Natsa returned home without saying a word. He closed the door, threw his jacket on the couch, and collapsed, tired but lucid.
He turned on his phone, hesitated for a moment, then slowly typed:
"MI-GHUMI, it's me. Natsa. This time, it's my device."
He remained silent. No movement. No vibration. Then, a message appeared:
"Natsa" (sent with a smiling emoji)
He gripped the phone lightly between his fingers. That smile... Always the same enigmatic tone. But what did she mean earlier?
He wrote:
"How do you know that Krehaan wants to talk to me? Not long ago, I saw him in a newspaper talking about the fall of the NSDR."
The message was marked "seen." She had read it. He waited. Then... a call.
He answered.
— Natsa, she said immediately, since the day we parted after the fall of the NSDR, many things have happened behind your back...
— I'm listening, he replied, calm tone, senses alert.
A silence. Then MI-GHUMI resumed, voice softer, heavier:
— After our separation, I stayed with Orchidée and Asmodée, as you asked us to. Everything seemed... perfect.
Asmodée explained to me that you had sealed a demon in me, a fragment of demonic flame. He told me it would burn away the day I finally mastered magic.
So I asked him to teach me. And he did.
She paused for a second, nostalgic.
— The demon burned away. And its disappearance gave way to something new... a magic that belongs to me. I was happy. For once, I felt free, without limits.
So I wanted to thank you. To surprise you.
One day, I entered a shop to buy you a necklace... I planned to have your initials engraved on it.
Her voice became tenser.
— And that's when I saw him.
A man, black coat, masked face. He approached. I moved away. I dropped the necklace... not out of fear, but because I was tired of spilling Blood for nothing.
It was raining. I turned into an alley with my umbrella.
And that's when... he reappeared.
Natsa said nothing. He listened, heart pounding.
— I was fed up. I warned him. He took off his hood.
She took a deep breath.
— It was Krehaan.
A brutal silence. Natsa felt a shiver down his spine.
— I was shocked. I thought he was dead. And yet... he was there. Alive. Intact.
He said: MI-GHUMI, please. I know you blame me for everything I did to you... but listen to me before you kill me.
I let him speak. He said he had deceived the Entity, that he should have died... but he was still here, because our universe is in danger.
She continued, faster, as if reliving the scene.
— I didn't understand anything. Was it another of his manipulations? He said: I am a mystical researcher. And the one who put our world in danger... is Natsa.
I hit him. My fist threw him against the alley wall. He was spitting blood. I yelled at him: Who do you think you are to profane the name of the one who saved me from your claws?!
And then... he smiled.
— He pulled a knife from his coat and said to me: Maybe you won't believe my words. So I will anoint them with my own blood.
He stabbed himself.
Again.
Again.
Again.
I screamed. I didn't understand. Why? Why talk about cosmic threat and kill himself in front of me?
And he whispered: Maybe by seeing me hurt myself, you will believe I am sincere. Maybe my blood will be enough to make the truth audible.
I told him: If there is a problem, Natsa or Asmodée can solve it. That's all.
And he laughed. Softly. Bitterly.
— Do you really think entities like them... care about mortals?
He struggled to stand, then turned on his heels.
— If one day you want to understand the real threat, ask Natsa. Tell him I want to talk to him. I know. I see. I know...
He left.
MI-GHUMI stopped, breath short. Natsa dared not speak. She went on:
— The next day, I asked Asmodée: And if a cosmic threat weighed on our universe? What would you do?
And do you know what he told me?
She repeated slowly, in an almost broken voice:
— Hmm... it depends. You know, the Quantinuum is the foundation of all reality: a continuum of existence that connects all worlds, all timelines, and dimensions. First our three-dimensional universe. Then the multiverse, born from choices and variations. And beyond that, levels where space and time break and reinvent themselves. All this forms only one body: the Chromasomus Quantinuum.
Then he concluded:
So if this universe were destroyed... I would only save Orchidée. And you. The rest? It's just one universe among others. There are so many.
Natsa felt a weight crush his chest.
And MI-GHUMI finished, softly:
— And that's when... I understood that maybe... Krehaan was telling the truth.
MI-GHUMI (tears in her eyes, voice trembling):
"I'm sorry, Natsa... but I was afraid. A visceral, paralyzing fear.
Cosmic things... I have never been involved. These are threats beyond our understanding.
And you... you are part of it."
She fell silent for a moment, as if each word was tearing her throat.
"For a year, I searched for you. Everywhere. But you had become a ghost, even in your university.
I didn't tell Asmodée. I didn't want to impose my doubts on him.
You are devils, he and you. I don't know how you think... nor even what you really desire.
You come from Hell, and in our world, such power never manifests without purpose.
So I began to doubt. Everything. Even you.
If you stayed with me... it was necessarily for a goal.
Otherwise, why would a being as strong as you waste time with a mere human?"
She lowered her eyes, ashamed.
"I told Asmodée I was looking for work. He was surprised, as was Orchidée.
We said goodbye... it was a moving moment.
Then I looked for a job that would allow me to observe you. A position with eyes everywhere.
Something like the NSDR... something powerful enough to give me a chance to find you.
Even if, deep down, I had begun to fear you."
Her gaze became distant, haunted.
"One evening, I found myself in a bar. A place where the powerful come to drink,
where tongues loosen and secrets circulate. That's where I saw him... Ilya Roskarov.
He was surrounded by guards and family members. An aura of power enveloped him.
I didn't yet know exactly who he was. But I already knew... he was no ordinary man."
She clenched her fists.
"While I was drinking thinking of you, one of his guards approached me. He greeted me, and I replied politely.
But then... he whispered in my ear.
He had mistaken me for a prostitute. He wanted to 'make a quick deal.'
My blood boiled. I hit him. Instinctively. Without thinking.
He collapsed, unconscious."
Her gaze grew harder.
"The other guards laughed.
One of them said: 'For a prostitute, she has an iron hand!'
I answered: 'Who are you calling a prostitute?'
He frowned, surprised: 'Isn't that the case?'
Another pulled out a rifle and shouted: 'Prostitute or not, what made you attack a Roskarov guard?
For that, you'll pay with your life!'"
She trembled.
"But something broke inside me.
Was it madness? Was it the demon you had infused in me, which was not yet extinguished?
Or... was it the end of the world approaching, making me lose my mind?
No matter.
When I regained consciousness... the bar was bathed in blood.
All the guards... dead.
My fists... red.
Ilya's brothers and sisters were trembling. But he... no. He sipped his glass, unfazed.
He looked at me, then said calmly:
'The Devil of Darkness... You deserve your legend.'"
She stared straight ahead.
"He knew my past. My name. My legend.
And he offered me a position by his side.
I couldn't refuse.
A man capable of seeing through the abstraction of my story... could surely find you, too.
I became his close guard.
A shadow. A weapon. A she-wolf hunting a single prey: you.
Because I didn't know when you would decide... to destroy our universe."
A pause.
"And then... I found you, Natsa.
Finally.
But now... I don't know if I should listen to you.
As I said: you are a devil.
And I still don't know... how a devil thinks."