"Your eminence, there is one more thing to report."

Claire sat down at her desk gently while listening to her subordinate.

"What is it, Fina?", she asked with kindness in her voice.

"The crazed man who seemed to have lost all sense of reason spoke of a leader who he followed."

"A leader?"

Claire took a sip of her coffee, a serious expression on her face.

"So Theo was correct... after all, a hero did appear...."

Placing her cup down, Claire began to tap the wood of her desk with the demonic claws of her left hand.

"Those who hold the hope that a hero will save them from my rule will flock to this new figure then. There will be a fight. That is inevitable."

Claire smiled lightly.

"But if I head out myself to see this person, then perhaps I will be able to speak with them and come to terms"

A bloodthirsty grin came across the face of the angel and the tar within her left hand seemed to be bursting upwards with pressure.

"And if not..... then I suppose I will have to destroy them."

"Your eminence, there is more. The one who has taken up the position of this hero you speak of, stealing the credit for the actions of your subordinate, is a well known figure."

"A well known figure? Is it someone who was famous in this city?", Claire asked.

"Not at all. He is not from here. Are you aware of the 7 houses?"

Sitting back down to listen, Claire nodded no.

"Within the monster realm, the 7 Hosts of Sin of the demonic races have always been given the position of head of a house. Each host has been chosen by the origin of a given sin, and the powers of said sin are granted to the host. I don't know much about this, but almost every person in the monster realm has heard these stories. As far as what the powers are.... I am unaware, however it is said that they are inconceivable."

Claire put her finger to her chin in thought.

"The Hosts of Sin..... so you mean that these demons are evil?"

"Result is undetermined. I lack sufficient knowledge to answer such a question, as I have never encountered one myself."

"So they might be evil but they might not be.... hm... I see....."

Claire closed her eyes with a smile.

"Then I think I'll make them all my slaves."

Tiffany was visibly shaken by such a proclamation, and Fina gave her a look of confusion.

"Your eminence, I don't think that's..... I understand that you are powerful, however to make the 7 house leaders your slaves? Forgive me for saying so, but.... these are the 7 most powerful demons in the world. How would you go about doing such a thing?"

Getting up and walking around her desk once more, Claire put her hands on the shoulders of the two.

Her demonic left hand laid on the shoulder of Tiffany and her angelic right hand rested on the shoulder of Fina.

"How would I do it? Simple. I'll determine a future where that is the case. And if determining it isn't enough, then I will redetermine it until it is."

"The one who the man spoke of was Vex, the Host of Wrath.", Fina continued. "I am not certain, but being of the house of wrath would imply that he holds the ability to manipulate the wrath and anger of others. He likely did this for the man I killed, and I would not be surprised if he has done this for many more who hold hatred for you. Please be careful that he does not manipulate you yourself, your eminence."

Claire bit her lip and nodded.

"I see.... so he is able to take people's hatred and increase it? Or something along those lines."

Claire held her heart as she recalled her own deep seated hatred for Oscar.

It was a hatred which she could never let go.

'As if my hatred for that man could go higher than it is...'

It was one which she would never forget, and it would always bring a sting to her own heart each and every time she recalled the pain of her own death and the actions of that man afterwards.

'A monster..... in the disguise of a hero...'

Walking over to the exit, Claire checked on Mori and Lisa one last time as they slept peacefully.

'Just how many of them are there in this world?'

Opening the door with resolve, Claire left.

"Please stay here for now and care for those two. I will be back soon enough."

The door closed as the angelic figure exited, and the two were left alone to watch over the younger ones.

Claire now walked through a hallway and down a set of stairs before exiting into the metallic streets before her.

'It doesn't matter how many of them there are. I will protect the innocent people from the monsters who hide themselves in the disguise of a savior. And if I have to become a demon to do so.....'

Claire cracked the the knuckles of her demonic hand, pulling her fingers one by one.

'Then I will.'

----

'So.... if I am thinking about this correctly, this is what I have so far. If someone or something touches me, then I have the choice to make their own movements 'Determined.' If I choose to do so, the movements become set in stone and will always happen in every possible timeline- unless something happens to undetermine such events.'

Walking through the streets, Claire gathered her own thoughts. At this point she had become used to speaking and thinking to herself, given that Clarice was always providing a response.

'Then if someone happens to come into contact with me with malicious intent, or if something will injure me by doing so, the entities of the world become reset to a previous state and things will proceed depending upon that which has been Determined, and that which has not.'

'Yep. That's more or less the gist of it. You got it now then?'

