The Beauty Collector

"Mommy's home~!"

Baeta announces her return as she comes inside her apartment to her pet cat, Big Chill, whom she picked up from the random alley five years ago when he was just a tiny kitten back then. The Balinese cat she adopted is now grown up to be a chill and chonky cat just like his name foretold.

"Nyaaa~"

She could hear Big Chill's lazy meow greet her from inside the living room while she was removing her boots. Baeta smiles at the sound of her cat greeting as she walks to the living room, expecting to find him lazing around on the couch just like usual. She wants to give him a pat on the head and a couple of belly rubs before tossing her guitar case next to the couch, and then she is going to take a nice bubble bath after her daily afternoon public performance.

Baeta's apartment was a modest space, filled with the faint scent of rose candles that she liked. The walls were adorned with rock band posters and modern art-worthy hand-painted canvases that she had painted when she was feeling motivated for no reason or just felt like it.

Baeta arrived at the cozy living room, with a worn-out couch that had seen better days from both the cruel passage of time and Big Chill's abuse, a small coffee table with a pot of mini cactus and a few magazines strewn across it, a flat TV hanging on the wall, and a floor lamp that cast a warm glow across the room that she swears she turned off before she went out.

But what caught her attention was not the usual sight of Big Chill lying on the couch with his chonk glory but rather the unexpected sight of two extra people sitting on it together with her cat, who currently enjoys a caress from a stranger; one of them was a familiar woman with long pointy ears, short purple hair, and haunting red eyes who dressed like she was a government agent with a formal black suit, and the other, a young man with short blonde hair and icy blue eyes who dressed quite casually.

"Welcome back, Baeta. I hope you don't mind the sudden visit."

Ruth said with a smile on her purple lips as she got up from the couch. Her unblinking red eyes staring at Baeta with unreadable intention.

"Wha…?"

Baeta's heart skipped a beat as she recognized her. It was Ruth, her gloomy but caring friend from the time she was still serving the Asmodeus House. How is she here, and how did she find her? These are the only thoughts inside Beata's mind right now.

"It's been five years since we saw each other again, I suppose."

Ruth's smile grew wider at Baeta's surprised expression, though Ruth's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She was quite displeased that Baeta didn't tell her anything and somehow escaped by herself.

"Nyaa~"

At the same time, the chonky boy Big Chill looked up at Baeta and mewed as if to introduce the newcomers to her, then went back to enjoying the attention from Zeno without any care in the world. This chonky boy is such a chill guy, Zeno thought with a smirk at the cat's laid-back attitude and the lack of wariness towards them.

"..."

Baeta feels exasperated at her cat's lack of wariness towards strangers. She will punish him later by putting him on a diet and see if he can slim down a bit.

"You look... well."

Baeta said tentatively after she looked back at Ruth, her grip on the guitar case tightening. She hadn't seen anyone from her past since she miraculously escaped from the Asmodeus House's fail-safe spell by entering a dead-like state before reviving herself later on after the spell was dispelled by itself with the Phoenix tear that she secretly looted from a corpse of her target in the past mission.

The whole escape plan was very dangerous, as she isn't even sure that it will work properly or at all. It's fortunate for Baeta that the spell is not designed to activate when she enters the dead-like state but dispels itself instead.

It's been five years since then, and she was enjoying her hard-earned, sweet, sweet freedom away from the chaotic supernatural world. She had hoped to keep it that way, but it was proven now that she was just being a naive optimistic.

The room was thick with subtle tension that even Big Chill could sense as he shifted his posture to lie on his side… with quite a little bit of difficulty, that the amused Zeno had to assist him to change position properly.

"Thank you, you also look very well, so full of life... for a 'dead' devil."

"Uhhhh..."

Ruth's voice had a hint of sarcasm that didn't escape Baeta's notice as she whined quietly. She kind of feels bad that she didn't tell Ruth about her escape plan, but her plan was quite dangerous—suicidal even, so she didn't tell Ruth anything since she will definitely try to stop her from doing it.

"Well... I, uh... who's your friend?"

With a complicated expression and a wry smile on her red lips, Baeta was trying to buy some time for herself to regain some of her composure and calm her chaotic thoughts as she asked Ruth about her companion. She is also a bit curious about him since she feels like she saw him somewhere before but can't really remember.

"Fu~, this man here is Zeno Zavior…"

Ruth snorted softly before she decided to play along with Baeta's blatant attempt to change the subject as she introduced Zeno with a gesture of her hand towards him.

"He's my... new employer, you could say."

"Your employer…?"

Ruth's introduction was met with a puzzled look from Baeta, who couldn't quite piece together how her friend had gone from serving the Asmodeus House to being employed by this seemingly human male; she can't even feel anything from him. The curiosity in her eyes grew more intense as she studied Zeno more closely, and she indeed feels like she knows him but can't quite remember where or when she saw him.

Zeno, on the other hand, remained unfazed by Baeta's inquisitive gaze, his own gaze then suddenly shifting from Big Chill to Baeta, his eyes filled with an eerie calmness, and Baeta feels an actual chill from his icy blue eyes that makes her feel like she is a small animal that just made an eyes contract with a mighty beast. She subconsciously gulped and averted her gaze away from him.

Who's this guy?! She thought nervously.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Baeta. I'm a ruler of Freedom Island and also a supreme leader of the Liberty, Zeno Zavior."

