Chapter 6: Connections
It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and Kyle had passed out on the floor of the Church after clocking himself in the head with a femur. Linya sighed as the Otherworlder flopped to the ground in a shameful display.
"Seems I'll have to include physical training in our next lesson." The Right Hand of Death remarked as she summoned a skeleton to pick up her student. As the reanimated bones carried Kyle to the infirmary, the main doors of the Church opened, and Linya let a rare smile come onto her face.
"Auntie Linya!" Alex energetically called out as she practically bounced into the church, alongside May, who was wearing her rucksack and crossbow. "We came to visit!"
"Welcome. Have you two been well?"
"Same as usual." May shrugged, as she put down her rucksack and began rummaging through its contents. "Now where did I put those…"
While May was searching through her bag, Alex looked down one of the halls, the one that led to the stables. "Is the Horse here?"
Linya shook her head. "Unfortunately, Lady Death took him for a hunt today. With any luck, I won't have to clean him again, though something tells me I'll be proven wrong."
"Then it appears you've gotten lucky, Linya." A third, ethereal voice rang out, followed by a cloud of pale mist appearing in the room. Alex leapt forwards like a girl about to open her birthday presents, and rammed into the Pale Horse with both arms outstretched, which whinnied pleasantly at her embrace, while May simply waved as she continued searching through her belongings, and Linya gave a bow.
"Another fruitful hunt, milady?"
"Found a Hydra this time." Death replied as she dismounted from the Pale Horse. "The Gallows happened to be nearby, and was all too happy to receive one of the heads I cut off. According to them, the Obsession is tracking a Reincarnated dragon, who it believes to have crash landed close to an Elven settlement harbouring Undine and their contractor."
"Dad says Mariana and Leviathan are getting ready for any water events." Alex added as she brushed the Pale Horse's mane with a magic-formed comb. "Then we've got the Human-Demon war upcoming, and the annual Otherworlder traumatiser."
"It's always fun to watch Asmodeus work her magic. I wonder how she's doing nowadays." Death mused. "Her career change was far more drastic than the rest of us."
"Ah, there it is!" May exclaimed as she finally found what she was looking for, and produced a stack of papers from her rucksack, and handed them over to Death. "Wasn't easy to take them down, had to get through an entire slave trading empire just to get to them, probably had to kill a hundred or two people in total."
"I'll arrange a handful of therapy sessions then." Death replied as she flipped through the pages. "What a shame, he seemed like a fine fellow when he first arrived. Could have done so much good instead of extorting and enslaving people. But I suppose that's always been the way the cookie crumbles."
"Would you like to come over for dinner, Auntie Linya?" Alex asked as she finally detached herself from the Pale Horse, which whinnied disappointedly.
"Perhaps. For now, I have a student to take care of who should be waking up now." Linya turned towards the infirmary corridor. "A good day to all of you."
"See you later then!" With that, Alex and May left the Church. Finally, Death stepped back into her steed's saddle, and vanished in a cloud of mist once more.
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On a plateau overlooking the Kingdom, a series of glyphs flashed, before forming into a portal, and out stepped Innova, steam hissing and machinery whirring. Standing before him was a female demon with wings and a heart shaped tail, dressed in a scandalous outfit. "I'm here for the routine check."
"Are you sure you don't want to perform a routine check on me instead, Founder?" The demon asked, getting very, very close with a suggestive expression on her face.
"I wouldn't be here for anything else, Asmodeus." Innova replied. "And please stop testing your seduction techniques on me, I am the worst person to try that on."
Asmodeus laughed as she led her mechanical companion on their way. The flat plateau soon gave way to a forest, and then the two stepped through a transparent magic barrier that all but the most skilled magicians would miss. To an outside perspective, they would have vanished from sight. To the duo, the forest vanished, and gave way to another open plateau, which, uncharacteristically for a Fantasy world, housed an airfield.
And no, I don't mean facilities for dragon riders, I mean a military-type air base complete with a runway and a hangar full of airplanes.
After opening up the hangar doors, Innova began checking each plane for any damage, testing their motor speeds, fuel efficiency, and other functions for any signs of wear and tear. "Everything seems to be in order. You should be ready for the Festival."
"Alright then! Thank you and come aga-" Just before Asmodeus could walk off in high spirits, a metal claw grabbed her by the shoulder. The demon gulped as she felt a disappointed gaze on her back.
"You do remember that I keep inventory records, right?"
Asmodeus, knowing she was caught, reluctantly opened up a closed storage room. Inside was a very damaged plane, covered in deep cuts and riddled with holes. There was an especially large crack where the fuel tank was.
"You could have just asked me to repair it." Innova said through a robotic facepalm. "Do I even want to know what happened to this?"
"It's an awkward topic…" The succubus murmured.
Innova just sighed. With a snap of his fingers, the plane split apart into dozens of parts. "Let's get this over with…" A portal opened, and dropped off a box of spare materials, as well as a block of metallic alloy. With another set of gestures, the parts floated into the air, then some split apart and melded with others to produce pieces that looked fresh off a production line. Once every piece was up to workplace standards, a final snap put the plane back together.
"You don't have to force yourself to be like this, you know." Innova addressed his companion, who looked away sheepishly. A glimpse of green through a window caught the robot's eye. "And it doesn't seem like you've chosen to move on either."
"Yeah…"
"Just get ready for the Festival; The fact you wanted me to perform maintenance means you're preparing for it, and it always gives you a chance to let loose." With that, Innova conjured another portal back to the base he called home, and stepped through, turning back to look at his demonic acquaintance. "I'll see you next time, Asmodeus, so do take better care of yourself. The Thaumis's doors are always open to provide self help sessions if you need them, and Keter would surely be happy if you visited." The portal closed, leaving Asmodeus alone on the runway.
The succubus silently walked into her quarters, and noticed the green sleeve poking out of her closet. "I need to put you away a bit better next time…" Asmodeus muttered as she opened her closet, and stared fondly at the reminder of her past.
A military outfit that looked almost exactly like one from a certain Axis power.
"It's funny how things turn out, isn't it Founder?" With that, she closed the closet again, letting the past be past. A distant whinny drew her attention, as a red horse trotted into the base, having returned from the forest, and was currently covered in dirt and leaves. Asmodeus did a bit of stretching on her way out in preparation for having to clean her closest comrade, and took one last glance at the closet.
"All's fair in Love and War." She whispered, before she finally shut the door.
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