Gabrielle's experience was more or less the same, yet her perception was different.
This silence or the dark did not bother her, but this stench—
The earlier she'd find that bastard, the sooner she'd take a breath of fresh air.
Then, she'd punish Lucifer for forcing her into this.
"Run and hide," she scoffed into her palm, "but your mana lights up like a beacon."
If only her incense shield weren't already fading.
She'd better hurry.
And no faster way to catch The Controller than freezing time.
Her mind's eye saw every trace of essence, but she'd rather not run in the darkness.
To lose her breath and suffocate from the smell? Or worse, fall into this sludge?!
No. She'd walk at a careful, steady pace while time was on a break.
It didn't take long to reach the strongest signal to—
Find half a dozen imps huddled together in the sewers.
"I fell right for it," she spat, disintegrating them with a wave. "So you're actually smart, huh?"
Imps were weak, but shared the caster's magic signature.
Keep enough of them close together, and they become the perfect decoy.
She sighed, regretting it immediately.
Too many signals to check, and the air wasn't getting any cleaner.
If anything, breathing while time stood still was hard. Archangel or not, she had her limits, too.
But if she unfroze it—wait. She could have guessed from the traces' movements which one was the real deal, right? As long as those annoying steel balls weren't flying at her, she would be fine.
That's why she kept Lilith around, after all.
Except that as soon as the moment continued, the signals were all over the place.
They didn't move. They appeared and disappeared.
As if someone summoned and discarded things at random, but at a range she couldn't match.
The only things moving on her mental map were the tiny dots representing those cursed balls.
They were far now, aiming for the greater demon's tremendous presence. Then, a magic signal popped up, and—
An explosion rattled all the concrete tunnels.
"Damn it," Gabrielle cursed, struggling to keep her balance.
She had to hold onto something, and everything here was filthy.
"Told her not to blow the city up," she muttered, seeing her jump around and release something big. Talk about a waste of mana, but whatever. She had her own target to focus on.
She shook her head. There had to be a bigger picture she was missing.
What else was even here?
Only two distinct magical signatures that belonged to their enemies, and the two of them.
The seweres. That was it. That should have been.
But luminous existences popped up and disappeared at random, all over the place.
Her mind already had way too much going on for The Controller's games.
Like, how come those balls defied physics and even her ability when she was their target? But now that she looked at them from a distance, they'd stand still whenever she froze time.
Logic and order existed for a reason, and nobody could disregard them and get away with it—
Unless what she saw wasn't even real.
Who said illusions were only images and sound?
The darkness, the silence, her regular senses stripped away, was one thing.
But the smell, her touch—how could she tell if those were real? Or if she was even moving?
Her magical perception was yet another sense he could have fooled with.
But only when she let time flow like normal.
The Controller was Lucifer's pawn, and it was showing.
Gabrielle forced herself to take a deep breath of the last traces of incense.
To empty her mind. Ignore all her senses.
And then, froze the moment. Again.
She still opened her eyes to the darkness, and of course, there was no sound. But outside the world's natural order, this was all normal.
The stench remained suspended in the air, too, since she was still in the sewers.
But all those magic signatures that jumped around before were gone.
Her mental map had only shown Lilith, a weak signature the demoness approached, and—
One very faint presence ten paces behind her own back.
Gabrielle turned, counting her steps and holding her breath, until—
She bumped into something.
Or someone.
An invisible, small, humanoid shape, no larger than those imps earlier.
But she knew she couldn't dispel this one the same way she did with the rest. Instead, she held onto it, tight, before letting time return to its natural flow.
The first thing she perceived was a gasp.
A small sound, but a clear sign that the absolute silence was breaking.
Then the frame started to struggle against her, but breaking an angel's grip was no small task.
And finally, the darkness crumbled.
Well, the nasty sloshing of waste below was something Gabby could have lived without.
But the illusion was all gone now, and before her was nothing but a frightened child.
A real one this time. The Controller. Trembling like a kid that age should have.
"What in the name of—How old are you even?!"
Wait, why was that the first question she'd ask?
"S-Seven winters in Tokyo, Ma'am," he stuttered. "And seventy in the Kingdom of Kasserlane."
So he was a reincarnate all right. Yeah, he spoke their language, too.
The angel didn't even realize she used the same when the question stumbled out of her.
"Then how the hell did you get all that mana this young?!" she demanded, still not exactly what she wanted to know. But to see this kid after giving them a run for their money—
"H-huh?"
Big brown eyes blinked up at her in confusion.
"But it's already starting to fade. I, um, I had a lot more when I was born here, but—"
"Ah, man," Lilith moaned, appearing from thin air. "Hope I beat you catching mine first."
When the hell did she even—?!
Gabrielle had to tighten her fist around the kid's shoulders to catch herself.
It would have put her in a bad light if she were so jumpy.
To make it worse, the demoness wasn't even alone. She yanked a tied-up, panting guy along.
His eyes glowed red, shifting with curiosity when he noticed her holding the child.
Right. It must have been the residual effects of his illusion.
"Yeah, you won," she admitted, collecting herself. "Found The Controller a few seconds ago."
Not that it was a race. And she was glad it was finally over.
"Controller?" Ballsy asked, his voice hoarse and confused.
She didn't even know he could talk. If anything, the bastard looked like a withered ghoul.
"That's right," Lilith chirped. "It's him, I can feel it, too. Wait—you didn't even know?!"
Gabrielle raised an eyebrow at that, too.
"H-he always appeared to me as a giant, bald man with a thick neck," Ballsy mumbled, looking the kid up and down. "Half-naked and quite menacing. And it was this child all along?!"
He sure seemed upset.
More upset than being in the greater demon's care.
"Hey. I serve the same master," The Controller snapped back. "Show some respect, you—"
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Lilith shut them both down. "Nobody's serving anyone anymore. I have freed you from that evil fallen angel's influence, right now. Congratulations."
And she said all that with a straight face while tying up the kid, too.
But Gabby no longer cared.
She wanted to get out of this filthy place.