cket after all. Well, I’ll just bear with it for now, not like she will know what the heck is Team R*cket after all.”
“Is your head screwed on right?”
“It’s…please continue, this time I promise I won’t interrupt you.”
“Hmph, then this Princess will be magnanimous just this once and continue, you’d better remember not to cut in again, got it?”
“Mhm, mhm.”
“Very good. Because of that incident ten thousand years ago, Sable Radiance was sealed up from both the outside and inside…at least until you appeared and destroyed that quarantine. In a sense, you could say that ‘the being’ left you all devils a fighting chance…all that talk about the Blood Sea being sealed up…that’s no joke at all.”
“You should know, the amount of Devils produced every year by the Blood Sea is a sizable amount even considering the entirety of Purgatory. For such a thing to even happen, that being must have reached some kind of agreement with the undead in which he agreed to change the exitway of Blood Sea to link to the Prison of the Dead. That way, the maximum amount of Devils would end up being processed by the Prison, not to mention those unlucky fellows thrown in by Abaddon and Gehenna…”
“…” A cold sweat immediately ran down my back.
‘Crap, I must’ve just ruined some kind of realm wide conspiracy…well, what’s done is done…I wonder if he will forgive me if I say that I know Yi Yi…still, I thought I told her not to scare me anymore so what’s with this low blow.’
“You must think that I’m prattling on about some unrelated matters, but just think about what I said for a second, especially that last part, that was the MAIN point, the MAIN POINT.” Having seen through what I was thinking, probably because it was written all over my face, she made to emphasize the word main twice before finally giving me the answer I wanted.
“I think I’ve finally figured out how to undo the seal on Sable Radiance.”
“Huh? So you didn’t know before this?”
Suddenly, I had this creeping sensation that all those past days were spent for naught, without any guarantee of even getting paid.
At that, her feline face seized up slightly in panic, though only for a split second before it regained its composure. “…ahem, you must have heard me wrong, what I’m trying to say is that I can tell you the answer now.”
“…forget it, as long as the answer is correct, all that doesn’t matter.” ‘Hmph, I’ll be magnanimous here and let you off the hook just this once.’
“Don’t worry, it’s definitely correct.” She confidently threw her little head back and said: “In the former palace of Sable Radiance, there’s a giant statue of Fallen Angel in the courtyard, roughly 13 meters tall. That statue will give you the answers you seek.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup, there’s nothing else.”
‘…after all that storytelling, all you have to tell us is to go find some statue in a palace?’
‘Oh right, one more thing, that Fallen Angel has six wings, make sure not to mix them up.’
‘…this cat, what a scam!’
Without waiting for an answer from me, she then drove off in her platform.
Suddenly, I realized that there was another key point I didn’t know yet: “Hey, you still haven’t told me where’s this palace is!”
“Go north, through the territory of the Warhorses and continue further north.”
“…just a direction? How about giving a rough estimate of distance at least!”
“It’s not like I’ve been there before, how would I know?”
‘…what an irresponsible cat.’
Like that, Meisian left while we stood there looking at each other blankly.
“Mama, should we leave now?” As she said that, Mo Na hugged my arm and gave it a tug: “Mama?”
“Huh?”
Seeing me return to my senses, she then repeated the same question again.
“Oh, there’s no rush for now.” I gently rubbed her little head and warmly said: “There’s still something we have to care of here.”
As she hugged my waist, her eyes glazed over slightly in comfort. “What’s that?”
“The choice of Cat King hasn’t been made yet.”
“Huh?” Silent and watching up till this point, Anmi suddenly gasped. “Didn’t she say that there’s no need for that anymore?”
“You all seemed to have been confused about something, I only care about how to enter Abaddon and not who ascends to the throne.” At that point, I gave him a devious grin.
“…and…since you already know the method, there’s no reason for you to stick your head into this matter anymore…right?” This time, it was Anmi who had to sweat buckets.
