The Simulacrum ~Chapter 195~ Part 1

The conclusion of our final battle, and by proxy, scenario, had a profound effect on my rather huge circle of friends and acquaintances. For the ones directly involved with the battle in the crater of the late Castle Shamash, pretty much everyone experienced a deep sense of enervation. It wasn't surprising; all that travelling, fighting, and narrowly avoiding the literal end of the world (in more ways than one) clearly drained everyone, and now that the tension was gone, they all deflated all at once.

In contrast, the people left out until the very last second were in a veritable frenzy, as if trying to catch up to the rest of us in effort and make up the difference by giving their one hundred and ten percent. Because of that, the hotel where we were staying got transford into a temporary headquarters, with the whole floor serving as the heart of the entire Abyss occupation apparatus. I still wasn't too happy about that one, but I was also part of the first group, and too tired to get up in arms about it. I had to pick my battles, and there were lots of other things to argue about. Such as…

"No," I stated firmly as I glared at the holographic face hovering over the crystal ball sitting on the table in the middle of the hotel room. "We aren't burying secret nukes under the castles 'just in case'."

"But Lord Archon…"

I interjected with a soft, "nsah?" making the ex-Director on the other end fall silent. "I had a rough day, and I don't have patience for this. Don't make go over there in person."

"I… understand, Lord Archon." That seed to be the end of it, but then just as I was about to move on, he readjusted his glasses and asked, "What about seismic charges? We could make the damage localized to infrastructure, and—"

"Sumboulos Dolion nsah." He flinched when a new voice joined our call as Judy leaned over so that the communicator would show her face. "I recomnd you don't test the Chief's patience today, or he might just throw you into the Sun."

"… taphorically, or…?"

"Literally," she stressed. "Very literally."

"I…" he hesitated for a second, but eventually inclined his head and backed down with a quiet, "Understood. I shall follow the Lord Archon's wishes."

One more nod later, he finally cut the connection and his semi-transparent, scan-lined head disappeared.

I turned to my girlfriend and said, "Thanks, Dormouse," followed by a considerably more annoyed, "He's going to try to plant so bombs anyway, won't he?"

She agreed with a deadpan, "Guaranteed," making groan.

"It's like herding cats with these guys."

Elly let out a cute giggle on my other side, while I leaned back and exhaled a long sigh. The three of us were sitting on the generously padded green couch next to the aforentioned table. In fact, there were over half a dozen Celestial communication orbs lined up in front of us, one for each 'theater of war', as the ex-Directors put it. Things were proceeding relatively smoothly so far, but as the de-facto head of Elysium and the Ordo Draconis, they would occasionally contact to ask for my advice and/or permission.

"Maybe I should be happy that he even had the sense to ask, instead of just booby-trapping the Abyss and only telling about it later," I quietly mused at first, then turned to Elly. "What were we talking about before we got interrupted?"

I had already brought the girls up to speed with the latest developnt, though trying to explain the business with the Ergents, my origins, and the multiple layers of -s I had wasn't easy. I had a feeling it would take weeks of repeated discussions before we were all firmly on the sa page.

As for my princess, instead of replying to the question directly, she abruptly caught in a bear hug and squeezed hard enough to knock the breath out of .

"I can't believe you got eaten! It must've been so scary!"

"It's lucky you got better, or I would've been really mad," Judy spoke next while poking my shoulder with her forefinger, but then she turned to my other girlfriend and continued in an imperceptibly more contemplative tone. "But speaking of scary, at one point you got literally beheaded."

"That's not that scary," my princess responded with a careless shrug that tugged on , courtesy of still being trapped in her hug. "Before Leo, we've been fighting the Brotherhood for centuries. Being cut with swords is… what's the idiom? Occupational hazard?"

"Close enough," I said, but my attention was still focused on Judy.

