[160,000 years in the past, tiline 5%$@*%@@%&# in the Fragnted Palace of 8 Spaces]
I look at the throne in this place and see a beautiful girl "lying" on it. Her legs are draped over the throne’s right armrest, her spine against the seat, and her neck resting on the other armrest. She’s holding a skull, examining it curiously as I approach and bow.
"Hello, Number 0..." She is the strongest living demon, Number 0, far above , who is Number 6.
"Oh, Hexael, what are you doing here..." she asks without interest, calling by my na.
"I ca to see you..."
"In cat form? You know I hate cats. They shed. I hate dirt. It makes scratch my arms down to the bone." She speaks, already starting to scratch her arm exaggeratedly.
"I won’t shed anything. I’m careful..."
"Okay, you’re careful... yes, you are normally careful. What do you want here? Shouldn’t you be with Number 5? She likes cats... although she also likes eating small animals while they’re still alive. You should be careful not to beco her snack." She speaks without looking at .
"...I ca to see you..."
"You already said that, Hexael. What do you really want here?" she asks again.
"...Number 1 said you tried to kill yourself, but stopped before..." I say as she rolls her eyes, drops the skull, and looks at .
"Ah, yes. That gossip just had to run his mouth... should I... kill him?" she says irritably, sitting up properly on the throne.
"Are you bored?"
"Very. The boredom is killing ... ah, but I saw a really cute little angel. I think I’ll play with her." She gives a strange smile when she ntions this so-called angel.
’An angel?’
"What angel?"
"It’s a girl. Her na is Ayane. She’s a lower-order angel, aning she’s nowhere near the elite, but she’s curious. She has a stupidity comical level of purity."
"Hahahaha, it’s funny. Angels are ’pure,’ but her purity is so imnse it becos stupid. Seriously, who cries for stepping on an ant? They’re insects. If they’re in the way, they get crushed."
"I see. So you found soone interesting. That’s great. What do you plan to do now?"
"...I’m bored... Ayane is tedious now too..." She suddenly contradicts what she just said.
"..."
"Number 0, dealing with you is so difficult. Could you stop being so indecisive?"
"Hahahaha, you know well, Hexael. You know I can’t stop being like this... It’s tedious when we know the future of the current tiline." She speaks of sothing I will never comprehend.
’Only you can do that...’ She has ti powers at an absurdly high level, so she always knows the future of the tiline she’s in, and because of that, she’s always bored.
’Her interest in this Ayane lasted 10 seconds... a record?’ Normally, she gets bored even faster since seeing soone’s future is extrely quick, though there’s sothing strange about this... but I don’t know what it is yet.
"Anyway, did you really only co here because I tried to kill myself? You know that’s frequent. It’s not like I can actually die..."
"Why did you hesitate and give up?"
"..."
"Tell , why did you hesitate? Normally, nothing makes you stop. You should have killed yourself and then started everything over again. So what did you see that made you stop..." When I say this, she makes an expression I’ve never seen before.
"...Ayane." She ntions that angel again.
"Yes?"
"Ayane made stop... I went personally to the place where the angels live to observe Ayane... but she quickly beca boring, so I was going to reset... but even though I’m a demon, she tried to stop ."
"She cried, begged, and said I shouldn’t place so little value on my life, even if I don’t truly die... It’s strange... it’s so strange, right? Why would an angel stop a demon from ’dying’ when they hate us?"
"So I stopped... because it seed interesting... Even though Ayane is a tedious and diocre existence, her life is... dull. She lives helping others and has never achieved anything of value."
"Perhaps... I should make her stronger?" She murmurs this as I approach, leaving my cat form and returning to my true form. I am a short girl, 140 centiters tall, with golden eyes, long black hair, vertical pupils, and I’m wearing revealing black clothing that’s comfortable for .
"H-Huh?" Once again, she expresses sothing different. Number 0 is normally absurdly predictable, not because she’s easy to predict, but because she never tries to change or act differently.
"Number 0... what really..." I see her gaze. It’s a dangerous look that even she can’t hide.
"...You know so well, Hexael... Alright, fine, I’ve decided! I want you in my plan..." She cos over to , grabs , and lifts off the ground. She carries to her throne and sits down with on her lap.
"..." I look at her in disbelief. She never lets anyone touch her throne. She killed Demon Number 7 and erased him from existence when he sat on her throne as a joke.
"What do you have in mind?"
"You know, Hexael, I wanted to hide this, but... I felt genuinely drawn to this angel... I think I’ve fallen in love with her... and you know why? Because her foolishness is cute. She is the most foolish being in the universe."
