The merged Derpy did not answer Pest's threat.
A moment earlier, he had been struggling beneath a storm of black rose petals, still attempting to explain what separated the four fragments from creatures like Little Devil.
He had argued through every impact.
Laughed at Pest's confidence.
Refused to allow her to dismiss what they had become.
Then Pest threatened Lewd.
The amusement disappeared.
Pest stood over him with her thorn-wrapped staff lowered toward his chest. The crimson-purple gemstone at its head pulsed steadily, illuminating the black petals scattered across the Soul Seam.
Her voice carried through the darkness.
"Enough of fragments, tricks, and fear.Bring the real Derpy here."
The merged fragment remained silent.
Pest's expression hardened.
"If you continue refusing me, I will reach into the living world and pull the mouse girl back into this kingdom myself."
That accomplished what the barrage could not.
The merged Derpy went completely still.
His predatory smile vanished.
His tail stopped moving.
Even the strange confidence inside his eyes changed into something colder.
For several seconds, the only sound throughout the Soul Seam came from distant souls drifting through the endless dark.
Then the fragment slowly raised his head.
"You really enjoy pushing situations until you discover the worst possible answer, don't you?"
Pest tightened her grip around the staff.
"I asked for him, not commentary.Call him now and cease to tarry."
The merged Derpy released a slow breath.
Instead of attacking, his body began to glow.
Pest immediately adjusted her stance.
The light split.
One body became four.
Rabbit Derpy appeared first.
Wolf followed.
Then Dragon.
Finally, Harpy.
The four fragments stumbled apart as the merged form vanished between them.
Harpy landed badly.
He went down onto one knee with a hand against his sternum, and stayed there a moment longer than the separation should have required.
Rabbit looked toward Wolf.
Wolf looked toward Dragon.
Dragon looked toward Harpy.
Harpy saw all three of them staring at him and got back to his feet.
"No."
Rabbit raised both hands.
"We have not actually said anything yet."
"You were about to."
Wolf folded his arms.
"We were specifically told not to summon the original again."
Harpy pointed toward him.
"Exactly. That instruction has not suddenly stopped existing."
Dragon glanced toward Pest, who remained several feet away with her weapon in hand.
"She also just threatened Lewd."
Pest's long ears twitched.
"I can hear every word you are saying."
Rabbit looked over his shoulder.
"We are fully aware of that."
Pest's eyes narrowed.
Rabbit decided that continuing that particular exchange would be unhealthy.
He turned back toward Harpy.
"That is exactly why you are the obvious choice."
Harpy stared at him.
"I would love to hear the reasoning that somehow makes me responsible for this."
"You are the only one of us with a physical body."
Wolf nodded.
"You came from the music festival."
Dragon added,
"You were the first skin he shed all those years ago."
Harpy's expression flattened.
"And how does that make me responsible for summoning him?"
Rabbit kept going.
"Because unlike Little Devil, you did not turn into some independent creature running around because one emotion became strong enough to give discarded flesh a mind."
Harpy's eyes narrowed.
Rabbit gestured toward him.
"You remained inside his shadow. You are one of us, but you are also something different."
Wolf tilted his head.
"And sometimes you become a weapon."
Dragon nodded thoughtfully.
"Especially with that wolf woman."
Rabbit snapped his fingers.
"What was her name again?"
Wolf frowned.
"I believe it started with a C. Was it Cider?"
Dragon shook his head.
"That does not sound right. Perhaps Cedar?"
Rabbit tried again.
"Chowder?"
The three went quiet.
Harpy stared at them.
Then, at exactly the same moment, Rabbit, Wolf, and Dragon snapped their fingers.
"Cinder."
Harpy slowly closed his eyes.
"You genuinely had to go through Chowder before remembering Cinder?"
Rabbit shrugged.
"We arrived at the correct answer eventually."
"That was absolutely not the point."
Pest watched the four with rapidly diminishing patience.
"Your names and jokes have had their turn.Now call the one I wish to learn."
Harpy glanced toward her.
Then back toward the others.
Rabbit pointed at him again.
"You possess almost as much access to power as the original."
"Stop."
The word came out flatter than anything Harpy had said all night.
Rabbit blinked.
Harpy pressed two fingers against the center of his chest — the same place he had held it when they landed.
