The Simulacrum

When the gang came to the Abyss, I expected a whole lot of things they would encounter. So far, my predictions hadn't been exactly on the mark, due to a mixture of unforeseen events and them taking some rather unorthodox routes and courses of action. However, if there was only one thing I was sure of, it was that once the action moved away from Critias and into the Abyss, there would be no more long, drawn-out emergency meetings to sit through.

I was wrong on that front, too.

It was fairly late in the evening, and Castle Shamash was, unsurprisingly, the same as all the other castles. Or rather, mostly the same. It was slightly less gloomy than the rest, which may or may not have been because it was, technically speaking, the headquarters of the 'good guys' in the Abyssal civil war. As far as the layout was concerned though? Another bloody carbon-copy.

Once the guys arrived at the castle, this time properly escorted by a procession of Fauns and Abyssal soldier types, the leadership of the Noble Alliance immediately sat down to have a meeting about the recent developments. We had Fidèle and the Ninhursag patriarch there, along with representatives from House Gula and House Enlil, and it took place in a nice conference room with a nice big table with a nice big map. It would've been really neat, if not for all the shouting.

Anyhow, let's just skip over that whole ordeal. It was long and over-dramatic and altogether fairly inconsequential as far as our group's priorities were concerned. In fact, they didn't even listen to Josh and co, and were too busy discussing the greater strategic ramifications of the Ninurta coup and the forces of House Ninhursag joining the fray and whatnot. They didn't really seem to care (or understand the ramifications of) Deus being in the room with them; whether it was because they didn't pay attention to their history lessons, or because they were too preoccupied with their civil war to pay attention to what was happening in the outside world, was something I couldn't tell.

Once the meeting was over, the gang was ushered into the guest quarters of one of the estate's wings, and while they were given separate rooms, they soon converged in Josh's chamber.

"Security?" he asked tersely, and Snowy responded from the corner of the room.

"There probably aren't any listening orbs. The aristocracy has magic to counter those." Just as she said that, she finished finger-painting her Sigil, and it let out a pulse that enveloped the entire room in a thin orange film from the inside. "I set up the privacy spell."

"What about other kinds of surveillance?" Judy asked and tapped on the party glasses tucked into her collar then gestured at the magic coating the room. "My artifact works through that."

"Y-Yes, but… That was made by Leo," Snowy countered, and that somehow immediately convinced everyone on the spot.

"Oh, and what about electronics?" Elly chimed in next, sounding oddly excited by the mere mention of the topic. "You know? Like the ones Leo was always on the lookout for?"

Judy turned to her and patiently explained, "The Fauns back home have been using that anti-surveillance detection kit the Chief bought for a premium, and they've yet to find a single listening device. I doubt we're going to find any down here either."

"That's… a fair point."

My princess sounded a bit dejected by that, and if I were there, I would've given her a hug, but since I wasn't, I could only watch over them as they continued to gather chairs and stools to form a circle in the middle of the room. As for now, the group consisted of Josh, Angie, my sisters, and my girlfriends. Hareng was still recovering (and being cared for by his cousin/fiancée, much to his chagrin), while Ammy was obviously missing.

As soon as everyone was seated, Josh forcefully cleared his throat to announce the beginning of… sigh… another emergency meeting. At least this one didn't have any old, stick-in-the-mud aristocratic politicians. How's that for a silver lining?

"Let's summarize the situation," he started, and pointed at Judy.

"The Chief said Amelia isn't in immediate danger, but she's being held captive in Castle Nergal, which is to the south-east of here."

"The Noble Alliance are… not very cooperative right now," Snowy spoke up on her left, prompting my other sister to let out a huff.

"That's putting it mildly," Josh huffed and folded his arms. "We're effectively in house arrest until they figure out what to do next, aren't we?"

"Those muttonheads! Don't they realize that we hold the key to toppling their status quo!?"

"I think they don't," Angie chimed in, and after a beat, she also added, "Deus keeps saying that we should've just told them about the plan."

Snowy commented on that with a timid, "I'm… not sure they would've liked that. I-I mean… The Noble Alliance opposes Noir and… um… Bel of the Abyss, but it's because they want to hold onto their power."

Elly added a laconic, "Obviously," and seeing how everyone was looking at her, she hastily added, "They're fighting this war because they don't want to become someone else's subordinate, right? They wouldn't like any solution that would mess with the power dynamics of their political system. You would need overwhelming authority to do something like that, like…"

Judy let out a soft hum, her expression simultaneously deadpan and yet a bit mischievous.

