Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

Charlotte went back to the penthouse to rest for the night.

Her bed was red, not to her liking. But it was comfortable enough for Charlotte, she slept automatically.

=0=0=

But right next to her room, Silla was watching the entire city of Las Vegas. This city was her gift from the United States long ago, but the only other entities aware of this fact were the U.S. government and the Babel Organization. She simply is the faceless ruler of this city.

Of course, as the owner she set up an entire demonic array to keep watch, who goes in and out, who does what, and when. She allowed gangs to stay and thrive here, she herself masquerades as a gangster too here in the Illumination gang, simply just for the fun of it.

So finding the people responsible for attacking Charlotte was easy, too easy in fact.

People who are Gem Holder popped up on her mini map of the city emit more energy than they realized. Currently, there are 43 Gem Holders in her city, some from the gangs and some took refuge since the government has little say in who is able to enter. And some more interesting signatures, five people with strange auras around them.

Three are strong, but not strong, enough to give Silla a try. One that could give her a real challenge, but would not fare well against her Anima Pactum. And one could stand equal to her, a strong presence she knew very well.

Her smile widens, turning from a fake one to her real one. She will be busy tonight, no sleep for her. Silla merely shrugged, just another day for her.

She took out a piece of paper, burning a red demonic sigil into the paper. A letter 'S' with horns on top and a gold outline - her signature.

"Incantations are long~ but oh well, Satanic Edicts are only good for fighting", Silla giggled.

"Through earthly tremor and heavenly wind. Send my message away, O' will of the World!"

Mystical energy, divine and earthly encased the paper. It vanished without a trace. Silla sighed, then she laughed, "You know, Luci, I think you would be better off if you developed communication."

The Devil himself answered.

Heh, that may be true. But living with regrets isn't my style.

"Hah, seriously, because of you I can't learn Earthly Edict and Heavenly Edict."

I did save your life, so that makes us even.

"True.", Silla shrugged.

She turned back to the mini-map, two of the three weaker signatures were in a separate building while the other was going around town with the two strong ones.

It would not be wise to fight all of them at once, so Silla decided to take two as hostages. It would help her gain information about their leader, and have bargaining chips.

"It feels so good to be overpowered~", Silla giggled.

=0=0=

Silla arrived at the location, a hotel under no gang's control. It's good since there will be no dealing with others. It looks like an ordinary hotel, tall, big, and square. She double-checked, there was nothing worthy of mention, except the nuclear power generator underneath.

There is no need to say anything, nuclear energy is a clear form of energy after all. Well, besides the radiation.

Silla walked into the lobby, empty since by this time no one would be there. They would book the room or outside to enjoy the city life and would be back by morning.

The receptionist clearly did not expect visitors, hurriedly stood up to greet Silla, "Greetings, lady, I'm sorry but the rooms are full—"

Silla ignored him and walked to the elevator like she owned the place. That is technically true.

"Wait—", the receptionist tried to grab Silla, but her blood-red eyes made him flinch.

She was the ruler of this place, her eyes told the man that. It was the eyes of a king, scrutinizing her subjects for mistakes.

The elevator closed, and the receptionist crumbled down in a cold sweat. 

Silla giggles as she goes up, normal people know their place by instinct. But Silla knew if people had enough balls they would surely win against the Gem Holders, like Charlotte.

Despite being called a Gem Holder, Charlotte's signature only told her she was a normal human. Was it something that blocked her radar? Or is it something to do with her origin?

Being a war orphan of the Greeco Civil War was nothing special. Perhaps it lies in her country of origin? If the Romans were called the Architect of Civilization, then the Greeks would be called Inventors of Laws.

So what made Charlotte the way she is?

Silla giggles at the thoughts, she was an enjoyer at heart but her job required her to be a researcher, and perhaps that made her more curious about Charlotte.

Ding!

"Oh.", she reached her floor.

The elevator opened, and a blade pierced Silla's chest, pinning her to the wall. She just walked as the sword rubbed against her, letting more blood bleed out. This was nothing for her.

"You know, I was stabbed a while back, but by a crazy woman. I didn't expect this little meeting to start with an attack.", Silla said to no one.

"Anyway", a satanic circle appeared on her hand, "Satanic Crown - Demonic Summon."

A little imp came out of her ritual circle. It looks like a generic demon, with red skin, bat wings, curved horns, and a thin pointing tail. It flew and landed on Silla's shoulder.

Silla treads the way carelessly, nothing here could deal damage to her. Her little imp was nothing more than to make her job easier since she only had one fear right now - she feared she would kill them easily since she did not know how to hold back, either not doing anything or going full force.

The imp opened its mouth and a demonic circle formed in its mouth. It shot a ray of red hellish energy at a door with the tag 'Room 506'. The blast of pure demonic energy punched a hole through the door to the other side, destroying the wall behind the door. Luckily, it shot to open space rather than hitting any building.

Silla crashed through the broken door, her arms covered in draconic scales and her hands turned into dragon claws. She slammed her fist to the right, connected with someone.

"You know, sneak attacks don't really work on me. I cannot die.", Silla laughed, "But you are quite sturdy yourself."

The receiver of Silla's strike was a woman wearing a dress made of iron silk. Silla recognized it as a product of Mu. The woman eyed Silla with no emotion, similar to Charlotte though fundamentally different. Unlike Charlotte, who suffered from emotional numbness, this woman was no human.