Elly taking things in stride was nothing new, and while she was shocked by it in the mont, since she didn't actually suffer any injuries, I could see how she could shrug it off. It wasn't like all the other battles she fought were safe, so she was already used to imminent danger of death, and this one wasn't even 'real', so to speak. The only reason she was even aware of her 'would be beheading' and the narrative tug-of-war between Benjamin and was my ring anchoring her and letting her perceive continuity-altering shenanigans.

However, she wasn't the only one; Judy had a ring too, and Benjamin targeted her more than he did Elly, so I was more worried about her.

"What about you, Dormouse?"

"Right!" The princess finally let go and leaned around to look Judy in the eye. "You did get fireballed once, and then there was that ti the ground exploded, and… I think there was one more? I couldn't see it well."

"It was more startling than anything. And it didn't really happen, so it's fine," Judy insisted, but then after a several seconds long beat, she softly added. "At least it's not bothering right now, because we're busy, but… can I ask you to sleep with tonight? Just in case."

Before I could respond, Elly practically climbed over and caught my dear assistant in another (though this ti slightly more delicate) bear hug.

"Awww! Don't worry! I'll make sure to hold your hand all night and punch all the bad dreams away!"

"How would you even…?" Judy started, but seeing her enthusiasm, she soon gave up and turned back to . "I didn't have it the worst. At least I didn't keep exploding."

"Right." Elly let her go and sat down between the two of us, as true to her word, she was already holding Judy's hand. "There was this part where Josh kept bursting into flas. What was that about?"

"Just Benjamin being a dick," I answered with a slight shrug. "At least he doesn't rember any of it."

"Right. Because no rings," my princess concluded, and now that she said it out loud, it made realise sothing for the first ti.

"What about the class rep?"

"What about her?" Elly blurted out, but then her eyes opened wide. "Right! You gave her a ring too!"

"The Chief had Michael give her a ring, yes," Judy insisted. "Unfortunately, it seems Noir took it from her when she was captured."

"Riiight…" I crossed my arms with a shallow sigh. "I really should've just added the enchantnt to her Magiforr, and… No, wait. Crowy took that too, didn't he?"

Judy responded with a deadpan, "He sure did."

"Figures. I guess I'll have to make a replacent. And a replacent ring, too." I threw my head back, and this ti, I let out an outright groan. "Worries for later."

Judy agreed with a soft hum, while the princess just kept hugging her in silence. I let the mont linger for a while, and just when I was about to move the conversation along, soone knocked on our door.

"Polemos? May we co in?"

That was Savir, but who was the other person in that 'we'? I could've checked with Far Sight, but what was the point when a simple, "Sure, co in," did the trick just as well?

The only entrance to the hotel room opened at once, and in walked the ex-Director, this ti without her silly power armour ensemble. She still had the toga, though. She nodded to as soon as our eyes t, but then, when she noticed Judy by my side, she nodded again, this ti so hard it beca more of a shallow bow. Was she still traumatised by what happened during our impromptu Elysian beach episode, I wondered. Good.

Moving on, I was more curious about the one accompanying her. The Matron, clad in a fresh black dress in place of the one that got singed, torn, and otherwise damaged during the battle, was even more sour-faced than usual. As soon as soone closed the door behind her (again, I never bothered to check, but I was two hundred percent sure it was one of the newbie praetorian guards), she levelled a flat stare at .

"Peacemaker."

"Address the Archon and his wives properly."

Judy interjected with a deadpan, "Fiancées, but go on," and Savir did a semi-bow again.

"Do you have sothing to report?" I asked, and as soon as she straightened her back, the ex-Director made a sweeping gesture towards the older woman.

"As a matter of fact, I most certainly do!" she declared with a smug smirk. "Do you happen to rember what I told you in private during our eting back in Elysium?"

"… You have to be a bit more specific than that."

"The matter of Her Grace Deus's biological parentage," she exclaid, the smug smirk never leaving her face. "Allow to refresh your mory."

"A mont," Judy cut in as she hastily untwined her fingers from Elly's, and she took out her notebook, more than two-thirds filled by this point. She tapped her stubby pencil against it, then uttered a plain, "Proceed."

