"He nonetheless has to be captured and brought back, though," Amaris said, reminded of her Middle Daughter's First Mark. "If he for some reason perishes during the Nexus Event, then my daughter will suffer the consequences of his carelessness."
With everything decided and sorted out, the Succubus Queen returned to her time of lounging. She remained blissfully unaware of the scheming ongoings of her two eldest daughters.
Or, as of this moment, all 'three' of her daughters.
"So you can distract Mother for a few hours, can't you, Chelle?" asked Flora, while kneeling down and coercing her younger sister like the Succubus in her blood dictated. "As long as you can do it, I'll be able to make your Eldest Sissy happy by getting her out of the Palace. You don't want your Eldest Sissy to be sad, do you, Chelle?"
Standing a couple of heads shorter than Flora was a small five-year-old girl with long, frilly pink hair and big, round pink eyes.
Those same eyes adorably watered when she heard her Middle Sissy mention Eldest Sissy's name.
"Eldest Sissy… sad…?" she muttered, furiously shaking her head. "Don't want that! Don't want that at all!"
"Then can you promise to keep Mother occupied for a few hours when I tell you to?"
Chelle nodded repeatedly, her eyes shining with never-before-seen levels of determination.
"Will play with Mother! To make Eldest Sissy not sad!"
She tenderly petted her younger sister's frilly pink hair, marking off Step 1 of the multi-step plan meant to get Cassius in her clutches.
'In the end, you will be mine!' she thought, creepy shadows shrouding her pretty face.
Her heart throbbed harder than usual, indicating that her First Mark was closer than ever.
'I swear that I'll drain you dry, Cassius Steele! You won't have any juices left by the time I'm done with you!'
An even more mentally unstable girl was thinking along the same lines within an ominously dark castle in Nightingale. Vials of blood were being stashed within her bosom left and right as she ransacked her own home, all so as to force her Husband into coping some more feels.
Their deranged giggling seemed to sync up with one another, mixing together in a way that traversed all Dimensions…
Cassius felt a cold chill.
He cautiously scanned his surroundings but found nothing.
"Why do I always feel like a target is on my back…?"
[Probably because there is one! In fact, there's more than one!]
The Idle Evolution System—with its omnipotent sight abilities—zoomed through the various Dimensions of the Ascension Tower and other mysterious spaces.
In HELL's 1st Floor, three Demon Kings were readying themselves to lessen their losses by making use of the Nexus Event to cross over and eliminate a nuisance.
In the ethereal Netherworld, one of the most powerful Soul Eaters in existence had it out for Cassius, planning to forcefully level him up. Moreover, he planned to do so without caring about how much harm came to the target of his insane plan.
Even the Mistalore King, the Chamberlain Duke, the Entities at the bottom of the Boundless Chasm, and organizations inside the Ascension Tower had it out for Cassius!
Hell, even the overpowered existences in the Infinite Character Development Dimension were in the process of charting out ways to punish the Non-variant Weakling who dared to play their Little Princess for a fool!
"Ehh, probably just my imagination," Cassius shrugged, redirecting his attention to the massive purplish-black Gate located at the very center of the world.
"The Gate is in the process of advancing to the Black Rank, and it doesn't appear to be wanting to settle down any time soon."
The World's End Gate was one of the last mysteries on Earth for Cassius.
For one: he couldn't peer into it and gauge the approximate power levels of the Monsters inside.
He had been capable of doing this for every Gate for a while now, even the couple of Black-ranked ones.
But not the World's End Gate.
No, it was an enigma.
Secondly, the System Tag above the Gate made no sense.
[World's End Gate] - [Rank: ???????]
—[Description: ???? Prophesized for….????? Meant to bring about…..???? The First Abyss lies within, foretelling....??????]
Given its purple color, Cassius should've been able to easily learn everything possible about the Gate with just a single glance. Even if it was at the peak of the Black-rank, he shouldn't have had an issue discerning any relevant information.
"Something definitely isn't right," Cassius said, his narrowed eyes honing in on the Gate's Energy emissions. "What it's showing isn't even fully at the SS-Rank, so why is it that I have this harrowing feeling gnawing away at my psyche? This Gate…"
Interrupting Cassius's thoughts was the mildly irritated feminine voice of a woman who possessed no semblance of elegance or gracefulness.
She had long, curly red hair that molded her head and upper back like a fiery mane. Similarly, her eyes held within them a fire that threatened to burn down everything in the area.
Though, most impressively of all were her large, bouncy, snow-white valleys and a butt that jiggled with every flaming step she took in the air.
Her figure was something to awe at; even Cassius was momentarily taken aback. He did, however, find it hard to match the harsh, unruly voice to the beautiful body struggling to stay hidden under her thin, loose draconic fabric.
"Hey, kid!" Kaida Drakenshield repeated. "Are you deaf or something!? I asked why a kid like you is here in a restricted zone! Are you stupid or stupid?? Which is it???"
Snapping out of his stupor, Cassius tilted his head in confusion.
"You asked something like that? I must've missed it," he said, still analyzing the way her voluptuous breasts made gravity their best friend.
"What sort of favor did you do for Newton? Just curious."
Following his line of sight, Kaida's face further twisted in annoyance.
"Are you aiming to have an early death, you dumb brat? If that's the case, then I'll happily oblige!"
Just as a massive flame burst out from her clawed hands, an equally powerful eruption of space energy appeared and suppressed her flames.