Betty was convinced this place was heaven. Everything here was so white. The walls and floor were the purest of white marble. The sheet she slept in was heavenly. It was like the pounding she received from Etaceh had never happened. A sound of trickle water grabbed her attention. She quickly noticed a fountain of water at the edge of the room, the pool of light at the center, and finally, a humongous pillar of milky holy stone.

“Am I dead?” Betty asked herself.

“You aren’t,” said the voice of her sister. “We take precautions to ensure you won't die.”

Betty saw Xia, enjoying a plate of cookies on a desk of white, fossilized wood. At that moment, everything fitted.

“You know I wouldn’t be convinced, unless I experience it myself,” Betty said.

Xia snorted, “You are quite a stubborn piece of work.” She bit into another cookie. “I had to warn you, but it ended in futility, and you flew off to get your ass kicked anyway.”

“That red vial,” Betty remembered Xia’s parting gift she crushed before Etaceh finished her. “What is it?”

Xia tried her best to avoid the jargon, “A little experiment.” She remembered the day Ciel and Holmes put the toy together. “Remember when Holmes experimented in the hazmat suit.”

Betty managed a chuckle despite the grimness of their current reality. “I called my doctor after that,” She said to her sister, “what is that experiment about?”

Xia’s answer surprises Betty. “My blood,” Xia said. “They’re experimenting with the spatial effect related to my blood. The goal is to cheat out a spatial translocation, using my blood as medium. While the experiment worked, it wasn’t a total success. The resulting spatial artifact, the vial, could only be used by one person — you.”

“Me?” Betty was confused. “Wait.” She realized something was off. “How did your blood have spatial power?” She asked. “And what is this place, anyway?”

“This place is my personal domain,” Xia said. “It’s the territory in another dimension. You are lucky you are both my sister and a candidate, or else you would have died."

Betty felt the weight of the mountain falling off her shoulder. “Xia,” she asked her older sister. “What exactly is Etaceh. I’ve never fought anything like her.”

“I can relate,” said Xia, remembering her experience with Slomrath. “Fighting them when you know practically nothing is a pain for a reason.” Xia finally started explaining. “You probably saw with your own eyes. Etaceh isn’t a human, and she operated outside normal logic. She’s a member of a race called Lord, which is pretty much older than Acceltra. Each Lord has a different Authority, and Etaceh’s allowed her to rule over Mana and Ether. That is why combating her with Magic as an average human is doomed to fail. On top of this, she can also gain leverage from her believer — namely her supporter in Hecate. There’s no chance for you, or anyone, to win with immense public support on the scale of a nation.”

“Is that why you refused to fight her?” Betty realized why Xia refused to even enter Hecate.

“Yeah, she is practically an immortal wall with that much faith power,” Xia admitted. “And given the number of golems she’d scattered around, I would die before I even get close.”

Betty grabbed at the final hope, “What about your lover?”

“Let me guess, you’re convinced dearest is leading a gorilla cell against Etaceh?” Xia said. “Why don’t you ask him yourself.”

It was then that a crack of light appeared on the Cave of Grace’s wall.

Out of the crack, Ciel walked, still in his artifact uniform. He was undoubtedly the opposite of happy.

Betty was stunned at the appearance of the friend she believed was dead, “Ciel…”

However, it was Betty’s own sister who revealed the bombshell information.

“So dear, what is the best method to beat her,” Xia asked.

“There isn't one,” Ciel stated. “A floating fortress with enough power to end sieges. Endless amount of faith power to reverse any manner of deathblow and the army she could throw at us. With that amount of spyware and mind-control henchmen, social engineering is a non-option.” Ciel breathed deeply and hated what he was about to say. “We need the other Lord to even the battle.”

“Aww,” Xia bit into her cookie. “Won’t they try to kill us?”

“Maximus? Totally,” Ciel answered. “That’s why we won’t be stepping near Montgomery. Eleanor is our best shot.”

