"Leaving me unconscious while surrounded was not nice," Lilith complained.
She was back in the vessel she was most familiar with—but not in a place she wanted to be.
"Sure, because you attacking me out of the blue was fine," Gabrielle scoffed.
She was massaging her wrist. Only their souls should have traveled to the higher planes. But it seemed the angel also carried a memory of her pain with her, which served her right.
"Did I attack, though?" the demoness asked. "That's not exactly how I remember."
The heavenly throneroom was bright and spacious as always, but the mood was sour.
Michael wasn't sitting on his massive throne, but he couldn't have been too far, either.
Fighting Gabrielle with him at her back was pointless.
But mocking her? She would have never missed such a chance.
"I told you if you put so much as a scratch on my Konny boy, I'd burn that world down," she said, her voice calm. "Imprisoning him in one of your weird time anomalies counts, too."
"And as I said, it was for his own safety," Gabrielle groaned, tapping her feet against the clouds.
She was nervous, despite the home turf advantage.
What if the other angels weren't rushing to help her after all?
"Safety, huh? After you forced him into serving you," Lilith chirped. "Then the moment you had doubts, you locked him away. This is heaven's tyranny, not my boyfriend's safety."
No, wait, they were already married now. She couldn't help but grin.
"And the fact that you sent him into certain doom on your own copy—"
The archangel's sentence fizzled out, as if she'd only comprehend now what had happened.
"I knew you broke all the taboos, but to think you were a time traveller?!" she yelled, pointing a finger at her. "How could I even miss that? Your future sight should've been a dead giveaway."
The demoness laughed.
"Consider that you might not be as smart as you think," she noted. "Preach free will, but never ask anyone what they want. And now you're surprised I kept a secret from you?"
Gabrielle's jaw hung open.
"S-so you planned to betray us from the start?"
Ugh. Not that she didn't, but she missed the whole point.
"What I'm trying to say is not everything will go your way," Lilith explained. "Yes, I'm a time traveller, but not a willing one. Don't blame me for a sin someone else committed."
"But you could've told me," the angel pointed out.
The demoness raised an eyebrow.
"Why? After you painted me as a villain? This was my insurance, thank you very much. And it came in handy when you tried to take away what was mine."
"H-he is not yours, and it was for his safety," Gabby repeated, but she wasn't convincing anyone.
"Well, we don't want your safety," Lilith said. "He's a grown man, and now he's my husband, too. I freed him thanks to your oversight, and since you no longer need him, let us go."
"I'm not going to do that," the angel yelled. "This only proves that you're both dangerous."
She was about to snap back, but someone else seemed to have had enough of their bickering.
"Shut the fuck up, both of you," Lucifer moaned. He looked like a sleep-deprived otaku with his black wings and dark rings below his eyes. "Did you drag me here to listen to this nonsense?"
He acted cockier than usual—at least in front of his older sibling. But when did he even arrive?
"Where's Michael?!" Gabrielle snapped, ignoring his tone and all the complaints right away.
"He's saving another world, idiot," Lucifer grunted, acting like a rebellious teen.
That was new, and the demoness found it entertaining.
But it was also strange. She didn't need any unknown variables on her chessboard. If the world changed too much without her realising, Konrad might have been in actual danger.
Gabrielle couldn't say a word, either, blinking at her younger brother.
"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, a blush creeping up on her face.
She sure wasn't used to this kind of behavior, always looking down on Lucifer. Lilith knew that well—that was her main weapon when she tried to corrupt the young angel.
But she was never this successful.
"Whatever. Michael won't show up anytime soon, that is all," Lu said with a sigh. "Believe it or not, yours is not the only problematic world. And not even the highest priority."
"Let me guess," the demoness interjected, out of curiosity. "Trouble on Earth again?"
The younger angel ran his fingers through his dark hair before turning to face her. Okay, yeah, he was roleplaying a delinquent, like the ones she only saw in movies. What was up with that?
"It is Earth. And it should've been my task, but—"
Oh, so that's why he was so pissed. Yeah, well, no wonder.
He used to be the guardian angel there, but thanks to his blunder with Konrad?
They must've demoted him. And right when it was about to get busy, too.
"A new demon appeared," Lu claimed once she already thought he'd leave it at that. "She calls herself Kaede or something. It should've been as simple as me banishing her, but—"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Lilith stopped him, rubbing her temples. "Did you say Kaede?"
In the little time she spent on modern-day Earth, she was busy nudging Konrad's life into the right path. She had a knack for picking up new languages at lightning speed, though.
Kaede was a Japanese word like the Green Mage's new name, too.
But this one translated into a plant she was most familiar with.
She burst into laughter, drawing the ire of both angels.
"Looks like the timing was way off," she said, wiping a tear off her face.
"What are you talking about?" Gabrielle demanded.
"You know her?" Lu asked as well, but she wasn't about to reveal this accidental ace right away.
"All you need to know is Michael will never get her," she claimed with confidence. No single angel was a match for her after all. "And I'd expect Meow Midori to show up soon, too."
This drained all color from the archangel's face.
"On Earth? Are they together?!"
Good. They had no idea—and she could play this in her favor.
But she had to be careful.
Too many obstacles in the way of her future-past self could have derailed her present, too.
"They are the worst enemies," she said after a little pondering. "But if they end up fighting on that planet, it might wipe out humanity as a whole. You'd better rush to help your brother out."
Of course, that was a lie. Earth didn't have the mana to support magic in the long run.
A demon lord arriving from another plane would have caused some issues at first. But then?
They would have been a sitting duck.
Lucifer should've known that better than anyone—but his sister did not.
"He cannot leave heaven," Gabrielle protested, still pale and trembling.
No better indicator that she bought it.
"Well, don't let me tell you what to do," Lilith noted, raising her palms in a shrug. "I know a single world's destruction isn't much you'd be sweating over. But Earth, huh?"
"Screw this, I'm going," Lucifer yelled, and before his sister could stop him, he disappeared.
The demoness was alone with the archangel again—and no help was coming.