Plan B: wrecking havoc

"How sad, I can't even remember how much time it makes since I was so moved about a human's death" Cain sighed. "Well, I can't say I truly feel much remorse, you wouldn't have let him escape anyway, am I wrong?"

There was seemingly nobody anywhere around, and yet Cain knew he was here, hiding viciously, maybe even right beside him.

"Don't you think it's petty to refuse talking to me like that just because I pulled an innocent little trick on you to so you'd give me a bit of help?" he asked again.

Suddenly, feeling something strange with his right arm, Cain looked at it to see his hand had disappeared.

"Fine, petty games you choose, petty games you'll get" he said.

At this moment, as he walked forward, Cain seemed to vanish into thin air. A few seconds later, he reappeared in an entirely different part of the planet, on top of a gigantic floating skyscrapper.

"Hmm, let's see, what should I do now..."

Until now, everything had gone as planned. As an anonymous source, he had succesfully informed Cifer of the Nova beast corpse's presence in Ghost London around a week earlier. He had estimated this time to be just long enough for the criminal organization to analyse the situation and decide if the risk of getting in Ghost London was worthy, and just too short for them to potentially send someone more qualified on Londris.

Of course, the hermetic suits allowing them to make it possible were also a gift from him: thanks to Glenn Keters' programs he had stolen a few weeks earlier on Glactia-62, he had managed to hack many databases from various scientific organisms across the Galaxy, mainly from the Paraise Council, the SGO Republic, and the Athenor Stellar Field, known for its bio-technological advancement. With these scattered datas, it became possible to conceive the hermetic suits fast enough.

Of course, to do that... well, he had to make some compromises. He himself didn't have the technology necessary to create these suits fast enough for them to be ready before Tyler, John and Erica's arrival. To solve this problem, he couldn't do anything but get help from Yoria. As a stellar commander from the Empire, she didn't have any trouble to secretly make a few elite labs stop their activities right away and craft the hermetic suits fast enough, and then send them to Cifer.

In the first place, the Paradise Council or the SGO Republic could've definitely crafted these suits in the first place. They simply didn't know that a Nova beast corpse was hidden in there, and therefore didn't consider it worth the effort, and the risk to enter Ghost London.

'Even knowing it, I too wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for Yoria blackmailing me into this' he thought, sighing, feeling a bit resentful.

In the first place, Tyler and the others having anything to do with Ghost London was not part of his plan. But, a week after their meeting on Glactia-62, Yoria had contacted him to merge their respective plans. Cain knew from the first second it'd be to her advantage, but could he refuse? Of course no... She had made sure that this plan would still be 'advantageous' for him... or with more direct words that it'd still be far better than her leaking his plans.

'Well, I guess I can do with it. But she really doesn't make it easy'

In the first place, Yoria had asked him very clear things: provoking Tyler's death, leaving his corpse in Ghost London, and making sure both Erica and Saginus stayed away from it. The only informations she gave him to make it easier were Saginus' presence around Ghost London, and his personality.

It was relatively had, but Cain had found a way around. First, of course, orchestrating their arrival on Londris and their mission in Ghost London. Saginus was the Sin of Greed, with an authority over Dreams. Cain was the fallen angel of Will, and had the exact same influence over Dreams. From what Yoria said, this psychopath was often walking through people's dreams to make them go crazy, so Cain didn't think too much, and used his power for Saginus to 'accidentally' end in Tyler's dreams.

The Sin of Greed hated hypocrites more than anything, and Tyler was basically an apostle of the Devil trying to be a hero... what would happen had been pretty obvious. With Saginus and Mavarel both haunting Ghost London, the only thing protecting Tyler's life had been Erica's presence due to her 'particular' situation. Once taken out of the equation, it had only been a matter of time.

Honestly speaking, he had been really surprised when he realized Tyler and John had successfully defeated Mavarel. After he stopped keeping Erica away, he had initially planned to save John, but he instead ended up killing Tyler to make sure Erica couldn't get to him in time.

