Intermission 1

The Magician looks and yawns. She stares at the sleeping forms of Divine flash, a warrior who moves with great speed and grace. And Nameless, one who has not decided on her own true name yet. One day, the red head will. It will be a glorious moment once that hot-headed youth finds the name meant for her. Making sure the two of them are asleep, the magician walks on the balcony. Opening a portal.

Back to the place where time converges. Now, the Demon Lord is there, awake. Waiting.

Well, waiting in one of her replica bodies. The true body is at that place where this whole thing started. Sealing the largest part of the eternal snake in one place.

Fitting, the sage thought. But it was time to talk, they have not spoken in about eighteen years or so. Right after the girl blessed by the wind was born. That ancient one. That red hair and that armor.

Powerful. No wonder the tester of warriors feared this one. But the Magician did not. There was nothing to fear, was there?

“Hello again my long-time comrade, Ms. Demon Lord? Isn’t that what they all call you these days? A fitting name for such a ravenous, nightmare inducing devil, isn’t it? Marvelous!”

“And you with your over-cheery, silly personality. I don’t care, it's not a big deal. I have all of my minions doing the work for me. Anyway, how are you, my friend? How are our star candidates?” The strange woman nods, giving a thumbs up.

“I would give them a B-; doing pretty good despite their circumstances. Could be better but can’t ask for too much when they barely had time to prepare for all this crap that happened to em. Oh I can’t wait to see how they will grow, same for you?”

“Agree. I have gotten reports from Phantasmal Blade and the War Goddess, corroborating not only your side of the story but also other things. Movement from our nemesis. Those cultists. The leaders are merely waiting for now, as we do. It would be unwise for us to show all our cards, well, this early. “ And with a spark, a cute little cat appears.

Phantasmal Blade, who was about on par with the War goddess, in all aspects. This one was peculiar though. Always need a little motivation to do work. Ah, truly a cat in a girl's body.

An ancient body. Phantasmal Blade was over eight billion years old. The machine angel was mighty. She could make cyber phantasms with her Evolution energy. Which can copy other techniques, disrupt others, make real “clones" of herself that can go anywhere and everywhere. Among other things.

This one could easily erase a universe in the span of a minute. Not as if that was really a huge feat, really, anyone in this little space could do that. They were not exactly weak “gods”.

“Hello little Bladie. You want something from us? We are deep in our little business, you know.”

“I want big kisses! Give em to me, Momma Magician.” Shamefully cute for someone that age. But no matter, the magician would never not indulge her own creations. The woman bends down and kisses the cyber cat girl on the forehead, making the petite woman bounce up and down, then flutter in the air.

“Meoooowwwww! Now I am ready to do my job! Give me orders, give me orders!”

“As you wish. Continue following the Divine Hammer and Diana. Report back to us weekly, mkay?”

“Yes Ma’am! Unit #008 off to duty.” The ancient cyber cat machine leaps away from them, jumping into a blue portal, off to perform that vital task.

Task of observation.

War Goddess and Phantasmal Blade, observers. But also, eventually, trainers. They were the best of the best, out of all the machine angels, so it was natural to have them impart their wisdom. In time, in time.

Not at the moment. No way those little girls could handle their full training right now..

One of them was a cruel, battle trainer. The other was a maniacal mad cat that throws people into a volcano and tells them to “survive for a month”. The thought slightly unnerves the usually composed Magi. The true Demon Lord laughs, noticing the look of worry on their face.

“I can sense your thoughts, your feelings, as always. Look, that is just how they are. Don’t worry, the noble stars will be ready when we need them to be and those girls will endure their methods. Let's go to the Library.” With a nod, another portal opens. The two have entered the domain of one of their most important servants.

The Librarian. There, the machine angel is reading a book, with her servant, The Scribe of History. There, that man is even busier, writing down every event that has occurred in the stars. They are in a great large dome, a library of sorts. Filled with books, crystals and dozens of little spirit angels flying past them, causally bowing as they see their two lords enter.

“Welcome, Magician, great Demon Lord. Is there a reason for your visit?”

“I just wanted to hand you these reports from our observers to you. And check up on you, it has been awhile. How are you holding up?” The weary eyed woman with black hair sighs. Those golden eyes are tired but definitely happy to see these two.

“I have been busy but I am pleased to see you. The O.R.B has been at peak functioning ability, transmitting data properly. And the scattered machine angels have also been sending their reports weekly. All is going well. As far as I know. The predictive future modeling device is also working.” That machine.

The one that can somewhat tell the future, eighty percent of the time. Predicts all the other failed timelines. The Demon Lord, Magician, machine angels, hell, even their candidates. They did not exist merely in one timeline.

They existed in a near infinite amount of them. And with near infinite timelines, would result in too many things to handle. To better control these other divergent universes. The two had created a great magic.

