Chapter 5a: Blindsided

The forest we were in was beautiful in the daytime. The sunlight peeked through the trees, creating rays of light coming down from above. Leaves covered the ground everywhere. I began looking around to see where we could go, but I didn't see anything of interest. The prison we just left obviously was built here to be discreet; no paths leading to it.

"Hey, Saralyn? Any ideas on where to go?" I asked the dhampir.

"I came across a small town a couple days ago. Probably worth stopping there for the night."

"Is it friendly towards mamono?"

"It's neutral. I don't think an average human would be able to tell a dhampir from a normal human woman, though."

"Alright, you know where it is, right?"

"..."

"Right?" I started getting concerned.

"Um… no?" Saralyn looked very embarrassed. Clearly, being an adventurer for five months isn't enough. "Remember what I said about feeling a pull towards this area?" She asked me.

"I guess this place IS meant to be hidden."

Both of us decided on traveling east, since that was the direction the sun was rising in. Hopefully, we might come across some sort of civilization on our way. Hopefully Saralyn knew some wilderness survival techniques.

Both of us walked for several hours, taking in the sights of the forest. The two of us decided to make small talk to pass the time when we ran out of things to look at. The forest, while very pretty looking, didn't have much to offer outside of trees and the occasional rock.

"Where the hell did everyone from the prison go?"

"I don't know. They either went to the nearest town, or just fled back into the forest. Or… the Order…" Saralyn began stuttering. I decided to change the subject before things get dicey.

"So, what did you do as an adventurer before you found me?"

"Well, after I woke up on a mountain, I found out I was near a place called 'Dragonia'. Nice place. Although I kinda felt out of place alongside all of the dragons and wyverns. I was homeless for a little bit, just spent the first couple of weeks in a cave." She told me.

"Eventually, I met this very nice salamander named Tiara. She gave me a place to stay, I explained that I was suffering from amnesia, she explained this world to me, gave me some money and helped me get off my feet. I owe the world to her."

"She also was a proficient gun user. One of the very few salamanders that studied the gun instead of the sword. She was looking for someone to teach, and when I said I wanted to learn how to use a revolver, she was ecstatic."

"What I didn't know is that salamanders can be very strict trainers when they aren't trying to get into their student's pants." I chuckled slightly at that last part.

My stomach started growling very loudly. Saralyn looked at me like how a mother would look at their child if they were starving to death. "Are you hungry?"

"Absolutely starving. I haven't eaten anything in what, a full day? I've been running off of pure adrenaline, and now that everything's calm, I don't even have that."

Saralyn took her traveler's bag off her shoulders and began fishing around in it. She eventually pulled something wrapped in a white handkerchief out and tossed it to me. I unwrapped it and began to devour it. It tasted like dried beef, or lamb; very salty. Either way, it took the edge off of the hunger, at least for now.

We came across a strangely familiar looking river. Suddenly, I remembered something.

"This is where I first woke up."

"Really?"

"Right next to that rock. If we keep following the river, we'll eventually reach Sharon's house." I pointed at a rock, half in the river and half on land.

"Who is Sharon?" Saralyn asked with a confused expression on her face.

"Oh. I forgot to tell you about her. She was a unicorn I came across when I first woke up. She sheltered me for five months until we got separated by Order soldiers."

"So just like Tiara?" Saralyn compared the two.

"Yes. Funny, isn't it?"

"Let's go to Sharon's house, then." I began walking alongside the river, and Saralyn followed behind me. After several hours, we finally reached Sharon's house. It was just how we left it; the broken fence and the smashed in door. It had barely been two days, but it felt like forever.

Not wanting to trample her crops any more than the soldiers did, I used the front gate and walked up to the door. Pushing aside what was left of it, me and Saralyn entered.

Sharon and I had lived very simply. The house consisted of four rooms; a kitchen, two bedroom, and a living room. I would help her with housekeeping, and she would continue sheltering me. The house was freezing; the broken door didn't do well at keeping the heat inside.

Sharon was nowhere in sight; She probably had fled to the nearest town in search of safety. But we could still use this place as a shelter for the night.