Zeno introduced himself with a casual smile, but the title of "supreme leader of Liberty" left Baeta's eyes widening in surprise, and later a look of realization appeared on her face.

"Ah... you are...!"

She finally remembered! This man is the leader of a newly emerging faction that is causing quite a ruckus in the mundane and supernatural recently. She had seen a glimpse of his picture in the news and on internet before but didn't pay it too much attention back then since it didn't concern her.

"How come you're with... him? Did you join his faction? What about the Old Satan Faction...?"

Baeta's question hangs in the air, her voice a mix of disbelief and confusion. She had always thought that only in death, or in her case, a dead-like state, could you leave the Asmodeus House's grasp, yet here was her friend, seemingly free from them and currently working for another faction. Is she on a mission to infiltrate the new faction? Baeta thought as she glanced back at Ruth with an inquisitive gaze.

"It's a long story, but let's just say that the Old Satan Faction is no more."

Ruth noticed her gaze and chuckled before she said that with a mysterious smile on her purple lips. The news of the Old Satan Faction's demise is currently being suppressed by the devil government, so not many civilian devils could know about it.

"Does that mean..."

Baeta looked at her friend with a mix of shock and disbelief. The Old Satan Faction is gone? Just like that? She thought while the questions of how and why kept popping up in her head.

"Yes, the Old Satan Faction was destroyed quite some time ago by none other than our faction, the Liberty."

Ruth's casual revelation left the room hanging in silence for a moment; the shocking news left Baeta's head blank. The Old Satan Faction, the very organization that had controlled her life for so long, was gone? It seemed too good to be true.

"Well, we've gone off topic for a while now. Let's talk about why I'm here."

Ruth's voice brought Baeta back to reality as she looked at Ruth with a skeptical expression; she is now curious and wants to know why Ruth came to meet her. She doubts it is because of friendship's sake alone.

"Why did you come to me, Ruth…?"

Baeta asked warily while Ruth took a step closer to her with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes, and Baeta couldn't help but feel a bit alert and nervous as she didn't know what Ruth would do next.

"The reason why I am here, Baeta, is because I want to 'invite' you to our faction as its new member..."

Ruth's words hung in the air, and Baeta felt like the word "invite" did not sound very nice for some reason.

"Sorry, but I have to refuse! I've made a life for myself here. I don't think I want to return to that life again. Please, Ruth, I just want to be left alone..."

Baeta decisively refused with a serious expression. Joining a new faction was the last thing she wanted, especially after escaping the clutches of the Asmodeus House. The thought of returning to that kind of life filled her with disgust and dread.

"Don't be stupid, Baeta."

Ruth sighed with a bit of disappointment even though she expected her to refuse.

"You know well that the world is not such a nice place. The weak have no rights, and the strong can do whatever they want…"

Ruth said as she finally got close enough and stood in front of Baeta, her smile already gone, replaced by a determined expression that threw Baeta off guard.

"How can you expect me to leave my friend, which is YOU, to that kind of world, all on her own?!"

Ruth's question hit a nerve, and Baeta felt a pang of guilt. She, the one that ran away while leaving her friend behind, is now being offered a helping hand by her friend that she basically abandoned. What is this ironic situation? Baeta smiles bitterly as she looks into Ruth's haunting red eyes.

"Look, I appreciate your offer to help... I really do, but I can't, not after I abandoned you to escape alone, I'm… argh-what the?!"

While Baeta was speaking with a complicated expression, a sudden sharp pain in her left thigh caused her to gasp and look down.

"A dart...?"

Baeta's eyes widen as she sees a dart with a red color fletching on its butt that currently sticking out of her left thigh. She then slowly looked up to see a pistol, probably a dart gun, in Ruth's hand that was currently aiming at her thigh, and then, with a dumbfounded expression, Baeta looked up to see Ruth's face that currently had a mocking expression as well as a wicked smile on it.

"What are you…?"

Baeta asks with disbelief as her speech starts to slur and drowsiness quickly overwhelms her senses.

"Fufufu, do you think I have already forgiven you for what you have done, Baeta? You think you can enjoy your freedom without consequences? You will be coming with me and joining Liberty whether you like it or not! That's my punishment for you for not trying to contact me and telling me you are still alive!!"

Ruth, like she was venting her buttoned-up anger, yelled at Baeta, who was starting to collapse onto the floor with an unwilling expression on her face. Baeta can't believe that she let her guard down because of a shitty shounen protagonist's talk-no-jutsu!

"Ughhh…! Ruth, yo… u… bit… ch…!"

Baeta let out her death cry as she fell asleep on the floor while Ruth stood over her body with a smirk on her purple lips.

"Nyaa?"

Ruth noticed Big Chill sauntering past her by as he went to check on Baeta if she was still alive with curiosity. He touched her head with his paw as he kept pushing it like he was poking her.

"You really made me proud. with your Liberty method of recruitment, my lovely Spymaster."

Hearing Zeno's teasing voice, Ruth immediately turned her face to her right with an embarrassed blush as Zeno walked up to her by her left side with a smirk, really amused by this whole thing.

"Do you want me to put her in the same condition as yours?"

"Ah... yes, thank you, Zeno-san."

And just like that, the Godblood-infused Baeta got "relocated" away from her apartment with her pet cat and all their belongings to Freedom Island.

Later, when Baeta wakes up, she will experience quite a breakdown as Ruth looks over her with a warm gaze and Big Chill with a lazy one.