"Twenty minutes ago I told the three of you that when we merge, we call him. That he can hear it. That he was shaking." His hand stayed where it was. "Nobody has mentioned that since."
Wolf's ears went back.
"We have not forgotten it."
"You have not said it."
"That is not the same as forgetting."
"It looks identical from here."
Dragon's expression darkened. "You felt it again just now. During the separation."
Harpy did not answer immediately.
"Yes."
"How bad."
"Worse than the merge."
Rabbit's grin was completely gone. "Then why did we—"
"Because it isn't voluntary. We have already established that it isn't voluntary." Harpy finally lowered his hand. "But this would be. What the three of you are asking me to do would be a decision."
He looked at each of them.
"You want me to reach down a line that is already fraying and pull on it on purpose."
Silence.
"I know how much of him is on the other end of it," Harpy said. "So no. Not me."
Wolf's frown deepened.
"That is not the only reason you are refusing."
Harpy's wings shifted.
"No," he admitted. "It isn't."
His usual teasing tone had disappeared entirely.
"I remain close to the original because that is where I belong."
Rabbit folded his arms.
"You still behave like one of us."
"I am one of you."
"But you already admitted you are different."
Harpy looked directly at him.
"I am different."
The answer quieted the others.
Harpy's gaze lifted toward the endless darkness above the Soul Seam.
"I know I am not the original. I do not wake up pretending I am the real Derpy simply because I came from him."
He looked down at his hand.
"That distinction matters."
Dragon watched him carefully.
Harpy curled his fingers.
"When we enter battle, I do not decide what the original should become. I do not seize control because I believe I know what would make his life easier."
He closed the hand into a fist.
"I cover him. I protect him. If he needs me as a weapon, I become one. If he asks me to fight, I fight."
Wolf's brow lowered.
"Are you saying you cannot act unless he gives you permission?"
"Not exactly. I still make my own choices."
Harpy looked toward all three fragments.
"But I refuse to pretend his life belongs to me simply because I was born from him."
Rabbit's ears lowered slightly.
Harpy continued.
"You want to summon the original?"
Dragon nodded.
"We need to."
Harpy exhaled.
"Then all of you can try."
Before anyone moved, a thick black drop fell from above.
Plop.
Everyone looked down.
The substance struck the surface of the Soul Seam and began spreading beneath their feet.
Wolf stepped away.
"That does not look like anything that belongs here."
Another drop fell.
Then another.
Rabbit slowly looked upward.
"I am fairly certain that was not there a moment ago."
Dragon immediately turned toward Pest.
"Is this normal for the Soul Seam?"
Pest stepped closer and studied the liquid.
"No. I have never seen anything like it enter my kingdom this way."
The substance did not behave like water.
It crawled.
Thin tendrils spread across the dark surface like shadows searching for somewhere to hide.
Nearby souls recoiled from it.
Their pale forms drifted away as more black liquid fell from the darkness overhead.
Pest lowered the end of her staff toward it.
Then a voice came from inside the liquid.
"I'm worthless."
Everyone froze.
The voice was unmistakably connected to Derpy.
But it sounded distant.
Muffled by something deeper than mere space.
Another layer joined it.
"I feel like scum."
Then another.
"I cannot seem to do anything correctly."
The black liquid trembled.
More drops fell.
The thoughts began overlapping.
"This Cassandra girl keeps pushing too hard."
"The pressure from the den is becoming unbearable."
"I could use my powers to make everything stop…"
The entire Soul Seam gave a low shudder.
"…but if I do, those gods will send their envoys after me again."
Pest's expression changed.
The voice continued.
"I do not want them trying to recruit me."
"I do not want anyone getting hurt because of me."
"I hate feeling like this."
The black liquid spread farther.
"I hate what this is doing to everyone."
Another layer followed.
"I hate this."
Then another.
"I hate this."
The Soul Seam shook hard enough that several distant chains rattled.
Harpy had gone very quiet.
He was staring at the spreading liquid with an expression the other three recognized, because it was the one he had been wearing when he told them Derpy was shaking.
Pest slowly looked toward the fragments.
"These thoughts that drip from realms above —belong to him you claim to love?"
Harpy did not answer.
He did not need to.
Rabbit's grin had disappeared.
Wolf looked tense.
Dragon's attention remained fixed on the spreading liquid.
Then another chorus of voices descended from above.
Not Derpy.
Smaller voices.
Many of them.
