NOVEL NEXT 67 Fake and Real Allies
"Can I come out now?"
The voice he heard was one of a person that should not be here at all, even Inglis and Creusery were surprised as well.
Inglis shot a glare at Diablo, only to be met with laughter in return.
"Gee, shadow magic is very stuffy."
Alongside those words, Diablo's shadow stretched out on the ground, and from within it, rose a silver-haired, black-eyed woman.
This was none other than Cattleya, someone who was not supposed to be in the hell universe.
"When did you return?"
"I never left for Chrysa in the first place."
"What? I saw you leave with my eyes."
"You saw my 'clone' leave.
Chrysa was suspicious as fuck, no way I'd go over there personally. I did go over to Bracken for a bit though."
Cattleya replies to Creusery's words, speaking about Chrysa, her obvious disdain evident on her face.
Looking at the trio of Diablo, Cattleya and Belphegor who was not surprised at Cattleya's presence, Creusery asked skeptically.
"What are the three of you hiding from us?"
"Didn't I already say it, Chrysa was a lost cause, the Angels had taken over for a while now, and the former master had been overpowered and stripped of his authority."
In continuation of Diablo's words, Cattleya spoke up.
"The request for aid was a hoax, one meant to get the attention of a main entity from our pantheon to come over, they had intentions of…killing whoever did."
Inglis' aura exploded at her words, the fact that the ones who they perceived as allies were actually enemies in disguise who aimed to take the life of her daughter angered her.
Cattleya smiled and moved over to where Inglis was, she placed her hands on the latter's shoulders and spoke softly to calm her down.
"Stay calm mother, as you can see I am safe, Dad found it fishy so he told me to send one of my 'special' clones instead."
"Are you sure they were deceived?"
Her question was expected, someone strong enough to take down the master of a universe would definitely have the ability to tell clones apart from the original, the ones around him too.
"Yep."
"And how sure are you?"
Cattleya showed a mischievous grin and made a peace sign before releasing her aura, surprising even the silent Eryrth, Mammon also had his jaw drop.
"Mid-rank authority in the law of trickery, GET!"
The law of trickery was one of the various laws that Cattleya dabbled in, it was not her main since she only got the basic rank authority and left it at that.
However, nearly a thousand years ago, she began working on her 'special' clone project. She intended to create disposable clones of herself that could not be told apart from the original.
The law of trickery was a law she needed in order to do so. As such, achieved the ridiculous feat of gaining a mid-rank authority in the law of subterfuge, within less than a thousand years.
If one counted the actual time she put to comprehend the law, it was barely 200. Even with the increased comprehension speed that beings who already had other authorities gained, it was a little hit too fast, hence their surprise.
Diablo also showed a look of surprise, but that was for something other than the new authority she had. Cattleya noticed this and turned to Belphegor.
Belphegor nodded at her and she clicked her tongue in response.
"Tsk...Why the fuck are you pure-blooded devils all so damn sensitive?!"
She withdrew her aura and stomped her foot on the floor in anger, before going over to take a seat next to Inglis.
Collapsing the hands of both chairs, she rested her head in Inglis' lap and spoke with a pout.
"Comfort me, mum, dad and uncle Bel are bullying me."
Inglis did not know the real reason but she glared at Diablo for the nth time today, seeing this, Conrad had one thought on his mind.
'Good thing I didn't say a word even though I noticed'
Diablo coughed awkwardly and asked Cattleya to continue with her report. She was still pouting, but she decided to continue what she was saying.
"So there was someone there who possessed an ability or a law similar to that of the law of trickery as I was not able to detect them until I faced them personally."
"Wasn't it your clone that went?"
"Huh? Did I not tell you I sent a silver of my consciousness into it to make it more believable; also it enabled me to directly see everything going on there.
They did find it weird I came alone but probably because they were confident that I wouldn't be able to see through their schemes, unfortunately, they also could not see through mine."
The law of trickery was one that allowed the user to falsify the essence of the laws they comprehend and their true realm of existence.
It can also enable them to falsify their physiology, transforming them into completely different beings. The false can be indistinguishable from the real and vice versa.
At the low rank, the transformation of physiology was possible, at the mid-rank; falsification of one's true realm of existence is possible.
At the high rank, it is possible to mask the laws they comprehend, above that, one can even mask their authority. The number can be falsified and they could even make themselves look like they have a certain authority when they truly did not.
Cattleya used this to make her clone indistinguishable from the real her, as such the traitorous demons who were planning to sell her out to the Angels, thought it was actually her.
As for why she came alone, it is widely known that Cattleya was a lone wolf on the battlefield. Her Annihilation knew no one, friend or foe. As such, they did not think it to be weird that Diablo sent her alone.
"It was one of my special clones I'd been working on for years, I somehow managed to stuff nearly 50% of my energy in it, alongside a few other....'gifts'.
"Gifts?"
Mammon raised an eyebrow in question, they were obviously trying to kill her, yet she sent them gifts.
Creusery was also surprised at first, however, after seeing the mischievous grin on her face, he instantly understood that there was more to these 'gifts' she sent.
Standing up, Cattleya began dancing around the table. Although there was no music, her movements were soft and elegant.
She moved like she was at a ball, dancing with someone else, however, the words she spoke were definitely not the kind one would hear at a ball.
"In Romersk, they are called esplosivi, in the Shinto universe, bakuhatsu-mono, in Amhara, fenijīwochi and in Nyanja, Ziphulika."
While displaying her knowledge of various languages, she circled around the table and returned to her seat before continuing.
"In the most common language, English. Spoken in all known universes, they are called 'Explosives'.
Bombs made with the cores of several superior stage mid-tier deity monsters, with the heart of an inferior stage high tier deity realm quilin as the core.
I stuffed all that into the clone, and blew it up in their faces, genius right?"
All those in the room, Belphegor and Diablo included, had one thought in their heads after hearing this,
'What, the actual fuck?!'
Cattleya, knowing fully well what was going through their minds, laughed before speaking.
"So mum negotiated with our actual allies, and I gave our fake allies a gift. I guess we're all ready for the war then?"
Her words brought them all out of their stupor, Diablo frowned upon hearing her speak. He did not like the fact that they had to go to war.
Thinking of the trillions of lives that would be lost, he sighed deprecatingly. He did not like war, not because he sympathized with the ones who would lose loved ones and family or those who would be rendered homeless by it. He simply felt it was a waste of time and energy, nothing more nothing less.
However, this time, he could not avoid it.
Multiple pantheons were secretly gathering their forces, and the war against the gods, celestials and their other allies was bound to resume very soon.
Chrysa's hostile takeover was just the beginning. He had sent Inglis to conduct negotiations with their allies, present and future, in order to prepare.
"We'd deal with that matter another day. I don't feel like talking about that now."
"Olay then, I'm gonna go see Arthur."
Cattleya jumped up from her seat and made her way towards the door. Creusery looked at her and spoke.
"I recall there was a rule that prevented visits from parents while school was in session. You also went to see him earlier this week before he beat up that kid"
"Really bro, don't you know that rules are made to be broken?"
Leaving that reply, Cattleya warped out of the room leaving behind the others who all simultaneously sighed in exasperation.
Even Belphegor gave up on preventing her from going over to the academy, he knew even if he used force, she would still end up there somehow.
Besides, unless she wanted them to, no one in the academy would know she was ever there in the first place.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!