L began to form words of surprise and confusion, but before she could speak a voice entered her mind. "If you’re hearing this, it means I have perished. As you have gotten closer to freeing the ancient prisoner, a sense of growing dread has been creeping up upon me. Perhaps it is simply my past sins crawling up behind me. Additionally, if you are capable of freeing the imprisoned being, my work will be over. I was going to stick around for the duration of the 'game,' for your sake. Afterward, I had planned to pass on, as there is nothing left for me, I have worked for so long to free the demon, it has become my sole reason for living, undoing my past dishonor." L was unable to respond or react, she was unsure if this message was being delivered in real time, or had some sort of mystical element that was causing it to be given to her retroactively, as it almost felt more like a memory resurfacing than an actual message.

"Regardless, I had prepared this to be given to you in the case of my demise. Whether it was at my own hand, or some other dark force. The other God's will know I have given you a message, and interfered with the game, but they can no longer punish me, so it is somewhat irrelevant. First you must know; In theory it should be extremely difficult, and in practicality, impossible to slay me during the game. If I was slain, this can only mean one of two things, or a combination of both. Firstly, it could mean that the rules and restrictions of the game are fabrications, or only partially true. If this is the case, then all of us have been fooled, which would bring its own complications. In our universe, belief holds power. If all of the gods were fooled into believing they had been given a specific set of restrictions they would mostly likely be bound by those restrictions. If this is true, and in reality, the 'restrictions' were lies, then the being who fabricated them would be the only one aware of their falsehood, and therefore be the only being not restricted by them. I know not how something like this could be accomplished, but if it has, then we are all in great danger. The other possibility is that there is a subset of deities who are working together. Restricted gods are still gods. If enough of us work together, we can subvert most rules and regulations by sheer power. If this is the case, I would guess that for some reason, they worked together to slay me, and cover it up. It would take more than a few gods to accomplish this, so if this is the case you must be wary, who knows how many of them there might be? Or what their intentions are, perhaps they wish to rekindle the old wars."

Still unsure as to what was going on in a logistical sense, as she seemed to be unable to speak or move, L simply contented herself with trying to absorb as much information as possible. "Either way, something more is going on here than I can uncover. This brings me to your companion, or new master as I suppose things have gone. I do not know what has been done to him, but his very soul has been altered. He is something that is more taboo than even your kind. I no longer recall their names, they ceased existing far, far before I was born into being. He appears human, but is something altogether different. As the eldest of the gods, I suspect I am the only one capable of noticing it. I do not truly know much regarding his... state. Only stories from the past, given to me by my elders when I was young. The old God of War spoke of a mortal race that was made in haste and foolishness, a story that his predecessor left to him. A story of a mortal race that was dangerous to the extreme. The second mortal race ever created. Supposedly a group of deities grew jealous of the first mortals, and wished to create something better than their peers had made. In their overzealous jealousy, they created a race that was virtually unbound. They grew indefinitely, the longer they lived the more powerful they became. Their growth was unhindered by time, effort, or magic. They longer they existed, the more they grew. At first, the gods did not notice their folly. Only when the mortal race waged a war against the gods did they realize how powerful their creation had become. The previous God of War spoke fondly of the memories given to him by his predecessor, I assume due to the whole war aspect. I cannot be absolutely certain, but I believe your companion to be one of these mortals. Even with my uncertainty, for he is difficult for me to observe when I am not peering through your eyes, if true this would break so many rules both divine rule, and rules specific to the game, and probably system rules."

As she focused, L was not entirely certain how to take that information. On one hand, V might actually become able to protect himself one day, on the other it sounded like there were more than a few problems involving his existence. "This brings me to the next part of my message. I do not know how anyone knew how to create those beings. Even I, who knew they existed, have no idea what they really are, or how to create them. If we assume that his patron did this to him, The Goddess of Motherhood, then it raises many, many concerns. How did she learn of their existence? Why has she created one? And more importantly, how did she accomplish this without anyone, or the system, noticing? I started investigating the goddess and-" The message cut abruptly. L blinked and looked around, no time seemed to have passed as far as her surroundings were concerned, but a status message appeared in her view.

┌——————┐
This is an automated system announcement.
The God of Honor's unauthorized interference has been neutralized.
└——————┘

L wondered if trying to burn the system a bunch would stop it from restricting the rest of the message, but in reality, it probably just deleted it from existence. Like a letter burnt up by a hungry flame. L thought about all she had learned, and lamented all she might have learned should the message have continued. She watched V as he conversed with the Champion of Death, as they hypothesized on what could suddenly kill a god. Was V a threat? If she assumed the God of Honor's words to be correct, then he was of a race that tried to wage war against the gods. Was that really a danger? It was not as if declaring war against the gods was inherently evil, or dishonorable. The gods had fairly well proven that they were not particularly 'good' people simply by their chosen champions. Perhaps if every single god died, the side effects would be disastrous. Maybe a universe without shepherds would simply start to collapse. Or worse, maybe the widespread belief in the deities would cause a catastrophe. She was sure that many who believed in their chosen god, would also believe that something terrible would happen should their god die. If they all died, maybe the combined perception of catastrophe would simply tear reality asunder. L touched the hilt of her blade, as she noted before, her weapon was extremely interested in killing V. Perhaps it could sense his latent strength? It would be easy to destroy him with her weapon's eagerness. She found her grip on the hilt tighten as the blade's will encouraged her. Is the ultimate dishonor of slaying one's chosen master a burden she was willing to take on, to potentially stop a cataclysm? Not that she believed V was willing, interested in, or even capable of slaying every god. His Goddess had already proven to be duplicitous. It appeared as if everything she told V was a lie, or at-least some sort of half-truth. She was surely using him for some terrible purpose. Her weapon started to slide out of its sheath. If killing V would stop the Mother Goddess, perhaps it was worth it? She could live with the dishonor if it was to save the entire... everything.

Her hand started moving, but her action was cut short as a voice, her voice, asked her. "Does it matter?" L recognized this strange communication as her demonic side interjecting. "Who cares if our master burns the heavens and the earth? We swore ourselves to him." L's hand hesitated, sword partially drawn. "Serving V is one thing, but serving his master is another." A dark chuckle came from her mind, "Who says we must serve her? Is it not our job to free our master from his shackles? Who better to slay a god than a demon." L began to slide her sword back into its sheath. Her sword fought back, its will goading her onward, halting her hand again. She replied to her demonic side. "V himself is also no great saint. Even if we were free of the Mother Goddess's yolk, what if he becomes something even worse?" The demon's voice seemed confused. "Does it really matter? It is not ours to choose our path, for we have already chosen to follow his. Saint, sinner. If he truly becomes something you can no longer abide by, then we will simply solve that problem as well... were it to ever come to that." L's sword resisted still, and she spoke again. "Perhaps you are correct, but do you think we could manage it? To slay a foe we cannot reach, much less understand or anticipate?" Her demonic side spoke with a weird euphoria as it responded. "As we are? No. We will need time to grow our power. Your soul is far too week to even approach a god. But with time, and with help from our master, we will find the strength." The sword seemed to suddenly switch sides, the idea of battling a god had gotten its attention. L sheathed her sword, nodding to herself. Even if the heavens burned and the worlds turned to ashes, she would continue to serve her master."