Savir dutifully waited for her, then started as soon as she gave her the green light.

"We discussed how Her Grace's mother died due to an unfortunate accident not long after childbirth." The Matron flinched when she heard that, but Savir didn't notice. "I also ntioned that her only known, living relative is her grandmother, who was unavailable for questioning at the ti, and…"

"Stop, say no more, I got the gist of it," I interrupted with my palm showing, followed by a brief facepalm. "Goddamit, Fulgor."

"Pardon?" Savir whispered in mild confusion, but I quickly dismissed her.

"Never mind, I'm just lanting our worldbuilding." I turned to the old woman next. "Matron? Am I to take from this that you're Angeline's grandma?"

She flinched again and let out a decidedly displeased harrumph.

"I scarcely think this situation warrants such a flippant description, but I'm led to believe that it is indeed the case."

Ugh. There was no way in hell I was going to deal with two people doing the whole extra-emphasis-on-words thing, so I addressed Savir again.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Since it's a personal topic, I'd like to discuss it with the Matron in private, so you're dismissed."

"Wait!" Savir blurted out in a hurry. "That's not why I brought her here!"

"It's not?" Elly asked with her head tilted. "Then why?"

"Because she's, by Elysian Law, a deserter and traitor! Yet, since she claid diplomatic immunity, I brought her in front of you for your deliberation."

In other words, she wasn't sure what to do with her after I declared her an ally back in the crater, and now she was passing the ball back into my court. Typical.

"Yes, very thoughtful of you, Savir. A bit misguided, but I love the initiative. I'll take it from here, and as for you…" I pondered for a while, but then shrugged. "Eh, let's go with the carrot and the stick approach. Dormouse?"

"Yes, Chief?"

"As our unofficial collector of politically and personally embarrassing secrets, do you think this warrants the erasure of one or two?"

"Hm. Maybe one," my dear assistant noted with her pencil tapping against the notepad once again. "I believe I can justify removing the evidence of her magical nose-job from the files."

"Splendid. Please, do so as soon as we're back ho."

"Excuse ?" the Matron spoke up with a brow raised high. "Evidence of what?"

"Never mind, never mind," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand and then turned back to Savir again. "Please return to your duties. Dismissed."

She obviously had sothing on the tip of her tongue, but after glancing between Judy and , she swallowed it and took a step back.

"As you command, O Archon."

Then she turned on her heels and left the room with a rather dignified, if also a bit chanical, gait. As soon as the door closed behind her, I exhaled hard and muttered an exasperated, "Finally," and then pointed at the Matron. "Please, take a seat. We really do need to discuss this."

"Ah? Should I ask for so snacks?" the princess chid in with a question, but the Matron quickly declined before she could gather any steam.

"That will not be necessary. I'm not in the mood for such trivialities right now."

"Fair," I noted, then quickly tented my fingers and assud my classic mastermind position. "So? What's your story?"

"Blunt, as always." The Matron shifted in her seat and looked in the eye. "I was born in Migdál Iodes into a military family with a long service record in the Elysian Kruptós, and because of my upbringing, I…"

Oh, crap. When I asked about her story, I didn't expect her to actually tell her whole life story! Especially not from the beginning. But interrupting her at this point would've been just rude, so…

"Hey? Leo?" My imdiate rescue ca in the form of a knock and a voice coming from the other side of the door. "Do you have a minute?"

"Yes, co in!" I called out in a hurry, much to the Matron's annoyance.

A mont later, Josh waltzed into the room, much to the Matron's even much-er annoyance. He was in his new getup, with the mixture of white, red, and black, and while his wings weren't out right now, I was pretty sure they would've still been a vibrant crimson instead of the usual angelic gold. He stopped as soon as he ca into the living room and noticed the old woman on the sofa.

"Oh. I didn't expect her to…" He pointed a thumb behind his back over his shoulder. "I ran into the annoying lady in the toga on the way here, so I didn't think you had other guests. Should I co back later?"

