After my visit with Phoenix and a much-needed day of rest, the time finally came to meet the very last member of the Ten Demons: Tiamat.
Knowing she was a "problem child" who rivaled Phoenix for the top spot of insanity, I was filled with nothing but dread.
Under Pandora’s guidance, we arrived at a deep forest tucked away in a corner of the Demon Realm. Unlike the bright, beautiful woods of Lilliwood's Rigforresia, this place was dim, oppressive, and possessed a distinctly eerie atmosphere.
The terrain seemed to block out the sun, and the foliage itself was such a dark hue that even though it was mid-day, it felt as though we were walking through a forest at night.
"This place has a... very unique atmosphere, doesn't it?"
"This area is known as the Black Forest. It is home to many dangerous monsters, even by the standards of the Demon Realm. It’s quite vast, but almost no Demons live here," Pandora explained.
"I-I see..."
"Well, no matter how mindless a beast may be, surely none are so foolish as to irreverently obstruct your path, Lord Kaito. There is no cause for concern."
I suspected the monsters weren't avoiding me so much as they were terrified of Pandora, the strongest of the Count-class Demons. Despite the claim that the woods were crawling with monsters, the silence was absolute.
As we continued through the gloom, I eventually caught the faint sound of singing. There were no lyrics, only a melodic "la~," but it was hauntingly beautiful and expertly performed.
The singer wasn't even in sight yet, but the voice echoed across a massive area. Whoever was singing possessed incredible vocal projection.
"That voice... is that her?"
"Yes, that is Tiamat. That song is a traditional melody of the Lamia race. Tiamat often sings it in memory of her fallen kin."
"Her fallen kin..."
"The Lamia race went extinct in ancient times, leaving Tiamat as the sole survivor."
"Is that so? She seems like she cares deeply for her people."
To think she was still singing a racial anthem for her extinct family... She seemed far kinder than I had anticipated.
"No, she is simply a deviant."
"Eh?"
"Tiamat herself was the one who drove the Lamia race to extinction—back when she was a child."
"Wait... was it one of those tragic accidents? Like she couldn't control her own power?"
"No, she did it to satisfy her own desires. She was young and didn't know how to hold back, followering her instincts until they were all gone. She apparently regrets it now, and after learning common sense through Lady Shaltier’s tutelage, she has gained some self-restraint. She is 'better' now, I suppose... but since her actions were fundamentally driven by a urge to satisfy her own fetishes, she deserves no sympathy."
I hadn't even met her yet, and she already sounded incredibly intense. She wiped out her own race as a child? Based on the description, it sounded like the terrifying, mindless cruelty of a child who didn't understand the consequences of their actions...
Wary, I stepped into an open clearing. It looked like a massive plaza filled with an overwhelming number of grave markers. Standing in the center was a colossal figure.
She had long, wavy hair of a bluish-black color and two massive horns like a water buffalo. Her upper body was human, but her lower half was that of a giant serpent. For clothing, she wore only a simple tube-top that covered her chest.
My first thought was simply: 'She’s huge.' I estimated her height to be about six meters, but her total length including the tail must have been staggering.
I’d seen beings much larger, like Megiddo or Magnawell, but there was a specific, overwhelming presence that came with seeing a human-like torso scaled up to that size.
As we entered the plaza, Tiamat stopped singing and slowly turned her head. Her eyes lacked highlights, featuring vertically slit pupils like a snake's as she locked onto us.
"...Welcome. It is a fine day. In any form, a new encounter is a joy. Yet, as long as sorrow remains in this world, perhaps every new encounter is merely the beginning of a new grief."
The moment her voice reached us, Tiamat moved. With a sound like scales sliding over earth, she appeared right in front of us in the blink of an eye.
She glanced at me, tracing her lips with a long, slender, bifurcated tongue—exactly like a snake’s—and broke into a smirk.
"It is an honor to meet you, Kaito Miyama. You are the master recognized by Lady Shaltier... I hold the final seat among the Ten Demons, the subordinate executives of the Phantasm King. My code name is Tiamat, but my true name is Media Leviataci. I hope we shall become well-acquainted."
"I'm Kaito Miyama. Likewise, it’s a pleasure. Umm, how should I address you?"
I felt an unsettling chill from her, but I managed to return the greeting politely.
"You may call me by my true name, Media. I feel as though you and I could become very close. Yes, closer than anything I have experienced in my life, a truly wonderful—"
"Tiamat," Pandora interrupted, her tone sharp. "If you intend to drag Lord Kaito into your 'fetishes,' I will not hesitate to act."
"...My phrasing was poor. Given my history, it’s only natural to be misunderstood. But rest assured; I am not so foolish as to lack self-restraint. Besides, if I tried such a thing, Lady Shaltier would dispose of me before I could even begin."
Her tone was perfectly refined, yet she gave off an indescribable creepiness. She was labeled a problem child for a reason, and Pandora's mention of her "fetish" was definitely worrying. This was clearly someone who was more than just "quirky."
Tiamat
A special individual and the last survivor of the Lamia race. If Phoenix is a physical masochist, Tiamat is a "mentally deranged" masochist.
Though she appears to have a sensitive soul that laments even the smallest things, she is actually a deviant who feels intense pleasure from mental anguish. She is considered one of the most abnormal members of the Ten Demons.
In particular, she craves the "sorrow of losing a loved one," which is why she instinctively annihilated her own race in her youth. She is essentially a serial killer by nature, but after Alice captured and "educated" her, she learned basic common sense and self-control. She no longer attacks others indiscriminately.
However, her proclivities haven't vanished. When on a mission—specifically one involving an assassination—she first treats her target as "family" or a "lover." She then torments and kills them while savoring the simulated grief of having to kill a loved one with her own hands. This earned her the epithet "Lamenting Despair."
After finishing a target, she usually breaks down in tears; her weeping produces ultrasonic waves that tend to level the surrounding area, causing massive collateral damage. This is why she is ranked at the bottom of the Ten Demons.
Despite her warped mental state, she is actually quite gentle when her fetishes aren't involved. If she finds a Demon lost in the Black Forest, she will protect them and guide them home before monsters can find them.
She loves children and donates most of her salary to orphanages, though she does so anonymously and never visits them in person. (She knows that if she becomes close to the children, her fetish will take over and she will want to kill them.)
Side note: The cave where Rasal lives is located in the deepest part of the Black Forest. Rasal and Tiamat are technically acquaintances, though Rasal has zero interest in her and hasn't bothered to remember her name.