81st Move | Valar Dohaeris

"Mmmm..."

Jeanne felt something with a rough texture touching the right side of her face. Feeling the force of gravity pulling her in one specific direction, the Primordial was able to discern that she was in fact lying down on the ground.

Using her arms to push herself up, Jeanne's brain felt extremely clouded, so she merely observed her surroundings.

It was night. The stars were shining brightly in the sky, and the area around her was for miles on end a field of basalt that still felt warm to the touch.

Seeing strands of hair blocking her view, Jeanne instinctively moved to part them. As she does, however, the demon notices how her entire left arm was red.

"Huh?"

The arm was like a lighthouse inside Jeanne's clouded mind, helping her remember what had exactly happened.

Biting her lower lips in frustration, Jeanne was forced to face the reality that Kathy was now dead.

"I broke a promise," Jeanne said with a tone of sadness. "Damn."

Jeanne was really tempted to get rid of this arm before fucking off to somewhere difficult to reach and waiting for the System to end. Thoughts of escaping the System's end repulsed Jeanne to an egregious degree.

She doesn't deserve to escape. Her word is her life, the demon is finding it really difficult to report back to Mobius and Rimuru right now.

"It would be so easy to go AWOL..."

Placing her thumb onto the wrist of the Scarletite arm, Jeanne pushed as hard as she could and started dragging it up the length of her arm.

Any damage she did do, any scratches and grooves caused by her, were ironed over quickly after her thumb had passed. Jeanne stopped once she hit the joint, and seconds later, the arm repaired itself entirely with not a single man-made scratch.

Jeanne then flexed her arm and observed how each joint moved seamlessly, remarking, "So this is Scarletite. Seen the metal before, never really found a use for it considering it can't exist within the Underworld."

The arm was extremely flexible, and she could feel everything it feels as if it were flesh and blood. Without knowing better, Jeanne dared say it was her arm but dipped in red paint.

"Well, at least you saved me some souls."

However, with [Universal Perception] Jeanne could sense that a large group of homunculi was approaching.

"Oh right, them." The forces from Sarion. "Forgot about them during the fight."

Jeanne could sense that some of them were on horseback. It was a relatively small force of a couple of hundred medium-quality homunculi specialized in recon, the prince probably wanted to know what the hell happened so he was sending an expeditionary force.

Smart.

Still, it's time to die. Reaching forward with her right hand, palm facing forward as if telling someone to stop, Jeanne channeled her magicules to cast a spell she hadn't used ever since Relentless' Rampage.

Those homunculi that specialize in recon barely appear human. They are table-sized hexapedals— six-legged— horse-like creatures with extremely powerful muscles that allow them to traverse across long distances at speeds superior to even cars on a freeway.

Sarion, being the nation that exports high-quality homunculi, has mastered the ability to create extremely specialized units of homunculi for war. Jeanne recalled how her Lady once described Sarion as a nation that has mastered the magical version of cheap genetic engineering and is exploiting them to the greatest possible degree.

The Art of Creating Life.

"[Rain of Stars]"

As she cast the magic, the fingers of her outstretched hand come down like a parent telling their child to get down from a high place.

The stars, the thousands of stars that appear in the night sky, those pinpricks of light— fell.

Those specks of light fell, yet never left their starting position as they lengthened into a beam. It was like someone stretching a point so much that it turned into a line. The once-black sky filled with shining points of light was now instead filled with shining filaments of death.

As those filaments fell, they easily pierced through skins tough enough to stand up against small arms fire.

It was a slaughter. As the lights came from all directions, there was no escape, no cover that one could use.

The barely humanoid homunculi were each riddled with hundreds of needle-wide holes.

Once all of them were dead, Jeanne felt even more homunculi approaching near the edge of her [Khorne | Universal Perception].

Perhaps she was wrong. Instead of an expedition force, it was the vanguard of that prince's army.

Well, no matter. Raising her left hand, with the palm facing forward once more, Jeanne an ability of her new Ultimate Skill.

[Khorne | Blood Domination]

With but a single conscious thought, streams of crimson came out of every orifice and pores on those horse-like homunculi. Those streams, instead of obeying gravity and flowing on the ground as a river should, flew. The blood flowed upward, flying and completely defying the laws of gravity and touching only air as they neared Jeanne.

It was such an illogical scene that the remaining army stopped to look in awe and terror.

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of blood, all coming from the inside of those hundreds of slain homunculi pooled above Jeanne in a perfect sphere. It was as if the blood were being contained in an invisible Florence flask without the neck.

Once all of the bodies had been bled dry, once all of them looked akin to mummified corpses, once all of the life liquid that had seeped into the basalt ground had been collected, once every last drop of blood had been pooled into the invisible container above Jeanne— an opening appeared on the bottom of that telekinetic container.

Akin to chemicals flowing down from a chromatography column opened to the widest, like liquids flowing down from the hole on the bottom of a clay planting pot, the blood flowed freely as a river would down a cliff's edge. That fall of blood was directly above Jeanne, dosing and wetting her like a perverse form of a shower.

Then, the opening of the container opened wider and wider, allowing more and more blood to flow through until Jeanne was entirely covered and cloaked in the bloodfall.

After the blood stopped falling, a figure clad in heavy armor made out of blood took Jeanne's place where she had stood.

The armor can't be called exquisite in the sense that the King of a nation might wear it, nor can it be called cheap. It is simply utilitarian without any flare for theatrics. One could even call it boring if not for the slit that ran sideways across the helmet that serves as eye holes depicting only darkness.