Magic that prevents even gods from traveling between different parallel times. Prevents memories from seeping in between. Only the most powerful and ancient can retain their memories of a different universe. So far, that was quite effective. The machine angels had nipped a plethora of failed timelines before they went too awry.

Still, it was not full proof. A couple of these “routes” are still alive. Despite the two ancient gods and the one hundred machine angels mercilessly destroying these other universe's, these other timelines, a couple still resisted, still refused to perish.

The Magician could only think of this as fate. Truly, no god could control everything. And this was proof. Not everything could go perfectly.

Besides, that would be dull. A little chaos adds spice to the dish, she thinks.

A nod can be seen from her ancient friend, happy to see all is in order. A smirk appears on that strange sage’s face, ready to say something.

“So. Have you been dating the Dice Dealer, Ms. Librarian?”

“Why on earth would I do that? That woman is mad, I am simple, predictable and boring. Why would the two of us date? Spouting rumors as usual. Silly, silly rumors.”

“I heard down the grapevine from Phantasmal Blade you two were meeting, drinking tea in the trees. Oooohh! And I can see one of those die in your ears. You can’t fool me!” A little strange yellow and black die earring can be seen on the left hair of this pale white woman.

Quickly, the lady hides this, blushing fiercely.

“I-I don’t know what you are talking about. This was just given to me by a friend, you know.”

“Uh huuuuuh. Likely story. Well you and your friend have my blessing. No need to hide!” Red hair bobs in agreement.

“Our blessing. As long as it does not interfere with your work, you two may date as you please. I have given you and the others so much, it makes me feel bad.” A small hand stops the words from a sorrowful chaos demon, stopping her from finishing the sentence.

“Don’t. We are loyal to you, not because we are doing this out of servitude. No, we follow you and the Magician of our own free will. We have merely seen the depths of your resolve and wish to help you achieve your goal. The goal of defeating the eternal snake, the Ourobourous. So don’t feel bad. You have your own job, do you not? Leave us to our tasks.”

With that, no more complaints are raised. Quickly the two walk away, leaving the Librarian back to her duty.

“Such fierce loyalty. Do I really inspire so many?”

“Do you? Your charisma is infectious, oh great Demon Lord. As well as the stories of your reign of terror. Apparently you manipulated people’s DNA to make new horrible beings. Or fused souls together to create great machine-like monsters that are slaves to your will. I love the oh so fascinating myths mortals have made about you, very interesting to think about.” The Demon lord scoffs, shrugging.

“Those are merely myths. Not the whole truth. I do not intend to inform people about the actual events, where those myths and legends came from. A nugget of the truth can feel more fascinating than the whole bland truth, hmm? Let them carry on, I have more important things to worry about. Like maintaining the seals of the monster. And keep tracking of our noble stars of hope. A lie can be more fulfilling than the truth.”

“Living only in only lies makes one a liar. One day, they will all have to learn the truth. Will you be ready, my friend? Or will you merely scoff it away?”

“I will be prepared. I have prepared myself for anything and everything. Haven’t you done the same, ancient magic user? No need to question my will, it is as strong as yours.” The two walk off, deeper into the dome, a giant library. They walk down a set of mechanical stairs that spiral downwards. A door, a crystal door, is located at the end. They walk through, emerging in a different place.

The home to the machine angels, Edith. Some are here being worked on while most are out busy. This place was a large, floating city. A city that existed deep in another realm. A realm that existed in between time and space, between realms. It was connected, somehow, to every other realm in the stars. A central hub of sorts, that had many thousands of living machines flying overhead, busy working on weapons or some that trained the servants in martial arts. A large smile can be seen by the Magi.

“Do you know why I brought you here, Magician, oh ancient one?”

“Why? For what reason hmm, to see the pretty sight of Edith once again?”

“No. To remind you of all the people that rely on you. Do not forget that while we lead them, they also lead us in a way too. Your wisdom is vast, your cunning great, but you are not perfect either. Do not underestimate our enemy. They are just as desperate as we are.” For once, the magician does not have a smart remark.

Only a dark expression can be seen.

If only the Demon Lord knew how true those words would be. It was terrifying how well this queen understood their enemy. It was inevitable something would diverge from their well thought out scheme, their plan.

These two counted on it. So, returning to that normal snarky expression, the white-haired woman gave the ancient warrior a pat on the back.

“You, my lady, are not wrong! Well, that was all I wanted to tell you, so off I go. Can’t be gone too long from those orphans, hmm? They really need my help, badly, don’t they? Later!” And a moment later, the woman disappeared.

No portal, just poofed.

Terrifying. What else was this person hiding? They were friends yet the Demon Lord knew so little of the Magician’s origins, despite knowing her since the beginning.

Knowing them for billions of years, only getting little droplets of information.

No matter. One day, she will find out the truth.

And the truth was, the Magician needed those orphans as much as they needed her. The Magi wanted people to nurture, to guide, to cultivate. For some unknown reason.

A figure reappears back on the balcony, none the wiser.

Back to sleep, she thought.