"We are trying to reach him!"
"Master will not let us protect him!"
"We are still inside his shadow!"
"His shadow leads directly toward this place!"
"The longer we sleep inside him, the farther down we seem to go!"
"This is incredibly annoying!"
Another voice cut sharply across the others.
"Brin, please stop shouting over everyone!"
Then another spoke.
"When are you finally going to forgive Master?"
A different voice immediately responded.
"We already told you that what happened was not his fault!"
"We sealed ourselves away because we wanted to protect him!"
"He is dealing with far too much up there!"
"And we cannot even reach him when he needs us!"
Pest slowly raised her head.
Something had appeared high above the Soul Seam.
A tiny white opening.
That alone should have been impossible.
Pest had ruled this realm long enough to know every way a soul could enter.
Every point where a contract might tear a temporary opening.
Every weakness created by a god's presence.
This was none of them.
White light spilled through the opening.
Small figures moved beyond it.
Pest stared.
Rabbit floated closer to her side.
"Do you know what we are looking at?"
Pest did not answer.
She was too busy trying to understand it.
Several small people crowded around the opening.
Maids.
Apparently.
But the moment Pest reached outward with her senses, the absurdity stopped being amusing.
Power answered her.
Real power.
Distinct power.
Each small figure possessed an individual presence.
Yet all of them were connected to one larger source.
Derpy.
Pest's fingers tightened around her staff.
Are these his thoughts too?
No.
Thoughts did not argue with each other.
Thoughts did not possess separate magical signatures.
And thoughts certainly did not make an ancient goddess reconsider whether she actually understood the boundaries of another being's soul.
One of the figures stepped forward.
She was small, but the others shifted around her with the unconscious obedience reserved for someone accustomed to being heard.
Long lavender-silver hair fell behind her in twin tails.
Curved black dragon horns rose from her head, decorated with small golden accents.
Magenta-purple eyes studied the opening with unnerving concentration.
A thick lavender-scaled dragon tail extended behind her, armored along the top by darker ridges.
Her black-and-white maid uniform had been carefully fitted and layered with ruffles, belts, and dark accessories.
In one hand, she carried a tablet covered in constantly moving violet symbols.
The dragon maid lifted her head.
"Chibis, everyone needs to calm down long enough for us to think."
The arguing immediately began to quiet.
Pest watched her.
"We have been patient," the dragon maid continued.
Someone behind her made a very obvious noise of disagreement.
The dragon maid ignored it.
"I know everyone is frustrated. We can all feel what Master is going through."
The others became quieter.
"Remaining inside his shadow while he refuses to call us has been difficult."
One maid shouted from behind her.
"Difficult is not the word I would use! This feels like torture!"
The dragon maid closed her eyes briefly.
"Thank you for the correction."
She looked down at the tablet.
"But we are close."
That captured everyone's attention.
She lowered the device.
"You can all feel it too."
Several of the maids stopped moving entirely.
"Master is going to call us soon."
One of them immediately launched herself upward.
"You said soon! How soon are we talking about?"
She shot past the dragon maid.
Bounced off the edge of whatever strange place contained them.
Then came flying back.
The dragon maid sighed.
"Please stop bouncing around while I am trying to explain."
"I cannot stop! I have far too much energy!"
"You are capable of containing your energy."
The bouncing maid froze in midair.
"Where exactly am I supposed to put it?"
The dragon maid opened one eye.
"Inside yourself."
The maid actually considered that.
"I suppose I could try that."
She dropped.
Three seconds passed.
Then —
BOING!
She shot upward again.
Pest stared.
She had watched civilizations collapse while their gods begged for mercy.
She had seen entire bloodlines enter the Soul Seam in a single night.
She had judged monsters that mortals eventually turned into myths.
Somehow, a collection of tiny maids living inside a Dragon-Wolf's shadow was more confusing.
The dragon maid leaned toward the opening.
For one brief moment, Pest thought their eyes met.
Her enormous ears rose.
Can she see me?
Before Pest could decide, two more maids stepped forward.
They immediately began arguing.
One possessed bright pink-red hair tied high behind her head, small black horns, pointed ears, and little dark wings.
Her maid uniform was black and red, covered in ruffles, belts, and crimson accents.
The other was a blue-haired wolf maid with large black wolf ears, sharp red eyes, and a thick blue tail.
