Hare of Misfortune

Rachel breathed out the stress in her lungs, rubbing her burning throat and feeling the heat on her skin from the bright sun overhead. All eyes turned to her, and Conner flew down to land beside her. Nia was still looking up in horror at the place Dionysus had been pulled into oblivion, mouth part open.

”What are we—”

Their gaze shot to Eostre as the System Message came, Yseress’ beaming smile appearing in front of them from a blaze of Hellfire.

[New Arbiter Recognized]

[Legend Quest Authority Granted: Eostre]

”I’m...the Arbiter?” the woman asked in shock, the damage to her dress and skin recovering in a bloom of flowers as the night overtook day. ”I never asked for it.”

Rachel rolled around her shoulder, smiling as the confused tulpa’s first act was turning to send a rush of fragrant wind toward her, healing the bruise on her neck. ”It seems you were the next best candidate since...well, heh, everyone else kind of ran.”

She gestured at the mostly empty stands, and Yseress hopped forward with a twinkle in her devilish eyes. ”I expect the previous game will be sustained...but maybe with a slight tweak. My mistress isn’t a fan of the first layer of the 7th Circle, but I was afraid going deeper might not work. Can I test it?!”

”I...suppose.” Eostre hissed out a long stream of air, reaching out to let Moongmor hop into her hand to nuzzle against her bust. ”I’m sorry I worried you.”

”I was so scared, Mistress! He could have really killed you...”

”There, there... I had to live up to Rachel’s expectations and example,” the tulpa whispered, showing a charming smile while petting her crying bunny; Nia was quick to latch onto Rachel’s skirt and start weeping. ”It may be written a few times in history, but I have rarely seen mortals actually stand up to tyrannical gods. You gave me courage.”

Rachel flipped back her hair so it wouldn’t drape over Nia and knelt to hug the terrified bunny child; it was a sharp contrast to the soldier she’d been as an adult, but it wasn’t Nia’s fault she was now a five-year-old.

”We’re going to be okay, Nia. We’ve done the impossible... We took out a god. And you had courage long before I met you,” she said, turning back to Eostre.

Yseress’ smile twitched, no doubt impatient to continue and see her mistress again. Yet, there was something troubling about the Hell Princess that still bugged Rachel. Perhaps it was her part-angel, part-devil heritage or how tied to Izanami she was, but her instincts told her there was something unusual about the Nephilim.

”You’ve been dealing with a landscape where you’re basically the lowest on the totem pole, and you could have run away long before, but you didn’t. I respect that trust. And am I to assume the next ’potential patron’ Cerridwen mentioned is Izanami?”

The woman’s guilty eyes drifted to the side. ”Only because Cerridwen terrifies me far more than Dionysus, and yes, I don’t know why she has continued to choose entities from the...Infernal Spectrum of deities, but Cerridwen is a cunning woman.”

”Very cunning,” Rachel mumbled, glancing at Yseress as she glanced between them, gears turning in her devilish head. ”Almost all of this came from her planning and my sense of misfortune in following it. Ultimately, Dionysus’ death was by her plots, not mine.”

”How humble! Can we continue now?!” Yseress asked, bloody wings intensifying. ”I must receive further instruction from my mistress.”

Conner stepped up as Eostre sighed and moved to the side to listen to what the corrupted Nephilim wanted to ask about. ”So...you are backed by goddesses beyond the dimensional wall. Hah. I should have known... I can see why, though. Hot hare girl with a temper and mind to get shit done. Huh... Honestly, I can say you’ve changed how I view life.”

Rachel rubbed Nia’s shoulder as she glared up at the mostly naked man. ”Nice pickup line, bud... C’mon, Nia, let’s sit down...”

She glanced over at the fallen Nephilim, the others noticing the woman trying to argue with the tulpa to have her mistress join in the stands and if the Seed had the power to do it.

”I think Yseress and Eostre are going to be a bit,” Rachel muttered with an encouraging nudge. ”Want to braid my hair, and I’ll do yours?”

”Okay! I’m watching you, though,” Nia growled, pointing at Conner, who lifted his hands with a laugh. ”Yeah, keep three meters, pervert.”

Rachel had to wonder exactly how old Nia’s mind was or how age worked for a Soul Item, but decided it would be best to feel out the extent of the girl’s reversed age. Plus, she had the option of breaking the curse in the next round—or at least putting some kind of dent in it—without the lesser god stepping on her toes.

Her skirt folded under on its own as she sat cross-legged, and Nia dropped down in front of her, scowling at Conner. Despite her fear, Nia had still tried to tackle a god to save her; the Living Denier still had a soldier’s heart.

Nia’s power over her outfit shone through as the girl braided her hair without so much as touching it, and Rachel slowly pulled the child’s locks into a much messier version. In the aftermath of Dionysus’ fall, she spoke to the man she would soon be battling to the death. It was a little surreal to have this conversation with Conner, considering how they’d met.

”So...how did you get wrapped up in the Scarlet Hand and Relica?”

He grunted while dropping to his butt, glancing around at the empty stadium with a strained chuckle.

”Glory...money. I needed a sponsor to wrestle internationally, and they approached me. I was already a piece of shit before The Oscillation. I’ve killed people in underground wrestling matches in Greece. I wanted a way to get bigger, and my brutal nature ended up killing a lot of opportunities. I love violence. Not much else to say about that.”

Rachel snorted. ”Yeah, I was kind of an asshole, too, but not the killing part...that came after. In fact, you’ll be my first human murder. Lucky me?”