Implications.
Lots of implications!
Why was there a Trihexa seal here!?
Zekram mentioned seals. I ran into one or two already technically. Though it seems like Pandora's Box was a weaponized version of it? But the seal under the Bastille in the Vatican was most certainly one of the seals he's mentioned.
What I never expected was to find a seal here.
Especially in Japan.
Done right under the nose of their Pantheon.
Izzy said that no one comes here and it's been sealed off for thousands of years, plenty of time for Big G to sneak over and do his thing.
But right at this moment, that wasn't important.
"Odin!" I called out.
"On it!" He immediately sprang into action.
I threw out five talismans, creating the Cycle of Elements, and began to cast every seal I could that wouldn't interfere with one another.
Odin started drawing runes at speeds that made me envious.
There was a Seal of Trihexa here, and it was apparently leaking if the Miasma was anything to go by.
How much longer would it have lasted?
It didn't take long to cover up the parts that were being leaked, as it was a tiny leak compared to what was being suppressed underneath.
We were essentially patching a crack in a dam.
I wasn't sure what else to do.
Was it possible to 'destroy' the bits that were being suppressed here? From what Zekram described, it's not so much that the Trihexa was sending out avatars or something like that. It's that certain places were just susceptible for it to breach into the world, hence the need for seals to prevent that.
If we did 'destroy' this 'piece,' it would just redouble its efforts here, wouldn't it?
Therefore, sealing is the best option.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at Odin.
"Don't think too hard about it." He stated firmly. "Calm down, it's not going anywhere; it's not an immediate concern."
I clicked my tongue because he was right. No need to work myself up over something that wasn't about to blow up in my face if I didn't do something right this second.
Instead, I walked over to Izzy and wrapped my arms around her.
She was upset; that was more than obvious.
"I'm angry."
"I know," I replied.
"Not at you." She added quietly. "But I'm still very angry."
"This was a special spot for you, and someone messed with it." I didn't just to justify it, even if I would guess that Big G had a reason for it.
"I wanted to take you here at some point. It was more than just where I got married previously." She pressed her head against my shoulder. "I think it's like how a mortal would take their other to see where they were born or grew up."
I ran a hand through her hair. "We'll deal with it and turn it back to how it was supposed to be, alright?" I reassured her, not with empty platitudes. It was going to take some time and effort, but it should be possible.
Granted, it's not something that could be done in a short time.
"I am patient." She replied. "When he's back, I will have words with him."
"You get first dibs." I felt my lips twitch.
I felt her let out a long sigh.
She didn't deserve this.
"You know, the stories go that there's supposed to be some kind of divine palace on top of this pillar." I changed gears.
It was obvious what I was doing; she knew it, and I knew it. But even so, she let out a snort and an eye roll.
"I swear, some of the myths you mortals passed down are utterly ridiculous." She shook her head, slowly pulling out of my arms. "Where exactly would someone build a 'divine palace'?" She gestured to the giant rock. "It's a poor location at best. No, it links to Takamagahara, and the 'Divine Palace' exists in 'Heaven.' Thus, on top of it."
"You know, I think it would have helped a lot if, in the records we had, the author just blatantly wrote out that 'Hey, this is a metaphor.'"
It was a stupid joke, but she let out a soft laugh, like a mix of exasperation and tiredness at the situation.
"Why don't I stay back and add some extra things around the area so no one comes snooping around?" Odin offered.
Izzy flashed a faint smile. "Thank you, Odin."
"It's no problem." He waved his hand as if it were an easy thing.
Izzy very clearly wanted to leave, so I happily took her back home.
[Line Break]
Almost immediately, she seemed to relax once we arrived back home.
"I'm going to see if my children are still in the city. I would invite you along, but from the look on your face, I believe you're not finished with certain matters."
"Kiss goodbye?" I asked, knowing she read me perfectly.
A more genuine smile appeared on her face as she leaned in for a quick kiss. "I'll tell the others what happened and that you're still out and about; go handle what you need to."
They really do take good care of me, don't they?
She left out the front door, and I admit I had the urge to follow. Even just being gone a few days, it made me miss all of them a lot. It's my first instinct to make up for lost time and make sure they all get the attention they deserve.
Just a little bit longer, and then I can relax.
With reluctance and perhaps a bit of hesitation, I took the Eye out again.
This thing was giving me another headache, and I hadn't even 'used' it yet. Those 'threads' I saw before—I'm currently working under the hypothesis that they're seals. And there were a lot of them.
Frankly, I'm almost one hundred percent sure that the uses of this Eye weren't to find 'seals.' My instincts told me that this thing was far beyond such a 'simple' use.
Simple being subject, I suppose.
The fact that the Big G in another universe supplied this, planned it, and somehow got it to me to work in this world was…..scary.
A part of me wasn't happy about being a sort of 'pawn' without a say, but I wasn't ungrateful for the assistance it provided.