"And apparently, I like foolish, stupid beings who don’t perceive the danger I am. No other angel would ever have the courage to hold my hand just to stop from taking my life... and yet, she held it."
"I like that. So I’m going to give her the best treatnt. First, I’ll increase her power. She’s weak, and that’s bad, so I’ll make her stronger. So strong she can challenge Demon Number 1 on equal footing."
"To do that, I’ll kill her... and make her be born again, as a human. This will reset her potential, and when she becos an angel again, she’ll have more talent. Then I’ll kill her again and accumulate her talent that way."
"After that... I’ll finally... sacrifice my power and be born again as a human... I was worried about how to regain my power, but I’ll leave that to you!!"
"Hexael, you’re the only one I trust, you know why? Because you’re the only one who understands in an interesting way, and the only one who, instead of just fearing , actually wants around... you are my friend."
"I want you to force a contract on . You need to seek out my reincarnation on Earth and force that reincarnation to accept a contract. I don’t know the gender, na, or location of where I’ll be. I only know this reincarnation will be human, and you must find it at all costs."
"I only know that this reincarnation will always be near Ayane, so it’s probably easier to find Ayane so you can find again."
"Add conditions and force to eat this." She raises her hand in front of and creates a completely black, strange apple that emanates a bizarre demonic aura.
"No matter what happens, you need to force my reincarnation to eat this fruit. It will force the reincarnation to recover 40% of my original mories and a large part of the power we had before, which will awaken over ti."
"This... is very poorly explained... you talk too fast... I’m not understanding anything. Aren’t things moving a bit too fast?" I say nervously.
"No. I’m bored, and I like that girl. I want to turn her into a strong angel, and then... I’m going to make her mine... and if I fail... I’ll kill myself and try again, and again, and again, as many tis as necessary."
"But don’t worry, Hexael. I’ll eliminate the competition. Using [@%*@$&@¨%@&(%@(¨@], I’ll make it so that when I kill myself, all demons and angels will permanently lose their physical bodies. That ans no demon or angel besides you will be a real threat to ."
"Basically, Hexael, you will be the only demon capable of truly killing ... and Ayane will be the only angel capable of truly killing . When I reincarnate, I know I’ll lose a lot of power and will never recover it all... but this is the first ti I’ve felt this."
"I like this feeling that Ayane causes in . I’ve always been the most chaotic demon with the most broken mind, and yet you stayed by my side, supporting , Hexael."
"Could you do this one last favor for as my trusted friend? I want you to deceive my reincarnation. Make her love Ayane madly. Make her kill Ayane. Make her sink into despair."
"Make her hate everything and everyone except Ayane. Make her destroy everything until only she and Ayane remain."
"I know well that my reincarnation will fight against . She will try to resist her destiny with all her might... and it is your duty to prevent this. You need to break her completely."
"And the best way to do that will be to make her kill Ayane and reset again. With each reset, this reincarnation will beco more unstable, and the crazier she gets, the closer she will beco to returning to being ." She speaks while stroking my head.
"I... will do whatever you want, Number 0..." I say, sowhat saddened by this.
"Great. Let’s set so key orders then... First, if my reincarnation fails, you must reset ti using the spells I taught you. Second, I want my body back."
"So, regardless of my gender and appearance, you need to force my Reincarnation to have a body identical to mine... Third, you must force the reincarnation to beco a demon again. If you need to, use angel corpses for this. Slowly, my power will corrupt the body until it becos that of a demon."
"Fourth... let’s create a keyword."
"A seal to force a connection between the past and the future... a na... yes, I need you to force my reincarnation to use a na... what na do you suggest?" she asks as I think.
"Hmm..."
"How about Setsuna?" I say confidently, already getting into this plan. Number 0 always cos up with crazy, insane plans out of nowhere, and I’m always ready for these things.
"...It sounds good. Then don’t call Number 0 anymore. From today on, I and all my reincarnations shall be Setsuna." She speaks with a smile. She seems happy.
’I’ve never seen her truly happy before... but... why an angel...’ I feel a great sense of displeasure. I can’t believe Number 0 started to love an angel, but I will do as she asked.
I take the black apple she created and store it in a tiless area, so Number 0’s powers won’t influence the creation and destruction of this apple, and I’ll be able to give this apple to multiple reincarnations without losing the fruit.
’If this is what she wants, then I’ll do it... but I hope I don’t have to force her to suffer too many tis...’
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