Charlotte went downstream, there was bound to be something if she just followed the flow of the Heresy River. She stuck not too close to the river itself because the alerts in her mind kept blaring the moment she got too close.

As Silla said, that place is dangerous. Not even her curiosity can overpower the sense of danger. Now with Survive partially active, the alert noises will only get worse if she stays in the danger zone too long.

With a lot of free time and about an hour and a half left, Charlotte decided to test Reverie for more... technical purposes. She could not do that in her room, because she did not want to break her stuff. Being in Hell brings her a chance that would be rare.

With a lot of Reverie on her body, Charlotte dropped her briefcase down. She collected the Reverie goo in her hand, focusing on condensing it.

She imagined the structure of a sphere, imagining a globe around her hand, and moving the black goo into shape. Making a mound is simple, she just has to continually stack the goo. This is different, Charlotte needs to condense the base first for it not to fall apart.

A circle base was created, and she reinforced it by adding more Reverie. Then she curved it downward, giving the center more mass. Charlotte thinks it would be a success.

Then it failed. The Reverie came crashing down along with Charlotte's hope of success. When she was two-thirds of the way, it crumbled down.

Breathing a sigh, Charlotte tried to make a cube next. It was much simpler and did require not as much effort.

But it failed again. At a certain height or length, it crumbled down. As if the access to creation was blocked by something. Maybe another branch of Akashic?

Reverie gave her the silent treatment again. Charlotte knew it was there, but she would not stop her pursuit.

"Reverie, answer my question."

Another round of silence.

"Reverie, answer me."

"Why can I not mold your goo?"

"Is that the power of another Akashic?"

"Tell me, you are the knowledgeable one here."

Charlotte changed her tactic, becoming more aggressive.

"Are you shy?"

"Are you ignorant of the other branches?"

"Do you simply don't know?"

"Or is it that you cannot talk, something greater than you kept you from speaking?"

"Why don't you talk? We are supposed to be partners."

Charlotte sighed, she needed to get aggressive.

 

"SAY SOMETHING YOU F—"

 

W—WAIT! You can't say swear words!! 

 

Reverie sounded like it was desperate. Charlotte smiled, she found something fun to do.

"Sh—"

Stop it! 

"Bi—"

I said stop it!!

"Mother—"

Suddenly, Charlotte lost control of the black goo, it stuffed her mouth and throat full, leaving her no room to speak but somehow she could still breathe normally. This is... weird.

Now now, listen to me here, dearest. Swearing is bad, especially for a child like you! Don't learn from Athen or Silla,... or Issac... damn, you attract really bad people~!

You as—

No!! I will stop your brain from swearing! So don't do it!!

Charlotte sighed, messing with Reverie was indeed fun. But playing with someone, or something, in this case Reverie, for too long will generate backlash. Like Silla did with Charlotte. Ugh... I am becoming like Silla... 

Alright, I will not attempt to say swear words again. So answer my question.

That's a surprise for later—

Ni—

Don't say that word! 

Then tell me, is it that hard?

...You are lucky I easily let things go... anyway, the Akashic Records is so big we split into eight different Devils. This part you get, right?

Reverie's goo went out of Charlotte's mouth, letting her use her voice again. That was a weird experience.

"Yes, I got it."

There are four main Devils, me, Akashic Survive, and two others. And four sub Devils. A sub-branch carries the power inspired by the two main branches next to it. Two of the sub-Devils carry my power, mixed with two other main Devils, they hold the power of Creation. Imagination and curiosity alone cannot be created, only broken down and possessed.

Then... is one of the sub-Devil links with you and Survive?

Nah, Reverie and Survive are complete opposites. One is imagination, human wonders, and thoughts. The other is cold hard logic and calculative survival.

"Imagination and survival...", she smiled, "Got it."

 

Their conversation ended there. Not because of their own will but because something approached Charlotte. In the distance, Charlotte spotted something humanoid, but it had pale gray skin, black feathered wings, and what looked to be a broken halo on its head. It looks to be a female with her body shape and fair features, long black hair which is not well kept. Her eyes are pale golden, they have a piercing gaze that could see through anything.

"Human...", she whispered, her voice was clear and beautiful like a songbird, "...What is a human doing here?"

She approached Charlotte, walking slowly as if to not disturb her. As for Charlotte, the alerts in her mind went off wildly, saying to be careful with the creature. Her instinct tells her she cannot beat or escape from this monster, so better to stay on her positive side.

Taking in a deep breath, Charlotte eased herself, "Hello."

She jumped back, totally cautious of Charlotte despite her only offering a greeting.

"H-Hello?", it sighed before approaching her again, "Sorry, I haven't interacted with humans for a very long time. My name is Enna, a Fallen Angel"

"I am Charlotte Silvi."

The Fallen Angel squinted her eyes, inspecting Charlotte's whole body, looking up and down suspiciously.