Regardless, those dreary thoughts were useless right now.
I held the Eye up against my desire and peered into it again. Maybe it was my devil nature that collided with the concept of the eye that resulted in a sort of mental backlash that had my head aching just from peering into it.
But I pushed through the sensation to look at the 'threads' again.
The one from before, I looked at it in particular, and it was less bright, like it had settled down.
I could make several guesses about that, but my attention was immediately drawn elsewhere.
There was a red thread amidst all the golden ones.
It was pulled very far away, perhaps on the other side of the world.
This thing wasn't a GPS; I could only tell the general location.
Somewhere in Europe?
I immediately opened a portal, arriving at a random mountain in Germany. The cold air hit me rather quickly, and I looked around as I made sure no one was nearby and gazed into the Eye again.
All the threads looked tangled and meshed together, all going every which way; if there wasn't something to distinguish this one, it would have been very difficult to actually track down.
I adjusted my direction, following the red line that seemed to be pulsing.
Sweden? It was a lot closer to where I was but still quite a ways off.
Without a second thought, I portaled over to Stockholm, a ways out of the city so no one would see my blatant displays of magic.
The direction of the thread changed this time, indicating that I overshot it.
Somewhere in southern Sweden, if I had to guess.
Instead of portaling, I shot up into the sky and used my fastest speed to fly south as the Thread gradually began to alter my course to keep aligned with it.
Maybe ten minutes later, I touched down near a cobblestone bridge. I was close, but it was a bit harder to find a direction at this point.
I felt a shadow loom over me as I adjusted my direction, trying to find the correct degree.
I looked up to see a rather large troll standing over me.
A glance at the bridge made me realize where it came from.
A troll living under a bridge in Sweden—how cliché.
It was drooling from its mouth like it wanted to eat me.
Ugly little bastard.
The academic part of me wanted to know what separated this one and its ilk from the Fae equivalent. I'm fairly sure that it is one of those native Fae creatures that seemingly attached itself over here.
An old bridge like that—it's a 'link,' a symbol of connecting two separate points. I could write a research paper on why it's important, and it correlates to the whole myth of trolls living under bridges.
However, the other part of me was happy to have something to punch.
"Good evening." I shot my fist up right under its jaw.
You know, it does something for my pride—in a petty sort of way—to see a creature that's probably heavier than a car and perhaps two to three times my height get lifted up off its feet from my blow.
I'm weirdly nostalgic right now as I seem to reminisce about when I was younger and had just started my first journey.
Maybe it was because I was thinking about the Trolls I met in Skyrim, which were admittedly very different.
Alright, don't get distracted.
I walked up to the side of the dazed, prone troll, who was probably wondering what train had just hit him.
"Hello there, I have a question for you." I lightly kicked its head to get its attention. Ah, that was fear in its eyes, a good motivator. I lacked any sort of pity because it very clearly wanted to eat me. "Is there a monument, an old relic, or some sort of natural oddity nearby? Something old, something with a bit of power to it, maybe a seal?"
There was confusion written across its face.
"Nå draugt æska! Mjörkn thull vekk, karl-með-bein!"
Right, I didn't understand a word of that.
Fucking Fae language.
I kicked him again. "English, motherfucker, do you speak it?"
Actually, I am speaking Japanese right now.
Whoops.
It covered its head. "Hröng svætta! Drøt migra dölfarn, wilk hælda krund!"
This is getting me nowhere.
"If you understand, then just point in the direction of what I want."
Surprisingly, it did raise its large hand and point in a direction, a little southwest of here.
Huh, that's helpful.
I lifted the troll up by its arm and tossed him back under the bridge. The small stream and the immediate area where he touched sort of vibrated as he disappeared back to the realm he came from.
I called out Mirage and swung it through the air, cutting the bridge down the middle. That would stop it from coming back over now that the 'bridge' was separated.
Since it helped, I didn't kill it.
Should I have? I don't know, but trolls are basically predators and carnivores; their eating other creatures could be considered the natural order of things.
Or I just don't care much right now, and I'm making excuses.
Either way, I shot off in the direction he pointed with a burst of Shunpo.
I flew past the forest, the trees turning into a blur as I kept moving until I finally felt something at the edge of my senses and realized I had found the spot.
There were a bunch of people there too, and as I got closer, I felt that same miasmic power seeping out.
I didn't bother to hide, nor hide my presence.
I touched down almost right in the middle of the group.
There were about thirty people, different ages and genders, and…were they devils?
My arrival didn't go unnoticed either; it was as if everyone stopped what they were doing to look my way. My eyes landed on a trio of large rocks, weathered by time, and it looked like they had Norse runes written on them.
Part of the inscription was unreadable, but I think it was a warning about a 'Demon.'
That's not ominous at all.
And this was in Sweden, right under Odin's nose. He's also not going to be happy that this is here and he didn't know.
