he Soul Seam had gone strangely quiet.
Lewd floated through the endless darkness, surrounded by countless spheres carrying wandering souls, but for once she was paying attention to none of them.
She was too busy twisting herself around.
Trying to see her side.
Her fingers traced the place where Little Devil had torn a piece from her physical body.
Or, more accurately, where the wound would be once she returned to it.
Here, across her soul, something new rested in its place.
A crest.
Red chains curled throughout the mark, surrounding the image bound within it. The symbol shimmered softly whenever Lewd touched it, almost as though it recognized the person carrying it.
Lewd's dark ears slowly rose.
"This is actually rather beautiful."
She touched it again.
Warmth flowed through her fingertips.
Her cheeks became pink.
Then red.
Her pupils transformed into hearts.
"If Derpy was telling the truth about what this means, then we are actually going to have children together."
Silence answered her.
Four different versions of Derpy stared from several feet away.
Lewd hugged herself and began lazily spinning through the Soul Seam.
"Little mouse ears mixed with tiny dragon horns would be adorable. One of them might have a wolf tail. Another could have wings. Maybe they would inherit his eyes, or perhaps—"
Rabbit Derpy cleared his throat.
Loudly.
Lewd stopped spinning.
She looked toward the four figures.
"Right. I suppose there was still something important you wanted to explain before sending me back."
Rabbit Derpy stepped forward.
His voice carried through the Soul Seam in a strange, rhythmic cadence.
"It seems our time has drawn quite near,
and soon your road from death is clear."
Wolf Derpy followed.
"Without a doubt, your contract's there,
its chain now bound for you to bear."
Dragon Derpy lowered his enormous head toward Lewd.
"But stray too far from what you've sworn,
and pain shall follow night and morn."
Lewd's smile weakened.
"What exactly do you mean when you say that pain will follow me?"
Wolf Derpy nodded toward the crest.
"Follow the crest and things grow clear,
remain your course and have no fear."
Harpy Derpy spread his wings.
His smile was much less comforting.
"But break our heart and disappear,
and you may find yourself back here."
Lewd stared at all four of them.
Something about the words felt wrong.
Not because she misunderstood them.
Because she understood enough.
"Hold on. Are you telling me that this crest can punish me if I stop following whatever contract it believes I accepted?"
The Soul Seam stopped.
Every drifting sphere froze.
Every wandering soul became motionless.
The enormous chains suspended throughout the darkness pulled taut.
The four Derpys went completely still.
Lewd looked around.
"I do not believe I caused that."
Then a woman's voice echoed through the realm.
Ancient.
Powerful.
Furious.
"Four fragments given leave to stay,
yet now you send my souls away?"
Rabbit Derpy's ears dropped.
Wolf Derpy slowly looked upward.
Harpy Derpy folded his wings against his body.
Dragon Derpy narrowed his eyes.
Lewd looked between them.
"Whoever that woman is, all four of you suddenly look extremely guilty."
No one answered.
The voice returned.
Louder.
"I offered you my halls to tend,
not death itself for you to bend."
One wandering soul turned red.
Then another.
Then ten.
Then hundreds.
Thousands.
Red souls streaked through the darkness, gathering together in the distance.
Lewd's ears flattened.
"Would someone please explain what is happening before whatever owns those souls reaches us?"
Still no answer.
The mass of crimson souls grew.
And grew.
And grew.
The woman's voice shook the Soul Seam.
"Behind my back you break my chain,
and send the dead to breathe again."
Something enormous began taking shape.
"You four were offered place and throne,
but never leave to rule my own."
Two gigantic purple eyes opened.
Lewd froze.
The figure leaned closer.
Then closer still.
Until the eyes alone seemed nearly as large as Lewd's entire body.
A vast rabbit goddess emerged from the collected souls.
Pale fur covered a powerful frame that remained imposing despite her rabbit features. Enormous lop ears hung beside her head, their pale-pink interiors contrasting against the white fur surrounding them.
Her long hair divided into two striking colors.
