Chapter 129: Radioactivity

"...This is kind of weird. Are you mad?" Nio asks Nioh, who came back after cooling her head a little.

"No... where’s that scaly thing?"

"She went out again. Apparently she’s looking for the entrance to the next floor, or rather, checking if it’s in this city... well, what’s left of it. After all, we blew up half of it..." Nio sniffs the air, taking in Nioh’s scent.

’It’s good, but nowhere near what it was before...’

"That’s good. Since we’re alone, we can talk!!" Nioh closes the window and uses a barrier spell to keep Typhon from sensing anything or showing up by surprise.

"What do you have to say?" Nio, lying on the bed, doesn’t show much interest in anything right now, since she has to wait.

"Are you serious?! You’re not even going to pay attention!? We have an incredible chance here! Since I’ll be forced to have a physical body when we come back to life, there will be two of us!! It’s our chance to kill that cursed woman!" Nio looks at Nioh with suspicion.

"That sounds great. After all, I do want to kill her. But what guarantees that you’re trustworthy?! Maybe I should kill both of you." When Nio says that, Nioh is taken aback.

"Are you serious?! We’re the same being! We’ve been together since I was born, and you want to kill me?"

"Yes. You’re just as suspicious as Typhon. Besides, I don’t need anyone but myself! It’s always been that way. I always lived alone and did whatever I wanted. Now that you have a body, it means you could try to take everything I’ve achieved!" Nio thinks only of herself in an extremely selfish way.

To her, Nioh is no longer an ally inside her head. She’s an enemy who might try to steal everything she built — her palace, her life, her riches. It’s an extremely materialistic selfishness, which is ironic since that’s one of the many reasons she’s in hell.

"Hahahaha, you’re insane for someone who used to be human and doesn’t even know how to control basic instincts."

"At least I beat Typhon with almost no real combat experience. After all, your training didn’t help much. And you? You never even tried after being forced to marry her. You’re just a coward. You want me to trust someone who doesn’t even have the courage to try to take the reins of her own life?"

"..." Nioh bites her lips in anger.

"You are very, very, very arrogant. Your arrogance is the highest I’ve ever seen for someone who lived in a polluted garbage dump. That’s what happens when rats climb too high."

"You think just because you have my body now you’re better than me, Nio? You—"

"Are you that jealous, Nioh? Seems like Typhon prefers a rat from the dump over a cowardly little lizard."

"!!!"

"Take that back!! You didn’t build anything real, Nio!! That useless game of yours only served to connect us! I built everything — the palace, the riches, the weapons, all of it was me!! You’re just an outside observer who thinks she achieved greatness by living in a fantasy illusion."

"A mere human with a pathetic lifespan and a lot of luck to have become me when she was born." Nio gets up from the bed with an expression of fury.

"I won’t take anything back!! After all, it’s the truth. You’re such a coward that you didn’t want a physical body to help me against Typhon. If you’d been there, I wouldn’t have been killed in a betrayal!!"

"And for starters, it’s your fault we have those disturbed servants. You yourself said that many of my decisions were shaped by your choices, so it’s your fault I’m in literal hell having to live with the person I want to kill."

"And it’s also your fault I have this weird, clumsy body that loses its composure because you have a different scent. At least as a human I had good rationality, and I didn’t act like a dog drawn to any smell." Nioh leaps onto Nio, grabbing her hands.

"Why, you bitch!! You could have died much sooner outside the game, Nio, so I wouldn’t have to watch you take my body!! If you think it’s so great having Typhon giving you attention, then fuck you both. Let that whore destroy you slowly, and we’ll see you crawl and beg for help when Typhon decides kindness is no longer necessary—" Nio headbutts Nioh.

Nioh is shoved back with her nose bleeding, which makes her let go of Nio and clutch her face as a reflex to the pain.

"Bitch is you, Typhon’s personal whore. At least I didn’t become a sex slave for who knows how long to some bizarre snake girl. I’ve already killed Typhon once. I can kill her again without your help." Nio spits in Nioh’s face.

Unlike Nioh, who despite her bravado doesn’t have very stable courage, Nio is someone who imposes her will and desires over others even if it crushes their freedom, which gives her an almost foolish courage that ignores useful logic.

It’s pure pride — a foolish pride that makes her ignore an advantage if that advantage tries to wound the pride she has in everything she’s achieved. Pride that Typhon stoked with a smile, leaving Nio even more pompous and arrogant.

"...Hahaha... it’s funny you say that. Sex slave? I’m a sex slave? And what will you be when you get out of hell? Do you think Typhon actually cares about your feelings?"

"You think you’ll beat her a second time? You’ve already shown how you fight, your choices, your strategies, and now you’ve shown your personality. Typhon already has everything she needs to crush you in the next fight."

"And when she wins, she’ll make you just like me. If I’m a sex slave, then I’m also a reflection of the future you’re going to have, you proud whore." Nioh stands up, wiping her hand across her face.

"Keep it up, but if I ever get the chance to be free by selling you out, you can be sure I’ll do it. You don’t deserve all the advantages you get, Nio." Nioh isolates herself in a corner of the room, glaring at Nio with burning rage.

"Whatever." Nio just rolls her eyes, ignoring something that’s obvious to both of them. Before interacting much with Typhon, the two of them were intuitively allies and got along well, and now they’re fighting over something trivial, showing just how venomous Typhon is to a relationship with words alone — a power more frightening than all the magic she’s ever displayed. In the end, Typhon is "radioactive" in more ways than one.