Jeanne entered the bloodfall, and something else had exited.

It was a knight made out of blood— a Blood Knight.

The remaining Sarion army stood still. No one wanted to move a muscle.

Something surfaced out of a blood pool near the Blood Knight. 'It' rose out of the pool like a human adult moving to stand upright instead of lying down on a kiddie pool.

First emerged the handle, then the crossguard, and finally, the blade.

'It' was a two-handed greatsword the size of an adult human made up solely of blood. It would've been extremely unwieldy, but then the red figure moved to cut the air as if testing the blade. Instead of being unwieldy, the Blood Knight's swordplay displayed a sense of elegance, as if it was born to wield this large of a blade.

Snapping out of his fright, the Sarion prince then ordered his troops to advance "Charge! Take down that knight!"

Once the first homunculi— a humanoid with two pairs of arms each wielding a Rare-grade weapon— entered within 50 meters of the Blood Knight, it blitzed forward. Moving so fast as to have a vapor cone form around it, the Blood Knight swung its massive sword sideways and cleaved through the first row of homunculi like a farmer using a scythe to harvest wheat.

Before those bodies fell more than a few centimeters, the Blood Knight pulled out the scarlet liquid bleeding from the halved homunculi and created a new greatsword that was wielded by its other hand. Just like its brother, the new greatsword looked like it belonged to an executioner rather than a knight.

'Jeanne' was a whirlwind of blades, a flurry of death. The Blood Knight cut through Sarion's army as easily as one would with a cake. Throughout all of this, the Blood Knight was silent, not speaking a single word.

Yet, one could almost tell that it was enjoying the slaughter. With its speed and strength, it could annihilate every enemy in less time than it takes to blink, yet, the slaughter would end prematurely.

"""[Nuclear Cannon]!"""

Some of the more humanoid-looking wizard homunculi from the far back that specialized in magic had cast their most powerful spell, shooting forth many streams of degenerate matter at the Knight ignoring how other homunculi were still nearby.

The streams lit up the area like a second sun before moving passed the heads of many other homunculi in the army and slammed themselves against the crimson figure, exploding violently in a small nuclear explosion that vaporized everything within a dozen meters.

The mushroom cloud was large enough to be visible for miles.

"Is it dead?" The prince asked from his horse from half a kilometer away from the explosion.

The wizard homunculi were some of the most expensive homunculi within Sarion's army.

Just as one of the wizard homunculi was about to respond, spikes of solid blood erupted out of its body so quickly that they didn't even realize they had died. Moments later, all of the remaining wizard homunculi died a violent and brutal death as dozens of swords composed of their own blood erupted forth from where their heart should have been.

The sudden explosion of the gored wizards scared the horse greatly, causing it to throw the prince and run in the direction away from the explosion.

Instead of getting up, the prince just lay there shell-shocked, his face splattered by droplets of scarlet. Whenever there had been blood, it'd always been him in control. Having been born with a silver spoon, he was unused to such uncontrolled violence, so to see it firsthand stunned him greatly.

Finally collecting his wit, the prince got up and saw a sight worse than even his greatest nightmare.

There were multiple titanic figures of bright crimson all around him. Those titans looked somewhat humanoid, with a pair of legs and appendages that looked like arms. The shortest of the titans was taller than even the walls of Sarion's capital city while the tallest tower above any man-made structure in Sarion.

The prince collapsed again as his jaws dropped at the scene. His army was dead, he was alone with no protection.

"Ah..." He could only watch on in silence and despair as the foot of one of these titans came above his head before descending and crushing the prince.

_____________________________________________

The Titans stood still like gigantic statues made to commemorate an unknown god. They waited for another command from their creator.

The Blood Knight never moved once from the spot where it got hit by multiple nuclear magics. It never felt any need to as with simply another thought, [Khorne | Blood Domination] took control of every single droplet of the blood of the now-dead army and crafted more Blood Titans out of them.

The droplets of blood started to drip down from the Blood Knight's armor. It was melting like ice being exposed to high temperature: layer after layer of solid blood turned back into a liquid as Jeanne released her hold on them.

Quickly, every last drop of blood was gone from the Primordial Demon, pooling around Jeanne's feet since she was in the middle of a crater that came from the nuclear explosion.

Every inch of Jeanne's body and clothes were dry save for her feet and shoes, it was as if the demon hadn't been just immersed in the lifestream inside all humans.

Jeanne then took a deep breath in, tilting her head upward and holding her heels up before closing her eyes.

It's impossible to ignore how she broke a promise. It would be like Joan of Arc, a Saint of Christianity, performing sodomy.

Opening them, Jeanne felt that she was out of her own body. Everything felt unreal like it was a dream.

What wouldn't Jeanne give to make everything in the past 12 hours a dream?

"Well... I guess I'll just have to live with it, just like so many things." Jeanne sighed, seriously contemplating whether or not to destroy her own spirit as she had done so many times before. "A permanent death does sound really good right now."

Yet deep in her heart, Jeanne knew she'd get over this, just like so many things.

Time numbs all wounds until you can no longer feel them, and they become irrelevant, 'healed' in a sense.

Just as how the death of her...

'Forgive God'

Jeanne shuddered, mentally noting how that memory seemed to still have a mark.

It was strange to shudder while feeling not being inside your body.

Jeanne opened her mouth to speak, yet nothing came out.