"Like when the Chief dissolved the Brotherhood and formed the Ordo Draconis."

Penny responded with a loud, "Right!"

"Or when the Chief formed the Draconic Federation."

"Yes! I just wanted to say that!" Elly exclaimed with a grin.

"Or when the Chief dismissed the Celestial Directorate and reformed the government of Elysium."

Now it was Angie's turn to go, "Took the words right out of our mouth, right, Deus?" Her eye colour shifted, but then Deus only nodded before they went back to blue, and the Celestial girl added, "See?"

While this was going on, Josh's expression was getting sourer by the second, and he eventually blurted out, "We really need Leo to get anything done without being stonewalled by politics, don't we?"

His girlfriend reached out to pat him on the back with a cutesy, "Oh, come on, pal! Don't be so glum!"

"He's not entirely wrong, though," Penny pointed out, prompting Judy to raise a finger to get everyone's attention.

"Which brings us to our current dilemma. We have to provide the Noble Alliance with a viable plan they can stand behind."

Elly added, "Or at least one that would let us move freely again," and my other girlfriend nodded along as if it was self-evident.

"We need to rescue Ammy, right?" Josh proposed on the spot, but Judy didn't respond right away, making him raise a brow. "What? Isn't that the obvious thing to do?"

"From our perspective, yes. Amelia is at Castle Nergal, which naturally has its own Mana Well. Combined with the one we already have…"

"Right here!" Elly declared and showed off the cube she was holding onto.

Judy didn't seem to mind and continued in an even voice.

"… we can still enact the plan to bring in reinforcements, so long as we can rescue Amelia first and take her to the Mana Well Chamber. Then after that, we can march on Castle Inanna and rescue the Chief."

Her explanation was followed by a long spell of silence, until Penny raised a hand and said, "But to do that, the six of us would need to traverse hostile territory and infiltrate the enemy's castle, right?" Judy nodded, and so my knightly sister let her hand down with a frown. "I… I'm an Entitled Knight with a Mantle, so I'm no stranger to going up against overwhelming odds and striking at the heart of enemy fortifications, but that still sounds… um…"

"Bad?" Snowy proposed, and my other sister nodded.

"Yes, bad! Very bad! Wasn't the whole reason why we decided not to just march on Snowy's hometown because going up against an Abyssal Lord in their castle was a bad idea?"

"The Ninurtas didn't have much trouble taking down the Ninhursag Lord," Angie pointed out, only for my Abyssal sister to let out an odd noise, as if suppressing a hiccup.

"Uuu… L-Lord Ninhursag isn't the most… imposing member of the high nobility…"

"And they had a Chimera too!" Elly backed her up, and everyone nodded along as if they just remembered that.

"Wait. Shouldn't Noir also have a Chimera?" Josh blurted out in alarm. "No, scratch that. Shouldn't he have multiple of them?"

He was looking at Snowy while asking that, and she thought about that for several seconds before giving an answer.

"I'm… not sure. Our House only had one active Chimera. They're usually kept in suspended animation unless they are needed, because they're short-lived otherwise. Also, um… r-reproducing them takes a toll on the Lord of the House and needs lots of time and resources, so… At most, other Houses should only have one or two Chimeras."

"Let's count then!" Angie exclaimed and started literally counting on her fingers. "Neige's family had one, but Leo slayed that. Josh did the same for the Ninhursag one, so that's two down. On our side, we have the Shamash, Gula, and Enlil families, so that's three, while on Bel's side, they have the Nergals. The Ashurs' Chimera is unaccounted for, but even if Neige's old brother took it, that's still three on two!"

"Yes, but… It's not likely the Houses would mobilize them," Snowy pointed out. "They are… there's a term for that. When nobody wants to use a weapon because it's too dangerous?"

"The nuclear deterrent?" Judy proposed, and while it probably wasn't what Snowy was thinking of, she still nodded along, if tentatively. "Ignoring the Chimera question for the time being, there is something else we have to consider."

Josh raised a brow and prompted her with an intrigued, "Which is?"

"As Penelope has already pointed out, we didn't target the Chasm of Desolation under House Inanna directly due to the presence of Noir Irdu Inanna and his retinue. Now we know for a fact that he's staying in Castle Nergal with Amelia, along with the Lord of House Nergal and potentially even the head of the Ninurta family. We know this, meaning the Noble Alliance also knows this, and they would find the idea of assaulting them at this time a suicidal proposition."

