After finishing her little cancer stick, Amanises went back to the hospital replica room to gather her belongings.
To her surprise, outside of Azik's copper whistle on the bedside table, there wasn't anything else of hers.
Where are my clothes? The bells? Whatever I had on me???
She started being annoyed just by thinking about the possibility of having to ask around for her own stuff, when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.
Without waiting for the woman to answer, the door opened and inside stepped the romantic poet—Leonard Mitchell.
Although with her month spent in Tingen they grew surprisingly close, Amanises was still guarded against him, especially after the stunts he pulled off against her.
"How are you feeling?" His usually careless demeanor was replaced with a strange sorrow and grief. But most of all—concern.
"My body doesn't hurt anymore so—good, I guess." She sounded completely defeated, like a woman who had just lost everything.
Leonard sighed heavily.
"I didn't ask about physical health."
Should've specified. She bit back the action of rolling her eyes.
"Not that good. What happened there?"
"I should be the one asking you that? Don't tell me you forgot—"
Amanises cut him off, slight tremor in her voice as a wave of realization hit her like a truck. "Is—is she...?"
Up until now, the last moments have been mostly a blur in her mind. Only now did the fog clear up completely.
The man looked down at his feet, face scrunched in sorrow. "Yes, I'm afraid."
He didn't need to ask the question, no need for clarification, everyone already knew.
Daly Simone and Royale Reideen were dead.
Amanises but her lip in frustration, but before tears could come—she bent down and started to laugh hysterically.
She laughed so hard that Leonard had to take a step back. "H-huh? Are you alright??"
"What are you talking about? Hahaahhaa! Of course not! Hahaha!!"
Her laughing echoed through that entire room, making her look like a complete lunatic. "Hahahahha! HAHAHAHA! I can't, I can't breathe!"
She nearly hit the floor with her forehead but Leonard caught her before that could happen.
"I think you need a therapist."
"Yes, yes I do." The woman stopped laughing after nearly coughing from the dryness of her throat.
She realized that she had made a mistake.
In this world, Amanises made a friend—someone whom she could rely on and anchor herself.
This was a grave mistake.
At the start of her transmigration, she tried her best to not get too attached to anyone, not even her family —yet failure happened almost immediately.
Blaming it on Evelyn helped, but ultimately it was her own mistake.
Amanises stared at the floor tiles with a complicated expression.
How unfortunate.
She failed her own principles, breaking them without even realizing it while looking for closeness, yet now only suffering remained.
Aaahh! I want to die.
She felt her heart beating in her chest, fragile ribs trembling in an unsteady rhythm.
It hurt, it hurt so much.
But she couldn't stop.
"Ahhahaha!"
Why? Why did she fail? Could the blame be put on anyone else this time?
No.
It was her own fault.
She tried so hard to find anything that could be blamed instead of her, just like she always did back at home.
But it was impossible.
It didn't matter that they died, it didn't matter that they suffered.
What mattered is that she got close to them.
She heard a poem being recited, it was a familiar one—cited in a pleasant and melodic tune.
She looked at Leonard from below, who was patting her back and trying to calm the hysterical woman down.
The calming poem entered her psyche, bringing her swarming emotions to a complete halt.
Her smile fell off, and tears started streaming down her face, but no sobs followed.
Leonard helped the woman to her feet with a troubled expression, then he was shoved back but a hand without force behind it.
"Thank you. You should leave."
She wanted to curl back into her bed and fall asleep.
Not abiding her request just yet, he didn't leave, instead Leonard reached into his pocket, taking out a letter.
"After you were brought here, a letter suddenly appeared near you. Don't worry, no one opened it."
She took the letter from his hand and walked back to the bed in utter silence, leaving the man by himself.
Leonard Mitchell watched for a bit, then turned on his heel and left the spacious white room.
***
A week earlier, Monday, September 10th, at 3PM Backlund time.
Figures started materializing themselves in huge chairs at a large bronze table.
Miss Justice looked around for a bit, noticing that the seat next to her was empty.
What happened to Lady Death? Where is she?
The Spectator started internally panicking, while Little Sun also noticed the disappearance of the one seated across him.
The Hanged Man was a little late to notice, as he faced The Fool directly and spoke.
"Thank you sincerely for your help, Mr Fool. Qilangos has been successfully killed by your adorer."
Justice also jumped out of her reveree. She quickly gave her usual greeting—but missing the sing-song tone.
"I'd also like to thank you for your aid, Mr Fool. I'm sure I would've died had it not been for the charm you've given us."
The Fool had a somber expression, but a smile quickly took place as he shook His head.
"I barely did anything, the real person you should thank is Death."
"Lady Death?" Alger and Audrey asked in unison.
What does she have to do with this? The man was suddenly puzzled.
Derrick, who only heard about the events through the Tarot Club, was puzzled too.
Wasn't Mr Fool asked for help?
The Fool chuckled slightly, as The Hanged Man saw the missing person at last.
Could it be that she fought toe to toe with Qilangos? And now she's injured and can't participate?
A myriad of questions circled his head.
But wasn't she in Tingen City?
Justice felt like completing his thoughts.
