2021-06-26 22:00:42-I see.
Maya answers, impassible, while pouring liquid into two cups, as Anna finishes telling her story.
Maya was Anna's best friend. She was, just like her, independent, just not for the same reasons.
From what she told Anna, Maya's husband travels a lot, and leaves her in Rome. So she was alone most of the time. They were both, in a way, aliens in this city, and so they sympathized quickly.
Her husband sent her a generous amount of money to live every month, so it could be said that they both lived a good life. Though, Maya was way more responsible than Anna, and did not dilapidate it right away. She still kept a good amount of savings, as a safety fund.
She was incredulous that she exclaimed just a few minutes ag
ClemCaI know it's a bit shorter. I wanted to keep that whole thing as a single chapter. It was the natural separation of things I think, from how I see the arc as a whole. While most of my chapters are close enough in length, I want my chapters to be separated correctly from a storytelling perspective before length, so some are longer when some are shorter, can't be helped (mostly longer tho)
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Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (22) - Peaceful
Anna was humming.Today, she was going to eat out with Maya.It wasn't anything special by itself, but it was the first time her friend did so by her own initiative.She had a long night of sleep. Such a long night, actually, that she woke up late in the morning.She liked taking her time in the bathtub, so by the time she used her towel, it was already time to leave.After seeing the time, she dressed up like usual, just a bit hurriedly.She didn't enjoy the haute couture that was popular at the time, and was kind of a tomboy. As much as she could be at the time, at least. Seeing how she dressed, no one could assume she was as well off as she was.
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (23) - Running
They both were decisive persons.As soon as the decision was made, they both started walking faster, and turned at the next intersection.The goal would be to use many small and short streets to cut their followers' visions, and thus throw them off by taking an unpredictable route.They started by walking fast, but quickly enough, they unknowingly started running. In a state of fear, panic, or hurry, it is easy to not notice your own pace increasing. They just happened to match both these conditions.Several minutes later, they were both breathing heavily at Anna's doorstep.-What should we do?While Maya was undecided, Anna was decisive:
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (24) - Grief
They took one of the paths Anna liked to use, which was a detour that went through places she liked to go to on the way. It was a good path to take when being chased too, as it was not a straight line. Who knew if they expected them to go back to their homes. Maya's home had a back entrance that led to a different street than the main one, so they would enter and leave through it. They followed way after way, getting through tiny and large roads alike. Halfway in one such tiny road, they saw someone standing at the end. As shadily dressed as that person was, there was no doubt in their mind that he was waiting for them. When they wanted to turn around, someone came to block the other side.
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (25) - Cover your own mistakes
Today was a good, ordinary day. It's been a few years since the last time I experienced an unordinary summon. This is, by all means, good news. This level of event shouldn't be happening every day, or else, how would any species even survive? The universe is just not such a fickle and dangerous place. Knowing the probabilities of these occurrences, it would instead be weirder to get used to it. Be it for humans or devils, an abundance of resources is to be celebrated. Also, if something of this scale happened again and I was assigned to it again, I would definitely curse the management. It is an opportunity to get merits, but the cost far outweighs the gains.
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (26) - Reminiscence
-Hi. -Hey. Not many words, but it already shows a difference in mood. Both are casual greetings, but the second is more cheerful in nature. -How are you doing? -Not much. Oh, yes actually, they cleaned my jar yesterday. I heard all the noise. It must look cleaner than last time. -It does. -And you wouldn't believe how talkative the cleaners are, they just can't stop gossiping. -It must be annoying, I see. -At least this generation is not into celebrities as much. I would truly die if they talked about the royal family or Hollywood even once more.
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (27) - Track
Yet another good, ordinary summon.-So you want riches? Please sign here.-So easy? Nice.So easy indeed.Sometimes I wish all humans were as good as the man I met the other day.Or at least as interesting as Tanya. But I guess you don't find people as straightforward as Tanya every day. Or it would just be ordinary, and as such, not interesting.However, if they were intelligent, I would actually feel excited when trying to trick them.There was a time when I actually felt pressured when having humans sign. At this point, it feels like I'm a delivery man, just having them sign without thinking all the time.
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (28) - Searching
We've been working on this for over a month now, but it is definitely faster than any other method I could think about. Eventually, my attaché has been able to hold his breath longer, so with the total rest time being lower, the daily progress has been higher. Also, while there were some changes in the path taken by the signal, most could be reused. Speaking of changes in the path, who thought it was a good idea for the signal to randomly change path? I understand it's good to avoid people tracking it, but there's no way anyone could track it without cooperation from a member of the Church over many weeks. I don't think I am the best devil at this task, far from it. Or even that Devils are the best species for such a tas
Give me a word I'll make a world Volume 9 - A devil's sadness (29) - Meeting
Is it so friendly? I wonder, seeing the hands waving in the distance. I guess in any case, I have no choice but to go. I take my attaché's hand, and get ready to teleport there. I am here. It is nothing usual. I didn't have the time to teleport, but I am here. There is something highly wrong about this. I did not feel any change in space, nor did I feel any sign of what happened. Yet the air around me has suddenly changed, and the place where we stand is different. It feel
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Volume 10 - re:D.D. (25) - Weirded Out
As I enter my home, I find my sister already there, nibbling on a cookie in the kitchen. -You're here? -I finished early and I had nothing planned, so... -I see. I put down my stuff, and join her after-school snack. -Oh, by the way, wanna eat something particular today? I turn around. It was my voice, but it didn't come from me. Turns out that one face is sticking out from the kitchen's entrance, and it's mine. Well, not mine per se, but mine.<
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (24) - Stupid
Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck… I'm late! Who thought I'd sleep through my alarm clock… I hurry up, get dressed, and leave my room. I'm late by almost 4 hours. As I get down the stairs, I seriously consider the utility of actually going. I have about 6 hours and a half of courses in the day. Minus 4 hours it makes it down to 2 and a half. Minus the time to eat, and the 30 minutes to walk all the way there, it would eat 1 more hour into it. In the end, is it worth walking 1 hour in total to have 1 hour and a half of courses?
