Chapter 61: Notice that a crowd gathers around it

"Ugh…" Momonga was feeling more than a little awkward as he stood still in a T-pose while a crowd of maids were stitching a new suit for him, or rather stitched a suit around him while he stood. He recognized that some of the maids were using [Power of Imagination] on the fabric, making it suit Momonga's host body's new dimensions perfectly. 'I wonder if this is normal for rich people? Or just devils?'

He remembered the last time the on-site suit-making had happened, but luckily this time the dressing wasn't taking place in the Rating Game Grounds, he was adamant that he wouldn't summon undead to wreck the place, and also he wasn't being called for a Maou-interrogation while nerve-wracked over the possibility of being thrown into battle against two or more 'raid bosses'. 'It kind of feels ridiculous now... but I suppose I didn't know better back then. Nevertheless, if the fight against Serafall is any indication then at least I was justified in the paranoia regarding their strength...'

Indeed, the dressing was taking place in Phenix territory, in the castle-manor that he now owned by proxy due to his control over the 'family head', and prior to an engagement ceremony that Momonga had been swept up to after emerging from the after-action room of Rating Game with Rias.

'Hm, I'm guessing that the Overlord Wiseman must have made preparations for the engagement before the fight even started. He must have been certain that I'd win.'Momonga sighed as the maids bowed to him in an almost reverent way and backed off, with some of them having heavy blushes as dressing Momonga up involved stripping him bare. 'Well, I might as well get this over with.'

"Overwhat now?" Ddraig seemed confused as the dragon perked up in his head, but Momonga didn't elaborate so the red dragon went back to sleep around a mental gold pile Momonga had thought up for the dragon.

"The engagement ceremony between your excellency, Ravel Phenix, and Sona Sitri will begin in a few hours. In addition we've taken the liberty of using the same ceremony for celebrating thine engagement with Rias Gremory, who I believe goes by Rias Phenix." A elderly butler advised Momonga while he glanced over the deep crimson suit that made him remember a certain NPC in Nazarick.

He felt a spike of nostalgia but shook it off before it could spread, as he had to focus on the present lest the earlier tragedy repeat itself.

"Quite so, quite so." Momonga agreed. "While I feel that the schedule is a bit… tight, I agree that wasting time is not good. So that being said, lead me to my fiancee's."

"Yes, my lord." The butler bowed a bit, turned around and led Momonga away.

'I hope this goes well…'

.

.

Sirzechs, Odin and Ajuka Beelzebub were standing in a relatively small room, staring at one of the walls. Rosseweisse and Grayfia stood behind the trio, looking more than a little puzzled.

The room's walls were plastered with papers, notes, post-its and red lines drawn from one paper to another using tacks and red string to make a criss-cross web that led to three 'pictures' on top.

One of the three pictures was a generic red-colored dragon with a thick black line drawn over its eyes titled 'The Great Red' that made it look somehow indecent, one was a picture of Momon in his yellowish armor during the Rating Game, and one was a generic image of a hooded person with a big black line over its face as a stand-in for 'The Supreme Being', below which was image of Riser Phenix, and beside him a image of a squid with a question mark over it.

A line was drawn from the squid to a image of a petite 'girl' that had once belonged to Rias Gremory's Peerage, but now belonged to Momon's.

"This… is a worrying picture." Odin noted.

"There's a picture in all this?" Rosseweisse whispered to Grayfia who shrugged minutely without breaking eye contact with the 'image' of 'the Supreme Being'.

"Indeed. But it needs more information for any of us to make any proper decisions based off it." Beelzebub confirmed, having heard Rosseweisse's question.

"Momon has a combined engagement ceremony with his three fiancee's." Sirzechs noted. "It seems that Momon has managed to resurrect Lord Phenix somehow and the Lord in question has made some… concerning moves."

"Aye." Odin nodded. "For someone to divorse someone that hot mom- umph!"

Rosseweisse whacked Odin's head with a rolled-up newspaper before he could finish his sentence while pointing at the image of Lady Phenix who had a red string drawn to it from both Lord Phenix and Momon Phenix, and she had a black opaque 'censorship' line drawn over her eyes as well that made her somehow look indecent.