Deep wine-red flowed along one side.
Rich forest green descended along the other.
She wore elaborate black, crimson, and deep-purple clothing beneath heavy black-and-gold armor. Thornlike golden decorations twisted across the plating, intertwined with black roses and luminous magenta gemstones.
Behind her head floated an enormous circular halo resembling a corrupted crown, covered in jagged black-and-gold thorns.
In one hand rested a long staff decorated with roses, skeletal ornamentation, curling thorns, and a glowing magenta core.
The goddess leaned closer.
Her purple eyes narrowed at the four Derpys.
"A kingdom needs its queen or king,
but not four fools who steal everything."
Lewd stared upward.
Her mouth slowly fell open.
"She may be terrifying, but she is also incredibly beautiful."
The goddess's eyes shifted.
She looked directly at Lewd.
Her expression changed immediately.
"And you are quite beautiful yourself, my dear."
Lewd's cheeks turned bright red.
"Thank you. I was not expecting the enormous angry goddess to compliment me."
The rabbit goddess studied her more carefully.
"It is unfortunate that you arrived here earlier than you were supposed to."
Lewd tilted her head.
"What do you mean when you say I arrived too early?"
The goddess flicked her fingers.
An image appeared beside them.
Lewd saw Whisperfen.
She saw her physical body lying motionless upon the ground.
She saw the horrible wound torn through her side.
And beside her—
Phantasm.
The Calamity grimoire poured violet light into Lewd's wound with everything it possessed. Its pages had opened so widely that the binding appeared strained.
It did not resemble an artifact performing a task.
It looked like someone refusing to stop trying.
The goddess gestured toward the image.
"If you had stopped moving and allowed your Calamity book to finish healing you, there is a very strong chance you would have survived."
Lewd's expression collapsed.
"What are you saying?"
"Phantasm was repairing your wound."
"I knew she was trying to heal me, but I thought my body was already failing. I could barely breathe, and the pain kept becoming worse."
"You gave up."
Lewd became silent.
The goddess did not sound angry.
That somehow hurt more.
"You were not beyond saving, dear. You were terrified, badly wounded, and completely convinced that death had already claimed you."
Her purple eyes remained on Lewd.
"So you stopped fighting before your healer had finished."
Lewd stared at the image.
At Phantasm.
Still pouring magic into her.
Still refusing to leave.
She remembered telling the book that everything was all right.
She remembered apologizing.
She remembered believing that surrendering would somehow make things easier for everyone around her.
Especially Phantasm.
And the entire time, the grimoire had refused to accept her decision.
It continued pouring power into Lewd's body even after Lewd stopped asking to be saved.
Lewd's throat tightened.
"I told her that it was all right because I thought I was releasing her from having to keep trying."
Her ears lowered.
"But she never wanted me to release her."
The goddess dismissed the vision.
"No. She wanted you to stay alive."
Lewd looked downward.
"And now I am here because I decided she could not save me before she actually failed."
"That is the harsh reality of what happened."
The words struck more painfully than accusation would have.
The goddess turned toward the four Derpys.
"Yet while this mouse regrets her fall,
you four would break my oldest law."
Dragon Derpy growled.
"The contract's formed. The crest is there.
Her soul accepted what she'll bear."
The goddess's eyes narrowed.
"A crest is yours. The Seam is mine.
Do not mistake your chain for divine."
The entire realm shook.
Lewd steadied herself.
The goddess continued.
"I know the souls are drawn to you.
I know exactly what you do."
Her staff struck the darkness.
A shock wave rolled through the endless realm.
"The innocent receive your chain,
your contract sends them back again."
The four Derpys remained silent.
"The guilty souls you choose to eat—
that judgment I consider neat."
Lewd slowly looked toward Rabbit Derpy.
"Did she just say that all of you eat guilty souls?"
Rabbit Derpy looked away.
Lewd's eyes narrowed.
"I am going to remember that expression, and we are absolutely discussing this later."
Rabbit Derpy somehow became even more uncomfortable.
The goddess continued.
