33 32nd Move | Maze Runner
At night, above the Capital City of Rondo, the Kingdom of Blumund.
Shizue floated there, above the city of Rondo. Compared to Metropolis, the capital of Blumund is a tiny flicker of candlelight beside the great inferno that is the Jura Tempest Republic's capital. The streets are dark, with barely any streetlights anywhere outside of the inner districts, forcing the common people to bring their own lights if they wish to go out at night.
At least, that's how it's supposed to be. There's a tiny pocket within Rondo that's brighter than even the royal castle. It was a single street. It was where Rurdian Beauty Product Limited, a Tempest Corporation, decided to invest. Tall scaffolding lined the sides of the blocked-off streets, and large construction machines and piles of raw materials were all over the place as the local government didn't allow building deep into the night.
Dropping down from her height high above the city, Shizue's foot silently hit the ground near the front gate.
Many guards started to swarm her, their weapons of simple spears and swords pointed at the Digital Lich. Reaching into her pocket, Shizue took out a single badge— it held a golden insignia with a chemical flask in the middle that had wings spread out, the insignia of her Lady, of Research and Development.
Instantly, the most well-armored guard lowered and quickly sheathed his weapon, turning to look at the other guards, "alright boys, let her in," then he turned back to face Shizue, "sorry about that, just basic protocol Miss...?"
"Call me Shizue."
The man nodded, before turning to scream at his men who were struggling to open the main gate, "come on, let's hurry up and open that door already! We got a VIP here!"
To Shizue, it seemed the men here are very green. None of them other than perhaps the captain has even seen blood.
The woman knows all about the importance of having someone competent to watch one's back, and she would honestly say, these men who were supposed to guard the gate would be more of a liability in actual combat than anything.
"Brrr," the leader of these men shivered from the cold.
Although it's only around the end of Mid-Autumn, Blumund is known for its rather sudden and frigid winters, where it could be warm in the morning but snow in the afternoon.
"I have a question," Shizue asked behind her anti-magic mask. "Where can I get discrete 'information'?"
The heavy clothing and cloak that the woman was wearing fluttered in the wind as the leader shivered once more, before letting out a loud sneeze.
Rubbing his nose, "well, if it's information you need, best ask 'round in Forlong Nights. That bar has the most info brokers. Whether they're truthful information... Ehhh, that's another thing entirely."
Shizue cupped her chin in deep thought.
"Thank you, and where is that?"
A brief flash of annoyance crossed the guard leader's face before he quickly suppressed it, "well, the bar is on the streets of Mathers East of here, ya can't miss it, it's the busiest place at this time of night."
Shizue nodded before walking away.
Turning off the stasis around her head to connect with the internet, Shizue spent a few seconds to find a map of Rondo on the internet. Using this map, she was able to quickly navigate through the various corridors and streets to reach her destination.
A large wooden shack, on top of it, was the symbol of a completely filled glass of beer, with bubbles fizzing out of it. The word 'Forlong Night' was situated right next to the entrance, and it was much smaller compared to that beer glass.
The Digital Lich recognizes that since a lot of the commoners in Blumund cannot read or write, this bar must've used symbols to tell people what kind of establishment this is.
According to her Lady, during the early days of the Republic, almost every one of the goblins couldn't read or write, and so, the Perfect Homunculus was forced to create a quick language vocational course to get those people up to speed.
Apparently, there were so many courses to each her Lady had to later create an AI to automate much of the process of churning out textbooks for just the basics.
Walking in, Shizue was met with the sight of a lot of drunken folks. Some were sprawled out on tables, others were cheering, and some were even dancing in drunken stupors. There was enough alcohol in the air that, had she remained a human, her nose would've picked them up.
The place itself can almost be called 'high class' had it not been for those drunken folks. The walls were made out of light oak wood and the lighting was rather dark.
Behind her mask, Shizue grimaced. She's never been one to go to bars, mainly because of how wild things can get. Even after missions, the woman would prefer far more to the quiet environment of a library to a rowdy bar that her old companions would love so much.
