The body of the locust collapsed onto the ground; its life having left its body. The Red Hood rose as it unhinged his jaw from the locust's body, their beard stained with its dark blood. "There should have been more than this!" Screamed one of the voices, "How do you know!?" Came another voice, "Because we sensed far more than this!"

The Red Hood walked over to where the unconscious Mersé and Wilmarina were. "Maybe one of these two have it, yes that must be it!" The Red Hood raised his blade and brought it down. However, before contact was made, he stopped, another voice interjecting, ""What are you saying you fool!? You know they don't have it. Enough of this!"

Back and forth the voices bickered and argued amongst themselves like children, or his old masters when they got into an argument. Gael himself merely being a viewer as the strings of his body being fought over by countless beings. "Wait those 'humans' are approaching us. And I can sense it in their direction!" Yelled the voice, suddenly overpowering the other voices and forcing Gael's body to sharply turn to the crowd of people approaching him.

The other voices started to agree with it, "Yes, yes...yes! IT'S THERE WE CAN SENSE IT. WE WANT IT, WE NEED IT, WE MUST HAVE IT NOW!" Gael's grip around his blade tightened as one of the humans came forward, an obvious look of fear and wonder in his eyes.

"We had a deal..." Muttered Gael weakly in his mind.

One of the voices noticed and turned its attention on him, "Yes and YOU failed! You have already gotten too much attention! We had to hide your presence, but no more. WE SHALL PARTAKE!"

The man opened his mouth and spoke. "Are y-" The man was interrupted as the Red Hood thrusted his blade forward at him. Gael could only watch as the blade got closer and closer, the voices cheering and roaring for blood. Time seemed to slow down for Gael the closer his blade got to the man, a shocked look slowly forming on the man's face. He was going to do it again; he was going to become a wild beast that killed everything in sight again. History was repeating itself, and he could only watch.

He could not... He would not... Let them have their way...He would not let history repeat itself...again... "ENOUGH!" Roared Gael in his mind.

Instantly the blade stopped dead in its tracks, almost touching the man's neck. With a heavily shaking hand, Gael forced himself to retract his blade. Like a pygmy who tried to desperately crawl away, he forced himself to talk. "Do not... come near me. Or else suffer the consequences" The man slowly backed up, as all the other people gasped and backed away as well.

"Forgive me... but why have you saved us?" Asked the man in confusion.

The man was not given a response Gael gave a cold shoulder, turning around and looking up into the sky. Murmuring began to spread amongst the crowd, some with curiosity and some with fear. "Are they an angel? But then why do they look like that?" Or "They are obviously a monster! Just look at it! It's going to kill us all. It almost killed -)

Then the voices started screaming, causing Gael to have a throbbing headache. "Enough of this! We are going to take what is ours!" Came one of the One voices. Gael slowly hunched over, the sounds of both internal and external overwhelming Gael's senses. This was too much, this racket needed to stop.

"SILENCE!" Yelled Gael.

Like children when their parents yelled at them, they all became silent. Shakily, Gael rose up and looked up at the sky. "The prayer of a faithful and repentant woman whose strength was waning, that is why I came," Without another word Gael leapt into the air. The people could only watch as his form faded, as if he was never there in the first place.

(-)

Tick...tock...tick...tock...

The sound of the grandfather clock went back and forth, keeping track of time as it was supposed to. Druella blankly stared at the ceiling above her as she awoke. Was she home? Did she make it?

In order to know where she was, Druella tried to get up. However, she soon discovered that she could not move a single ounce of her body, save for her eyes and mouth. "What happened?" Groaned Druella in a dry tone, her throat burning as she spoke.

"Everyone would like to know that as well." came a calm voice of nowhere. Once again Druella tried to move and lift her head up, but it was pointless as she tried her hardest to move. "Please do not exert yourself."

In defeat, Druella gave up and responded, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Cellis. The servant that had wanted to go with you on your campaign, but you refused."

That caused it to dawn on Druella like a smack to the face, "Oh, it's you. Apologies."

Druella could feel the slimy hand of Celllis under her head, slowly but carefully raising Druella's head and positioning it so she could look around. Glancing around, Druella recognized where she was. She was in fact, at home. More specifically her room. On her desk was her old books of military strategies, military tactics, and duelling. The room itself was as fancy and glamorous as any room could get. She had not seen in her room in so long that she felt a wave of nostalgia come over her.