Her black-and-purple uniform looked considerably more combat-ready, especially with the heavy gauntlets covering her forearms.
The wolf maid looked toward the opening.
"I wonder whether Master's next song is going to be rock."
Her ears perked.
"It better be. Vivi has been spending far too much time up there with him lately."
The pink-haired maid immediately turned.
"Would you stop complaining, wolfie?"
The wolf maid's ear twitched.
The pink-haired maid placed both hands against her hips.
"Master is obviously going to choose me if he wants someone to sing with him."
The wolf maid slowly turned.
"Kefa, you should reconsider your next sentence."
Kefa grinned.
"Just like he chose me last time."
A low growl escaped the wolf.
Kefa leaned closer.
"Perhaps Master simply prefers someone who actually knows how to perform."
Black energy gathered behind the blue-haired maid.
CLINK.
Pest's attention sharpened.
CLINK.
CLINK.
CLINK.
Heavy black chains emerged from the wolf maid's back and twisted around the strange space like living serpents.
Kefa looked at the chains.
Then toward the wolf.
"Someone sounds jealous."
Luda bared her teeth.
"I am not jealous, and not every conversation needs to revolve around you, you winged idiot."
Kefa's wings spread.
"This conversation appears to revolve around me right now."
One chain shot forward.
Kefa jumped aside.
CRACK!
The chain struck the place where she had been standing.
Kefa's eyes widened.
"Did you seriously just attack me?"
"You said you wanted attention."
Another chain whipped toward her.
Kefa flew sideways.
"You psychotic mutt! Stop trying to hit me!"
"Come back here and repeat that."
"I already repeated it while looking directly at you!"
They collided.
Within seconds, the peaceful opening became chaos.
Kefa's wings beat wildly.
Luda's tail thrashed.
Black chains snapped around them while both maids shouted insults with enough enthusiasm to temporarily erase their earlier concern for Derpy.
Rabbit slowly looked toward Harpy.
"Those two are supposed to protect him?"
Harpy sighed.
"They are."
Dragon watched another chain whip across the opening.
"And they are actually competent?"
"They are extremely competent."
Wolf stared upward.
"That somehow makes what I am seeing much worse."
Pest said nothing.
She was too busy feeling their power.
Kefa.
Luda.
The dragon maid.
The others.
None of them were ordinary.
The argument lasted several more seconds before something much smaller shot between Kefa and Luda.
"Both of you need to stop fighting right now!"
Two tiny hands reached outward.
One caught Luda directly across the face.
The other caught Kefa.
Both larger maids stopped.
The newcomer was smaller than either of them.
Large pink-and-black animal ears rose from her dark hair, which had been streaked with vivid pink.
Huge violet-blue eyes dominated her tiny face.
A fluffy tail moved behind a warm golden maid dress trimmed in white ruffles and small bows.
Despite her size, she held both larger maids apart by their faces.
"Luda, Kefa, you are going to stop before I stop you myself."
Luda growled through the hand squishing her cheek.
"She started the argument."
Kefa immediately protested.
"I absolutely did not start anything."
"You called me wolfie."
"You called me a bimbo."
"You behave like a bimbo."
Kefa's wings flared.
The smaller maid pushed them farther apart.
"I said both of you are finished!"
They fell silent.
Pest studied her.
Brin.
That was the name one of the voices had used.
At first, Pest thought the strange familiarity came from Brin alone.
Then she looked toward the dragon maid.
At Kefa.
At Luda.
At the others gathering behind them.
No.
It came from all of them.
The realization erased Pest's smile.
Something about the power surrounding the maids felt familiar.
Not their individual abilities.
Not their souls.
Not even their magical signatures.
It was the way their power seemed to exist without asking permission from any system Pest understood.
She had felt something like that once before.
A very long time ago.
Drago.
Pest tightened her fingers around her staff.
Drago's power had been different.
His thoughts could become reality.
These maids clearly were not rewriting existence simply by thinking.
Yet the same contradiction surrounded them.
Power that simply was.
Power that appeared to exist first and leave reality scrambling to explain it afterward.
Brin finally released Kefa and Luda.
"What matters right now is Master's song."
Luda folded her arms.
Kefa did the same.
Both deliberately turned away from each other.
Brin continued.
"Even if Master keeps us inside his shadow, we can still help him. Whether he summons us into the open or leaves us here, we can still support the song."
