A/N: Insert usual disclaimer stuff here. This is the sequel to Penance and Pursuit of Merit.

Again, I went back and chopped this fic up into chapters. If you want to read the thing straight through, with no chapter divisions, just head on over to my site, Because I chopped it up, some of the chapter transitions may be strange. Sorry about that.

Reviews are always welcome and encouraged!


"No!" Xellos screamed as a multitude of hands held him down. The hands of underlings tore at his clothes and his staff clattered uselessly in a corner. He shuddered and struggled as his bare back was pressed against a stone slab. "No!" The chain with the ring on it was torn from around his neck and he found the strength to knock away his attackers, grasping at it. His fingers wrapped around the chain just as someone else caught the ring, and he shouted as claws and talons raked at his back in an effort to subdue him. His eyes opened wide as he saw who had the other end of the ring, the underlings slinking away.

"Shame on you," Greater Beast Xellas Metallium said with narrowed eyes, taking the ring from his motionless fingers and tossing it on the heap of his clothing.

He bared his teeth and glanced at the ring, making sure he knew where it was. A grunt left him as a crushing power laid him out flat on the cold stone slab. He tried to struggle, but the power was too great and he only became tired. "Why?" he growled, barely even able to draw breath. A gasp left him as he felt his astral form being bound just as his physical body had been. He was trapped, his mistress was trapping him.

"I could ask you the same thing, little one," Xellas answered, staring down at him with her cold golden wolf's eyes.

"You don't understand," he grated in return, hissing against the pain of the cuts on his body and astral form.

"You're right, I don't," she replied, walking around the stone slab to stand at his head. She looked the length of his naked body and shook her head. "The time you spent in trapped in this body tainted you somehow, Xellos. What you did today was the last straw."

"I had to! She was in pain!" he cried, grunting as he strained against the power that held him.

"Why do you care if she was in pain?" Xellas asked, scowling down at him. "You are no longer a human, Xellos. You should not care for anything other than carrying out my orders."

"If I knew I would tell you," he rasped, a vein appearing in his temple as he toiled to free himself.

"It disturbs me even more that you do not know," she said softly, smoothing the hair off of his forehead in an almost tender gesture. "My poor, wayward creation," she murmured.

A moan of frustration broke free from his chest as he writhed, trying to get away. Who knew if Lina was even alive. That damned Filia had managed to keep him from her, and then his own mistress had ripped him away. He couldn't stand it; he had to reach Lina. "Let me go," he pleaded, looking up into his mistress' eyes.

"I thought the trickster priest never begged," she said coldly. "No, I cannot let you go. You disobeyed my direct orders, and that is inexcusable. Since taking away your powers again would just effectively return you to a human state, which is how this trouble began in the first place, I can obviously not take that course of action. I am afraid you must be punished, my child. We cannot have you following your own desires any longer."

Xellos snarled and tried to attack her, but was held flat to the slab by her power. She sighed, something akin to regret on her face. "I do not want to do this to you, my pup, but there is no other way. I hope you understand that someday," she said softly, and raised a palm. He screamed as the pressure on his limbs began to build, the pain becoming even more intense until his mind refused to absorb any more and he slipped into unconsciousness.