Sitting on one of the many stools next to the countertop, Shizue took out a small wad of cash and ordered a drink, "one glass of Ingrassian wine."
The bartender took the bills with a raised eyebrow, causing Shizue to ask, "Is something the matter?"
"No, it's just..." the bartender quickly replied, "it's been a while ever since the last nation tried to introduce its own currency. Usually, Dwargon just sanctions that nation until they dropped the new currency but it's weird how that hasn't happened with your republic."
Slipping the bills through a small hole into a locked chest full of other coins, the bartender (Shizue saw he had a name tag with the words 'Clause' on it) took out a bottle of the rather cheap variety, "one glass of Ingrassian wine was it?"
Shizue's lips thinned. Offering your customer the cheaper version of a brand of wine they asked for is usually a subtle insult saying 'you're not really welcomed here'.
"Yes."
She doesn't have the time nor desire to drag this out. The Digital Lich is here to find information on the Dwelling of Spirits, not to pick a fight.
Clause the bartender took out a glass that hung directly above the countertop and poured Shizue a glass.
Taking it, the ex-adventurer swirled the glass around. Although, unlike a maid chassis, the War Chassis doesn't have a sense of taste or smell. Instead what it does have is sensors that detect chemicals in the air.
Placing the glass of wine closer, Shizue appeared to take in the smell to give the facade that she was someone from the upper crust of society.
"Do you know where I can find someone who knows about the Dwelling of Spirits?" Shizue asked without turning her head.
"The Dwelling of Spirits?"
"Yes, I'm looking to find the entrance to that place."
The bartender looked hesitant, at least that was before Shizue slipped him another bill.
Pocketing the bill, the bartender leaned in closer to Shizue, "if you want to know information about spirits, you're probably going to want to go to Felber. He's apparently an exile from Ulgrasia because he failed to make a contract with a spirit. He usually sits at the back, looking all kinds of miserable."
Ah... Ulgrasia, the place that her Lady absolutely hates, and despite being the only other republic in the world, has used her influence to stop all efforts at establishing diplomatic ties.
"I see, thank you."
Shizue took off from her stool, but however just before she could move more than a few feet, the bartender spoke up again.
"You'll probably want to give him some premium Vodka if you want his lips to lose." The bartender again showed his cutthroat business side and placed a well-decorated bottle of translucent liquid onto the countertop.
"..."
Shizue reached into her cloak and took out another wad of cash, depositing it onto the countertop with her fingers still pressing down on it.
Just as the bartender started to reach for the bill with a satisfied smile on his face, Shizue suddenly grabbed his right forearm and pulled him closer before starting to squeeze.
It would be so easy, Shizue noticed, to simply close her hand and the bartender's forearm would just be gone.
In a sharp and merciless tone, "Listen here Clause: I work for the Tempest government," Research and Development to be exact, but he doesn't know how influential R&D is, "your king desperately wishes to get on our good side, so if I remove your arm right here, he'll be happy to sweep this under the rug. Thus, here's some advice: don't be too greedy."
Shizue let go of the bartender's forearm before swiping away the bottle of premium Vodka.
Walking towards the back where the booths that contain many people would usually drink alone, Shizue stopped by a person who looked Ulgrasian. He was a rough-looking man, like someone who's been in the business of adventuring for a long, long time.
Presumably, Felber.
Wordlessly, Shizue deposited the bottle onto the table before sitting down.
"I'm looking for the Dwelling of Spirits."
The man's jaw shifted and grabbed the Vodka before bringing his foot up to the table, looking extremely relaxed.
"Hmm, well the Vodka is a good first step." Taking a sip, "ahhh, the same premium burn, and spiciness. Did you know that an Otherworlder was the first one to brew Vodka? From potatoes no less! Hahahahaha!"
The man laughed drunkenly.
"How much?"
"One gold coin."
"Done."
"Nah, I'm changing my mind, five gold coins."
