Chapter 13a: Savior and Corruptor
Border between Monoghon and Peraghon
Day Seven
Adrian opened his eyes to a blinding white light. He instinctively squinted and tried to cover his eyes.
"Saralyn, I'm awake, you can stop n-" Adrian realized the light wasn't coming from any specific source. He wasn't in his tent anymore. He wasn't sure where he even was. All he saw was endless white. He got off of his cot, only to realize it wasn't the cot he fell asleep in. It was a comparatively massive sized bed, with soft red sheets lined with gold-yellow markings, and white pillows.
"How coincidental. My two favorite colors." Adrian said to himself. "Unfortunately, I can't sleep in right now."
Adrian got up and began walking away from the bed, into the light. The only indication he was moving somewhere was the bed he woke up in growing smaller and smaller in the distance. Eventually, it vanished from sight, and then for all he knew he could be walking in place.
The monotony was broken up by a sudden voice coming from in front of Adrian. Straining his eyes, he saw a tiny black dot in the distance. Quickening his pace, the black dot got closer and closer. It turned into a thin black rectangle. Then a vaguely person-shaped blob. And finally a person. Strangely, the person, who looked to be a she, felt weirdly familiar.
"Who are you?" Adrian asked. The figure didn't answer.
"I ask again, who are you?" The figure remained silent.
"Fine, keep your secrets."
Adrian walked in a circle around the figure. The figure turned her body to face him. Waving his hands around in its face, he was surprised when it actually responded to him.
"Stay."
"I can't. I'll have to wake up eventually."
"Stay!" The figure began yelling. "STAY!"
Adrian began feeling incredibly unnerved. He wished to wake up. As if whatever world he was in was listening to him, his body began to fade, his skin and clothing becoming translucent. The figure clung to him, but her hands went through his body.
"COME BACK!" The figure shouted loudly, sounding like she was on the edge of tears. The figure screamed over and over, eventually breaking down into tears.
Adrian woke up in a cold sweat. He instinctively felt for Saralyn, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, a note was lying where she would usually be sleeping.
"Come to the big tent west of here. We're discussing our final attack plans for Peraghon. -Saralyn"
"Oh, I forgot. Today's the day." Adrian said to himself. He was beginning to get tired of Monoghon. He longed for the comfy bed back at Lescatie. Meryl had spared zero expenses when making sure the Peacekeepers were comfortable.
Dragging himself out of bed, he grabbed his clothes that were haphazardly tossed into some random corner of the tent when Saralyn had almost tackled him into the bed the previous day. Despite her species being described as half-human, Saralyn acted like a starved ushi-oni when the Peacekeepers got back from a mission.
Adrian walked outside, immediately noticing the lack of people outside. Usually there would be mamono out and about at this hour but the camp was eerily quiet. Walking towards the large tent in the distance, he heard noises coming from Peraghon. The castle city had tons of Order soldiers on the walls. Some of them saw Adrian walking by, and started yelling some not-so-nice things at him.
"Traitor!"
"Monster fucker!"
"Turncoat!"
Adrian scoffed at them. You can't call me a traitor if I was never on your side to begin with. He thought to himself. Ignoring their insults, he kept walking towards the large tent that Saralyn was talking about. Pushing aside the flaps that made up the entrance, he entered the tent.
Adrian was immediately greeted by cheers and clapping. Shocked at the amount of noise, he took a few steps back. A salamander gently shoved him towards a large stage where Saralyn, Sinclair, Ava, Naira, Jordan and Meryl were standing.
"Well. I was beginning to think Saralyn accidently killed you while you were having sex." Sinclair chucked, only to be punched in the arm by Saralyn.
"I overslept. I assume I'm late?"
"Thirty minutes late, to be exact. You're lucky everyone loves you so much now."
"That's enough, Sinclair. Let me give him the rundown on our plan for taking down Peraghon." Meryl interrupted Sinclair as she was about to let out another sarcastic remark.
"What plan, Meryl? We outnumber them fifteen to one. We're just going to charge them from every side. That's all there is to it."
