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"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
- Oliver, (Sons of the Desert)
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<[A Few Minutes ago]>
<(Omniscient POV)>
"Ugh, I swear, I hate my father more than anything. Always forcing me into this ridiculous nonsense. It's like he refuses to accept that I want nothing to do with the family business. No matter how many times I try to walk away, he just won't let me. And the worst part? He doesn't even know how to ask—just barks orders like a tyrant. 'Mephista, do this or I'll gut you. Mephista, do that or I'll skin you alive just like I did to your mother...' I'm so sick of being treated like some... mindless puppet." Mephista grumbled, her voice laced with exhaustion.
"Tell me, human—am I overreacting, or is my father really the most insufferable, sadistic bastard to ever exist?" she asked, her gaze flicking toward Natasha, who was too busy fending off a swarm of freshly conjured rock demons with her newly forged weapon to entertain the rant.
Natasha was certain she would've been dead a thousand times over if not for the weapon Atem had given her. The Universal Weapon—or whatever its name was—was unlike anything she'd ever wielded. She hadn't figured out all of its capabilities yet, but even its force fields and energy blasts alone were enough to handle the minor hellspawn she was up against.
"This thing might be just as good as Thor's hammer," she muttered under her breath, bringing the hammer down to crush a demon's skull with a single swing. Without missing a beat, she fired off a barrage of energy blasts, reducing several demons to ashes before swinging the hammer once more with all her strength. Then, as if she had activated another feature of the hammer, a powerful wind vortex erupted from the weapon, surging forward and blowing away the remaining creatures, scattering them like dried leaves caught in a storm.
"...You actually took them all down? Huh. I figured they'd at least be able to kill you outright if not manage to capture you. Guess they were just as useless as every other so-called 'elite' bodyguard my father had ever assigned to me." She chuckled, her wings unfurling as she lifted herself a foot off the ground.
"Natalia, wasn't it? From what I've observed, you're quite the fascinating mortal—though I suppose that's expected when you've got a god with Skyfather-tier strength watching over you." Mephista mused, tilting her head slightly. "A shame we find ourselves on opposite sides... although that doesn't have to be the case, you know."
Her smile took on the polished charm of a high-profile saleswoman as a pair of green hellfire orbs flickered to life in her crimson hands. "How about I make you an offer? Pledge your loyalty to me, and I'll grant you more power than you've ever imagined. More than that, I can even fix your... little infertility issue." Her voice dripped with honeyed persuasion as she pointed towards her stomach. "All it takes is just signing away the rights to your soul. It's such a tiny itty-bitty thing that you won't even miss it. And trust me, if you agree, you'll be saving us both a lot of trouble. The best part? We will both be profiting from this."
Natasha frowned at the offer, the gears in her mind turning as she considered her response. Accepting was out of the question. Even the most naive souls who had never encountered a demon knew better than to trust one. Yes, she wanted a family of her own someday, to have children—but she wasn't desperate enough to sell her soul for it. Besides, she was still young. There was time to figure things out. Who knew? Maybe she'd find another way to get what she wanted. Human science was advancing quite fast after all.
