The eminence in shadow: Bloody Princess From The Shadows

Chapter 5 : Will not be accepted by.

The wind brushed by her slime-suit as she ran past multiple trees throughout the forest at an incredible pace, nearly outpacing the train she was currently chasing with relative ease, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, she poured more magic within her already powerful legs and disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing on top of the train she was chasing.

Raising her arm on her side, she poured magic within her slime contents and manipulated it through magic, causing it to gather around her hand and slowly transfigured into a scythe, the scythe fully formed in her hand showcasing a beautiful dark ebony color with golden accents.

Her cat ears flickered, confirming that she was on the right compartment after hearing multiple voices just below the roof she was currently standing on.

"Bingo."

Bringing it upwards, she danced with the grace of a dancer and a berserker combined together and continuously swung it around creating a swirl of slashes that would have turned anyone into a bloody mist if they were to get hit by the deadly dance.

Stopping her momentum, she took one look below and tapped her foot onto the roof of the train, suddenly the whole roof and even the sides of the train compartment she was standing on turned into pieces, surprising the ones inside the compartment.

The few unfortunate souls that happened to be just below where the woman had been standing were all turned into sushi-sliced bits, the therianthrope landed on her feet before brandishing her scythe.

"First and Second Children, Huh." The woman scowled, flicking back her tail back and forth to shake off the small dust that got into her tail after she destroyed the train roof.

"Who the hell are you!?" Her adversaries inside the train shouted at her, brandishing their swords in response to her sudden violent arrival. The man that had called out to her was immediately bisected alongside his comrades who were unfortunate enough to be near him by a single swipe.

"Zeta, someone who will make sure not a single one of you scum makes it out of here alive." The therianthrope revealed her name, she turned around to face the rest of the First Children that were still alive within the train segment. "I'm surprised we missed a bunch of you mooks even after wiping out the rest of your shitty cult." Zeta scoffed at their disgusting existence, the First Children growled in response.

Before the door to the next train compartment opened revealing a neatly dressed man, Zeta slightly tilted her head to observe the newly arrived man who she guessed was also a First Children judging by the strength she could sense from him

"Greetings, I am the Silent Wind, I must ask you what kind of foolery are you talking about, Shadow Garden." The man proved knowledgeable about his adversary as he recognized the strangely-fitted black suits of the Shadow Garden. "I know that you are our enemy, but to make the claim of 'Wiping out' the Cult of Diablos when the cult is still alive is rather disrespectful don't you think? We've literally just contacted them." The man dubbed Silent Wind slowly unsheathed his sword, aiming it at Zeta who stood still with a bored expression. The man knew revealing information about them making contact with the Cult was not the smartest decision, but that wouldn't matter as the woman before them would die anyway.

What can one do against many?

"Ah, you mean that." Zeta slung her scythe on her shoulder and patted her tail, removing a few pebbles and shrapnels that her tail caught during her landing, she did the same with her hair. "Just when we thought 97% of the Cult was gone, turns out the 3% was all the way in here in Oshiana, I'll have to give credit to whoever you're serving since he managed to hide from us all these years."

"What?" The man named Silent Wind tilted his head in response, a tick forming on his forehead because of her nonchalant attitude, most of his other fellow First Children had already gathered around in the nearby compartments of the train they infiltrated, he heard from his lord that Shadow Garden was not to be taken lightly, but her uncaring attitude towards HIM was starting to piss him off.

"What I'm saying is, your contact is fucked, you guys are morons for resurfacing, you've just given us a chance to wipe out the last of you idiots, well.. I'm more thankful for that if anything." Zeta smiled ferally, lowering her scythe and preparing for battle. "Your Cult is already gone moron, the Shadow Garden had already destroyed them two years ago before they could achieve their goal, that so-called 'contact' you had with the Cult was my organization's doing, they're just making it look like the Cult is fine." Zeta yawned, she looked at the skies and saw that early morning was about to come, she'll have to finish this fast if she wanted to get some sleep after her trip.

To clarify about what she said, the Shadow Garden has already destroyed the Cult of Diablos two years ago, managing to prevent the resurrection of Diablos – Even though she tried to do the same before to Immortalize her beloved master – A few remaining branches of the Cult was still alive, it wasn't easy to find them all out as most of them would be in hiding or Inactive just like this one. So Alpha and Gamma decided to make a small joint of trickery into fabricating the Cult's currently destroyed status, they had made it look like that the Cult was fine and would deliberately hunt down the smaller branches that made contact with the trap the Shadow Garden made.

Alpha and the rest of the organization had spent most of their time hunting these surviving Cult Members, which proved to be annoying as finding them was the hardest part, you can't be too sure if they've actually destroyed every single one of them because a few weeks or months later they would find another active base after destroying another one.

It was only till then that they received a new contact from all the way in here in Oshiana, which was annoyingly far from Midgar, just when they thought they'd destroyed every single one of them and could finally take some rest, another base of operation – And a huge one at that – Suddenly appeared.

"Y-You.. You do realize that you've just given us crucial information? We could use this against your Organization." The Silent Wind nervously said, there was no way he was going to believe the cult was destroyed just like that, true, Lord Belmo had gone inactive for a very long time and has not made a move yet until now.. But.. For the cult to be destroyed without any of them being informed..?! Impossible, there's no way!

Zeta yawned again, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth. "Yeahhhh.. True, not that it would matter since none of you are getting out of here alive, even if you did, your cult is gone."

"Y-You wouldn't dare! We have civilians we can use as hostages in this train! That stunt you pulled just now would have likely been heard throughout the entire train!"

Zeta snorted. "As if you'd get the chance to do that, besides." Zeta closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them with a sharp glint that sent shivers throughout the man's spine "It'll be over before they could even realize it."

And just like that, she dematerialized from his sight, the man's instincts screamed for him to dodge, willing every single magic in his body he grabbed one of his comrades and used him as a shield when a tremendous force erupted from his front.

"What are you-! GAH-" His fellow First Children was cut in half, as he too was cut, but due to his quick thinking he was only blown away and managed to get off with an injury traveling across from his shoulder to his waist, not that it would help as he would still bleed out from the gigantic wound in his chest.

The man crashed through another compartment filled with another group of Second Childrens.

"Multiple First and Second Children in one train, all headed to Oshiana, how did we even miss quite a force like this?" Zeta flourished her scythe before dashing off to mutilate the other Cult Members who were all panicking from her sudden showcase of might, causing their group to lose morale and start attacking blindly.

Zeta weaved through them all with the nimbleness of a cat before slicing them all in half with one swing of her deadly scythe, the crescent swirls of trail left by the accelerating scythe made a beautiful light show that lasted for a second.

One by one, all of the First and Second Children charged at her regardless of their fear, letting their emotions take over themselves, a few however ran away by jumping off the train.

She'll have to find those goons later on, Tsk.