"I was referring to his resurrection, which seems quite odd considering Lord Phenix was, and is, a phoenix and should have resurrected naturally... but didn't. Moreover Lord Phenix seems to have thrown all of his support behind Momon. He even arranged the engagement ceremony before the whole duel with Serafall could take place, which seems odd unless he was certain Momon would not lose." Sirzechs coughed and continued. "Serafall seems to be unconscious at the moment due to her fatigue which is why she isn't here to give her own comments, but observing the fight revealed a lot of… worrying details."

"There's a possibility Momon might have altered Lord Phenix's personality during the resurrection." Beelzebub nodded. "Which means that it's likely Momon is actually the 'true' family head of Phenix while Lord Phenix is just his puppet."

"That's one possibility. Or it's possible that something else happened which caused the divide in the family." Grayfia voiced her opinion. "We should avoid jumping to conclusions."

"True. But it's not like we can just walk up to Momon and ask for the truth." Beelzebub noted. "Or take anything he says as the absolute truth."

Grayfia sighed.

"That logic only applies to you Devils." Odin scoffed. "Witness me."

"You're truly going to do that?" Sirzechs noted. "I thought you were joking."

"I'll do it. My omniscience should show me a glimpse of what is truly going on if I get close to Momon. I'm far from home and the ability's potency wanes in foreign lands, but I should be able to see at least something." Odin nodded. "He's having an engagement ceremony and since Gremory family's heads are invited, the Maou's are invited as part of the procedure, I think I'll invite myself as well as your guest. You can then take the blame if Lord Phenix objects to my presence, but as long as I can get close to him I should be able to sense something."

"It is a risky move." Sirzechs noted.

"It is a risk we must take." Odin's look was severe. "I expect to be compensated accordingly."

"Fondling Grayfia's breasts is off the table." Sirzechs retorted equally seriously, causing both Grayfia and Rosseweisse to slap their hands on their own faces, and then sigh as they realized that was exactly what Odin would have asked.

.

.

"Greetings, I hereby welcome all to the engagement ceremony of…" Lord Phenix, or rather the Overlord Wiseman announced the beginning of the ceremony that showed none of the haste with which it had been arranged.

Momonga was fairly surprised to learn that quite few of the heads of the seventy-two families, which apparently made the ruling organ of the Underworld in addition to the Maous, were present. Or rather, thirty-four families that were left after the civil war.

'You know a lot about devil politics, huh?' Momonga wondered. He had learned most of his knowledge from the surface knowledge Ddraig had on the subject, as he had to let go of the dangerous amount of memories Lord Phenix had.

"Not a lot, just some basic tidbits some of my wielders discovered." Ddraig seemed wary as it was aware of what Momonga was thinking about. "So you lobotomized Lord Phenix to be your thrall? I'm starting to think that I got lucky when you just decided to just skim my mind…"

'Something like that.' Momonga didn't feel like going in depth on the subject as Lord Phenix turned a microphone over to him, clearly expecting him to say a few words to the devils present.

Momonga let his businessman-instincts take over and made some basic remarks on how he appreciated the presence of everyone, thanked them for any presents they might have brought as engagement gifts, and offered them the bounties of the feast.

'I think that should do…' Momonga offered the mic back to 'Lord Phenix' and walked off as the guests turned to mingle. 'I should find Sona, Ravel and Rias… I'm supposed to give them something to signify the engagement soon… I'm guessing that means rings. Come to think of it, I haven't really had a chance to talk to Sona about all this… I hope this won't seem too hasty for her.'

"Considering how the whole thing turned out, I have a feeling that if things went any slower Sona would find a way to wiggle out of the engagement." Ddraig noted.

'You're on my side in this?' Momonga thought.

"Well, I figured that if you and Sona-san engaged then you'd get more often into contact with Serafall-sama, and that is bound to result in a lot of cool explosions like that one when you dueled…" Ddraig looked away but Momonga could tell that the dragon had a borderline euphoric expression on its face. Or the dragon equivalent of such expression.

"Haah…" Momonga sighed as he followed a elderly butler to a room after the man had called for Momonga.