"But mercy given, judgment made,
does not make mine a realm to raid."
She leaned over the fragments.
"This kingdom's mine. Remember well.
You do not own this Seam yourselves."
Without warning, Dragon Derpy and Wolf Derpy merged.
Their bodies twisted together into a larger hybrid.
Their doubled voice boomed through the darkness.
"Lewd, if you know what's best for you,
don't trust this rabbit's words as true."
Lewd blinked.
The merged pair pointed toward the goddess.
"This rabbit scum has plans unknown.
She wants our spawn to call her own."
The goddess's eye twitched.
Lewd caught something buried in the insult.
A name.
Not rabbit.
Not goddess.
Something spoken with the familiarity of an old argument.
Pest.
The fragments had called her Pest.
Not like a description.
Like a name they already knew would irritate her.
Pest's eye twitched again.
It had worked.
Rabbit Derpy and Harpy Derpy suddenly shot toward Lewd.
Rabbit Derpy reached her first.
"Lewd, move away from her before she loses her temper!"
Together, the fragments shoved Lewd backward.
She tumbled through the air.
"What are you doing? I can move on my own!"
Pest raised one finger.
Her expression became cold.
"All four of you will fall."
The fragments crashed downward.
Lewd gasped.
"Derpy, stop fighting her before she decides to make this worse!"
Pest's expression hardened.
Black thorns erupted from the darkness.
They wrapped around Rabbit Derpy's arms.
Around Harpy Derpy's wings.
Around the merged Dragon-Wolf body.
Black electricity surged through the thorns.
The fragments screamed.
Lewd rushed toward them.
"Please stop hurting them! They may be idiots, but they were trying to send me home!"
Pest ignored her.
Her voice returned to its ancient cadence.
"You challenge me inside my Seam?
Then wake yourselves from such a dream."
The thorns tightened.
"Your lives are sparks, your years are few.
I've watched creation start anew."
The four fragments struggled.
Nothing changed.
"Before your breath, before your name,
I watched the first souls cross this plane."
Pest clenched her hand.
The fragments were violently pulled together.
Rabbit.
Wolf.
Dragon.
Harpy.
Their bodies collided.
Light exploded through the Soul Seam.
Lewd shielded her eyes.
When the brilliance faded, only one figure remained.
Her breath caught.
He looked like him.
Completely.
Not the white wolf woman she had met moments earlier.
Not Rabbit Derpy.
Not Dragon Derpy.
Not Harpy.
Not Wolf.
Not one of the strange fragments.
Derpy.
The person she had fallen in love with.
He looked at his hands first.
Slowly.
Almost distrustfully.
Then his gaze moved toward Lewd.
For one moment, his expression became exactly what she remembered—the look Derpy made whenever something happened too quickly for him to hide how frightened or confused he truly was.
"Derpy…"
Pest approached him.
Her staff tapped once against the darkness.
"When I decide, you have no say.
My judgment ends your games today."
The thorns tightened around him.
"Judge and jury, gate and chain—
challenge Pest and earn your pain."
The name landed differently when she used it herself.
The merged Derpy glared at her.
Pest continued.
"Four maids have carved their sigils wide,
through lands where stubborn magics hide."
Her purple eyes narrowed.
"Those marks endure beyond my might.
I cannot simply break them right."
Lewd's ears shifted.
Four maids?
Pest continued before she could ask.
"So souls now wander toward your call,
instead of reaching me at all."
Her fingers curled.
"I let you aid the guiltless dead.
I let you judge the stained instead."
Black electricity intensified around Derpy.
"But hear me now and hear me plain:
you will not steal my throne or chain."
Then Pest threw him.
Derpy disappeared into the distant darkness.
Lewd's mouth fell open.
"DERPY, COME BACK!"
Pest casually dusted her hands together.
"He will be fine."
Lewd stared at her.
"You just threw the person I love across the afterlife!"
"I have been training them here for quite some time."
"That explanation does not make what you just did sound any better."
Pest considered the complaint.
"It makes it slightly better."