The fight continued on for a few more second as she tore through the remaining members of the Cult with terrifying ease, finally being done with the compartment she was currently in, she turned back and lunged forward at the door that led to another train segment, bursting through it she saw a few more Second Children alongside a few Individuals wearing Lab-coats tucking in what looked to be.. Crates with strange parts inside.

Looks like she hit the jackpot, they WERE planning on something.

Too bad it won't get too far, these shitty assholes of the Cult were all dying today, after that she'll go to Oshiana and deal with their Leader if possible. Instead of choosing to kill all of them, she killed the Second Children without any of them having the chance to fight back in one burst of speed, before bringing a knee for each scientist that was inside the train segment in quick succession.

The scientists, which she now noticed there were four of them, all gasped for breath as the force of the impact from her knee nearly knocked them out, Zeta made a quick mental note to hold back a little on the weaklings otherwise she wouldn't be able to get information out of them when they're unconscious, and there was no way she was going to wait for hours just to wait for theme to wake up.

She slammed her scythe's sharpened edge on the wall, leaving it immobile and walked towards the scientists, before grabbing a female scientist by the collar of her lab-coat and bringing her face close to her own.

"Alright, pretty sure by now you already know the drill, save us both the time and start talking." She shook the poor scientist violently with a bored expression.

"IIIII CANNNOTTT! I WILL- BE-BETRAY HIM!" The currently victimized scientist refused with a slight distortion due to how Zeta was shaking her, eventually the cat-girl stopped shaking her and gave her a sharp bored look.

"What were you guys doing here? Where's the rest of your allies and who are you serving? Answer all of those in-order or the shaking continues." Zeta threatened the woman, who shrunk back in fear. Sure, she was just being shaken around violently, but that was if the person shaking her was another normal person, except, IT'S NOT! The woman was shaken around at highspeeds that would have threatened to break her neck.

The woman started to foam at her mouth and lost consciousness after the consequences of her head being shaken around so fast, Zeta flinched and dropped the woman immediately, disgusted by the foaming of her mouth. 'Shit, fuck, I didn't mean to shake her too badly, I'm not even one for interrogation damn it! Shouldnt have been too impatient! ' She cursed internally for her impatience, accidentally knocking the poor woman out.

Seeing that the scientists were quite terrified seeing their colleague foam from her mouth from the world's best 'interrogation' tactic, Zeta smiled as threateningly as possible.

'Roll with it .'

"If you don't talk the same thing will happen to you lot, better start talking." Zeta followed after her words of 'interrogating' them when the rest of them didn't talk, well, that was until she actually threatened to kill them for real if they didn't talk, one of the scientists eventually gave in – And probably pissed their pants – And gave her information that would be helpful to her in this mission.

Apparently they're gathering materials for a pet project, she knew beforehand from the Shadow Garden that these crazed scientists were working for someone on some secret projects, two in particular, She didn't know which since the scientist never told her, the man had fainted from her constant shaking(She should probably stop doing that), another thing was that he was serving a man named "Belmo Ontrippoffz", other than that she didn't get anything.

She would need to report this back to Alpha before proceeding on her own, her mind flashed back to the conversation she had with her Leader before leaving for Oshiana.

…

A constant ringing filled the transportation ship's quarters as Zeta walked towards the source of the ringing, she picked up the new invention made by Eta called "Long-Distance communication Artifact" delivered to her through the lower-rankings of Shadow Garden that functioned by using magic as a medium to transfer back and forth their voices through a small object, courtesy of their Lord's Wisdom.

Zeta picked up the handle-shaped object that transmitted the sounds of her allies.

"Testing, Testing. Zeta, do you hear me?" Alpha's voice resounded from the small object, Zeta looked at the new invention with a surprised expression, Eta was incredible for being able to realize this into existence just through their Lord's words.

It was gonna be so awkward talking with Alpha when she literally left after her attempts at turning her lord into the world's new god to avoid history from ever happening again like the Cult of Diablos being ever born. She was later turned down by their Lord after he told her that she was 'thinking' like the cult, after that she left to hide herself in solitude, until she came out of hiding and helped in destroying the Cult.

Even after that she barely talked with them, she was ashamed by her actions that even her Lord had flatly declined it.

Andddddd now she's here talking to Alpha through Eta's new invention, truly wonderful.

"Yeah, I do." Zeta answered back, mentally preparing herself for any kind of shitshow that could occur from this.

"Zeta.. It's good to hear from you again.." Alpha's voice wavered slightly from the other side of the communication artifact. "You've barely talked or shown yourself back in here."

"...Just tell me the mission." Zeta avoided the pin on the grenade.

"Zeta-"

"Alpha, Mission, we can talk about it after this later."

Zeta could hear Alpha sighing from the other side of the phone, Zeta could sympathize, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with drama right now when the Cult is involved.

"Fine, I'll tell you the mission details." Apparently, they've received a new contact of Diablos Cult members asking for Information regarding the Blood Queen and requesting for materials overseas a few weeks ago, it took them a while to know the location as the contact they ambushed killed himself days after capture, not allowing them to get all the information they needed, regardless of that they were able to pinpoint where the contact had come from.

Oshiana, the kingdom beside the sea that favored fashionable clothing and enrichment of the sea. Oshiana was a kingdom they've already scrutinized way before the Cult's destruction, but had found no evidence trailing back to the Cult and simply left it alone as it was too far and too difficult to properly operate infantry due to how far it was, without any signs of the Cult they simply focused on the main bases of the Cult. Turns out they were wrong, there IS a hidden Cult branch in there, not just a branch but a faction it seems.

Not only they had missed a whole faction, they also had a Project going on, not one but two. The first one involves the great Blood Queen herself, someone they kept an eye on in-case she were ever to go on a rampage again – Which was unlikely as their Lord admitted himself that he healed her from ever losing herself again – Not exactly much of an observation on the Vampire as they only knew her whereabouts, not what she was doing these days.

Since she was currently the closest available asset to the Ocean-side kingdom, being only a week of ship travel away from the kingdom.

They opted to have her go and check things out before the rest of the Organization went to Oshiana themselves, and if possible, finish things by herself if the opportunity showed itself, the rest of the Shades and infantry would arrive in two weeks or less maximum by the time she wasn't able to do so.

They would have asked Lord Shadow to help in dealing with the last few vestiges of the Cult, but he was currently unavailable as he had just left a few weeks ago somewhere.

Probably doing something crucial or Important as always without them…

"Is that all?" Zeta asked.

"No, that was everything." Before Zeta could leave the communication device, Alpha stopped her in her tracks. "Zeta, wait."

Zeta frowned, she just said she didn't want any drama for the time being, why would Alpha stop her from hanging up?

"What?"

"...Stay safe." Was all Alpha said after a whole second of hesitation from her side.

"..Sure." Zeta placed back the Communication-Artifact and cut off the call. She went back to her usual habits of dozing off, waiting for the ship she was currently on to sail.

Zeta sat down on the transportation ship's installed beds and leaned down, sighing heavily.

"Hopefully with this, the Cult of Diablos will be finally put to an end." Zeta still clearly remembers the words her Lord Shadow told her.. She was thinking too much like them.

