My Wives Are A Divine Hive Mind

Chapter 46: Cornered Rodent

"Well, this is awkward."

Azulus’ back was pressed against the surface of a rusted support wall.

Pinned there by the very weapon she carried.

Her oversized katana had been unsheathed and embedded just an inch deep beside her head, its blade humming with residual space-cutting energy that was once felt when it was used to cut through Xenos and floating islands within the Xenorealm.

On the other end, Samael stood close, hand gripping the hilt of the katana. Her arm extended and her body rigid with restrained fury.

Azulus raised both arms slowly, fingers splayed in the air with deliberate calm. Her expression remained impassive, eyes half-lidded and unconcerned.

Samael’s gaze was anything but peaceful.

"I’ve had enough of this charade," Samael hissed. Her smile was slight, but the rage in her voice eclipsed the amusement. "Let’s stop pretending, shall we?"

Azulus remained quiet, watching the slant of light shift through the crumbling upper floors of the nearest building, the result of their short conflict before it led to this.

"You sabotaged the barrier," Samael continued. "You let the Dream Devourers of the East slip past it. You let them enter, and you let them hunt us."

Azulus blinked, slow and dry. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dream Devourers can only draw in those who are asleep, Uuuh, maybe you should ask yourself why you happened to fall asleep during that time?"

Samael tilted her head, voice shifting into mock disbelief. "Is this really the information that the Karasu Association distributed to their Void Hunters now? I’d have expected more creative lies from the ones who deal in secrets."

"You seem to know a lot for a fledgling hunter."

"I’m unfamiliar with the current era of humanity. I’m very well familiar when someone rolls their lies like dice, as they toss it from their tongue."

Seeing full well how Samael had already caught up to Azulus’S horrible attempt to redirect the blame, Azulus paralyzed for a moment before she calmed herself down.

"Well..." Azulus offered a soft deadpan shrug. "I guess, it is rather foolish of me to try misleading the Endless Dragon of Vaingall." Her tone never shifted, but she continued with drier sarcasm, "Clearly I’m terrified. Probably even peed myself. Actually, you can kinda see that I’m quite leaked down there from the amount of intimidation that you placed on me.

Samael’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t respond to the last comment.

She pressed her hand forward slightly, driving the blade a breath closer to Azulus’ neck.

The edge hovered a heartbeat away from skin.

"I’ll ask once again," Samael said, her voice low and sharp. "Does Karasu know?"

Azulus’ tone shifted into something near sincerity. "They’re anticipating you. They’ve been watching Fathomi’s shifts for signs of your re-emergence...

"From the day that the atmosphere above Vaingall shifted the moment it lost its true ruler, the Karasu Association has used the fact that the next few distortions will relocate the Solvish Keep within the Vaingall territory without any complication.

"Not only that, the association has also put their eyes on your girlfriend."

Samael seemed to expect that her disappearance would bring numerous interest to some factions, but she didn’t expect that one of them would pinpoint her current state this early, alongside the fact that Kivas was also a Fateling.

Even now, where Kivas no longer possessed the divine organ that marks her proof as a pure Fateling.

"How much did they know about Kivas?" Samael asked, hoping that her assumption about the association to be false.

Azulus nodded once. "The Karasu Association confirmed her status. If not the last, then certainly one of the final surviving Fatelings. Her appearance within Vaingall was not only weird but also influential, especially since it is your territory...

"They have been very curious as to why you are in this state, and also why the two of you are even mingling together." Azulus looked away. "They would certainly not expect that the two of you are so close with one another, especially of your history with Fatelings ever recorded."

"What do you think that you will utter to them if you happen to be alive after this?" Samael asked, wondering if Azulus was daring.

Azulus paused for two seconds. "I would tell them to not ever mess with you, or the Fateling, lest they want you to hunt every single of their members and headquarters throughout all Fathomi."

"Where was this intelligence when I asked you about the Dream Devourers?"

"I told you, I’m literally scared to death and pissing myself. It takes me a moment to regain my composure," Azulus said with a deadpan, hard to tell on whether she was sarcastic or not.