"You are... very broken. Child, what happened on Earth? Why is your soul fragmented? Why are you still alive?"

"I... don't get what you mean?"

Famine said something similar...

"Your soul is broken to the point it can never heal... only glue together... Dear Hell...", Enna took a step back, her face turned terrified, "WHAT ARE YOU??"

Her wings raised defensively, covering her body like shields. Charlotte also raised her free left arm putting on guard while she pointed her gun at Enna's abdomen, she already calculated the recoil to hit the Fallen Angel in the chest.

"W-Wait! I won't harm you!", Enna raised her hands surrendering, "I swear on my name I won't do anything to you!!"

Charlotte got curious. What does she mean by 'swearing on her name'?

"I will not shoot you. Just don't harm me.", Charlotte spoke coldly, almost too coldly even for her liking. This is the effect of Survive, reducing Charlotte's emotions to be nonexistent.

"Swearing on my name binds me not to harm you for a certain amount of time... so... just... lower that holy weapon, please?"

Charlotte lowered her gun down, as well as her guard. She picked up the briefcase and walked towards Enna. Her instinct is only warning her to be cautious of the Fallen Angel, Charlotte suspected that Survive could take over her body, like Reverie did with its goo, forcing Charlotte to enter an autopilot state, so if anything goes wrong Survive will make sure she survive no matter what cost.

"We can go to my house, it's not far from here.", Enna pointed to a direction, far away from the Heresy River, "Is that okay with you?"

Charlotte tilted her head, "Is... here not fine?"

The Fallen Angel shook her head, "No, I don't want anything like last time, the water splashed onto my skin when I got too close and caused a Misery Infection. It took months to get it all off."

Charlotte was curious about the 'Misery Infection', but by the sound of it, it did not sound that great, or even if it was worth knowing about such an illness. She decided to hold her curiosity.

"Okay.", Charlotte nodded, following Enna far away from the river.

"So, what is the reason you are here?", Enna asked.

"I was sent here to... do something? I have no clue... Silla pushed me here... without my consent."

"Silla? That name sounds... familiar...", Enna sunk into deep thought, trying to remember something.

"You know her?", Charlotte tilted her head. Maybe I can get more information about Silla.

"Silla... Silla... what is her full name?"

"Silla Arco. It sounded like a made-up name."

"Arco... huh, I met someone with the surname Arco before. His name was Aleister Arco, a cultist and warlock."

"That's...", Charlotte tried to find the word, "...somehow unsurprising."

"Right? As if people named Aleister are destined to be cultists. Anyway, this Silla might be the daughter or wife of Aleister. Or a direct descendant since Aleister lives in the 1500s.", Enna shrugged.

"You seem to know much about this Aleister.", Charlotte pointed out.

Enna just shrugged, "Eh, he's one of the last people to summon a Demon. After the Seventeenth Century, many demonic summoning rituals stopped working and all."

"Is Demon different from Devil and Fallen Angel?"

"Demon is just generalizing denizens of Hell. Devils are naturally born of Hell, having less control of this place than most would expect. Fallen Angels like me are Angels who had fallen from grace or something of that bullshit. I fell because I was too chaotic for Heaven, being an Angel of Rage and all."

"Rage... you don't seem to be that... angry?"

Enna laughed, finding what Charlotte said to be funny, "Ha! Believe me, if you see me a few millenials ago you would find my title very fitting. I guess I just... ran out of steam."

Ran out of steam... an idiom.

"I raged and raged, practically terraforming the landscape of Hell itself. Those were the times.", Enna chuckled, her pale gold eyes looking at Charlotte, "I told you my story, it would be fair if you tell me yours."

"My story...", Charlotte hummed, "It's not that interesting... I was an experiment for human evolution and development, by erasing my memory every year, they test what I kept and what I lost."

"Sounds... horrible.", Enna winced.

"The worst part is after I got this.", Charlotte pointed at her chest, at the Gem embedded in her body.

"Woah, that black jewel is nice and ominous.", Enna commented.

"On Earth, there are things called Gems, which carry the power of Mythical figures and creatures, Biblical which are things written in books and paper, Conceptual which are fundamental concepts of the world, and Hybrid which is a fusion of the previous ones. Humans who possess a Gem are called Gem Holders... and these Gems... have the souls of the figures the Gem is holding, simply called Devils. 

Enna clicked her tongue sarcastically, "Well that won't get confusing at all in Hell."

"Mine is a special case. It is the only recorded one to appear inside a person since Gems appear randomly without any warning. Mine is..."

Charlotte stopped for a moment. Should I tell her about Akashic? It is okay, right? Just to be safe...

"...mine is Reverie, the concept of curiosity."

"Hm, can you show me?", Enna asked.

"So you don't see it?", Charlotte showed her entire body, covered in Reverie goo from head to toe.