"Sona-sama, Ravel-sama and Rias-sama will be ready for you soon, and I'll escort you out for the main event. Please wait, my lord." The butler bowed a bit. "I apologize if I come across as doubtful, but do you have the gifts prepared for them? Lord Phenix did not supply me with such..."

'Hm…' Momonga paused. 'The Overlord Wiseman didn't prepare me rings?'

He sent a [Message] to the disguised Overlord Wiseman after the butler had left.

'I am truly sorry, my lord. I was unable to produce rings or other wearables that would suit thine glory in time. It seems that it is commonplace to offer such items to one's fiancee.' The voice of Overlord Wiseman echoed in Momonga's head as the creature replied. 'For this failure I truly apologize, and strive to…'

"Enough, I'll produce some of my own. Don't do anything hasty." Momonga told the disguised undead and cut off the man's voice.

'Haah… what am I going to do now…' Momonga figured that he could potentially just craft some basic rings with [Create Item], but discarded the idea as the items created in such a way could be dispelled magically, which probably wouldn't help his union with the girls. On the other hand he was more than a little wary over giving them item-rings from YGGDRASIL, as he had worked himself to the bone and beyond to gain most of them.

"Didn't your guildmates have those guild-rings? They don't have any special effects besides being symbolic, right?" Ddraig noted. "I saw all of them wear matching rings back when you showed me some cool fights you guys had. Rings of Ainz Ooal Gown, if what I read from your memoirs is correct?"

'Out of the question. Those rings signify the membership to Ainz Ooal Gown, which none of them have earned…' Momonga shot down the idea instantly.

"I do remember asking you to consider your fiancees and lovers to be more than sacks of expendable meat, and you yourself said you'd work on it. This would be a good chance for you to put those words to action." Ddraig lifted his draconic eyebrow. "You can always just take the rings back, they aren't permanently bound to someone like [Sacred Gears] are, if I'm correct… I recall from the memoirs that the members of Ainz Ooal Gown who… left or died, I guess, also left their items and rings to you?"

'...In a way, I suppose.' Momonga sighed. 'I'm fairly certain Nazarick is not here since I have a feeling I'd feel it through the [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown] as it's the Guild Weapon, so it's not like Rias, Sona and Ravel would be able to use the rings to their full potential anyway…'

"That guild-base I read about? Are the rings somehow tied to its function?" Ddraig's questions started to approach confidential subjects so Momonga tossed the 'mental time-out blanket' over the dragon again.

He sighed deeply as he brought out three rings and looked into them deeply, and also cast a few tracking spells on them just in case.

Momonga felt slightly paranoid nonetheless as he attempted to put the thoughts into action- and the panic of actually giving off such significant items hit him. 'What if they lose the rings? If they are stolen? If Beelzebub grabs one and starts to dissect it? If he breaks one I swear I'm going to murder him… Would my guildmates hate me? We haven't had a meeting to let them in! We had a rule about who can join the guild, and the girls only meet two of the three criteria… One: be a heteromorph, which I guess they are, at least partially since they are devils, two: be a working member of society, which I guess all of them are albeit not in same way as we really intended, three: be approved by at least three quarters of the guild's active members…'

"Aren't you the only member of 'the guild' left? So technically your voice would count as full support…" Ddrag's voice came from under the mental time-out blanket and the dragon shed it like water. Momonga thus re-evaluated the effectiveness of just trying to tune out the creature's words.

'Quiet-'

"No, you be quiet for once, Momonga. Your constant unhealthy attachment to your old guild is seriously damaging your present and the future!" Ddraig's voice echoed in Momonga's mind-scape, which caused all of his mental representations to form a instant raiding party and assume combat roles against the dragon, who looked more than little nervous as it had seen previously how the group 'took down' even 'gods'... in YGGDRASIL anyway. "Let the past be past, and the dead stay dead. You may be a necromancer, but puppeting old corpses, old memories, and calling them your only friends will only draw you to your own grave. Yet you insist on clinging to them, ignoring all around you… for what? For the chance that they'll come back? They're gone! Lost! Like how you will be, if you follow them in their steps, clinging to their memories desperately and not realizing that it is a rope that is not tied anywhere, so the moment you stumble your lifeline will reveal itself to be just a lie!"