Meryl shook her head. "We're going to charge them from every side, you're right. But the wurms, dragons and living armors are going to be in front. They can take all the damage. Any unmarried mamono will follow them into the city. Me and Lilian will be leading the charge."
"What about us?" Naira asked.
"We've received word from spies in a nearby Order city that they're sending mercenaries to try and reclaim Monoghon. Apparently, a messenger managed to escape us and alert nearby Order territory. Everyone keep alert, we don't want to be blindsided. Once everyone else is in Peraghon, the married mamono will stay back and watch for the mercenaries."
"Sounds like a plan. When are we going to begin the assault?" Adrian asked.
"Whenever the barrier goes down, which if the baphomets and witches estimated correctly, should be in a few hours. We're going to head out now to get into formation." Meryl turned towards the crowd.
"Who's ready to get a husband?!" The dullahan shouted.
"WE ARE!" The crowd of mamono inside the tent shouted back in unison.
"Alright then, move out!"
The crowd of mamono slowly filed out of the tent, with Meryl and the Peacekeepers following behind them. The army marched out towards Peraghon, and positioned themselves a couple miles from the walls. The order soldiers, seeing the massive army, quickly got into position. The soldiers stared at the invaders with expressions of fear, anger, and contempt. Meanwhile, the mamono started making provocative gestures towards the scared defenders. A ghoul made a blowjob motion towards an archer that she had her eyes on. A wight summoned her spectral hands and waved at a crossbowman. A group of succubi twisted their tails into hearts while smiling lewdly at a group of swordsmen at the gate.
The mood at the back of the army wasn't as lighthearted. Some of the married mamono and their male squires looked around at the landscape nervously. The fact that the mercenaries hadn't shown up was quite unsettling for everyone.
"Is it too much to hope that they just got caught by wild mamono on their way here?" Adrian asked hopefully.
"That's possible, but not likely. Stay close to me." Saralyn responded. Her hands were glued to her guns, still in their holsters but ready to be drawn at any moment.
Naira pointed a claw towards Peraghon. "It's happening."
The light from the magical barrier began fading slowly. Both sides readied their weapons. The talking from both the invaders and the defenders slowly faded away. An atmosphere of extreme tension filled the battlefield.
The light from the barrier blinked once. Then twice. Then three times. Then, it suddenly faded away. There was nothing separating Lescatie's army from Peraghon.
"Begin the assault!" Meryl shouted, raising her sword in the air.
The army of mamono surged forward, battlecries echoing across the landscape. The Order soldiers and mages on the wall opened fire, sending a swarm of arrows towards the invaders. Unfortunately for them, the arrows did nothing to stop the dragons and wurms leading the charge. The projectiles did nothing but scratch their skin. Some of the dragons opened their mouths and launched fireballs at the walls, creating openings. Overhead, a large amount of harpies, griffons, wyverns and more dragons swooped down into Peraghon.
Meryl sprinted as fast as she could towards one of the openings, some of the arrows coming way too close to her head. Vaulting over the rubble, she entered the city. A group of order soldiers saw her, and charged at her, attempting to flank her. One of them jabbed their spears towards her head. She craned her head to the right, the spear missing her by inches.
Meryl had seen that trick one too many times during her time as one of Lescatie's generals. The only person that got to take off her head was her husband. Shedding a tear, Meryl pushed the thoughts of him out of her head and refocused.
Meryl grabbed the spear and threw it to the side, following up with a kick to the soldier's knees. They stumbled backwards. Meryl slashed him across the chest with her sword, knocking him unconscious. A harpy swooped down the sky, picking him up and carrying him off.
A vial of crimson colored liquid hit one of the soldiers, a woman with a ponytail holding a halberd. She immediately fell to the ground, shaking. Her skin began turning grayish-green, her legs slowly changing into eight claw-tipped appendages, and horns began growing out of her head.
The newly transformed ushi-oni let out a very loud roar, charging through the group towards one of the men in the group and grabbing him. Forming a cocoon of thick rope-like spider silk around him, the ushi-oni dashed off. Meryl took the opportunity to finish off the rest of the stunned order soldiers.