"Anything we could use here?" Saralyn asked. I began rummaging around the cabinets and drawers looking for something we could eat. Rude, but she probably would allow it if she knew the situation we were in. I managed to find some miscellaneous vegetables in a box in one of the cabinets. I handed them over to Saralyn, since I didn't trust myself with cooking.

Saralyn took out her traveler's bag again and pulled out some more of that meat she gave me earlier in the day. She took out a pot from one of the cabinets, and went outside to the river. She filled it with water, and then came back to the house and placed it over a campfire that Sharon and I used to cook our food. She lit the fire using a shard of glass taken from the broken door.

"I should be able to get something ready in about forty-five minutes."

"Good, because I'm starving to death over here." My stomach growled loudly. "Case in point."

The hunger was beginning to take its toll on me. I had now gone for a full day without any food. Sharon had kept me well fed, so I wasn't prepared to go this long without any sustenance. Saralyn seemed to be doing well, but she was a mamono, and apparently they were less affected by hunger than humans.

"Saralyn, I'm going to try and get some rest." I decided that I was going to get some sleep before eating. The five hours of walking we did took its toll on me. I went back to the bedroom Sharon gave me when I had been living with her.

"That's fine. I'll wake you up when the food is ready." I laid down on the pillow and closed my eyes.

I had barely gotten any sleep when I was woken up. Saralyn was nowhere to be seen. I realized I was in a completely different room. It looked like a burnt down building.

Something made a metallic *clank* as I got off of the bed. I was wearing the armor I had first woken up in; I had left it at Sharon's house before we had gotten chased out. Only now it was damaged. Scratches and dents covered its surfaces, and there were even parts missing from the leggings. The winged torch badge laid on the breastpiece, untouched.

I began walking towards the door. Only, I wanted to explore the room some more. My body was reacting on its own! It resisted everything I did to try and get it to move. With a large amount of effort, I managed to turn my head around to look around the room. No windows, nothing in the room besides the bed and the door.

Against my wishes, my body moved towards the door and opened it. Blinding, white lights everywhere. The only thing that was in the void was a glowing red scroll. My body began moving faster, breaking into a sprint as soon as I saw it.

My body reached its hand out and grasped it, only for the blinding white void to disappear, and a completely different room to take its place. It looked like a treasure room; ornate armor and swords decorated the walls, and expensive looking carpets covered the floor.

"Give it to me. We're going to destroy it." Someone from behind me said in a demanding, authoritative voice. My body turned around to see a winged figure, glowing white.

"Oh, fuck off. We just found it and we're not going to use it? Think of the possibilities!" My body said without me even opening my mouth.

"It's too dangerous." The winged figure retorted.

"It could bring them back."

"You don't know what it could do. It might kill you."

"You're not going to sto-" The winged figure interrupted me, and a beam of light came out of their hand.

Suddenly, pain shot through my entire body. I collapsed to the ground, my body clutching its chest in pain. The winged figure began walking towards me with a concerned look on their face. Everything went white.

I bolted upright, sweating bullets. I had control over my body again, thank goodness. I tried remembering what I had dreamed about; something about a winged figure? The details were incredibly hazy.

I got off of the bed and looked out the window. The sun had gone down, giving the woods an eerie darkness. It filled me with dread, compared to the relaxing feeling I had felt when I left the prison. Saralyn was kneeling next to the pot, stirring its contents. The dhampir looked over at me and waved.

"I see you're awake! It's almost done, look for some bowls and spoons and come out." She yelled from outside. I felt relieved at the thought of finally getting a good meal. I looked through the kitchen drawers, picked out two medium sized bowls and two spoons, and walked outside.

"Just in time. I made vegetable and dried lamb soup. It's a bit salty; the dried lamb had to be covered in salt to preserve it." Saralyn poured some into a bowl and handed it to me.

"Smells heavenly."

"Thanks. You're probably on the verge of starving to death, right?" Saralyn jokes.

"Yep." Both of us laughed.

I began scooping as much soup as I could into my mouth, only to burn myself . "Shit!" I sputtered, while Saralyn looked over at me, concerned.

"What's wrong?! Does it taste bad?" She asked.

"No… tastes amazing, in fact. Why didn't you tell me it was super hot?"