Both of them felt like they misunderstood Death completely, she was able to easily kill a Demoness of Pleasure with her friend, and now battled against Qilangos too.
That's a feat no one would even believe!
Yet, from her confidence, intel and backing it seemed incredibly possible.
Each one of the Tarot Club members were special, with different pathways, spheres of influence and backing—they each brought incredible results!
The Hanged Man suddenly trembled.
If she defeated Qilangos that easily, and took away Creeping Hunger for herself...Just how powerful had she become now?
Alger forced himself to sigh.
No—Mr Fool only said that we should thank her, perhaps she called upon a demigod from her organization to help, but that doesn't excuse the fact that she's absent.
As if reading his mind, Derrick turned to the seat of honor and asked.
"Mr Fool, where's Lady Death?
It was the first time a member had been absent from a gathering, so naturally all of them were confused and wanted answers.
The Fool looked at the empty seat and then turned His gaze back on him.
"She's currently unconscious, Death fought long and hard to stop a growing calamity. I decided to let her rest and recover."
A growing calamity? Could Qilangos be considered one? Or perhaps a stronger calamity? Justice was overtaken by shock and awe.
She felt that she understood the woman due to her family's peril, but perhaps she overlooked the situation in its entirety.
The authorities put hard work into covering up what happened back then, but Death didn't think that it was ethical.
She isn't part of the officials and may even work against them to some degree, but she's still just!
No one said that Lady Death was weak! Just that she had too much to do!
Justice and The Hanged Man started speculating if she was a demigod.
Eitherway, once Death is back they better make sure to thank her efforts. If Mr Fool believed that she was capable and trustworthy then they shouldn't play with fire.
After calming down and taking in the new information, Audrey decided to speak about the reward she received after sniffing out Qilangos.
10 000 pounds? I barely got anything!
Alger was stupefied but felt that it was only fair.
Justice was in incredible danger, she—only a Sequence 9 Spectator —was able to fish out a Rear Admiral with a powerful Mystical Item, report the authorities and ask for help from Mr Fool.
What she had done could've ended her life had Qilangos figured her out.
"Thank you, Miss Justice." Alger thanked her with reverence and a tad bit of envy.
Audrey smiled brightly. "All in a day's work, Sir Hanged Man!"
She chuckled a little, it was a little self-deprecating, but it didn't matter.
She was now safe.
"Mr Fool, shall I send the compensation to Lady Death when she attends the gathering again? Her help was invaluable."
The man at the seat of honor nodded.
...
The rest of the gathering went by as usual, Audrey making inquiries about her Telepathist potion ingredients with Alger making empty promises.
Derrick only spoke about his rapid digestion while The World stayed as silent as ever.
The others almost believed he was a statue.
Soon enough, it became time for the gathering to end.
"By your will." The four got up from their seats, but only three disappeared.
The Fool looked at the other end of the table, The World's face was now cleared up by the obscuring gray fog.
"She acted faster than I thought." The World, Gehrman Sparrow, spoke first.
The Fool sighed heavily, holding His head in one hand.
"It doesn't matter, sacrifices must be made. It's all necessary."
The World had a complex expression on his chiseled face, he pushed the glasses up His nose and nodded, somewhat agreeing with The Fool's strange statement.
***
A day earlier. Sunday, September 9th
Ince Zangwill, with the cursed notebook in hand, found himself in front of a hooded woman.
She looked down on him, even if only slightly taller than the man. Her pair of humanoid arms stood idle, while another two pairs of furred ones were crossed at her thin waist.
In Ince's mind, the name of the woman appeared.
Mother of the Sky—Philanias.
She was a real Angel, the one who tasked him with this mission.
Ince Zangwill handed Her the notebook with trembling hands, feeling the crushing pressure of being in the presence of such a magnificent being..
She took the notebook with her human-like hands, and spoke to him in a calm and passive tone that could put one to sleep.
"Good job here, you will be handed the potion formula and Characteristic soon."
With that said, she disappeared from his eyes, as if being erased stroke by stroke.
Ince Zangwill stood with his head bowed, but internally he rejoiced.
Finally, finally!
He was going to become a demigod!
***
In the huge room of an unoccupied ancient cathedral, a woman with sleek dark hair, wolf ears, six arms and a slim, long blue dress, observed with indifference a sleeping man.
She felt the area around her change, as another similar woman entered the concealed space, holding a leather cover notebook.
The first woman turned to the other one.
"Why exactly did you do this?"
Mother of the Sky, Philanias, placed the notebook on the thigh of the sleeping man.
He had gentle features, half black and gray hair with similar wolf ears extending from the top of his head.
The man was sitting on a throne, a hand supporting his dozing head that occasionally rose and fell with his even breathing.
"It belonged to Him, I'm only returning back a stolen good."
She looked at the man tenderly—her own brother, Antigonus.
Philanias wanted to stroke the man's hair like how she used to before, but stopped herself by turning around.
"Anways, thank you for your help—Desdemona."
The Goddess of Misfortune, Desdemona scoffed and walked away from the cathedral, leaving Philanias and the sleeping man by themselves.
Mother of the Sky looked at Her brother once more, before disappearing with a tender look on Her beautiful face.