Cinder let out a breath, the water cooling the back of her dry throat as she stood over the kitchen sink, clutching the glass that she'd downed a second ago. Filling it up again and setting it down on the counter for a second, she stretched, yawned, relaxed her body as she glanced around the large, empty space.
For all that the URF leaders' compound housed some of the most dangerous and beautiful people she'd ever met, and was- by all accounts- the central hub of a faction that practically the entire supernatural world didn't even know existed (at least, not in the state that Lilith had helped reform it into), it was somewhat remarkable how it could still just feel like… home.
It was more of one than where she'd spent most of her life leading up to this point, at least. She could absolutely say that much.
Picking the glass up again and taking a couple of gulps, the sound of papers shuffling and shifting from somewhere outside of the kitchen, but still pretty close by, met her ears. Followed by the soft tap of something being set down, and something that faintly sounded like a sigh.
Evidently, Cinder hadn't been the first one up. Hardly surprising, considering she was more the type to sleep in than others that called Hebeth their home, but an… intense, dream had roused her from sleep earlier than usual this morning.
…
Part of her hoped that the subject of said intense dream wasn't the one in the living room. That was where she suspected those sounds of paper moving, that tap and the sigh, had come from. The sigh, though, she hazarded a guess that it was a female sigh, so that was a point against it being… him.
Another gulp of water later, enough to finish the glass for the second time in as many minutes, Cinder sent the empty glass to the dishwasher with a flick of her hand and- curiosity winning out over laziness- made her way over to the living room from the kitchen. She stopped short of the doorway, glancing inside to see that it was, indeed, not him.
One leg crossed neatly over the other, dressed in a pair of shorts and t-shirt that strained respectively against her thick thighs and sizeable chest, her hair loose rather than in its usual bun, Katerea was sat on one of the many armchairs set out across the room. She'd pulled a table in front of her chair, on which papers of various colours and sizes were spread out in front of her, with the whole sight looking simultaneously organised and not, somehow.
She lifted one of the papers on the table, looked it over for a couple of seconds, and sent it through a transportation-circle, muttering "Shalba" to herself, but still just loud enough for Cinder to hear from her place in the doorway.
Truth be told, she hadn't really had much chance to interact with Katerea, since she'd entered Hebeth with Lilith and the others. Witnessed her taking over the Old Satan Faction under Shalba and Creuserey's feet, turning it into the Underworld Reformation Faction within a single speech. The two had never really crossed paths with each other, though both were absolutely aware of the other's existence.
"…Morning." Cinder called out, taking a half-step into the living room.
Katerea turned, leaned around the chair to look over at her, the next document in her hand already halfway raised to her eyes.
"Morning… Cinder." She spoke, pausing for a half-second to recall her name. "You're not usually up this early."
"You're not usually working down here." Cinder replied, gesturing to the documents on the table. "Haven't you got an office for that closer to your room upstairs?"
"And I'd be right there, if I… hadn't fallen asleep here last night." Katerea replied, looking slightly sheepish for a second before turning back to the table in front of her, and the documents upon it. "I was just watching something on the AgareScreen last night… but nevermind, I'm alright. Just figured I'd get started right here when I woke up, rather than heading up."
"Is it hard, that amount of work?" Cinder asked, stepping around to take a slightly closer look at the documents on the table. "Probably is, considering you had three faction leaders before Raylix and Lilith happened. Now, you've only really got two."
"It WOULD be hard, if the other one- like Shalba and Creuserey before him- didn't bother to do his share of the admin." Katerea replied. "Though with him and Lilith likely to start planning for their wedding pretty soon…"
She sighed, leaning back in her chair.
"At least I've got guys and girls in what's left of the Royal Guard that know what they're doing when it comes to stuff like this, so it won't be all bad."
Cinder nodded, as Katerea leaned over the table and grabbed a letter of some description, unfolded and scanned over it, her brow furrowing as her eyes made their way down the page.
"Anything interesting?" Cinder asked.
"Somewhat." Katerea replied, setting the open letter down on the table. "Request for parley- or to talk- from an old family of Magicians, of all things. The Perraults."
Cinder stiffened. Unseen, given where Katerea was looking, one of her hands balled into a fist, an orange flicker forming around it for a fraction of a second before she forced the involuntary reaction down.
"'Mutual co-operation', 'shared interests', 'prosperity through unity'," Katerea quoted some of the phrases under her breath as she re-read the letter, before her eyes travelled back up to a certain line of the letter, which caused her brow to furrow further. "Couldn't be more obvious if you tried, although…"
"Although, what?" Cinder spoke up. Katerea, seemingly realising again that the Stray Magician was standing right there with her, showed her the letter, tapping the line that she'd been looking at with one finger.
"The Perraults," she began. "Know of our current existence as the Underworld Reformation Faction. That's…" she sighed. "The only thing stopping me from dismissing this thing, not even dignifying it with a response. One of the main reasons we've been able to stay so hidden from the rest of Hell is that we publicly pretend to go by many different names- Anti-Aristocratic Association, Low-Class Liberation Army, Screw The New Satans Inc., that kind of thing. Make the Pillar Clan pricks in charge think that they're going after a bunch of small groups, rather than one united force. But if a Magicians' Clan like the Perraults have somehow uncovered our true name…"
She laid the letter down, sighing.
"That's valuable information. That they could decide to share with parties interested enough to listen."
Cinder, though she'd downed two glasses of water a few minutes ago, felt her throat becoming slightly dry again, and swallowed.
"Oh."
"Yeah." Katerea replied, turning around to face Cinder as she brought the letter down onto the table… and for the first time, noticed the expression on her face. "You alright, Cinder?"
Cinder let out a short breath.
"I'm fine." She replied, immediately. "It's just… I've got history." She gestured to the letter. "With that family, with the Perraults."
Katerea's eyes flicked to the letter, then back to Cinder.
"I see." She replied, her eyebrows raising slightly as she looked her up and down. "Raylix did mention something to me about you being from a family of Magicians, before you went Stray."
"Adopted BY a family of Magicians." Cinder corrected, her gaze unfocusing for a second as something briefly crept from the back of her mind towards the forefront. Something she hadn't thought about for a while, not since that night in Versailles when Raylix and Irene had taken her in. Something that she didn't WANT to think about.
A few seconds' silence passed between the teenage Stray Magician and granddaughter of Leviathan, before the former spoke up again.
"I'll handle them if you want, Katerea."
The latter's expression didn't change.
"Oh?"
"I'll answer that message." Cinder continued. "I haven't got anything else going on today, I'm much stronger than when I left them, and I know how the-" she took a breath. "The woman who wrote that letter operates, better than anyone in this faction. I'll meet her, see what she knows, what she wants, and if she tries anything stupid… well."
She didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to.
Katerea didn't immediately reply. Didn't change expression as she studied the young Human in silence for a moment, before slowly picking up the letter… and offering it to Cinder.
