"You tricked me!"

  Nuan Yulong's shout shook their new home, a modest mansion in Da Ming's inner district. Birds scattered from their perches along the angur roof ledges, their startled chirping the only disturbance in the otherwise peaceful residence of Ciel Lord.

  The mansion, a gift from Mandrake, stood quietly among the grander estates of the inner district's elevated ring. A blossoming tree arched over its gate, which bore the carved pictogram of a five-petaled flower. White brick walls enclosed a tranquil courtyard complete with a fishpond and garden, connected by stone pathways that led to the central dwelling.

  Hard-cquered wood formed the estate's frame and floor, while its walls were crafted of pristine white pster. The central mansion commanded the foreground, spacious enough for five rooms including the office. Two symmetrical wings branched from this central hall, extending straight for a dozen paces before angling sharply toward the gate.

  If not for the discovery of its second dy, Grand Marshall Ciel's newly furnished home might have embodied serenity. As, Nuan's recent revetion had shattered any hope of peace.

  "A kiss? That's all it took for me to leave humanity behind?" Nuan's eyes fshed with indignation. "Did you just screw my life over for the sake of extra muscle?"

  Xia, watching her sworn sister's tantrum, smiled sweetly. "But do you regret it?"

  The newly dubbed Marshall's Dragon halted mid-tirade. Her face transformed from darkened outrage to crimson, then settled into a soft pink. She slumped into the room's circur chair, sulking over the maple wood table.

  The First Wife pressed her advantage. "Look." She caught Nuan's hand, holding it firmly. "We're in the same boat, like it or not. You can already feel it. Given how things are going, we'll have to fight more absurd opponents in the future, and Ciel will refuse to add in more girls."

  "Do we need more?" Nuan leaned forward. "Just the two of us—"

  "Nuan, we went from fighting Bckwing to Dragon Scions. I can assure you bastards on your father's level are going to rear their ugly heads soon. Two of us aren't going to cut it."

  Nuan groaned.

  "Don't worry." Xia poised with supreme confidence. "We will handle the others as they come." She rested her hand on her sworn-sister's shoulder and asked a passionate question. "I need your help, sis. Are you with me?"

  "Don't you already have a sister back in Curtis?" Nuan questioned, dubious of the pet name. "Elizabeth, isn't it?"

  The elder Celestial Bride bristled at that name. "Betty? She's an omega bitch! Nuan, I've only had you for a few days, and I can already tell you're way better."

  Cck!

  A sharp sound cut through their conversation as the wooden sliding door opened. In stepped a gruff Ciel.

  "Are you scheming to add another girl without my consent again?" His eyes narrowed at their matching innocent expressions.

  Both women exchanged gnces and chorused in perfect unity: "No!"

  "Why did I not believe you?" Ciel waved them out, resigned. "I have something to show you both. Come here for a second."

  All three members of the Empire's newest reform branch headed toward a room in the mansion's right wing. It sat beside their central dwelling, with a simple bel reading 'Invention Room' nailed to the sliding gate.

  "Look," Ciel turned toward them with a dead-fish expression. "Since we're in this together, it's best I show you where we get the weapons in case of emergency."

  As he spoke, his hand reached for the door and slid it open, revealing a wall of shadow that engulfed them like a dark cape. For a brief second, they sensed nothing but darkness and the sudden rush of wind, then light returned with a vengeance of chemical stench.

  Both Brides nearly keeled over, coughing from the onsught of pollution. They looked up and beheld utter disaster.

  Before them id a shadowy ndscape, littered with more tools and junk than the slumber house of a bachelor living on books and instant food. Pots of chemical hazards piled on one side. An anvil and a dissection table sat on another, too close for regutory comfort. The only sacred pile of pristine items was the eons' worth of notebooks stacked in the corner.

  "Where are we?" Xia looked aghast at this 'man-cave.'

  "The pce where I keep my stuff," Ciel replied. "My Authority came with a residence function for the—" he struggled to find the right word before surrendering to reality "—brides."

  "This pce is meant for us?" Nuan gaped at the carnage, particurly at the overturned truck in the corner. "Why is it such a mess?"

  "Because I never pnned to use this as anything more than storage and a pce to do experiments."

  "You're impossible," the ptinum-blonde wife nearly asphyxiated at her husband's sense of hygiene. "We need to fix this right now."