"...Done."
The man raised an eyebrow.
"50 gold coins."
"Don't push it. I only have 20 gold coins."
"Fine. I'll take 20 gold coins."
Shizue opened a Doorway and deposited 20 dwarven coins directly onto the table, the coins themselves glittered and bounced a bit before stopping. Its worth is equivalent or more to the entire annual income of most people outside of the Republic.
Felber's eyes widened, "well damn, can I ask at least why you so desperately want to know about the entrance to the Dwelling of Spirits?"
"I wish to gain the favor of superior spirits." She lied.
Felber looked at Shizue with a critical eye and pursed his lips as if assessing whether what she says is correct, "The entrance to the Dwelling of Spirits is within the Ulg Nature Park within the Forest of Lut right beside the capital city of Galut. Specifically, it's built into the largest tree in the forest. It is a pretty difficult place to get to, most people have to pack camping stuff and hike through two days' worth of dense forest.
"That's alright. You don't need to worry about that."
With that, Shizue got up and left. Opening another Doorway—
"Hey." Felber suddenly called out while still sitting in his seat, "your nation welcomes everyone right?"
The Digital Lich paused before replying, "yes. We are a democratic republic where we seek to treat all individuals equally."
"I see. I should visit it sometime in the future."
Seeing how Felber returned to drinking, Shizue went through the Doorway and appeared in the halls of the school. The hallway was dark, with rays of moonlight shining through the massive window held to one side of the wall.
In the darkness, Shizue took off the mask to reveal she had a large smile on her face. Finally, she can save her students, her goal for the past few years is about to come to fruition.
_____________________________________________
The next day, at night, above the Forest of Lut.
High above the clouds, Shizue hovered. To any observer, she would look almost aimless, but in truth, her eyes are scanning the entire national park to find the supposed 'largest tree'.
The whole park is full of gigantic trees with almost invisible differences between each other.
Again, the Ulgrasia Republic was a nation that particularly disgusted Lady Scientia. She ranted for ten minutes about how unfair it is to drive out those who are unable to form a contract with spirits because of so-called 'evilness' and how it's 'eugenics but with a spiritual twist on it'. Afterward, her Lady ended that rant by never speaking or even thinking about Ulgrasia as much as possible.
Once the scanners have done searching millions of trees and found the definitive largest, Shizue made a beeline toward it at speeds far beyond anything short of a Demon Lord.
Stopping in a single millisecond, Shizue experienced no altercations from the excess g-force that would've liquified most bodies made out of flesh and bones since her new body took the physical laws as physical suggestions.
Hovering a couple of meters off the ground, the clothed silver War Chassis was greeted with the sight of a massive door built into a truly titanic tree whose size is comparable to some of the smaller arcologies in Metropolis. The door was richly decorated with art depicting spirits and was more befitting as the front door of a castle instead of a random tree.
The edge of Shizue's mouth was hidden behind the anti-magic mask tilted downward. Inside her mind was a feeling of apprehension.
She never liked spirits too much.
Placing a hand on the door, Shizue tried to push but the stone door didn't give in. However since her body is inviolable, she imprinted her hand onto the door as if it was made out of wet clay.
Suddenly, the door quickly swung open as though it was crying out in pain, revealing a straight and— well, not narrow, hallway toward darkness. Oddly enough, there were arches containing glowing stones that filled the sides, and yet, it seemed the light can't reach further than two dozen meters.
It was a very ominous scene. It would be highly foolish of her to go in without telling anyone, so Shizue sent a message to her Lady and had her internal circuits start creating minuscule, almost undetectable to all but the most sensitive of instruments, patterned distortions within spacetime. In other words, generating waves of gravitons (gravitation waves) that cross the border between universes and dimensions.
Turning on her stasis fully, Shizue flew in at speeds just below that of sound. After crossing a distance of eight meters, the War Chassis' topological compass was going haywire.
Visual distortions and lensing effects appeared all around Shizue as the artificial manifold started breaking down.