"This isn't a personal visit." she spoke, lightly jerking the letter away from Cinder's hand when she reached out for it. "You're taking this on with knowledge that you represent us, the URF. Don't allow any past… associations to colour your actions on our behalf."
Her violet eyes bored into Cinder's amber for several silent seconds, before Cinder nodded. Another few seconds passed between the two before Katerea offered the letter to Cinder again, which she took.
"Got it." Cinder replied, waving her free hand to change her bedclothes into a more presentable red and gold dress that Irene had gifted her for her last birthday.
"Good." Katerea nodded, as an orange transportation-circle appeared under Cinder's feet, and in the next instant, she vanished in a flash of light.
As soon as she flashed into existence on the other side, Cinder felt a flash of familiarity through her as the Normandy air met her skin. Looking up, she sucked in a breath as the estate that had been her home for over a decade met her eyes.
It had been rebuilt, of course it had. No way her former family were going to let the home that had stood for centuries lie in ruins just because some little shit wannabe-Magician took everyone by surprise and burned it to (mostly) ashes in a fit of childish rage. That was probably how they'd span it, as it was rebuilt.
She could practically see it, a couple of years ago, the state of the Perrault home as she'd set it alight on her way out. The charred stone, collapsing walls, the stench of smoke. But of course, in its place stood a pristine, refined manor that had been restored down to the last detail, looking like nothing had ever happened.
As if she had never happened.
Cinder stiffened, again. She took half a step forward, her heeled shoes crunching against gravel as an orange, fiery glow gathered around both her hands.
As relatively weak as she was compared to the heavier hitters of the URF like Raylix, Hikari and Lilith, she was still much stronger than two years ago… it would be so easy to set this entire region ablaze, from Omaha Beach to Alençon, never mind just the estate in front of her… but.
She relaxed her hands, allowing the glow around her hands to die out. That wasn't why she was here, there was no need to finish off what remained of her old life. At least, not yet.
Cinder started walking, the conscious effort to keep her breaths even something she had to focus on more and more, with every step closer to the front door that she took. When she stopped just short of it and stood there, her eyes flicking down to its polished handle and the faint reflection of herself staring back at its surface.
It was weird. This whole thing felt weird. Really damn weird.
Taking another breath to calm herself- as part of her really felt like she was stepping back into the belly of the beast- she rose a hand to knock. But before her knuckles could even meet the door, it swung open.
Cinder froze, before lowering her arm as a woman- a very familiar woman, to her at least- stood on the other side of the doorway.
She was a tall and composed figure- towering over Cinder herself by at least a few inches- immaculately dressed in aristocratic-adjacent clothes, a bronze-coloured robe draped over the whole number, and not a single strand of her light-brown hair out of place from its bun. Her expression, as she opened the door while probably expecting literally ANYBODY else, was as controlled as Cinder remembered, but when she saw her…
Her eyes- for half a second- they widened. Cinder had caught that easily.
There was silence between the two for a short moment, before Lady Perrault broke it.
"You."
Cinder tilted her head slightly, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Me." She replied.
Lady Perrault's eyes swept over her, almost as if she still couldn't believe who was standing in her doorway.
"I thought you weren't planning on returning, ever."
"Not many things happen the way we plan." Cinder replied. "I'm sure you were planning on keeping me under your thumb, forever."
Lady Perrault didn't rise to her former servant's remark. A slightly awkward silence passed between the two for a few seconds, before her expression hardened.
"Why are you here, then?" she demanded, coldly.
Letting out a breath, Cinder opened a hand, summoning the letter Katerea had given her into it and holding the paper up between them.
"Business." she replied, simply, flicking the folded paper open and holding it up to her former adoptive mother's face. "Recognise it?"
Lady Perrault blinked, then reached out and took the letter back from Cinder, her eyes flicking down to it for a second before she looked back up at Cinder, her grip on the letter tightening.
"You're with the Underworld Reformation Faction."
It wasn't a question, just a statement of obvious fact.
"Sure am." Cinder replied.
Silence, again, this time for a whole moment as Lady Perrault seemed to silently consider something, before she slowly stepped back, allowing Cinder entry.
"Very well." She replied, in a rather clipped tone. "Feel free to return, then, if that's why you're here."
Cinder didn't comment. She glanced up at the estate looming over her for a second, before stepping over a threshold she never thought she would again.
Line Break
A faint cloud of steam poured out of Raylix's bathroom door, as it opened half a second before he stepped out. Running one towel through his damp hair, while another was wrapped semi-tightly around his waist, he carefully stepped through the doorway, off the smooth floor of his bathroom onto the soft carpet of his bedroom floor.
The room was silent, apart from the slow breaths of the two people currently inside it. One of which was him, obviously, as he turned around and gently pulled the bathroom door closed as quietly as he could, so as to not disturb the other person that occupied the room.
Tamamo was still in his bed, lying on her stomach, having not moved a muscle from when he'd pulled himself out from under her upon waking up a quarter of an hour ago. She looked the epitome of relaxed: her long pink hair was splayed out all over her back, her tails out and draped over her lower body like a makeshift blanket, her chest slowly rising and falling with every slow breath she took. Every few seconds, one of her fox-ears would reflexively twitch, but those and her chest were the only movements her sleeping body made.
She certainly hadn't been so relaxed, the majority of the night before. Raylix had made sure of that.
As he took a couple of steps further into the room, a small magic-circle forming just above his bed and something dropping out of it- a folded piece of paper- onto the sheets caught his attention. He immediately made his way over and grabbed the paper, unfolding it and scanning the words written on it.
'Just in case you wanted to know how big it's going to be, everyone in Hebeth will be available for our day.
Will come find you later to start planning proper.'
Raylix sucked in a breath, quietly let it out.
"Of course they would." He muttered to himself, sinking down onto the edge of the bed and dropping the note to one side. He wasn't exactly mad, he understood why it was going to be such a (relatively) big thing.
Not many Devils or Lilim- hell, not many being PERIOD- would turn down the chance to see Lilith, freaking LILITH, getting married with their own eyes, in their own city.
But still, the amount of planning that would probably go into such an event, that he'd have to do a lot of considering it was HIM she was getting married to…
He let out a light groan, burying his face in his hands and rubbing at his eyes. Though the sound of a light groan from right behind him drew his mind away from thoughts of a wedding, and instead to… the arm that wrapped around him at that exact second, as its owner used him to pull herself up into something vaguely resembling a sitting position.
"Heyyyy, hot stuff…" Tamamo, her voice thick with sleep that hadn't quite left her yet, greeted as she pressed herself up against Raylix, making particular (and subconscious) effort to push her naked chest against his back. "Someone's up early… is anything else up~?"
Raylix glanced behind himself, allowing Tamamo to peck him on the lips as a good-morning.
"Keep talking like that, and I'll be up for whatever you want, Tam." He replied, turning back around and adjusting his position on the bed. "Assuming you even are."
"If you've got anything more to give," Tamamo remarked, shuffling into a position where she could rest her entire body-weight on Raylix's back, though he didn't budge. "Then you know I'm right here to take it."
