Layla was casually strolling through what seed to be a museum floor of the East Tower of the Administrative Complex, moving from one frad picture to the next, each one displaying a na and biography of its subject, famous existences across Nienope, godslayers who had risen to prominence over the last 80 years, along with the portraits of its Counciln.
Just as she arrived at Stelan’s portrait, the door to the hallway opened, and she turned her gaze toward it to see an unfamiliar man standing in the doorway.
He was fairly tall, with salt and pepper hair, chiselled facial features, a neatly trimd beard, and dark-blue eyes.
He glanced at her with a look of confusion, then lowered his gaze to the shadow her body cast across the floor, his eyebrow raising in light surprise.
That reaction alone was enough to let Layla know that he’d noticed Number Two in her shadow, and the maid/bodyguard instantly went on alert, her agitation reaching Layla and confirming her initial suspicion that this man wasn’t to be underestimated.
The enormous well of demonic energy within him made his race clear, and after studying the law energy he emanated for a mont, Layla spoke in a calm tone.
"I do have a bit of an affinity for darkness myself, enough that for the longest ti I thought it was my main affinity, and that allows to sense that your darkness carries a corruptive effect—no, corrosive would be the accurate word, wouldn’t it?
If that’s the case, then you must be Demon King McEnda II. Pleasure to et you."
She placed one hand in front of her chest and bowed lightly as she introduced herself.
"I’m Layla Eryth, daughter of Hell’s Grand Duke of Pride."
At that, the man at the door, Jack McEnda II, as she’d correctly guessed, seed to smile as he stepped inside and spoke.
"Daughter of a Grand Duke, huh?"
His gaze moved down to her shadow once more before he added, "Sohow the daughter of Hell’s Grand Duke seems to have more security than its Prince."
Hearing this, Layla shrugged lightly before replying.
"Arthur’s a bit of a special case, and the circumstances surrounding his departure from our universe were different. But you should know that he’s nowhere near as insecure as he may have seed."
McEnda paused at that, recalling the events of 80 years prior and the multiple brushes with death Arthur had, along with the absurd ways he’d managed to survive, and he eventually nodded.
"Fair point," he muttered as he stepped forward once more and glanced at the portraits on the walls.
"I got a report that Arthur was around, and since I happened to be nearby, I decided to drop in for a visit. But when I arrived, instead of Arthur, I found a bunch of unidentified Deities inside the tower he uses as his ho on this planet. Curious, I decided to check them out."
Hearing him state the reason for his presence, Layla raised an eyebrow.
"And I suppose I’m number one on your checklist?"
"Of course," McEnda answered. "You’re on a lower floor than your spirit loved friend."
He looked upwards as he said that, his gaze fixed on the part of the top floor where Nicole was.
At the sa mont, Undine, who was with Nicole, sensed the man’s gaze imdiately and shot a wary look back in his direction.
McEnda II chuckled lightly at that, tucking his hands into his pockets as he walked up beside Layla and glanced at the picture she was standing in front of.
"Stelan Adrovach, huh? Arthur’s lucky to have found a competent subordinate who didn’t betray him despite how long he was gone."
At his words, Layla moved her gaze down to the biography written below the picture, skimming it as she spoke.
"I’m not too familiar with the situation here, but since he was introduced to as Arthur’s Regent, I can see what you an.
Placing a Regent and leaving the universe for extended stretches would definitely sow the seeds of betrayal. The Regent might want to take all the power while their Lord is away, but this one didn’t.
I suppose that’s partly because of your existence. Or rather, the... what were they called again? The 72 Demon Kings?"
She glanced up at him when she asked that last bit, and McEnda nodded in affirmation.
"True. Our existence did play a role in Adrovach’s choices. But it doesn’t change the fact that he was wise enough to properly weigh his options and choose the winning side."
"That, I can agree with," Layla said, nodding once.
McEnda stepped to the side, moving to the next portrait on the wall, and as he read the description beneath it, he continued speaking.
"I have to say, you’re a rather impressive young lady. Arthur never ntioned you, at least not to . He might’ve spoken of you to Jamie and Evan, maybe even my son."
The mont she heard him say ’my son’, Layla rembered Arthur’s narration of his first ti in Valmone.
"McEnda the Third, right?"
"Yes," McEnda II replied. "We may be business partners, but Arthur’s much closer to my boy than he is with . I suppose that’s only natural since they’re in the sa age range."
Layla shook her head when she heard his words, walking to the next picture as she spoke.
"I’m not so sure about that anymore. Arthur’s been to other universes where ti doesn’t flow the sa way it does here, and he’s lived through a lot more years, so who knows if he’s really in your son’s age bracket anymore."
"Fair point. But I digress," McEnda continued. "I was saying that you are a rather impressive young lady. At the very least, you possess a level of power that far surpasses many beings your age.
I, for example, definitely wasn’t a Low-Tier Deity at your age."
Layla glanced at him in the corner of her vision, then returned her gaze to the picture of the unknown councilman as she replied.
"I was born into privilege, and I took advantage of that privilege with effort. The result is what you see now."
"Privilege, huh? A fitting choice of words," McEnda said as he looked ahead down the hall and saw that the only picture left was Arthur’s.
"Well, I’m done with what I ca here for."
He turned around and began walking toward the exit.
"But as I said earlier, I ca here for Arthur. Would you happen to know where he is?"
To this question, Layla pointed to Stelan’s picture beside her and replied, "According to him, Arthur headed off to the Abyss Labyrinth."
McEnda imdiately frowned at that response, then sighed and shook his head.
"Why the hell is he going to that hellhole again?"
