Denial : Acceptance

Seeing Zhongli defeat the Guardians without sustaining any significant injuries, the Black Knight came to the realization she had underestimated her opponent. She hadn't intended to, warning the Guardians that Zhongli was a God-Ranked Mage; she just hadn't considered the possibility that Zhongli was equally skilled in Spearmanship and Hand-to-Hand combat...

With Zhongli approaching the Black Knight after devastating her forces, the former reluctantly lowered her enchanted flintlock and asked, "Just who—no—what are you...?"

Realizing she hadn't introduced herself, a mildly surprised expression marred Zhongli's face before she offered a curt yet courteous half-bow and replied, "My name is Zhongli, Chief Retainer of Paul Greyrat, and the Lord of Geo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance..."

Appearing even more confused than before, the Black Knight parroted, "Paul Greyrat? Lord of Geo...?"

Though she recognized the name Greyrat, the Black Knight had never heard anyone refer to themselves as the Lord of Geo. She knew it must have something to do with Earth Magic, but it was strange to hear a God refer to themselves with a 'lesser' title.

Nodding her head in affirmation, Zhongli replied, "Indeed. Had you the same eyes as the Kishirika I'm familiar with, you likely would have been able to ascertain that I'm a Spirit. More specifically, I am the Spirit that governs the Element of Geo."

Preempting the Black Knight's follow-up question, Zhongli held up a cube formed from pure Geo Elemental Energy, stating, "This is Geo Energy. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you at this moment."

Closing her hand, Zhongli dispersed the Geo-formed cube, replacing it with a spear as she asked, "Will you continue to fight, or would you rather resolve this more diplomatically? I can say with relative certainty that our Kishirika has just as many questions for you as you do her."

Furrowing her brows, the Black Knight retorted, "I have nothing to say to that pretender. I don't know what tricks she used to fool you, but I'm the 'real' Kishirika Kishirisu...!"

Maintaining her calm despite the intense bloodlust radiating off the Black Knight's body, Zhongli responded by asking, "Then how are you here right now? In retaliation for what you did to our companion, I crushed you with my power. If you were truly who you claimed to be, your spirit would have returned to the cycle of reincarnation, resurrecting after a period of 10-20 years. Instead, your ego was transplanted into an artificial vessel. I have no doubt you believe yourself to be Kishirika Kishirisu, but the probability of you being one of Laplace's experiments is much, much higher..."

Though she waited for Zhongli to finish speaking, the Black Knight was trembling due to a mixture of rage, incredulity, and slight fear. She was unable to discern any falsehoods in Zhongli's words but accepting the latter was telling the truth meant admitting she was the imposter. Being herself was all she had ever known; how could she just accept being an experiment? And why would Laplace, the caring and benevolent man who saved her from the collapsing Demon World, do such a thing? He was like a Grandfather to her...

Feeling a sudden and intense pain radiating from the interior of her skull, the Black Knight clutched her head and screamed, "You're lying! You have to be lying...!"

Prompted by the Black Knight's unstable mental state, the black tendrils covering her body erupted outward with blinding speed, not caring who or what they struck. Zhongli managed to evade quickly, but she was forced to retreat as she could no longer read the intent contained within the inky black mass. It was just flailing about and stabbing things at random.

Feeling sorry for her opponent, Zhongli briefly considered putting the Black Knight out of her misery but knew it would be pointless unless they could eradicate her backup bodies. Her best option was to trap the Black Knight, preferably before she could use death as a means to escape...

As Zhongli began gathering energy for her most potent sealing technique, Legion nearly caught her unawares, appearing from her blindspot without triggering her seismic sense.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now..."

Contrasting her words, Zhongli caught Legion's blade with her 'bare' hand before placing her other against his chest. The moment she did, the ebony black armor covering his body began to turn dark brown, the same color as her arms and shoulders.

Though ordinary petrification magic would simply give Magic Armors an extra layer of defense, Zhongli's was unique since it involved saturating her opponent's body with Geo Energy. It was much harder to control than pure Geo constructs, but so long as her target could not expel the energy from their body, she could manipulate them like marionettes.

Since controlling an unwilling target took a considerable amount of effort and focus, Zhongli simply forced Legion to stand still as she took care of the Black Knight and the remaining Guardians. Two of them had snuck off, but as they had fled in the direction of the awaiting Ei, Zhongli pretended not to notice. Instead, she leaped high into the air, declaring, "This ends now." as eight steles of Geo Energy manifested around her, each covered in runes unknown to the world of Mushoku Tensei...

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After realizing the futility of trying to oppose Zhongli, Vashti attempted to flee the Great Hall only to discover that the path had been blocked. Since that wasn't an option, she waited for Zhongli's attention to be occupied by the Black Knight before sneakily recovering her sister's unconscious body and carrying her toward the still-open throne room.

Though she had been designated as one of the six Guardians, Vashti was not a fighter. She was a capable Mage, reaching King-Rank in Fire, Water, and Barrier Magic, but that was primarily due to her long life and heritage as a half-elf. If she had the lifespan of a human, even reaching the Rank of Saint would have been an arduous task.

"Let's just hope the people inside are as reasonable as their companion made them out to be..."

With Zhongli giving them the option to surrender peacefully, Vashti was banking on the fact that the intruders genuinely didn't want to fight. She had never trusted humans, but, as a half-elf, she was vaguely aware that Zhongli was a Spirit. Humans that could summon and contract powerful Spirits were usually very wise and level-headed individuals, so, as long as she didn't strike first, Vashti was confident they wouldn't attack her.