She raised her mouth to his ear, the next few words to her demonic mate coming out a touch lower than her usual voice, her hot breath making him involuntarily shudder a bit:
"After last night, I think can take anything~"
Raylix would have jolted when she lightly nipped his ear with her teeth before pulling back, if he wasn't used to that gesture from the centuries-old kitsune from nights past.
"I'm holding you to that in future." He replied, raising his arms to stretch. Tamamo dropped back down onto the bed, giggling as she did so. Her green eyes flicked over Raylix's toned back, which she involuntarily licked her lips at, before she noticed the note at his side.
"What's that?"
Raylix glanced down, before picking the note up and glancing at it again.
"Lilith." He replied. "Telling me how many people here want to watch us getting married.
"And…?"
"All of them do." Raylix replied. "So, yeah. Big wedding plans, starting today. Yay."
He tossed the note to one side, letting out a sigh.
"Do you really need that big an audience?" Tamamo asked, shifting onto her side and looking at Raylix as he got to his feet, dropped the towel around his waist to the floor and made for the dresser. "I mean, you're not getting married to all of Hebeth, right?"
"Last I checked, no, I'm not." Raylix replied, without looking back. "Just Lilith. This time, at least."
"Right." Tamamo replied, grinning to herself at the sight of Raylix bending over to grab some underwear from the drawer. "A whole performance to tell this entire settlement 'look at us, look at how great we think our lives are'… I don't think I'll ever understand that."
"That might just rank below 'funeral with cake' for the best description of weddings I've ever heard in my life." Raylix replied, chuckling to himself as he pulled up the pair of boxers he'd chosen, before yanking on a pair of shorts over them.
Tamamo let out a small giggle of her own as Raylix turned around, bent down to pick up a t-shirt, sniffed it, and sent it away through a transportation-circle before returning to the dresser to grab something else.
"Are they another thing that came about while I was…" she began, before lightly trailing off. Raylix turned around, t-shirt in hand, and caught Tamamo's relaxed expression faltering for a fraction of a second, before she shook her head.
"Kinda." He replied. "They started popping up way more in the last few centuries, at least. And just like loads of other things from the human world, us supernaturals thought it was worth copying for ourselves. Though some people took things… really far."
"Like who?"
"Like my old family." Raylix replied, slinging the t-shirt over his head and putting it on. "So freaking long, so much stuff and so many things going into prepping a wedding that was totally going to be the biggest thing since Lucifer tied the knot with Lilith. And it wasn't even because Ruvella and I liked each other!" He allowed himself an exaggerated shudder, which drew another giggle out of Tamamo. "I mean, she might have liked me, but… never mind. Point is, some people enjoy that stuff. Lilith obviously does, at least when she's the one calling the shots."
Tamamo let out a breath.
"She definitely enjoys being the one that calls the shots." She remarked. "Her, Irene, Esdeath, Kurumi… you got a type by any chance, Raylix?"
"No comment." Raylix replied. "And hey, from an 'are we both happy with this' front, better this than how I suggested we seal the deal proper. Thought for a second she was gonna rip my cock off when I suggested what we do for our wedding. Which, for the record, I was mostly joking about."
"Oh?" Tamamo pulled herself back up a bit, her breasts bouncing lightly with the movement as Raylix made his way back over to the bed and sat back down. "Now that, I want to hear."
"It would've literally taken half an hour, tops." Raylix replied. "Go to one of those fake chapels in the human world-"
Tamamo blinked.
"Probably get some guy dressed as Senna to marry us-"
Tamamo blinked again.
"And we're back in time for breakfast."
There was silence in Raylix's room for a few more seconds, as Tamamo stared blankly at him before speaking.
"You just made that up."
"No, I didn't." Raylix replied. "You can actually do that."
He let out a snigger.
"Well, most of that, as far as I know." He replied. "Don't know if you can get some guy to dress as Senna to officiate a wedding, but… meh."
Tamamo joined Raylix in his brief laughter, before quickly overtaking him as she was overcome with mirth, almost rolling over on the bed as she let out a heavy laugh for several seconds, and straightened back up.
"That," she remarked, her tails flicking about even after she collected herself. "Is absurd."
"It's efficient." Raylix countered, grinning. "And a bit absurd, yeah."
"Well, I'm glad you were mostly joking about that, and Lilith didn't rip that off." Tamamo replied, gesturing to Raylix's crotch as she dropped onto her front, looking contemplative for a second before piping up again. "Maybe we should do something like that. After you're done getting married to Lilith, I mean."
Raylix shrugged.
"Maybe." He replied, dropping onto his back. "Could be a good idea, doing that to squeeze you in, if there are others around that want what's happening with Lilith for themselves as well."
Tamamo shifted over, swinging a leg over Raylix and straddling him. He got a good sight of her naked form slowly rocking back and forth atop him, before she bent down and briefly pressed her lips against his.
"There probably are." She replied, her tails lazily flicking over Raylix's lower half as she straightened back up, and he lay back a little futher.
"There probably are, what?"
Raylix let out an involuntary "Shit!", jerking upright and almost sending Tamamo flying off of him as Ophis' pale face appeared over him, taking him completely by surprise. Tamamo- as indignant as she looked at Raylix moving so suddenly- also looked just as shocked at the Ouroboros Dragon's sudden appearance.
Turning around as Tamamo got off of him, Raylix saw Ophis standing at the edge of his bed, watching Tamamo as she herself with getting dressed.
"We really need to get you a bell." Raylix muttered, more to himself than anything. Ophis' dark eyes flicked over to Raylix, and they tilted their head slightly.
"Why?"
"So we know you're coming!" Tamamo replied, grabbing a pair of form-fitting jeans that she'd thrown off the night before and pulling them on. "And you don't scare everyone whenever you just… appear, like you always do."
Ophis blinked, not speaking for a second before Raylix caught their attention again.
"What are you even doing here, anyway?" he asked. "You need something?"
"No."
Ophis straightened their head up, taking half a step closer to Raylix's bed.
"I sensed movement. And voices."
Raylix let out a quiet breath, letting out something between a sigh and a chuckle from his mouth as he stretched again, and got to his feet.
"Right."
"I was also… curious." Ophis continued, her eyes lingering on Raylix. "About Albion's mate, and one of his concubines."
Tamamo paused, mid-slinging a t-shirt over her head, for a couple of seconds. Then she finished pulling it on, blinking a couple of times at Ophis before her eyes narrowed, an offended expression… mostly, settling over her features. Though when Raylix looked a little closer, he noticed slight amusement dancing in her eyes: she understood the humour in what Ophis had said, even if they themselves didn't.
"Excuse me," She spoke. "I'm a child of Inari, I'm way more than just a concubine to the former Heir of a Devil Pillar Clan!"
Raylix, however, had frozen for half a second, letting out a half-laugh at Ophis' blunt assessment of Tamamo. Though when his brain caught up with the first part of what Ophis had said, and how it could be construed-
"Wait-"
Looking over at Tamamo, it looked like she'd come to the same conclusion. The two exchanged a single look, and almost immediately Tamamo broke, bursting out into a fit of giggles.