A manifold is a volume of space that looks like normal Euclidean space on a local level but is actually something else entirely. An example of a manifold that Lady Scientia used is how a planet is actually a sphere but from the perspective of a human observer, it looks entirely flat.
Shizue can barely understand it, but what she does know is that had she not activated her stasis, she would've likely been stuck in a loop.
The same property which prevents Static Matter from being transported via Doormaker also prevents Shizue from being trapped inside a manifold.
It's a double-edged sword, Shizue mused as she smashed through a wall and appeared in the middle of a large stone chamber housing a pink metal golem twice as tall as the Digital Lich in the center.
"Whyyyyyyy????"
That made her halt mid-air. Looking around, her internal computer suggests that it may be [Thought Transmission].
"Why did you have to destroy the wall like some kind of raging bull!? Don't you know how hard it is to repair everything? And why didn't the spatial distortion work on you? You have no magic the last time I checked!" A high-pitched voice screamed in anguish.
It reminded Shizue Shizue of a child, an angry child who's currently hitting your leg to try and get you to repair the toy.
Shizue's body folded inward a bit to show preparedness to fight and move instantly. She doesn't really need to do this since the War Chassis can turn in a microsecond, so it's just for show.
"Who's there?"
"Grr, fine if you aren't going to tell me then I guess you can just die! Spirit Colossus, destroy her!"
The pink golem powered up. The general shape of the golem resembled a gorilla with a pair of disproportionally large arms and the forearm being like this single slab of hard magisteel metal that had vents on the opposite end of the 'hand' portion.
Plenty of exhaust started coming out of those vents as they began to move toward the heavily clothed intruder.
"Wait!" Shizue frantically fretted, trying to deescalate the situation, "I apologize for my destruction of your wall o' mighty spirits, but I needed—"
*Doom*
The Spirit Colossus raised its left hand and smashed it down on Shizue's head.
Had she remained her human self, that would've been the end for Shizue Izawa. Except, this body that her Soul currently inhabits is designed for war. It is designed to slaughter thousands in a single minute. It is designed to be able to lay siege against even the capital of the Eastern Empire.
The hit had the force of an SUV moving at full speed on a freeway, nowhere near enough to even move the War Chassis as it continued to hover there.
Realizing that communication had broken down, Shizue gripped the forearm of the metal golem that was on her head so hard the magisteel cover that made up the outer layer crumbled like sheets of aluminum.
With a single jolt of movement, Shizue severed the forearm from the rest of the body by slashing the elbow joint.
The machine offered no resistance, it was as if a person was cutting the air with their hands. Nothing other than perhaps Siberium or maybe the mythical Crimson Steel could.
The voice gasped in shock upon seeing how easily its golem had been ripped apart.
"H— how?! That was a magisteel golem capable of—" It stopped when Shizue, now flying three meters off the ground, pushed her hands into the other arm and chest area. The magisteel continued to offer up no resistance and mimicked air.
"Stop! Please stop!" The voice pleaded with Shizue to stop this systematic dismantling of the machine. It realized that Shizue was just about to tear the thing in half. "No! Stop! Okay, I'll listen to what you have to say and forgive you for breaking down the entrance! Just don't destroy my golem!"
Shizue halted in her movement and turned to look where she think the [Thought Transmission] came from, "do you promise?"
"Yes! Oh please yes!"
Thinking for a brief moment, Shizue then retracted her arm from the golem. Not a single scratch was present on the clothing which veiled her silvery form as the Digital Lich had extended its stasis to it.
"Thank you!"
Motionless, Shizue stared at where she thought the voice is coming from, "show your real self."
As commanded by the War Chassis, a yellow orb of light followed by several other colors appeared into existence.
Zooming in, Shizue locked in and focused on the yellow orb of light, finding a tiny fairy-like spirit to be responsible.
The fairy in question was small enough to fit inside her hands and wore equally 'fairy-like' clothing. The other lights flew in patterns that suggest they are afraid of Shizue and are observing her from a safe distance.
