Ever the pragmatist, Toma calmed the audience and even offered Zephyr a chair. Rejecting its offer, however, the fiend stood towering over it with his eyes as hollow as ever. Frustration and fear were brewing within the assembly, and it wouldn't be long before someone broke and tried something stupid. With that in mind, the sage made the offer, or rather accepted it.

"As you say, we'll work towards your interest." Placing its hand on the table, Toma readied its heart to hear an uproar of dissent. "I will take you to Saint Majora, and we can discuss the rest of the details with him. What do you say?"

Curiosity bloomed in the fiend's heart at the suggestion, and although he wasn't done yet with his speech, he gave the sage a nod. Shifting his gaze to the raging woman beside Toma for a moment, he wondered whether he should simply kill her or keep her around, as she was amongst the first to greet them and was invested deeply in Glyea's ascension to the royal seat.

"You have something to say to me?" He asked the sage Minora.

Wrinkling her nose through sheer anger, Cill wheezed through her teeth, trying to hold herself back. Turning away from the devil's sight, she quickly closed her eyes and tried not to think about what was happening all around her.

"Leave her be, I will take you to the top of the tower now." Getting off its chair, Toma gestured for the devil's group to follow it to the exit. "The Majora sage is already made aware of what's going on and is eager for an audience."

Walking towards the exit, Toma started guiding the group out of the room. Leaving everyone but Aura behind, Zephyr followed her lead while the rest kept an eye on the rest of the assembly. And while the two passed by the hero and his group waiting in the corridor, they appeared to them as the merchant and his slave, while Toma could see their true form.

A bit confused about what was going on, they left room for the trio to keep moving. Following them with their gaze, the hero and his companions wondered what the hell was happening both inside the assembly room and outside. After all, it was already meant to be their turn to meet the sages, but for whatever reason, this whole ordeal was taking much longer than they'd expected.

On the other hand, things weren't moving fast enough for Aura. She was getting frustrated by the diplomacy, and that's exactly why Zephyr decided to bring her along instead of leaving her with the others, where she could've easily killed them all. Making their way up the tower, her frustration became more apparent as she wore it as a grimace. Toma could sense her bloodlust; however, being the only person the devils were even willing to listen to, it refrained from showing even a lick of its fear.

"The sage isn't exactly what you might presume to be," talking to the fiend during their climb up the spiral of stairs, Toma decided to keep their minds distracted and for the succubus to remain somewhat sane. "He isn't like you and me. Most people would never even know of it, but I suppose the secrets can't remain a secret forever."

Staring at its back, Zephyr hummed to himself as he judged the sage's mind and abilities. Of sane mind even in an insane situation, it was far more pragmatic than most people would've been. Perhaps it was due to its absurdly high level and experience. Four hundred and twenty-three, no regular human could reach such heights without sacrificing something. Or maybe…

"You're not human." Turning its head back, Toma narrowed its eyes as it looked at Zephyr.

"You have a keen eye. How did you know?" It asked, curious to know more, and yet its feet never stopped the climb.

"You seemed different from the others, maybe a little like that girl, but that's it," Zephyr explained, his eyes now judging the rest of Toma's frame. The curves of a woman, but with the organs of neither gender. There was obviously something wrong with the person, but even he couldn't figure out what it was exactly.

"Never thought I would get to meet the godkiller, not in a million years, but my own existence is an enigma, so who am I to cast down to reality?" Turning its attention back to the front, Toma continued the climb, and the fiend followed in silence.

The spiraling staircase almost never seemed to end, but after half an hour of mindless walking, the trip finally arrived at the top floor of the grand tower. Passing through a heavy metal door and then through a dark tunnel with a crack of blue light beckoning from the very end, they walked into a room with a massive crystal ball with a faint luminous glow. Cracked in the middle, the ball emitted light through it, and what faint figure was visible within appeared more like a newborn than a wise old man, as most people perceived him.

"There he is, the sage Majora…" Pressing a hand against the crystal, Toma closed her eyes. The light from within pulsed to her touch, almost as if responding to her directly. "A failing apparatus of free changing thought that evolves with time, and I, its body to enact its will."

Opening its eyes, Toma turned around and looked at Zephyr.

"He says that we will agree to your terms, but nobody must be harmed, and the sages will still rule the kingdom, at least in the eyes of the public."

"You deduced that from a touch?" Aura inquired, her eyes growing narrow.

Nodding at her question, Toma glanced down at itself and undid the clip on its shoulders that kept its clothes held together. As the gown fell and the body of crystal was revealed underneath, a thought clicked in its own head about how the maid from earlier had a crystal knife much like her body.

"A few months ago," lifting its head, Toma stretched a hand forward. "Someone attacked and shattered the Majora's body. I will only last as he does, and while I know who it is, I cannot kill her, as her sister needs to take my place as the Mediora of the coming age. Any attempts to get rid of her would turn what little loyalty she has left for this kingdom."

"That girl Cill?" Zephyr asked.

"Precisely. With him and me gone, I wanted her to take my place. But then you showed up…"

Turning around, Toma brushed its hair to the side, and as it flowed down its shoulder they covered it from head to toe. Placing its hand on Majora once more, it closed its eyes and communed with him.

"Change and evolution demand my death. Only she can rule in my stead, but her desire for revenge blinds her and her sister. Even they lie to each other. Cill knows nothing of my coming demise, and the maid doesn't trust her sister either. If things move along as they have, the two will kill each other and leave no heir behind to shoulder the legacy of our mother." Reciting the thoughts of the major, Toma opened its eyes again.

"I will die either way, so being a slave to a devil to save the rest isn't exactly as bad a choice as you might have thought you had me cornered with."

Glancing at Aura, Zephyr shared his thoughts about the situation with her. The succubus did the same, and as they turned back to the sage, there was only one thing that needed to be said.

"You're a Marionette, and he's golem," glancing between the two, Zephyr stretched his right hand forward. "That means you have a master who created you. Where is he?"

A burst of wind blew away Toma's gown. Raging within that room, the pressure from the spell being concentrated on Zephyr's palm rattled the very walls, and the vibrations from it could be felt throughout the Marionette's chest. A moment passed as it considered its option, but in the end, as the Majora's body pulsed, the answer became clear to Toma.

"Gureia, the master of this tower grand. She's the one who made us by separating her body and mind, and manipulating the sages into granting us the highest position in their ranks." Caught off guard by its words, Zephyr waved the spell away and stepped forward. Standing its ground, however, Toma continued to explain further. "They never found her because she never left. Cill and her sister have been trying to revive the sorceress, but what they realize is that by making attempts at my life or by toppling the ranks, they will only bring down the plan she'd laid out for her children."

"And what is that plan?" Aura asked, growing ever more curious as to where this story was heading.

"Absolute rule once the kingdom falls into their hands. The half giants will rule, and the humans wouldn't even know that what they thought were extinct creatures and the enemies in their past are the same ones ruling over them."

A smile broke across Aura's tense lips. After all the nonsense, she'd finally heard something that excited her.

"Now we're talking, ahaha~." She cackled, but the sage's explanation and plans were not yet over.

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