"Alb- Albion's mate?!" the kitsune let out, between laughs. "You're marrying a dragon now, Raylix?"
Raylix dragged a hand down his face, sighing as Tamamo's laughter filled the room.
"You know that's not-"
"I know, I know, it's really you and Hikari," Tamamo continued, clearly having decided to just go with the mental image of Raylix marrying the Vanishing Dragon itself because of how amusing she found it. "But- just- how they said it- Albion's mate!"
Raylix rolled his eyes, shooting Ophis an exasperated look as Tamamo let out further giggles. They simply stared at Tamamo, before turning to Raylix.
"Is she always like this?"
"Usually, she's hornier." Raylix replied, rubbing remnants of sleep from his eyes that the shower hadn't managed to wash out, and getting to his feet.
Tamamo, meanwhile, was holding herself up against the edge of Raylix's bed. She was gasping lightly, such had her laughing drawn the breath from her.
"Better hope Albion doesn't get pissed that you're planning on marrying the woman that killed him, Raylix!" she grinned.
"I'm going downstairs now." Raylix replied, pulling on a t-shirt and heading for the door, resting his hand on the handle.
"Is it to give Albion the bad news?" Tamamo snorted. "Hope that goes well for you, I hear Dragons can get pretty jealous!"
Raylix rolled his eyes, deciding not to dignify that particular remark with a response.
"I'll grab you some breakfast downstairs." He replied. "The usual fruit, or whatever."
Tamamo let out a sigh, dropping back onto Raylix's bed with another giggle.
"Sure, sure." She replied. "I'll just be up here, reliving the image of you putting a giant ring on one of Albion's claws!"
Raylix decided it was best to just remove himself from the bedroom, rather than let Tamamo continue joking with herself within his earshot. Heading across the hallway and down the long staircase between his room and the kitchen on the ground floor, his mind drifted somewhere between half-awake and fully functional, before settling on what HE could potentially get for breakfast.
Just something to properly wake him up, given what he and Tamamo had gotten up to the night before. The simplest solution would probably just be to grab some fruit as well, and have it on the way back up to her… where she'd probably still be giggling to herself about the whole 'marrying Albion' image she'd conjured up into her head.
Honestly, she could be a handful sometimes. But the sex was worth it, and the laughs… occasionally so.
As he reached the bottom of the compound's main staircase, he made a beeline for the kitchen and-
"Oops, that was close! Morning."
-almost walked straight into Katerea, who was coming out the same door. She stopped as soon as she saw Raylix, the two face to face in the doorway for a couple of seconds, before Raylix stepped aside to let her through.
"Morning."
"You good?"
"Yeah." She replied, running a hand through her free brown hair. "Was just… finishing some stuff I got caught up in the night before. Probably just going to shower and nap, for a bit."
Raylix nodded.
"Right." He replied. "Oh, yeah, Lilith sent word my way this morning, apparently all of Hebeth's gonna be showing up for our wedding. And she wants to start preparing for it today."
"Of course, she does." Katerea muttered, stretching herself slightly. "You alright with that?"
"Don't think I've got much of a choice." Raylix replied, shrugging before looking back at his fellow URF leader. "You alright with handling things alone, while I'm… occupied, with the wedding?"
Katerea nodded.
"I guess so."
She scratched the back of her neck, as Raylix looked her down and up.
"I was already managing the majority of the URF's operations, while Shalba and Creuserey were in charge alongside me." She explained. "You joining the faction and helping lightening my workload a bit was appreciated, but hey."
She let out something between a snort and a sigh as she and Raylix met eyes.
"Another few months, most likely? It won't be anything I haven't handled before. That, and I actually have a group I can delegate tasks to, so it won't be too awful."
Raylix let out a snort of his own.
"Fair." He replied. "That's fair."
"However," Katerea continued. "When you're done with getting married to Lilith, I'll be out of here for a bit. I need a freaking holiday, for a little while at least."
Raylix blinked.
"Works for me." He remarked. "Hell knows you of all people deserve one. Though what're you thinking when you say 'a little while'?"
"Few months." Katerea replied. "At least. I just…" she sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Got to get away from it all. Reset my mind a bit, make sure I'm on top of the mental game for the next phase."
Raylix nodded.
"Yeah, with the Front and everything." He replied. "If you can handle running things solo for years at least, I can handle it for a few months. And… think about delegating things so I don't have 100% of the workload."
"Yeah, because thinking about it is half the battle." Katerea nodded, a grin breaking out across her face for a moment.
"Just don't go anywhere that'll risk exposing us, okay?"
Katerea's grin faded for a second, before returning briefly as she snorted.
"I'm not that reckless, Raylix- Oh, that reminds me."
"Yeah?"
"We had a request come in, this morning." Katerea continued, her expression becoming slightly more businesslike. "The Perrault Clan of Magicians reached out, proposed a mutual alliance."
"And?"
"It wasn't much." Katerea shrugged. "However, they know us as the URF, and that kind of awareness makes rejecting them outright…"
"A bad idea." Raylix finished. "Yeah. So… what do you want to do about it?"
"I've already allowed the request to proceed." Katerea replied. "Cinder left to negotiate with them about ten minutes ago."
Raylix blinked again, his body stiffening slightly.
"Cinder?" he repeated. "Shit."
Slight concern crossed Katerea's face.
"She volunteered." She explained. "Only said that she and that Clan had history with each other, and that she could handle it. Should I be concerned for her?"
"No, definitely not." Raylix replied, almost chuckling as he opened a crimson transportation-circle and stepped towards it. "Not her."
Katerea blinked, watching for a fraction of a second longer.
"Is there something I should have known, Raylix?"
"Probably, yeah." He replied, as he stepped into the circle. "But it's not your fault she didn't say anything. I'll sort this, Katerea."
"Alright." Katerea nodded. "My shower and bed are calling my name, anyway."
Raylix let out a short breath as the circle activated, and he vanished from Hebeth in a flash of light.
Line Break
It was like Cinder had stepped back in time. The entire Perrault manor, as she walked through it, was exactly as she remembered it right before she'd burned it down a couple of years ago.
The layout was identical. The art that hung on every wall was the same. The smell of the place was even memories back to the forefront of her mind. It was as if her former adoptive mother had simply rewound time on the place.
She turned around as she walked, catching Lady Perrault's eye. She noticed her posture: straight as a board, hands tightly clasped behind her back as she followed her at a couple of paces' distance.
The pair of them could both feel the tension, and the silence they shared with every passing step, before Cinder broke it as they passed through into the living room.
"So… what got you noticing the URF?"
Lady Perrault's pace didn't change. Neither did her expression, as she sucked in a breath.
"Your sister." She replied. "Her Pact Devil, as of a few months ago, joined your faction. After deserting the Heir of the… Berith Clan, if memory serves."
Cinder hummed lightly.