"It absolutely does not."
The corner of Pest's mouth twitched.
She looked down at Lewd.
Lewd immediately floated closer and bowed deeply.
"Great goddess of the Soul Seam, I am begging you to forgive the person I love for whatever rules he and his fragments violated."
Pest raised an eyebrow.
Lewd pressed her hands together.
"If they broke your laws because they were trying to help me, then please do not punish them because of my mistake."
"They have broken plenty of my laws without your assistance."
Lewd winced.
"That was not the answer I was hoping to hear."
Pest's expression remained unreadable.
Lewd continued.
"Then I will follow your rules exactly. I will listen to whatever instructions you give me. Just please do not seriously hurt them."
Pest studied her.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then the enormous goddess began shrinking.
Lewd slowly raised her head.
Pest continued decreasing in size until the impossible giant became comparable to Lewd's scale.
Comparable—
but definitely not equal.
Even after shrinking, Pest still towered over the mouse woman.
Lewd looked upward.
"You are still exceptionally tall."
Pest glanced down at herself.
"I had already noticed."
She flicked one wrist.
A black rose appeared between them.
Its petals unfolded.
The stem twisted outward.
Thorns stretched sideways.
Within seconds, the flower transformed into a small black table floating in the Soul Seam.
Pest gestured toward it.
"Come sit with me, my dear."
Lewd cautiously floated toward the table.
Pest sat opposite her.
"There is a story I would like you to hear before you leave."
Lewd lowered herself into the strange seat formed by black roses.
"You want to tell me a story after throwing Derpy across the Soul Seam?"
"Hear my story, and when I am finished, I will allow you to return to your body."
Lewd stared at her.
"That is the entire condition?"
A distant voice screamed through the darkness.
"PEST, I SWEAR THAT IF YOU—"
Pest's eyes slowly shifted toward the sound.
Black thorns exploded into the darkness.
Something screamed very far away.
Then everything became quiet again.
Pest returned her attention to Lewd.
"Yes. Hearing my story is the condition."
Lewd looked past her.
"Are you certain they are going to survive whatever you are doing to them?"
"They will live."
"You have said that several times."
"Because they insist upon continuing to live."
Lewd slowly sat back.
Pest placed one arm upon the black-rose table and released a tired sigh.
"I want you to hear my tale. When it is finished, I would like you to make another decision."
Lewd's eyes narrowed.
"What decision are you asking me to make?"
A black rose appeared above Pest's palm.
Its petals opened.
A crest glowed inside.
"I want you to decide whether you would be willing to bear my crest as well."
Lewd stared at the mark.
Then at Pest.
"So I listen to your story, and afterward you want me to decide whether I accept another supernatural contract?"
Pest nodded.
"That is essentially correct."
Lewd leaned back.
"I thought you were preparing to kill me."
Pest laughed.
The sound echoed throughout the Soul Seam.
"No, child. I would never kill you simply for arriving here."
Lewd relaxed slightly.
Pest continued.
"I rarely receive visitors like you."
Lewd tilted her head.
"You mean dead mouse women?"
Pest's amusement deepened.
"I mean women."
Lewd blinked.
"I suppose that answer raises considerably more questions."
Pest smiled.
"I made an exception because you are a woman, and because you appear to possess quite a few unanswered questions about yourself."
Lewd frowned.
"What kind of unanswered questions?"
Pest's purple eyes studied her carefully.
"I can sense royal blood inside you, dear."
Lewd froze.
For several seconds, even her ears stopped moving.
"What exactly did you just say?"
"Royal blood."
Pest glanced over Lewd's clothes.
"Judging by your clothing, mannerisms, and the circumstances surrounding your childhood, I doubt you were raised anywhere near a royal household."
Lewd stared at her.
Then laughed awkwardly.
"That cannot possibly be true."
Pest tilted her head.
"What makes it impossible?"
"Because I was born in Whisperfen."
Pest said nothing.
Lewd continued.
"I was abandoned there when I was very young."
Still nothing.
