The Nephilim, while stories from fiction and religion painted them as sons of the angels and man, the truth Nyx gave him was far darker than he would have expected.

Instead of being born from the angels and man, the nephilim were monsters born from the will of the earth.

They were similar to mystical beings but they were different in that they whole existence was consumed by a single will-

"Natural Order"

While fiction and many stories would turn that into some sort of "Nature vs Man" scenario. The advent of the Nephilim in the ancient era was not that of anti-human monsters but more akin to monstrous beasts.

They had humanoid forms but they lacked the "human thought".

Driven by their instincts, the Nephilim mated with any being, a result of their existence that focused on "propagation and survival".

They were like animals that only moved to better their own race and in that way became an enemy to all human civilizations and mystical communities.

The chaos brought by the nephilim is what created monsters like the Cyclopes, the Minotaurs...

Entities that were a mix of man and beast were born not from mystical entities mating with humans but from Nephilim going on a sexual rampage and assaulting any being that took a humanoid form.

Because of the nature of their existence, the Nephilim were culled resulting in wars that culminated in the Nephilim going through infighting.

But this battle was nothing more than a way for them to create the ultimate form for their species.

This last ditch effort resulted in two beings-

Enkidu who miraculously developed human rationality after devouring his kin and-

Humbaba who dove deep into the madness of his race.

Their births ultimately culminated in the death of Humbaba and the spread of Enkidu’s "perfected" blood.

Yet even then, the nephilim blood still contained the trace of madness and through the years, while the humans forgot about the nephilim. The mystical beings never did and they made sure that all traces of their bloodline vanished.

But now, Richard had such a bloodline and while there was no way to detect it with spells or other techniques.

The blood of a nephilim could be easily seen through with their power and instability.

Now, Richard was forced to face this challenge.

But the problem Richard had was that the strongest will carried by his nephilim blood was lust.

If that weren’t enough, his soul was one that was also created through the power of lust and desire.

To make matters even worse, Richard had remained a virgin- not by choice but by circumstance.

In his youth sex was a dangerous mistress that could destroy his life before he could even truly start it. The thought of getting someone pregnant prevented him from going too far with any relationship.

Then he met Andrea and swore to marry her and only be with her-

After that, she was kidnapped, her place was taken by a fake and while that fake tried desperately to bed him, Richard’s prophetic blood protected him and he remained celabate to protect himself.

Now, even when he was free, the women in his life were all beings who could turn him into a slave if he let his guard down.

The last thing he wanted was to indulge in pleasures of the flesh and say something unnecessary during foreplay or actual intercourse which his partner would use to entrap him.

In other words, Richard saw every woman in his life as an actual honey trap.

It also didn’t help that Merlin’s band of lovers seem to be scheming some huge plot to do something to him...

Richard was not misogynistic, in fact, he would have loved to find a good woman outside the mystical world that won’t turn "I love you" into a soulbound pact.

But...

’I can’t really drag innocents into this crazy world can I?’

On one hand, the only way for him to get into a decent relationship was to search outside the mystical world.

On the other hand... doing so would bring any partner he finds himself to fall into a world of suffering and potentially... no, she would surely reach a "not so peaceful" end.

If that weren’t enough, Nyx showed Richard that emotions could easily be manipulated. Right now, he still felt nothing off with how easy it was for him to lose the emotions he had for Andrea.

Before, everytime he thought of her, his chest would get heavy and the haunting memory of what she had experienced would cause his emotions to flare up.

Now?

Whenever he recalled Andrea, all he could recall was "an unfortunate woman".

’Is that the reason why witches are virgins? Why Gods prefer virgins for pacts? Because that celebacy means that they protect themselves in the mystical world?’

His thoughts were crazy but not entirely out of line.

There was indeed a danger to deep connections within the mystical world.

Intercourse was not directly it but intercourse was a reflection of such connection. Of course, a deep connection means a powerful bond and in the world of mystics-

Connections are everything.