"That Devil must have pretty bad taste." She remarked. "If they're gonna make a pact with Drizelle, of all Magicians."
She wasn't facing Lady Perrault at the second she said that, but she could feel the spike in annoyance radiating off of her former adoptive mother. A spike in annoyance that she, admittedly, did a decent job of concealing as she continued talking.
"We started investigating after that, as best we could. With how quickly the faction has risen in power since its change of leadership, it was an obvious choice to reach out."
Cinder let out a breath as she moved through an open pair of double-doors into the manor's sitting room. Just like the rest of the residence, it looked exactly as she'd remembered it the last time she was here. Even the carpet that she'd set on fire, in this very room, was as it was before Lady Perrault had walked in on her practicing.
Turning around, she saw that her former adoptive mother had stepped inside after her, and closed the door.
"So, who were you expecting to show up?" Cinder asked. "Definitely not me, right?"
A brief silence followed.
"No." Lady Perrault replied. "Not someone like… you. A Devil or Lilim, any Devil or Lilim, was more in line with what I was expecting." She narrowed her eyes, slightly. "Unless you've become one yourself, thanks to one of those Evil Pieces."
Cinder let out a short laugh.
"Hell, no." she answered. "My boss hates those things. Think he hurled his set out a window before he even joined them, if I remember right."
"I see." Lady Perrault replied, fixing Cinder with an unreadable look. "Either way, I found myself thinking an alliance with the Underworld Reformation Faction could be mutually beneficial."
"Found?"
Cinder's tone was neutral, but she'd noticed the past tense in her former adoptive mother's voice.
"I find myself reconsidering, though." Lady Perrault continued. "Recently, in fact. When I learned that the Underworld Reformation Faction saw fit to accept… trash like you into its ranks. I mean, forget the fact that you're a fugitive unlicensed Magician, you're not even a Devil or Lilim."
Cinder sucked in a breath, trying to force down the immediate temptation to fire back, both verbally and magically, at Lady Perrault.
"Perhaps I overestimated its standards."
Nope, that temptation wasn't going away.
Cinder's hand twitched. She could see it in front of her for a second, when she'd switched a couple of years ago from trying to put the fire she'd accidentally started out to actively spreading it, to the point that the entire Perrault manor was going up in flames.
This time, it would probably be even easier. She was much stronger now, thanks both to being on the run and having to get stronger to evade capture, and thanks to being around so many powerful figures and wanting to get even the slightest bit closer to their level. Figures like Raylix, Lilith, Irene and the rest.
She could probably take on Lady Perrault in a straight fight if she wanted to. And she was right on the edge of starting one, to the point that a spark snapped into existence at her fingertips…
But it died a second later.
Cinder exhaled slowly, rolled her shoulders in an attempt to calm herself, at least to the point that she could speak without even involuntarily throwing fire at her former adoptive mother.
She looked over at her, her expression shifting to something just as cold as hers. Something that Lady Perrault hadn't been expecting, as Cinder spied her expression shifting away from that usual cold look for a microsecond before it set back onto her face.
"And here I was thinking you'd changed in the slightest." Cinder spoke, breaking the silence. "That you'd become something that I could understand? But no, I think it was me who needed to change for that to happen."
She took a step forward.
"You know what I used to think about you?" she continued. "That if I did everything right, maybe tried hard enough with what you CONSTANTLY ordered me to do- 'clean that bust, girl- no, not like that- why did we even take you in the first place if you can't follow simple instructions- now get out of sight and pretend you don't exist while people actually worth a shit come and have some bullshit dinner'- that you'd, I don't know, think I was worth something?"
Lady Perrault said nothing, as Cinder let out a quiet breath.
"Bothering to try and please you was a mistake. Don't think that was what you were trying to teach me- if you were trying to teach me anything at all- but here we are."
"I was teaching you… discipline!" Lady Perrault replied, her voice rising for the first time. Cinder felt a familiar stab of fear in the pit of her stomach, from all the other times she'd heard her voice rise in her presence, but forced it down as she took another step forward.
"Yeah, discipline. And how did those teaching methods work out, huh? You ever reconsider how you go about running your family, after I burned this place down?"
Lady Perrault opened her mouth again, but seemed to not be able to find the words to respond as Cinder took another step, turning slightly to move past her.
"I don't need your approval." She spoke, her voice a mixture between a whisper and a snarl. "I didn't back then, either, I just didn't know it yet. But I know now that I definitely don't. Nor do I need you deciding what I am: you haven't been able to for years, and I'm better than I ever was under you for it."
She strode past her former adoptive mother, now closer to the closed double-doors than her.
"Say hi to dear Charlie on the way down to Hell for me. If you're not destined for somewhere worse, that is."
As she made for the doors, she felt the shift in the air. She'd finally touched a nerve with the mention of her dead husband. She paused and turned around, a dark grin threatening to break out across her face as she saw Lady Perrault looking, for the first time in a long time, legitimately angry.
"I'm not the only one who hasn't changed, you deranged child." She retorted. "You'll never be anything other than what you proved yourself to be when you rejected the home I gave you. A creature that begs for attention however she sees fit, and who thinks she can throw her hands around and act like she's… one of us."
Her eyes shifted, looking past Cinder towards the double-doors, and a disturbing smirk crossed her face.
Cinder caught the look, blinking in surprise for a second at how that such an expression looked on her former adoptive mother's face, before she too caught what she'd probably sensed in that moment.
"You expecting someone, by any chance?"
"You will not threaten this household again." Lady Perrault continued, her expression shifting back into icy coldness as she raised a hand. "In fact, I'd say the only purpose you have left is telling the Devils everything you know about the Underworld Reformation Faction."
Her hand glowed as she raised it, pointing at Cinder. Half a second later, a trio of golden magical chains burst from the hand, with clear intent to bind her where she stood.
Cinder raised a hand, a shield formed from her own mana springing into existence in front of her as the chains raced towards her. But before either the shield could fully form, or the chains could reach her, a dark-red singularity burst into existence between the two, catching the chains in mid-air and sucking them into it.
At the exact same instant, the double-doors burst open with such force that they slammed against the wall on either side and shattered to splinters. Cinder would have jumped at the sudden noise had she not guessed who was coming… and seemingly gotten it right.
Lady Perrault's eyes widened, the iron focus that she'd been showing just a few seconds ago dissipating to nothing just as quickly, along with the chains as the singularity between her and Cinder vanished.
Cinder, on the other hand, smirked as she heard the sound of someone landing on the ground behind her, before walking up to her side.
"Morning. Thought you'd be sleeping in, after Tamamo dragged you off to bed last night."
Raylix let out a chuckle, a hand running through his auburn hair as he entered Cinder's peripheral vision, his eyes fixed on Lady Perrault, who was still rooted to the spot with a mixture of surprise and utter horror on her face that the younger brother of Sirzechs Lucifer, Pact Devil to one of the Platinums themselves, was standing in front of her. Especially after having burst through her living-room doors with about as much effort as one used to open curtains on a morning.