'You're pushing your luck, Ddraig.' Momonga warned the lizard… even though in truth he wasn't certain how he'd fight the dragon stuck in his head.

"Then pull [Boosted Gear] off, and we'll part our ways. Me to my next host or oblivion, and you to join your old friends in death. I'm putting my foot down- choose!" Ddraig called Momonga's bluff, causing him to recoil as he had been seen through. Which in retrospect made sense, since the dragon could see through his thoughts. "I refuse to have a nervous hermit who clings obsessively to his past glories and memories be my Wielder, not when there's new glory to win, new battles to fight, and new enemies to face! No matter if he was the strongest Wielder I've ever had or will ever have! Your..."

"[Time Stop]."

Momonga sighed as the flow of time ground to halt around him, and he sat on a chair nearby, ignoring how hard the soft chair was as the time-stoppage meant he couldn't compress the pillows. '...Not good.'

His hands shook with rage and fright as he tried to shake off Ddraig's words. 'It seems he has found a way to attack me… not directly, but with words. I was careless, and he managed to bite deep.'

Momonga looked into the faces of the mental plushies he had created in his 'mental-scape', and saw the stitched seams the dragon's words had exposed, and the stuffing that was bulging out after the dragon's accusations had pierced their 'skin' to reveal 'what lied underneath'- that is, delusion.

The accusation had caused all three of his 'mental plushies' severe damage, and Momonga hastily repaired what he could, using 'Momonga's needle-sharp bony hands to stuff the stuffing back to the plushies, but only managing to do more damage in the process.

He 'glanced' at the time-frozen dragon in his mind and sighed as the dragon was no longer a mere lizard in his mind, but rather looked more like the ancient dragon emperor it claimed to be, standing tall and terrible upon the cracked-dry soil with bale green and red fire flaring from the sides of its long maw and its wings opened wide to cast a dreadful shadow upon the now-small group in Momonga's mind.

'This is seriously bad…' Momonga panicked for a moment as the [Emotion Suppression] wrestled his rage and fright back to manageable levels and at the same time allowed panic to surface a bit, like a whack-a-mole of emotions.

He considered for a moment doing exactly what Ddraig had said, and trying to pull off [Boosted Gear]... but doing so would also kill him, as he had discovered when he had tried to un-equip it before.

'...Not good, not good, not good…' Momonga paced around a bit as time was ticking for him. Since he wasn't in a traditional, mana-constricted combat situation he could afford to prolong the [Time Stop] past ten seconds but he hadn't recovered his mana from the fight against Serafall, which meant he couldn't hold time for long.

The ultimatum the dragon had given him was making him severely regret ever using [Boosted Gear], as the power it granted had been quite literal monkey's paw, gifting him with power he needed but in exchange for a dragon-shaped wedge that drove itself between Momonga and his past. 'What should I do? My friends… My comrades…'

He realized how much he had changed from the moment he had arrived to the world, how ready he had become to discard what he had thought precious before. He had even brought out and wielded the Guild Weapon of Ainz Ooal Gown without asking other guild members for their opinion- which they wouldn't be able to give, but that was not the point. And the ultimatum placed by the dragon was just it driving the wedge deeper.

And most worryingly, Momonga realized that the dragon did have a point. 'If… they are truly gone… Would they disapprove of me… and if they are truly gone, am I disrespecting their memory by working alone? Or am I disrespecting their memory by allowing Ainz Ooal Gown to be buried in dust, only existing in my memories and be lost forever should I die?'

'Haa... And here I am, starting to doubt and de-value my friends…' Suzuki Satoru sat in front of 'Momonga', and the skeletal figure sat in front of him while the three plushies lied around the two like dolls with their strings cut and stuffings splayed around them.

'I know what I mean…' ''Momonga' sighed in turn. 'Yet, can I truly live in the past any more? I… think we should start to move on, not only in words but in actions…'

'Et tu, brutus?' Suzuki noted. 'You are me.'

'You are me.' 'Momonga' noted back, like if he was talking to a mirror, which he was. 'This world changes me… But is it a bad change? What we wrought in Ainz Ooal Gown will never go away… as long as we remember them.'