True, her hatred for them caused her to deviate and have her search for ways to immortalize her Lord Shadow, forgetting the consequences of reviving Diablos itself, even then, her Lord Shadow turned down the idea of it.

She never even asked how he felt about her doing that behind his back..

Although, these past few years she has taken steps to slowly redeem herself, while avoiding most of Shadow Garden.

The ship's horns sounded throughout the entire ship, indicating that it's about to sail off.

"Maybe I'll just deal with all of them by myself before Alpha and the others arrive."

…

Zeta ended the memory and quickly gathered every information she had.

'These Projects of theirs.. It's likely one of these projects includes the Blood Queen in some way, judging by the fact Alpha told me that the remaining Cult Members they managed to fool with the fake contact asked for information regarding about the Progenitor Vampire, that and the place where they were heading to where their base is likely hidden is also where the Blood Queen is currently residing… Oshiana.' Zeta quickly summarized, loosening her grip on the poor scientist she was holding and put a hand on her chin.

"But that doesn't explain what the other project is.. They were gathering materials usually used by Eta for complex abstract creations.." She dropped the scientist who dropped to the ground like he had Taco Bell for dinner, Zeta approached the crates containing the materials she saw earlier, each crate varied in size depending on what was inside, one of them had transparent connectable parts for what looked to be a tube..? What were these guys working on?

She picked up the parts and analyzed them, putting two and two together she realized these were the same parts the Cult would use for studying or experimenting on live specimens, or most of the time, the Possessed or Humans.

Were they planning on reviving their blasted Cult?! Like hell she would allow that, these crazed-power hungry assholes should know when to call it quits.

Where did they even get these parts from? The Fake contract-trick made by the Shadow Garden made sure to get rid of the ones that made contact with them, so where did these guys get these parts from?

She dropped the parts back on the crates and walked towards the female scientist she had 'peacefully interrogated' a few minutes ago, she picked her up again by the collar and slapped a miniscule amount of magic to the woman to forcefully wake her up.

The woman woke up violently and looked around breathing heavily, she whimpered when she saw Zeta holding her up.

Zeta sharpened her gaze on the woman and released a slight amount of magic, sending shivers throughout the woman's form.

"W-Wait..! I'll tell you everything! Just don't kill me." The woman whimpered, clearly terrified by Zeta's menacing form as magic erupting from her body.

Zeta grew satisfied at her progress before remembering the train had passengers.

"Oi, I've wasted enough time here and the passengers on this goddamn train are probably starting to notice things, just tell me everything or things are going to get ugly-"

But before she could finish her sentence, her cat-ears flickered as she heard heavily fatigued footsteps from the door connecting to the previous compartment she had just demolished, and cut her off from finishing her sentence.

"T-That's if she's going to be able to say anything." A heavily fatigued voice spoke from the compartment door that connected to the other train segment she demolished, she turned her around just in time to see that Silent Wind guy she bisected – And should be dead by now – Pointing a gun in her direction, a strangely colored round already fired and increasingly getting closer, except not towards her, but to the woman she was holding.

Zeta narrowed her eyes, a single firearm didn't pose a threat to her as she could literally move faster than these measly bullets, hell, to her perception the bullet was like a snail, but that wasn't the case for the scientist she needed information from. Granted, she could just try to get information from the other downed scientists, or even that First Children, but the woman she was holding seemed to be the only one willing to give her what she wanted.

Making a quick decision, she raised a hand up, ready to chop away the bullet with just her hand. When she chopped forward, she took a closer look at the strange bullet that slowly inched forward as her hand got closer.

Suddenly, her instincts as a therianthrope screamed at her, telling her that something was off about the bullet she was just going to block.

Unfortunately, she realized it too late and blocked the bullet with the bottom of her hand, a small yellow cloud suddenly exploded from the bullet.

'A small cloud of mist..?! No wait, there's something off about its scent-!'

"Scent?! Shit..!" She immediately let go of the woman she was holding and covered her face, careful not to inhale anything.

Unfortunately for her, she already inhaled a handful before she involuntarily smelled the scent.

Zeta immediately observed herself for anything wrong and ran magic throughout her body, looking for anything harmful that would cause harm to her body, feeling that she was fine for the most part, she raised a hand up and swiped the cloud away.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Zeta mocked.

Unknown to Zeta, the woman she dropped also inhaled a small amount of the cloud, she had a terrified look on her face knowing the inevitable headache that was coming for her.

"W-What.. Impossible!" The Silent Wind barely coughed out, his hand still on the gigantic wound on his chest.

He stumbled backwards, barely standing on his two legs as he stepped backwards.

"T-That should have affected you! No matter how strong your magic is it should have at least affected you.." The man's face slowly contorted into fear, "This..This level of strength and that magic pressure from earlier.. No.. You all couldn't have actually.. You could have possibly taken out the Cult!" There was now fear in his voice as he did his best to stumble backwards.

Zeta slowly walked towards him with a smug look. "Now you're catching on, took you a while to get the idea, now die knowing it was Shadow Garden that took you all down."

The man immediately started begging for his life, almost too instantly.

"I-I beg of you! Spare me..!"

Zeta narrowed her eyes, well.. That was quick, she knew the Cult was full of cowards and weaklings, but this is just pathetic.. But something was off, was this guy trying to stall for time? If he was stalling for more reinforcement she'll just welcome it with open arms, better to kill most of them in one sweep rather than letting them run around.

So what else would he be waiting for if he was indeed stalling…?

"Just when I thought you worms couldn't get any lower.. No wait, That's not a fair thing to say is it? You guys were always the lowest of the low." Zeta mocked, strutting forward, her mind currently hyperfocusing on the man's obvious attempts of stalling for time.

"I'll tell you everything!" He backed away even further on his limped legs. "B-Belmo-sama is planning on drugging the Blood Queen to experiment on her! He's planning on experimenting on the daughter of your Leader! He's planning to use Shadow's daughter against him!" The Silent Wind sputtered, Zeta immediately stopped strutting forward like a prey playing with food when she heard the man suddenly utter something completely ridiculous.

"Daughter?" Zeta's cautiousness and alertness lowered greatly by the sudden bullshit that was thrown at her. Her Lord having a daughter? Pfft.. Who would even be the mother? And what did even have to do with the Blood Queen? as far as she knows Alpha would decimate anyone that wasn't the Shades if someone were ever to get to him first.¹

They've been trying to woo him for years, Alpha being the one in the lead as she's always with her Lord, not to mention they've kept a veeerryyy close-eye on their Lord if he were ever to be in a relationship.

And there's no way he wouldn't have at least told them about it, this man was fucking messing with her, though she'll admit, it was effective enough to confuse her.

"T-That's right! The Blood Queen and Shadow have a relationship do they not!? Belmo-sama is intent on harming that little girl to further his plans!" That caused Zeta to pause slightly, clearly trying to process what kind of shit this man was sputtering.

