The Debut Ball

The ballroom, adorned with shades of purple and black, was lit up by bright white flames that spun around on the ceilings.

Nobles talked amongst themselves, conversations filled with no meaning and pointless commentary that would be forgotten by the next day.

With a grand opening of the gold-encrusted doors at the top of the staircase, Callisto and her accompaniment stepped out into the halls of the elite, her hand uncomfortably placed on top of Nox's.

"Your smile is so forced that you might as well be frowning." The prince muttered, a practiced smile on his face, poised and elegant, as the poster child of the royal family should be.

She ignored him, which was pretty easy considering all the whispers coming from the nobles.

"Didn't she have a bad relationship with the Crown Prince?"

"I heard that he wasn't planning to come…"

"Maybe it was all just rumors?"

"Such a pretty dress. Who was her tailor? Look at the silver…"

Unexpectedly, the feedback was mostly positive toward her, especially due to the prior horrible rumors about her before her debut.

There were still looks of disregard and thinly disguised disgust, but the majority of social damage from this event would be towards the Crown Prince, who is giving the appearance of supporting his violent fiance.

Speaking of Nox, she thought he would be more provoked, but he seemed to be focused on a person in the crowd, eyes still foggy.

She followed his line of sight and saw a girl with warm chocolate doe eyes meeting his gaze, her pastel green hair in a crude bun and a dress laughably unrefined for a debut for the daughter of a duke.

Ethyl Pandora.

Callisto wouldn't say she was a good person at all. And she didn't think she was a bad person either.

But at a certain point, she wasn't going to put up with shenanigans. And it wasn't as if she was attached to the prestige and position of this noble lady.

She was here to kill a god, not pick a fight with women about what flowers they decided to plant for the spring.

But to show up to a clearly grandiose ball, wearing such a shoddy outfit to a ball where the effects would affect her? Who the hell even let her in? It must have been Luka. Couldn't he do his damn job?

Somehow, the story was still moving along just fine, which she honestly couldn't decide was a good or bad thing.

In addition, Ethyl and Nox were meeting each other a bit earlier than they were supposed to. So it seemed like the story could change, but not in a way that would be detrimental to Ethyl.

"Some people are really just born in God's favor."

"What did you say?" Callisto was brought back to reality, with Nox looking at her with a blank expression and his hand out.

Oh, it must be time for the first dance. She did a small curtsy and accepted his hand, and began to dance as the orchestra began to play.

However, neither person could say they were focused on their partner in the main dance of the ball, as the dark-haired prince's eyes kept drifting towards Ethyl.

If Callisto cared, she would have been very offended. Fortunately for Nox and everyone here, she was busy distracting herself to avoid starting a conflict, her heels clicking across the ballroom floor in rhythm to the waltz as she weighed the pros and cons in her mind.

As the song came to a close, and Callisto began to bow at Nox for the dance, she saw a black husk of a figure standing at the edge of the ballroom, its eye sockets boring into Callisto's soul as she felt a shiver go up her spine.

She could deal with Ethyl later.

Excusing herself was easy, as people began to swarm the crown prince despite it being her debut, and she slipped away under the guise of sickness.

"Do you need to speak with me, demon?"

"Well, I'm just taking one of few opportunities to check in on your progress. Lux is a very attentive God, so it's quite hard to meddle from outside the world. That being said, it looks like you've got nothing done! Do you even care about your lover?"

"I'm doing the best I can," She snapped, frustrated with the entity. Of course she cared.

It was the only reason she was doing this."Since you're here, tell me where he is. I'm keeping my end of the deal."

"Who?" The figure, humanoid but not human in the slightest, grinned widely, as if it could sense her annoyance.

"You know who. You took my memories away, didn't you?" She hissed, trying to keep a low profile as she talked to a shadow entity behind a pillar, which was really hard because she did stand out as the star of the ball.

"It was necessary. Lux is a bit of a control freak. If the story goes a way that Lux dislikes, then he might reset the world again so-"

"Reset the world again? What do you mean?"

