Chapter 115: Questions and Answers

"...Aaaahhh!!!" Nio wakes up screaming and looking around, until she realizes she’s dead, which makes her expression go stiff.

"...W-Why the hell are you staring at me?" Nio asks, seeing Typhon staring at her without blinking, which makes Nio shrink back in discomfort. Nio looks down at her own body and is surprised Typhon didn’t try to touch her.

"You seemed to be suffering. A nightmare, from the look of it."

"...Yeah... I... I dreamed about my defeat..."

"You didn’t lose. You beat me. Your death doesn’t erase your victory." Typhon stands and stretches for a moment while her tail curves into an S.

"...Whatever... it’s not exactly great having died..." Nio touches her own neck.

"Stop touching your neck, Nio, or you won’t be able to forget you were beheaded. Just treat this like a vacation..." Nio spreads her wings and tries to go up, but after climbing only a few meters she slows, and once she’s about twenty meters off the ground she drops back down.

"Urgh..."

"Did you really try to fly on Floor 1?" Typhon wonders just how much Nio actually knows about Hell, considering she tried to fly.

"How do we get out of the first floor? And how do we get out of Hell!?" Nio asks, touching her head where she hit the ground when she fell.

"Getting out of the first floor is simple, but I can’t say it yet. And about getting out of Hell, there are several ways. Even on Floor 1, portals sometimes appear, but if you’re planning to wait for a portal, forget it. It’s impossible to find those portals on Floor 1, and they’re temporary besides."

"It’s easier to climb. The upper floors tend to have portals that are easier to find, especially the higher up you go. The problem is that there are people guarding the permanent portals... there’s also the chance of falling into fissures that throw you out of Hell... but all of that is pretty rare."

"The best choice we have is to keep climbing until we find a floor that has a permanent portal and doesn’t have someone too strong guarding it."

"Oh, great..."

"Nio, would you like to have Hell for yourself?"

"What do you mean?" Nio starts following Typhon, who walks in a random direction.

"It’s possible to enter Hell without dying. When you enter without dying, it’s easy to leave. But the point is that when we get out of here, if you want, I’ll help you obtain Hell as your own."

"...That doesn’t—"

"Hell belongs to Yggdrasil. So that old tree really did survive, since Hell didn’t collapse. It means that just as Nioh made a universe dependent on her existence, you can make Hell dependent on you. Then it would be yours." The permanent portals exist so that the [Spirits] can leave Hell to continue their service to Yggdrasil.

"...Why this strange offer?"

"I just want to help you." Typhon knows the reality of it. Hell would become an anchor, keeping Nio from being able to "escape" to another universe easily, if Nio did that.

"I don’t know if I want that. I’d rather just get out of here—"

"Nio, you’re going to betray me and try to run off on your own at some point, aren’t you?"

"!!!"

"O-Of course not..."

"It’s fine if you try. I’m pretty permissive when it comes to your personal freedom. But I have a question. Have you thought about everything I told you in the dream?"

"..."

"Wouldn’t you like to talk with me more? To see other sides of me? Have you thought about how nice it would be for us to stop being enemies? I believe I’m not a bad option as a wife."

"...I’ll think about it... so... since it seems like it’ll take a while for us to get out of here... why don’t you tell me about your universe and Nioh’s? What was your original universe like?"

"...It was very dependent on magic and on the gods it had. It wasn’t that good. It was largely under the law of the strongest. Nioh and I were the strongest, along with Yggdrasil..."

"My universe wouldn’t have collapsed if the humanity of your world hadn’t tried to play god. But I don’t care."

"I never cared about that universe. Only about Nioh."

"...Typhon... how did you two survive?"

"Nioh survived mainly because the extinction of the universe was limited in power, just enough for that. Nioh was superior to the universe itself, so she survived. Same with me."

"It’s like an ant. An ant can’t kill something far superior to it on its own. But why we lost our original power is something I don’t know."

"Maybe it’s the laws of this universe we’re in now." Nio thinks about that a little more.

"Are there many universes?"

"Yes. They’re like soap bubbles. There are infinite ones, but you can’t travel freely from one to another."

"...That sounds fascinating."

"It’s not so much for someone who already knows of their existence." Nio is confused about why Typhon is so responsive to everything she asks.

"Typhon, why do you love me? Shouldn’t I be someone you ignore or hate? You said you felt things for Nioh since she was born, but what about me?"

"You’re a special case. But to me, you already existed alongside Nioh from the beginning. I loved both of you from the start of everything. It’s just that you never appeared, and I found that regrettable."

"...Do you really have me as your favorite?" When Nio asks this, Typhon stops walking. She turns to face Nio, staring at her body.

"Yes." Typhon’s answer is simple, but honest. She really does have a certain favoritism toward Nio, but that’s only because Nio is easier to turn into someone who will give Typhon the love she wants.

"H-Hey, I’m a girl now, but I used to be a guy. I’m not gonna let you fuck me, got it?"

"...I don’t have as much interest in the flesh as you think. My love is far more abstract. If you want sex, I’ll give it. But if you don’t, that’s fine."

"..." Nio clicks her tongue. She didn’t expect that much "freedom." She only said that because she wanted Typhon to say something bad, to prove that Typhon is a controlling monster.

"And if I do want it? Maybe I want to test female pleasure!"

"...If you want it, then I’ll give it to you. I already told you that you’re a different case from Nioh. With Nioh, carnal things were frequent, but that was much more about what was necessary with Nioh."

"..." Nio doesn’t quite understand, but she feels a little offended, like she’s inferior to Nioh.

"Then why did you do things with Nioh while she was sleeping?"

"Because, in human terms so you can understand, I have somnophilia. But at the most basic core, I like observing how Nioh reacts when she sleeps."

"...That’s deeply disturbing—"

"Why?"

"W-Well, because the person is sleeping, defenseless and vulnerable—"

"Do you think I would do something bad to someone while they’re sleeping? Even if I had permission?"

"...That’s not what I meant... I mean... no?" Nio gets even more confused. All her tests keep failing. Why do all her tests conclude that Typhon is controlling?

"I-If you’re someone who gives so much freedom, then why the hell do you want to destroy everything Nioh and I built?" Nio can’t understand that what Typhon wants isn’t just to be loved. It’s to end Nio’s individuality.

Ending individuality doesn’t require taking away freedom. It only requires giving the freedom Typhon wants. If Typhon wants to watch the moon and Nio does too, then it’s the same desire, with no distinction. So freedom is irrelevant if the desires are the same.

"..." But everything Nio and Nioh built has no hand, choice, or desire of Typhon in it. So that is individuality, which is something unacceptable to Typhon.

"You would never understand, Nio. Do you have any other questions?"

"...I do."