'Shadow and The Blood Queen, Elizabeth.. That's not even possible.'

From what she knows the Queen of Vampires and Her Lord barely interacted with one another, how would they grow from acquaintances to having a daughter?

And more importantly, Progenitor Vampires were historically known for being unable to reproduce.

So how would that even happen? The thought was laughable.

' Yeah no, this guy is just sputtering bullshit by now just to stall.'

"I-I could help you! Help your Lord's heir or something..!"

"I've wasted enough time here, and you just cemented yourself a painful death for even trying to use my Master's name in such a way." Zeta hissed with a cold voice, she dashed forward and grabbed her scythe within an instant, seemingly like a blur from the man's point of view.

She drew closer to the man who was about to piss himself, time slowed down as Zeta prepared to send the man in front of her to hell.

Only for her to suddenly feel unbelievably sluggish.

"..?!" Zeta's world spun as her eyes widened in confusion, simultaneous headaches sprouting in her head, she grit her teeth in pain and collided with the ground violently due to the speed she was going, she came to a stop when the momentum she was going finally died out.

"W-What.. The fuck..?" Zeta rolled and placed a hand on her head as a killer headache threatened to split her head figuratively, she was experiencing the equivalent of having multiple hangovers all affecting her at once.

She tried to get up only for her to stumble around and fall back to the floor, her balance seemingly impaired at the moment. "T-This.. Feeling, Intoxication..? Is it chloroform..?!" She said through heavy breaths, her vision was wavering as tendrils of sleepness slowly seeped in, she did her best to stay awake by

The man known as the Silent Wind fell on his ass, observing Zeta's current state before laughing with great exhaustion.

"Looks like it actually works.. How's Belmo-sama's new project..?! It used to initially knock the victim out cold upon inhalation... I guess it's true that they made it a delayed reaction instead.. "

He stood up with the support of his sword and slowly made his way to Zeta who was exerting as much effort as she could just to stand up, the feeling of sleepiness threatening to overtake her if she even dared to do a simple task like blinking.

"Fuckkk..! Get up!" Zeta slammed her fist to the floor, leaving a fist shaped dent on the train's wooden floor. "I… Used magic earlier, why aren't the effects gone?!" She hissed through her mind splitting headaches.

She tried to pour in as much magic as she could throughout her body, but due to the effects of the drugs it made it nearly impossible to focus on a single thread of magic.

The Silent Wind walked towards her with great difficulty, using his sword to support himself, eventually he managed to get close enough for a simple stab of a sword. "Who knows..? It's probably because the effect hasn't fully registered yet when you cleansed your body, when you did, you technically removed nothing until it kicked in.." The man stopped in front of her and raised his sword with great difficulty. "As expected of a Theriantherope, monstrously powerful but a brain dead animal on the inside.. If I'm fated to die here then I will make sure you will too.. For Belmo-sama's sake."

…!

"GET OFF!"

Zeta's eyes widened as she watched the man bring down the sword, seeing that the blade was coming at her neck in slow motion, she immediately released every magic she had in her body with a howl, attempting to throw one last ditch effort to get out of her sticky situation.

The sudden release of magic blew the Cult Members that were inside and the entire compartment away in a gust of air and magic, a cloud of dust erupted from the train segment Zeta was in, the dust cloud was easily cleared due to the speeding train they were in.

Zeta can be seen in the middle of where the explosion of magic had erupted, the entire roof was blown off just like the other one she had initially destroyed, the scientists were all dead as they were thrown off the train while the Silent Wind had died out too.

Zeta limped down, laying down on the wooden floor of the Train as she slowly regained her breath.

"That.. was too close.. What have they been making..?"

Just when Zeta thought she could take a breather and try to concentrate on her current state, the few remaining Second Children she couldn't take care of because they were in the other Train Segments slowly appeared one after another.

"Fuck…" She didn't think she could do that again, recklessly letting your magic explode while having little to no motor function or balance both literally and figuratively was a terrible Idea, it was like forcing yourself to do intense aerobic exercises while having no stamina and with an absolutely fatigued body that required sleep.

Or in other words, recoil damage brought upon to the body by reckless usage.

"Looks like the Intruder's been dealt with.." A Second Child quipped with a low voice, brandishing his sword as he approached Zeta, the other Cult Members examined the two blown train compartments and put two and two together. "Sir Silent Wind probably used the new product Lord Belmo told us to use."

The one that approached Zeta pointed the tip of his blade on her neck, applying a small bit of pressure. "She's barely conscious, It really works." He said in amazement.

"This mission is a bust, someone needs to take charge, Sir Silent Wind is dead and Lord Belmo will definitely not be happy with this." One of them raised a point.

"Before that, what do we do with her?"

They all looked at Zeta with thoughtful and malicious complexions.

"Bring her to Lord Belmo for interrogation, what else?" The Second Child said as if stating the obvious. "Our squad Leader Sir Silent Wind is dead, clean all of these up before the lock we put on the doors of this train causes the passengers to panic as they've likely heard the loud destruction that came from here, we can't afford to be found out or Lord Belmo will be pissed."

Zeta stayed still while they were talking, focusing on restabilizing her magic so she could release another blast or even initiate Mist Form to get out of her current situation, but the distractingly painful headaches of sleepiness obstructed her.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Said one of the Second Child who was picking up their late man in charge, he was asking one of their younger brash members who had just joined Belmo's forces a few years ago.

"We only need to bring her alive don't we? The Sleeping Queen or whatever crap it was named is still clearly affecting her, but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun." The man said while licking his lips, the others simply flinched in disgust or recoiled, what? They had standards..

Zeta's expression slowly contorted into anger at the thought of this man getting closer to her. "Don't.. You fucking.. Touch me!"

The Cult member ignored her and got closer, pushing aside the other Second Child who had her at blade-point with a sword initially.

She was about to try and lash out despite her current state when multiple steel threads appeared out of nowhere, connecting to the barely attached walls of the train and wrapped around the Cult Members.

Each string tightening with unbelievable force, causing most of them to groan in pain.

The one who had it worse in particular was the second child that was about to commit atrocious acts towards was slowly squished apart, causing him to shriek until he exploded into small bisected sections.

"The moonlight is shining down on us mere mortals with its beautiful presence, it would be a waste if it was tainted by those who can't even appreciate its beauty."

A man in a sleek dark suit walked into the scene, adorning a white ballroom mask, he tightened the hold on his gloves, the man walked gracefully towards them as the moonlight shone over him, magnifying his current image as enigmatic.

An array of countless strings surrounded the man like an aura of swirls, moving up and down as if they were alive.

"W-Who are you?! One of the Second Children uttered through pained grunts.

"A mere simple man who enjoys the beauty of the moon.. Oi, Zeta isn't this your character arc? Get up girl. " The last part was muttered under the man's breath, no one being able to hear it other than him.

Zeta's angered complexion slowly turned hopefully, this voice – despite how deep it was for some reason. – And scent… That incredibly familiar way of speaking, he's.. He's here! Her Lord is here!