"It came straight out of a boiling pot." I felt rather silly. Of course it was going to be scalding hot…

I waited a little bit before digging in. As the two of us ate, we began talking more about our amnesia.

"Any ideas on how we could recover our memories?"

"We could go to a mindflayer. They deal with these sorts of problems. Unfortunately, they're rather rare."

"A mindflayer? Sounds scary."

"They're abyssal monsters. Apparently, they come from the bottom of the ocean. They might do some freaky stuff with their husbands but I assure you, they're nice people who won't hurt you."

"What kind of freaky stuff?" My morbid curiosity got the better of me. Saralyn gave me a funny look.

"Just curious…" I defended myself.

"Alright, since you're so curious, they turn their husbands into squids that attach to their lower abdomen… right next to their womb. And get this, this is like having sex with them."

"I… what?" I'm dumbfounded.

"It's true. At least that's what the encyclopedia says."

"Wow."

Both of us finish up our dinner and wash our dishes using water from the river, and put them back in the cabinets. Both of us wanted to respect Sharon's property. Both of us then headed to bed. I wanted to get some rest, but Saralyn had… other ideas.

Saralyn looked over at me, lewdly grinning. "You know… I cooked for you and I saved your life multiple times. I think I deserve some sort of reward, don't you think? Just because I'm a mamono that acts like a human, doesn't mean I can resist the urge to have sex forever." Looks like my time is up. I don't have any excuse to get her to back off.

"Besides. If you turn into an incubus, our amnesia might get cured. You don't want to stay an amnesiac forever, do you? I sure don't. And it looks like you're unclaimed. Perfect, right?" Saralyn reasoned.

That got my attention. The deal she was offering had practically zero downsides. "Sure." I said without thinking much.

I began taking off my clothes. Saralyn had already disrobed. She was practically salivating just by looking at me. "Remember what I said about your blood being sucked being the second best feeling you'll ever have?" She whispered to me directly into my ear.

As soon as I took off my underwear, she suddenly swallowed my dick with her mouth and started moving her head up and down. My senses were suddenly hit with a blast of pleasure.

"What are you doing?!" I ask, surprised.

"Haven't you heard of a blowjob, Adrian… Need to lubricate it before we have proper sex…" Saralyn murmured.

This was how getting sucked off by a dhampir felt, apparently. I let out a small moan as pleasure began spreading throughout my entire body. I knew mamono were better at pleasuring men than human women, but I still wasn't prepared for this.

My hips began thrusting upwards slightly, out of my control. After about a minute and a half of this, I began feeling a rising sensation in the lower half of my body. "Saralyn… going to…" I choked out.

"It's fine. Give it to me." Saralyn murmured, grinning up at me. I couldn't resist the feelings anymore, and let out way more semen than I had expected. The shockwaves of pleasure only lasted for about five seconds but it felt like five minutes. My head was spinning.

"Yes! This is so much better than blood!" Saralyn yelled. Bits of my cum dripped from her mouth as she rejoiced.

"It's not over… You know what time it is now." She cooed. She stood up and began lining up her entrance with my dick. She closed her eyes in anticipation, and dropped downwards.

She missed.

"O-oops… I'm sorry, this is the first time I'm doing this!" Saralyn sputtered, embarrassed.

"Take your time…" I assured her. She tried again, and succeeded.

The pleasure from the blowjob didn't compare to this. I involuntarily let out a gasp. Saralyn's eyes widened. Both of us were shocked from the first-time sensations.

Saralyn eventually recovered, and began moving up and down slowly, then faster and faster. I also thrusted upwards, eliciting moans from her. Eventually I released even more inside of her.

"Not enough… need more…" she gasped as she began moving up and down even faster. We went like this for god knows how long. My body began feeling hotter than usual. Must be mamono mana. Eventually both of us tired ourselves out. Saralyn collapsed onto my bare chest, laying her arms on my shoulders.

"I've done it… Nobody is ever going to take you from me." She whispered as the two of us fell asleep in each other's arms. This time, my sleep was filled with pleasant dreams, unlike the nightmare from before. I could get used to this.

