Malediction of the Depth – Silence in Judgement

Reality cracked like ice under pressure. The air in Dawn's workshop fractured along invisible seams, and through the widening rift came light. Not warm sunlight or cold moonlight, but something in between. Argent light that seemed to exist outside normal time.

Then she stepped through. Lady Keter emerged from the rift with a smile.

Her silver-white hair flowed like liquid moonlight, and her eyes, those serene azure eyes with eight-pointed stars pulsing in each iris, swept across the workshop with mild interest. Her pale blue and white robe flickered with runes and constellations that appeared and vanished like thoughts.

She looked less like a woman and more like an idea given form. Elegant, distant, and terrifyingly perfect. That and she was incredibly white.

"How interesting...", Lady Keter said, her voice carrying that same musical detachment it always did, "A direct summons, how bold."

The rift sealed behind her, reality stitching itself closed with an audible snap—

Dawn stood her ground, though Lea could read the spike of nervousness in her surface thoughts, "You said your summoning requirements had loosened. I offer you a slice of cake made by the royal chef."

"So you did.", Lady Keter glanced at the offering on the piece of paper bearing her symbol, a slice of chocolate cake.

She picked up the plate with the cake, examining it with the air of someone inspecting a mildly curious insect, "Adequate enough."

She took a delicate bite, chewing thoughtfully.

Dawn blinked, "You are going to eat it... here?"

"I have all the time in the world." Lady Keter set the plate down on a table,"What do you want, little Bathory?"

Dawn said directly, "I need seastone imbued with specific Paths. The Depth Church has a monopoly on raw seastone, but they don't do custom imbuing work."

She looked at Lady Keter, who nodded.

"I also need assistance managing the Church of Progress. Administrative organization, hierarchical structure, that sort of thing.", Dawn finished.

"How practical.", Lady Keter smiled in amusement, "You want me to acquire materials from the Depth Church's monopoly and have them imbued with specific Paths."

"I know it's difficult, but—"

"It's trivial.", Lady Keter waved her hand dismissively.

"And imbuing them with Paths... I could arrange that. For the right price."

"Which is?", Dawn asked cautiously.

Lady Keter looked at her with those hauntingly beautiful azure eyes, "This cake is acceptable. I'll take more of these, weekly."

Lea and Dawn both stared.

"That's... that's it?", Dawn said slowly, "Just cake?"

"Did you expect something more dramatic? Like me taking your lifespan?", Lady Keter took another bite, utterly nonchalant, "I enjoy sweets like any other woman; this world has interesting flavors too. So weekly cake deliveries seem like adequate compensation for minor assistance."

She set the plate down and moved to Dawn's desk, picking up organizational charts with idle curiosity.

"Your church structure is inefficient. The Cult faction and MSSH faction are still operating as separate entities with a thin veneer of unity. You need a proper integration framework."

"Wait...", Dawn said, following her, "You're agreeing just like that? For cake?"

"Why not?", Lady Keter didn't look up from the charts, "Seastone acquisition is simple, just buy some at the market in Lacrosa. Organizational consulting is mildly entertaining. And your confections are surprisingly well-crafted."

Three addresses appeared on Dawn's desk, written in silver script that hadn't been there a moment before. At a glance, it was addressed in Lacrosa.

"The first location is a reputable source that guarantees quality, better than the Depth Church, even. The second is a Fourth Step Pathstrider of Creation and Realization who specializes in Path imbuing. The third is where you could get it crafted."

Lady Keter turned her attention back to the organizational charts, studying them with detached interest.

"Your integration problem stems from philosophical differences in approach, Progress versus Enlightenment. You need a unified doctrine that encompasses both. I suggest a three-tier system..."

Dawn moved to join her, clearly still processing how absurdly easy this was going. Soon they were deep in discussion about hierarchies and philosophies and how to merge two fractious groups into something cohesive.

Lea stood apart, staring at the three addresses, watching Lady Keter work. The Goddess of Time's surface thoughts were completely blank; figures she could not read the thoughts of a god.