"Oops. I said too much. Alright, I'm leaving. Make sure you do your job, and I'll try to come by when I can if anything important happens."

"Hey wait-!" Callisto made a move to grab the figure before it disappeared, but she stumbled through the afterimage, through the curtains, and onto an empty balcony.

"How unhelpful. And it seems like they're keeping secrets from me."

"Who's keeping secrets?" A voice from behind her asked, and Callisto jumped, turning around with a hand prepped to cast a spell, but the man grabbed her hand and dispelled what magic she had conjured. When she met his gold-flickered eyes, she recognized him as the man she saw out in town, and pulled her hand back with a huff.

"If anyone is keeping secrets, it's you, sir. You shouldn't be sneaking up on a lady." The man, now dressed in regal attire, was poised with the posture of a noble, vastly different from the rough mercenary look she first saw him in.

"Apologies, milady, but it seemed that you were in discussion with someone, though I passed by no one on my way here. Quite odd, isn't it?"

Callisto tensed at the implication, but continued with formalities regardless, as was the way with nobility.

"As you may know, I'm Callisto Azel of the Azel Dukedom. Before we get into any provocations, I'd implore you to grant me your name."

"I'm Astaroth, Scion of the Goetia Empire." He paused, gazing at her with an emotion she couldn't interpret. She didn't think she was scared, yet a shiver ran down her spine.

"You could call me Astar, it's what my friends call me." So much for formality.

"Um, okay?" Callisto had no idea why he phrased it so ominously, like she was supposed to have a revelation or somethi-

Wait! Astaroth! He's the guy that is trying to bring about the apocalypse! She should have known, the man looks like a villain, and he speaks like one too.

He wasn't supposed to show up this early. Would this alert Lux's attention?

"What brings you to this lowly girl's debut ball, Your Highness?"

"You can drop the formalities. We don't usually do that sort of thing in Goetia. To answer your question, I had heard rumors of an evil girl in Regalia with incredible magical powers who would be wearing an absurd dress at her debut. It looks like the rumor was only half-true."

The foreign king leaned against the balcony in a casual manner, though it didn't do anything to soothe Callisto's worries, along with the ill feeling of being watched.

"You flatter me, Your Highness Astaroth. Is there anything you ask of me?" She curtsied deeply, unsure of whether or not to ally with this man.

On one hand he she'd rather have as a friend than an enemy, and probably had similar interests to hers.

On the other hand, he does want to destroy the world, something that would be detrimental to Callisto's happily ever after. But she didn't know if she was strong enough to kill him without some sort of saintess power.

"I was already in the kingdom for diplomatic reasons, so I figured I might as well see if the rumors were true. Our kingdom treasures magic power, and you would be appreciated in Goetia, unlike in this country."

Once he finished his offer, Callisto realized that she had seen this before. It was a scene at the very end of Act 1, when Cordelia had been tossed into jail for attempting to kill the saintess.

Astaroth approached the original villainess with an offer of vengeance, but in reality, was testing forbidden magic on her.

She wasn't Cordelia and didn't think she would be offered the same deal as a villain who had failed multiple times and was at death's door.

Although his offer was a little tempting, she remembered what the dark entity said about Lux and the ominous idea of resetting the world.

"You're asking the prince's fiance to abandon her kingdom?"

"The prince's fiance? The same prince that is dancing with another woman at your debutante?"

Callisto's head swerved to the side, brushing the thick velvet curtains with her hand to see if he was telling the truth.

And desecrating her eyes, she saw Nox dancing with Ethyl, her hair now undone and flowing as the bun quickly fell loose from the dancing. So this is how it's going to be played.

"I will not be made a cuckold in public."

"Come see me if you're dissatisfied with the Regalia Kingdom!" The man called back as Callisto stalked back into the ballroom, a haunting look on her face.

"That girl is not subtle in the slightest." He muttered, and then jumped off the balcony, disappearing into the night to hunt down a blue-eyed person who had been staring a little bit too long in his direction.