"My caretaker found me afterward. Her name was Miserra Hollowheart."
Pest slowly shook her head.
Lewd's smile disappeared.
"What does that expression mean?"
"It means you may eventually need to return to your roots."
"My roots are in Whisperfen."
Pest's expression became serious.
"Perhaps they are."
She leaned forward slightly.
"Or perhaps Whisperfen is simply the place where someone chose to leave you."
Lewd did not answer.
She had spent her entire life believing there was nothing before Miserra.
No family worth remembering.
No home waiting somewhere beyond the fog.
No beginning that mattered.
She had been abandoned.
That was the beginning.
Wasn't it?
Every story Lewd had ever told about herself started the same way.
Born in Whisperfen.
Found by Miserra.
That is all there is.
She had repeated those facts so often that they stopped feeling like a summary.
They became the truth.
Now an ancient goddess was looking at her as though Lewd had spent her entire life beginning her own story at Chapter Two.
Her ears lowered.
"What happens if I decide I do not want to know where I came from?"
Pest's expression was neither hard nor soft.
"Then you do not have to search."
Lewd studied her.
"But you believe I should."
Pest considered her answer.
"I believe knowing where someone came from can explain a great deal about why they continue ending up in certain places."
The Soul Seam drifted quietly around them.
Pest lifted one hand.
The black-rose crest floated above Lewd.
At the same moment—
Lewd gasped.
Her existing Dragon-Wolf crest peeled away from her side.
Not painfully.
It simply separated from her soul like an image lifting from glass.
Lewd stared as it floated beside her right shoulder.
The Dragon-Wolf crest remained there.
Pest's black rose hovered on the opposite side.
Two marks.
Two different powers.
Two choices.
Pest looked between them.
"I am giving you a choice concerning my crest."
Lewd swallowed.
"You are not simply going to place it on me?"
Pest shook her head.
"I will not do that."
Lewd looked genuinely confused.
"Why would you offer me a choice when the Dragon-Wolf contract apparently accepted mine while I was too distracted imagining children to understand half of what Derpy was saying?"
Pest's eyes briefly shifted toward the distant darkness.
"That is a discussion I intend to have with him."
Somewhere very far away, Derpy shouted something unintelligible.
Lewd's mouth twitched.
Pest looked back at her.
"I asked you to decide. Therefore, the decision belongs to you."
Lewd's gaze moved toward the Dragon-Wolf crest.
Then toward Pest's rose.
Pest leaned back.
"You do not need to choose now."
Lewd touched the damaged side of her soul.
Pest noticed.
"The missing portion of your physical body will require more time to repair before returning you becomes safe."
Lewd's ears lowered.
"Phantasm is still healing me?"
"She has not stopped."
Lewd winced.
"She is going to be furious when I wake up."
Pest's mouth twitched.
"That is probably accurate."
Lewd sighed.
"She is going to lecture me for hours."
"I would consider that extremely likely."
Lewd buried part of her face in her hands.
"I told her that I was ready to die while she was actively saving my life."
Pest almost smiled.
"Then perhaps you should prepare an apology before returning."
Lewd lowered her hands.
"That would probably be wise."
Pest gestured toward the table.
"So sit comfortably."
The black-rose table widened.
"Allow yourself to relax."
Lewd settled across from her.
Pest's expression slowly changed.
The amusement disappeared.
For the first time since manifesting, something almost sorrowful entered the ancient rabbit goddess's purple eyes.
Pest looked into the endless distance of the Soul Seam.
"This is why I do not leave my kingdom."
The souls surrounding them seemed to dim.
Lewd leaned forward.
Pest's fingers curled against the edge of the black-rose table.
"It is a story about my sister."
Lewd's ears rose.
Pest closed her eyes.
"My sister's name was Roae."
The Soul Seam became quieter.
Lewd waited.
Pest drew one slow breath.
"And it is also the story of a boy named..."
The Soul Seam trembled.
Not violently.
Almost like the realm itself remembered him.
Pest opened her eyes.
"Drago."