The dullahan looked in the direction of where the vial came from. Lilian jumped from the roof of a nearby house, using her wings to stabilize her fall. She held another vial of ushi-oni blood in her hands.
"Watch where you throw those things! Mamono aren't immune to the effects of ushi-oni blood, you know."
"Sorry, Meryl. Shall we head towards the main keep?"
"Of course. Let's go."
Meryl and Lilian entered one of the main streets. The mamono had already breached the city, and even more were entering every second. The Order's forces were slowly retreating to the center of the castle city, towards the central keep.
"Get ready. The keep is probably where the heroes are going to be."
There was relatively little resistance between them and the keep. Meryl and Lilian encountered a few order soldiers here and there, but they were either quickly defeated with their combined power or swept up by mamono looking for a husband. Reaching the keep, both of them opened the grand looking double doors to an empty lobby.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Meryl asked, unnerved.
Lilian pointed at the staircase leading to the throne room. "Maybe they're hiding. Let's go see if we can talk them into surrendering."
Once again, there was strangely no resistance as they traversed the stairs leading to the throne room. The hallway leading up to the throne room was surprisingly clean, with no sign of any movement or struggle. Even the carpet was completely straightened out. Moving up to the door, Lilian could hear voices in the throne room. She attempted to enter, but the door was locked.
"Looks like they locked themselves inside. Hang on, I'm going to-" Lilian didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as the door seemingly exploded, launching Lilian and Meryl across the hallway. At the other side of the throne room, stood a tall, heavily armored hero. The man grinned at the two disoriented monsters. He pulled out his sword and began walking towards the pair. On the other side of the hallway, Meryl turned her body to look at Lilian. The succubus was alive, but heavily injured. A large burn mark was present on the succubus's stomach, having burned through her lilim-cloth jacket.
Meryl got to her feet, only for a boot to slam into her stomach. Clutching her stomach in pain, she laid on her back, staring up at the hero. The hero looked back with an expression of contempt and hatred.
"What happened, dullahan? Are you having trouble getting up?" The hero sneered. Gritting her teeth, Meryl quickly drew her knife and jabbed it into the hero's leg. The hero shouted in surprise and stumbled back, clutching his leg.
Getting to her feet, Meryl pulled something out of her pocket. A syringe, filled with a glowing blue liquid. Her husband's spirit energy. When the man had still been alive, Meryl had taken several syringes of his essence. When she felt stressed during hard military operations, she would consume some of it. It made her feel safe and comfortable. It cleared her mind.
This was the last one she had.
"We'll be together again someday, Aaron…"
Rolling up her sleeves, she pushed the needle into her wrist. Energy flowed through her veins, reinvigorating her entire body. The hero saw what was happening and rushed forward, sword held over his head preparing to finish her off.
Meryl drew her sword and blocked at the last second. The hero stepped back a few feet and tried again, instead going for a slash at her lower body. Meryl blocked again, and kicked the hero in the shins, sending him backwards. Meryl followed up with a barrage of attacks, pushing him back even further. Eventually, he backed up into a wall. The hero's eyes grew panicked, his plan being ruined.
"What did you do?!" The hero screamed.
"I got some help from someone near and dear to me." The dullahan responded calmly.
"But there's no one else here! The succubus is unconscious, she couldn't have possibly-"
"Oh no, not her. The one who helped me is long gone. Taken away by YOUR Order." Meryl's tone remained calm.
"Your kind and those who lay with you deserve nothing but death!" The hero shouted.
"Is that how the Order thinks? No wonder you're losing followers by the day."
The hero pushed Meryl's blade away, and ran towards Lilian. Meryl chased after him, but stopped as he held a knife to Lilian's throat.
"Try anything and I'll kill her!"
Despite Lilian's life being in danger, Meryl remained calm. She crossed her hands, unfazed by the hostage situation.
"You want to know something special about the weapons we use?" Meryl aimed her sword at the hero.