Her eyes then surveyed her surroundings, the Blood Titans all still stood still and waited for her to command.

The Blood Titans were a type of golem that possessed a Frankenstein's Monster of a stitched-up spirit. Their power is directly scaled in parallel with their size. Jeanne estimates the largest of those Titans just eeked into becoming a Disaster-rank threat on par with the late Charybdis.

While incapable of any nuclear magic, commonly known as the most destructive field of magic, their real deadliness comes in perfecting a very niche field of magic: blood magic, a branch of life magic.

Amongst the humans, it was seen as taboo magic. Those mages who practiced it were shunned by society just like Fleshcrafters. In fact, because of its similarity, blood mages and Fleshcrafters are often lumped together.

Amongst demons, blood magic is looked down upon because they're just so weak. Sure, one could solidify the blood inside a victim to cause an internal rupture but with the spent magicule a demon could've just used nuclear magic for much greater effect and efficiency. Sure, one can warp an enemy's flesh and amalgamate their army into a giant human centipede of a million legs, but that's so much work.

In areas of causing pain and torture, mental magic already has blood magic beat; the mind can experience greater pain than what the body is able to physically provide.

However, the Blood Titan's blood magic is different in that these Titans don't use them as a primary vector of attack, instead, the blood is used as a sacrifice to the Voice of the World for Skills. Add onto the fact that they have a kill radius around them that sucks the blood out of every living thing and you can make a country go silent by simply letting them walk across the lands, like tractors harvesting wheat.

Looking up at the stars, Jeanne's eyes locked onto a constellation before pointing south.

The Blood Titans finally moved, slowly. Their legs tread across the land, leaving long scars before it's finally lifted off the ground with the goal of taking a single step.

"And that's that. Sarion should be out of commissions for the rest of the war unless they pull an Ultimate Skill user out of their ass or something," Jeanne's posture shifted, becoming more like her old, pre-Kathy self.

Like flipping a switch, everything felt more... real as she was thrown back into her own body.

Licking her dry lips, Jeanne stared up at the night sky, her eyes reflecting the starlight from above, "I miss Scientia."

Jeanne stood alone, the only living thing on that basalt field and the final and last standing member of the Demoness Trio. Before the Yellow Primordial always imagined this as a triumphant moment, something to be excited about, but all inside her heart right now is just nothingness.

Her eyes then moved back down to the new arm, "I... should probably report back. Now that I'm no longer in that white bitch's World I can finally communicate with the President—"

Jeanne stopped when she sensed a familiar being pop into existence with a single snap of air.

Diablo is finally here.

"Took you fucking long enough. I requested aid hours ago." Jeanne said as she crossed her arms. Her right foot started tapping the ground in a rhythmic fashion.

Diablo turned to the side and looked a tiny bit sheepish, "my sincere apologies. In my defense, Siltrosso was attacked, and they requested immediate aid. Since President Rimuru was addressing a protest within the Citadel, he sent me to them. When I got there I was greeted by Demon Lord Dino in the midst of a battle with the newly minted True Hero Gazel."

A protest? Like, those gatherings of people who express objection? But more importantly— "Dino? As in, one of the Primordial Angels?"

Diablo nodded and spoke smoothly as he always does, "Indeed. He is the one who led an angelic force comprising somewhere north of a hundred thousand angels to assault the City State of Siltrosso."

Jeanne's eyes widened as she whistled a bit, her arms dropping to the side. That was a large enough force to stall Relentless for a few minutes, "damn. You sure had your hands full."

Diablo shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"When I got there, I made an executive decision to write off the city as collateral and its people as acceptable loss in the mission of rescuing the VIP King Gazel. It took a while even when I tried to avoid areas with the heaviest fighting, but when I reached the Rosso Estate where the occupying Dwargon forces were headquartered, I found Hero Gazel fighting a losing battle, which was only compounded when he fought while trying to protect Ramiris and this other human girl."

"Human girl?" Jeanne asked, indifferent to the fact that Diablo had written off an entire country.

"Indeed. I would later come to discover that the human girl was the heir to the main branch of the Rosso Family. She was named the honorary granddaughter of the late Granbell Rosso."

"Really?" Jeanne tilted her head, that old Hero Granbell adopted a human girl as a granddaughter? Immediately, Jeanne's mind went to some rather dark places before dismissing them entirely. Spirit Queen Ramiris wouldn't have allowed Granbell to become a True Hero if he did harm that child.

"Indeed. So with my appearance, the battlefield was much more even. Then it became less even when Dino realized that he had to exert some effort to actually kill both of us, and called upon every attacking angel to converge upon my position. Obviously, I had to end this quickly lest my mission fail, and it seems my desire was enough when I sacrificed my Unique Skill [Tempter] and [Great Wiseman]. In turn for giving back two Unique Skills, the Voice of the World gave me Ultimate Skill [Aizen, Lord of Illusions]."

Hearing about how Diablo was able to easily acquire an Ultimate Skill made Jeanne especially peeved. However, that feeling of being wronged was tempered when she realized just how many Ultimate Skills have been given out within the span of less than half a year.

It almost seems like the Voice of the World recognizes how the 'World War' as the late Director liked to call it, is reaching its climax.

"And so, using the newly acquired Ultimate Skill, I was able to stand up against Dino and his [Belphegor]. So just as both I and King Gazel were succeeding against Dino, he decided to strike against our weakest link and aimed for the heiress. For some unknown reason, Gazel decided to brunt Dino's attack, causing him to suffer severe damage to protect the heiress."