"Bow before me! I am Demon Lord Ramiris!" the blond fairy— more like a pixie, declared dramatically. Shizue finally was able to get a much better good look at what she was wearing: a black one-piece like the one you'd find on a ballerina dancer, her the tip of her shoes curved inward in a spiral-like fashion, and finally translucent wings on her back.
Shizue's magicule sensors showed Ramiris' magicule count to be nowhere near the amount that Demon Lords usually have.
If anything, her Magicule Sensors showed it to be more to the level of Lady Scientia, and her Lady's count was only so low due to the Perfect Homunculus' distaste for magic and thus, never really used it.
Seeing her announcement didn't have the intended effect, Ramiris repeated herself, "know your place! For I am one of the Ten Great Demon Lords, Ramiris of the La—"
Quickly cutting her off, Shizue called out on Ramiris' bullshit, "I don't recall ever hearing about a Demon Lord as small as you. Moreover, aren't spirits antagonistic to demons? It's like asking for an angel to become a Demon Lord, absolutely preposterous."
Spirits and angels have such a high concentration of holy elements within them that they're more likely to become a Hero than a Demon Lord.
"Eh?" The tiny fairy blinked her tiny eyes. Shizue noted it would've been somewhat adorable had this been a normal situation.
"What do you mean I can't be a Demon Lord?!" Ramiris screeched as she flew around.
"Granted, I've only met two Demon Lords in my life, but all of them are way stronger than you are."
"Oh yeah?! And who are these two?" Ramiris challenged with narrowed eyes once she stopped zipping around.
"Leon Cromwell and Milim Nava."
Ramiris was about to object with her hands raised up high before it fell slack, her eyes looked to the ground in deep thought before sighing.
"I'll give you a pass on the first one, BUT! Milim is known as a misfit among the Demon Lords. She just flies around and fights whoever catches her fancy like some kind of— of..." the blonde fairy seems to struggle to think of a word, "overly violent pink sentient tornado."
"I... see." Shizue thanked her Lady for giving her War Chassis an automatic voice regulator because it would sound mighty unimpressed right now.
"And let's talk about you." All of Ramiris' attention turned fully on Shizue, "you seem to be a lich yet you hold no magic— like, how is that even possible? Liches practically radiate magicules. I've lived for thousands of years and every lich I've met used magic to transfer their souls—"
Ramiris suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and a sense of realization gleamed in her eyes.
Closing and leaning in as if to tell a secret, Ramiris asked the question.
"You wouldn't happen to serve someone by the name of Scientia Tempest, would you?"
Everything came to a halt.
Rather, everything became extremely slowed down from Shizue's perspective.
It was a program of the War Chassis that would send Shizue's internal computer into overdrive, perceiving a microsecond as a single relative minute.
The Digitial Lich was experiencing an extreme amount of vertigo from the acceleration of her thoughts. Liquid helium was released to cool down her inner circuit's rapid heating from calculating so fast while at the same time, her emergency micro-black hole batteries were finally used as intense Hawking radiation was harvested for additional power.
At the same time all this was happening, Shizue wondered how did this Ramiris know the name of her Lady? No one outside of a select few knows that she is in service to Lady Scientia. The official narrative was that Shizue Izawa, the retired Conqueror of Flames, was working with the Tempest government as a 'consultant' on matters pertaining to interaction with humans.
Shizue's mind began to sift through her memories of the past few months. Like viewing CCTV Camera footage on fast-forward, she foresaw no potential leakage besides Milim. Perhaps this Ramiris really is a Demon Lord?
Slowing down her perception to a normal level, Shizue's internal clock registered that less than a millisecond had passed.
Shizue opened her mouth to speak in a cordial manner, "why yes, I do serve my Lady. If I may, how did you know such a thing?"
