Dei relaxed immensely when Levi's resolve firmed and he took his hand. He allowed the simulated world around them to fade away, and they stood before his fragment of the Void.

"Before you take any offered deal," he told Levi, "I want to check it over and make sure there isn't anything bad. Other than that, any other questions?"

"Er… quite so, friend! What manner of spell have you put us under? Do I face a painted world? A new region?"

'Okay, he's back to talking video games… this guy's good."

He smiled, "Nothing of the sort. It's more of a trick than anything. I used a spell that would grant you a portion of my abilities, and chose to accelerate your mind. After that, I pulled you into an imaginary world and did all of this. Now, we're delved a bit deeper into my soul, and this," he said, waving at the total darkness, "Is the part of myself that has been blessed by Void. As for why I did it like this, I wanted to ensure that nobody caught on to something magical. Time is basically at a standstill in the real world, but we can't spend too long here, or people will get suspicious at how intently our real bodies are studying that concept art."

He nodded, "And what of your worries towards Void? Does it truly risk betrayal?"

Dei was about to answer, when he felt a tugging silence him and his brow scrunched. His contract with Void asking him to be quiet a moment. It felt like he could break it if he wanted, but that would come with its own complications, so he instead took a step back.

The darkness coalesced into a shifting shape, going through hundreds of different human faces. "I do not," Void said, "Pacts cannot be falsified or untruthful. I will tell you what is required and what you stand to gain, and you may walk away or accept as you please."

Levi looked utterly stricken, glancing at Dei, who gave him a short nod to confirm Void's words, and an encouraging thumbs-up.

* * *

Dei looked over the contract Void presented one last time, verifying there were no "Hidden" clauses, despite it being like… a single paragraph. Even if there were, you couldn't really hide stuff in a contract anyway, as it acted against the spirit of it.

'This is horseshit,' he thought in mock-jealousy, 'Levi gets an incredible deal with so little drawback.'

Levi's connection with Void was, apparently, even stronger than Boris' was. That implied concepts could multiply within someone, even without the affinity's help- which made sense when he thought about it, because that's how Ascenders and affinities were made in the first place.

Boris had mostly rejected half of himself, causing damage to his affinity. Levi? He was just like that, naturally close with Void. He was a perfect candidate, and Dei felt approval emanate from Void.

That made him think of his own contract options, and how they would've been if he was a different person. People who were naturally close with a concept would jump at the chance to get free power, but Dei didn't have the option. He had a well-balanced personality, but if someone who was already very Wrathful and never let a slight go unpunished was then offered a deal by Wrath to just… keep doing that, then there would be no reason for them to reject it.

The same phenomena occurred now. Void practically handed Levi the keys to the kingdom, as the man had an equivalent Treasured-tier connection, without any of the magical aspects.

Altogether though, Dei wasn't really jealous. Levi was a likeable guy in both forms, so he wanted the man to be happy. And besides, Dei's unusual start led to him growing closer with Leviathans and all that, so it wasn't bad, and he didn't regret it.

The contract itself was unusual though, not actually granting spells, but a path of sorts, and Dei got the sense that this kind of thing was what the System banned when it made the "Standardized Contracts" he'd seen.

Specifically, it gave Levi a way to interact with magic in a unique, video game like way, closely resembling the Dark Souls system.

'I can't believe I didn't think of that!' Dei cried in his mind, 'The System is just keeping track of real things! I am a being FILLED with magic and constructs! Why didn't I create a spell that would emulate its effects?! True, I won't be as good at identifying mysterious effects or things I have no idea about, but all the pieces are there! Knowledge could definitely identify what different Skills do, Identify of the Stout Protector can read into unknown effects on me such as Blessings, Overmind can be what I interface with because it is what connects my consciousness to my magic, and Connection will be what lets all the Skills interact! I could… I could make my own System!! Kind of!'

He was incredibly happy that Void gave him the idea, and it could be something to work on if he had the extra mental capacity while in Menerali. For now though, he verified that there was nothing wrong with Void, and that the "Drawback" just required Levi to occasionally be Solaire, even in the privacy of his own home, which Levi reluctantly said wouldn't be an issue because he did that anyway. He looked embarrassed, but Void was over the moon with such a perfect avatar, and Dei was glad he'd chosen correctly.