Unfortunately, there was no rest. In the midst of our passionate lovemaking, we had forgotten that we were in freshly claimed enemy territory. I was awoken by the sounds of talking outside the window. Opening my eyes, I gently pushed Saralyn off of me and got up from the bed.

I snuck a peak outside, and saw a group of nine order soldiers walking towards the house. Three of them split off and went to the back of the house. I recognized one of them as the person who had captured me yesterday. This was all beginning to feel familiar. "Shit! Saralyn, wake up! We have company!" I whispered to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Wha…whatizzit Adrian?" The dhampir murmured sleepily.

"Order soldiers!" At my response, she quickly jumped off the bed. Grabbing her clothes and dressing up hastily, she took her gun out from her belt. I quickly grabbed what clothes I had and put them on, when I remembered something. I had woken up with armor on. When I first started living with Sharon, I had no need to wear it, so I put it under my bed.

Sure enough, it was still there. I quickly dressed myself. Pulling out the realm silver sword I took from the prison, I readied myself for battle. Saralyn took cover near the window. Unlike last time, we were prepared. We had the element of surprise this time, not the Order.

Saralyn loaded her revolver. "I'll cover you."

Saralyn fired several shots out of the window, taking the attackers by surprise. Nailing four of them, she leapt out of the window, taking cover near the fence. I rushed out of the broken door and charged at the remaining soldiers. Disoriented, the soldiers looked around for the attackers. I took advantage and managed to take down the remaining three without much difficulty.

"What was that?"

"Go around! There's people here!"

"Affirmative!"

I rush back into the house before they can come to the front yard. Saralyn stays crouched near the fence, eyes narrowed. One of the order soldiers came into the house and began to search for the intruders. I quickly hid in one of the bedrooms, preparing to ambush. The order soldier searched the small house before coming up to the room I was hiding in. I kicked the door as hard as I could, knocking him over. I recognized him; this was the person who kidnapped me.

I aim my sword at his head. "How did you find us?!"

He didn't answer, instead kicking me in the leg, causing me to stumble. He takes a moment to get to his feet, so I kick him back in response, causing him to step back a few feet. Only then does he answer my question.

"This was the only shelter for miles. We knew you'd come back. That unicorn was a fool to choose this place to live."

"What is this project you're working on?!"

"The traitor just can't stay out of other people's businesses, huh? Fine. We're making advances. Mamono come into our land and fuck everything up, so we're using their own energy against them."

"That shouldn't be possible."

"Oh, but it is. You'd be surprised at what people are capable of doing when backed into a corner. Desperation breeds innovation." I had heard enough. I charged at him, my sword held over my head for a vertical attack.

He blocked it, only for a bullet to hit him in the back, stunning him.

"Quick! Take him down, now!" Saralyn yelled from the doorway.

One slash to the head with my mamono realm silver sword and he was out cold. I walked over to Saralyn. She looked like she had been through hell. Her clothes were torn and dirty, and she had cuts all over her body. I spotted two particularly nasty looking injuries on her right leg and her left arm, both were bleeding profusely. She had never suffered this badly in a battle.

"What happened out there?"

"Explain… later… need to stop the bleeding…" We search the entire house. I find a towel I can use to stem the bleeding, but she is limping. It's going to be hell getting to civilization. My kidnapper had said we were miles from any civilization.

"My bag… get the bottle…" Saralyn breathed. I was running out of time. I rummaged through her traveler's bag, and found the bottle with the substance she used to heal my own leg wound. How fitting…

I apply some of the healing substance to the cut on her left arm, but there isn't enough left to heal the leg wound completely. I tied the towel back onto her leg, but she is still limping. We had no choice but to try and get to civilization before we got ambushed again or she bled out.

I put her arm over my shoulder and I helped her walk. "Come on. You can do this. We'll make it." I try to reassure her.

Several minutes ago

Saralyn watched as Adrian ran back into the house, no doubt preparing to set up an ambush of his own. She watched as a single heavily armed soldier came running from the back of the house.

There was something strange about him. Using her mamono instincts, she deduced that the man was… an incubus? Not wanting to risk negotiation, she reloaded her gun, dodged the soldier's sword and aimed at them. She pulled the trigger.