Kefa's ears perked.
"Does that mean I still get to sing with him?"
Luda immediately looked over.
"She said we can support him."
Kefa rolled her eyes.
"I heard what she said."
"Then why did you immediately turn it into yourself?"
"Because I am the best singer."
Luda's eyes narrowed.
"You are about to—"
Brin shoved both hands against their faces again.
"Neither of you is starting another argument."
Silence.
Pest continued staring upward.
In all her existence, she had never seen anything so powerful.
So absurd.
And so irritatingly —
Cute.
Her expression hardened.
Absolutely not.
She was Pest.
God of Pestilence.
Ruler of the Soul Seam.
She did not stand beneath impossible divine openings and think tiny magical servants were adorable.
Rabbit Derpy looked toward her.
"Pest, are you all right?"
She turned sharply.
"What reason would you have for asking?"
"You have been staring at them for a very long time."
"I am studying their magical structure."
Rabbit smiled.
"You think they are cute."
Pest slowly turned her head toward him.
Rabbit immediately moved behind Dragon.
"I would like to clarify that I never said anything."
"You said it very clearly."
"I withdraw the observation."
Pest's staff tilted.
"Withdraw it fast, withdraw it well,or I may drop you somewhere fell."
Rabbit disappeared completely behind Dragon.
Before Pest could decide whether to punish him anyway, the dragon maid's voice cut across the opening.
"Everyone needs to stop."
Every maid turned toward her.
The dragon maid — Ruda, Pest gathered from the way the others said it — was staring down at her glowing tablet.
Symbols raced across the surface.
Ruda's expression changed.
"This is interesting."
Pest's ears rose.
Ruda studied the information.
"It appears Master's shadow has attracted additional divine forces."
The playful atmosphere vanished.
Pest tightened her grip around her staff.
Ruda's magenta eyes narrowed as information continued crossing the tablet.
"And part of the power entering the area…"
She looked directly toward the opening.
"…belongs to Master."
Luda's black chains immediately rose behind her.
Kefa spread her wings.
Ruda pointed toward both of them.
"You two will keep the intruding forces occupied."
Kefa grinned.
"I have been waiting for you to say something like that."
Luda cracked her knuckles.
"Try not to get in my way this time."
Kefa's eye twitched.
"Say that one more time and I will—"
Ruda looked toward them.
"Both of you."
She did not raise her voice.
They stopped.
"Keep the intruding forces occupied until Master summons us. That is the priority."
Luda's expression sharpened.
"I understand. Nothing reaches him through us."
Kefa released an irritated sigh.
"Fine. I can behave until Master calls."
Ruda looked toward the strange opening.
"He will call us when he is ready."
Pest continued staring.
Everything about those maids reminded her of Drago in ways she could not properly explain.
That disturbed her more than their power.
A hand settled lightly against Pest's shoulder.
She immediately turned.
Harpy Derpy stood beside her.
Unlike Rabbit, Wolf, and Dragon, he was not laughing.
He was watching the chibis too.
"It is difficult to understand, isn't it?"
Pest narrowed her eyes.
"Remove your hand before you learnhow quickly touch may make you burn."
Harpy immediately removed it.
"That reaction is actually part of my point."
Pest stared at him.
Harpy gestured toward the opening.
"This is what we have been trying to tell you."
Pest's ears shifted.
"You speak as though my sight is blind.Explain your point and waste less time."
Harpy folded his arms.
"You think you understand us."
Pest lifted her chin.
"I understand enough of fourto throw you through my kingdom's floor."
Rabbit shouted from behind Dragon.
"You still have not managed to keep me down permanently!"
Pest flicked one finger.
A thorn shot from the ground, curved around Dragon, and struck Rabbit across the backside.
Rabbit yelped.
"That attack was unnecessary!"
Harpy ignored him.
"No, Pest. You understand what you have already seen."
Pest's expression hardened.
Harpy pointed toward Rabbit.
"You fight Rabbit, so you believe you understand how he moves."
Then Wolf.
"You have learned how Wolf attacks."
Then Dragon.
"You think you understand how Dragon reacts."
Finally, he touched his own chest.
"And you know how I use my music."
Harpy looked upward.
"Then you start convincing yourself that you understand Derpy."
Pest's ear twitched.
Harpy shook his head.
"And then the original does something nobody expected."