Ramiris shrugged before waving her hands, "oh it's just a while back Milim bragged about entering into a contract with this one homunculus called 'Scientia Tempest' who was able to create miracles that were barely possible with magic without using any magic. Milim specifically said how this homunculus had made a lich strong enough to take hits from her without any magic by placing the body in an absolute time-locked state, which, if translated into magical terms, would put the mage in question at S-rank at the very least."
"..."
Shizue sweatdropped at the fairy casually talking about secrets that Scientia is probably willing to depopulate whole cities for it to be silenced. Shuddering, the Digital Lich was thankful that it was she who made contact with Ramiris instead of the Perfect Homunculus.
The Ranking System was something introduced by Grandmaster Yuuki Kagurazaka of the Adventurer's Guild, replacing the old system of 'Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Ultra'. Originally, it was used solely for adventurers, but due to its convenience, it has reached widespread adoption even among monster nations.
In the Ranking System, F-rank was the lowest while S-rank, sometimes called 'Disaster-level or Disaster-class' was the highest, with a Special S-rank (abbreviated by the symbol 'S+') or 'Catastrophe-level' for threats that are beyond measure.
Where one rests upon this rank is determined by how much effort it'll take to stop them. A-ranks are seen as individuals who can topple a country's government while S-ranks are the equivalent of superweapons, national heroes, and walking cataclysms all rolled into one. Any nation that has an S-rank serving under their banner is instantly looked at and treated as a Great Power since not only were they that rare, the difference between an A-rank and an S-rank is so enormous that only another S-rank can fight them and have a chance of winning.
(Though similarly, the Grandmaster recognized how there's a difference between Special S-ranks, so he made an exclusive rank just for Relentless, the 'X-rank' or 'Apocalypse-level')
Even then, the battle between S-ranks is usually so destructive that the Council of the West banned the use of those walking disasters for military purposes due to the fact that the last battle involving those strategic weapons had destroyed a city in its entirety.
The only exemption to this rule is only when there is definitive proof that an enemy nation is using S-ranks or in cases of Total War.
Of course, these rules only apply to those nations who are within the Council and thus, are not applicable to the Jura Tempest Republic.
"I see... and Milim wouldn't happen to mention anything involving..." Shizue hesitated for a few moments, her mind thinking of a proper word that would not give away her Lady's true nature, "...taboo, would it?"
Ramiris' brows furrowed, seemingly confused at the mention of anything 'taboo', "no, the only thing closest to it was JUST HOW IMPOSSIBLE YOU ARE!"
The fairy glared at Shizue as she raised her voice, "like, seriously! How did a mere homunculus, a reincarnator no doubt, be able to play around with the physical laws without using any magic? Like what the hell?! The only thing I can think of is perhaps an Ultimate Skill— or possibly a Unique Skill but there was no recorded case of anything like this! And trust me when I say I have seen a lot..."
Ramiris nodded her head as she trailed off. Shizue hovered a few centimeters above the floor in silence, recording this interaction for later dissection.
"What the hell was the World thinking...? Granting or birthing someone— this is like the second coming of Veldanava..." Ramiris muttered quietly as she looked down at the floor in contemplation, taking some deep breaths with frustration coating her entire frame.
Huh?
"Who's Veldanava?"
"Not important, either way, why were you here again in the first place?" Ramiris completely sidestepped the question and countered with one of her own.
Sensing she wouldn't get any more out of this 'Veldanava' from Ramiris, Shizue internally filed the name under 'Person of Interest' and answered the fairy's question, "I am the teacher of a group of students who were summoned from another world too early in their lives. Due to how young they are, the enormous amount of magicule that one gain upon crossing between Worlds will eventually burn their bodies to ashes. I seek the aid of superior spirits who would regulate, maybe even bond, with the childrens, but never dominate."
'Like Ifrit', but that part was left unsaid.
Moreover, having a superior spirit bond with her students would undoubtedly help them immensely in their future endeavors, even if they choose not to join the Republic. Because of Ingrassia, there's a positive public perception regarding those who bonded with a person that makes them more easily to be trusted since spirits would never bond with an 'evil' person.