The soldier blocked the bullet with their hand.

Saralyn recoiled in shock. The bullets from her revolver travel insanely fast, there should be no way they should be able to do that. She fired three more shots at the soldier. One of them hit them in the chest. He stumbled slightly, and Saralyn took the opportunity to charge at him. But he recovered faster than she had anticipated, and punched her in the stomach.

Saralyn recoiled in pain, stumbling backwards. The soldier slashed at her leg, giving her a deep wound, then kicked her to the ground. The soldier stabbed downwards, aiming to finish her off. Saralyn just barely rolled out of the way, but the sword caught her on her arm, leaving another deep wound. The soldier laughed and began to slowly walk around her, gloating about his victory.

Saralyn realized she had to end the fight now if she wanted to survive. She took out one of her realm silver knives, and quickly slashed at an exposed part of the soldier while they were distracted. The soldier yelped in surprise and keeled over, and Saralyn took the opportunity to crawl over to him and finish him off.

Letting out a pained sigh of relief, Saralyn used the fence as a crutch to walk over to the house. Adrian needed her help.

Chapter 5b: The Speech

Outskirts of Ichoriya

A lich walked through the valley, taking in all of the scenery. She had spent the past several weeks in an underground laboratory. Despite being undead, she still appreciated nature and living things. She came across a river, one that connected to Ichoriya. When she first came here, she had set up her base of operations near a place that had a lot of travelers, in hopes of getting a husband. No luck so far.

To make matters worse, when she had disguised herself and went to Ichoriya to buy supplies, the main bridge had been destroyed and she had to spend an hour figuring out how to get into the city. She later found out that a wurm had destroyed the bridge chasing a man.

Stupid wurms. Why couldn't the Mamono Lord have fixed their overly-reliant-on-instinct brain when she had fixed all monsters? Now getting supplies for her experiments would be even more annoying and time consuming than it already was.

The lich was snapped out of her self-contained complaining when she spotted something caught on a rock on the other side of a river. Channeling some of her power, she began to levitate across the river to see what it was.

It looked like someone's leg. Using her magic, she pulled the leg out of the water, only to realize it was a corpse of a human woman. The lich suddenly felt very sad. The woman looked young. She deserved to grow old. Have kids. Not drown in a river. She decided that she was going to give the woman a second chance at life as a zombie. The lich levitated the woman out of the river. It looked fresh; good, the zombie wouldn't be very essence starved. She began heading back to her base.

Just as she was about to enter her laboratory, she noticed something at the mouth of the river. The river emptied into a small pond, and there were two corpses floating in the water. Both were human men. Fine, she would give them a second chance too. One of them even smelled unclaimed. Maybe she will finally get a husband…

Floating him out of the pond and carrying him alongside the woman, she entered her laboratory. She laid them on three large tables, and got to work on reviving them.

The woman would be relatively easy to bring back. Stitching up some of the minor wounds she had, she prepared to revive her. Using her powers, she poured mamono mana into her body. Focusing, she uttered a spell that would call the woman's soul back to her body. Opening her eyes, she admired her work.

The zombie slowly opened their eyes, and looked around. She noticed the nearby corpses of the men on the tables. She immediately got off the table and sprinted over to one of them with an energy not usually seen from a freshly revived zombie.

"Stop. Do not exert yourself." The lich warned.

"Husband…" The zombie pointed at one of the corpses, then started sobbing.

"Do not worry yourself, I will bring them back. But it will take time." The zombie perked up a bit.

"In the meantime, do you mind telling me how you died?" The lich asked.

"Bridge fell…" the zombie groaned. So they died because of the bridge collapsing.

"Notice something else." the zombie said. The lich raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Disappearing man. Turned into wing creature." The lich didn't know how to interpret that. Could human mages mimic mamono? Was it an angel? Why would angels attack Ichoriya? It was a nation that worshiped the Chief God fervently.

"I will figure it out later. I must bring the others back." said the lich, gesturing at the male corpses.

Standing over the bodies, she began to perform the spell to revive them. She reached out to Hel and began chanting.

"Oh Great Hel, reunite these men's souls with their bodies, and usher them back to the realm of living. I hereby promise to love and cherish the unclaimed as long as I live."