Jeanne flinched, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"Sensing the enormous amount of holy aura outside of the Estate and approaching rapidly, I used [Aizen] to conjure up an illusion and escaped with both the heiress and a wounded Gazel. I reached the Citadel through a Doorway, learned about the appearance of Blanc, and well, here we are."

Diablo gestured around him, his arms made wide swings to gesture at the basalt ground, the lava having been long cooled.

"That said..." the Black Primordial then trailed off, a tone of minor hostility taking over the smoothness, "Where is Violet? And Blanc?"

Jeanne tensed at the sudden change in tone. Diablo always does this when he lures another person into a sense of safety before pulling the rug from under them, knocking them off balance.

Really, she should've seen this coming, Jeanne thought.

The Yellow Primordial opened her mouth, yet no words came out. She's afraid, Jeanne realized, afraid that Diablo would judge her.

Her eyebrows came together as she shoved the words out.

"Kathy was killed by Blanc, who had gone by Testarossa. As for where is Blanc..." How does one describe what happened to Blanc? "I ate her."

Diablo was clearly not prepared for that as he blinked several times and his face slacked. If he were a human, the Black Primordial would be coughing.

"You what?"

"I ate Testarossa."

"You ATE the White Primordial?"

Impatience colored the edge of Jeanne's tone, "Yes, 'ate', as in, the past tense of 'eat' where I consumed her."

The idea that a Primordial ate another Primordial must've been a hard concept for Diablo to wrap his head around as he continued to blink owlishly.

"You— physically— ate Blanc? Through your mouth?"

"No, I shoved her up my ass— OF COURSE, IT'S THROUGH MY FUCKING MOUTH!" How casually Diablo reacts to Kathy's death is really pissing Jeanne off, "Where the hell would I even consume her from? I can't just absorb it through my skin like some kind of amoeba. We Spiritual lifeforms are far more complex than that."

"No— I— I get that, it's just..." Diablo raised a placating hand and tried to imagine Jeanne opening her mouth wide enough that a human-sized thing could pass through her gullet, and became intrigued at how much revulsion he was feeling from the thought. Such a perversion of Jeanne's form is causing Diablo to feel extremely unsettled, for some reason. "...difficult to imagine how you would eat Testarossa."

"I ripped her Nucleic Heart out with the aid of my new Ultimate Skill [Phoenix]. Simple as that." Jeanne said as she made a grabbing and pulling motion with her hands.

For a brief moment in time, Jeanne's mind dragged herself back to when she was standing above a broken Testarossa.

Violent. Diablo gently rubbed his own heart as his eyes zoomed in on the red left arm of Jeanne, "I see. About that Scarletite arm?"

The Yellow Primordial flexed her arm in response to Diablo's query.

"Apparently, after I consumed that white bitch her old Scarletite body now sees me as its owner, so I repossessed it."

"Alright," Diablo next turned his head towards the tall figures composed solely of blood on the horizon moving away from the two, "and I should assume that's a result of your Ultimate Skill?"

Jeanne nodded as her fingers twitched, so many questions.

In a tone that leaves no room for arguing, Jeanne spoke, "Yeah. After the consumption of that white bitch, [Phoenix] upgraded itself into [Khorne], and I evolved into a Devil Lord and a Demon Lord. I'm going back to the Citadel. You deal with Blumund. I'm too tired."

Diablo's expression showed how he was in deep thought. Jeanne glared at the Black Primordial in response, daring him to deny her rest.

"Very well, you've earned a three-hour rest. But immediately afterward I will require a full After Action Report for the President."

Diablo teleported away to Blumund with another snap of air, leaving Jeanne alone once more with her thoughts.

Bringing a hand up, the blonde scratched the back of her neck as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"God damn it. Everything's gone to shit."

With a single thought, Jeanne wordlessly cast a teleportation spell that ended up with her being right outside of the Citadel.

The massive structure looked just as imposing as it did the first time. With its monochrome look, the monolithic up-right cylinder that was partially embedded into the earth looked like it was built by aliens as it had none of the usual architectural flares humans are known for.

Jeanne recalled the first time she saw the thing. It was right after her Mistress' ascension to a Demon Lord, that she had to wait outside since apparently, there was a way to disrupt teleportation using non-magical means.

Her Mistress' explanation flew over Jeanne's head with how many technical terms it had. The only thing Jeanne could understand was that it somehow used gravitational waves and negative mass to constantly shift and distort the local spacetime metric between two points, throwing off any precise teleportation.

"Door me."

A Doorway opened up right in front of Jeanne. The inside of the Doorway was absolutely pitch black as no photons could cross over.

Using [Khorne | Universal Perception], Jeanne could 'see' exactly how intricate the Doorway was. It was a thing of beauty with how sophisticated and precise the control and folding of spacetime was.

The Doorway was a flattened sheet of an event horizon as it split everything down to the smallest scale. Using her hand to reach forward towards the edge of the Doorway, Jeanne could feel her fingers being a few micro degrees hotter due to the black hole radiation coming from the event horizon.

Her hands continued unabated, and very soon passed through the Doorway.

This thing was a multi-dimensional object. Some of the excess spacetime in between the event horizon that was compactified down to the smallest scale was unfurled to allow her hand to travel across a short distance to the inside of the Citadel.

The principle behind the Doormaker parallels those of the Liquidator's hyperdrive.

But... this feels different from before.