"I said, try anything and I-"
Meryl threw the sword at the hero as hard as she could. It impaled both Lilian and the hero through their upper torso. The hero's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Lilian was unharmed.
"They don't hurt living things." Meryl answered her own question.
Meryl pushed the hero aside. Picking the succubus up and hauling her over her shoulder, Meryl entered one of the bedrooms in the hallway and laid Lilian down on a bed. Meryl examined Lilian's injuries. She sighed in relief.
"Looks worse than it actually is. You'll be alright." Regardless, Meryl felt obligated to help her new friend. Leaving the keep, Meryl got the attention of the nearest pharmacomancer.
"Did any of the troops see anything?" Adrian asked.
"You've asked that fifteen damn times! We haven't seen anything yet!" Sinclair shouted back, the dark elf irritated at Adrian's impatience.
"I'm starting to think they really did get caught by wild mamono on their way here. If they haven't, they're too late. Looks like the army's finishing up with Peraghon." Saralyn pointed at the castle city. The sounds of battle had quieted down, having been replaced with the sounds of pleasure coming from mamono and their new husbands.
"Meryl said to keep an eye out."
A nearby tree shook. A couple leaves fell from the branches. Adrian instantly swerved towards the noise, drawing Ballista and narrowing his eyes at the tree. Only for Ava to jump down, staring at him with an eyebrow raised. Adrian lowered his blade, and crossed his arms.
"For fuck's sake, don't scare me like that Ava. I could have accidentally skewered you." Adrian's finger had been less than an inch away from the switch that launched the blade out from the handle on his sword.
"Ava, have you seen anyone around Peraghon?" Saralyn asked.
The kunoichi shook her head. She had been weirdly talkative, at least for her standards, during their raid on Monoghon. Now, she had gone back to her almost mute self, only saying a few words at a time.
"I'm going to go get some water. I'll be right back. Adrian, don't skewer anyone. That's an order." Sinclair said, walking back towards the camp.
"You can't give me an order, we're equal ranks!"
"Meryl put me in charge for now. Checkmate, Adrian." The dark elf said as she got farther away from the group. Adrian grunted and went back to the group. As much as he respected and liked his teammates, they could be quite irritating at times, with the exception of Saralyn.
On his walk back he heard some rustling coming from a nearby bush. Adrian shook his head in frustration.
"Sinclair, if you're playing a prank on me, I swear I'm going to hit you. Meryl's orders be damned." Adrian yelled towards the plant. No answer.
"Don't make me come over there." Adrian threatened. Still no answer.
"Fine, then." Adrian walked over to the bush. A small rabbit hopped out of it, startled by his presence. Adrian watched as it ran off, his cheeks slightly red with embarrassment. Thankful that nobody was watching him, he resumed his trek back to the rest of the group.
His walk was promptly interrupted when something sharp embedded itself in his back.
Screaming in pain, Adrian reached behind him for the object. Eventually getting a grip of it, he gritted his teeth and pulled it out. Gasping in pain, he looked at the object, covered in blood. A kunai, a throwing knife used by Lescatie's military, but also used by Zipanguese monster slayers.
Frantically swerving around, Adrian tried to find his attacker. Something white flashed by him, missing his head by mere inches and landing in the grass. Turning in the direction the object had come from, he saw a masked woman in black Zipanguese style robes with two knives. She looked like Ava, but without the tail or horns.
Another man dressed just like her came out from behind a tree, instead holding two long, curved swords. Katanas, Adrian's mind supplied. He turned towards Adrian, cocking his head.
"You should pay more attention to your surroundings, incubus." The man spoke in Zipanguese.
"Translation?"
The man refused to answer him, instead pulling out another kunai and flinging at Adrian. Adrian quickly sidestepped the knife, and charged at the man. The man casually blocked Adrian's attack.
"Foolishness. Is charging in blind your best strategy?"
Adrian saw a shadow coming up behind him, and he pulled away from the man as the masked woman was about to plunge two more knives into his back. The man rushed forwards, swinging both of his katanas in wide arcs, pushing him back. The woman attacked hard and fast from both sides.