Pest glanced toward the opening.
Harpy followed her gaze.
"Suddenly, there is something else inside his shadow."
He gestured toward the maids.
"Something else he created."
His eyes narrowed.
"Something else he sealed away."
His voice became more serious.
"Some ability none of us realized existed."
Harpy paused.
"Sometimes even something the original did not understand about himself until the moment he needed it."
Pest turned fully toward him.
"You call such chaos normal fare?Then madness surely follows there."
Harpy laughed softly.
"I would never call it normal."
That answer caught Pest slightly off guard.
Harpy noticed.
"That is the point."
Pest looked upward again.
The maids.
The black liquid carrying Derpy's thoughts.
The impossible opening.
The fragments.
The direct connection between Derpy's shadow and the Soul Seam.
Every answer only produced something stranger.
Harpy released a tired breath.
"Every time someone thinks they have finally reached the bottom of what the original is, he reveals something else and makes them question whether they understood anything at all."
Pest watched Ruda studying the strange opening.
For the first time since meeting the fragments, Pest wondered whether she had been asking the wrong question.
She had spent so much time asking how powerful Derpy was.
But perhaps raw power was not the strange part.
Drago's thoughts had once made reality itself obey.
Now Pest stared into another Dragon-Wolf's shadow and saw beings whose existence reminded her of something reality itself had once failed to contain.
Harpy glanced toward her.
"Now you see what I mean."
Pest looked at him.
"What exactly do you believe you have noticed?"
"That expression you are making."
"I am not making any expression."
"You absolutely are."
Pest narrowed her eyes.
Harpy smiled.
"That is the face everyone eventually makes after deciding they understand him."
Pest raised her staff.
Harpy carefully stepped backward.
"I am only saying—"
"Choose carefully what leaves your tongue,unless you'd like your wings unstrung."
Harpy raised both hands.
"Then allow me to welcome you to the confusion."
Pest stared at him.
Before she could answer, something changed above them.
Ruda suddenly turned toward one side of the opening.
"Everyone wait."
Two figures shot downward.
They did not tumble helplessly into the Soul Seam.
They descended with control.
With purpose.
Like predators entering territory they had already decided they could survive.
The first landed facing Pest.
She was a rabbit woman, taller than Pest's current reduced form, with long lavender hair spilling behind enormous white lop ears.
Dark armor protected her shoulders, forearms, and lower legs.
A black-and-purple mantle moved behind her.
A long blade rested in each hand.
Both weapons burned with blue, violet, and magenta energy.
Her pink-purple eyes settled directly upon Pest.
The second figure landed closer to the four fragments.
She was a purple-scaled dragon woman with long black hair, swept horns, and a powerful scaled tail.
Dark armor edged in gold covered portions of her body.
She carried two curved blades.
One shimmered with violet energy.
The other burned with sickly green light.
Rabbit's ears shot upright.
"Oh no."
Wolf followed his gaze.
"You know them?"
"We know of them." Rabbit had gone considerably paler. "Those are the two he made when the chibis were not enough."
Dragon's eyes narrowed at the armored rabbit.
"Do they have names?"
Harpy answered without looking away.
"They do."
"Then use them."
"They have not given them to her yet." Harpy nodded slightly toward Pest. "They will, when they decide she has earned hearing them. That is how he built them."
Pest's ears rose at that.
The rabbit warrior looked directly at her.
The dragon turned toward the fragments.
Then both women spoke together.
"Tell us something…"
The rabbit shifted one glowing blade into a fighting position.
"…small rabbit."
Pest's eye twitched.
The dragon lowered herself into a stance.
"Do you feel fortunate enough to survive what comes next?"
Rabbit Derpy immediately backed away.
"This is going to become ugly very quickly."
Wolf looked toward him.
"What happened?"
Rabbit pointed toward Pest.
"She called Pest small."
Dragon slowly moved beside him.
"That was probably a mistake."
Harpy folded his arms.
"This should at least be educational."
Pest stared at the rabbit warrior.
"You called me small?"
Black roses began blooming around her feet.
The rabbit smiled.
Pest slowly raised her staff.
"Perhaps you would care to repeat—"
A voice exploded throughout the Soul Seam.
"EVERYONE STOP RIGHT NOW."
Everything froze.
Pest.
The two warriors.
The fragments.
Even the chibis above.
It was not one voice.