"I take you figured out the difference? I think Diablo has figured it out, but if he has, he's hiding it." Mobius spoke as the AI materialized a few meters away from Jeanne, "The old Doormaker was too energy-intensive, so I optimized it with an altered version of a Liquidator's hyperdrive. I didn't know why my Creator never sought to upgrade it, but I assume it's probably because she was so busy."

The energy requirement to teleport galactic distances was a breath away from equalling the total output of a Type II Civilization. While ridiculous by any measure, it didn't even come up as a blip to Scientia since she has just so much energy by virtue of being a universe-spanning entity thanks to the Noosphere.

Hearing Mobius' voice caused Jeanne to feel once again out of touch with her own body.

"I was tempted to also use a Subspace Diver, but with the Spatial Interdiction in place, there's too much of a risk of the teleported matter scattering like sand in the desert being blown away by the wind."

Letting out a snarl, Jeanne quickly walked through the Doorway to get away from Mobius.

The Yellow Primordial found herself in one of the many halls that populated the inside of the Citadel. The sterile and bland walls and the line of neon light attached to the ceiling only further caused her to feel less attached to her own body.

I need sleep, that was the only thing on Jeanne's mind.

Mobius materialized behind Jeanne. The AI stood a few meters away from the Primordial Demon so as to not disturb her too much, but if the continued snarl on Jeanne's lips was any indication, the AI's presence was only going to continue to further antagonize her.

A further distraction is needed.

As the Yellow Primordial strolled through the hallway, she reached an area where the left side of the wall was replaced with transparent panels made from a composite material of diamond and graphene. Rays of white light shone at a slanted angle from that clear panel, lighting up the lower section of the wall and all of the ground.

Valuable gems like diamonds and graphene are just in reality atoms of carbon arranged in specific patterns. With the technology that Scientia had access to, mass-producing both of those things for the purpose of replacing glass was a natural evolution since silicone can only be so hard.

Like anyone else, Jeanne's head turned to look inside the transparent barrier as she walked, only to stop abruptly once she realized what she was seeing.

It was Mobius— another Mobius— and in front of her was a long platform. On it lay a True Hero, probably Gazel. Above Gazel were multiple thin tentacles that each held a device of unknown purpose.

The first Mobius avatar walked up to Jeanne, "Dino's attack was mind-based. I've been able to discern it's some kind of hypnosis ability that somehow convinces the target that they shouldn't live. Gazel—"

"Don't fucking care. Leave me alone."

Jeanne continued her movement unabated. She was really, really tired and her bed was looking more attractive than anything in the world right this moment.

All the while the Yellow Primordial walked, she felt herself again being detached from her physical body. It was as if she was a robot or in a dream with how unreal everything looked. However, unlike being in an actual dream, Jeanne knew that everything was 'real'.

Mobius watched as Jeanne walked away towards her room. The AI had made sure her Doorway passed through here in an attempt to maximize the possibility of Jeanne telling Rimuru what had happened before she went off to rest, but it seems the mental trauma Mobius had predicted beforehand was much more severe, to the point where subtle, almost undetectable manipulation wasn't enough.

Using her was a lost cause.

Mobius updated her psychological profile and simulation model of the Yellow Primordial by turning Jeanne's 'buried trauma' into 'exposed trauma' and upping the severity.

Accurate information about the long past is very difficult to distill from oral traditions, myths, and legends. However, one of her Creator's drones has found certain carvings— carvings that are etched deep into caves where the walls were made up of oily black stones that appear to have been fused by some kind of unknown and most likely magical fire— depicting what appeared to be a female with long hair and a pair of horns standing next to one small and another larger humanoid equal in size to the demonic figure.

Of course, Jaune or any of the Primordials or incarnated spiritual lifeforms having a child would be ridiculous, as it's been experimentally proven by her Creator that all demons, even if they possess the proper organs, are sterile.

Even clones of immortals are also sterile, the Milim clones were a testament to that.

The two Mobius then dematerialized.

As an AI, Mobius has no physical body, thus, any avatar the AI does create is simply a puppet analogous to how a human would puppet around a character in an RPG.

After dematerializing, Mobius focused on the room where Rimuru was situated.

The room's design was 'futuristic' according to her Creator's dictionary. The walls were made out of smooth white material and filled with graphene displays showing all kinds of information about everything from the war to the atmosphere composition within the sections where the refugees were living. Directly in front of the slime was a table that curved around the user made from a graphene-diamond composite, the same that was used in replacing silicone glass.

Through micro-cameras that are built into the walls and situated all over the room, Mobius could view the slime from almost every angle. In fact, other than specific rooms that her Creator intentionally blocked, the Slaughterhouse AI has no blind spots within the entirety of the Citadel.

Thus, she could tell he was incredibly stressed right now, even if he was currently viewing the data displayed on the transparent composite table.

In microseconds, the superintelligent AI improvised her plan to exclude the presence of the Yellow Primordial.

Slimes have irregular biology, thus things like being drunk could not be applied to them. Instead, the AI searched for her database for a 'placebo' drink, a type of drink from Rimuru's old world that would trigger feelings of nostalgia.

Being what her Creator defined as a [Japanese], a Japanese rice wine, or Sake, should do fine for her end goal.

Since brewing sake the traditional method would be too long, the AI instead decided to mimic the taste and look of Sake by carefully mixing different chemicals and water.

It took half a minute.

*Vrrr*

The sound of a small port on the wall opening up attracted Rimuru's attention. From that port came a sealed transparent bottle of artificial Sake.

