Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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  "Uh……what happened to your halo and wings?" Inquired Shiro in bemusement.

  "Gone but not forgotten," I sighed despondently.

  It was a few minutes after Samsara addressed the entire world telepathically, Shiro had come barging into my room, with an expression that indicated that he had a lot of questions. Then he saw me and noticed that I'd lost a bit of weight……

  "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" He replied with a confused look on his face.

  "Doesn't matter. Who cares? I'm way weaker now. And that means my capacity for generating chaos is weaker too," I grumbled in response.

  "What I'm trying to ask is how you've lost your wings and halo," He replied impatiently and curiously.

  "Ugh, fine……," I groaned, before telling him what happened and how I ended up like this.

  "Oh, so basically, you've been nerfed."

  "Not sure what that means, but sure, yeah," I shrugged with a sigh.

  "Don't think I've ever seen you so apathetic before. Anyway, getting back to why I came here……what the hell was that voice? It sounded like Samsara," He remarked with a frown.

  "Yup, sure was. Who do you think forced me to do this to myself in the first place, huh? He recalled the Divine Magic he used to create mine and Sant's bodies, and now has his own physical body, which he's used to enter the living world, something that he couldn't do before. His new body is probably much more powerful that my old one was, and he can probably survive even if his body is completely destroyed," I sighed again.

  "First off, that's pretty terrifying, one of the biggest weaknesses that you and Sant had was that you couldn't survive without your body for more than a minute or something like that, right? And secondly, stop sighing so much, it's kinda annoying," He replied.

  "Hmph, fuck off, Shiro. Incidentally, you might be able to beat him……that draining thing you can do with your claws and fangs, that might work against him. Though, of course, in that case, Kuro could also beat him, and stands a better chance than you since, well, he's way stronger that you," I pointed out.

  "Are you trying to piss me off or something?" He frowned in response.

  "Huh? I'm just stating a fact, chill. Anyway, Samsara mentioned our names in his list of targets, but he also ended it with 'to name a few', meaning that he has other targets that he didn't mention. I'm pretty sure he's targeting anyone who he sees as unnaturally powerful, though I am surprised that he mentioned two Elemental Sages, considering that he's the one who created the Elemental Spirits."

  "Unnaturally powerful, huh? I bet Shin's a target too, not only is he pretty strong, but he's also not from this world to begin with," Remarked Shiro in response.

  "Good point. Abyss will probably be Samsara's main focus though, not only do they have several highly powerful individuals, but they also have Vampires, Demons, Krakens and Dragons, along with thousands of low level monsters. Samsara mentioned that he wants to wipe out all monsters, after all," I recalled with a grimace.

  Before he could respond, a loud buzzing cut him off, as one of the Call Spell Cards in my room activated. Looks like a call from the former Queen Cusana Bronztan. I don't like dealing with her, she's too serious and intense for my liking. And if I ignore this call, I'll only make things harder for myself later on.

  I let out another sigh before walking over to the desk and reluctantly picking up the card, before answering it after a bit of hesitation.

  "Good, you finally picked up. Come to the throne room immediately," She stated bluntly, before hanging up without even giving me a chance to respond.

  "You, uh, should probably go to the throne room, don't you think?" Quipped Shiro.

  "But……but I don't wanna!" I complained, flopping onto the bed in response, before rolling around and burying my head under a pillow.

  "You sure you wanna leave yourself so defenseless while I'm around?" He inquired with a devious tone in his voice, before suddenly smacking my butt and giving it a firm squeeze, eliciting a surprised squeal from me before I could stop myself.

  "H-hey, cut that out!" I exclaimed indignantly, trying to kick him, but he managed to evade it.

  "Hmph, it's your own fault, that was like leaving out a freshly baked cake in front of a starving homeless guy and then getting pissed off when he takes a bite of it," He shrugged with an innocent look on his face.

  "Oh, yeah? I wonder if Minise will buy that line of reasoning……," I trailed off, copying his fake innocent expression.

  "T-totally, why wouldn't she?" He replied with feigned indifference, trying to play it cool.

  "Hehe……well, guess what, I just told her. Remember how I can communicate with her telepathically?" I smirked at him.

  "Huh!? You're kidding, right-!?"