After realizing Tyler was already dead and unsaveable, Erica would instead aim to help John escaping Ghost London, even if he was far less precious to her, in order to avoid complete losses. Doing so, without knowing it, she would also protect Cain's interests, as John was very important for his future moves. And considering what was coming next, the gigantic man would definitely protection to ensure his life wouldn't be lost.

"Considering what's coming next, the entire planet would need some protection, including me..." Cain thought out loud, before frowning. "Oh, he already found me, I can already imagine the bruises staying for weeks"

The last part of his method to carry on Yoria's plan concerned Saginus: how to make sure he would remain away from Tyler's corpse? It was actually pretty simple. Yoria had told him that, in addition to his cruelty, Saginus was also pretty nagging. He had disinterest for most of his victims but, for those he hated, he made sure to give them as much details as possible to make their demise even more terrible.

So what would happen? He'd tell Tyler he was an apostle. Tyler, wondering how exactly he became one, would think about it for a bit, and then the most logical culprit would naturally come to his mind. Who? But Cain of course! After all, he was the last person Tyler had talked to before his Blessing first manifested during the fight against Melia, naturally he would be the suspect.

'Yes, of course it's due to that, and not because I look suspect. I have no idea what Eliot meant by that' Cain mentally laughed before seeing the space crack in front of him. 'Oh, and there he is, finally showing his face'

Naturally, after coming to this conclusion, Tyler would ask Saginus to confirm his theory. And there it was: even if they never directly met, as Cain and Saginus both had authority over the domain of Dreams, they were bound to know much about each other. Even if Cain was mostly known as Aquillion, Saginus almost certainly knew his other name as well. And what he even more certainly heard about was how crafty he was!

Just hearing his name from Tyler's mouth, he would have suspicions. Cain could imagine it'd be something like that: 'this cunning fallen angel, is he implied in this? Am I playing in his hands right now?'

And then, Cain would graciously confirm this suspicion by showing up and pushing Tyler to his death, stealing Saginus' kill. Not only that but, for such a sadistic naricisist, this would feel as one of the greatest disrespect of his life: not only Cain had used him to do his bidding, but he even stole his kill...

... It was as if he had slapped him on the left cheek before wiping his hand on the right, it was too shameless, simply unacceptable!

"Hello, my little angel, ready to die?" Saginus asked as he appeared in front of Cain.

The latter scoffed internally:

'Ah, he looks so pissed... I wonder how much more pissed he'd be if he knew he's still playing my game'

Cain didn't want the wrong people to know that killing Tyler was part of their - his and Yoria's - plans, and Saginus was the perfect cover: who among the few people knowing that the Sin of Greed existed would doubt that he killed someone solely out of evilness?

What wasn't part of Yoria's plan was the fight that was about to begin between the Angel and the Great Sin...

"So you are the Great Sin that rules over Dream like me?" Cain asked.

... but it was part of his.

"Pfft, I must say, I didn't imagine you looking like a woke person, haha" he chuckled "Well, you're from the 21th century after all, I shouldn't be surprised that all your personality is in the pearls in your hair"

Saginus kept a neutral face, but Cain could almost see the veins popping on his neck. He could also very well imagine those popping on Yoria's neck as well, but all that brought to his mind was laughter. He had done his part of the deal, now was the time to act as he wanted.

"Oh, is that so? But isn't saying that a bit funny coming from one of Genova's spawn?" Saginus retorted. "It's well-known that you guys have no personality, except being your daddy's good boys and girls"

"I can't deny my siblings are like this, and I had my phase too" Cain replied, shrugging. "But don't worry, now I priorise my own objectives instead of being a 'daddy's boy', as you say. I always feel sad when I see my siblings still haven't realized Genova's worthlessness... or when I see how pathetic the Silent One's dogs look, of course"

"Oh, so you're in your little rebel phase? How shameful to still be at this point of life when you're already such a fossile, 'Aquillion'"

Both grinned angrily to each other:

"I'm gonna enjoy fucking you up" Saginus said.

"So am I" Cain replied.

Now was not the time of schemes, compromises or words anymore: it was time for the beginning of a battle that would wreck havoc throughout the entire planet, plunging it into absolute chaos.

And thus, the fight opposing the two semi-gods began.