After descending the stairs, Tiamat quickly located the person she had been seeking.
"Ah, Tiamat. Where have you been?"
"Just a minor matter... My apologies for the wait, Phoenix."
The woman standing before her was petite, with long, jade-colored hair. Clad in an adorable dress adorned with countless ruffles, she exuded a certain youthful innocence.
She was the human form of Phoenix, a fellow member of the Ten Demons. As the two were close in their private lives, they often accompanied one another at events like this.
"As I thought, the world is truly a sorrowful place," Tiamat mused. "Interacting with the weak requires such delicate care. The knowledge that I could end a life on a mere whim is... distressing to one’s spirit."
"Is that so?" Phoenix replied. "I’ve never once spared a thought for anyone who can't provide me with pleasure. If they can't satisfy me, they have no value in my world. They simply don't interest me."
"I see. I, however, believe that those who are fragile and kind-hearted are precious..."
"Isn't that perfectly fine? If that is what you believe, Tiamat, then that is the truth within your world. Values vary from person to person; one simply needs to understand the standards of their own."
"I see... speaking with you is truly enlightening, Phoenix."
Phoenix possessed an extremely pragmatic personality regarding things that did not interest her, but she was not so narrow-minded as to dismiss differing perspectives. She understood and accepted that it was natural for values to vary; she could grasp that what she deemed worthless might be precious to another.
However, Phoenix’s stance was that, regardless of that acknowledgement, she simply remained uninterested. Thus, while she accepted Tiamat's perspective, she offered a perfunctory reply that lacked any real engagement.
After offering a faint smile to Phoenix, Tiamat spoke up as if suddenly remembering something.
"Come to think of it, it has been quite a while since I last saw your human form."
"Now that you mention it, you're right. I haven't had much occasion to use humanization lately... Well? Does it look good on me?"
"Yes, you look quite lovely and adorable. That frilly dress seems to further enhance your charm..."
The voice Tiamat used to address Phoenix gradually grew heated. At the same time, Tiamat suddenly reached out and gripped the petite Phoenix’s neck. Her claws sank into the skin as a smile spread across her lips.
"Oh, truly... you are so precious... so wonderful... Tell me, Phoenix... may I kill you?"
Tiamat's lips curled into a wide, unnatural grin, her face painted with pure madness. An eerie light dwelt within her eyes, radiating a madness so dense and ominous that a faint-hearted person might have collapsed into a frothing faint just by looking at her.
However, Phoenix, the recipient of this madness, was also a deviant of the same ilk. Meeting Tiamat’s crazed stare, Phoenix wore an ecstatic smile, her own eyes harboring a matching insanity.
"Will you strangle me? Pierce my throat with your fingers? Or just crush me with raw strength? ...I love it all. Please, kill me properly—with plenty of pain and suffering, won't you?"
"Ah... you truly are more beautiful than anyone else..."
Both Tiamat and Phoenix were abnormal, and their fetishes were perfectly compatible. For Tiamat, whose murderous impulses grew uncontrollable the more she cherished someone, the immortal Phoenix—who craved and relished lethal pain—was a match beyond compare.
Naturally, Phoenix gleefully accepted Tiamat's sudden, impulsive bloodlust. Just as Tiamat, laughing with delight at the response, prepared to snap her companion's neck, they were both suddenly snared by chains erupting from the void.
"...Oh? My, my... what a sad development."
"...Wha—Eeeh?! I was just a moment away from feeling my neck go 'snap'! Isn't it cruel to leave me hanging like this... Pandora-sama?"
As the chains tightened, the two women looked up to see Pandora approaching, a vein throbbing on her forehead.
"...You lot. Surely you weren't planning to indulge your disgusting fetishes here, at a party hosted by Miyama-sama? You wouldn't think of engaging in behavior so unbecoming of the Ten Demons, would you?"
"......"
Tiamat and Phoenix quickly averted their eyes. They had no room for a counter-argument. It was an undeniable fact that their excitement had peaked and they were moving into their "release time."
"I have been given a mission by Shaltier-sama to monitor the movements of the Ten Demons, including you lot. Be warned: if you act like fools, I shall dispose of you at my own discretion..."
"...Ah—well, that's that. If we act up even a little, it feels like she'll seal us and throw us into the ocean."
"As expected of Shaltier-sama. By having Pandora-sama—who executes her missions with absolute thoroughness—monitor us, she has found a master stroke to suppress both Pandora-sama and us at once... It is a brilliantly played move, one that fills me with sorrow."
Indeed, Pandora, who was currently the one expressing anger, was herself an individual with dangerous fetishes—being an extreme sadist who was also an extreme masochist toward specific people—which often caused Kaito and Alice a great deal of trouble.
However, Pandora never let her fetishes show while on duty; she carried out her orders with absolute seriousness and perfection.
Therefore, Alice had taken measures to suppress the potential rampages of the Ten Demons, including Pandora herself, by giving Pandora the "Most Important Order" to monitor and supervise the other members.
The plan was effective. Wearing expressions of total resignation, Tiamat and Phoenix were dragged away while still bound in chains.