The meeting soon drew to a close, and after letting Levi- now Solaire, as was proper- regain his bearings, they were out.

* * *

He'd taken the low-hanging fruit of cosplayers, but what to do now? He had to find a quality Void user and, honestly, he thought it was time to look outside the U.S. Boris was dead, and Victoria was in Agartha, so the U.S. Only had one, but he was pretty sure there'd be some political issues if every powerful hero was only in the United states, but where to check now?

'Hmm… I'll put one in the East, so Asia or around there, and one in the middle between the two, so Africa-slash-Europe. What people would have the best place to start?

'Oh, definitely Japan now that I think about it. They have a heavy focus on politeness and being a good member of society, they would make wonderful heroes with how ingrained that is to them, but how should I go about this? I've never been to Japan, I only know them from media, and I don't think kaiju's are real… or are they? The Champion is a kaiju… and a lizard… oh, okay, they might technically be real. But where to look? I might need to do a bit of mindreading if I want to do this in a timely yet secret manner.'

* * *

Flying low over Japan, he read one mind after another, finding them to have the opposite problem that Americans did when it came to Void. Americans didn't take their work seriously enough to be considered a "True self," instead bringing home to their work, trying to make work more comfortable. They worked a lot, but the work was sloppy, and the minimum of what was required. It wasn't innately bad that they were like that, it just worked against Dei's goal.

With Japan, their lives revolved around their work and success. This, too, was not innately bad, but they didn't leave work at work. Their home life was built around working, which was not good for his purposes.

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* * *

After an hour of searching, he decided to change his parameters. Everyone was polite, everyone was professional, that's just how it went. He was still thinking in American terms, which just did not apply here. Instead of looking for someone serious at their workspace and rambunctious at home, he had to look for someone with unusual aspects in both. They weren't "Polite, hard workers" only when they were at their job. They were just like that.

They would always be Japanese. So he needed someone who fit that bill in both halves, but took on another alias sometimes, like…

'Uh, it can't be that easy, can it?' he thought, realizing what a good option would be. One that would resonate with and respect Japanese culture, yet still give the person two halves.

Similar to cosplay in America, he could pick someone who was a mascot.

His American self found the idea strange- giving powers to someone dressed as something he'd see at a football game? Ridiculous!

But, this wasn't for him. This was for Japan, and the Japanese really liked their mascots. No matter how strange it seemed to him, what he saw as he flew over the country told him it would be the right choice; that they would accept the idea better if it was presented as something familiar.

'Now… what to pick, what to pick? The state of void between human and mascot will certainly be enough, but what kind of mascot would be good to make famous?

'It can't be anything too specific, as even though they will be based in Japan, a magical being like this WILL become a worldwide phenomena. Let's see what I'm working with…'

* * *

It was far, far more difficult than he first assumed. To him, it looked like every single city had at least one mascot, but most of them were exactly what he didn't want: representing some kind of insanely specific idea that was mostly relevant to their city alone.

He had to compromise slightly. Not on the kind of person who would gain powers, but on what concept they would broadcast.

Going through the list of mascots based around helping the world in general, he was finally allowed to put his personality requirements in and look for someone who'd fare well with responsibility. After scanning through them, he found his mark in Kyoto in the shape of Eco-chan, a weird little chibi-person thing with a green hood that encouraged people to use public transportation rather than personal vehicles and pick up any trash they may see.

The person in the costume right now was a woman, and when he looked deeper into her mind, he saw that she agreed with the message being presented, which was not true for every person wearing their costume.

That out of the way, he delved slightly further, looking for how often she was a mascot, and getting surprised when he found this was only her third time wearing the costume. Not only that, but apparently it was usually not the same person each time, and he wanted to facepalm when he realized he hadn't thought of that.

Still… he thought she might be a pretty good option. She could just become her own thing, rather than a human/mascot type thing. She was a good person who wanted to spread a good message and, if he was being honest, he didn't know enough about Japanese culture or their workings to make an informed decision on how he wanted her to present her powers. The intent to be good was there, and he could tell she actually had a rather determined mindset, so that was really all he needed to see. He'd give her the abilities, and she would become what she believed her society needed, rather than what Dei believed her society needed.

