"Damn it!" Lillim cursed as she felt a chill.
"What troubles you Lillim?" Faylorna asked, a bit annoyed by whatever had interrupted their discussion.
"Someone finally questioned his humanity. This complicates matters. What the hell is going on?" Kyubi explained to Faylorna before asking her own question.
"It seems things are about to take a turn. Faylorna, you need to join us or evacuate all your kin back here at least."
"Ha! You think I-"
"Faylorna! I was not asking. I was giving you an ultimatum." Lillim growled, making it clear things weren't as simple as they appeared.
"Does this have to do with..." She made a painfully vague gesture, letting the simple fact of her being unwilling to mention him speak for her.
"Yes.... I think Carl is her child." Lillim snarled more as her arms split and teeth began to grow.
"How can that be!? She died a thousand years ago! That's what caused this damn mess!"
"Do I need to remind you what she was? What her death caused? Do you really think certain characters in this game are coincidence?"
"Lillim, you need to calm down, if you don't you may draw unwanted attention."
"This is my grandson we're talking about, it's bad enough I was used in this story to vilify half-bloods. I can only imagine that I was used to make sure Leanna was under the human's thumbs whilst raising him."
"You think the point of that was to make Carl oppose humans?"
"I remember what was said. That there would be betrayals, I fear Carl isn't meant to be the hero... Or rather the hero's mission changed with everything else."
"If he drags my heir-"
"If he drags Klaire into anything he'd rip himself apart, but I'll rip you apart before you threaten him old friend."
"ENOUGH!" Kyubi shouted as she took her celestial fox form and erected a wall of flame between them. "Killing one another won't help either of them, only make them more vulnerable."
"Indeed Ladies, sorry for the intrusion dear Faylorna." The man spoke as he stepped out of the black mist. He was tall mostly human, but possessing the head of Lion but the jaw of a man.
Dressed in a cuirass and thick trousers of black leather, the same kind as Carl's sleeves. His arms were covered in diseased pustules, connected by thick green veins.
"What can we do for you Nergal?" Kyubi asked with a respectful bow with Faylorna.
"I came to tell you the young ones are doing incredibly well in your absence. With nothing but a hardcopy of immortal treatises I donated and a bit of luck, they outmaneuvered both Tiamat and Bahamut... Unfortunately Tiamat interffered and encouraged him to release his aura."
"She did what!?" Lillim roared as she fully reverted. "I'll skin that damn lizard once and for all!"
"Relax my dear, I was able to contain it, but it covered the entire planet. I liberated the inhabitants of the world while Bahamut liberated those in their immediate area, I don't think they notice me, they were too surprised by being affected by it themselves."
"I thank you. Now, I have a lizard to skin."
"You can't, she has signed a formal alliance with Carl. She was impressed when he stole her omni-flame from her, as well as Bahamut's platinum fire, he also realised he catalogues materials he uses to some degree and is working on mastering it."
"Fine, she can keep her skin. I'm just going to go and remind her what an aura can do so she doesn't make that mistake again."
"Lillim, do I need to order you to stop?" Nergal remained calm, but the chill they all felt was the warning.
"Damn you. Damn Carl, letting her off the hook so easily."
"Not quite. He gave his new daughter her omni-flame, plus the light and dark attributes Tiamat herself lacked and a natural predisposition that made her despise the chromatic queen. Whether he meant to or not, he put a blade against all five of her throats."
"Another daughter? I think he is learning the wrong things from me."
"On the contrary, he is learning everything he needs from you, your priority for now is making the whole faction stronger. Kyubi, your's should be on their spiritual understanding... Faylorna, yours should be doing as Lillim instructed... It was my order after all."
"If you're involved, I can only imagine it's true and he's her daughter." Faylorna growled at being left out, further annoyed when Nergal just casually shrugged.
"Ishtar wasn't my biggest fan, not like she would have told me anything. Aside from our fondness of beasts, it isn't like he has a resemblance to us. Even if he is, he wouldn't care, his mothers are Leanna and Alisha, he would refuse to acknowledge her."