"Take this as a lesson and make sure to learn how to appreciate beauty in plain sight." The man's fingers twisted and curled repeatedly as strings imbued with magic moved with great speed, each thread was laced with multiple strings in one file, making it unbelievably sharp.

The slaughter of strings covering the Second Children tightened drawing agonized screams from the men, it wasn't long until they all turned into sliced human bits when the strings finally cut through them.

A splatter of blood rained down on both the remaining individuals, the magic-imbued slime slowly cleaning the blood stains on their clothes.

Light footsteps came from behind Zeta, the cat-girl slowly pushed herself up with her arms and looked towards where the footsteps came from.

Her eyes beamed with joy when she saw her Lord Shadow, standing before her with strange clothing which she presumes to be his 'John Smith' disguise.

"S-Shadow..?" Zeta muttered with great difficulty, despite her joy towards her Master's sudden albeit badass entrance, the effects of the yellow substance she unwillingly inhaled from earlier still running fresh within her streams.

Shadow looked at her and held his hand out, a violet flame-like aura appeared on top of his palms before he crushed it. Suddenly, Zeta felt her strength coming back as well as the intoxication wearing off.

"T-This is.." Zeta looked at Shadow with grateful eyes, As always, her master always arrived at the right time, whether it be for her fellow Shades or other people, he'd always arrive on time – although quite late most of the time. – And she'd always be eternally grateful for it.

She stood up from where she was previously laying and patted her clothes off, her tail was wagging like a cat that had just been given a luxurious deluxe premium cat food, Shadow took his eyes of Zeta and looked around the demolished Train Compartment.

Although something was off, why was her Lord in here? Didn't Alpha say he ventured off somewhere unknown? She'll just have to ask him, she supposed.

"Shado-" She was cut off when Shadow put a finger on her lips, his face a little too close for her comfort(She was loving it), her face then proceeded to redden at her Lord's sudden action, not expecting him to be so forward so suddenly.

'W-What is he doing?! No wait, this posture, this position! Is it finally time..?! Am I the chosen one!? Before Alpha!? '

Various images of her and her Lord immediately went flooding in her imagination, her dream was finally coming true, Alpha might kill her for it but it would be so damn worth it!

Shadow's face drew closer, time went down to a slow as Zeta became expectant, outside she was stoic and expressionless, internally however, she was screaming with joy.

'THIS IS TOO SUDDEN!'

Shadow's face inched forward even more, finally removing his finger from her lips, Zeta could smell his scent more clearly now that he was closer, her lips started quivering.

'YEEEEEESSSSSS -'

Unfortunately for her, it didn't go as she had expected, his face went to the side instead of smacking down on her face. Shadow had instead brought his face close to her ears.

' NOOOOOOOOOOOOO -!'

"For the time being, call me John Smith." Shadow- John Smith said, before pulling backwards and examining Zeta, he looked at her and nodded, she was fine… Though why was she laying down on the ground floor before..?

Zeta was as still as a tree, unmoving and blanked. She was furiously screaming at the world's unfairness internally. She soon snapped out of her inner-thoughts when John Smith snapped his fingers in front of her.

"Yo, Zeta you good?" Cid said, his persona as John Smith disappearing for a moment when he called out to Zeta.

Cid was having the fucking time of his life, this shit was banging. He was currently in one of the passenger train compartments, dressed up as one of his favorite personas.

Being a super elite secret agent, John Smith!

Why was he dressed up as John Smith once again? He had a good reason for that, for now he'll be enjoying his time alone after he had to go through some hellish bullshit with Alexia and Claire weeks ago before he was able to finally leave.

…

"So… why are we here again?" Cid asked as a tick grew in his forehead, he was starting to get tired of whatever they were doing, he wanted to leave and see the world for himself damn it! "Can't I just go home?"

The white devil in front of him smiled innocently – Though he was sure there was nothing but evil behind that smile. – Said white devil feigned innocence, walking through the crowd with a smile and waving gracefully.

"Princess's orders Pooch, besides it's been a while since we've spent time together." Alexia said without losing her smile, he was currently next to the White-haired princess with a look they could win as the world's best 'Tired of this shit and wants nothing more than to get out of here' expression.

If you didn't notice, they were currently at a gathering filled with Midgar's nobles from across the kingdom, more or less a gathering since it's a celebration for Alexia's ascendance of being the heir for the throne, officially one-upping Iris in position. As Klaus decided she was fit for taking care of Midgar, not to mention he was probably going to step down in a few years or so – From both the stress of dealing with the Cult secretly alongside Alexia and Shadow Garden, and weakening of age. – Iris had no opposition or problems with this, which was fortunate.

Because like.. Her mental health was NOT in a good place right now, after the Cult's demise, Iris had finally found out she was being tricked by the Cult itself and nearly got Alexia killed for it, during the climax in the fight against the Cult Iris took a hit for Alexia and died.. Or would have if not for Shadow of all people arriving and healing her.

Iris was still blinded by her rage against Shadow that time, and took his act of healing her for mockery; she only got worse when she found out the Shadow Garden was just opposing the Cult and wanted nothing more but to save the world.

Alexia found it difficult to accept – And rather painfully to her heart – that her Older sister whom she looked up to couldn't take the notion of being in the wrong, Iris didn't want to believe she was wrong and thought Shadow was still her Enemy.

After the Cult was destroyed – With her coming along with Natsume who she later learned to be 'Beta' of Shadow Garden and Rose-senpai at the Cult's final stand She had been trying to reconnect with her Older Sister who was broken inside, spending most of her time to help her recover.

Enough talk about the idiotic red-headed Older sister, she had a celebration here to enjoy.

As for Cid, the mob was definitely NOT enjoying being here when he wanted to go and play around as an Eminence. Why was he walking next to the Heir of Midgar of all people? Other than the fact that they were friends, Cid had taken a position in the Knight Order.

Why the Knight Order of all places you ask? Because what better way was there to act as mob when you had to get a job? Be the easily forgettable and fodderized background military guard that's usually seen in Animes but are not given attention to as they have little to no qualities taking note off when the Main characters are talking.

Cid thought it was perfect, it was in fact not when you're friends with Alexia Midgar, the woman had literally taken advantage of the fact she can order him around now without problems – He usually tries to avoid her, but for some ungodly reason she's able to find him most of the time. – Oh and did he forget to mention? This White-haired devil had managed to find out his Identity as Shadow.

Yeah, he accidentally fumbled when he was fighting a dude who was part of these group of people called 'Knights of round' two years ago, the guy was pretty strong on his right, but compared to him he was weak. Then he pulled out some weird shit and blew off the entire top of his slimes, disintegrating the upper half of his Shadow persona's clothes. Thankfully he had his civilian clothes under the slimes or he would have been naked when it happened, but uh, ahem, UNTHANKFULLY if that was a word(It wasn't.), Alexia happened to be there when he was fighting the dude, why was she there? He didn't know but he wanted to show off, look where that got him.