The corpses began glowing red, then orange, then yellow, then white. Eventually they slowly opened their eyes and stood up. One of them rushed over to the zombie, both of them hugging tightly. The lich smiled, then turned to face the other male.

"Hello, husband."

Ichoriya

The moon shone above Ichoriya. Everyone slept in their houses contentedly, unaware of what was about to happen. Their farms, and therefore their main method of making rations for the Faithful, were about to go up in flames. Raniel and her team hid in a toolshed near the devices that hydrated the crops.

Raniel gestured at Nuriel and Ophaniel to go and start filling the irrigation devices with the flammable liquids they had acquired. The devices began spreading the "water" all over the fields. The team waited for several minutes before lighting the farms up with a torch.

Immediately flames spread across the farms, destroying all of the crops. Some of the fires even spread to the farmhouses, igniting them as well. Soon the farmers woke up and realized what was happening, and desperately tried to put the fires out. But the damage was already done.

Raniel and her team turned back into their angel forms, and began to fly off. Cassiel looked back, and shedded a single tear, thinking about how much pain this would cause the Ichoriyian citizens.

"Cassiel." Raniel tried to get Cassiel's attention.

Cassiel quickly wiped the tear from her face and turned towards her. "What?"

"The Matriarch has reached out to me. She wants to see you after we get back to Aperia."

"Why?"

"You are not in a position to ask."

Aperia

Ophelia looked out the window of her castle. Raniel and her team would be back any minute now. Raniel had told her about Cassiel having doubts about her mission. She wasn't mad, but she needed Cassiel to learn that having blood on her hands wasn't exactly something she needed to be upset about. It was war; people were going to die no matter what.

Ophelia noticed Raniel and her team land outside her castle. She had ordered them to come to the castle after they had finished their mission. All of them entered the castle, and entered Ophelia's office.

"Raniel, have you completed your mission?"

"Yes I have, Matriarch. Ichoriya's farms and their main supply bridge have been destroyed."

"What methods did you use?"

"We lured a wurm to destroy the supports of the bridge, and rigged the irrigation devices to spread flammable liquid over the farms. The current rumor in Ichoriya is that a wildfire destroyed the farms." Raniel grinned.

"Casualties?"

"A couple wagons were on the bridge when it collapsed, and the wildfires killed several people." Raniel's grin turned into a more neutral expression.

"Good job. I'll have payment sent to each of you." Ophelia pulled out several large bags of gold that she had prepared beforehand.

"None of us are doing this for the money, Matriarch. We're doing this because it's what has to be done. We've seen firsthand how evil the Faithful are. What you taught us was true."

"I know. You still deserve compensation. Use the money to buy new weapons or whatever you want. Everyone except Cassiel is dismissed."

"Thank you, Matriarch." Everyone except Cassiel filed out of the room, leaving her and Ophelia alone.

"Cassiel, Raniel told me that you were hesitating. I want you to know that this is war; people are going to die. You can't change that."

"But they didn't deserve it." Cassiel looked at the ground.

"You can't make an omelet without breaking a couple eggs, Cassiel."

"You're a seraphim. You're supposed to care deeply for humanity. But you show no remorse for the people who you ordered the deaths of." Cassiel rebutted.

"It's for the greater good. We're creating a world without the Chief God's tyranny."

"You disgust me." Cassiel left before Ophelia could say anything.

Ophelia sat in complete silence. She refused to believe that she was doing anything wrong. If there was a way to prevent the deaths of everyone who didn't deserve it, she would've found it. The people that died on that bridge, died for a greater good. Collateral damage was unavoidable.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Ophelia spun around. She was the only person in the room.

"Who's there?"

"Like I said, all you're doing is hurting yourself and your fellow angels…" Ophelia's blood began to boil. This depraved wretch didn't deserve to talk down on her like this.

"What gives you the authority to judge me, Fallen God?! What you do is worse than death." Ophelia spat.

"Do I force my angels to kill innocent people?"

"You make your priests corrupt entire towns."

"Towns in need of our help. Besides, it's for the greater good." Ophelia's rage began to overflow.