'Yeah. And that only applies to my right side.... or, the part of me that is me. For you, if anything comes into contact with you then you can set conditions on that person or object, which essentially become unbreakable laws. You can define things to be a certain way, and they will become that way. So basically, my abilities force things to happen in an exact and defined way, while yours force certain things to happen, however the way in which it could happen can change from scenario to scenario.'

'Mhm. Ah, I suppose I haven't told you yet but I can also do something like this.'

Claire's demonic arm grabbed hold of her angelic arm, and a small light seemed to transmit from one to the other.

[Settings have been altered. Collisions have been turned off.]

'Eh? What did you just do? Collisions have been turned off? Does that mean....'

In her own memories, Claire was at one point a major in computer science.

Even if she did not actually live through these events, the knowledge which she acquired was real.

Claire of course did not know this, but she indeed did obtain knowledge of actual computer science. Even if it was within a world that was equivalent to a long dream, it was based off of the real world.

With this knowledge, she understood immediately what was meant when collisions had been turned off.

Walking over to a wall, Claire tried to touch it, but her hand phased right though it.

'EH!?!? You mean I can just clip through things now!?!'

'Not just that. If people attack you now, they'll clip through you. I can turn them back on whenever you want, but this makes it so that you won't get stuck in some death loop if you encounter an opponent who is too fast for you to keep up with.'

'Oh.... that is useful.'

'Once I set a condition on them it's over. They just have to come into contact with me and they'll be marked for death. Haha.'

'Don't say something so morbid. I don't plan on killing anyone without talking to them first.'

'Mhm. Whatever you say.'

Claire looked at her two hands while dropping her eyelids with a feint smile.

'These abilities I've been given.... you know, it's almost like a fantasy world. Everything.... these people, the magic, the fighting.... and the issues. It's all just like a big fantasy world. It's like I've been put into a game with the ability to respawn and reload a save.'

Touching her own demonic hand to her angelic side, Claire turned collisions back on.

'But it's not fantasy. Real people are here. Real people are suffering. And I might be the only person on this earth who has this.... state.'

'That you can't die?'

'I don't know whether or not I can die. But people can't attack me directly. That much is certain. If I were to be killed, it would have to be some other way. Some sort of binding magic.... or something like that.'

'So you're not so naive as to think you're invincible, eh?'

'Of course not. Why would I think something like that? I died before, didn't I? Maybe I thought I was invincible then.....'

A sad expression came across the face of the angel.

'But not anymore.'

'You've really put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?'

'This is my life. My new life. I've done so much, and yet there is still so much to do.... I don't really know how the antiheroes keep up with it all.... ruling is hard. I have my own problems, but I have to put them aside because I need to focus on more than just my own problems..... I need to focus on the problems of everyone. It's.... I just don't know sometimes. Am I doing the right thing? The wrong thing? What am I even doing!?'

Claire grabbed her face with her demonic hand with a pained expression.

'As long as you take care of those that you've promised to take care of, that's enough. Isn't it? Just do what you can when you can, and focus on what's right in front of you.'

'You're supposed to be my evil twin.... why are you comforting me and giving me advice?'

'Because I am you. And seeing myself distraught is the last thing I would ever want to see. I hate that man. I hate scum. I hate judgmental people. I hate naive fools. I even hate some things about you. But what I do not hate, is you. Because if I hated myself, then how could I hate anyone else?'

Claire had an expression of shock at this strange statement.

'You.... really are something else, Clarice.'

'And you, Claire.'

'Thank you. I.... needed that push. I will do exactly that. I will focus on what is in front of my eyes, and help the people near me. I will stop people like that man from doing as they please, and I will move forward without hesitation.'

Claire smirked with a devious grin.

'After all, I just became the boss of a mafia. I can't let my emotions prevent me from doing my duty as the ruler of this city.'

----

Not a sound was heard in the streets as Claire made her way through them.

'Most people are at work after all.'

The sun was now beyond it's apex, and the lack of clouds made it such that every alleyway was lit up with it's light.

'Hmm.... the trouble was in this direction, wasn't it?'

'You didn't even ask?'

'I forgot.'

'Sigh....'

'Geh.... sorry, Clarice....'

'Why are you telling me sorry? Tell the people that you're trying to save that.'

'Ah. You're right. We better hurry.'

Claire then picked up the pace and began to flap her own wings.

'Hey, can I fly?'

'Can you fly? You have freaking wings. Of course you can fly.'

'EH!?!?! I never tried so I just assumed that I couldn't....'

'Did you think they were just for decoration or something? Goodness.'

Claire began to flap her own angelic wings, the pure white feathers fluttering back and forth as the air around her was distorted with the motions.