“Well, time to meet the extended family,” Xia believed she would enjoy it as much as meeting the actual in-law. “Tell me. How bad is the guy in Eleanor?”

“Is my guess right? He’s not so bad,” Ciel growled. “But unpleasant.”

Betty followed the conversation, and everything finally clicked. “No,” she tried to argue against the cruelty. “No, no, no, no,” she repeated, hoping to shove the monster back under the bed. “He is in charge,” Betty pointed at Ciel and pivoted toward her sister. “Don’t tell me he is…”

Xia nodded, “Yep, he’s the guy.” She turned redder. “And yes, he’s pretty good in bed, too.”

“I’m not asking about that,” the Lonely Virgin exploded at the revelation of the active sex-life going behind her. “I’m,” she realized the absurdity of it all, “fine! I’m talking about him.” She pointed at Ciel. “Is it Ciel all this time?! He is your mysterious man, of all people.”

“It hurts a little when you put it like that,” Ciel grimaced.

“Aw, come on,” Xia said, reminding Betty of her superiority. “You’re the one who brought us together, Betty. You should be happy.”

“Unbelievable,” Betty registered at the moment of revelation. “You introduced me to the very person I wanted to find to hide him from me!?”

“Brilliant, isn’t it,” Xia said. “You’re a smart one, Betty. That’s why hiding the obvious right in front of you is the best move. You always read into a mystery too deeply, no matter how direct the answer is.”

Betty bit back a scream of rage, “So Ciel’s exit…”

“I already did everything I must,” Ciel shrugged. “I’m not going to fight Etaceh, so I decide to leave.”

“You let me cry alone in a creepy graveyard!” Betty was enraged.

“Between us, I feel guilty about that,” Ciel confessed.

“You should be!” Betty yelled. “And what is it about being Etaceh’s childhood nemesis?”

“This will be a long story,” Ciel said.

“I’m asking Amy to make us some drinks,” Xia left the room.

…

Betty was finally brought up to speed after three jugs of coffee later.

“So you’re also a Lord,” Betty tried to cope with the fact her sister was romancing a god when she couldn’t land a stable boyfriend. “But you don’t have Etaceh’s power over worship?”

“Yep,” Ciel poured her a coffee. “To be fair, it’s too egotistical for my taste.” 

“And you can give people — your concubine — extra power. One of which is my sister, and she easily handled a Lord,” Betty continued.

“Slomrath didn’t really have that good of a set-up,” Ciel sighed. “And even I believe my ability is too Faustian.”

“It’s okay,” Betty gazed downward. “Boost me. It is only a kiss, right?”

“I will say no to that,” Ciel said.

“WHAT!” Betty hardly believed the realities life threw at her.

Here they were, in her weakest moment. This man in front of her succeeded in his goal and instead of snatching the assured victory, he dropped it all.

“Do you know how many people would kill to be in your position?” Betty said, more offended at the fact Ciel refused to take the final plunge over him succeeding. “A kiss with a princess, Ciel! Congratulations! I don’t have a choice other than you.”

“That is the problem,” Ciel said. “You don’t have a choice. You’re signing on to take revenge against Etaceh, and I’m the best bet. I don’t call the relationship we are blatantly using each other love or friendship, Betty. Unlike Etaceh, I operate out of freewill over forcing people at knife-point.”

That confession hit Betty with the force to silence her. However, it was Xia’s sudden arrival which acted as the tie-breaker.

“I half-expected this to happen,” Xia emerged from the gate to the Residence. “That is why I am bringing the final say.”

She stepped aside and allowed a red-head who had the highest weight in seniority to walk in. Ciel bit back a groan. Great, Amy was in her ‘I-won’t-back-down-mode.’ But why did Xia buy her here when she would be the greatest shield against Betty’s membership.

“Amy?” Betty said. “Of course, it made sense. You are also into this.”

“Give her some respect, sis,” Xia said to her sister. “Little Amy here is a major head wife candidate in terms of seniority.” Xia nodded. “That’s right. If she didn’t drop her candidacy, the commanding position would have been hers, not mine.”