"Fine, I'll do it, I'll recall all my kin for a time. If nothing happens in a month however I will relieve them before it attracts suspicion where there may be none. I can use the impending war with the dragons as a reason."
"Ha! You'll be glad to know the boy put an end to that as well. Carl looked Bahamut in the eye and told him he'd side with you. He stunted the faction's relationship with them, but future diplomacy is still an option."
"So while we've been here, he took the lizards for all he could." Lillim summarised proudly.
"In short yes... Though I came because his opinion of humans has deteriorated further. He is dangerously close to abandoning them. We can't afford for that to happen, if the hero dies or strays, game over."
"Well I personally don't see the problem with him failing to spare this batch, with his abilities, he could just revive the species and start again." Faylorna shrugged.
"No, he can't. Humans weren't the product of grand design, you didn't know this Faylorna?" Kyubi explained
"What do you mean?"
"She means humans were the product of chance and generational evolution, that's why they are assaulted by the world and removed themselves from the natural order. in other words, the reason those people exist is simple, we have no actual authority over humans. The moment we tried to impose on them their species created variants to oppose us." Nergal shrugged, his casual demeanour aggravating her more and more.
"So what you're saying is that we are the reason Carl and Klaire have so much weight on their shoulder?"
"Yes and since we are closest to and still betrayed them, that is why we must all offer assistance."
"If humans can't be created, then how could Carl possibly be Ishtar's son?" Faylorna barked, desperately trying to change the subject.
"Expecting my sister to play by the same rules as the rest of us is pointless and before you ask... Yes, that does mean he might play by different rules too, but I'm not quite ready to risk a genocide on that hunch. I don't think the boy would ever forgive himself anyway, when he actually stopped and saw the blood, I think it would break him."
"You aren't wrong, the boy still feels bad for sacrificing the two beasts he used to create Equinox." Lillim sighed with exasperation.
"Well that's why me and the others created our own rewards to give him on that occasion. We had to help him move on, though I admit, we should have done so in a world where time flows the same as on earth."
"I figured as much. Out of curiosity, do you know when the first conflict will happen? Samael is fighting himself for control, but he doesn't have long left, what about the others?"
"It's hard to say, Dracula is hibernating, but he already lost himself and new developments could spur him into waking soon. The prophet of the elder ones consumed himself in madness and wandered the void, but it is a matter of time until he returns. Pandora is still being held by Cronus, but he is starting to show signs of exhaustion and if Mobius finds them it will be over. I don't know about the others, they are hard to gauge."
"We had better get Carl to where he needs to be then... I will do my best to make him forget about humanity for a while, if any of them appear while he is distracted or still weakened in the aftermath, we won't stand a chance." Lillim said, finally reverting to her human form.
"If needs be, the others and I will intervene, but we aren't a good match for the prophet or Mobius, we're just lucky they discarded all of their resources and tools before they lost." Nergal spoke with enough nervous levity to make them worried.
"I guess I will be joining your faction then..." Faylorna finally sighed. "...I have the best chance of holding Mobius off, he has poor spiritual defence and time doesn't touch me. My kin have grown strong these last generations."
"My daughters have too, with any luck we can stem the tide at least a little, it's the least I can do after I led them in that massacre."
Kyubi smiled teasingly at her and Lillim. "The next generation will be a true marvel too. I have no doubt their children will put even their parents to shame."
"I agree... Providing a certain lecherous fox doesn't get between them and a certain old demon woman gives them a chance to enjoy each other's company." Faylorna ranted, evidently annoyed by the delays the two of them had caused on that front.
"If it happens, it happens. I don't see us interfering in that matter ending well... You should tell them though, when you return, they need to know." Nergal said, turning deadly serious.
"If you want to tell them their child will be taken, you do it. My heir tried taking my head for his sake, she won't fail for her childs... Which reminds me. When exactly did she become divine?"
"It was an unexpected reaction to their marriage.... I think that was a gift from him. He still remembers what her lack of it caused, even if he has done enough to break her heart a thousand times over." Nergal turned to leave, clearly effected by the memory he had drudged up.
"So we stay on plan?" Lillim asked, almost subserviently.
"Yes... See it done." He said before finally disappearing into the mist.