A tremendous gust of wind hit her eardrums as her ears rang while she fell through the darkness below.
She screamed her lungs out, arms stretched wide, hands searching for something, anything to hold on to.
There was nothing. The world around her was pitch black. So dark she couldn't even tell which direction she was falling.
This was not the first time she had fallen through darkness or been trapped in one. The sensation she felt dragged Yuki's memories to the surface.
The dark liquid. The drowning. The dying over and over again with no way out. Her body seized up as that same terror gripped her all over again.
It was the same kind of feeling a soldier brings home from war.
The kind where a firework or a backfiring engine throws their body into a full panic.
Not again not again not again not again not again not again not again not again not again—
The longer she fell the more her mind crumbled into itself, twisting her thoughts beyond recognition, And before she knew it, the tears she had been holding back burst from her eyes.
This display of weakness disgusted her. She was, after all, one of the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, yet here she was, terrified of the dark.
It was laughable.
If her siblings saw her in this state, what would they have said? Even though she had little to no memory of them, she imagined that War and Famine wouldn't even acknowledge her existence.
As for Death, being Sasaki, as much as she didn't like him or that smug face of his, he would have belittled her without a second thought.
And as for Pestilence, she had only exchanged a few words with her but even she would have lowered her opinion of Conquest. At least that's what she assumed.
Eventually, as she fell, a faint dark purple light illuminated the space around her until the ground below came into view. Low growls and scratches filled the air but she couldn't tell what was making them. It almost felt like she was surrounded by wild animals.
Conquest closed her eyes and positioned her legs beneath her to take the impact.
As she braced for impact, her body was caught by what felt like two arms. Her fall stopped dead.
Whoever had caught her held her firm against their chest.
"Huh?"
Conquest slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by Mazikeen's face.
Instantly, a raging surge of adrenaline shot through her as she swung her right arm.
But nothing connected.
What? Where's my hand?
Unfortunately, the stump hadn't finished regenerating. All that hit Mazikeen was a spray of blood across her face.
At one point, injuries like these would have healed in an instant.
But that version of Conquest was long gone.
"Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you. Conquest, Ruler of All."
Her body went still, eyes locked on Mazikeen's mouth.
"Let go of me."
Mazikeen blinked once.
"Oh. Yes."
She released her grip and Conquest dropped to the ground, boots hitting the glass floor.
Mazikeen's left eye shifted to the side as she took a breath.
"Lucifer returned my voice."
"And? Who said I was going to ask you that."
"Your face."
Conquest let out a slow sigh.
Since when was I this easy to read? Nevertheless, she must have promised Lucifer something. Maybe to kill me or drag me back to him. Either way, that's how she might have gotten her voice back.
"So, where are we exactly?"
Mazikeen stepped back and clapped her hands together. A dark purple glow spread from all sides until the space around them came into full view.
Glass cells lined every wall, stacked in rows that stretched upward beyond what Conquest could count.
Behind each pane, cursed spirits thrashed against their cages, claws raking the glass as their growls bounced off every surface.
"What is this place, it almost looks like a zoo for cursed spirits."
Mazikeen adjusted her red tie.
"This is my pocket dimension. I hunt cursed spirits across the mortal realm and bring them here. Once I brand them, they answer to me."
"Brand them?"
"I mark them. Once branded, they follow my commands without question."
Conquest put a hand over her mouth as she walked forward. The chamber stretched in a wide circle around her, its walls curved inward like the inside of a colosseum.
Glass cells lined every surface from floor to ceiling, each one separated by dark iron frames etched with symbols she couldn't read.
Behind every pane, a cursed spirit sat contained. Some pressed their faces against the glass, their glowing red eyes tracking her movement.
Others were in the back of their cells, as their bodies were too large for the space they occupied.
That's when, a cursed spirit she was quite familiar with caught her eye.
It was the doll spirit. The same one Sasaki had split in half back in Yuki's house. It still wore her parents' faces.
But for some reason, its body had completely stitched itself back together, with the scar running down the middle barely visible under the purple glow.
And its eyes, if they could even be called that, were nothing but black holes carved into its face. Empty and devoid of anything resembling life.