At first, he panicked. Not knowing what to do or say when the White-haired princess stood flabbergasted (Though internally, the girl was down right fucking horrified and afraid, not because Pooch was SHADOW of all people even though she had suspicions before but didn't expect it to be real, but because of her actions and attitudes towards him. A guy who could literally blew up the entire kingdom, and she had turned him into a dog, what the fuck! It was a miracle Midgar was not blown up by now) after his identity was revealed by the asshole who blew off his Slimes, so to say, the girl was not amused and questioned him about shit.

He had to pull out every bullshit he had just to get her to stay quiet, not that he needed to because to his surprise she herself promised she would stay quiet. The girl's attitude towards him had changed afterwards, talking to him with more respect and reserved for some reason, it was understandable because his Persona as Shadow was a world-wide criminal. In the end, they had a casual talk and settled things out.

He wished he didn't because she came back to being a pain in the ass, not to mention more clingier, asking him to go to her private quarters or some shit, he wasn't falling for that! She was obviously going to make him do annoying things.

Joining the Knight Order was definitely not a good idea with her here, atleast Skel and Po were still with him, the two idiots joined the Knight order with him because they thought it would make them popular with the ladies, it in fact did not to no ones surprise.

Now he was in this stupid gathering, accompanying the princess whenever she went.

"Oi, aren't you getting way ahead of yourself?" A new voice came from the side, a raven-haired woman walked up to them.

Oh great.

If that wasn't enough pain in the ass for him, Claire of all people was HERE, why was she here? Because Alexia invited her, which only doubled the annoyance, his pain-in-the-ass-O' Meter was already full with Alexia, it only worsened when she arrived.

Nah nah, this was it, he was fucked, these two are now in the same place and shit was going to get more annoying.

'I should have used Serious dash™ to get away from Alexia. '

"Oh, Claire-san, you're finally here." Alexia turned to face Claire.

Suddenly Cid felt a hand grabbing on his neck.

"Yeah, sorry. I was trying to find a certain someone to dress him up properly, but it turns out he was already here when I told him to stay put." Claire said as her eyes glowed for a moment, looking at Cid.

"Yeahhhh, who would that- Geh." Cid quipped with a bored expression before Claire tightened her hold on his neck.

"You never change.." Claire sighed.

"I think that's a good thing." Alexia said from beside him.

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

The three of them continued to converse until Klaus Midgar went on the middle of the stage and gathered everyone's attention by pinging a glass and a fork together.

He continued to announce the coronation of Alexia's rise to being the crown princess, Iris was behind her father with her usual depressed look, however she was putting up the same fake-smile her younger sister would use to appear proper in front of the crowd.

Most of the nobles congratulated and praised Alexia, while others seemed to disagree with Klaus's decision, seeing that Iris's fame was still prominent, despite the fact that Alexia has gotten more achievements and possibly surpassed Iris over the years.

Cid took this time to slip out while Alexia and Claire were distracted, disappearing with his completely polished teleportation skills.

"FINALLY!" Cid yelled in joy after reappearing on top of a tall building, it may piss of Claire and Alexia if he suddenly disappeared just like that – And for a long time too – But at least he'll be free for a good amount of time when he's off-kingdom, since the gathering will take some time he'll be able to prepare to leave, his job should be fine, not like they'll notice one of their many employees gone for some time.

But first, he'll gather up his stuff and think about what he'll do once he leaves the kingdom.

Cid jumped off from the building and hopped from one to another seemingly light as a feather, each hop allowed him to cross multiple buildings at once. Since it was night there's no risk of someone looking up by pure coincidence and seeing him while he was taking a casual stroll by jumping from one building to another.

Cid grew excited as he imagined all the possibilities of this new agenda he was going to tackle, oh he can already visualize it, A mysterious Eminence in the shadow from foreign lands suddenly making a badass entrance as a fight between two named characters and becoming a big deal towards them, they'd be like "Where did this man come from?" Or something like "I've never seen so much power before.", though he's sure they would probably say something else that's unique, every continent has its traditions and differences after all.

Maybe there's different monsters there too? He could make a badass save by killing a giant monster that was about to kill someone, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and giving wisdom was something too.

Hmm.. Maybe save a damsel in distress..? Nah, not up in his alley, that was a hero's job to do, who would he even save lol? That would likely initiate some kind of Rom-com story.. Saving a girl and having her fall in love with you was too cliche. Hmm.. How about healing someone when they're rampaging uncontrollably because of a fate they didn't want? He'll put that one on his list since it's more of a situation-based thing… Why did that sound familiar though..? He does remember Milia… Hmm.. Why does he feel like he's forgetting a certain Red-head who should be an important part of his life?

Oh right, Elizabeth! He hasn't seen her in years, he vaguely remembers making it a part of his list to see her again, and maybe fight her once more if the opportunity arose.

That and see if she was true to her words of promising him a shit-amount of gold.

Finally reaching his home, he started packing up a small leather bag, he wasn't really gonna stay in one spot so bringing a small bag would suffice, after preparing the necessities he would need, his eyes traveled to the array of masks that used to be his previous other personas.

"What would be a good pick to bring with me.. I could just take them all but that would be lacking in originality.. Oh well." He mindlessly snatched one of the masks without looking which one it was and before locking his room and jumping outside the window.

He was about to adorn his Shadow identity when he suddenly saw Alpha walking towards his house, she was wearing her casuals that she usually wore when working at Mitsugoshi.

She looked up and gave him a smile, flicking back a bit of her bangs. "Oh, Cid."

"Hey, Alpha." He dropped down from his window and landed next to Alpha, the blonde elf put her hands behind her and walked up to Cid, clearing her throat.

"So, what are you up to? I don't usually see you packing a bag unless you're going somewhere." She said getting up close, talking sweetly. "Maybe on a dinner with me?"

Ah, there it is. He anticipated this one, so a little recap, two years ago after he killed some dude from the rounds or whatever it was, she became more.. What was the word? Forward? Clingy? Pretty much the same way Alexia is now.

He wasn't really sure why but he knew he was missing something here, she'd always appear every now and then and ask him out – Probably just to hangout, the blonde elf was a part of Mitsugoshi, she was stacked and obviously had no problems financially and clearly had a lot of free time to be spending it with him. – He really didn't mind it since she was his closest friend , but he wanted some 'me' Time every now and then! It was like dealing with Elizabeth again… Why was there a small skip in his heart beat when he thought of the vampire..? Probably nothing.

Unknown to him, Alpha had finally decided to be more aggressive with her approaches towards Cid after most of the remaining Cult of Diablos were cleared off.

Every attempt she did at wooing him barely worked, at this rate she would have to do so more than just be flirty with him.

Little did the elf know, one single confession is all they she needed to do to fulfill her wishes.

Cid contemplated eating first before leaving the kingdom, but since there was a chance that Alexia and Claire could appear anytime given that they've grown faster over the years, he needed to go now.

"Hmm.. Sorry Alpha, I'll have to decline this time, I'm going somewhere." Alpha visibly saddened at his answer.

