Ep. 36 - Junction (3)

**Junction (3)** is the thirty-sixth episode of Eros Conquers All. It was released on November 25th, 2022.

## Plot

Kai and Mira enthusiastically greet Eros at the door to the meeting room. Belial gives him a sidelong glance. In response, Eros throws his arm around Belial to greet him while pointing out the Strawberry Junior motif on his jacket. Belial's face becomes flushed and he attempts to pretend not to know the character until Eros confesses his own preference for Strawberry Junior helped him get into Belial's domain. Eros explained that he'd discovered Belial's shares in the company that created Strawberry Junior, despite it not being a very profitable venture, and subsequently discovered that Belial had used the character's birthday as the code to get into his domain. Belial gets angry and accuses Eros of mocking him, but Eros denies the accusation and tells Belial that he admires him for valuing something that he simply enjoyed, something that most other gods would not understand due to the lack of transaction. Eros then betrays his own sentiments by teasing Belial before Kai and Mira unveil a bounty of merchandise for Strawberry Junior that everyone had pooled funds to buy for him. In an outburst, Belial informs Eros that they were only temporarily working together and not to mistake that relationship for anything more. Eros agrees, but urges him to accept the gifts. He introduces Kai and Mira as his assistants, and Belial is quick to notice Kai's true nature as a befouler child. Sol then chastises Eros for being late to the meeting and asks about the whereabouts of Mimir. Eros assumes that Mimir had been too busy to accept his invitation for the meeting and decides to fill her in at a later date. Eros sits down and officially commences the meeting.

Belial begins to tell the story of his involvement with the theft of Eros' dagger. Belial explains that he is the keeper and trader of many godly items and that he originally counted Eros' dagger among them without any remark. He notes that his client would sometimes inquire about the dagger after giving it to Belial, implying that it might have been planted as bait for Eros. Belial then reveals that Cairn eventually came calling for the dagger and that he'd been ordered to give it to her for free. Belial reaches out and manifests a dead raven with a Japanese spider lily growing out of its chest. He shocks everyone by explaining that it is Cairn's sigil. Belial then says that he is unable to determine Cairn's aspect or her reasons for obtaining Eros' dagger. When Eros asks if Cairn had ever directly met with Belial's client, Belial begins to answer before interrupting himself and saying that he didn't know if they'd spoken outside of using him as a proxy. As Belial explains that Cairn was powerful enough to use Eros' dagger as if it were her own, Sol begins to tremble and loses track of the conversation. When Eros regains his attention, Sol stands from his seat and turns away from the group, yelling at Eros for asking him repeated questions and disturbing his train of thought. After a moment of silence, Sol expresses his opinion that focusing on Cairn was the incorrect path and that they should instead pursue Belial's client. He proceeds to insult Belial and accuse him of lying.

Outside the Hotel Accord, Raini sobs to herself after failing to find the building, despite following Mira's directions. At that point, the figure wearing a snake-themed hoodie from the previous episode calls out to Raini and returns the keycard that she'd dropped. Raini thanks the person for retrieving it and asks why she would help her. The person pulls back her hood and introduces herself as Lavi, who has seemingly recovered from her encounter with Janus if not for her new self-identification as a prophet.

## Characters

*Characters are listed in order of appearance.*

* Eros
* Kai
* Mira
* Belial
* Sol
* Raini
* Lavi

## Trivia

* As of now, Junction (3) is the episode with the highest amount of recurring characters.