'...I suppose it's time I did what I preached, remembering what I told Yubelluna, Xuelan, and Rias when they all lost their loved ones…' Suzuki felt tired and weary as he glanced at the time-frozen dragon. '...To move on, but to keep the memories of the lost… The guys stopped logging in ages ago. Herohero was the last to go. And YGGDRASIL is shut down… Ddraig pulled me here, the last of us… I'll have to remember them, perhaps carve their names in the world so that when I'm gone they will be remembered... but… also move on.'

'...But even if we do that, we'll need to come up with some way of countering Ddraig.' 'Momonga' finished, gesturing at the broken plushies around him. 'He'll pay for this treachery and audacity. But we can't beat him directly, he's too strong and I've only made him think that I was stronger than him by attacking swiftly and efficiently when he showed defiance.'

'He will pay.' Suzuki agreed. '...In time… In time. For now, I have a suggestion… Since all we need is to do use his weapons against him, and show him something that'll give him food for thought...'

'...That might work.' Momonga grasped his hand in the real world, and opened it to look at the three rings on his palm. 'I don't have a choice this time…'

'Maybe it's for the best…'

[Time Stop] ended.

"...Arrogance- eh?" Ddraig paused as from the dragon's point of view Momonga's mental representations spontaneously flickered to new places.

Indeed, the three plushies were shambling like zombies, barely holding up on their own power while Momonga and Suzuki Satoru extended their arm towards Ddraig, having grown to the same size as the dragon inside his mind.

'Silence-' '- I've chosen to heed your advice-' '-but if you turn on me again, I'll rend your memories-' '-and absorb your soul-' '-like I have done to Lord Phenix.'Momonga and Suzuki told the dragon in concert, then thought about the whole situation with Lord Phenix, and how he had absorbed his soul while removing his memories and stuffing them to a summon of his own. The dragon knew what he thought, so it learned of the disguised servant's true nature at the same time.

The dragon's eyes widened in horror.

A shambling, burned zombie-like corpse formed from the dust of the cracked-dry soil in response to the memories, causing Ddraig to pause and extinguish his rant as if he had put a lid on a pot of burning oil.

The shambling horror slowly returned to dust.

"Uh… no offense?" Ddraig seemed to double-take his position in Momonga's head as the true nature of 'Lord Phenix' became clear to it, and it clearly drew some unpleasant connections considering the amount of 'dust' in Momonga's soul-scape.

Momonga didn't dignify the dragon's dodge with an answer, and instead sighed while putting the three rings to his new suit's pocket.

The butler showed up soon afterwards to lead him to his new fiancee's.

.

.

'It's over. It's all over…' Sona steeled herself as a gaggle of make-up artists and barbers dressed up as maids finished putting last touches on her hair. 'I've only spoken to him once… how did this go so wrong? I can't believe this…'

A group of devils who looked like seriously bad news had appeared in the Rating Game's infirmary room where Saiji had been dropped off to, and had requested Sona's presence as the engagement ceremony would take place soon and she needed to be ready.

Her Peerage had immediately moved between Sona and the devils who looked more like mercenaries than service-staff they masqueraded as, but Sona had told them to stand down.

She figured that if they were sent by Lord Phenx, then going against the devils would be analogous to her rebelling against her 'new fiance' which would have bad endingfor everyone on her side, and if not then they were likely either sent by Serafall or Sitri family, in which case she'd be whisked off to safety, or the group were sent by her enemies, then she could go face her death and laugh at 'Momon' for failing to protect his new fiancee, get resurrected, and be thrown back to the hell she was currently in.

Naturally, it had been the worst-case scenario and the devils had been sent by Lord Phenix. The lord in question had then quickly ran down Sona on how to address her new fiance, proper behaviour and subservience expected of her. Although the words Lord Phenix had used were mild and almost subservient, Sona knew better than to trust the words on their tone and delivery only.

Lord Phenix also had a group of aforementioned maids dress Sona in a deep violet dress that did suit Sona's eyes, but she got a feeling that the color choice wasn't made because of it. Or that the colours were picked because of her at all.