"Where are you going though..? Is it another mission that only you know..?" Classic Alpha, being the best friend he could ever have, easily understanding his intentions. (Once again, she misunderstood his intentions)

'Indeed my dear Alpha, I'mma go see the rest of the world.' Cid confirmed internally.

"I'm going off to travel for the time being, I've stayed in Midgar for too long so maybe a new perspective such as going overseas would work." Alpha frowned at this, as always, she couldn't understand his intentions, the Cult was technically dead with only a few alive in hiding.

Was he going to deal with them himself? Or was there something else?

"I'll just take you up on a treat once I come back, okay?" Cid said."Anyways, I'mma go now, see you around Alpha." He said, giving her a wave and walking away.

"No wait, take me with-!" Alpha was about to say something when Cid disappeared with a burst of speed. "You.."

Alpha looked at the spot where he used to be just now, before sighing. Saddened by Cid's sudden departure, she just went on ahead and walked back to Mitsugoshi. "I wish you'd trust me more.." Alpha muttered to herself weakly.

Cid took a few seconds to reach the docks, he landed in some alleyway where no one would see him, after that he simply stowaway'd on one of the ships randomly, not giving a damn where it would take him.

It took the ship a few days to arrive on a different kingdom, which meant he was doing nothing other than just doze around on some random part of the ship, the new kingdom he arrived on was nothing special, it was fairly small and had little of interest to him, he did spent a few days wandering around it, trying to see if there was something worth noting about – Like Treasure. — But in the end, it was one of those poorer countries, which now that thought about it, could count as a "Mob Location" Or in other words, that on location in a show where nobody cares or bothers with. Maybe he'll hide in here sometimes.

After that he went on to other locations and kingdoms, there were a few interesting things that happened but he won't go into detail, things only started the pick up when he arrived at a train station in a Kingdom that had one, it looks like Mitsugoshi and Eta's work reaches all the way from here, he was practically on the other side of the planet after weeks of traveling with barely any stops.

When arrived at the station, something caught his attention. There were posters everywhere about an upcoming Festival at a Kingdom named Oshiana, but what made this cool was that it was ballroom themed, everyone wore suits and dresses, even the poorer people wore one.

When he asked around, it turned out that Oshiana was a rich oceanside kingdom – Ohh, now that name makes sense. – and being fashionable was a tradition, expensive looking clothes were cheap here, not to mention it was a gigantic kingdom, a little less bigger than Midgar though, he was already starting to like it there, and he hasn't even arrived yet!

It only got better when he remembered that he took John Smith's mask before he left, his Persona as the Super Elite Secret Agent was perfect for this, the possibilities were now at an all high time.

It was time to call upon Mr. John Smith once more!

But he needed a new suit, so before he boarded the train he had to go on a little shopping tour first, which took hours, now it's damn sunset. He did find a new substitute that would work, black fitted suit with golden accents, and a longer tailcoat paired with probably the nicest pair of damn pants he'll ever have, it was so comfy.

After that he donned his new outfit for John Smith and boarded the train secretly – Without paying – Filled with seemingly rich people all wearing suits and dresses, he managed to snag a few jewels here and there using his strings, but he wasn't getting the reaction he wanted from them.

Since the train won't arrive at Oshiana for another 7 hours due to how far it was – Not to mention the trains weren't as fast as the ones in his japan, namely the bullet trains. – and the train has to stop by a few stations, something about boarding some materials or whatnot.

Maybe he needs to be more mysterious? No, sticking to the wall and leaning on it while reading a small notepad is already a viable way to look enigmatic.

He was about to pull off some kind of stunt since people were barely looking at him when suddenly there was an explosion that shook the train, along with a very familiar magic energy.

Obviously the Train Conductor and his buddies tried to get to where the explosion happened, but since it was at the very back side of the train it took them some time, only for the doors to be locked, that caused panic throughout the passengers and ain't no way he wasn't going to take advantage of this opportunity.

But before he could take action, a familiar light-colored red-haired woman wearing.. maid clothes? Was she a subordinate or something? She tried to help out with the doors but it was futile, alternatively she could just break it down, which she chose to do, having enough of this, he broke the door himself using his strings walking past the people while saying a sick cool liner.

"The beauty of the moon is perfect for the night of the festival is it not? It would be a waste if something like this impeded our ride to Oshiana." He said as the strings he used to destroy the door came back to him.

He continued to walk over and ignored the compliance of the train conductor and his buddies.

"...Why do you sound familiar..?" The red-headed maid quipped from the side, now that he had a good look at her, wasn't she the girl he plagiarized- Ahem, BORROWED some sick lines at the lawless city? Her eyes confirmed so.

"Who are you anyways?"

"I've been told my voice is rather pleasing to the ears.. My good lady, I'm simply a good samaritan that simply wishes to reach Oshiana while the moon is at its most beautiful." And with that, he disappeared in a burst of speed leaving them all confused, when he arrived at the scene, there were two train segments already wrecked alongside a bunch of dead bodies.. Hoo boy, looks like they've been having fun. Without him , how dare..

Oh hey, is that Zeta? She's being surrounded by a buncha dudes, normally she would have gotten out of there but it looks like she's having trouble getting up, are they bandits or something? It only confirmed it when one of them pointed their sword at her neck, nicking a bit of her skin causing blood to seep out.

"Bruh, Zeta my friend, what are you doing..?" Why was Zeta even here? Last time he heard of her she was hiding in solidarity – Or an Redemption Arc in his words – She probably was since she did kinda mess up a few years ago, look man he really appreciated her help and her offer but he was NOT accepting borrowed power.

Maybe Oshiana is her character arc..? No, it probably is! Then it's perfect! He could have a go and hop on in her character arc from the shadows.

But first let's help a friend shall we?

His fingers danced as strings from around him twirled around the area and covered the bullies that were messing with Zeta.

Time to make an entrance

…

And that was pretty much all of it, now he's here trying to snap Zeta out of her stupor.

"Yo, Zeta you good?" He asked his feline friend.

She snapped out of her thoughts and answered him. "Y-Yes! Sha- I mean, John Smith.. Thanks for the save.." Zeta looked away in embarrassment after realizing he had just seen her in a pathetic state, brought down and tricked by a bunch of weaklings because she let her guard down.

"No problem, say, are you on your way to Oshiana..?" He asked, his voice normal without any of his personas.

Zeta perked up after examining herself, no longer affected by the false Sleeping Queen's effects. "Oh, about that.. Alpha sent me here, we've found the last of 'them'."

Ooh! She's already getting straight to the point, even getting Alpha to help her on her character arc huh? Well, if that's the case don't mind if I hop in!

"John Smith.. Why are you here though? Not that I have any compliance but I thought Alpha said you went off to go somewhere..?" As grateful as she is, Zeta didn't know why her Lord was here in disguise, there was no need to use his other persona if he was here to deal with the last of the Diablos Cult.. Surely there's something more to it? Not that she would understand, her Lord is always in a different realm compared to them.

