"We can't make any hasty movements, is all," the archangel claimed.
"Excuse me, what?" Konrad scoffed, arms still crossed. "How did we go from 'hurry' and 'you took too long' to 'we can't be hasty'?! Aren't we already under attack?"
"All the more reason to be careful," Lily chimed in. "A lot's going on right now."
Okay? That actually left him breathless.
The freckled demoness he knew sided with her arch-enemy in an argument?!
"The world must be ending soon," Konrad sighed, dropping next to his confused friend. "What happened while I was away? In what, two weeks? Three?"
No. It had to be something more recent.
Last time he talked to Lily, she was still urging him.
"Come on, it's not that bad," the little ginger purred, only to add, "not yet, at least."
But that was still no proper answer.
And for some reason, nobody looked him in the eye anymore.
Which called for a plan B—aka, ask the parallel brain to figure it out.
'Hmm. Nothing from the girl in blue or the little redhead,' she admitted. 'And while Stella is easier to read, I wouldn't recommend that. This girl's a mess. Does she even know that?'
Oh, Konrad definitely did, but expected some improvements in that regard.
'You mean to tell me she was worse?!' Paula scoffed, but he let that one slide.
'How 'bout Eyna?' he urged her instead, nodding at the silver-haired beauty. 'She's no fighter, but handles the administration. If someone, she must know something.'
'The copy girl?' the brain sounded surprised. 'I mean, can try, but—'
"Who?!"
That gave him a pause, saying it out loud by accident.
"Master?" Eyna blinked as well, looking up from her towering paperwork.
'Well, she's an artificial soul,' the voice stated, as a matter of fact. 'Judging from the construct, an angel must have made her—was it the girl in blue? But what the purpose was, it's hard to tell.'
Ugh. Yeah. That Konrad knew.
She was a Martyr made by Gabrielle, but he buried that knowledge so deep, he almost forgot.
'Yeah. Sounds about right. Which begs the question: why would they tell anything to a sacrifice?'
No. She was anything but that.
But now that he thought about it, he might as well have asked the silver-haired beauty himself.
"Eyna, please," he said, his voice a soft, low murmur. "Would you tell me what these women are conspiring about? You're the only one I can trust in Halaima—no. In all Kasserlane."
Was he a bit over the top?
Sure. But that girl was no sacrificial lamb.
She deserved all the sweet words, and—
Feeling the angel's panic and Lily's murderous gaze, they worked out great.
"Um, Master, it's—I'm not supposed to tell you," she muttered, blushing. "But the thing is—"
"No," Konrad stopped her, placing a gentle finger over her lips. "I wouldn't want to get you in trouble. If you're not allowed to say it, that already tells me more than enough."
Not to mention, once he made her think about it, reading her mind became a breeze.
'You're a terrible actor, by the way,' Paula noted, chuckling in his mind. 'But given how your wives look at your back right now, it is definitely a touchy subject.'
'Okay, tell me what you found out, then,' Konrad urged her, and—
Rather than words, the parallel brain offered him the girl's memories and an entire scene.
He couldn't even place it in time at first.
But since they were in the same brand-new office, it couldn't have happened that long ago.
The situation seemed similar, too.
His wives returned from somewhere, collapsing onto the cozy cushions, looking exhausted.
And Eyna, their point of view in this vision, jumped up to greet them, but—
Mere seconds later, a portal opened.
Angels poured into this room, at least a dozen. And not sure why that shocked Konrad, but yeah. Why did he even think that Gabrielle and her brothers would be the only ones?
Anyway. Something odd was going on, but he still couldn't tell what.
The moment the newcomers opened their mouths, all he heard was a sharp, screeching sound.
'If I had to guess, they're talking in Heavenese,' Paula offered, muting their voices. 'Or they scrambled her memories so their secrets wouldn't leak out. But they seem to be arguing.'
'Yeah, I can tell as much,' Konrad thought, trying to make sense of the scene.
The angels were nothing short of hostile, and not only to his first wife, the demoness.
He didn't recall ever seeing Gabrielle look that desperate. And while their meeting lasted about ten to fifteen minutes, Paula had sped up the memory footage.
At some point, the same way the angels arrived—they all disappeared.
Which—well, he couldn't figure much out of those screeches, but it seemed serious enough.
"I won't pry any further," Konrad said as he returned to the present, still looking at Eyna. "It's not your job to explain why angels would appear here and threaten my wives, anyway."
"Excuse me, what?!" Lily snapped, jumping between them again.
"I wouldn't say threatened," Gabrielle sighed, too, trying to play it off, but looked pale. "But you definitely got better at mind-reading and hiding your own thoughts."
Yes. All hail his parallel brain.
But wait—had they not figured it out yet?
'They know I exist, but that was as far as I've let them probe,' Paula answered.
Okay. For now, that was good enough.
"So?" Konrad crossed his arms again, straightening his back. "Who's going to explain me then?"
"Oh, damn," the little ginger scoffed, poking at his chest. "You've been away for a few days, and now you're so much manlier. Can't say I hate it, but let's not forget—"
Her voice trailed off, and she let her thoughts do the talking instead.
Memories. Voices. Images. A dragon. Pain. Her immense power.
And if the goal was to intimidate him, well—
It fucking worked.
He could even feel Paula trembling in his mind, having retreated into the deepest corner.
And that was when he realised it wasn't even meant for him.
But at that point, all he could do was gulp, too.
"That's better," the demoness said with a smirk, caressing his arms. "And remember. Mere angels won't threaten me, either. The problem is that this involves the Old Man, too, but—"
"Lilith," Gabrielle protested, and if possible, she seemed even paler.
"W-Wait. Hold on," Konrad stuttered as well. "By Old Man, you mean—?"
"Yeah, well," the little ginger noted. "When you corrupt one of 'em, even the Alpha and the Omega will show some interest. It only surprised me how fast he caught word of it, is all."
"Ugh, come on," the archangel complained. "Here I am, blocking his mind reading, and you—"
"So the reason we can't do anything," he summarised, blood draining from his face. "Is because God had taken matters into his own hands?!"
What did that even mean?
What did that mean for him, a man who only existed because of a fallen angel?
What did that mean for Halaima, and this entire planet?!
"Oh, we can do stuff," Lily claimed. "But as I said, it won't hurt to be a little more careful."