"If you interfere with what I'm doing, I will kill your followers. I will destroy your churches. I will personally tear apart Pandemonium." Ophelia ranted.

"How can you even call yourself a seraphim anymore?" The Fallen God's tone had gone from her normal sultry and deceptive to shocked and hurt.

"AND HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A GOD WHEN ALL YOU DO IS CORRUPT?!" Ophelia screeched. No response. Ophelia took several deep breaths, and sat back down.

Seraphims did not need to sleep, but she decided to go to her personal chambers to rest. Staring up at the ceiling while lying on her bed, she closed her eyes and tried as hard as she could to relax.

…

…

What's this you have for me?

A ring?

I'm sorry… But no.

Please don't think I hate you. I just can't afford to have such relationships. You know how it is, with the Fallen God always watching.

Go home, Michael.

…

Ophelia slowly opened her eyes. She remembered every detail of her dream. Michael… Despite her rejecting his proposal, she still cared for him. The anger and hatred she felt when she had learned that he had been killed by the Faithful. But she had moved on. She wasn't a disciple of Hel; he was gone and she couldn't do anything to bring him back. The best she could do was avenge him.

Ophelia looked at her calendar. It was finally time. She quickly dressed herself in the most elegant clothing she had. She needed to look as presentable as she could for the public. Using her magic to fix her hair, she went over to her office to review her script for her declaration of war.

Thirty minutes later, she had memorized the script as best as she could. She took a deep breath, and using her magic, she teleported to the center of the city. A massive crowd of mamono and humans sat in front of a large podium. She cleared her throat, casting another spell on herself to amplify her voice. Now or never.

"Good morning, cherished citizens of Aperia. I have an announcement to make. Our spies within Ichoriya have reported that their farms have suffered major damage from a wildfire, and their main supply bridge was destroyed by a wurm. You might be wondering, what does this have to do with us?"

"Aperia has had terrible relations with the Order, more specifically, The Faithful. If you haven't heard of them, they are a coalescence of nastiest, most zealous, most corrupt nations the Order has to offer. A last ditch attempt at maintaining what little power they have left. Their citizens live in squalor while the nobles sit on their thrones made of blood and gold. As a seraphim, seeing those who are meant to guide the people abuse their power for their own profit is despicable. We cannot allow this to continue any longer, lest they cause more damage."

"So therefore, after extensive discussion with the Aperian Council, I have made the decision to declare war on The Faithful. Right now is the most opportune moment; Without vital supplies from Ichoriya, The Faithful are more vulnerable than ever. We will free the oppressed and unfortunate souls trapped in the evil of The Faithful, and teach them that the Chief God is the evil one."

Murmurs came from the crowd, with some of the mamono even shouting in protest. Ophelia knew mamono were sensitive to the deaths of humans, so she had prepared for this.

"To all of the mamono listening to me right now, the Aperian Military is trained in non-lethal combat. We assure you that they will attempt to minimize the amount of casualties that come as a result of this war. Only The Faithful's corrupt higher-ups will die. I promise that those who are unmarried will have a chance at getting a husband." That got them to quiet down.

"All we ask of you is that you have faith in our brave soldiers, heroes, and angels. We are on the verge of creating a better world, a world where priests and nobles do not abuse their power at their subjects' expenses. A world where corruption is stomped out at the first report. That is all. Thank all of you for coming." Ophelia walked off of the podium, and teleported back to her castle.

The crowd erupted into a flurry of discussion, arguments, and cheers. The most nationalistic Aperians praised Ophelia, while some of the mamono talked about her fearfully.

"Fuck yeah! Fuck those stupid zealots!"

"Down with The Faithful!"

"You're doing the Chief God's work for her, Ophelia!"

"Why?"

"But we're not strong enough…"

"So we're at war now." A kikimora said to her husband.

"I can't believe it. We're not equipped for this!" Her husband ranted.

"Master, please… relax."

"I'm sorry, I just… I'm just scared of what will happen to us if we lose."

The kikimora came over to her husband, massaging him.

"Master, do not worry. I have plans in case this war does not go to plan. Our kids will be safe, I will make sure of it."

"Thank you. I love you. No matter what, this war will not separate us."