Blood poured from both sockets without stopping, streaming down its body and pooling at its feet like a faucet.
"How is it alive? I was sure Sasaki killed it. Didn't he?"
Mazikeen marched toward the doll spirit's cage and placed her hand against the glass.
"It barely survived the attack. But my pocket dimension naturally restores cursed spirits that are kept inside it. Given enough time, even the worst of injuries will heal on their own."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, Alternatively, I could have fed it humans to speed up its recovery, but I've lived among humans long enough to find that distasteful."
Conquest's eyes shifted toward Mazikeen with a worried look. She thanked whatever force kept this woman on the side of good.
At least five thousand cursed spirits filled this chamber. If Mazikeen ever decided to let all of them loose at once, that alone would be enough to end the world—
"Hold on. Why didn't you ever use this ability back at the mansion?"
"Both my voice and my true form are needed to command them. Lucifer had taken my voice, and Sasaki's contract kept me from using my true form. So I couldn't do either."
Mazikeen paused and took a breath.
"The truth is, I never meant to cause you any harm. But my contract with Death required me to bring you under his control. In return, he would give me the key to Hell so I could see Lucifer again. I won't pretend it wasn't selfish of me."
Conquest had too many questions that needed answering. But this was not the time for a back and forth. She need it to stick to the main topic which was—
"Let's cut to the chase. Apparently, my previous self killed your mother. So what does Lucifer want you to do to me? End my life?"
"No, nothing like that. He just wants your ring as proof of my loyalty to him."
Conquest glanced at the ring on her pinky finger. Since waking from her coma, the ring had gone completely dark.
It refused to respond no matter what she did, and the worst part was she couldn't even remember what it was supposed to do.
Whatever power it once held was lost to her.
Additionally, even if Lucifer took her ring, it would be useless to him.
Sasaki had already abolished the Laws of the Horsemen, which meant the Sovereign could no longer punish her to replace her with someone else.
Her title couldn't be taken through the ring if the covenant that bound it had already collapsed.
Conquest slipped the white ring off her pinky finger and held it out toward Mazikeen.
"Take it. I'll come back for it once I can fight at full strength."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. Besides, I'd rather Lucifer and the rest of the Demons of Sin believe you're still on their side. If you could feed me information on what they're doing in the mortal realm, that would be far more useful than holding on to a ring I can't even use."
Mazikeen reached into her suit and pulled out a phone, holding it toward Conquest.
"Then I'll trust your judgment. Take this. My number is already in it. Now, I should get going before Envy starts asking questions. Where do you want me to open the portal? Your family's house?"
Going back to the house was tempting. But showing up again would only put her family in danger for a second time, and she refused to let that happen.
The only place that made sense was the Yakuza hotel.
She hated the idea of crawling back to them, but at this point they were the only people with enough resources to help her fight the Demons of Sin and whatever high-ranking demons followed them through the veil.
Conquest pulled up the location on the phone and turned the screen toward Mazikeen.
"This place will do, open the portal."
Mazikeen formed a series of hand signs and a portal tore open in front of them. Conquest stared into the swirling darkness ahead and her jaw tightened.
The last time she fell through one of these, the void had swallowed her whole. This time,
she pulled out the phone Mazikeen had given her and flicked the flashlight on.
It was a little embarrassing that a Horseman of the Apocalypse would be using a phone flashlight to cope with the dark. It was utterly pathetic. But she didn't care.
Without a word, she gave Mazikeen one last glance and walked in.
Her stomach lurched as the ground disappeared beneath her feet. The small beam barely cut through the void but it was enough to keep her breathing steady.
A few minutes later, her knees cracked against the solid ground. Snow cushioned her fall. She stayed there for a moment, catching her breath.
Then she pushed herself up, and found a streetlamp glowing above her.
The Junei Hotel stood ahead, its windows reflecting the full moon through the falling snow.
"Tch, never thought I'd come crawling back to these crooks." She clicked her tongue, eyes fixed on the hotel entrance.
"That old lady did say we'd meet again. I guess she knew something I didn't."