And she'd agreed to all of this... for cake?

"Lady Keter.", Lea said carefully, "Why are you really helping?"

Lady Keter glanced at her, those eyes still unreadable.

"Because it's mildly interesting.", she said simply with a shrug, "And the cake is good."

She returned to the organizational charts as if that explained everything.

Lea exchanged a look with Dawn. Her friend's surface thoughts were screaming the same thing Lea was thinking... This is too easy. What are we missing?

But Lady Keter just continued working, offering suggestions with casual precision, occasionally taking another bite of cake. The Monarch had entered the world for weekly desserts and organizational puzzles.

And somehow, that was more unsettling than any dramatic bargain could have been.

=0=0=

The next few days went by without any incident, even with a literal divine entity here. Rather, it is safer here now than ever.

But at the same time...

"Ga—"

Lady Keter pulled out the heart of a criminal, looking at the still beating red heart with disinterest.

This was someone Lea had been tracking for the past few days before the whole Conductor incident. A serial killer who targets people in the slum area. With most of the resources put into security and the war effort, more deranged people are getting bolder, including Pathstriders.

"Madness and Tribulation, an interesting combo.", Lady Keter huffed, dropping the heart and staring at Lea, "Why the long face?"

Lea was wearing her mask, but a god could see through it perfectly. She was feeling conflicted. Lea doesn't enjoy killing people; causing suffering due to her nature is another thing entirely.

Ending someone's life? That's... too much.

Even throughout her torture of Baron Veynar, she had second-guessed herself many times, yet ultimately pulled through.

Malediction demands suffering, but not always death...

"I don't enjoy killing... I'd rather leave them alive.", for her thirst of suffering, and for her own morals.

Dream Eater was for that very purpose, eating and devouring others' subconscious evil, making them her own. Adding more fuel for her vengeance, so that one day when this fire burst, it could consume Sinclair...

"Hypocrisy, no matter when and where, it is still consistent.", the Goddess of Time said, crushing the heart in her hand, "Just follow your own heart, do what you think is right for you."

"You are a human, after all."

Lea chuckled after a moment, "Thank you... Lady Keter."

"Now... Deconstruct.", with a snap of her finger, the corpse shattered into floating fragments, "Reconstruct."

The pieces smashed into each other, turning into a sleek black revolver. Lea just stares at it... what?

"What did you just do?", she asked with a tremble in her voice.

"Nothing much, I think, therefore it is.", another cryptic line from her, "Willpower, I just apply my will outward and perform whatever I like. You could do it too if you try hard enough."

That is the most absurd thing Lea had heard in a while!!

To begin with, Lady Keter just decided to go on her princess-approved night patrol. Lea had become a sanctioned vigilante, though only Dawn knew about her activities. Having a divine entity following behind certainly makes it uncomfortable.

She couldn't say no to Lady Keter, who would deny a god?

Dropping the gun as if it wasn't a person previously, Lady Keter heads deeper into the alleyway...

"I have something to teach, would you like to learn it?", she said casually, tapping the compass on her waist.

Lea learned her lesson before, having lost all of her money. Still, knowledge from Lady Keter is invaluable, "Um... can I delay the payment?"

"Of course, three days.", was her reply.

As they head over to the next street, taking in the night's cold air, Lady Keter began her lecture.

"What do you think is the most powerful thing in the universe?", she asked.

Lea has no idea, the Path? Godhood? The Laws of the Universe?

She shook her head in silence.

"Language.", the Lady spoke without glancing back, "The ability to talk is the most powerful thing in this universe."

"Because language is the most powerful weapon any creature can use. A word can spell the end of an empire, a cry can bring salvation, a laugh can confirm peace, and an idea spoken can change the course of history."

Lea wondered if she just got hit with a philosophical answer or if what Lady Keter said was literal. Knowing the goddess, it was probably both.