"No, no. Your timing is perfect," I placated him as I quickly rose to my feet. "Let's go and talk on the balcony. Girls? Can I leave this to you?"

Elly was a bit whiplashed by the developnt, while Judy only nodded and shifted a bit on the couch so she would be facing the Matron. "Sure. You ntioned sothing about your upbringing?"

"Yes, I…" the old woman hesitated while I hurriedly sidled over to Josh and guided him towards the back of the room, where the glass door opened to the small balcony.

As soon as I was outside, I let out a relieved breath and told him, "Your timing is impeccable. You just saved from an info-dump."

"You're… welco, I guess?" He eyed with a critical look, then glanced over his shoulder at the girls and the Matron still inside. "Was the old hag bothering you with so—?"

"Wait, hold on, ti out!" I blurted out with my hands in a T-position. I also glanced inside, but she was already engaged in discussion with Judy, so she probably couldn't hear him. I let out a pent-up breath and put my hands on the handrails. "Listen, pal. Take this as a friendly advice: you really need to be careful about your image with the Matron."

"Why?"

"Because otherwise it's going to bite you in the ass, big ti." He still wasn't convinced, so I let the cat out of the bag. "It seems like she's related to Angie."

"… Oh. That's a…"

"Yeah. Family relations getting dramatically revealed at the last second is really weird and disconcerting. Ask how I know."

"Would you mind if I didn't?"

"Not at all!" I declared with a smile, then adopted a slightly more serious look. "So? What's bothering you?"

"First of all, this." He pointed at himself, or rather, his new transford state and the outfit that ca with it.

"Looks stylish enough," I joked, but he wasn't very receptive. "What's the problem with it?"

"It's not going away." He flexed his hand, causing a flash of red light to coalesce around his forearm, only to dissipate just as quickly. "The capsule should've worn off by now, but I'm stuck in this…" He paused and wiggled his fingers a few more tis, causing more subtle magical flashes. "Abyssal? I think it's Abyssal."

"Obviously."

"Yeah, but…" He pulled his hand back, but only so he could fold his arms. "I was too busy trying to survive and stop the world from ending and stuff, so I didn't have the ti to pay much attention to this, but… Why the hell am I an Abyssal now?"

"Oh, that's simple. You ate Sebastian's blood pill. He's a full dragon, and then you got a big dose of Deus, who's a full Celestial. Add those two together, and you get an Abyssal. It's like supernatural genetics, or sothing."

"Dude, how did you know that I…?" He stopped and then shook his head. "Never mind. Let's say that I accept that, but why am I still an Abyssal even now?"

"Oh, that's probably because of the whole prophecy thing," I answered off-handedly. "You know? The part about the Herald absorbing the power of the Abyss?"

"But I'm not doing that!"

"Of course you do. Sillu?" There was no response, so I called out again, "Hey, Sillu? I know you can hear ."

Or… could he? The omniscient narration from back then didn't quite say that, but Grimmy could hear when I called out to her in the presence of the class rep, so he should also—

"What do you require, descendant of Polemos?"

Without any fanfare, the pale red hologram of a man casually appeared on the other side of the balcony's handrails and floated over the busy street below. He looked just like my homunculus version did during the retcon, just with a fancy toga and a rather dry disposition.

"Ah, here you are." I didn't bother with niceties and just pointed at Josh. "He's still connected to the Mana Well Network, right?"

The hologram-spirit-whatever narrowed his eyes at in displeasure, yet dutifully answered all the sa.

"Yes, the Nagiru is still connected to the Nine Altars."

"Thank you, that's all we needed to know." I turned back to Josh and made a casual gesture with my hand. "There. That's the long and short of it."

My friend continued to eye suspiciously, and he even sent a sideways glance at Sillu before his attention finally settled on again.

"And that's the other thing. Since when did you know about Sillu and the real aning of this whole Herald thing? Was everything really going according to so sche of yours?"

I couldn't really bla him for being so suspicious, so if it made him feel a bit better, I decided to co clean with him for once.