Gritting his teeth, Adrian leapt backwards. Quickly aiming the blade of Ballista at the man, he pressed the switch, causing the blade to fly out towards the man. The man sidestepped the flying blade, keeping his eyes on Adrian the entire time.
"An impressive last resort, unfortunately, you are defenseless now." The monster slayer laughed. Adrian simply pointed the hilt towards the blade.
The blade came careening back towards the handle. The man noticed at the last millisecond and threw his body out of the way, but the blade sliced through his arm. Yelling out in anger, he dropped one of his katanas.
Adrian spotted a silhouette moving towards him from the back. The other one was using an invisibility spell. One attacks from the front and acts as a distraction while the other attacks from behind. Adrian concluded, formulating a plan. He waited until she was directly behind him, and began his plan.
Positioning his sword under his arm, he pointed the blade backwards and pulled the trigger. The blade jettisoned out of the hilt, and soared through the air towards the other monster slayer. It embedded itself in the woman's lower torso. The woman uncloaked, staring at the blade in her stomach with an expression of shock. She fell backwards, out cold.
The man looked at Adrian, then back at his fellow monster slayer, an expression of disappointment painted on his face. The man shook his head and spoke once again.
"I thought I trained you better than this. I guess I'll have to finish the job myself." The man dashed forward, both swords held in front of him, ready to pierce through Adrian's heart. Adrian quickly recovered the blade of Ballista and got into a defensive position. But before the man could reach him, Adrian heard a loud bang. The man slumped to the ground, dropping both of his swords.
Adrian looked in the direction of the noise. Saralyn stood across the field, one of her guns smoking.
"You're welcome, Adrian." Saralyn smirked.
"I had things perfectly under control."
"Sure you did." Saralyn responded, stretching out the 'sure'. "Come on, the others need our help. Follow me. We've almost won this battle." Saralyn turned, motioning for Adrian to follow her.
Sheathing his sword, Adrian followed Saralyn back to Peraghon.
Chapter 13b: Falling Apart
Outskirts of Monoghon
One week earlier
Kovalt didn't have the energy to do anything. He simply stared at his reflection in the pond he was resting at. Everything had gone to hell and it was his fault alone. Kovalt thought about what would've happened if he had just stayed at his post. Maybe Monoghon would have still been in control of the Order.
Maybe he would still have his daughter. The scene of him meeting Catalina for the first time in five years played over and over in his head.
I told myself you were dead because I didn't want to consider or even think about the alternative. I guess I can't hide from the truth anymore, can I?
He took his sword out, and stared at it. A blue velvety handle, silver handguards, and a blade made of the strongest material the Order could get their hands on. His personal trainer had spent a fortune buying it for him as a gift for finishing his training. Looking at the tip of the blade, he saw a tiny bit of blood. Must've happened during his family reunion.
"I could've killed you right then and there, Catalina." Kovalt muttered. But he didn't. He didn't have the heart to murder his own wife in front of her child. Instead, he ran away like a coward. Kovalt recalled something his personal trainer said to him, while they were sparring.
"Hesitation is downfall. No matter what form the monsters take on, they are still monsters and they have to die."
Kovalt sighed. "You were right, old man. Hesitation is downfall."
The sound of someone stepping on leaves came from behind him, interrupting his mourning. He turned around and got into a defensive position.
"Kovalt, please. You don't have to fight anymore. You can trust me, I promise." Kovalt's heart dropped to his stomach.
"Stop… leave me alone." He said, his voice a hoarse whisper. Catalina emerged from behind a tree, accompanied by several other werewolves and a pair of dark mages. The werewolves looked at him, whistling.
"Wow, Catalina. Your husband is sooooooo handsome. You wouldn't mind if we shared him, would you?" One of the werewolves next to Catalina remarked. Kovalt cringed at the monster's proposal.
Catalina slowly turned towards the werewolf. "Come here." She said to her fellow werewolf, voice full of suppressed emotion. The werewolf complied, unaware of what she was going to do.