"Why are you all standing around? Get back to work." I flashed my wings as if to disdainfully scold them.
There was a moment of pause, and then gradually, they seemed to listen to me?
[I really can't believe that just worked.] Ddraig commented.
You know, my time in Theatre Club really has paid off recently.
A lot of it is confidence.
People will believe you or listen to you if you just confidently lie to their faces. I would call it human nature, but they're devils. Maybe it's the same thing here?
Well, either way, it gave me a chance to see what they were actually doing.
They were apparently studying the Miasma?
That almost certainly can't lead to anything good.
I think I had a guess as to why the thread was red; someone over here was essentially 'pulling' on it? Like an indicator that a seal was close to breaking?
Hmm.
I snapped my fingers, pointing to one of the Devils with some magical instruments. "You, what's your name?"
The Devil, probably middle class based on his presence? He stiffened a little as I called on him, and the others glanced his way. "Kaizeron, um…Sir."
Jesus Christ.
I'm definitely not letting Venelana name our future children, or at least I'm having veto power over name choices.
"Right, bring me the data you've gathered so far." I waved my hand flippantly, doing my best to act as if he's beneath me.
The others moved around me, doing their jobs, and Kaizeron here brought me a few papers, basically the details of what they've been doing so far.
With my supreme genius-level intelligence, I could deduce that they were trying to use this seal to locate other seals.
I could verify this because it said so in the first sentence on the paper.
Most of the information was nonsense to me, as I was missing a lot of context, but I could parse a few things. This wasn't their first attempt, and they were getting better at it.
I pursed my lips and stored away the papers for later.
"Alright, stop, stop. What are you all doing?" I decided to interject, pointing to a woman who seemed to be leading them. "You, what's your name?"
"Shynara?" The woman answered hesitantly. "What—"
"Where are the barriers? Is this your first time doing research!?" I shook my head in dismay. "Get me three levels of barriers around these rocks; I want everything contained!" I clapped my hands. "Chop chop."
I think it was still funny that they were listening to me.
"What are these instruments? Where are the control samples? Are you testing without a control?" I picked up one of the instruments they were using and threw it behind me. "Start from the beginning."
Just don't give them time to think, really.
"What thaumaturgical foundation are you using to measure resonance?" Because they were basically using the Miasma to try and ping other locations.
"Thaumaturgical Foundation—"
"What magic system are you using, you uneducated baboon!?"
"D-Devil Magic!?"
I grabbed a stack of papers and threw it at the man who answered. "You want to use Devil Magic—dark-aligned magic—to systematically track a dark-aligned energy? Were you dropped on your head as a baby?"
"Sorry, sir!"
"Shy girl, where are you?" I snapped my fingers.
"My name is—"
"Don't care." I cut her off. "I expect five different magic systems tested, do you understand?"
"...yes, sir." She nodded.
"And Kaizeron, where are you?" I looked around, spotting him. "These papers look like they were written by a middle school student! I count at least ten unverified statements; do it again and only use factual statements." I threw the papers at him.
Basically, I just started throwing stuff to get them worked up into a frenzy. Even if they were doing what they were supposed to be doing, I threw something at them.
It's hard to stop and consider certain logical inconsistencies when you have some type of magical measuring device flying towards your head by an irate boss.
"Who set up the barriers?! They're not even filtering outside influence!" I kicked over some type of device about as tall as I was.
There was a table too with various documents and such on it; I flipped it over in a rage.
I would be an amazing boss.
They're being so helpful in basically giving me all their research data and essentially spelling out their whole operations.
Yes, everything was going well.
Except for the teleportation circle that appeared right outside the newly erected barriers.
Boop.
I disrupted Space around it with a casual wave of my hand, and it fizzled before dispersing from a failed anchor point.
Another one appeared a moment later; this time, my little trick didn't work. I could have done something, but it would have been much more obvious and intensive on my part.
A man and a woman stepped out.
The woman—I believe I recognized her as one of those Old Satan idiots. The one still carrying the Leviathan name like it meant something.
The man, though.
All the devils around us stopped what they were doing to bow towards them.
Well, fuck.
He looked around ever so briefly before he noticed me, and his almost bored expression quickly changed to a big smile. "Hello." He said rather warmly. "I certainly didn't expect to see you here. I wasn't prepared for our first meeting to be like this."
"Don't mind me, I'm just the hired help, no one important." I cheerfully replied, playing dumb.
Clearly, my acting skills would continue to see me through here.
He chuckled. "You're Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg." He named me, and all of the devils were staring at me in surprise. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I'm Rizevim Lucifer, and it is an absolute pleasure to finally meet you."
[Line Break]
A/N
Wilhelm and Rizevim finally meet.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.on.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name
Check out my Snippets if you havn't already, you can find them through my profile on Questionable Questing and Webnovel.