"No?", Enna squinted, looking closer at Charlotte, "Wait, I can feel something... damn, it's going to be deadly, isn't it."

"It can break down anything, and I went berserk with this power. Destroying the facility housing me and killing most of the scientists there. After that, I was captured and performed tests that were nothing short of torture."

"And you endured?", Enna was in disbelief.

"Not that I can remember any of it... my routine memory wipe still occurred. I went berserk again, and the most recent gave me a chance."

"A chance? Ooh, what is it?", Enna is surprisingly engaged.

"The person controlling the organization my experiment was took notice of me. I was transferred to a better facility, despite having Silla as my guardian of sorts.", Charlotte smiled, "Life was good, even with all these crazy events."

"Welp, sounds like you have a lot more trouble in the future, especially the person controlling the organization.", Enna pointed out.

"What do you mean?", Charlotte became a bit desperate, looking at the Fallen Angel with expectation.

"They control the whole organization, right? That means they knew about the tests you went through, and allowed it to continue. Don't you think that's a little suspicious?"

Charlotte think about it for a bit. It was indeed strange, to Charlotte when she was able to detect emotions with Survive, Issac's thoughts and words were genuine and no lie was found. However, like Enna said, why did it take so long for him to pick Charlotte up? Some things are not adding up.

Charlotte mentally sighed, she had to be careful with another influential person. Silla is already hard enough. And Issac is another can of worm, oh, idiom. 

Charlotte's mental strength is not good enough for hard thinking. Against people who use their heads like Silla and Issac, she is a sitting duck.

"Oh! We are at my house already!", Enna pointed at the cottage made out of crimson bricks and some sort of white straws as the roof. It looks homey, unexpected for Hell.

"This place should be safe, I have a bounded field to deter the Hell Beasts."

Charlotte sat down on the hot stone floor, much to Enna's curiosity. She opened her briefcase, taking out the ration bars Silla had prepared. 

"Ooh, what are these? Some type of food?", Enna asked curiously.

"Yes, they are... protein bars.", Charlotte handed her a bar.

"Hm, how long has it been since I ate Earth food? How much has it changed?", Enna took a bite of it, her golden eyes lit up as if regained life.

She sat down next to Charlotte, looking up to the dark red sky of Hell with melancholy. Strangely, the air around her got more humid despite the hot dry air of Hell.

"Charlotte, can you do me a favor?", Enna spoke seriously, surprising Charlotte.

"What favor?", she tilted her head, taking a bite out of her snack. 

The Fallen Angel's golden eyes locked with Charlotte's azure eyes.

"Make a Contract with me, let me out to Earth! This is so delicious, just a bite told me how much I've been missing out!", Enna took another bite, "Delish! I would do anything! Just please, form a Contract with me!!"

Charlotte was taken aback by the begging coming from someone who was supposed to be more powerful than her. 

"I... don't think Silla would take lightly to me bringing a Fallen Angel home", especially when Lucifer is there.

"Huh?! Why?!", Enna pouted.

"Because... Silla is a Gem Holder... her Devil is Satan, Lucifer the Morningstar.", Charlotte said with hesitation.

"Lucifer?! Damn, I guess that complicates things.", Enna sighed, "Then... at least you could have this?"

A scroll appeared in front of Charlotte, it was a yellowish piece of paper written in Latin. 

"It's funny how the Latin language suddenly became the demonic tongue for some odd reason. Having a normal conversation and suddenly, a Hell Beast appeared!", Enna chuckled, "Now, can you read Latin?"

"Yes.", Charlotte nodded.

"This is a Contract, you can sign it anytime."

Charlotte nodded, finishing her ration bar at the same time, "I'll keep it in mind."

"Just call my True Name, Ennael, and the Contract will be complete whenever you want it to."

Charlotte reached out to touch the Contract, it turned into a black feather that landed softly on her hand. She knew where to put it instantly.

Charlotte took off her hat briefly, the fatigue of having to walk into Hell caught up to her instantly. Putting on a poker face, she put the black feather onto her hat, next to her other black feather. Done, she put it back on.

"Thank you.", Enna bowed, her eyes glancing at the rations still inside the briefcase, "So... can I take the rest?"

"To your heart's content.", another idiom, good. 

"Thank you!!", Enna grabbed them, putting the ration bars on her wings, somehow they did not fall off.

Charlotte grabbed the canteen, opened it up, and let a big gulp down her throat. It was not that refreshing since the water was hot, only washed down the food.

"By the way, how long are you going to stay?", Enna asked before finishing her second bar. 

Charlotte calculated the time in her mind before speaking, "I have less than an hour left."

"An hour? Then do you plan to go somewhere else or stay here?"

"Mmm... I plan to... continue to find a way to awaken a new power. I am very close now."

"Hm, then let me help you as a thank.", Enna smiled, "I will show you what the Fallen Angel of Rage is capable of."