But before said Devil could say anything to her, Cinder moved before Lady Perrault could reorient from shock to defence. Grabbing her still-raised wrist with one hand and striking her with the other, knocking the wind out of her before wrapping her arms around her, lifting her up and bodily slamming her down to the ground, knocking the older woman out cold.
Raylix watched, amusement crossing his face as Lady Perrault's magic flickered once, then dissipated again as Cinder got back to her feet, stretching slightly.
"Nice move. Esdeath teach you that one?"
Cinder nodded, as she moved back to Raylix's side.
Before she could open her mouth to begin explaining what had happened before he'd shown up, though, Raylix blinked, bent over slightly as he felt a weird pulsing within his chest for a couple of seconds, before a dark crystal slid out of it. It didn't burst out violently, or force its way out particularly painfully, it just slid out.
Raylix was quick to catch it, once it was fully out of his chest, before it could hit the floor. He stared at it curiously, as did Cinder when she leaned over, before her eyes shifted to Raylix's.
"You want to explain that, or…?"
"Nope." Raylix replied, turning the crystal over in his hand a couple of times before sliding it into his shorts pocket. "I'm not totally sure myself. Question for later, though."
His eyes flicked from Cinder, standing beside him, to the unconscious woman a couple of paces away from where they were stood.
"Might be me, but I have a feeling she was expecting someone." He remarked.
"Yeah, Devils." Cinder replied, letting out a breath. "Of some kind or other."
Raylix sucked in a breath, striding over to Lady Perrault's unconscious body and turning it over with his foot.
"She saw my face, too." He continued, his gaze sharpening. "And recognised me, too."
"So?"
"So, if she lives to tell anyone about what happened, Irene's position on the Magicians' Council could be under threat." Raylix explained. "If it got out that her Pact Devil had ran to an extremist group like the URF…"
Cinder's expression shifted, too, to something a fraction more serious.
"Ahh… right."
Raylix extended a hand, summoning the obsidian-black, curved, evil-radiating Rubilacxe into it, before levelling the blade at Lady Perrault's throat.
"There's an easy solution to this." He spoke, looking back at Cinder. "But she was your mother. Your call."
Cinder hummed, her brow furrowing for a second before she stepped forward, raising a hand herself.
"I've got a different idea." She replied. "Irene's been teaching me… how to magically modify people's minds." She glanced over at Raylix. "Perception, emotion… memory. That sort of thing."
"Oh?"
Cinder shrugged.
"Now seems like a good time to give it a shot."
Raylix studied her for a second, before removing Rubilacxe from Lady Perrault's throat and stepping back.
"Alright." He replied. "What're you planning on doing?"
"Just wipe her mind of the last half-hour or so." Cinder replied, shrugging before a smirk crossed her face, and she bent down. "Should be simple enough. Maybe make her think Drizelle- her daughter- called those Devils on a dare from one of her bitch friends."
Raylix chuckled, dispelling Rubilacxe entirely.
"Okay." He replied. "Might want to make it quick, though, we don't know how much time-"
And right at that moment, a door on the other side of the room slammed open. Both Raylix and Cinder looked up to see a blue-robed blonde woman making to rush into the room, before she came skidding to a stop.
"Mother-!"
And then she took in what was going on in the room she'd just ran into. Her mother, unconscious on the ground, Cinder kneeling over her, Raylix a couple of paces back, his arms folded and expression impassive.
Her eyes met Cinder's, as she looked up, and her expression hardened.
"You-!"
With impressive speed, she raised a hand and fired a sizzling bolt of magical energy from it, aimed straight at Cinder's head.
But Cinder was fast enough, just about, to instinctively grab Lady Perrault's body and pull it up and hold it between herself and the energy-bolt. Drizelle wasn't fast enough, however, to cancel it before it struck her own mother in the neck, blowing it out.
Blood, flesh and even bits of bone sprayed out from Lady Perrault's neck in all directions, staining the carpet that Cinder had burned years ago, before her head lolled forward. Drizelle's bolt had been so powerful, and the remains of her mother's neck so little, that what remaining skin and flesh there was holding it to the rest of her body stretched, snapped, and her head landed on the carpet. It rolled for a couple of seconds before coming to a stop.
Drizelle froze, for a fraction of a second, pure shock and horror dawning on her face at what she'd accidentally done before Cinder moved again. She dropped her former adoptive mother's headless corpse to the ground, stood up and levelled her hand at her former adoptive sister's chest.
It took her barely another fraction of a second to charge up a powerful bolt of flaming magical energy and send it Drizelle's way, striking her clean through the heart and igniting the curtains at the window directly behind her.
Drizelle herself barely had a chance to look down at the hole in her chest where her heart used to be, feebly reach up at it more out of instinct than anything else, and then collapse on the floor where she would move no more.
"Well… that could have gone better." Raylix remarked, sucking in a breath as he glanced over at Cinder, who was looking down at the corpses of what had once been her foster family. "…You alright?"
Cinder looked over, blinking a couple of times.
"Yeah." She replied. "I'm fine. Honestly, we're better off without them."
"I'll take your word for it." Raylix nodded, glancing up at the curtains that Cinder had set on fire. It was spreading to the carpet below, the walls and chairs behind. "We should get out of here. Let whoever she thought was coming," he glanced down at Lady Perrault's corpse for a second, before back at Cinder as he waved his hand "think that you just came back to take your revenge, rather than complicate things further."
Cinder nodded, giving the pair of dead witches one last look before striding past Raylix, towards the transportation-circle he'd cast behind him.
"Good idea." She replied, disappearing through it a second later. Raylix followed right after, with the transportation-circle, along with any trace that he'd ever been there, vanishing from sight a heartbeat later.
When Raylix appeared back in the URF compound's foyer, alongside Cinder, he noticed her standing, looking off into the compound, an unreadable expression on her face. She jumped a bit when he laid a hand on her shoulder, after closing the few paces' gap between them, and looked over at him.
Before he could even repeat the question of whether or not she was okay, she spoke up.
"I'd always wanted to kill them, for… a while." She began. "But ever since I ran away, learned they were still alive even after I'd burned the place down the first time and tagged along with you and Irene way back when, that that was never… I woke up this morning believing I was never going to see them again."
She sucked in a breath.
"I just… didn't expect this to be how today went!" she turned to Raylix, letting out a small giggle. "And I haven't even had breakfast yet!"
Raylix let out a small chuckle, himself.
"Heh, neither have I." he replied. "But… meh, I had a pretty big dinner the night before, it can wait for me."
He slipped a hand into his pocket, and procured the crystal that had popped out of his chest.
"At least, until I've found out what's up with this thing." He remarked, lazily tossing it up into the air before catching it and returning it to his pocket. "Irene should be able to help, right?"
Cinder nodded.
"Probably." She replied. "She'll be in the-"
""Library."" Raylix uttered the final word, right alongside Cinder. "Yeah. You coming?"
"In a bit." Cinder replied. "I'm gonna grab something, then I'll meet you up there. Maybe find Katerea and let her know how-"
"She's gone for a nap." Raylix cut across her. "No point disturbing her now, just tell her later."