Guided by such beliefs, Vashti carried her sister's unconscious body into the throne room, tensing when she felt a terrifying bloodlust lock onto her. Ei was hovering a few hundred meters away, but even while seated in a meditative posture with her eyes closed, the intensity of her aura caused Vashti to feel like someone was squeezing her lungs.

Fortunately for Vashti, Ei did not immediately attack her. She noticed the unconscious figure of Vahka on Vashti's back and, more importantly, the similarities between the two.

After an inordinately long and tense moment of silence, Ei was the first to speak, startling Vashti as she calmly asked, "Are the two of you sisters...?"

Swallowing the knot that had formed in her throat, Vashti attempted to sound calm but nervously replied, "Yes...our fathers are different, but we share the same mother..."

"Mmm..."

Sensing only fear and caution exuding from Vashti, Ei left the red-skinned beauty feeling more than a little confused as she simply closed her eyes without further comment. Her task was to disable anyone who sought to pursue Paul, so as long as Vashti showed no hostility and remained near the entrance, Ei saw no reason to incapacitate her.

Feeling Ei's suffocating bloodlust retract, a sigh of relief escaped Vashti's throat as she carried her sister off to the side. She didn't know why Ei had decided to spare her, but she didn't care. Her prerogative was to check on Vahka and ensure her injuries weren't too severe.

Unbeknownst to Vashti, she had inadvertently earned the appreciation of Ei by choosing to prioritize her sister rather than asking questions. Many years had passed since Ei lost her sister, but the memory of arriving too late and being unable to protect the people she cared about haunted her to this very day. It was also what compelled her to follow Paul with such 'zeal'...

As not everyone would be willing to give up their freedom in exchange for a 'chance' to restore their world, one of the clauses drafted by the God of the Boundaries included granting the wish of each participant. For Ei, this meant the resurrection of her sister, so, even if everyone else abandoned hope, she would continue fighting to the edge of eternity...

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Noticing Kishirika's expression turning grim shortly after their withdrawal into the treasure vault, Paul became serious as he asked, "What's wrong? Don't tell me Zhongli and Ei lost..."

Instead of responding to Paul's words, Kishirika crossed her arms and started nibbling on the nail of her right thumb. Goseki Stone interfered with her ability to use her Clairvoyance to its full effect, but the recent 'infusion' she received from Paul allowed her to see into the Great Hall without too much trouble. As a result, she was privy to the moment the Black Knight's visor retracted to reveal a face identical to her own...

"Kishi...?"

Though she would ordinarily snicker when Paul referred to her with a pet name, Kishirika scowled at him and growled, "Can't you see I'm trying to think!?"

Surprised by the sudden outburst, Paul raised his hand in a gesture of mock surrender as he replied, "Whoa, whoa, calm your britches. I'm not the enemy."

Calming down ever so slightly, Kishirika responded with a faint, "Right..." before falling silent and attempting to organize her thoughts. Unlike her counterpart, she couldn't immediately dismiss the possibility that both of them were Kishirika Kishirisu. She knew Laplace had done 'something' to her, but there was a gap in her near-perfect memory, one of only two in the entirety of her existence.

Supposing that the Black Knight was the piece of herself that had been stolen by Laplace, Kishirika's expression was inordinately serious as she said, "I take back what I said before. We need to find Laplace's research and pour through every single docu—no, better yet, we'll force Betobe to hand them over!"

Preempting Paul's questions, Kishirka regained her smile, staring at him as she mused, "I'm starting to see why you're so easily frustrated. You might very well be the luckiest bastard alive."

Furrowing his brows, Paul suppressed his misgivings and asked, "What do you mean?"

Adopting an even broader smile, Kishirika explained, "There's a fairly high probability that the person wearing that weird black armor is the 'missing piece' that Laplace stole from me. I intend to do everything in my power to make us whole, but until then, you should be able to absorb 'essence' from both of us. If that isn't lucky, I don't know what is."

Though it took him a moment to fully grasp what Kishirika was trying to say, Paul eventually frowned as he said, "I mentioned this before, but I'm not the type to force people against their will. Even if she is a part of you, it's pretty clear your counterpart has her own thoughts and will. She also cut off Sayu's arm and leg, so-"

Interrupting before Paul could finish, Kishirika retorted, "So what? It's just an arm and a leg. It isn't like she killed anyone. Besides, if my suspicion is correct, she'll be just as eager to be rid of that shitty God as I am. Are you telling me you won't accept her essence just because she was doing a job she was likely programmed to do? That isn't how you reach the top, Paul."

Closing his eyes, Paul inhaled a deep breath before exhaling through his nose and stating, "If the two of you can work something out, I'll consider it. I did promise to help you, after all..."

Rolling her eyes, Kishirika retorted, "Oh, please. Don't pretend you're not excited by the prospect of being able to do it with two versions of me at the same time. I know Badi would be bleeding at the nose or panting like a dog."

Though there was a fair amount of truth to Kishirika's words, Paul smiled wryly and replied, "I wouldn't do it unless you were okay with it. I'm more than satisfied with just a single Demon Empress."

Sensing no overt falsehoods in Paul's words, Kishirika found herself at a momentary loss for words. She was weak against things like praise and sincerity, so even though she intended to 'force' Paul and her counterpart to do the deed, Kishirika couldn't help feeling a modicum of gratification knowing he was content with just her...

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