Catalina slapped the werewolf across the face as hard as she could. The sheer force made the werewolf stumble back a couple feet, the others recoiling in shock. Despite everything that had happened, Kovalt found himself smiling.
That's what you get for being so horny, dog.
"I will NOT be sharing him. Get out of my sight." The werewolf she slapped looked back at her with an expression of regret on her face.
"P-point taken…" The werewolf whined, slowly turning around and walking off. Catalina didn't even bother to look at her, instead keeping her yellow eyes on Kovalt.
"I'm, so, so, sorry. Please don't let her foolishness cloud your judgment of us. Not every mamono is like her."
Kovalt didn't respond, instead staring blankly at his monsterized wife and her entourage. He gripped his sword tighter.
"What did you do to Kari?"
"Kovalt, I-"
"What. Did. You. Do. To Kari?" Kovalt repeated, his voice a low growl. Catalina looked at the ground, shaking her head. She sighed, and looked back at Kovalt. Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke.
"It… it was an accident."
"What was an accident?" Kovalt stared at Catalina with an expression of dread. He knew what had happened, but some part of him hoped that it was false.
"I… I monsterized her! I accidentally scratched her with one of my claws! It was an accident I swear! Please Kovalt, don't hate me for this! She's happier as a werewolf than she was as a human!" Kovalt's heart dropped for what felt like the fifth time in the past several hours.
After almost three minutes of tense silence, Catalina finally spoke.
"Kovalt. Kari wants to see you. She said she wants to know if you're okay."
"No."
"Why not? She's worried about you! And you should be worried about her too! She's your daughter!" Catalina exclaimed.
"I can't go back. Monoghon is a mamono realm now."
"Kovalt, please, just hear me out. Becoming an incubus isn't as bad as the Order told you. You won't even feel any different."
"I'm not going back, Catalina." Kovalt's eyes narrowed. Catalina sighed.
"Forgive me for this, Kovalt. Seize him."
The pair of dark mages quickly waved their staffs at Kovalt's feet. A dark, purple circle appeared on the ground he was standing on. Looking down, he immediately tried to walk out of the circle, but bumped into something, despite there seemingly being nothing preventing him from leaving the circle. He was trapped.
"Please don't fight, Kovalt. I promise you, this is for the best."
Kovalt began feeling extremely light headed and dizzy. Forcing himself to focus, he took out his sword and slammed it into the ground. The circle faded away, and he was able to move freely once more. The dark mages immediately tried to recast the restraining spell, but Kovalt immediately retaliated. Pointing his sword at one of the dark mages, he fired a mana shot of holy energy straight into the monster's chest. She yelled out in pain, and dropped her staff. Kovalt followed up with a kick to her legs, causing her to fall. One slash on the dark mage's staff and it had been turned into useless pieces of wood.
"Stop him!" Catalina yelled as she charged forward her fellow werewolves. The remaining dark mage stood back and began to fire bolts of lightning from her staff towards Kovalt.
The werewolves split off into two separate groups of three, surrounding him from both sides. Both groups growling and baring their teeth, they lunged towards him simultaneously, claws outstretched. Kovalt knew that being scratched would be dangerous. He jumped backwards and out of the way, forcing the werewolves to cancel their jump. All six of them getting down on all fours, they prepared to attack again.
Kovalt delivered what should have been a fatal blow to one of the werewolves, his blade piercing through the wolf woman's torso. But the injury healed almost immediately. The werewolf grabbed the blade and thrusted it out of her torso, forcing Kovalt back a few steps. She lunged forward with her claws, just barely missing Kovalt's head.
Looking towards the dark mage, he could see faint red lines coming from her to the werewolves. She was healing them. A plan in mind, Kovalt charged towards the dark mage. The werewolves saw what he was trying to do, and formed a wall in front of the dark mage. No matter what Kovalt tried, he couldn't get past them. They were surprisingly good at using their claws to block his weapon.
But they were losing energy. While Kovalt knew that mamono had greater stamina than humans, they had run a great distance to reach him and immediately had to fight him. They were tired, while Kovalt had had time to rest. He just had to wait until they made a mistake, and then he could end this fight.