"I see." Cid- John Smith turned and sensed people coming their way, likely the train conductors and his gang, he put his hand on his pocket and took out a mask that was similar to his, it was a new mask that he bought while shopping for a new suit, but decided he liked the original one and wore it instead.

He held out the mask for her to take, "We'll talk somewhere, for now let's blend in, after that tell me everything."

John Smith gave her a nod, signaling a silent message between the two of them

'Tell me the details of your Character arc, I wanna look cool. ' He silently sent her the message. Zeta took the mask and nodded at her Lord.

'Details about the mission and Oshiana, Shadow? Sure .' As always, there was misinformation and misunderstanding when it involved Cid's bullshit.

They both dematerialized with a burst of speed, reappearing in one of the Train Segments while no one was looking. Zeta used her slimes to change her clothes into something that would allow her to blend in as well as her Lord, a sleeveless dark dress with the same gold patterns.

"A wonderful choice in clothing, Zetan. You look beautiful." Since most of the passengers were conversing with one another, it would make sense that they did too. Zeta reddened and screamed in joy internally, realizing that coming along with her Lord's whims just gave her a shot at having a date(Not really) with him.

"I-It's not that great.. Stupid, thank you though." The Tsundere cat stummured.

"So, do you have anything to share?" John Smith whispered to her, letting Zeta it was time, behind her mask, her embarrassed face was replaced with a serious look.

"According to Alpha, they've found the rest of the bastards hiding in Oshiana, the reason they were able to hide from our sights was because they've been inactive way before Shadow Garden was made, since Oshiana was too far we've barely been able to run operations or keep an eye on it. they've only recently resurfaced under the rule of someone named "Belmo Ontrippofz", whoever this guy is, he was good. We have little to no information on him." Zeta Informed John Smith while frowning.

"Ho?" Zeta deserved an Emmy if all of this was acting, though he was sure it wasn't considering she was being bullied by a buncha dudes.

"There's more.. They've been working on two projects secretly, one of which is still unknown to us, they were transporting parts for what was likely an experimental tube."

John Smith nodded.

' So they're even setting up the mysterious bad guy mastermind huh? This is getting more interesting, more my friend! More! '

"Was that all?"

Zeta's eyes darted to the side behind her mask, she was hoping he wouldn't ask about the other one, usually he would be informed already from his own investigations, but it seems that her Lord didn't know anything this time around.

The topic about the Blood Queen was.. A difficult thing to approach, especially after what that Silent Wind said, still, there was no way.

"Zetan?"

"Uh well.." She scratched her arm, looking away. "The other one involved the Blood Queen."

"Hoh?" John Smith perked up, Elizabeth was in Oshiana? That's even better! He could kill two birds with one stone with her in there, both the gold and opportunities with her. "So she's here.. Tell me more?" He asked expectantly.

Zeta looked at her Lord with a nervous expression, the sudden excitement in his voice alerted her even more.

"Y-Yes, The Blood Queen is in Oshiana, we don't really know much about what she's been up to due to how far Oshiana is, not to mention we were busy with the Cult.." Zeta's voice slowly weakened as she went on, prompting John Smith to get closer to hear her better, in her perspective, he was telling her to give the information now. "T-They're uhh.. Planning on doing something to the Blood Queen and experiment on her and.. Their leader is planning on taking something away from her… 'Something' that you had a hand in.."

' Take away your daughter that doesn't exist.. Surely you don't have one without our knowledge.. Right?' Zeta internalized, however John Smith- Cid, completely missed the meaning to it.

"Take away something from her…?" His John Smith Persona faltered, Cid immediately brainstormed what she could be talking about.

What would they take from Elizabeth that involves him..?

No..

No way.. How would they know..?

She- It was already his!

HOW DARE.

THERE'S ONLY ONE THING THAT COMES TO MIND.

THE GOLD SHE FUCKING PROMISED TO HIM! IT WAS HIS, AND THAT MAN DARES TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM HIM?

Belmo Ontrippofz.. You dare..?!

His fist clenched with unbelievable strength, magic was starting to dance uncontrollably within him, he grit his teeth with pure anger. Since they were still in a public space, he managed to prevent his magic from seeping out.

"How dare he..? To even think of touching what's mine." Cid growled.

Zeta's eyes widened as plates when she saw his reaction, she couldn't believe it, rather she didn't want to believe it, but his reaction says it all.

"J-John Smith.. There's no way right..? You.. Don't have one with the Blood Queen do you..?" Zeta removed her mask for a moment, looking at her Lord with uncertain and nervous eyes.

' Surely you don't have a daughter with her.. And never told us..? Do you not trust us..?

Cid controlled himself, although his fist was still clenching furiously.

"Have one with Elizabeth..? Hmph.. I do, Zeta I can trust you right? Do keep this a secret for me." He ordered, before walking away. "For now, let's wait for our arrival in Oshiana."

' Do I have something that Elizabeth promised me? Yeah! My damn money, and this Belmo was trying to take it away from me? Nah I ain't having it, can you hide it from the others that I'm actually broke? Thanks. '

Zeta gasped weakly at his response, taking a few steps back and held a hand on her chest.

"Y-Yes.." Damn, that hurt her feelings more than she'd like to admit, did he really not trust them that much to hide the fact.. The fact.. THE FACT THAT HE HAD A DAUGHTER?!

Oh no.. Alpha..

The Blood Queen Elizabeth, huh.. How did she manage it? Did her Lord perhaps like strong women? But Alpha and the rest of the Shades were powerful.. Maybe he liked red-haired women?

What did they not have that the Blood Queen had to get his attention, maybe she tricked him?

She wanted nothing more than to report this to Alpha and the others through the Long-Distance Communication Artifact..

But her Lord ordered her not to tell anyone.

Damn it..

This was difficult to take..

But if Alpha and the others wouldn't be here for some time.. She'll take the responsibility and have a talk with that vampire.

She'll make sure to give hell to that thieving Bat.

"R-REMILYA! Listen to Mama and do NOT read that book!"

Said thieving bat however, was having trouble with her daughter.

"It's over Mother, I have the high ground!"

Remilya stood victoriously on top of a tree with her mother's diary in her hands.

"The booklet guide never mentioned how to deal with children like these…!" Elizabeth pouted, The Diary her daughter had somehow found contained embarrassing moments of her and Shadow-san!

Gosh darn it! Mary would know how to deal with unruly daughters, unfortunately the maid was currently in a different kingdom shopping for house needs!

They didn't even need that many dishwasher soaps!

"Remilya! Get down from there!"

"Nay Mother! For I am a Sith!" She regretted buying that book called "Stall Wars" From the very famous writer Natsume, it was a book she found while shopping with her daughter and recognized the author as one of Shadow-kun's subordinate's public persona.

She thought it would be nice to buy it for her daughter so she had something to read once in a while, but she didn't expect her to be this easily influenced!

"I have the high ground!" The six year old shouted with glee.

"Remilya!"