She must've wanted that to sink in first, but Angie immediately responded with, "True, but what other option do we have?"

Josh let out a soft hum and rubbed his chin, visibly intrigued and yet also apprehensive.

"I think I get it. We know where they are, so we also know where they're not. You're saying we should strike at his empty home while he's away, release Leo, and then rescue Ammy?" He continued to rub his chin, and eventually stifled a shallow groan with the words, "I dunno. I mean, don't take me wrong, I would love to have Leo back, and I'm sure he could turn this situation around with one of his big, bazillion-step schemes while acting all innocent, like everything happened by coincidence and stuff, but leaving Ammy in the hands of Lili's bastard brother is…"

"Maybe we should form two teams, like the last time!" Angie proposed on the spot, and a quick switch later, Deus added, "This time, I would prefer if we paired up with the Boy. It's much less hassle."

"Ah? Are we breaking up the party again?" Penny squeaked while simultaneously paling. "I tell you, it's never a good idea, right, Snowy?"

"Um…"

Before my other sister could respond one way or the other, Elly interjected with a peppy, "It worked out fine last time, didn't it?"

Josh scoffed with a quiet, "Barely," followed by a louder, "Shouldn't we consult the vampire lady first before we're gonna decide one way or the other?"

"She would probably also prioritize freeing the Chief," Judy noted, but Josh shook his head.

"Are you sure? Didn't she promise to save Ammy, too?"

"It depends on which promise takes precedent," came the next comment from Elly, causing my Abyssal sister to shake her head.

"Lady Shamash would surely try to fulfil both. She's the paragon of noble virtues all Abyssal nobility is striving to embody."

That comment made a few brows rise, and Elly carelessly asked, "You really look up to her, don't you?"

"Um… I do," Snowy admitted, only to then hurriedly amend, "I-I mean, we've all travelled with her. You've seen how elegant and magnanimous she is."

"Yes, but…" Elly tried to interject, but Snowy continued on in a rush.

"I… met Lady Shamash the first time when I was little. When mother and father were still alive, and she was so pretty back then. She's still pretty, but she looks… um… maybe the same, but she felt so grand back then. I always wanted to be like her."

"You kinda are," Angie said with a delighted grin. "Remember? Everyone in the village thought you must be related."

"Ah… that's just because of my hair," my Abyssal sister whispered, then grabbed the tip of one of her twin tails and showed it off, as if the others needed that to see it. "It's the same color."

"Yeah, it's a pretty peculiar one," Penny mused, only to suddenly raise her palms. "W-Wait! I didn't mean it in a bad way! It's just rare, but it's pretty! I like it!"

Snowy was taken aback for a moment, but then she smiled and said, "Thanks. I like your hair too. Red really suits you."

"Y-You think so?"

"I second it!" Elly cut in while leaning over. "You just need to take better care of it! Once we're back home, I'll introduce you to our hairdresser!"

"Do you mean the shop where I got my makeover?" Judy asked, and that side of the circle was at this point completely lost to hair-care. As for the other side…

"Hey, Josh? How do you think the guys at the village are doing right now?"

"Idunno," the guy answered with a shrug. "With the coup and everything going on, the Ninurtas probably have too much on their plate to bother with a remote place like that."

She hummed and said, "I hope so. They were nice people," in a wistful voice, as if recalling an ancient memory, not something that happened just a couple of days ago.

"Yeah. Except for that old shopkeeper woman," the guy grumbled. "I hope she isn't going to spread any weird rumors."

Angie was just about to say something else, but Josh's words made her stop and cock her head to the side.

"What weird rumors?"

"You know? The whole dating Deus thing."

This time, she narrowed her eyes and said, "That's not a rumor. You are dating me, dumdum."

"No, I mean, I'm dating you, not… You know?"

"And I'm technically Deus, so you're technically dating Deus," she pointed out with a classic 'Um, actually…' kind of tone.

"You know what I mean."

Angie rolled her eyes and muttered, "You see? Now you've annoyed Deus by being a blockhead, so I'm feeling annoyed too. Stop it."

"I'm not trying to annoy her, or… erm… You. I'm not trying to annoy you. I'm just saying that you two are…"

Aaand that side of the circle devolved into a another weird-ass lovers' quarrel. By the looks of it, neither side was planning to continue to previous discussion or going to conclusively decide which 'route' to take towards the finale, and I couldn't really blame them. They were tired after the long journey and the big battle in the morning, followed by a series of meetings, so it wasn't that surprising that they couldn't keep themselves on track.