"Honestly, not at all. My original plans were completely dashed, and I had my hands full with my own situation that made Crowy and his stuff small potatoes in comparison."

"… Dude. If we didn't stop him, he was gonna destroy the Abyss! And cause an extinction event… I think?" He scratched the back of his head and muttered, "I was kinda out of it at the ti, but I swear Judy said sothing about a kaboom as big as the ones that killed off the dinos."

"Precisely," I said as I nodded along. "And what I was dealing with was even bigger. Imagine that." As soon as I said that, I shook my head. "Actually, no. Don't imagine it. Just… Just know that I couldn't have dealt with things on my end if you didn't beat Crowy on yours, so it was a good hustle. You really bailed out with that."

"Erm… Thanks, I guess?" He remained silent for a beat, then hesitantly asked, "So, is this it? Is the world officially saved now?"

"Yeah. We did it."

"We did, huh? That's kinda cool, actually."

This would've been a nice bonding mont if it hadn't been imdiately interrupted by Sillu, still hovering outside with a sour look on his face.

"Nagiru. If you're done talking with the descendant of Polemos, I urge you to return to the Emperor's side. The vile betrayer is attempting to indoctrinate him even as we speak."

"The vile what?" I blurted out, while Josh's brows imdiately descended into a scowl and snapped at the hologram man.

"Hey! I told you to stop calling Deus that. She's my girlfriend, and…" His mounting montum ca to a screeching halt as soon as the word 'girlfriend' left his mouth, and he turned to again. "Right. That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about."

I had a bad feeling about this, but I wiggled my fingers to have him continue.

"You see…" He started, but faltered again, and gulped hard. "So, the thing is, I need advice. You see, the whole thing with Deus has been weird for a while. I an, you know? It hasn't even been that long since Angie stopped calling her 'grandpa', and then stuff happened in that Coepi Urbs place, and… erm…"

"And?" I prompted him again, against my better judgnt.

"We kinda ended up kissing during the battle. I an, it was under pressure, but it was still, like, a proper kiss, with both of us consenting and stuff, and… How do I put this? Since then, Deus has been way more… clingy than usual."

"It hasn't even been that long," I pointed out with a small frown settling on my brows. "Just a couple of hours."

"Yeah, that's my point. She's waaay clingy already. I an, I think she thinks we're dating now."

"… Are you?"

"I dunno, man!"

I waited for a beat, but when he didn't continue, I asked, "What does Angie think about it?"

"That's the even weirder part! She seems to be really into it, saying how she feels much better now that we're all together and both she and Deus are in sync and they feel the sa way and all kinds of sappy stuff!"

"... Okay. Noted. Where do I co into the picture?"

Josh looked at like I was dumb, and he spelt out, "Dude? You're the one with the two girlfriends! If anyone can give advice, it's you!"

I wanted to snap right away, but I held it in, took a deep breath, and responded in a more diplomatic, "Listen, pal. I'm not doing relationship advice stuff anymore."

"Oh, co on, man!"

"Nono, I'm serious," I told him with a palm showing. "I think you've already got things mostly figured out; I don't want to ddle."

"But I haven't got it 'mostly figured out'! That's why I'm asking for help!"

He sounded unusually frantic, but I was firm in my resolve not to ddle. In fact, I swore that I wouldn't touch Josh's odd body-sharing triang-relationship drama with a ten-foot pole, and I wasn't planning on walking back on that now. It was all about the principle. That said, he leaving a friend in trouble also didn't sit well with , so after so rumination, I decided to throw him a bone. Reaching out, I patted him on the shoulder and spoke in a calm, level voice.

"Chill out, pal. It's all new and weird right now, but consider that you've just been through a cataclysmic battle of epic proportions. You're both high-strung and tired, and maybe there's even so suspension-bridge-effect is in play as well."

"Suspension-what?"

"I'll explain that later." I patted his shoulder even harder. "For now, just relax, sleep on it, and work it out with a clearer head and fresh eyes tomorrow."

