Liri was stunned.

She couldn't think about anything. Her feet remained planted in the dirt as the man stood before her, having just said something she felt he had no business knowing about.

Eventually, she managed to take one single step back, asking:

"W-What?"

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" The God-King asked with disgust lacing every syllable that came out from his mouth. "There's no way a regular member of that abominable race could do anything like what you've done recently."

If there was any doubt somehow, that cleared it up.

He knew. Clearly, he knew.

"But... How do you...?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" He asked. "I'm the same."

Back to back, Liri had been confronted with words that shook her to her core.

This was, however, the simple reality of the situation.

The God-King, the being who had subjected this world to his will and was working on eradicating anyone who did not fit the image he had in mind for it, was from Earth, just like Liri was.

Faced with this fact, Liri couldn't say anything. She was too shocked to do so.

"It's been so long," the man said, his tone taking a turn for the nostalgic. "When Alteria first sent me here, I fell in love with this world immediately. There was a magic to it that Earth simply did not have. It was heavenly," he muttered. "That illusion was shattered, however, when I came across the rats scurrying to the northwest known as the 'ven'."

Chills went down Liri's spine as the God-King walked forward.

"Degeneracy. Pure, unadulterated, shameless degeneracy. And Alteria had the gall to call these people her representatives in this world. Not I, the heaven-sent angel, no. Them. Why?" He asked, tilting his head. "Because they have no morals? Because of how they twist and pervert the most basic of human concepts? No... I could not let that be."

"So, you decided to kill us all?"

"'Us'?" He asked. "You abandoned your humanity for them? Act as one of them? My goodness. Admittedly, when I saw you just now, fighting like a god among peasants, I felt conflicted about having to kill you. I suppose that's why I bothered even speaking with you. Now, though... That feeling has passed.

There was no debate. No exchange of ideas. No intellectual conversation surrounding the morality of the ven's polygamous, open-minded culture.

Instead, the God-King raised a hand and fired a bolt of lightning straight at Liri's body.

It struck her so hard that she was sent flying back, passing straight through several walls in the prison building, and ending up in so much pain that, although she could feel she'd lost a limb or two just now, she could not tell how many or which ones. The pain was just too intense.

Liri couldn't move. Every part of her burned with corrupt, dark power. An unholy energy that she'd never quite come across. It was all she could do to keep breathing.

The God-King looked as though he was going to put a stop to that in a moment, however, as he calmly walked toward Liri's prone body.

"Alteria, can you hear me?" The God-King asked as Liri tried to get to her feet. Or, foot, rather. She finally took stock of her body and realized she'd lost her left arm and her right leg from the blast. "If you want to stop me from perfecting this world, you're going to have to try just a little bit harder with the next person you send."

On that note, the God-King raised a hand into the air.

It hovered over Liri's body.

At this distance, Liri didn't think there'd be anything left of her once the next blast hit. And, she couldn't do anything to stop it from happening, either. The man was simply too strong.

At that moment, Liri couldn't help but agree with him. Maybe Alteria should find someone just a little more capable.

A metallic clang stopped the blast from coming, though.

The God-King turned around. Liri, as well, also looked at the source of the sound.

Standing behind the God-King, trembling as she held a pipe in her hands, was Arisa.

---

{The God-King}

The woman had walked up and slammed the object as hard into the man's back as she could. And, unfortunately for her, "as hard as she could" wasn't enough to even dent his armor.

The God-King stared at her in disbelief. He didn't even do anything. He just stood there, looking back at her as the question that everyone had on their minds hovered in the air without needing to be said.

That being, did she really just do that?

The God-King simply could not believe what had just happened. Not only that he was attacked, but by someone this pathetically weak too. It was downright baffling. So much so that as the woman dropped the pipe and ran off, he didn't even chase after her. He just watched her run until she disappeared from his line of sight, behind a set of walls.

The purpose behind her actions was impossible to tell.

What wasn't quite as odd was the sudden vanishing of the ven's presence.

She wasn't there anymore. He didn't even have to turn around and look to know that. He could feel it. And, he had an inkling as to who exactly made this happen just now.

[You're trying that hard? Do you happen to like this girl or something? Why not just look for someone else on Earth?]

An Inquisitor walked up, then. The blonde the God-King had talked to before. She spoke up, saying:

"Your majesty."

"Yes?" The God-King asked.

"Did you not want the demon dead? She's escaped."

"She didn't escape," he replied, turning back around and looking down at an empty spot amidst a pile of rubble where the girl had been laying. "She was, quite literally, spirited away."

"She was... What?"

He didn't bother explaining it to her. The fact was that the girl, no, the parasite that Alteria had brought to this world in laughable hopes of ruining the God-King's plans, had been allowed to leave with her life by way of the same goddess that had brought her here, to begin with.

[I've gone through quite a lot of effort to reduce your power, though,] the God-King thought, smiling from behind his helmet. [How much did that take out of you? You may not have a real presence in this world again for thousands of years, Alteria. Is this woman really worth that much energy?]

"... It is of no consequence," the God-King muttered. "I came here under the belief that this *thing* was powerful enough to require my attention. I was wrong and my time has been wasted." He turned toward the girl. "Search for her, kill her, and report back to me when it's done. You, your teacher, and any other Inquisitors that I assign to this task are not to return to the capital until it is done. Do you understand?"

"Yes, your majesty," she bowed.

"Good. Now, come here."

"... What?" The woman, Mariana he believed she was called, asked, tilting her head.

"Ordinarily, if someone asked me to repeat myself I'd have ripped their head off their shoulders, but I'll make an exception just this once since I just assigned you to a mission. I said, come here."

Hesitantly, she walked forward.

The God-King placed his hands on her shoulders. He made an effort to use a fraction of his power for this following display, but it had been a while since he'd done so. He was rusty.

Lightning surged all throughout the girl's body.

She screamed, naturally, but he held her in place as he hurt her.

After a couple of seconds, he let her go and she dropped to the ground, wide-eyed and in pain.

"Remember this feeling well," he told her. "It will be made ten times worse should you fail."