Chapter 62: Partnership Between Nios

"Look, that’s not exactly what I expected when you said you’d see me in your dreams," Nio says to the second Nio as they both stand in a beautiful green plain under a clear, cloudless blue sky. They’re both inside a dream.

"You said you would marry me to piss off Typhon, so let’s do it properly," the other Nio says, gesturing toward a wedding altar as Nio notices she’s wearing a wedding dress.

"I-I mean, you took that really seriously, and besides, I’m called Nio, and so are you, which is kind of confusing. Can I call you by some other name?"

"...Whatever you want."

"Nioh!! That’s it, I’ll call you Nioh."

"It doesn’t really sound like it changed much. The H is silent and only shapes the pronunciation very slightly, like you’re about to say something else and just stop abruptly."

"It doesn’t have to be a different name! Just a distinction!"

"Fine... Here." Nioh hands Nio an elegant ring with a subtle scale pattern detail. Nio slips the ring onto her finger and realizes that, for some reason, she’s wearing a wedding dress too.

"How are you doing this?"

"It’s the dream world. We’re absolute in here. Once you learn to control it, you’ll be able to kill people inside their dreams—though it only works on those weaker than you. This didn’t exist in your game, but in reality, if you know what you’re doing, you can use magic to make wounds from dreams become real."

"W-Wow!! Like stabbing someone in a dream and the wound shows up in reality? That’s such an insane power!!"

"...Nioh, I want to learn everything you know!" Nioh takes Nio’s hand and pulls her toward the altar, her wings spreading wide open and her tail coiling around Nio’s tail, wrapping itself tightly.

"I can teach you, as long as it’s in here... I’m not coming out. In here, not even Typhon can reach me."

"You’re really cute, like, you’re beautiful, but you’re so cute it overshadows your beauty," Nio compliments, trying to sound appropriate.

"..." But Nioh doesn’t even react to the praise, putting Nio in her place.

"Let’s skip the entire speech part and make this official. I promise to love you, respect you, and be with you forever so we can kill Typhon." She’s extremely direct, leaving Nio flustered.

"I-I promise... to love you?... to respect you and be with you? To kill Typhon... or something... I don’t know..." Nio stumbles over every word as Nioh embraces her and gives her a kiss—far more free and gentle than the kiss Typhon gave Nio before.

"There. We got married in a ceremony, exchanged vows, a ring, and kisses. We’re married now."

"That’s... it?" Nio feels a certain disappointment. Even though the kiss was good, everything else was much faster and colder than she expected.

"Weddings are disappointing. I don’t know why mortal races try so hard to make this something special. It’s just a ceremony where you exchange an object, a few words, and a kiss. It’s disappointing at its core. What makes it unique is love, but we don’t love each other," Nioh says, pulling Nio toward a table where a cake sits.

"Eat. It should be good, I think. I don’t know if you’ll like the taste..."

"Uhh... a-are those eyes on the cake?"

"..." Nioh stays silent as the eyes on the cake look in Nio’s direction. Nio takes a step back.

"I’m gonna pass on the cake this time."

"You’re not even going to try it?"

"No, the cake just looked at me. I don’t think cakes should have eyes. Besides, now that we’re married, we can rub it in Typhon’s face next time... so... should we have a wedding night?"

"No."

"...S-Sorry." Nio realizes she overstepped.

"Of course it’s a virgin brat. I see no reason for us to do that like this. Let’s get to what actually matters, how about that? If you want to kill Typhon with a trap, I honestly doubt you can pull it off."

"There’s no magical attack you have that’s strong enough to kill her in a single blow... however, there are two scenarios. First, you start with your strongest attack and deal damage to Typhon to begin the fight with a total advantage."

"Or you save the trap for the end of the fight, when both of you are worn out and the attack is truly fatal." Nioh sits on the chair and props her feet up on the table—not out of rudeness, but because without Typhon here she’s turned rebellious and wants to be rebellious just to feel some sense of control over her own life.

"Nioh, why are we so different? I thought we’d be more alike, considering we’re the same person..."

"You and I aren’t exactly the same in the way you thought."

"Physically, mentally, and spiritually, we’re the same being, identical in every sense. Even our souls are intimately connected. But the way we think comes from memories and personal life experiences. That’s why we’re different in mind and in the way we act and speak," Nioh says indifferently while cutting a slice of cake.

"..." Nio watches her take a bite, the eye bursting beneath her teeth and spreading a reddish liquid across the white frosting.

"..."

"Something wrong?"

"What was that?"

"Fish. Fish eyes. A golden carpatacidio."

"Hahahaha... we really aren’t anything alike... who mixes meat with sweets?"

"I do."

"Yeah, I already figured that. At least we have individuality, and that’s kind of interesting. Is there something you want me to do?"

"...Build a unified empire."

"Huh?"

"If Typhon’s going to try to destroy everything, make everything too big to make her job harder. Make our palace the center of the world, and every kingdom and race subservient to us. Dominate the world, but not just that—make our palace the center that governs every aspect of this world. An empire."

"Be the Empress this world never expected to have."

"...You’re greedy."

"Smart. Just smart. It’s the best move against Typhon. We have to protect what’s ours, right? I love that palace. To you it might have just been a game, but I built a large part of that palace with my own hands, days and days learning architecture just for that."

"I love that building more than a lot of things I’ve ever had... actually, I’m pretty fucking pissed at life lately. You lost our favorite weapon..."

"...Ah... don’t even remind me... I can’t believe Typhon permanently broke our weapon..." Nio grows sad, sitting on the table and touching the cake with her finger. It’s not exactly the wedding she expected, but it’s what she has, so she just accepts it.

"Nioh, why is Typhon taking so long to find me?" Nio asks something that’s been confusing her. Typhon isn’t even close to finding her, and she knows this because she hasn’t seen any "traces" of her—after all, Typhon is quite destructive, even if accidentally, so she would’ve already wrecked something or caused a massacre if she were nearby.

"She’s probably in the ocean. She knows you, but she doesn’t know exactly how you think in certain ways. I would have gone to the middle of the ocean, and she knows that, so she went there too. And she went because she’d deduce that I would go, knowing she would go, so I wouldn’t abandon the idea just to make things harder for her."

"That being the case, I can guarantee it—she’s in the middle of the sea right about now, but soon she’ll realize you’re not there and will deduce that you’re on solid ground among the races of this world."

"...How long do you think I have?"

"...I don’t know, but don’t underestimate this world. Typhon might not be the only major threat. I’d recommend staying alert to the underground of this world. The magic in this world is a little strange," Nioh keeps talking about things while Nio listens, tasting a little bit of the cake with her finger and liking the flavor.