He continued his pace to the exit, but right as he opened the door, he froze, turning around and looking right at the other door on the opposite end of the hall.
Layla turned upon noticing his actions, her eyes widening lightly when she saw a bead of sweat drip down the man’s forehead.
"Well, well, well... And here I thought the two Race King-level Deities were the only ones we had to watch out for," McEnda said as he took a deep breath and turned around.
"I guess that’s more ammo for to use against the faction that wants to take over the godslayers since Arthur’s hasn’t been around much."
He stepped out of the room with those words, and Layla, glancing at the door he’d been staring at, questioned aloud.
"What was he on about?"
Her rhetorical question received an unexpected answer, the voice coming from the other end of the door where she couldn’t sense any presence.
"He noticed my presence, that’s what he was on about," said the tall, black-haired woman who stepped in with her hands in the pockets of her grey joggers while her eyes of the sa shade moved across the space.
"Another picture room, huh?"
"..."
Layla took a mont to catch her breath, and as the woman walked in her direction, she greeted her.
"You must be Lady Berlal, right? Nice to et you, I’m La—"
"Layla Eryth. I already know. Arthur spared no words talking about you," Berlal interrupted while glancing at the godslayer’s photo on the wall.
"He spared no words, you say?"
Layla raised an eyebrow at the words Berlal spoke, and without taking her eyes off the picture, Berlal responded.
"Your na was the one that ca out of his mouth the second most tis."
"And I’m assuming Nicole was first?" Layla asked.
"Nicole?" Berlal echoed as she finally turned to her. "If you an the Devil with the Genesis power, then yes."
But rather than the number of tis Arthur spoke of Nicole, Layla was more focused on the way Berlal described Nicole’s ability.
"Genesis power? Is there sothing to it besides the ability to control virtually all types of water?"
"Control? The word ’Genesis’ ans ’Origin’, and you speak of her ability as sothing based on ’Control’ and not ’Creation’?"
Berlal’s question left Layla silent for a mont, and then she nodded.
"Fair point. It seems we’ve failed to properly understand her power," she said.
But Berlal imdiately refuted that statent while walking toward the other end of the hall.
"The person in question likely understands this. If she didn’t understand this basic fact, then the Authority granted by her Origin Core wouldn’t have a ’Unique’ modifier attached to it."
"I see. Makes a lot more sense why she said she needed the law of Creation," Layla said, earning a slight nod from Berlal.
Berlal then looked at her and spoke, "You also seem to possess the power of Creation, which is quite a stark contrast to Arthur’s Destruction."
"Close friends with polar opposite attributes," Layla muttered, and Berlal added, "The cosmos’ practical jokes."
"Creation, huh?" Layla muttered again, raising her palm and swirling a ring of dark green energy around it.
As she did this, Berlal turned her gaze from the line of glass windows opposite the pictures on the wall and asked, "You seem worried about Arthur, perhaps because of his weakness to creation?"
Layla nodded almost instantly.
"Yes, I am. I understand that the power of Creation is even harder to co across than Destruction, especially a source strong enough to seriously harm soone like Arthur.
However, as you said, the cosmos plays practical jokes. One’s chances of encountering what they’re weak to tend to rise when they least expect it or at the worst possible mont.
That’s why I’m worried that Arthur has such a glaring weakness that anyone with even basic knowledge of universal law synergy could figure out."
"And you aren’t worried about yourself?" Berlal asked. "While I wouldn’t say you’re as weak to destruction as Arthur is to creation, given the difference in potency of your affinities, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re still weaker to destruction than to any other attribute, including light."
Layla’s darkness affinity, while not as strong as her creation, was still fairly potent, which made light a weakness of hers. But because of the relationship between creation and destruction, soone using destruction laws would have an easier ti against her than soone using light.
"True, I won’t deny that I have a weakness for destruction," Layla replied. "But I’m more worried about Arthur. His potent destruction affinity makes him even more vulnerable to creation, to the point that with a casual burst of energy I released half-jokingly, I was able to harm him and draw blood, even though he’s almost an entire Existence Realm above ."
Turning to Berlal and eting her eyes, Layla added, "That’s very concerning. So much so that before I can even think of a way to counter my own weakness to destruction, I start worrying about Arthur finding a way to counter his weakness to creation."
"Counter, you say?" Berlal repeated, a flicker of rembrance in her eyes.
"Arthur ntioned having a plan to counter his weakness to creation, though he hasn’t shared the details.
Personally, I think weaknesses are ant to be overco, not countered.
With the potency of Arthur’s destruction affinity, I don’t think it’s possible for him to completely eliminate his weakness to creation. What I do believe is that he can reach sothing similar to what my siblings and I have—making creation no longer a weakness, but just sothing he has lower resistance to than everything else."
Layla blinked, slightly confused, and after a mont asked, "...is there any difference?"
"Yes. There’s a big difference between a weakness and sothing you simply have lower resistance to than average," Berlal replied.
"The wording matters when it cos to coining your personal understanding of universal laws. But I digress. I was talking about how I believe weakness is sothing to be overco, wasn’t I? That’s a belief my siblings share as well."
Berlal walked closer to the windows, peering through dinsions and into the Abyss Labyrinth as she spoke.
"Arthur has been under our tutelage for 43 years, and he shows no signs of adopting or even agreeing with that belief. Unfortunately, so of my siblings are rather rigid, and I worry that in the coming days, they might try to impose so of their beliefs onto Arthur."
Layla’s eyes imdiately narrowed, her expression tensing as she asked, "Wait, what do you an?"
"What I an is simple," Berlal replied. "There’s a non-zero chance Wyndella will try to force Arthur to overco his weakness to creation."
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