"Language shapes reality.", Lady Keter continued, her tone still casual as they walked through the darkened streets,"Every Honorific Title, every ritual chant, every curse you speak, they're not just sounds, they're commands to the universe itself. The more powerful your will, the more reality listens."

Lea glanced down at her scaled hand, thinking of the Hexes she spoke, the curses she laid. Was that what she'd been doing all along? Commanding reality through language?

"The difference between a mortal and a god.", Lady Keter said, "Is simply how much the universe is willing to obey. Gods speak, and reality reshapes itself. Mortals speak, and reality considers it, unless it's Salvation or Exchange."

They turned a corner into a warehouse district Lea had been investigating. The serial killer had operated from somewhere around here, she'd learned from Dream Eating, a few thugs around this place.

Lady Keter stopped suddenly.

"How interesting."

She gestured toward an old warehouse, its door hanging slightly ajar. The building looked abandoned, but Lea's emotion radar— no, her evil sensor picked up something sinister.

They approached cautiously. Lady Keter simply walked through the door as if it weren't there. Lea used Shadow Sneak to follow, becoming darkness itself.

Inside, the warehouse was empty of people.

But the walls...

Hundreds of sigils covered every surface, floor, wall, and even ceiling. All identical. An eye inside an open book, drawn in what looked like blood mixed with seastone dust.

The Tome of Light's symbol.

"Well, well...", Lady Keter said, examining the nearest sigil with mild interest, "Someone's been busy."

Lea felt her stomach turn. This many sigils, all designed to summon or attract the God of Light's attention. "This is... this is a summoning site?"

She remembered Sinclair, that Wondertainment Troupe member, and the Magical Girl all had them...

"Not quite.", Lady Keter knelt, touching one of the symbols. It pulsed faintly under her finger, "These aren't the strips of paper you found, but these are genuine talismans drawn using seastone-infused ink."

She stood, brushing her hands off, "Another Knowledge Hunter? Or someone else seeking to use its power?"

"Like Agnes...", Lea whispered, remembering the Magical Girl she'd killed before her Fourth Step ritual.

"Precisely. Though this...", Lady Keter gestured to the sheer number of sigils, "This is more ambitious. They're not just hoping for a visitation. They're trying to create a permanent connection point."

Lea's enhanced cognition processed the implications. "In Renar? They're trying to make the Tome of Light manifest here?"

"Apparently so.", Lady Keter sounded almost impressed, "Stupid, but bold. Establishing an anchor point here would drive half the city insane within minutes."

She walked to the center of the warehouse, where the sigils converged into a larger pattern, "The good news is they haven't completed it yet. This ritual requires..."

She counted quickly, "Approximately three hundred more sigils, strategically placed across the city. They're maybe forty percent finished."

"Can we stop it?", Lea asked.

"Of course. Destroy the sigils, find the Knowledge Hunter responsible and eliminate them.", Lady Keter said it as casually as discussing the weather, "Or..."

Her azure eyes gleamed with something that might have been amusement.

"We could let them finish and see what happens. It would be fun."

"Absolutely not!!", Lea rebuked immediately.

"Shame~", Lady Keter shrugged, "Very well, destroy the sigils then. You should be able to break the mystical connections if you're clever about it."

Lea moved to the nearest wall, studying the symbols. They pulsed with a faint luminescence, clearly active.

"Language shapes reality.", Lady Keter said from behind her, echoing her earlier lesson, "These sigils are a language too. Commands written rather than spoken. To counter them, you simply need to speak louder. Or silence their voice."

Lea understood. She placed her hand against the wall and created a Hex, cursing the sigil to be forever silenced. Using both Cloak and Silence through Malediction, covering the "voice" of the sigils so the God of Light can never see through her darkness.

The sigil flickered and died under her curse.

"Good job.", Lady Keter said with a smile and a clap, "Now do that two hundred ninety-nine more times. I'll wait."

Lea looked at the warehouse full of sigils and sighed. It was going to be a long night.