Amy didn’t like the fame, “Xia, I’m not here to play the respect card,” Amy pulled the white chair, sat down, and looked Elizabeth in the face. “I need to ask some questions.”

Betty instantly felt too exposed.

“What do you want, Betty?” Amy asked with utter ruthlessness.

“I don’t know,” Betty answered with a little panic in her tongue. “I want to take out Etaceh, I guess.”

“What do you expect to get for going after her?” Amy asked.

“I want to take Curtis back,” Betty answered.

“Curtis is gone,” Amy emphasized. “Emotion manipulator or not. I doubt you can remove her cult of personality and return things to normal. That river had already been crossed.”

The fact Amy presented broke Betty a little, “I have to try!”

“Like trying to fight Etaceh head on?” Amy’s eyes were steely. “You are rationalizing, Betty.”

Ciel whispered to Xia as Amy tore apart Betty’s final denial, “You know, I think we are pushing her too much.”

“Dear,” Xia’s eyes were steely. “This conversation has to happen.”

Face against the wall, Betty’s composure broke, “Amy, look, I don’t have anywhere to go.” Her eyes were filled with tears. “This is all I have left now.”

That was what finally clued in Amy. The red-head turned toward the nodding Xia. Both women realized ‌ they had more or less succeeded. Betty’s psychology simply hadn’t caught up to what her brain understood. This was a critical process for the love addict. The adaptable part of Elizabeth La Louve already moved from her loss, but the logical part of her was stuck in denial. All that mattered was giving her the time to reach that sweet epiphany.

“Ciel,” Amy said. “Kiss her. She is already a shoe-in.”

Betty was surprised she passed, “Really?” She gave Amy a hug. “Thank you, Amy!”

“I’m outvoted here,” Ciel stated the obvious.

“Oh, trust us,” said the General Manager, who was a step closer to a sibling sandwich. “This’ll work out.”

The kiss was awkward. It was made between the man who wasn’t sure of his decision and the girl with an enormous reservation in her heart. Time would lead it into something more, but this was the story for tomorrow.

…

The rise of Intelligentsia was a page in history that pushed the Eastern Continent of Acceltra to the state of total war.

The fallout from the fall of Curtis sent a ripple of players who would help shape history.

Aside from the court of Unity Lord, the throne of the Prime Intelligentsia set its eyes on the rest of the continent, aiming to unseat the other existing Lord and claim absolute authority over the land.

In the plain of elsewhere, a former Deputy Commissioner who had survived a fall by a skin of her teeth made her way to an uncertain future. Her only path forward was to reach a prime economic center of the Eastern Continent — the Port City, Eleanor.

Far from her, a one-arm man hung on to life using pure willpower. He was beaten, but in his mind, his nation still existed as he drew breath. He needed to know the reality of what he was fighting against. He began the long trek to the information hub of the Continent—the underground of Eleanor.

It was the beginning of the continental war.

…

As storms of ambition began its descent on the fair Mercenary Port, the Lord of Commerce sat upon the throne of shadow, tasting the air with excitement. He turned toward a female manservant hanging by the shadow.

“Don’t you feel it, Hikari,” the Lord of Commerce said as the thunderstorm crackled in the distance. “The tide of change is coming. This is it. The prelude of the Theomachy. I can feel it.”

“Congratulations, sir,” the voice of the girl was like a still ocean. “I believe you have been waiting for this for a very long time.” The servant, Hikari, brought another point. “The ambassadors from Yulong and Montgomery are demanding your presence.”

“You are my representative,” the Lord replied. “I won’t deal with the whelp. If Maximus and Mandrake want a deal, they should pay the proper courtesy and come themselves.” He sighed. “Why can’t everyone just be upfront like Ciel and Romulus.”

…

United We Stand: Dark Witch and Domino end

Next…

United We Stand: The Burning Port’s Reaper