When he tried putting his words into actions though, he felt like a complete pervert once he realized he'd have to follow her home after work and present her the deal there…

'I promise I'm not a creepy stalker!' he told himself, 'This is for the greater good! She will get cool powers and all that!'

It was either wait for her to be in the privacy of her own home, or the privacy of a bathroom, and he'd sooner just give it to a random homeless person than do that.

* * *

He felt even worse when she got home and he realized she still lived with her family. True, she was younger than he'd thought a mascot would be, but she wasn't that young. Now he had to wait for her to go to her room to sleep, and he was just dreading the idea of talking to her now. He prepared his speech so he could help her understand quickly, and so that she wouldn't think he'd broken in, nor was he just some weirdo.

He was struck with an epiphany when he realized he could turn himself into a World that Walks form though.

'They have Yokai!!' he jumped with joy in his head, 'I'll just pretend to be a demon or something presenting her with awesome powers! It's still bad, but their culture says Yokai aren't inherently evil, just monstrous. Yes. Okay, that's what I'll do.'

To him, it was a hundred times better than just being a random man in her room. Would it scare her? Yes, he looked terrifying as a World that Walks, but, for different reasons than a man being in her room would be.

* * *

He'd had to leave Perumah back in Agartha when he came to Japan because she couldn't move as stealthily as him through the air, so he alone sat invisible on the floor of her room. He'd already simulated a replica of her room in his head, 'which will be ERASED when it's not required!' and he now reached out to her mind.

Right as she closed her eyes to sleep, he pulled her into the mental world, and let her see the form he was in right now.

Immediately she bolted upright. He wasn't sure what it was like for them, but Levi had a similar response, somehow innately sensing that something had changed in the air, and they were not where they were supposed to be.

When she saw him she, understandably, screamed at the top of her lungs.

The sound seemed to suffocate when it came into contact with the wall, and she looked around with wide eyes, noting the eerie silence of the outside world.

She seemed to resolve that she wasn't going to get help, and focused back on Dei.

On her feet instantly, she bowed deeply.

"Greetings, great spirit. Please do not kill me."

His spell translated as usual into American, and he waved her off, "None of that, don't worry about me killing you or whatever. I'm here to give you magic."

She stayed silent, she maintained her bow, not moving a single muscle.

He sighed internally, 'this is gonna be a hard one. Man, I should have stayed in America because the culture class here is nuts!'

* * *

After much, much explaining, she finally understood the objective better, though in her own terms. Some higher entity wanted avatars or people that would spread its idea, and she was an amazing candidate. Dei had chosen her because of her good heart and desire to help the planet. She also, eventually, accepted that Dei was a good person and not going to eat her alive.

He didn't get to know her as deeply as he had Levi, but he did his job adequately. He found the encounter nerve wracking, and by the end, he'd lost the highest percentage of affinity connection with Soul to date. In just twenty short minutes, Dei had lost four, maybe five percent of his Soul affinity, and he was in pain. Only his Meditation, which helped prevent the pain from staining his actions, let him keep their tense conversation going.

When all the questions were asked, and all the reassurances made, a lull arrived, and both let it sit for a moment, gathering their wits. He could tell that she saw how out-of-depth he felt, and she seemed to assume it was because he wasn't used to interacting with humans. From her perspective, he was on some kind of errand for his boss, and doing his best to fulfill a task he wasn't good at which… was not an inaccurate assumption to make.

Eventually though, she asked "What are your stipulations? What is the deal?"

He nodded, it wa time to get down to business. "I'm not the one who can make the contract, just the emissary that will prepare you for Void's arrival, and here it is now."

This time, Dei did not dissipate the room. He'd wanted to scare Levi just a bit, to make him cautious, but Yoshiko Sato, or Sato-san as his translation ability encouraged her to call her, was already terrified and out of her depth. He didn't need her to be more afraid.

Still, she was hopeful. Who wouldn't be when promised potential supernatural powers?

There was a light rapping on the door, and Dei stood from their miniature table, sliding open the entrance all the way.

He heard Yoshiko shiver when she saw the swirling darkness and the transient entity that stepped in, but she made no moves to run. Void also seemed to get the hint, and was no longer completely naked, instead wearing a shifting business suit that took on hundreds of different styles, while holding a briefcase of the same make.

It bowed slightly towards Yoshiko, which put her slightly at ease, and the negotiations began.

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