He saw his opportunity. One of the werewolves was a second too late to get into formation, leaving the dark mage vulnerable. Putting all his energy into his legs, he barrelled past the werewolves and jumped into the air, sword aimed at the dark mage's heart.
Unfortunately, the dark mage had been prepared. A red shield of mana stopped his sword right before it made contact with the monster. Kovalt's eyes widened. He pulled back, only for something to claw him in the back. A feeling of warmth began spreading through his body. He turned around only to receive another set of claws across his chest. The feeling of warmth amplified fivefold. His sword began feeling heavy.
"No… stop…" Kovalt begged.
"Kovalt, just rest. I promise, everything will be okay." Catalina told him.
As his consciousness began slipping away, he swore he could hear the sound of yelling and conflict. But he wasn't sure.
When Kovalt came to, he thought he was done for. Turned into an incubus and bound to Catalina for life. But he wasn't. Catalina was nowhere to be seen, and neither were her allies. Opening his eyes, he appeared to be in a sparsely decorated tent. There was only the bed he was lying on and a desk with a candle on it. Kovalt tried to move his body, to no avail. The werewolves had done a number on him.
He heard footsteps coming from outside. Kovalt prayed to the Chief God that whoever was out there was human. The flaps of the tent opened, and a priest wearing clothing of the Order came inside. Kovalt sighed in relief.
"Are you feeling alright, Hero Marshall?" The priest asked him.
"For the most part… I can't move my body. What happened back there?"
"Me and a couple other members of the Order managed to escape from Monoghon using a teleportation spell I had prepared for this exact scenario. We came across you, being carried away by werewolves, so we decided to help out. We managed to eliminate most of them, but one got away." His savior explained.
The priest lifted up the blanket, and pointed to a spot on Kovalt's chest. What looked to be a sticker had been placed where Catalina had scratched him.
"What is that?"
"A seal, of sorts. It keeps the corruptive energies at bay. It is important that you DO NOT take it off." The priest explained. "There is another one on your back." He continued.
"The werewolf that got away… Did they have a fist-shaped burn mark on their body?"
"Yes, they did. Why do you ask?"
"She's my wife. She was monsterized five years ago."
The priest looked at Kovalt with sadness in his eyes. "I sympathize with your struggles, hero. My wife was monsterized recently as well. A kitsune-bi found her while she was sleeping. She didn't stand a chance. I had to put her down."
Just like me, huh?
"I'm sorry for your loss. Things like this are why the Order fights back."
"Speaking of fighting back, Hero Marshall…" The priest pulled out a letter and handed it to Kovalt. He skimmed over it, and handed it back to the priest.
"A reclamation force, huh? Using Zipanguese monster slayers? Does the Order know what happened the last time that happened?" Kovalt remarked.
"We've learned from our mistakes. It's not going to happen again." The priest was about to continue, but a voice calling to him from outside interrupted him.
"I'm sorry hero, I wish I could stay with you longer but I'm needed elsewhere."
"It's fine. Before you go though, I would like to ask when am I going to be combat ready again?"
"Not for a few days. I suggest you rest so you can fully recover from your encounter." The priest said as he left the tent.
Kovalt laid back, and closed his eyes. He thought about how everything started. He thought about the ones responsible. Adrian Walker, Saralyn, and their little group of monsters. He made a decision.
Adrian Walker and whoever sided with him had to pay.
Aperia
Cassiel entered her personal quarters, slamming the door behind her. She positioned herself in front of a window and took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm down. Her heartbeat refused to slow down. She closed her eyes, and began to reach out to the one person that could calm her down.
"You asked for me, Cassiel?" The disembodied voice of the Fallen God echoed in her head.
"There's people following me, Fallen God. I don't know who, but someone is following me." Cassiel telepathically spoke to her savior.
"That is quite troubling. Can you confirm that you're alone right now?"
Cassiel stared out of the window. It was late afternoon, people were slowly leaving their workplaces and going home. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over Aperia. Cassiel caught glimpses of people passing by windows in the buildings adjacent to hers. Up above, an occasional valkyrie or angel flew by as a white glow.
