Crossover Log: Artemisia
Artemisia Mallory Delgasso.
If I ever dared to call her Mallory, Beatrix would probably have my head.
Oh wait, that's the future Beatrix.
Not future-future Beatrix—the one who apparently wants to kill Artemisia for some reason. No, not that one.
It's the other one that's before that one.
Have I confused you yet? Don't worry, this log surely would.
Artemisia's a girl? Woman? I'm talking about the current one, so let's go with 'girl'.
A girl of many layers, most of which she refuses to show, keeping them hidden behind that ever-stoic expression of hers.
She claims her home world has been destroyed in some giant star disaster or something.
That's a big OBESE lie.
I wonder if Beatrix knows she's Aidosian? Actually, scratch that—I know she knows. She's just playing along with Artemisia's little deception for whatever reason.
It's not my business, but it does make me wonder: why lie? What's she trying to hide?
I can make some guesses but nothing concrete.
This 'Supreme' god King's Daughter carries quite a few titles, but the ones that stand out the most to me are "Queen of Evolution", "Loved by the Universe," and "Valmone's Favourite."
What does it even mean to be Loved by the Universe?
She's quite literally the Universe's favourite child.
It's really concerning, What the hell did she do to get such a title?
I can't help but think that one's gonna be relevant later, and not in a good way.
She always has this relaxed, indifferent attitude—like nothing in the world can faze her.
I swear I could tell her the galaxy is collapsing, and she'd probably just blink, nod, and move on.
It's like she makes it a point to show the least amount of emotion on her face, no matter the situation. Even when she casually dropped the bomb that her home world no longer exists, she said it with all the emotional weight of a weather forecast.
Her closest relationship is undoubtedly with Beatrix. The two are practically inseparable.
Beatrix is the loud, expressive one, while Artemisia is the quiet, calculating counterpart. They complement each other in ways that make you wonder if they were designed that way.
Then there's her connection to Jamie, a friend of her father's whom she's known since she was young. I can't imagine having to deal with Jamie's nonsense since childhood. No wonder she's almost immune to bullshit.
But that's just the objective stuff.
Let's focus on my personal relationship with her, shall we?
If future Artemisia were standing in front of me right now, I'd punch her in the face.
BECAUSE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH HER?!
There are so many things I want to nitpick, but I've got a word limit on this log, so I'll keep it brief.
I'm very grateful to her for helping my past incarnation. Thanks to her and Beatrix, I was able to set up a lot of things right under the Kyrexi's noses without them realizing what I was doing.
They also helped me take care of a lot of their allies and reinforcements—though, let's be honest, it was mostly for their own benefit since they wanted to create their own faction of gods and amass Universal Influence.
But girl, did I not tell you I was tired of fighting and wanted to rest?!
Barely 4,000 years later, and she's already messing with my reincarnation, tossing me into a world where I had to fight again.
And she wants me to kill her best friend's kid? Really?!
Hmm? Confused about what I mean by that?
Come on, it's obvious.
Still not getting it? Fine, I'll deign to explain.
It all ties back to me ending up in Aidos. Artemisia figured I'd have an easier time dealing with Ginaroad—who just so happens to be half-god—since I'm a godslayer.
But besides that, the layers to her planning are both terrifying and annoying. If I said any more, I'd basically be spoiling my own story, so I'd leave it at that.
All I'll say is this—it's not a coincidence that I reincarnated in Evan Eris' body.
Now that I'm done ranting, let's get back to the part where I describe her relationships with others.
Starting with Alvey, because alphabetical order exists—she treats him with a certain level of respect and caution. The respect isn't so much for his achievements, but more for the fact that he can actually tolerate Beatrix's antics.
That being said, she does keep him at arm's length emotionally.
Now, completely ignoring the alphabetical order I just mentioned—Beatrix, her best friend and pseudo-sister. The two are rarely apart, and their trust in each other is absolute.
Don't let Artemisia's stoic nature fool you—if it ever came down to it, she would kill for Beatrix.
Then there's Jamie. She respects and trusts him, but also knows better than to take him too seriously. She's known him since childhood, after all.
Her interactions with McEnda III are minimal, but when they do happen, she treats him in a similar manner to Alvey.
As for Arthur—she's intrigued by him.
Weirdly enough, she fears him far less than I'd expect, given that he is THE Progenitor godslayer.
She recognizes his unpredictability and sheer absurdity, which, considering the people she already knows, is saying something. Apparently, the two of them have been running a bunch of experiments on god-godslayer power interactions, but I don't really know much about it.
I guess that's where most of their friendship lies.
Moving on to her Level, Weapons, Skills, and Battle Power
For the future goddess of Evolution that she is, it's obvious that her actual power is far beyond what her status would ever suggest.
Her stats just exist as a base or foundation that her real strength scales off.
Her Queen of Evolution skill is simple in concept but broken beyond reason. She can evolve herself and others, increasing their power significantly, while also devolving enemies to weaken them.
But that's not even the worst part.
She can dictate her own existential evolution, granting herself traits, skills, and abilities that should never exist within a god's DNA.
Half the abilities I've seen her use, are all artificially acquired. Her elemental mastery, regeneration, the list goes on and on.
And then there's her ridiculous amount of resistances: Divinity, Poison, Charm, Fear, Lightning, Mental, Elemental, Magic Energy, Death Essence, Curses… Basically, good luck trying to mess with her.
So what do I think about Artemisia's future?
Well, let's set aside the fact that I already know what happens and just pretend I don't.
I'll say this much: She's always thinking ahead. She's the type of person who plays the long game, setting up contingencies within contingencies.
One thing's for sure: Artemisia Delgasso is never someone you should underestimate.