'I'm getting seriously bad feelings about Lord Phenix…' Sona felt wary as the tone with which Lord Phenix had spoken about his 'adopted son' was more like a worshipper speaking of one's god than a father speaking about a son. 'In addition, I heard some rumors that Lord Phenix has divorced his wife... Which is odd, since I think the two were together for hundreds of years and had four children of their own and one recently-adopted...'

She shook the creeping dread off and instead addressed one of the maids. "You. Has my Peerage been invited to this… ceremony?"

"Yes, Sona-sama. I believe all but one of them has chosen to attend." the maid told Sona.

'Saji… Haa…' Sona felt depressed. The fact the Supreme Being had made their respective positions clear in less than a minute of the two meeting back in the Rating Game after-action room, without him uttering a single word to her except inviting her into the room made her stomach ache. And her heart boiled with vengeance for Saji. 'I… I knew you felt like that towards me, Saji. It would have never worked out. My family would have never approved of a human-born devil suitor. I don't know how Momon convinced my family to accept him, or Issei's body, to marry me, but I can only assume he used his unholy cunning to break their resistance…'

"Ara-ara-ara? Sona-sama is so pretty… Ufufufu, Rias-chan, you'll have to step up your game or Sona-sama steals Momon from you..." A familiar voice entered Sona's ears and she looked to the side to see Rias emerging from an adjacent room, clad in a deep crimson dress that perfectly complimented her hair. And with her was Akeno, clad in Kuoh Academy's uniform, which in turn had been based on 'A Peerage-Member's Official Uniform' that in turn was designed by Ajuka Beelzebub.

"Hi, Sona-chan…" Rias waved at Sona a bit.

"Rias-san…" Sona felt a bit resigned and more than a little relieved as she spotted a chance to prod at Rias's loyalties- that is, how deep the Supreme Being had his claws in Rias. "Do we have some time to talk, alone?"

She addressed the words to the maids who pulled themselves away from Sona after giving her a few looks.

"A few minutes, Sona-sama. The ceremony will take place soon." One of the maids glanced at a clock, bowed, and exited the room.

Akeno tilted her head as Sona gave her a look, then shrugged and left as well when Rias nodded to her.

"What's going on?" Rias looked worried and Sona paused before she could hiccup as she recognized that Rias's worried look was genuine.

"It's just… Rias…" Sona paused as Rias walked up to her and took her hands and squeezed them reassuringly. "D-do you know what… what Momon is? Who he is really?"

Rias nodded happily. "Yeah, I know."

Sona froze.

"Eh, don't give me that look. You'll get used to him." Sona's expression didn't go unnoticed by Rias. "I mean, you didn't really get along at the start, I know, but just give him a chance. He's a changed man. And I think it'll be fine, eventually… Honestly, with all else happening right now and in the future, something like this should be a nice change of pace."

"But… but…" Sona's lips trembled as she tried to get a word out, the horror settling in her stomach making it difficult for her to move and her vision swam. 'He's… I was wrong. He knew. He knew I'd go for Rias all along. He knew I'd go for her for my safety, but he had corrupted her beforehand... Did he send Rias to me before the engagement too? Did he predict that also? To hammer me into submission before I could make a scene? ...Wait, what else is happening in the future? And this 'happy occasion' is just a 'nice change of pace'? What horrors does he have waiting for us?'

Ravel's words echoed once again in Sona's head. '"Every trap you place you'll find at your own feet, every assassin you hire will poison your own food. This is the fate of all who oppose the Supreme Being…"'

She hiccupped and tears flowed down her face, staining her make-up.

"Sona-chan…" Rias completely disregarded the two girl's clothing and makeup as she hugged her and Sona hugged her back, glad to feel the well-endowed girl's warmth and concern even though she knew that within the comforting warmth would be the poison the Supreme Being had prepared for her. And she had no choice but to drink it. "Speak to me. What's wrong?"

"I… I was wrong. I… I didn't… ididnna… I didnawanththiss..." Sona's words became muffled from her tears running freely down her face. "Imsowwy… I'mso sowwy… Phleash forggib me..."

"Sona-chan…" Rias stroked Sona's head and rubbed her back while Sona cried on her shoulder. "Shh… it's alright. It'll be alright... I'm here…"

Sona felt that she must have cried uncontrollably for at least a minute before she got a hold of herself. 'I… I now know what Ravel meant… How cruel is he… how cunning… what does he want from me?'