After discovering where she was, she quickly turned her gaze at the shoggoth at her bedside, Cellis. Her form being that of a dark slime with a maid uniform. "Cellis, what happened?" Asked Druella, her throat still burning.

"From what I know, you arrived here through a portal, bloody and missing multiple parts of your body. Your mother and father made sure to have our best healers work on you. Physically you are fine."

"Then why can't I move?" Asked Druella, a hint of frustration in her voice.

Cellis grabbed a seat and sat down next to Druella, "As I have said, your highness, you are physically fine, but..."

"But?"

Cellis didn't respond at first, until looking Druella dead in the eyes, "Most of your mana is gone. In fact, according to the healers, if you used any more mana you would die on the spot. Your body is working overtime to keep you alive with the lack of mana it currently has."

She didn't know how to think about that. Right now, she was weaker than even the most pathetic mamono. Her, a daughter of the Demon Lord. Why did she have to be in such a pathetic state? "How long must I be like this?" Asked Druella.

Cellis thought for a moment or two, "For now we will have to give you mana in some form, according to the healers this will take somewhere from one week to a month."

"And what sort of source mana is going to be used?"

"Your father and mother debated over that."

Druella would have raised an eyebrow if she could at that, "Oh?"

"Yes, your father suggested just giving you mana potions, and your mother suggested either getting you a husband or just semen. Eventually, they decided to leave the choice to you." Spoke Cellis

Druella pondered that. The mana potions were expensive and not very common, but it would recover her faster. The option her mother gave her, well it would take forever but at little to no cost in the end. To be honest she was not surprised at the options each of her parents gave her. But for now, she could not decide, "I think I will need more time for that" Spoke Druella.

"I understand," Cellis got up and made a respectful bow, "I shall leave and let your mother and father know." Cellis turned and opened the door.

However, she stopped from leaving as Druella spoke up, "Wait, what day is it?"

Cellis turned and looked back at Druella, "It is the first day of the sixth month, your highness"

First day of the sixth month? If that is the case, then it has been one day since her battle at Lescete. If that was the case then, "Is there a war council meeting right now?" Asked Druella

"Yes, that is correct, your highness."

So there was a meeting going on. Though should she really do this? She should be resting if what Cellis said was true. No matter, she had to know what was going on, "If that is so, then I wish to attend it as soon as possible."

Cellis did not question her to Druella's surprise. Instead, she made another bow, "Very well your highness. Please wait for a moment." Quickly and silently, Cellis left the room. A few minutes later Cellis returned with an extravagant looking wheelchair with red cushions. Just by looking at it, one could tell how comfortable it was. "Will this do?" Spoke Cellis.

Druella was surprised as she was expecting one of those wooden wheelchairs, and this did seem to be wood. But the wheelchair itself was of a far comfortable design. "Yes, it most certainly will do Cellis."

With no hesitation, Cellis pulled the chair next to Druella. Carefully her slime body slid underneath Druella and picked her up, slowly sliding her onto the seat and making sure she was in a comfortable position.

With the sound of the door shutting, Cellis pushed Druella through the door on the wheelchair and into the hallway. Druella passed by door after door as Cellis moved her along. The sounds of moaning and couples enjoying each other could be heard on the other side of the doors. This truly was home.

"Cellis?" Asked Druella.

"Yes, your highness?"

"Where did you get this?"

When they reached a couple of stairs, Cellis merely lifted up the chair with her slime-like body. Making it as though she was just floating down the stairs. "It was found in an old cellar in pieces. There was enough of it left however that it was restored into what you see now."

"What old cellar?" Asked Druella as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"It was found in an old cellar at the bottom of the castle. Apparently, there was some strange looking architecture in the room as well," Responded Cells as they suddenly arrived at two large doors, the image of a succubus carved onto both of the doors, "It seems we are here."

Cellis stretched her arm and opened the door as she pushed Druela through into the council chamber. "Now before we begi-" Spoke Qari the white scaled dragon general, an old mamono who was in charge of the royal makai's defensive forces, "Druella, we were not expecting you."

"Indeed, but no worry! We were just getting started!" Perked up Della, the chief baphomet in charge of the Sabbath.