  "We need someone who can clean," compined the bck-haired wife, her orange highlights seemingly losing their light of life. "How should we deal with this?"

  Ciel then went into theory mode.

  “This pce works as a block of connected space; basically, a location tied to another like a multidimensional train car, isoted from physical reality through a marker. I put one of these markers on my coat and just finished putting another one to the door we opened. Only someone connected to my Authority can use it. I believe this mansion is a better central location for the connected space. Essentially, we can use this mansion as a form of fast movement, but I must remove everything here and reformat it.”

  Both Nuan and Xia shuddered.

  "I give up!" Nuan cried. "Screw the third and fourth wives, just get anyone who can save me from this!"

  "I know it's hard," Ciel calmly ignored the outburst and nodded at the bubbling cauldron. "We can start with the less important stuff first."

  ---

  It took three painful days to clear the massive junk pile. They had, after back-breaking work, partially succeeded in bringing a modicum of order to the chaos, despite their best efforts.

  Piles of barely sorted arsenal and discoveries sprawled haphazardly in the garden. They stretched tall above the wall, a blight to all passersby. Books composed most of this horde; knickknacks of inventions and equipment made up the rest.

  The two Brides id at the feet of the junk mountains, gasping for breath. But over their exhaustion was outrage.

  Nuan flipped through one of Ciel's notebooks, titled "The Study of Breathing Circution." She quivered like a machine on the verge of overheating.

  "A specialized blocker and training regimen could increase the body's ability to take in air," she read, voice and body shaking. "Study of Slomrath's cells suggested it was possible to store Ether-based energy through cellur structure by employing the respiratory system."

  Ciel, walking through the door with a bundle of documents, whistled. "Yeah, I remember writing that years ago."

  "This could change how we use Aura forever and you only show this to me now!"

  "It has been years since I wrote that," he answered matter-of-factly.

  But the Marshall's Dragon wasn't the only woman at the terminus of her patience. The Princess of White stared at what appeared to be armor schematics. She twisted to her "husband," twitching in annoyance at the works of marvel being left to rot inside a man's garage.

  "All of these should be in a national library!" Xia brandished a schematic. "This armor would have revolutionized combat!"

  "It's a pretty old model," Ciel pointed out and dug into the pile. "Where is it?" He searched, throwing several half-built junk pieces and books behind him in search of a holy grail. "Aha!"

  He took out a fat tube with several connection ports. "This will be our power generator! Now, we need to install this and the fabricator inside the celr and move all of these into my new b."

  "Move?" Nuan said. "How do we sort this mess?"

  "I can remember where they are. You don't need to sort it."

  Both women got up and stared in shock.

  "Is he serious?" the Yulong girl asked her fellow sufferer.

  "I think he is," said Curtis's princess. "Ciel, do you think you're the only one using this?"

  "Yes."

  "Goddammit!" Xia compined as Nuan facepalmed beside her. "Some of us want to read the notes too!"

  "Then you can sort it out yourself," Ciel muttered, nodding at the junk mountain. "I can rewrite those notebooks anytime."

  The duo turned back, intimidated by the towering height of the trash pile.

  "You're right," Nuan expressed their common sentiment. "We need to get another girl who can clean this junk."

  The Lord of Union heard that procmation with his ears, but his brain had busier things to do. He twisted toward the two, particurly their new addition to the household. "Oh and Nuan, did anything change recently?"

  "What changed?" She asked for crification.

  Ciel took out a ball, tossed it up high, and stretched his palm out to catch it. But to the two women's surprise, the ball was slow; they watched it decelerate as if moving through jelly before resting back into his palm. No sound nor fsh of light, but time itself being snapped silently over the Lord of Union's invisible Aura.

  "Is that a specialized form of Aura?" Nuan asked. She turned to Xia. "Your 'White Force' is one too, isn't it?"

  "It's more like the merger of Aura and Mana," she crified and twisted her head back to Ciel. "But when did you get that?"

  "When Nuan established the contract," he answered. "My Authority is a two-way street. You gain power, but I also take some of your expertise. It's why I was able to master White Magic so quickly. Nuan's contract just gave my Aura special properties akin to slowing effects. I believe you should check your Aura too for any changes."

  The Dragon Marshall nodded, distracted from her problem by this newest toy.

  Before Ciel could leave, he heard the sound of three pairs of feet and took a look at his pocket watch. It was good to know his guest had arrived on time for the next phase.