The katana trembled slightly in Samael’s hand. Her next words came slowly.

"Joyhan. Toriq. Beilan. Did you plan that too?"

Azulus closed her eyes briefly. "Joyhan has a history. He’s scammed several Void Hunter Associations across multiple bastions. The worst offender however, was selling false information to Karasu through the Solvish Chapter. Most recently, before a distortion buried the last one."

"I guess the association deems his existence to be more harmful than beneficial, huh. What about Toriq?"

"Killed forty-five fellow expedition members throughout his career as a Void Hunter," Azulus answered immediately. "Confirmed on multiple occasions and through several protected witnesses.."

"How’s that alligator, Beilan?"

"A runaway from an extremely hostile and volatile faction that still hunts her." Azulus swallowed her saliva. It seemed like this case was much more severe than the other two. "She refused Karasu’s extraction offer to depart from Solvish Keep."

"The reason?"

"Solvish Keep is one of the only bastions under an association that is consistently letting itself be carried by the flow of the distortion, greatly changing its location more than any known easily accessible societies."

"So the Karasu Association wanting to kill her means that they already made a deal in return for no conflict between the two factions, mhmm."

"As expected of the Endless Dragon."

Samael sighed as she finally saw the bigger picture. "You’re Karasu’s executioner, then."

Azulus didn’t answer. She simply lowered her raised hands slightly and gave a single, slow nod.

"We’re not supposed to become your obstacle," Azulus finally said. "Karasu’s directive is clear. The Endless Dragon and the Fateling are to be protected. Guided, even. Whether you join us or not."

After that, the air rusted in cold, red flame of wrath.

Samael’s voice was no longer sharp—it was predatory. Cold, deep, and brimming with the weight of brutality. "Then why did you let those Dream Devourers in?"

Azulus met her gaze fully. "Because you and Kivas would survive." Azulus’ fingers quivered for a moment. "I already gave the two of you all of the Curio items, and they all should be accessible when the Dream Devourers put the two of you into their False Reality."

A long moment passed.

Samael saw no lie in her posture. No tension in her stance.

The woman believed her own words. Maybe even told the truth.

Samael pulled the blade free from the wall and stepped back. She gave it a single spin, reversed the grip, and extended it back toward Azulus.

Azulus took it with one hand, nodded once, and stepped forward.

Her gait was uneven.

"You really did piss yourself," Samael said, watching the rodent girl limp slightly.

Azulus didn’t answer.

They walked back to the parking structure in silence, footfalls echoing across empty concrete, stained with drying ichor from the previous night.

Azulus broke the silence first.

"I had to make sure," she said, voice quieter. "Karasu has reliable records, but something is off. You’re both weaker than predicted. No confirmed reason yet. But you’re not where your potential should place you."

Samael didn’t stop walking. "And you thought that letting an entire pack of Dream Devourers was the right way to help?"

Azulus nodded. "Yes."

Samael exhaled, not angry, but tired. "If your organization wants us alive, they need to stop helping with knives behind their backs. Be upfront next time."

"Noted."

"Don’t note, uphold it."

As they returned to the lower level, the parking lot, the subtle sound of breathing reached them first.

Kivas lay sprawled, curled around the Crumbling Judgment missile like it was a long, metallic pillow.

Her face nuzzled into its base, eyes closed, breath slow.

Samael stopped beside her and waited, until Kivas’ breath was steady, until her moan stopped, and until she finally defeated the lone Dream Devourer in the False Reality.

Kivas stirred a moment later, her hand twitching as she reached up to rub her eyes.

"Hmnn...?"

Samael crouched beside her, one hand brushing stray hair from her forehead. "Welcome back to Fathomi. Did you have a nice dream?"

Kivas yawned, voice slurred with sleep. "There was a crab-thing... big carriage? I think... I woke up after my Nightmare and ended up in some fake world. Had to hunt it down... yawn~"

Samael tilted her head. "Not crab-thing, spider-thing."

Kivas blinked. "...Yeah?"

"It was called a Dream Devourer."

Her face contorted through confusion, realization, and then resignation.

"What..."

And then she lay back down and buried her face into the missile again.