The chamber felt smaller now, though nothing had changed. The glass still stood between them and her but her presence filled everything.
The Moth Maiden tilted her head slightly, her luminous eyes unfocused as if peering into some invisible horizon. Her smoky veil swirled and tightened against her body, accentuating her form.
"I can already see it now. Every single one of them have been placed upon Altera Earth. Students, soldiers, killers, all playing at being something they are not. And you three…"
Her hand pressed flatter against the glass, her inked fingers spreading.
"You, the broad one was once a CEO in South Korea. Ruthless, pragmatic and profits carved from flesh and blood with a smile that never reached your eyes."
The man's jaw tightened. Her gaze slid onto the woman.
"You… a secretary assistant in a Japanese company. Overlooked. And yet, here you are, standing as one who dares to hold chains in a world not your own."
The woman flinched slightly, her cigarette crushed beneath her boot.
And then, finally, her attention fell to the narrow-faced man.
"And you. A mercenary. A killer-for-hire. You've buried names, families and politicians beneath the muzzle of a gun and yet, you sat before a glowing screen to play an otome game."
The silence was brutal. The mercenary's lips thinned into a line, but he didn't retort. The scientist's voice cracked through the suffocating silence.
"She... she can read memories of anyone she sees. Do you not understand? The Moth Maiden is the only recorded being with a Concept Flux!"
The woman's eyes widened. "Concept… Flux?"
"Yes! You think her wings are the threat? The true danger is her Flux. She doesn't just wield power. She consumes minds without needing to lift a finger."
The Moth Maiden chuckled, soft and melodic, a sound that chilled bone.
"Only one with Concept Flux? No, little man. You should know better than to claim absolutes. According to you three, there are others. The Argemenes? Their memory sings of it, though the details are… fragmented."
The three officials exchanged uneasy glances. She turned her face away slightly, her smoky veil rippling.
"Strange, though. For all I can pluck from your minds, there is something I cannot touch. I know you were players of Masquerade of Dreams: Shattered but not how the story goes. What mental power is restricting me?"
Their hearts skipped a beat at the name.
Her glowing eyes snapped back to them.
"For some reason, I cannot access the memories of the game itself. Its plot, its design, its purpose, it is absent."
The officials exhaled almost in unison, relief flooding their features like a reprieve from execution. The system had protected itself. The story was safe and untouchable even by her, but the reprieve was brief. Her gaze sharpened, her lips curving in something dangerously close to a smile.
"Tell me, then. Why did a mercenary, of all people, decide to play an otome game? And a CEO, or a secretary, of all things."
Her voice was velvet laced with knives and for a moment none of them answered. The mercenary's lips twitched, as though he might speak, but he didn't. Instead, the broad man took the opportunity.
"We aren't here to answer your questions."
"Mm. Then perhaps I should answer yours. You want to know what I want? Freedom, perhaps? Release?"
The scientist's head whipped toward the officials. "What are you—"
"Yes," the woman said sharply, cutting him off. "Do you want to be free?"
The scientist nearly collapsed. "Вы сумасшедшие?!" (Are you insane?!)
But the Moth Maiden tilted her head.
"Free? No. Not interested."
The officials blinked. Even the scientist froze mid-rant.
"The world has changed. There are beings united under banners stronger than anything I witnessed in 1941. If I walked free and attacked Russia now as I once did, I would not rampage. I would be crushed instantly. So why should I leave? What is the point of unleashing myself into a cage wider, but no less deadly?"
The chamber went dead quiet.
It was the woman official who found her voice first. She exhaled, smoke curling from her lips, and murmured.
"You can speak perfect English."
The Moth Maiden tilted her head. With a faint, sly tone, she replied in flawless Russian.
«Я могу говорить и на других языках.» (I can speak other languages too.)
The officials stiffened.
She shifted again, her glowing eyes narrowing in delight.
«Je parle aussi français. La langue de la poésie, n'est-ce pas?» (I also speak French. The language of poetry, isn't it?)
Then she tilted her head and continued.
«Ho imparato anche questa lingua. Non è difficile.» (I learned this language too. It's not difficult.)
Their eyes widened as she changed again, her smoky form rippling with each new tongue. In Japanese, soft and precise, she said:
「私は日本に行きたい.」 (I want to go to Japan.)
And then, without pause, spoke in crisp, perfect Swahili.
"Ninaweza pia kujifunza kutoka kwa kumbukumbu za watu. Ni rahisi kwangu kuelewa kila lugha kwa kusoma akili ya binadamu." (I can learn from people's memories too. It is easy for me to learn ever language my reading a human's mind.)
