On top of all that, I'm offering to solidify your position as Lady Leviathan. You would know better than I do that there are those in the Underworld that still question if you are really worthy of the role. Having Ingvild in your peerage serving under you would render any argument they brought forward mute. In exchange, if someone tries to annihilate me in the future, all I ask is that you put up the slightest amount of resistance in my favor."
She started chuckling. "I'll give you this much, Riser, you've got some major balls walking into my office and just throwing this at me." Her smile vanished, in its place was a calculating stare. "That being said, I don't quite trust you yet. I think you're telling the truth, but I have no way to know for sure. For all I know, the Old Satan Faction approached you with an offer to protect you and your peerage if you lured me into a trap. So this is how we're going to deal with this: I'm going to write up a contract that both of us are going to sign stating that I'll give you everything you've asked for after the Leviathan girl is delivered. Then, you and I are going to go find the girl and you're going to wake her up. Your peerage is going to stay here as collateral in case you try anything. Do you accept these terms?"
I tried not to show it, but I was ecstatic. Despite the minor existential scare I had a little while ago, this had gone so much better than I'd hoped.
"Deal. But I need to retrieve a vial from Clarissa before we go. The potion she made will help me wake up Ingvild."
"We'll grab it on our way out. Now come on!" The Leviathan pointed forward, dramatically putting her opposite hand on her hip. Her business suit vanished, a pink, far-too revealing magical girl outfit appearing in its place. The frilly skirt was cut so short it barely covered her hips let alone anything lower. The top had an arch cut into it that practically bisected her breasts. And the only part of her that was actually covered were her feet and calves by two poofy, pink tube socks. "We need to save the princess from the bad devils!" She leapt forwards and smashed her way through the window in her office, falling from my view as she flew towards the ground.
I stared after her in dumbfounded silence for a solid ten seconds. Was that really the woman who had just terrified me beyond capacity for rational thought? What the hell was wrong with this world?
X
"This is the last place I would have thought to look." the magical girl beside me said seriously as she looked up at the building.
"I believe that was the point." I said, also looking up at the hospital in front of us. The sign read, 'Leviathan Preventive Symphonia'. It was a hospital that Serafall Leviathan had opened a few decades after becoming a Satan to try to help devils with as yet incurable diseases, the sleeping sickness included. The Old Satan Faction had literally been holding Ingvild under Serafall's nose this entire time.
"Do you know exactly where she is?" the Leviathan asked, serious despite her ridiculous clothing.
"Not her exact location. All I know is she's hidden in a secret room. It could be underground or part of the standing structure. I figure you have a better chance of finding it. Just feel around with your magic for any points of massive power or distinct lack of power. It would stand to reason they have wards in place to hide her power. Otherwise she would have been-"
"I found her." the Leviathan interrupted me, her eyes fixed on a window several stories up the building. "There is a cubic shape of absolutely nothing in an otherwise overcrowded building. It's a small space, but a small space is easier to hide. She has to be there. Follow me." Rather than walk up to the door and use the stairs like a normal person, the Leviathan elected to fly straight up and crash through a window.
By the time I'd realized what was happening and followed after her, she'd already broken into some poor, innocent bystander's room. What was she thinking?
"Don't fear! The magical girl Levi-tan is here!" she said, striking a pose as she stood on the windowless-windowsill.
I arrived behind her just in time to see a little devil girl with bright red hair – she couldn't have been older than ten – with an IV attached to her arm shriek and point at Serafall.
"Mommy look! It's Levi-tan!" the little girl screamed, her little eyes wide as saucers.
"That's right!" Serafall said, hopping down from the windowsill and saddling up to the girl conspiratorially. She looked around dramatically then cupped her hand by the girl's ear, whispering something to her as she did.
The little girl's eyes went even wider; she mimed zipping her lips shut and throwing away a key.
Serafall winked and shot her a thumbs up. "Come along, Flaming Chicken! We have evil to conquer and justice to dispense!" The Leviathan pranced past the confused mother and bright-smiling little girl and out of the room.
The little girl's head tilted in confusion as she looked up at me. "You're a flaming chicken?"
Sighing and wondering when this had become my life, I said, "Apparently so." A fireball appeared in my hand, quickly shaping into a chicken at my will. Using the same trick I used to create the stone Yubelluna wore around her neck, I hardened my fire and tossed the literal flaming chicken to the little girl. "There ya go, kid. Now everyone will know you met the flaming chicken." Turning to the even more confused mother, I said, "Believe me, I'm nearly as lost as you are. Have a good day, ma'am."
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