Cinder nodded, and made for the kitchen while Raylix made his way up the stairs he'd come down not even half an hour ago, up to the lower floor of the library where- as he and Cinder had both suspected, Irene was already seated in her favourite chair. Staff propped up against a shelf behind her, a book open in her lap and a cup of something steaming on one of the arm-rests.
The scarlet-haired Magician looked up, when she heard her Pact Devil approaching her.
"Morning." She greeted him, turning a page of the book and taking a sip of her drink.
"Hey." Raylix replied, snapping his fingers to bring a chair from across the library over towards where Irene was sat, and dropping into it. "Can I ask you something?"
"Didn't you just?" Irene replied, leaning back in her chair, a small smirk crossing her face before she let out a breath, and readjusted the position of her book on her lap. "Go ahead."
Raylix leaned forward.
"Alright. So, hypothetically…" he began. "Say you were fighting someone, and they fire magical chains out of their hand at you, and you…" he thrust out a hand to demonstrate "again, hypothetically, catch their chains in the weird portal/black hole your power takes the form of. And, right after…" he swallowed. "a crystal pops out of your chest, like an Evil Piece going in reverse… what would you say to that?"
Irene raised an eyebrow, before marking the book in her lap, setting it aside and leaning forward herself.
"I'd want to see it." She replied, bluntly. "Hand it over."
Raylix let out a snort, before procuring the crystal that had left his chest for a second time, and tossing it over to Irene. She caught it neatly in one hand, summoning her staff from a few feet behind her to her other hand with a snap of her fingers, before bringing it to the crystal and lightly tapping it.
Irene hummed lightly as she brought the crystal up to eye-level, inspecting it carefully. Raylix could feel the air around both of them shifting slightly as her magic stirred, energy brushing over the surface of the crystal as she did her work on it.
"…Interesting." Irene muttered, her eyes narrowing as she turned the crystal over in one hand, her staff- held in the other- hovering over it as she did so.
"It the good interesting, or bad interesting?" Raylix asked, leaning back in the chair.
"Yes." Irene replied absently, before placing her staff down.
The door to the library's lower floor opened, and Cinder wandered in, a half-eaten cold piece of pizza clutched in her fingers as she chewed on it. Immediately spotting Raylix and Irene sat together, she made her way over while chomping down on the rest of it. Noticing her as well, Irene summoned another chair for the younger Magician before summoning a small table between herself and Raylix, which she placed the crystal down onto before leaning back in her own chair.
"That," she pointed to the crystal as Cinder sat down in the third chair "looks to me to be a crystalised form of binding magic. Has a pretty dark nature to it, too."
Her gaze flicked up to Raylix, briefly.
"And it's all held together by your demonic energy."
Raylix raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"A trace amount of it, but yes." She clarified, holding up her thumb and index finger almost touching each other for a couple of seconds. "Extremely trace, but I'm familiar enough with your essence-"
"That's what she said~"
Irene paused, fixing Cinder with a sharp look, though Raylix couldn't help but spy the restrained smirk forming on her face in response to such a remark.
"-to detect it in this." She finished, pointing down at the crystal.
Raylix let out a breath, leaning forward. Cinder swallowed the final mouthful of cold breakfast-pizza, and did the same.
"So, what, he made it?"
"From what Raylix told me, it didn't happen intentionally." Irene replied, her eyes flicking to Cinder. "But, yes. You wouldn't happen to know the events surrounding this, would you?"
It took a couple of minutes for Raylix and Cinder to recap the events of this morning, which had Irene holding her face in one hand by the end of it.
"Well, I guess I can't fault you too much for defending yourself, Cinder…" she muttered. "But Katerea seriously didn't know of your past with the Perrault Clan before today? Seriously?"
"She never asked." Raylix replied, shrugging. "And I don't think either of us saw a reason to tell her."
"Anyway," Cinder began again, before Irene could open her mouth to retort "Lady Perrault's chains weren't exactly of the dark variety when Raylix absorbed, so why'd you mention them having a 'dark' nature to them when you analysed that?" she pointed to the crystal on the table, as her eyes flicked to Raylix. "You did ask her to analyse it, right?"
Raylix nodded.
"Well…" Irene folded her arms, looking from the crystal to Raylix. "I think that's a question for you, Raylix. Can YOU think of any reason that the chains you absorbed would come out dark?"
Raylix fell silent, looking down at the crystal before leaning back in the chair, staring off into space for a few seconds and casting his mind back, back to any times he could have encountered anything dark enough to tint the chains he'd absorbed today.
Fortunately, he didn't have to cast his mind back very far.
"…Hikari."
Irene and Cinder both perked up, glancing over at him. Cinder was mid-scratching an itch on her back, while Irene had reached for her book again.
""What about her?""
"A couple of days ago, pretty much right after Lilith gave me Unholy Genesis, turned my power into… this," Raylix held a hand up, briefly summoning the dark-red singularity that his power now took the form of. "I had a sparring match with Hikari to try and figure this out."
He lowered his hand, dispelling the singularity.
"And during it, I absorbed some of her Primordial Power of Darkness. Lucifer Clan ability." He added, when Cinder looked confused, as an expression of understanding formed over Irene's face.
"Ahh. Lady Perrault's magic chains must have merged with Hikari's Clan ability, and created… that." She pointed down at the crystal on the table. "Yeah, that'll do it."
Cinder let out a breath.
"Guess that's the end of your Amalgamation and Power of Destruction days, Raylix. You're a support and power-creating type, now."
"Hey." Raylix replied, summoning Rubilacxe and twirling it around in his fingers for a couple of seconds, before dispelling it again. "I can still kick ass."
"Anyway," Cinder giggled, holding her hands up in faux-surrender as she turned back to Irene, gesturing at the crystal. "Is that crystal actually good for anything, other than looking menacing on a mantlepiece?"
Irene hummed, picking the crystal up and turning it over in her fingers.
"This," she replied, slowly. "It's not identical, but its construction, the way it's formed together. Reminds me of the crystals of Agreas Island, in the Underworld."
"The ones used to make Evil Pieces?" Raylix asked.
Irene nodded.
"Exactly." She replied, running her gloved fingers over it. "Yeah, the construction's definitely similar enough that the comparison's unavoidable. Meaning that in theory…" she held the crystal out for Raylix, who slowly took it. "That it could be absorbed, like an Evil Piece, and whoever took it would gain the dark chains held within as… something approaching a natural ability."
There was a beat of silence between the two Magicians and one Devil.
Cinder shifted in her seat, slightly.
"Wouldn't that turn whoever absorbed it into a Devil, though? And make them a servant? You know, like an Evil Piece?"
"Make them a servant, no." Raylix replied. "Definitely not. There's way more that goes into an Evil Piece than just the King's demonic power. Enchantments to resurrect the recently deceased if whoever you're going for just happened to kick the bucket right before you got to them, to enhance certain traits of whoever you're converting a certain way depending on the piece, et cetera."