Cassiel knew that anyone, anywhere could be watching her at any time.
"I don't know, Fallen God."
"Hm. Let me try something. Lie down."
Cassiel walked over to her bedroom, and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep. When she opened her eyes again, she was in Pandemonium, specifically a large house she constructed for her allies. Her normal, uncorrupted angel disguise had been lifted, revealing her azure skin, white hair, and black wings. She felt a momentary sense of relief, only to start panicking again.
"Fallen God! What if they notice that I just vanished in my sleep?! They will be incredibly suspicious!" Cassiel panicked.
"Calm yourself. I have created an illusion of your body back in the real world, so they shouldn't notice anything. Your real body is here, in Pandemonium." Cassiel's breathing and heartbeat slowed down.
Pandemonium. Cassiel found it hard to believe that she once feared and hated this place. It just showed just how biased Ophelia and her allies were against followers of the Fallen God. Speaking of her followers…
"Cassiel is back!"
Her own little army had grown from ten dark priests and their husbands to twenty dark priests and their husbands, alongside eight dark angels and two dark valkyries. All of them saw Ophelia for what she really was. A warmonger who barely attempted to justify her actions beyond "They were a part of the Order".
The corrupted cheered for their leader. Cassiel gave them a sad smile, upset that she had to be the bearer of bad news. She waited for the crowd to calm down.
"Thank you for waiting for me. Unfortunately, I have bad news." The crowd's smiles faded, a few optimistic dark priests keeping their smiles up.
"I believe that Aperia has grown suspicious of us. While it may be my paranoia, I have reason to believe that someone is following me. Stalking me." The crowd stopped smiling entirely at the delivery of this news.
"So, whenever you go out to spread the word of the Fallen God, please be careful. More so than usual. We've made steady progress in establishing the Fallen God's presence in Aperia. We do not want our progress to be for nothing." Cassiel's followers were silent.
"That is all."
Disturbed and frightened murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Aside from the two dark valkyries and a few of the dark angels, none of them had any combat experience. The dark priests were mainly civilians who simply disliked what Aperia was doing. They wouldn't stand a chance against Aperia's combat trained angels and valkyries.
"Take me back, Fallen God."
Cassiel's vision warped and distorted. When she could see clearly again, she was in her bed, her true form hidden once again. She sighed in relief. Relief that turned to fear as she heard a knock on the door.
"Cassiel? It's us. Open up."
"Fallen God… what do I do?" Cassiel asked her in her head, terrified.
"Just act natural. I've hidden your essence. Don't say anything stupid."
Cassiel took a deep breath, and walked up to the door. She opened the door. Standing there were her two valkyrie twins that she had worked with during her time with Raniel. Ophaniel, and Nuriel.
"Hey, Cassy. We're checking up on you. How is life unemployed?" The younger twin asked in a weirdly cheery tone.
"It's alright. Might I ask why are you checking up on me?" Cassiel asked as calmly as she could.
"Friends never forget about one another, you know. I miss you everyday. Why'd you have to make Raniel kick you out, huh?" Nuriel asked, her cheery tone slowly dissipating.
"She's incompetent. She didn't have what it takes, Nuriel." Ophaniel reminded her twin.
"Right… Well, we just wanted to see what you're up to nowadays."
"Nothing much. I tried getting into cooking recently, but it didn't exactly work out." Cassiel lied. She wasn't doing much of anything besides talking to her followers.
"You never struck me as a chef." Ophaniel remarked.
"Interesting! Mind if we come inside?" Nuriel asked politely. Cassiel reluctantly nodded.
After a particularly stressful conversation, Cassiel's "friends" finally looked like they were going to leave. Nuriel exhausted her and Ophaniel scared her.
"Well, this has been nice, Cassiel. We'll be going now."
"Goodbye, you two." Cassiel waved as the two of them left. She closed the door behind them and sank down on the couch.
Meanwhile outside, Ophaniel and Nuriel were talking.
"She's definitely up to something…"