I figured I would check on them again, later, but for now, it was probably more efficient to do a full roll-call. First and foremost, I checked on the class rep. She was still locked up in the windowless, warded room in the heart of Castle Nergal, and still gagged, but she was surprisingly calm and collected considering the circumstances.

Part of the reason was probably due to not being all alone, as I could see the eye-shaped mark on her forehead flare to light from time to time, but I had no idea just how much of a conversation she could have with Grimmy while she could only gesticulate and moan at best. Nevertheless, they must've found a way to do so, because that was the only way I could explain why she wasn't beside herself with panic.

As for things on Critias, they were the same as always. By this point, the gang's disappearance was starting to become common knowledge, with the Elysian trio of ex-directors in particular kicking up quite a fuss, but Roland seemed to be on top of things. Almost scarily so, in fact. Maybe once all of this was over, I should resign and have him promoted to be the leader of the Ordo Draconis instead of me? That was a consideration for later though, as my going through the motions was interrupted by a door opening.

"I apologize for the delay," stated a raspy voice from the direction of the entrance, and in walked a now-familiar old woman dressed in black. She stopped after closing the door and gave me a flat stare, followed by a mordant, "I still can't believe you had the gall to waltz into the castle like this."

"Extraordinary circumstances beget extraordinary measures."

I tried my best to adopt a mysterious smile and gestured for the Matron to take a seat at the other end of the coffee table set in the middle of this… what even was this room? It wasn't big enough to be a parlour room, it didn't have any desks or cabinets for a study, and while it had some bookshelves, it wasn't exactly a library either. Maybe it was specifically designed for clandestine meetings? After all, the Dracis mansion had one directly adjacent to their ballroom or all places, so it wasn't out of the question.

In any case, the elderly woman walked over and sat down, looking as prim, proper, and stern as she did the first time we met in person. She locked eyes with me, but didn't speak a word. It started to feel a bit too much like a mind game, and I still hated those, so I relaxed my posture and lightly asked, "Have you found it?"

She continued to stare at me, but when I didn't ask anything else, she grudgingly reached up her loose sleeve of all things and retrieved a white box from it. It was about as long as her palm but only about two fingers wide, and she wordlessly placed it onto the table between us. I didn't pretend to be shy and reached out for it, though it took me a few seconds to figure out how to open it. As it turned out, the top half had to be slid off, and inside I found…

"Just as expected," I stated plainly, seeing the simple black choker sitting on the bottom of the padded velvet inner recesses of the jewel box, its surface faintly shimmering with the colourless light of magic.

"We're still tracing the origin of this… item," the Matron noted with a hint of disgust flickering under her calm and collected surface demeanour.

"I'm surprised you managed to find it so quickly," I told her, and I wasn't lying. "Was it in his office?"

"Yes. Inside a hidden compartment only a few of us knew about," she confirmed, and I raised a brow at her.

"The one where he used to keep the Blood Amalgam?"

Now it was her turn to look at me skeptically and ask, "How do you know that?"

I quickly changed the topic with a dismissive, "It's a long story," and pinched the choker between my fingers. It looked like a flimsy little thing, yet I knew it was a devious artifact, and one that was also quite unpleasant to the touch. It was almost like there was a mild electric current running through it, and I had to make sure I wouldn't overreact and accidentally crush its enchantments by squeezing a bit too hard.

Meanwhile, the Matron stopped trying to read my mind through my expression and said, "I've contacted an expert, and he already confirmed the nature of the item. If news of Noir using such… dishonest means gets exposed to the public, it might undermine his support, but I don't know how much good that will do to your cause. Or ours, for that matter."

"Oh, you seem to be mistaken," I told her as I put the enchanted jewellery back into its box. "I wasn't planning to publicise this. In fact, I wasn't even expecting that you would find traces of what he'd done, let alone a second mind control choker. However, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade."

"… I'm afraid I don't follow."

I waved the box towards her and explained, "Crowy's lapdog is coming to pick this up."

"Lapdog?"

"An overly serious man with a penchant for the colour grey."

"… You mean Ekhtear."

"Yeah, that guy. Please give me a few minutes with this thing, and then put it back where you found it." She looked less than enthused by that, so I added, "Let's throw a wrench into their plans, shall we?"

That's all I was going to say for now. More than that would've been spoilers.

…

Oh dear. Was I slowly becoming future-me already?