"Indeed." Irene nodded. "And as for turning you into a Devil, that's also highly unlikely. The demonic energy present, compared to the raw magic, is negligible."
Her gaze shifted to Cinder, whose gaze in turn was on the crystal. Hers shifted to Raylix, whose shifted from the crystal to Irene, and then back to Cinder.
Letting out a quick breath, he got to his feet and held it out for her.
"Want it?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Cinder replied, immediately getting to her feet in turn and holding her hand out. "Gimme."
An amused grin crossed Irene's face as she watched Raylix handing the crystal over to Cinder, while remaining in her seat.
"So, how do I do this?" Cinder asked, clutching the crystal in one hand while looking over at Raylix… who shrugged.
"Well, I've never given an Evil Piece to anyone myself, but I saw my brother doing it for his Bishop. Just hold it up to your chest and… let it phase in, I guess."
Cinder nodded, turning the crystal over once in her fingers.
"Right." She replied, before holding it up to her chest and lightly pressing it against herself.
For a split second, nothing happened. But after that, the crystal began to dissolve and melt as it entered her chest.
"Oh…!"
Cinder's body tensed up slightly once the crystal had fully disappeared into her, reaching up and clutching at where the crystal had gone in. But whatever discomfort she'd been feeling at the foreign body entering her disappeared after a fraction of a second, as she seemed to internally stabilise.
She took a breath. Raised her hand. Before her, Raylix and Irene's eyes, something dark glowed around the palm of her hand, before-"
"Wuh!"
Chains burst from the hand, extending a few feet forward. But they weren't golden, not like Lady Perrault's had been when she fired them at her earlier, and Raylix had absorbed them. No, these were jet-black, slightly jagged.
They hung in the air for a second, writhing almost as if they were alive, before stilling and disappearing at Cinder's mental command.
All three stared at the space the chains had just occupied, before Raylix broke the silence.
"…Huh."
He was grinning. But not as widely as Cinder, who was almost giddy with excitement as she summoned the chains again, from both her hands this time.
"Cool!"
Before Raylix or Irene could react, she'd sent the chains Raylix's way, wrapped them around him and attempted to drag him over to her… only for them to snap under the strain, and for Cinder to lose balance and topple backwards.
Raylix let out a laugh, catching Cinder before she could go down.
"Cinder, if you wanted me close and touching you, all you had to do was ask." He remarked, running a hand over Cinder's back as he guided her back to her feet. Cinder quickly leaned over, planting a kiss on Raylix's neck before stepping back, her face reddening a bit.
"Yes, but I don't think that's entirely her style, is it?"
A soft giggle sounded from the library entrance following the remark, causing Raylix, Cinder and Irene to all look over. Lilith, looking her usual goddess-tier self, was stood a couple of paces into the library, her horns and tails out, her usual smile across her face as she looked over at the three of them.
"Morning, Lil." Raylix spoke, grinning as Lilith walked over and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek, glancing over at the black chains that were still sprouting from Cinder's hands for a couple of seconds.
"Hi, love." Lilith replied, running a hand down and up his back. "So, I see you've found how your new power works. Even if it took killing one of your fellowship's former family to do it."
"Hey, I didn't kill anybody." Raylix remarked, letting out an involuntary laugh at the sensation of his fiancée touching him like that. "Cinder did- hey, how did you even know that?"
Right on cue, Ophis poked their head out from behind Lilith, their usual impassive look on her face as they looked from Cinder to Raylix, and back again. Unlike when he saw them standing over him in his room earlier, Raylix didn't jump at their sudden presence, but instead just let out a slow breath.
"Right. Still getting used to you stalking me." He turned towards Lilith, before summoning the dark-red singularity again in one hand. "Did you… know this was going to happen?"
Lilith let out a small giggle as she pulled away from Raylix, her attention still on him.
"Not quite." She replied. "I had a strong theory that your powers would change, at the very least slightly, when you took Unholy Genesis, but I didn't know how very much… you, your new power would turn out to be."
"We in for another long-as-hell explanation of a new development, Lilith?" Irene asked, resisting the urge to smirk… or summon a pillow.
"Oh, hardly." Lilith answered, shaking her head. "Not when it's obvious for all to see: you're taking what exists, like the magical chains that Cinder's not-so-dearly-departed foster mother's attempted to use on her and my daughter's inherited darkness," her hand moved around Raylix's side as she gently pulled him towards her "decimating it," her hand moved up to the back of Raylix's head, as she began running her fingers through his hair "and forging what remains into something else. For the benefit of either yourself…" as she continued to do so, she looked over at Cinder, who dissipated the darkened chains that Raylix had given her a few minutes ago "…or others."
Irene snorted, adjusting her position in her chair.
"Doesn't hurt either that what you use to do it looks pretty diabolic to me, Raylix." She remarked.
Cinder blinked, glancing from Lilith and Raylix and Ophis, to Irene, back to the Devil/Succubus/Dragon God trio, then back to Irene a second time.
"…Say that again?"
"No."
"Eh, you don't need to." Cinder replied, looking back at Raylix, who had pulled himself out of Lilith's grip. "Diabolic… Decimation: has a nice ring to it, right?"
She gestured towards the singularity that continued to spiral in Raylix's hand, which he looked at for a few seconds.
"Yeah, it kinda does." Irene continued. "Accurate, too, Lilith, when you put it like that."
Raylix looked back at Cinder, before dispelling Diabolic Decimation.
"Yeah, rolls off the tongue pretty well." He replied. "I'll take it. Better some name than none at all, right?"
Lilith let out a soft, amused breath.
"Exactly." She replied. One of her tails then shot across the gap between her and Raylix, before wrapping tightly around one of his wrists. Before he could even blink, or Cinder or Irene could even react, she turned on her heel and made for the door.
"Uh-?!" Raylix began, before being yanked along behind the Prime Succubus.
"Did you forget what I was going to come find you for, Raylix?" Lilith asked, glancing behind herself as she continued walking. "We've got a wedding to start planning for, don't we?"
Some of the colour drained from Raylix's face as the pair of them got closer and closer to the door. He only had time to look back at Cinder, Irene and Ophis- who hadn't moved from their spot behind where Lilith had formerly been-
"One of you do me a favour and get Tamamo some breakfast, 'kay- thanks!"
And with that, Lilith had dragged him out of the library, out of sight.
Ophis looked from the library door, back to Cinder and Irene.
"Is Albion's mate always like that?"
"What, dramatic?" Irene replied. "He'll be fine. Lilith just has a way with him, that's all."
"Hm."
Ophis looked back in the direction of the door that Lilith had dragged Raylix through, before slowly looking down at their own form. Cinder noticed the direction of the Ouroboros Dragon's gaze, before smirking to herself.
"You and me both, girl." She remarked, as Irene got to her feet.
"I'll handle getting Tamamo's breakfast." She announced, casting a transportation-circle for herself. "I know what she likes, and anyway, I need to get some myself."