Projecting a holographic avatar into the room, Mobius spoke in a rather warm tone, "I see you're stressed. So I thought why don't I give you something to destress over?"

The avatar then pointed to the bottle, "That right there is a bottle of Sake. I imagine tasting something from your old home should do wonders for your stress."

Rimuru's face lit up as he walked over to the port and grabbed the sake. He then looked over to the avatar with eyes full of gratitude, "Thank you."

In the next moment, he must've remembered something as his eyes suddenly looked downcasted, "what's with the occasion?"

If this were the Rimuru from half a year ago he would've easily accepted the sake, the AI thought, but now with everything that's happened, he's far more cynical.

"I've received some bad news from Jeanne. I suggest you hear it out after you drank the sake."

The slime's lips thinned as his yellow eyes hardened. Strutting along with the sake in one hand, Rimuru sat down on his chair with the bottle of sake placed on the table before he spoke up again, "No, I'll hear it now."

Mobius made her avatar look apprehensive, "are you sure?"

"Yes," Rimuru said, bringing his hands up and having them lean on each other like a roof.

"Kathy is KIA."

Rimuru stilled, his head then draped forward and took in a long breath of air. Mobius could see how the slime had squeezed his eyes shut as if to cut out reality. When he opened them again, one could easily tell he regretted not drinking the sake.

"I see." Rimuru said in a calm tone, "So I assume that Jeanne is at least alive?"

Mobius nodded, "Correct. She is currently resting."

"Right. Did we gain anything from this?"

"According to the hidden recording device I've implanted on Diablo, Jeanne gained an Ultimate Skill specialized in 'blood'."

Rimuru started rubbing his head as if to nurse an injury, "Right, give me an overview of all the Ultimate Skills currently in our arsenal."

"As of this instant, we currently have five Ultimate Skill users: you, Shizue, Diablo, Jeanne, and Gazel who are currently out of commission. These Ultimate Skills are [Tattletale], [Eidolon], [Aizen], [Khorne], and [Sariel]. Their abilities are random sequence extrapolation, power manipulation, information manipulation, blood control, and unknown respectively. [Sariel] isn't known since Gazel didn't say what it's exactly about, but since it's 'Lord of Hope', I think it has something to do with inspiring others."

[Tattletale]... right, he still hasn't told anyone of that, hasn't he? Rimuru realized. He was about to open his mouth once more before [Holmes] interjected.

<Do not give Mobius your secret trump card>

Rimuru promptly ignored everything else and reached for the bottle of sake. Popping it open, the slime took a huge gulp of the liquid. When the sake hit Rimuru's tongue, he could honestly say he felt himself being taken back to his old life, when he would sometimes go drinking with coworkers after the sun had set.

Working as a general contractor, whenever Satoru Mikami's coworkers did invite him it was always to that one bar. The bar's walls, tables, and even chairs were made from light oak wood. Their beer was terrible, and their sake was even worse, but that's probably what one gets when it's an all-you-can-drink after you paid an exorbitant one-time fee for the evening.

This artificial sake had a lot of fruity flavors. The slime could pick out tastes of bananas, apples, and peaches in it. According to the internet, high-quality sake tastes like it's made from fruits because those flavors are the result of the good sake-making skills of the brewer.

Rimuru looked down at the bottle in his hands, estimating that it probably contained only a liter of sake.

"..."

He's so going to resign after this. A nice long vacation sounds so sweet right now. Rimuru's feet started to fidget as he grew restless thinking of relaxing on the beach.

The back of his head started to grow hot as frustration mounted, another echo of his past life as a human.

"God fucking damn it."

A year ago, he was a general contractor. As a general contractor, he managed the day-to-day operation of a construction site. How in the hell did after a year, he was supposed to manage a nation-state in the middle of a World War where the majority of the world is against him? This is like a minimum wage worker suddenly being promoted to the leader of the Free World!

Rimuru REALLY wants to travel back in time and punch his younger self for accepting the job of being the President of the Jura Tempest Republic. One doesn't just magically become competent at governing just because of an isekai.

"By the way President Rimuru, I noticed how people are still protesting outside," Mobius said as she materialized a holographic panel displaying the continued anti-war protest within the living section of the Citadel where the refugees were residing.

Rimuru took another gulp of the sake and didn't stop until the whole bottle was empty. As a slime, he had no need for air, so Rimuru emptied the bottle in one sip.

"It's times like these that I hate being a slime."

(AN: Play: Game of Thrones: Season 6 OST - Light of the Seven (EP 10 Trial scene))

Being drunk sounds really nice right about now.

As it turns out, being pro-war is really fucking easy when they aren't being affected. After allowing the Time Loops to continue, some self-righteous government officials high on the constitutional guaranteed Freedoms decided to act as a whistleblower and released information on what happened to the nation and who was allowing it to continue.

Needless to say, being forced into some rather cramped living spaces, going from eating like kings to eating bland nutrition pastes, and discovering that the President is intentionally letting other citizens, and their families, be trapped in the Time Loops did not go well with the average citizen. Some of the people on the Citadel's internet even say that since almost all of the Senates were trapped in a Time Loop and Scientia was gone, this was Rimuru's coup attempt for absolute power just like the Demon Lords of old.

To these people, Rimuru might as well be the devil for continuing this war. What's more, it's impossible to prosecute the whistleblower since when Scientia wrote the Charter of Rights and Freedom, she made any whistleblowing activity legal as it's one of the major ways to hold the government accountable.