The officials stood stunned, their silence heavy with the weight of what they'd just witnessed. She was q monster who didn't need to conquer through claws or flame. Her mind alone was a battlefield no one could win.
"You see? I am the Moth Maiden. And you are very interesting insects."
The officials stood in rigid silence as the Moth Maiden lowered herself gracefully onto the floor of the containment tube. Her sheer height and presence made the space feel smaller. Her glowing white eyes blinked slowly, studying each of them with an intensity that made the three Outers unconsciously avert their gazes.
"If you came here to free me and barter for something in return, I refuse."
She leaned her head back against the glass with an almost weary elegance.
"Even if you wear the bodies of Russian officials, I will not risk my life to entertain your whims. You misunderstand me if you think I am some beast waiting for a leash."
The broad man opened his mouth as if to argue, but no sound came. The truth of her statement suffocated any words he might've found.
"But… thank you. The blue liquid stifled me. It bound me to my cocoon, prevented me from choosing when to wake. Your interruption freed me from that prison. And that, I will not forget."
She crossed her long legs, sitting cross-legged now on the floor of the tube, her four-meter frame making them look up to her face. A sigh slipped past her lips as her eyes dimmed faintly.
"Keep this awakening a secret. If the government learns I've stirred, they will not hesitate to kill you three as scapegoats. And it would be such a shame to waste fresh Outers so soon. After all, I can leave this place whenever I wish. I remain because I choose to."
The scientist, who had remained pressed nervously against the side wall, gathered enough courage to step forward. His voice cracked with restrained awe.
"Are… are you immortal?"
The Moth Maiden slowly turned her head toward him. A faint smirk curved her lips, which was the first true display of emotion since her emergence.
"Yes. In age of course. I can be killed but it will not be so easy."
The scientist's eyes widened. His hands trembled. His father had worked at this very facility decades ago, obsessed with the legends surrounding her. He whispered almost reverently.
"My father… he dedicated his life to studying you. He died before he could uncover anything beyond surface theory."
The Moth Maiden's smirk widened ever so slightly.
"He died of old age, correct? And you took his place here, seeking the answers he could not. I know."
The man's breath hitched. He remembered too late She could red memories with a glance. The Moth Maiden leaned forward, resting her chin lightly against her ink-smudged hand.
"You three Outers speak of overthrowing governments and shifting nations as though the world is yours for the taking. But you have been here for what, twenty days? You truly believe you can topple a political structure centuries deep with your borrowed bodies and shallow roots? Outers are bold and stupid. Perhaps stupidity is what keeps you alive."
The broad-shouldered man stiffened but said nothing. The woman avoided her gaze entirely. The mercenary, however, clenched his jaw but he too held his tongue. The Moth Maiden finally waved her hand. Shadows curled around her pale fingers like smoke.
"If your purpose here is to make me your weapon, do not waste my time. But, I will allow myself to be experimented on within this tube."
The scientist's head snapped up, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"You—you'll allow it? You mean… with consent?"
The Moth Maiden leaned lazily against the wall of the tube, stretching her long legs out with regal indifference.
"Yes. Without my agreement, you would never succeed. You know this. I am curious about my own body as well. So long as your studies remain… discreet, I have no reason to object."
The scientist almost collapsed with relief. For the first time in decades, genuine progress seemed possible. His voice shook with gratitude.
"Thank you, Moth Maiden. Thank you."
Her glowing eyes cut back to the three Outers, stripping them bare again.
"As for you, listen carefully. Learn more this world before you act. Understand it. Breathe in its weight, its politics and its people. Only then may you decide whether to move. Otherwise, your stories will end as quickly as they began."
Her words fell over them like judgment from a higher plane. The three bowed their heads. There was nothing else to do but accept. The elevator doors hissed open behind them. Without another word, the three Outers turned and walked away. When the doors closed, silence returned to the chamber. The chief scientist lingered, staring up at her colossal form, awe and terror mingling in his eyes.
"Why… why agree to this?"
"Because I am curious too. The human body, the evolution of my wings, the growth of my Flux and such. If your hands can reveal to me what my own cannot, then why not?"
She leaned back, resting against the transparent walls, her luminous eyes half-lidded in mock boredom.
"Besides, your government does not control this facility. They provide you protection, yes… but even they cannot leash you since you are supported by the Abyssal Houses. As long as they remain ignorant of my awakening, we have an understanding."
The scientist swallowed hard. Her words were not reassurance. They were a reminder.
"Do your work, scientist. I will allow it. But never forget, I am only here because I want to be. Do not rush and have intentions other than research. I can read your mind. Now then, I wonder. Just what entity is making the Outers come to Altera Earth? And why are there two Earths?"