Her body was lifted slowly into the sky, and to anyone who watched from afar she would appear as an elegant beam of radiance.

The beautiful figure rose high above the streets, looking down on the city from above.

As she rose, she saw that the streets were mostly empty, however there were some people walking about.

'Ah.... it looks like there are some people who are coming out at this time of day. That's good.... I don't want everyone to be caught up in work all the time.....'

However, looking over, she witnessed a number of men running through the streets.

'Hm? What are those people doing? Their movements are strange. Why are they running so fast?'

'Why don't you go take a look?', Clarice suggested.

With a nod, Claire fluttered her wings, swooping over to the area and floating down to the ground.

She landed in an alleyway cutting off the path of the men, touching the ground without even producing a sound.

In front of her were two ratmen- both panting with eyes that had been popped out with veins.

"What's wrong? Is there a reason that you both are in such a hurry? If you want, I'll listen to what you have to say and do my best to help you out."

----

"The.... the demon showed up....."

"She really came...."

The two ratmen glared fiercely at Claire, looking at the beautiful angel as if she was some sort of abomination.

One of the two approached Claire as she gave them a gorgeous smile, unyielding in her friendly demeanor.

"Help us out?"

The ratman looked down with boiling rage, barely able to get the words out of his mouth.

"Did you just offer to help us out?"

Claire nodded.

"Yep. You seem to be in a hurry. Is there something wrong?"

"Hahaha.... listen to her. 'Is there something wrong?' 'Do you need help with anything?'"

The man slammed his fist on the metal wall next to him, creating a reverberating sound.

"Don't mess with us like this, demon. Do you enjoy offering to help people with a smile before you consume them? Do you enjoy putting on that angelic persona of yours before you show them your true form!?!??!"

Claire's smile turned into a sad and pitying expression.

"I see.... so you are scared of the demon within me?"

Claire placed her hands on the shoulders of the two.

"If she scared you, then I am sorry. I don't wish to harm you, nor does she. However, there is one thing that I absolutely cannot give up on."

The two ratmen flinched back while breathing heavily, drawing daggers from their pockets.

"It is my own policy to show everyone the demon within me so that they may support me even knowing the darkness that lurks inside of me. I do not take this form of an angel to appease to people. On the contrary, I take the form of a demon to show them my true self. So you two have decided that I am too evil to support?"

"Of course we have!!! You're nothing more than a demon who wishes to slaughter all the people of this village!!!! We'll kill you and save everyone!!!!"

The men rushed forward at Claire, their veins bulging and their muscles seeming to grow.

Claire didn't look angry but instead smiled.

"Perhaps I've been a bit too harsh on the people of this village. If you truly believe that you are attacking someone evil, then there isn't anything wrong with what you're doing. Right?"

Claire took the daggers to the arm, blocking them as they seemed to be engulfed into the tarlike substance.

[Set Condition: Melted]

The daggers began to melt into a liquid form, the metal refusing to keep it's shape.

"What did you do, demon!?!?"

The men let go of their now liquid weapons, and their own eyes became filled with greater hatred.

"What did I do? I just melted those weapons of yours. After all, you could hurt someone with those. Why don't you go back to your families? I'm sure they miss you."

"Don't speak of our families so casually you beast!!!!!"

The men grew in size and both of them began swinging their fists at Claire.

She dodged a few blows, however at this point their own mass was so great that with every missed swing they would create large dents in the metal walls around them.

"Stay still, monster!!!!!"

"Why?"

Claire looked up with a sad expression, looking straight into the raging eyes of the men.

"Why are you filled with such hatred? Did I do anything to your family yet?"

"You are a threat to them!!!!! YOU MUST DIE!!!!!!"

"YOU WILL KILL US ALL!!!!!"

"Why do you think that!? Why do you believe I will kill you!?"

"Because master Vex said so!!!!!!"

"Master Vex gave us this power!!!! We will follow his orders, and kill you here and now!!!!!!!"

The men continued to grow in size and in rage, to the point where they were now almost the size of buildings.

"Please calm down!! I don't intend to harm you or your families!!! I understand that you have no reason to believe me, but please!! I beg of you! You are causing chaos for no reason!!"

Claire began to plead to the two, however they did not listen.

They continued swinging, taking the buildings around them out with them.

"DIE, DEMON!!!!!"

"Please stop this!!! Why are you so clouded with rage!? Please calm down so we can talk this through-"

'They've been overtaken.'

'Eh?'

Clarice grinned from within Claire as she looked into the eyes of the two.

'The fear within them has been removed. And without fear, there can be no restraint.'