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (23) - Troublesome
How troublesome… Lately, it seemed to be the only thought getting through his mind. As the Secretary of Defense of the United States, he was supposed to have some level of authority, but, with the recent events, things had too much of a tendency to be out of his hands. With supernatural matters that could threaten national security visible to the public, he felt like he visited the President's desk more than his own. It could almost be seen as enough to warrant the creation of a highly secure internal mailing system, if such a system wasn't deemed to be eventually broken through. In fact, it could be observed that he was seen in the White House than the cans of coke the president kept drinking. Today was no different.
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (22) - Luck
Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck… Left: You sure took your time. Right: We almost thought you weren't going to wake up. -So what's the choice? I'm in a bit of a hurry, which seems to be something you both aren't noticing! Who thought I'd sleep through my alarm clock. Right: Today, in view of your situation, we're going easy on you. Do they have an interest in my well-being? Are there some rules they didn't tell me about? They had orders to choose someone and have them choose, could it be that preserving the life of the one they chose is part of the
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (21) - A Better World
She wasn't feeling much. In fact, both her senses and awareness were limited, for she was currently part of a gigantic mass of flesh. She was right at the center. Maybe it was because her individuality was slowly disappearing, but she had a small moment of clarity. Right as her zombie part was slowly integrating into a greater consciousness, her human side, which had disappeared ever since she became a zombie, reappeared. As her reason came back, it was hit with a truckload of memories, and she was met with horror. It wasn't just what she became or what she did, but also where she was. She could only see darkness, she could hear nothing, she could only feel a wriggling wall of flesh all around, as if she was bathing in it.
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (20) - The Wave of Change
A/N: I didn’t notice, but I took my break right on the 100k words mark! Anyway, here is the chapter! As the day was going, it didn't take long for me to know that nothing was done about the zombies. Seeing how difficult my choices are becoming, it is likely that my sister is faced with considerably difficult choices too. Preventing negative consequences might not be the best way to deal with things. Sometimes, doing a trade-off might be better. Of course, I have no way to know if my sister also has choices and not another form of using her angels, but it doesn't change the fact that I trust her ability to pick the best path. If she decided that sacrificing Sydney was necessary, then I trust her. While I might be a bit short-sighted, I believe she has t
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Over the past 4 days, today included, which is when I usually write this novel in the week, I've not written anything. I've been a bit out of it lately, and while I've had reason to attribute it to fatigue up to now, as I was genuinely constantly tired, I've had time to sleep more since then, and I'm still not better. Overall, I feel a lack of inspiration, and a lack of will to do anything. I've still been able to pump out quite a few good chapters, but I think I reached the limit. I know it sounds sudden, but I'm going to take a break for a short while. Back in June was when I started writing everyday for my various novels, after a month, I was a bit burned out and took a break. I then was back 3 weeks later and have been since then. Originally, it was more about testing my limits, and it turned into an habit, but I still think I should still stay within the bounds of being well enough to write quality chapters. Anyway, less than a month ago, I was g
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (19) - Monster
If something in this world deserved to be called a monster, the gigantic pile of flesh currently going through Sydney was definitely the one. After all, it wasn't figuratively, but literally going through Sydney. Sydney wasn't the capital of Australia, but it was definitely its biggest city by population. A position that it would definitely lose to Melbourne after the current disaster striking it is finished. If it is ever finished, and if there is any way to compile the body count. Meanwhile, the prime offender was absorbing people at an extremely fast rate, as it was storming through the city. It was rolling through the city. Yes, rolling. Whatever it was, the collective entity quickly understood that rather than focusing on
Volume 10 - re:D.D. (18) - Warp Drive
When talking about such an elusive concept as a Warp Drive, there were multiple areas of expertise that needed to reach a certain level to develop one.Of course, science fiction, which was originally inspired by science, had now long turned around and influenced several generations of scientists and physicists. And so, a lot of people already worked on it. While saying it was your main domain of research would attract scornful glares, and some did attract such glares since 1994, but working on a few papers several times in your career wasn't a problem.In fact, the implications of warp drives on the current model of quantum physics made it a pretty interesting research subject for various specialties.And this was why, when in early 2021, a paper proposed a theoretical model for warp drive, it attracted a deep inte