It was many layers occupying the same sound.
Some exhausted.
Others angry.
Others frightened.
Yet every layer belonged to the same presence Pest had felt leaking through the black liquid.
The original.
Derpy.
Harpy's hand went back to his chest.
He did not say anything about it.
The rabbit warrior immediately looked upward.
"Master, can you hear us?"
The multilayered voice answered.
"I can hear all of you, and I need you to stop before this becomes worse."
Her blades lowered slightly.
"But she threatened—"
"I know exactly what she threatened."
The dragon woman's tail struck the ground.
"Then you understand why we came down here."
"I understand, and I am still telling you not to attack her."
That silenced the dragon.
Pest's expression changed.
So he had heard everything.
Rabbit Derpy leaned toward Wolf.
"We warned her."
Pest shot him a look.
Rabbit immediately found something else to stare at.
The multilayered voice continued.
"I will deal with all of them later."
Pest raised one eyebrow.
All of them?
Was he referring to the warriors?
The fragments?
Her?
The rabbit warrior clearly wanted to argue.
"Master, Cassandra is already putting enough pressure on you. You should not have to deal with whatever is happening down here too."
"This is not the time for that conversation."
His voice was not loud.
It did not need to be.
The rabbit warrior fell silent.
The purple dragon looked upward toward the opening where Ruda, Brin, Kefa, Luda, and the remaining chibis waited.
Derpy's voice continued.
"Stay with the chibis."
The dragon nodded.
"Protect them."
There was a pause.
Then came the order that made Pest's expression sharpen.
"And if any souls try to reach them, devour the ones that are not innocent."
The purple dragon's eyes immediately shifted toward the countless souls wandering through Pest's kingdom.
Her poisonous blades brightened.
The rabbit warrior smiled.
Pest stared at both women.
"I beg your pardon?"
Neither moved.
Pest planted the end of her staff against the Soul Seam.
"This remains my kingdom."
The four fragments collectively winced.
Wolf looked toward Rabbit.
"This argument was inevitable."
Pest ignored them.
"You do not descend into my domain and begin consuming souls simply because a disembodied Dragon-Wolf tells you to do so."
The multilayered voice answered almost immediately.
"Pest."
Everything inside her went still.
Not because he shouted.
He barely raised his voice.
It was what existed underneath it.
Something painfully familiar.
Not Drago's voice.
Not Drago's soul.
Not Drago himself.
Pest knew that immediately.
Yet beneath Derpy's exhaustion —
beneath his anger —
beneath the self-loathing dripping into her kingdom —
was the same impossible contradiction she remembered from another Dragon-Wolf long ago.
Power vast enough to frighten gods —
wrapped around someone desperately trying not to use it.
Pest slowly raised her eyes toward the opening.
Black liquid carrying Derpy's thoughts continued falling into the Soul Seam.
The chibis waited beyond the tear.
Two powerful warriors stood beneath them.
The four fragments remained near Pest.
And somewhere above every one of them —
the original still refused to descend.
Pest tightened both hands around her staff.
She had threatened Lewd because she believed the fragments were refusing her out of arrogance.
Now she was beginning to wonder whether their warnings had been something else entirely.
She glanced sideways at Harpy.
His hand was still against his chest.
It had been there since the voice arrived.
Harpy had spent all this time telling her that she only understood what she had already seen.
Perhaps he was right.
Perhaps she had spent too much time asking what Derpy was.
Because every answer revealed another impossible piece.
And none of those pieces fit together as neatly as Pest expected.
The white opening pulsed above the Soul Seam.
Pest stared into it.
Somewhere beyond that thin boundary, the one she had demanded to meet was listening.
The one whose discarded fragments had learned to fight together.
The one whose shadow contained living maids with powers reality itself seemed unable to categorize.
The one whose thoughts were leaking into the kingdom of the dead because he was carrying more pressure than he knew how to release.
The one who could command warriors powerful enough to descend into Pest's realm — and still ordered them not to attack her.
The original Derpy.
Pest had demanded to know what he was.
She had demanded to know how strong he was.
She had demanded that his fragments bring him before her.
But for the first time since making that demand, another question finally occurred to her.
A question she had never bothered asking.
Pest's grip loosened slightly around her staff.
Her purple eyes remained fixed upon the opening.
And quietly, almost unwillingly, she wondered:
What did the original Derpy think of her?