  "Oh, she wants to talk to you……here, let me send you to her," I interrupted him, right before opening a portal beneath him and sending him to where Minise was.

  That was a lie, I didn't actually tell her anything, but I bet him panicking about it is gonna be hilarious. Let's take a look with Observation Mag……aw, crap, the Call spell is buzzing again. I better go to the throne room……

  "Hey, you called-?" I began, as I entered the throne room through a portal.

  Former Queen Cusana Bronztan, former Princess Agatha Silvland and King Ocroed Rustlands were the only ones present. Well, it had only been about ten minutes since Samsara's worldwide announcement.

  "What took you so long?" Inquired Cusana with a frown.

  "Well, you didn't give me a chance to respond when you called……I'd just finished taking a bath and was in the middle of drying myself, so yeah," I replied, keeping a straight face.

  "Tch……that is probably a lie, but I shall let it go this once. This is an emergency, so we do not have time to deal with any nonsense," She sighed irritably in response, rubbing her temples before suddenly narrowing her eyes at me, "Hm? Something is different about you……"

  "Hey, what happened to your wings and halo?" Inquired Agatha curiously.

  I let out a exasperated sigh before reluctantly telling them what had happened……but, uh, I might have tweaked some of the details……

  "……and then, while I was just minding my own business and relaxing in my room, I suddenly felt like my body was fading, separating from my consciousness. But since I'm so awesome, I just about managed to create myself a new body and transfer my consciousness into it, otherwise I'd probably have ceased to exist and Samsara would be even more powerful than he currently is……well, not that I know how powerful he is, but I'm assuming he's pretty powerful," I concluded my revised recap.

  "This is a rather troublesome situation, as if the Laus Domain and Abyss weren't bad enough, now we have another threat to worry about……," Frowned Cusana.

  "Ahem, actually, I do not believe that is the case. This being, Samsara, only wishes to target certain individuals, correct? In other words, the majority of us need not be concerned," Spoke up King Rustlands, voicing the suggestion that I'd been dreading.

  "Are you suggesting that we simply hand over the individuals that he is targeting?" Responded Cusana, narrowing her eyes at him.

  "Of course. A handful of dead is a small price to pay to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of others."

  "Wow, that's kinda despicable," Remarked Agatha in disapproval, before suggesting, "On paper, that may be an effective solution, but don't forget this, all the targets he mentioned happen to be ridiculously powerful……and he didn't even list all of his targets, so by the end of it, our overall strength may well be crippled beyond repair if we go with your suggestion."

  "I agree, it would be foolish to allow the strongest of our warriors to be sacrificed like this," Nodded Cusana in agreement.

  So, uh……why am I even here? They're just talking amongst themselves and totally ignoring me. Can I just leave now?

  "Fine, if that is what you say, then I ask you this……do you have a better suggestion?" Challenged King Rustlands in response.

  "So, uh……I think I've got a suggestion," I spoke up as I finally got a chance to chime in, getting their attention and continuing, "I'm pretty sure Samsara's main goal in announcing his intentions to every single person in the world is to have all his targets gather in one spot so that he can wipe them all out in one go. And while it may be playing into his hands, forming a temporary alliance with Abyss and the targeted Elemental Sages is probably the best chance we have of defeating him. I know absolutely nothing of what he's capable of or how powerful he is, so yeah."

  "Absolutely not! We cannot join forces with Kuro Black-!" Began King Rustlands.

  "You're the one who kicked him out of the Rustlands for some dumb reason, which I may or may not have manipulated, but hey, it was your fault for being so damn gullible……I'm getting off topic, here's my point……if he's defeated by Samsara, then there's pretty much no one else that stands a chance. Let's assume that Samsara is as powerful as Sant and I combined……huh, actually, if that's the case, then we're pretty much fucked. Anyway, this whole thing doesn't affect you, so unless you're contributing something without thinking about whether or not it benefits you, shut up and sit there like the pointless figurehead that you are," I interrupted him.

  "Wha……? How dare you……!" He began to exclaim angrily, before Cusana cut him off disdainfully……

  "Enough, we do not have time for this. Your suggestion is not without merit, Belia……very well, then, elaborate on this, we need to decided if this option is worth pursuing or not……"

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