"Hello, Miss Reinette Tinekerr. I suppose this counts as our first proper meeting," Evah said with a smile, offering a greeting.
"Hello…" "Strange…" "Mr.…" "Lucifer."
Reinette Tinekerr's four heads spoke in turn, returning the greeting while openly sizing Lucifer up.
She had no idea where this man had come from or what bizarre ability he'd just used. Her observations suggested he was an utterly ordinary mortal.
But how could that be? Only a fool would believe someone capable of such feats was a mere mortal.
The only explanation was that he'd concealed his uniqueness, and she couldn't see through it.
Having belatedly realized how extraordinary the Shadow of Time was, Reinette Tinekerr gave Lucifer a meaningful look before speaking again:
"Why…" "do you think…" "I'd want…" "to save the Chained God?"
"I'm not certain of your wishes, Miss Reinette Tinekerr, but I suspect that regardless of how deep your bond with the Chained God is, you wouldn't want a foreign pathway's Uniqueness to remain in the Mother Tree's grasp. Without reclaiming the Chained God, you'll forever be just an Angel," Evah said unhurriedly, his smile unwavering.
He wasn't naive enough to think Reinette Tinekerr was so devoted to the Chained God that she'd risk everything to save Him. But even for her own advancement, she couldn't ignore His situation.
"You…" "don't care…" "if the Chained God…" "lives or dies."
Reinette Tinekerr didn't refute Lucifer's words. She studied him, then spoke with certainty.
"I don't demand a specific outcome. If the Chained God is successfully saved, that's a happy ending for all. But if He falls, securing His remaining Characteristics and Uniqueness would still be a fine result, wouldn't it?" Evah said, not denying it, his smile intact.
"Why…" "are you…" "doing…" "this?"
Reinette Tinekerr asked again.
"Maybe because I, too, am an enemy of the Outer Gods?" Evah said with a hint of uncertainty, then chuckled. "Or you could say I just want to give the Chained God the ending He deserves. An Angel who's practiced temperance for centuries shouldn't be reduced to a plaything of indulgence. For an Actor, that's too cruel."
Reinette Tinekerr seemed to mull it over. After a pause, she spoke again:
"What…" "do you want…" "to do?"
"And how…" "can I…" "help you?"
"First, I'll need some of your blood or something related, Miss. If you have anything closely tied to the Chained God, that'd be even better," Evah said with a smile.
...
For the Mother Tree of Desire, today was another calm, uneventful day.
Lazily sprawled on the moon, She idly peered through the barrier at Earth, counting down the days until the barrier fell while tossing a mental jab at Her rival, the Mother Goddess, next door.
As an old adversary, She knew full well that the Mother Goddess had let out a scream a few days ago for unknown reasons. After some digging, the Mother Tree learned that Mr. Door, under the Mother Goddess's control, had shown signs of breaking free—not fully, but enough to hint at a shift.
This had the Mother Tree gleefully mocking Her competitor in Her mind while casually checking on the Bound God through the barrier.
He'd been Her puppet for years, serving as a relay for Her invasion of Earth. Without Him, She couldn't have established the many secret organizations worshiping Her. He was a highly useful tool.
With that thought, the Mother Tree nonchalantly "logged into" the Bound God's vessel to handle today's Earth affairs. Just then, She noticed a devotee had established a direct connection with Him.
She didn't think much of it, planning to lightly corrupt the devotee through the link, when She froze.
"AAAAAHHH—"
A scream, much like the Mother Goddess's days before, erupted from the Mother Tree. Panicked, She severed the connection, reeling from an unprecedented corruption that spooked Her. It took a while to recover, only to realize a major issue.
The Chained God had slipped slightly from Her grasp. If Her control over Him was once 100%, it was now maybe 95%.
This small shift didn't stop Her from controlling Him, but it meant His long-dormant consciousness had regained a sliver of clarity.
What in the world was that?
The Mother Tree sank into thought.
...
"Tch, as expected. Nyarlathotep's power can indeed harm Outer Gods, but with the portion I can currently channel, I can only give Them a jolt—nothing that hits Their core," Evah muttered, mentally assessing the experiment's results. "I'll probably need to fully master the Nyarlathotep Fragment's power before I can truly stand against Outer Gods, let alone take Them down."
It couldn't be helped. Evah couldn't fully control the Nyarlathotep Fragment yet, only guiding a fraction of its power, much like Klein using bits of the Sefirah Castle's power to craft "Paper Figurine Angels" before becoming its master. This level was enough to purge corruption from Mr. Door and others—albeit with a risk of turning them dim-witted—but directly challenging an Outer God was a pipe dream.
Still, Evah hadn't expected to pull that off. He was plenty satisfied with giving the Mother Tree a shock.
With that in mind, he glanced at the Chained God, Torsner, beside him—not the real one, of course, but a Shadow of Time summoned via a medium.
Moments ago, Evah had summoned Torznar's Shadow of Time and had a friendly chat—mostly showing Him how miserable His present-day self was.
As expected, upon confirming His current state, Torznar's face practically turned green. He immediately pleaded: Help, ally, save me!
Evah, naturally, agreed. Following the same process used on Mr. Door, he established a connection with the present-day Torznar, then used a counter-corruption tactic—fighting poison with poison. Through Torznar's link to the Mother Tree, he also got a peek at Her state.
And thus, the earlier scene unfolded.
(End of Chapter)
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