Richard could only lament on his current state, because of it, Cindy had to be his liaison with Yuna. He did not even dare to enter her bar or get within 10 feet of her.

He was worried that his desires would take over him.

Even Cindy was forced to drop her preferred gothic style of clothes and instead wear a more formal attire yet even then-

The power of a witch was something that should be examined... Cindy still carried a seductive charm.

Fortunately for Richard, he seems to have a stronger kink for goths than he did for office ladies.

Unfortunately for Richard, this meant that he was quite easily attracted to the female yokai who were naturally... macabre.

Hence why his mind was quick to remember that one Yokai who haunted a man to force that idiot to create offbrand content around a mysterious ghost girl that either assaults the viewer or gets assaulted by the viewer.

Still, Richard was able to retain his personality and while he struggled to get used to his heightened emotions and the instability that came with it, he still made sure to proceed with his plans.

"How’s the correspondence with Nova Munda?"

Turning to Hana who was staring at the long list of recently received emails on her pc, Richard completely ignored her lifeless eyes as he waited for a response.

"Tanya is willing to have proper talks"

"Did you tell her that the meeting place would be here?"

"She said she wanted to visit Japan for a long time now and was just looking for an excuse to do so"

"Good"

Recalling the blonde biker chick, Richard felt a mix of emotions.

While his blood boiled from the memory of her huge knockers, his emotions also acted up as the memory of getting stabbed was still fresh in his mind.

<Be careful of your emotions, one wrong step and you’d end up getting twisted>

Nyx advised Richard who didn’t ignore her warnings and instead shot back that he was well aware of those risks.

He didn’t know how he would change, he didn’t get a degree for that- but he knew that one wrong move and he could develop some twisted psychopathy. Hell, he already had that with how his mind was manipulated by Nyx but he won’t blame the goddess for that...

Of course such positive feelings for the Goddess may also be constructed by her as well but doubting oneself would only lead to true madness.

He already had a good framework for his sanity-

His heightened lust was a result of the Nephilim blood.

His psychopathy was a result of the empty void left by the feelings he once had for Andrea

Based on all that- his actions were obvious.

"Let’s set the meeting at a Ryokan, since she wanted to visit Japan for a long time then she would appreciate that kind of hospitality right?"

"Understood then-"

Hana was about to start looking up nearby Ryokan’s on google but Richard stopped her.

"Ask the Yokai, they should have a few friends who have haunted Inn’s or anything of the sort. Maybe a special Ryokan managed by a spirit?"

"The fox spirits are all under the management of the Shinto Shrines"

"..."

Richard did not continue the conversation and turned around in silence after Hana started to call their associates.

"How much did you tell them?"

Richard turned to Nyx and asked but the goddess only gave him a faint smile.

<Those were for research purposes>

"For what?"

<My goals>

"..."

Richard did not pursue the matter and returned to his seat.

The doors to their business had closed- at least for the non-mystical customers.

At this moment, the room shifted, the door blurred and opened to reveal a man wearing a black trench coat.

From the other side was not the quiet hallway of the office building but a dark cobblestone street.

"London?"

Richard asked and the mann who appeared nodded his head before asking.

"Heard you were taking on Witch Hunting Requests"

The man scowled while eyeing Cindy, his eyes only glanced at Hana for a moment but he quickly ignored her and Nyx. Instead, his heated gaze was directed at Cindy but his eyes did not contain the heat of desire but madness.

Seeing this Richard stood in between the man and Cindy as he answered.

"Indeed, but we only take requests that target witches who disturb the balance between the mystic and non-mystic realms"

They turned his eyes towards Richarad, his grey pupils showing focus yet they contained a cloudy swirl of emotions that created a contradiction.

"How about a witch working with gangs and kidnappers?"

Hearing the man’s response, Richard gave him a pleasant smile as he led him to consultation chair-

"Please have a seat"