Sona finally calmed her down enough to pull away from Rias, but the girl hold on tight. "Rias-san…"

"Call me Rias-chan. Or ditch the honorific. We're practically sisters now, neh?" Rias poked her tongue at Sona as she pulled away a bit on her own terms. "I mean, I know you wanted a husband who was someone strong, probably famous, intelligent and cunning, and I get why you're so upset… I mean, Momon is…"

"I know. Ravel-san told me." Sona put her finger on Rias's lips. She knew if she heard of the name spoken one more time she'd break entirely. "Please, don't speak that name… How are you this calm? You know who he is! What horrors he has wrought already! How can… how can you be so upbeat?!"

"Er…" Rias blushed a bit but her eyes had a determined fire that scared Sona. "I didn't think you'd feel so strongly about that… I mean, he was kinda perverted and you're kinda prude, but… I don't think that's too bad… And now that he's back, kinda, I think everything's going to be alright! And soon he'll regain the rest of himself and then everything will be just as it should!"

'P-perverted? Back to normal?! What?!' Sona could feel her world turning on its head. She had a feeling that Rias was either talking about something truly horrifying, that she had been corrupted to a degree that shouldn't have been possible and she had turned into someone else… or worse, she believed earnestly in Momon, or rather, the Supreme Being. Or... she believed him to be Issei, which was in retrospect the likeliest scenario, and possibly worst as it told Sona that the girl would completely immune to any accusations Sona could level towards Momon. 'I- I can't… Just kill me…'

She knew, however, that a mere suicide wouldn't save her as Momon had brought her back from death once already.

Tears threatened to fall once more, but she held them back as the door opened once more and the maids flooded back into the room, followed by Ravel who wore black gothic lolita-style clothes with yellow accents which practically screamed 'Dark Lady', and the yellow seemed to correlate to the particular tone that had been on Momon's 'armor'. Ravel's eyes instantly locked onto Sona's, and it seemed that she found what she was looking for in them.

"Ahaha… So you know. You realize." Ravel had her velvet-gloved hands lightly on her face while her head was tilted to the side, making her insanity clear as day to Sona. As if Ravel's look wasn't any indication of it as she peered directly into Sona's soul. "Rias-chan… Come- come! They're waiting for us! Servants- see to Sona! She can't look like that when she is served to Momon…. ahi hi hi… Or maybe that's how he'd like her? Your cheeks stained with running mascara, and your face a porcelain-perfect mask of fear and despair..."

"Ravel-chan! That's super creepy!" Rias despaired at the girl's antics. "Ugh, fine… It's going to be alright, Sona-chan! Just don't do anything hasty. We can talk together later, get Akeno-chan and Shinra-chan, grab some ice-cream and figure things out! Besides, if Momon-kun is so repulsive to you, we can always ask him to break up the engagement. I think he'll be sympathetic to your plight, I don't think he's a bad person."

'Were it so easy…' Sona hiccupped a bit from Rias's attempt to cheer her up. 'He has her under her thrall… It's not that she doesn't know what he's up to, or who he is, she just… doesn't care. I should have figured. She didn't seem to care much when he almost killed Saji, or when he cut off his arm. I should have known…'

She stabilized herself. 'I'll have to compose myself. I can't… I can't show weakness at times like these. He already has planned this in advance, even Ravel's presence here must be because of his interference- to put one observer who believes in his honesty, and one who knows his darkness and accepts it. I can't plead sympathy from Rias's good nature when Ravel is present, nor plead aid from Ravel's assassination attempts when Rias is present. Their methods are so opposed that I am stuck in the middle, unable to move to either direction with both are here…'

The brilliance of the Supreme Being's schemes would have probably caused Sona to be awestruck, perhaps she'd even develop a small crush, if the schemes hadn't been designed purposefully to ruin her and destroy all her hopes and dreams.

"Let's just… Let's just get this over with." Sona resisted the desire to hiccup as the 'maids' moved in to wipe the ruined make-up off and reapply it after drying her face.

Read,Vote,Review