She was an android, a machine made to look like a human. But there is something more to her cold amber eyes. Silla felt familiar, she had seen those gazes before a few hundred years ago.

"So, where is your friend?", Silla asked with a murderous grin.

"Here, Sentinel of the West Coast.", a man in a brown tuxedo called out to her. He wore an eye patch covering his right eye.

Now, where had Silla seen this before?

"Odin?", Silla asked.

The man laughed, "Only partially, since I'm made of fragments of gods. Odin is a part of me."

His eye glowed yellow, with a tiny bit more life than the woman. He bowed.

"I apologize for my colleague's behaviors. I am Mercury, and she is Bellona."

Bellona frowned as Mercury gave her name away.

"Roman gods?", Silla questioned.

Mercury nodded, "Yes, Sentinel, we are Roman Gods. But the correct term would be Artificial God, or Patchwork God since we are made of shards of different gods."

The researcher in her crepted up, "Explain."

"Very well, we were created from parts of destroyed gods, made by our maker, Romulus. Our current owner is Sul Umor, who possessed the blood of the ancient god-king."

Silla could not detect lies, then again, she could not taste emotions from them. Machines do not have emotions, only imitations.

"So Mercury, can you explain why you guys attacked Charlotte? This is my city, you attacked my people, and no one gets off scot-free, even if you are gods.", Silla smirked.

The imp on her shoulder let out a quiet laughter as if mocking the gods. Mercury merely sighed.

"Alright, Sentinel. The boss just wanted to talk to Akasha, but the whole ordeal became a mess because of Olivia.", Mercury shrugged, "Me and Sir Umor were going to be the ones talking, Olivia and Bellona would be on guard..."

Mercury felt the intense glare of Silla, looking down at him as just a mere pest. What is a god made of fragments compared to one inherited from the Satanic Crown? She could destroy both of them here and now, but she has to stick to the plan.

"I will be taking both of you hostage, resist and I will destroy your Cores.", Silla grinned as both of the Artifical Gods widened their eyes.

Silla was smart and wise, she knew how to be on top all the time. She had deduced they have a power source somewhere in their body, like any automaton. There are no signals like them from here to anywhere, so their power source must be local.

"Now come quietly, or else.", Silla smiled, showing her pointy, shark-like teeth. The imp only giggled, it hopped from Silla's shoulder to Mercury's, "Also, it's a bomb, it won't get you offline but your body will be cursed with... huh, I actually don't know! It's usually just an instant kill!"

Silla loosened her arm a bit, just for Bellona to push it and get herself free. She stood there quietly, not moving a muscle, and observed Silla.

"Are you gonna fight?", Silla glared.

"No.", Bellona answered in an emotionless low voice, "There is no point in fighting a losing battle."

"Good!", Silla nodded, satisfied with the answer, "The Goddess of War is truly as wise as her husband!"

Bellona's amber eyes became sharp as bloodlust filled the room. Mercury backed off and vanished.

Well, he just went invisible and stood in the corner. 

"Do not call Lord Mars my husband!! I carried a fragment of the Emperor's Father himself! I am not powerful enough to stand beside Lord Mars! Saying I am his wife is nothing short of an insult!!"

A greatsword manifested in her hands, fiery eyes blazing with hatred. Silla merely snickered.

"Oh my~ how scary~", Silla said sarcastically, "You are right, even if you have a fragment of Mars, you will never live up to his name, because you are weak against anything not human. You are a weapon, an incompetent weapon that can never hold a candle to your components, gods of war, it's a shame really."

Basic Silla tactic, making the enemy angry so they cannot think straight. But she knew her opponent was a goddess of war, so making her angry would probably be worse with all of the rage juice.

But this was Silla, the Pandemonium Princess.

Red rage energy crackles from her sword, swinging down in an attempt to split Silla in half. People might only see after images by the sheer speed of the strike.

Silla moved out of the way, but not quick enough as her right arm got cleaved. The woman just watched with keen interest, smiling even wider.

"Satanic Crown - Cocytus."

Bellona froze in place, in the middle of drawing her sword back. The rage was captured, twisting her face, like a diorama of a fierce warrior.

Silla picked her cut arm off the ground and reattached it as if her body were Lego. She tested her fingers, and her wrist to see if there was something wrong. She found nothing wrong.

"Now, Mercury, follow me~", Silla cheerfully said.

Mercury reappeared, sighing as he took a glance at Bellona, "What will happen to her?"

Silla shrugged, "Nothing, really. I just want to rile her up when I saw the chance, even if it was unnecessary."

"You really are the worst.", his mouth formed a wry smile.

"I am the Cursed Child after all!", Silla laughed, "I was cursed to be the most hated human of all, being contracted to Luci solidified it very well."

Silla spun around, much to Mercury's confusion, "I revel in chaos, in hatred, in disdain, in agony, in malice, in fear!", she stared at Mercury, her eyes half opened as she took in the Artificial God, to see his attention is all on her, her smile thinned, forming only a line on her face, "Abigail Sillacro is my name, but not my only name, I have many names, some lost, but the ones that stuck remains a nightmare to those who saw my atrocities. You don't need to remember my name, but all that knew to associate them with meaning."

She skipped over to the god, she may not be able to taste his emotions, but she knew he feared her.

Absolute Evil