It's like how in Germany it isn't illegal to break out of prison since Germans see the desire to be free as a fundamental right.

The only good thing that came out of this mess was that the government official wasn't a Minister since those could've told the public how the Voice of the World itself was dying. If the war could cause some 60% of the refugees to start protesting, just imagine how large it would balloon to if they knew the System was dying.

Rimuru looked at the panel displaying the protest, some of the signs said 'Return our freedoms', 'End this war', and 'Step down, presitator'. The last one is a combination of the words 'President' and 'Dictator'.

Seeing those signs reminded him of that time back in school when he had to research the Cold War since it had just ended a few years ago. The young Satoru chose the Vietnam War, more specifically, the protest against it during the 60s and early 70s. During the project, Satoru was especially harsh against the President for continuing the war even as their citizens were protesting for them to stop.

Now? Rimuru felt like he could almost sympathize with them.

The irony.

<These people want a return to their previous lives>

Rimuru wants a return to his previous life too.

Of course, just like during the Vietnam War, there were some people who saw the bigger picture and tried to defend President Rimuru's actions, but those were shouted down.

Anger and hatred needed no logic, merely perceived slights.

"The tyranny of the majority..." Rimuru muttered to himself.

In fact, earlier, Rimuru had to make a public address since if the protests continued, there was a high likelihood it would turn into a riot. His address managed to quell the protest for half an hour before it continued again, this time more peaceful but much louder.

Of course, Rimuru could just institute Marshal Law, but... if he did that, if he used the military, that would only prove them right. The slime will admit, in some dark corners of his mind, he imagined cracking down on protests like so many dictators of his old world. It would be so easy. He could have Mobius fire some rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd to disperse them, maybe even perform some execution ala Iran to further discourage protest.

The humanoid slime stared at the empty bottle in his hand, admiring it. He could see his fingers through the transparent material.

This continued. Rimuru continued to stare at the bottle as if it were the most important thing in the world, but in reality, he was lost in thought. He thought about his past, before the whole disaster with the Space Elevator, the fiasco with his death, the deal with Charybdis, the meeting with those Ogres, and even before when they had encountered those goblins.

Honestly, that period in the cabin was probably when Rimuru was at his most carefree. He had no need to worry about food, comfort, or even entertainment since not only could he explore the area, but Scientia also whipped up some rather... to not speak ill of the dead here... interesting gadgets.

Turning a bunny into a trashcan? Seriously, what the hell?

Rimuru took a deep breath before running his free hand through his hair. Letting the breath go, Rimuru's attention returned to the graphene monitors in front of him on the table.

He needs to use that again huh? Riots had already almost occurred before the Time Loops thanks to Chronoa's Broadcast. Mobius had quelled the budding protests and drummed up support, but she used a method that Rimuru had found very distasteful. Democracy was supposed to be the rule of the people, by the people, and for the people, memetic weapons undermine it so much that it might as well be mass brainwashing.

Now? All he feels is a minor reluctance, a tiny voice inside his head instead of the loud alarm it used to be like a drug addict hesitating just a bit before trying the harder stuff.

<Mobius is trying to get you rely on her>

Rimuru wanted to laugh after listening to his Ultimate Skill. Mobius is probably the best thing that's ever happened to him ever since Scientia died as he doubts he could've gotten this far without the AI.

The slime stared at the green-haired AI. For a brief moment, he saw Scientia taking her place.

"..." He feels so useless.

<Do not free Mobius>

"Mobius," He called out to the AI, "could you make another memetic weapon that could calm the populace down?"

"I could, Mr. President." Rimuru opened his mouth to respond, "—but, I don't think that's wise."

The AI's words made him pause. Tilting his head to the side, the slime asked, "How so?"

"Memetic weapons have limits. At their core, they are propaganda at their most effective. You need a more long-term solution. I recommend pumping some tasteless, colorless, and odorless chemicals that would maximize compliance into the water that the refugees drink from, maybe even release them in gas form for quicker coverage."

Rimuru stilled into a statue, his eyes never leaving the body of the AI. The drug... oh right, Mobius had suggested drugging his people into compliance. Rimuru's mind turned to the protests outside, it would definitely end—

God help me, the slime shuddered at the thought. He was actually considering Mobius' proposal.

"I'm..." Rimuru didn't sound as confident rejecting Mobius' proposal as he did the last time, "not going to drug—"

"You haven't even told the people about the Ark, have you? And confirming how the System was Ending?"

"..."

"The people are getting soft."

Rimuru's brows furrowed, prompting Mobius to continue as the latter knew the former was intrigued.

"Before my Creator, they lived hungry, hard, short, and meaningless lives. Take the goblins for example. Every day they foraged for edible plants, hunted herbivores, and ran from carnivores. But then they get a taste of modern amenities, a break from their harsh reality, and they become happy."

While Mobius spoke, the AI projected several holographic panels that showed the progress of the capital Metropolis as it grew from a minor village into a large city.

"Just like a drug addict, they crave a constant dose. In the market, a loaf of steaming fresh bread costs only two dollars. That's a percent of a day's wage for the lowest-paid workers. A marvel of capitalism and technology. Compare that to places like the Western Kingdoms where freshly baked bread is considered a minor luxury. On the internet, my Creator's Internet Explorer has some of the lowest traffic among all the search engines because she made sure to show the harshness of reality. The people..."

