Three hours later, in the dead of night, two beautiful young women lay on the floor, soaked in sweat, every muscle aching with exhaustion. Even the formidable Bronya and Serval couldn't lift a finger.
Don't get the wrong idea; nothing untoward had happened to them. They had simply been forced to perform a series of mortifyingly embarrassing idol routines for hours on end. For them, it was a fate worse than death.
"B-Bronya, are you okay?" Serval gasped, completely drained.
Bronya couldn't even answer. She had borne the brunt of Mo Wang's torment and felt like she was on the verge of spontaneous combustion.
"My, my, ladies, this won't do," Mo Wang chirped, sauntering over with a recording of their performance in his hand. "If you want to debut as Belobog's top idols, you'll need more stamina than this."
The sight of him made them want to punch his smug face, but they were too weak to move.
"What... do you want?" Bronya rasped, her voice filled with a mixture of anger and confusion.
"I told you, didn't I? I'm saving the world," he said with an infuriating grin.
"Saving the world?" Serval retorted, propping herself up. "By forcing us to do this... this humiliating performance?"
"Don't be like that. The power of idols is infinite. You moved countless viewers with your performance just now."
"Moved them?" Bronya gritted her teeth. "You're just messing with us! This has nothing to do with saving the world, it's just for your own sick amusement!"
"How can you say that? Your big brother Mo Wang would never lie to you," he said.
"We have no relationship. Don't talk nonsense." They had only known each other for two days.
"So heartbreaking. You were so much cuter when you were little," he sighed.
"Little?" Serval's ears perked up. Was there some juicy gossip here?
"Look at you, so cute when you were a kid, always throwing tantrums when you lost a video game..." Mo Wang said, pulling out a collection of photos and waving them in their faces.
"That's really a younger Bronya... but how strange," Serval said, recognizing her immediately. She had no memory of these events: Bronya kicking off her blankets in her sleep, showing up to class in Homu pajamas, or having her face covered in sticky notes after losing a game of Yu-Gi-Oh! to a bunch of cheaters with god-tier draws.
"That's not me!" Bronya yelled, her face red with rage.
"Of course it's not. In another world, I'm a good friend of yours. I only came here to help because of you."
"Another world? Help? You call beating us all up 'helping'?"
"That was your mother's fault. You have no idea how much trouble I went through to get that thing out of her." He pulled out the Stellaron and waved it in front of her. "This is the cause of all of Belobog's problems. And now, it's sealed."
Bronya and Serval stared at him, dumbfounded. He had solved a problem that had plagued their world for centuries in a single day?
They felt like idiots for having struggled for so long. And if he had already sealed the Stellaron, why was he still tormenting them? Was it just for revenge?
"Because... it's fun!" he declared, his eyes twinkling with mischief. That was the real reason. Not sympathy, not to help Bronya, but simply because it was fun.
Beating up the people of Belobog was fun. Forcing Cocolia into the Underworld was fun. And making them idols was the most fun of all.
Bronya closed her eyes. She knew he would say that. She swore she would avoid anyone who followed the Path of Elation for the rest of her life.
"Well, rest up, you two. I'll be back in three days. And if your mother doesn't show up... heh heh heh..."
Serval couldn't help but snicker at the look on Bronya's face. It was a look of pure, unadulterated disgust.
"You know," Serval whispered, "maybe you should just go along with it. I mean, he's a jerk, but he's strong. Belobog wouldn't be getting the short end of the stick, right?"
Bronya shot her a murderous glare.
"Oh, and by the way, Serval, you're not getting out of this either. You're the dowry," Mo Wang's voice drifted back.
Now it was Serval's turn to stop laughing.
"You know," Bronya said with a smirk, "maybe you should go along with it. Belobog wouldn't be losing out. And it would solve your 'old maid' problem, wouldn't it, Auntie Serval?"
"What... did you call me?!"
"Am I wrong? You're so much older than me, it's only right," Bronya retorted.
"You little brat!"
"Now, now, ladies," Mo Wang's voice floated back. "You're supposed to be partners. You need to get along."
"Shut up!" they yelled in unison.
---||---
Mo Wang made his way to Cocolia's private chambers. "Ah, now this is a comfortable bed." He sank into the soft mattress.
This was leagues better than that dump of a hotel, even better than his own quarters on the Express. (Of course it was, he slept in the storage car.) And it had a pleasant scent.
This Cocolia was only in her thirties, much younger than the one he knew. It was amazing how different two versions of the same person could be.
Without the Stellaron's influence, she was actually a good person.
He took out the sealed Stellaron, its light still shining brilliantly. He'd never seen one up close before. He knew the Express had several, but he'd never seen them.
He suspected they were hidden away in some secret vault, a vault that probably contained more Stellaron than the Stellaron Hunters' entire collection.
"I'll have to interrogate Pom-Pom when I get back... But what the hell is this thing, anyway?" He pondered the mysterious object. It was a major plot point in the first two chapters, but then it just... disappeared.
The lore was vague, with theories ranging from fragments of a dead Aeon to a weapon of Destruction to an unhatched Aeon.
"So, what are you?" he asked the Stellaron. It, of course, remained silent. "Come on, we're practically family. Don't you want to talk to your kin?"
Suddenly, he felt a wave of drowsiness. He blinked, and found himself in an unfamiliar space.
(－`д´－) ?
Not again. Who dragged me into a meeting this time? He was getting real tired of being summoned by Aeons for their pyramid scheme recruitment pitches.
He turned around and saw a giant figure looming over him.
"Oho!" He flinched. It was the Amber Lord.
Crap. I've been making a mess in Their territory. Is it too late to surrender?