Exodia 88: You're quite the celebrity

[Please... save me.]

Who's there?

A voice in my head? That voice isn't Altair's, so who's is it?

[You're the only one who can free me.]

Free?

[It's you... You will free me.]

What're you...

---

"Wake up!"

And I jumped up and frantically searched around.

Who just shouted?

More importantly, where the fuck am I?

This place definitely is not Altria or Altheria.

From what I remember I was speaking to the Emperors and...

Shit. I don't remember what happened. I saw the explosion and wanted to go to it but... I... don't remember.

"Master, are you awake?"

Hm?

I turned to find two maids beside my bed. I didn't recognise either of them but they both looked beautiful. One had black hair and purple eyes with a mole under her right eye. The other had dark skin, black hair and green eyes.

I looked around.

"Master?"

"You, Master."

The dark-skinned girl said.

I seemed to be processing the information slowly but I got one thing from all of that.

I was superior to them. If I ask them questions, then I should be able to get answers from them.

"Where are we?"

The two looked at each other before turning back to me.

"Do you really not know, Master?"

"Huh?"

"We're in Olympus. The floating palace of the Emperors. Currently, it is high in the air above the special ward, in Tokyo, called Sumida."

There's a window, if I look outside, I should be able to get a good idea of if her words are the truth or not.

"Master?"

I jumped off of my bed and walked toward the curtains, I opened them, squinting my eyes, before balling them out at the view.

We were definitely in the air. I could see the clouds and I could barely see buildings down there.

I could see the Tokyo Skytree though just barely.

I guess what she said was true.

I turned back to the girls.

"What're your names?"

I asked.

"Lina."

The green-eyed maid bowed and then the purple-eyed one did.

"Fin."

"Well, Lina and Fin, first of all, could you address me casually since it's slightly uncomfortable."

Fin panicked and Lina looked at me, surprised.

"I-if that's the wish of our Lord, the Black Emperor."

"Uh, no, that's the exact opposite of what I wanted you to call me. Call me Shoya."

"But, we couldn't possibly--"

"I insist."

I don't want to hear people going around and calling me Master the whole time. Seems weird. Though it is a different experience, I don't like other people calling me different things.

Anyway, I think I'll explore this 'palace.'

And so, avoiding the shouts of Lina and Fin, I left the bedroom and began exploring the place.

The place was so large, extravagant and elegant that I could only describe it as noble and beautiful.

It's like a Duke's mansion but way larger. Everywhere I walked, along the corridors, there was a red carpet.

Just by looking at it, I could tell that it had some sort of magic appliance. Maybe it was the way it felt on my bare feet.

Wait, should I be walking in such a place with my bare feet?

"You there, stop."

I stopped while reaching, what seemed to be, the lobby of this place. I walked across one corridor, went down a flight of stairs, walked across another corridor and went down another flight of stairs to get here.

A maid stopped me.

She seemed slightly different from the others, Lina and Fin. Maybe it was her mature look.

She had caramel hair, which was tied up into a bun, and brown eyes. She wore glasses and wore white gauntlets. Well, they looked like a mix of armour for forearms and gauntlets.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?"

God, a misunderstanding.

Or so, at least I think. Lina and Fin seemed to know who I was. Why doesn't she?

"I'm Shoya Sasaki and I'm the Black Emperor."

She stared at me blankly before punching her fists together.

"Only an idiot would say that they're the Black Emperor. Besides, that just gives me even more reason to kill you, of course, aside from the fact that you trespassed."

Fuck.

Attack after attack. My life went from typical to a fight for my life. And, well, here we go again.

Huh?

Where is she?

"Looking for me?"

I wasn't able to react in time and she sent a clean hook to my face. My brain felt racked and my body felt numb.

Swiftly, I swung my leg at her; she caught it.

The maid raised her elbow and dropped it at my leg like a guillotine.

I purposely lost balance on my remaining leg so that she would let go of my leg.

I pushed myself off the ground and speared her with my legs. Before I knew it, her knee was soaring toward mine when--

"Rachel. Stop."

Someone came through.

The woman instantly let go of me and lowered her head.

"Yes, Lady Astoria."

Astoria...

Altair mentioned that name.

A woman walked toward us.

To me, she looked like some sort of mafia boss. She wore a blue suit and tie, with a blue waistcoat underneath, and wore a coat loosely. Her navy blue hair was tied into a ponytail and her eyes were azure. She had a gold monocle on her left eye, which extended over to her ear. The woman had a gold pocket watch in her pocket.

The look in her eyes is... scary.

"What are you doing, Rachel?"

"Dealing with an intruder, ma'am."

Man, even this Rachel woman seemed dominant until the Blue Emperor came in.

Astoria looked at me and sighed.

"That boy is the Black Emperor."

"Is that not the more reason to kill him?"

I'm surprised she didn't even take a glance at me when she said that.

"We need to work together with him to stop Weissmann. Go tell the other Constellations about it."

"Yes."

And Rachel marched off with her head high.

Loyalty in this place is supreme. I wish that the Emperors had this sort of loyalty and trust toward each other when Altair was casually included.

Astoria turned and looked over at me.

"I'm sorry for that. Please come with me."

"What day is it?"

I forgot to ask the other maids these questions.

"12th of June, 2019."

I was out for 6 days.

"What happened to Altria and Altheria?"

Suddenly, Astoria's look loosened slightly. She still looked scary but it was less than before.

"You don't know?"

"I just woke up around 6 minutes ago."

"Well,"

A slight smile perked up her face.

"You're quite the celebrity."

"Hm?"