"That's… Actually, that's probably not a bad idea," he admitted, and then slouched his shoulders. "I was hoping for sothing more concrete, but I'll take it."

Then, as soon as he said that, he suddenly manifested his crimson wings, making reflexively pull back my arm.

"What's that about?" I asked, and he made a vague gesture towards the building.

"We're staying on the upper floor. I slipped away, saying I was going to the loo. I can get back to our room quicker this way."

"You had to slip away?"

"I told you. She's reeeally clingy today."

I couldn't say anything to that, so I just wished him the best of luck with an encouraging smile, and then he flapped his wings and disappeared from the balcony, along with his red hologram, and… Oh. I just realised sothing. If Sillu worked the sa way as Grimmy, it ant he was present twenty-four-seven, and watching. Which ant…

"Yeah, it's just a question of ti before Josh cos back to complain about the lack of privacy…" I grumbled as I returned to the living room and got imdiately flagged down by Judy.

"Great timing. Chief, co over here, please."

"Coming, coming."

As soon as I reached the couch, Judy showed her notes (not that I could read them from this distance) and told , "We made a significant discovery."

"Very significant!" Elly chid in, looking oddly excited.

"… I'm listening?"

My dear assistant pulled her hand back and looked at her notes before stating, "Once we're ho, I have to redo the whole relationship chart."

"You have a relationship chart?" I asked in the spur of the mont, and she gave a look that said I was silly for even asking. "Never mind. So? What did you find?"

"To summarize, the esteed Matron Tsarah Calypso had two daughters. The older daughter followed in her footsteps and joined the Celestial Intelligence Division's spy program. She was sent on a honey-trap mission that led her to the Abyss, so Matron Calypso followed her to provide support while leaving her younger daughter, who was still a minor at this ti, in the care of an old friend."

That… sounded suspiciously like an info-dump, but for the ti being, I maintained a professional attitude and nodded along.

"But then, but then!" Elly cut in, eager to share the story, "Her daughter t soone in the Abyss, and they fell in love!"

"More importantly," Judy said, grabbing the reins of the conversation again, "When Matron Calypso decided to support her daughter's decision to stay with her lover instead of following the mission, they were declared traitors and couldn't leave the Abyss."

"Also," the princess chid in again, as if competing with my other girlfriend, "Because of that, her other daughter had to leave Elysium, she started traveling the world, and then she also had a baby! But then she died, and the baby was put up for adoption by the Celestials, and she ended up on Critias!"

"And that one's Angie," I guessed.

"Yes, but the other daughter's fate is more interesting," Judy noted with just a hint of anticipation in her otherwise deadpan voice that made involuntarily raise my guard. "The man she fell in love with was the third heir in line of House Inanna. Thanks to the Matron's expertise at clandestine operations and backroom deals, they not only successfully married, but he beca the Lord of House Inanna. Of course, the daughter had to be disguised as a normal human to avoid a scandal, aning she also had to distance herself from the Matron. Because of this, almost nobody today knows that they're related."

"A mont. Which generation was this?"

"They were Noir's and Neige's parents," the until-now silent old woman spoke in a low voice, and I couldn't help but be stumped for a mont.

"But that would an that Snowy and Angie are… cousins?"

Judy raised a finger.

"Yes, but consider this. You adopted Neige, aning she's your sister now. The Matron is her grandmother, aning…"

"She's your grandma, too!" Elly exclaid, unable to hold it in any longer, and she even threw her arms into the air as if this was sothing worth celebrating.

As for , I was completely stumped and bamboozled by this developnt. Not just because now I suddenly got yet another family relation out of the blue, however tenuous, but due to the fact that this was way too on the nose. I an, it could've been a later developnt, one of those 'filling in the blank spots in the scenario' kind of deals, but drawing a connection between Snowy (or more like, Crowy, considering he was a major antagonist in the scenario) and Angie was way too deliberate.

It had to be a conscious world-building decision, which ant my family tree got even more complicated because…

"Goddamit, Fulgor. Again."