Mobius trailed off as she started slowly trotting over to where Rimuru was sitting. She stayed silent for a few moments longer than necessary to build up anticipation before talking again.

"...don't want to view harshness. Even if the harshness is good for them, the people want the sweet, cavity-inducing candy instead of the bitter, healing medicine. They will happily stay ignorant even when a genocide is happening so long as it isn't affecting them. They are racing toward the abyss, and they can't see it. In you, they see only a leader who has taken away their loved ones, their comfort, and their freedoms."

Rimuru's eyes never left the place where Mobius was when she had first spoken. Flashes of chill ran down his spine from the AI's words as Mobius stopped once she stood right beside the sitting President.

The AI placed a hand on Rimuru's shoulder, and since it's a hologram there was no weight to it. Yet the slime felt her touch nonetheless, a phantom sensation.

Mobius leaned forward until she was right next to Rimuru's ears, whispering, "They live inside a sanctuary, outside of the touch of the war. They don't realize everything you do is for their own good. They can't understand you, and they never will. Such is the burden of a leader. Your plans are on such a scale that the people see them as natural landmarks or mountain ranges. You make the hardest choices so that no one else will. You sacrifice yourself so that no one else has to make that sacrifice."

And the coup de grace...

"That is the true responsibility of a leader: to make the greatest gains for the lowest cost. To bear the sins of your people."

Rimuru gulped. Was it just him, or was the room suddenly several degrees colder?

A holographic panel appeared suddenly in front of him, consuming his entire field of view. The panel displayed the title 'Compound P-98'. Underneath the title was a complex chemical honeycomb structure composed of many Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon, and many more that Rimuru doesn't recognize.

Chemistry has never been a strong suit of his even back in his old world.

"Compound P-98 is a non-addictive psychoactive drug synthesized from a blend of different chemicals, with the most prominent one being Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. This is a tasteless, colorless, and odorless drug that is naturally a solid. It has a medium solubility in water and is even higher within lipids and almost every organic solvent on this planet. Compound P-98 works by affecting neurotransmitters within the amygdala and prefrontal cortex of an organism's brain, causing the affected subject to be temporarily incapable of some higher-thought functions like long-term planning, feeling sadness, or even stress. It is an antidepressant that actually works."

The panel played an animation showing exactly how Compound P-98 binds itself to neurons. With [All of Creation], the slime was able to somewhat understand the principle behind the drug, but without fundamental knowledge of chemistry, it's just like remembering a Wikipedia article.

"It is entirely nonaddictive. In fact, it's anti-addictive as, after prolonged exposure, the brain began building up a tolerance for it. However, initial models suggest this will take decades, and even if the subjects do build resistance against it, I have half a dozen other chemicals ready—"

Rimuru placed a hand on Mobius' that's currently situated on his shoulder. Since the Mobius beside him is a holographic avatar, the slime's hand fell right through and touched his own shoulder.

"Is this right?" Rimuru asked indecisively as his hand started shaking as though it were cold, his eyes peering down at his feet unable to look anywhere else.

Mobius had her mouth form an 'O' shape before continuing, "Mr. President, the concept of right or wrong exists only for those who have the luxury that you currently do not possess. In a way, the concept of right and wrong was made by the lessers to bind those greater than themselves from achieving their full potential. Ask yourself this: considering how many works of fiction out there portray those who try to instigate change as the villain— those who try to upend the existing status quo— and considering how you and Scientia changed the state of affairs that existed previously in this world so much, do you really think you would be a hero?"

Rimuru felt like he was standing on a tightrope, and Mobius' words were the winds that is threatening to blow him off and into the inescapable abyss below.

"Every leader in history is a monster in one way or another. They have to be, as they had to utilize something different about themselves to rise above the common masses and take control. Moreover, ideals and morality have no room within politics, international or domestic. There is only interest and the interest of other nations that make yours impossible to achieve."

Another panel appeared, displaying the decision of whether or not to release the chemicals.

The slime never thought to consult his Ultimate Skill about this decision even once.

'You shouldn't trust Mobius'

Rimuru raised his hand. Doubt filled his mind.

...a sudden gush of wind caused his foot to slip...

His raised hand neared the panel displaying whether or not to release the chemicals.

...he felt his body in freefall as the tightrope no longer supported his body's weight...

Just as he neared the panel, his hand went towards the 'yes'.

...however, at the last moment, his right hand caught the rope, stopping his fall into the abyss...

Rimuru's hand stopped half a centimeter from touching the 'yes' button and retreated. Then, the slime recalled how right after his first meeting with Carrion oh so long ago, Scientia had said 'to be a leader is to do unpopular things'.

...but as his hand gripped the rope tightly, his strength started to wane like the Moon...

"For my people."

...Until he was forced to let go as his hand can no longer support his weight...

Rimuru steeled his heart, encasing it in layers and layers of unfeeling iron.

...and fall into the abyss...

"For their own good," Rimuru said, not knowing if it was for himself or for others.

Then his finger passed through the 'yes', releasing Compound P-98 into the refugee's living area.

.

.

.

_____________________________________________

End of Act III: The First Snowfall

Start of Act IV: The Winter's Solstice.

_____________________________________________

AN: And so, winter, the time where everything dies, falls upon the world.

You know, after playing through the Lostbelts, Scientia would absolutely despise LB 3 with its stagnate, ignorant people.

Also, if Mobius feels different, it's because we're seeing her from more of her point of view. Moreover, after thinking about it though, this feels more accurate to how a true AI would behave.