As Ryo set off, Leticia gave him a slight nod. Then her body gradually lost its color, transforming into a mass of pitch-black shadow that slowly faded until it disappeared completely.
Ryo didn't find this strange in the slightest.
He had known from the beginning that the Leticia who had come here was merely a false body created by her shadow authority, so naturally, he wasn't surprised.
Meanwhile, Rin cursed inwardly, I hope the Heavenly Army discovers who you really are…
As Rin seethed inwardly, Ryo led her out of the fortified cavern.
...
..
The Conference Room—
Sitting in the alliance commander's chair, Leticia breathed a sigh of relief and gently pressed a rabbit-head-shaped button on her desk.
Beep!
"Please let the two honored guests in."
She released the button.
Less than half a minute later, the heavily warded door was gently pushed open, and two figures entered.
Leading them was a woman with long black hair reaching her waist. She wore a layered black dress, intricate without being cluttered.
The moment she entered, she looked straight at Leticia.
And at that moment, Leticia got a clear look at her face.
A vermilion mark adorned the woman's forehead. Her eyes were relatively narrow, and the faint smile playing across her lips gave her an air of inscrutable mystery that instinctively made people wary.
…Maheshvara Shiva.
Leticia silently repeated the woman's name in her mind.
She hesitated for a moment.
Even after the brown-skinned young woman behind Shiva closed the door, Leticia didn't stand. She merely said, "I apologize for not being able to greet you personally due to my duties…"
She hadn't even finished the polite remark when the smiling woman interrupted her. "Save the formalities."
She looked at Leticia. "I remember you. The only surviving remnant of the Little Garden Knights. Tsk, I never expected the World Dragon's plaything from back then to reach this level."
Leticia's breathing caught.
Her expression gradually hardened, and she stared silently at Shiva.
Anyone would have trouble smiling after having an old wound ripped open the moment they met someone.
Seeing this, Mata immediately covered her face with one hand. "Oh, come on. I told you before we came that you shouldn't say anything and let me handle the talking. Why are you always like this? There are limits to how blunt you can be!"
Shiva shot her a sidelong glance. "With your way of doing things, we'd only get dragged into endless arguments. And this matter needs to be handled quickly. Thanks to your delays, our purpose in coming here is probably already obvious to everyone."
"Hmm… Ouroboros is always praising your 'cooperation,' Mata. They even call you the 'Nameless Snake.' In other words, the Ouroboros who never joined Ouroboros."
Mata's entire face darkened.
Wasn't the reason she worked so slowly because there were simply too many problems in Little Garden, and too many conflicts ultimately pointed toward the people at the very top?
When something involved those kinds of figures, how could she dare act rashly?
Even the Heavenly Army wouldn't dare!
Take their current mission to arrest Kalki, for example.
Indra had made his declaration confidently enough, practically overflowing with bravado.
But what happened after they actually captured him? Who exactly stood behind Kalki?
Just the people they already knew about included Krishna, the World Dragon Kurma, and even the Buddha who funded the Heavenly Army from behind the scenes.
If they really arrested Kalki, could they actually deal with that hot potato properly?
She, Prithvi Mata, had been doing her absolute best to handle everything responsibly, and Shiva was still blaming her for it?
Where was the fairness in that?
Seeing Mata's darkened expression, Shiva merely glanced at her. "Fine. Have it your way."
She then walked straight to the center of the conference room, casually summoned a black lotus, lay down sideways on it, and closed her eyes.
Mata sighed helplessly before turning back to Leticia with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Leti-chan. Shiva didn't actually mean to target you."
Before she could finish, Shiva calmly added, "I wasn't targeting you. I was targeting the Little Garden Knights."
Leticia's expression, which had only just begun to soften, changed again. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
Shiva looked at her. "I only wanted to remind you that the Heavenly Army wasn't as innocent as you might think when the Little Garden Knights were destroyed."
Mata's face went pale. "SHIVA!!!"
But Shiva showed no intention of stopping. She simply looked at Leticia and continued in an even tone, "Back then, I was one of the people involved in the plan to allow the veil surrounding Little Garden's outer layer to be opened, exposing the Little Garden Knights, who could not withstand sunlight, to the sun's baptism."
Leticia stopped breathing.
It took her a long while to recover before she finally asked, "…Why are you telling me this?"
Shiva looked at her calmly. "You've reached this level. When the time comes for you to know the truth, you will."
"And in a sense, you have the right to seek revenge against me. I was one of the people who carried out the operation against the Knights back then."
At this point, Mata had already covered her face and given up trying to make sense of anything.
Leticia mulled over those words before asking, "You are a member of Ouroboros?"
"Please put the word 'former'. I already left that troublesome organization yesterday, after completing my infiltration mission."
Shiva made sure to emphasize the point.
Leticia paused. "So can I take that to mean you targeted the Little Garden Knights because you were following orders from Ouroboros's leadership?"
As Leticia finished speaking, her eyes gradually became calm.
That didn't mean she had let go of her hatred.
She had merely drawn it deeper inside herself.
Shiva saw through that immediately and sighed, her tone carrying a hint of weariness. "Wouldn't it be better if you just obediently came after me for revenge? Digging too deeply into the past won't do anyone any good."
Mata finally forced herself to start thinking again and shouted in exasperation, "Shiva! What the hell did you even come here for?!"
Shiva propped her head up with one hand and answered as naturally as if they were discussing the weather, "To collect triple pay for the duration of the mission, obviously."
Mata froze.
Then she rolled her eyes. "Then why stir up trouble by bringing up the Little Garden Knights in the first place?"
Shiva lazily brought her long, slender legs together and answered languidly, "Getting into a conflict with this Little Garden Knight technically falls within the scope of work covered by triple pay."
"But dealing with Ouroboros…" Shiva raised her head and looked at Mata. "...Indra isn't paying me enough."
???
A thousand alpacas were stampeding through Mata's mind.
And just then…
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked twice on the door from outside.
At that moment, Shiva's narrow eyebrows rose slightly, while Mata simultaneously pulled herself together and hid her exasperated expression.
To the senses of both women, the person standing outside the door seemed almost like the embodiment of divine light and compassionate salvation.
…Bright as the sun!
.
.
.