Shizue can practically hear the silent scoff from her Lady.
Ramiris sighed again and rubbed the back of her head, "I see... They have it pretty bad huh? Kidnapped from their world and doomed to a fate of certain death... Waiting each day as that fated death comes ever closer... Without a familiar face at their bedside to let them off easy into that good night... It's a terrible fate for anyone to die alone."
There was a feeling of nostalgia in the fairy's voice as if she had experienced dying alone multiple times.
Shizue was partially disturbed by the sympathy the Demon Lord was showing. Demon Lords are supposed to be scary individuals that parents in Western nations use to scare their children into behaving. They're supposed to be merciless, capable of annihilating an entire nation of people like it was nothing. Like it was breathing.
So different was this one from that bastard Leon and the child Milim that Shizue's forced to review her own prejudice against Demon Lords.
Who would've thought a Demon Lord carries compassion for mere mortals?
"So is it possible for you to introduce me to the Spirit Queen? I fear the children do not have much time left," Obviously that was a half-truth, the closest to death have around 3 years and 7 months left according to the best mathematical models the Central Processing Computer within the Citadel was able to give, but that is a blink of an eye to these immortal spirits.
Ramiris puffed out her chest and placed a hand on it, "of course, you're looking at her right now."
"..."
"What?" Ramiris seemed confused by the deadpanned look Shizue is giving her.
(AN: insert your 'press X to doubt' memes here)
No language in the world has a word to describe the level of doubt Shizue is feeling right now. A quantum supercomputer calculating for a thousand years cannot even approach the sheer amount of doubts the Digital Lich is feeling right in this instance at Ramiris' statement of being the Spirit Queen.
"I am the Spirit Queen!" Ramiris insisted while stomping on air, only for Shizue's doubt to increase even further.
Scratching her cheeks, an echo of her time as a human, Shizue replied in a deadpan tone, "right, and I'm Guy Crimson."
"Grrr..." Ramiris clenched her fist together and ground her teeth, "listen here! I am the Spirit Queen who fell from grace and became a Demon Lord before you humans had written records! When the first people were living and huddling in caves, scared of your shadows! Show me some respect for being a First Generation Demon Lord you dimwit-with-no-appreciation-of-fine-machineeeeeeeery!"
Ramiris had to take some deep breaths after that long and obnoxious rant.
Although...
"Fell from grace...?" Shizue said, too quietly for it to be anyone other than herself.
That part vaguely reminds her of a bard's song she heard back before the Hero Chronoa rescued her from Leon's clutches. It was an ancient folk song about how a queen calmed down a world-destroying dragon but fell from the people's graces in the process.
"It's surprisingly easy to fall from grace..." Ramiris said wistfully as if falling from grace is something good.
"Right... anyway, so can you help me?"
If Ramiris won't, then perhaps Shizue can leverage the support of her War Chassis. Failing that, then her connection with her Lady. And even if that isn't enough, then maybe brute force since spirits care very little for material wealth.
While one imagines that advanced levels of Alchemy allow one to become rich by transmuting lead into gold, the reality is far different since the transmuted mass reverts back to its original element after a while.
Just as Shizue is struggling to think of something that could potentially entice a Demon Lord, Ramiris spoke up softly.
"I am more than just a Demon Lord you know. I can feel your worry permeating through your soul— you care for these childrens." her face softens like how a mother would look at their children. "I am the Spirit Queen. In times long past, I was a guide of Heroes, and I still am. In the same sense with Fallen Heroes, I will still guide those who are perceived as evil, for so long as they have good in their heart, they are worthy of being helped."
The smaller orbs of light that were once afraid of Shizue's manufactured form began to coalesce around Ramiris. A divine light emanated from deep within the spirit and bathe the stone chamber in a feeling of glory that once again, triggered the feeling of hope deep within the Digital Lich.
"I will help your children in acquiring superior spirits, I don't doubt that there will be many within the dwelling who'll want to see the world once more."