Druella smiled weakly at them as Cellis brought her to where she would normally be seated. Qari cleared her throat and continued, "Now as I was saying. I was going to ask for a vote, however for now let us save that for the end. As far as the monthly update, I bring grave news."

Quari leaned in a little, a frustrated expression on her face, "Currently the Order, those murderous bastards, have gotten the upper hand somehow at the front line. Yesterday their forces became enraged with some form of power and started slaughtering poor mamono, same as well for our people. Especially so the tribes as they even killed their own husbands, but thankfully whatever caused this has ceased. But the damage has been done, and now it is taking everything to keep the Order at bay. The current loss of life is one to two hundred mamono a day on the front lines." With a sigh, Quari sat down and gestured towards Della.

With a bit of spring in her step, Della got up, "Guess it's my turn. As for my report, currently, the fallen god and Hel have requested the services of the sabbath, apparently, there is something that they need help with that they can't resolve. I have sent them some of my finest mamono. Other than that, nothing new to report!"

As fast as she had stood up, she sat down just as fast. Quari got up again, "Currently the leader of the hero unit, Halet, is currently busy with his wife. Therefore, he is not here today. So, we will skip to the current commander of our knight order Ahelu."

Acting as though they were just given a command, the dullahan Ahelu stood straight up, her blue-haired head in her hand. "Current situation, the knights and I went to intercept a crusade with divine units from the chief god yesterday, however during the middle of combat with them, the angels disappeared. We have reports of other angels suddenly disappearing from the mortal realm as well. That is all." Silently the dullahan sat down and all the eyes turned to Druella.

"Oh-oh. It's my turn now, apologies." Stuttered Druella, "We attacked Lescete and before the last wave... we were given a warning."

A glint of interest appeared on Della's face, "From who?"

Druella took a deep breath before responding, "From Hel, more specifically her banshees."

Della leaned back in her chair, a disappointed look on her face "That was a kind of a dumb move Druella."

"I promised to take the city. I had spent too much to get to that point, I was not going to turn back!" Retorted Druella, her throat burning even more as she raised her voice.

"Druella is right. If she was that committed and promised to take it, then she could not afford to listen to the words of a few banshees. The reward outweighed the risk, " Spoke Ahelu as she rose to Druella's defense.

"At least we of the Sabbath know to heed the warnings of a god, even if we don't worship any of them." Retorted Della sharply.

"Enough!" Quari slammed her hands down, causing the table to rumble as the two members instantly silenced themselves, "We don't have time for this, continue Druella."

"Thank you. Anyway, I did not listen to the warnings. At first, we were winning the battle, victory was in our hands. But then... Then IT arrived." Druella winced, the memories of what happened flashing before her mind.

"It?" Asked Della.

With a quick deep breath to keep herself calm, Druella continued, "It was, it was not human, nor was it mamono or some sort of angel sent by the chief god," Druella froze, the image of the Red Hood appearing in her mind. The memory of the beating she received causing her to shiver, "No, it was a monster, in every sense of the word."

Druella was then silent, not knowing what to say. Leaving the room in awkward silence, until Quari broke it, "Do you think anyone else survived that?"

Slowly Druella turned her gaze to look at Quari dead in the eyes, "No, Only I survived"

All of the members of the council then looked at each other, seemingly agreeing to something. "I see... Druella could you please leave the room for a moment." Spoke Quari.

"Very well," Replied Druella as Cellis quietly took her out of the room. It felt like hours as they waited outside in the hallway, only the slight sound of the council talking could be heard from where Druella was. Druella could tell it was about her, or else they would have not asked her to leave the room. And they most certainly didn't want her to listen in with how quiet they were.

Eventually, she heard Quaris at the other side of the door, "You can come back in, Druella."

As Cellis pushed Druella back in, Druella could see everyone member of the council standing up and looking at her. Each one of them with a look of regret in their eyes. Once Druella stopped moving, Cellis cleared her throat and spoke, "Under much consideration and discussions with fellow members, we the council have decided to temporarily vote you off this counsel. Once you have recovered and proven yourself as a capable leader, you may return to us. Until then, please leave."

Druella's heart sank as she heard those words. She wanted to argue but there was no point, they had decided. She only watched as Cellis took her out of the room and began heading her towards her room. Druella wanted to scream, she wanted to yell, she wanted to cry. However, she did not have the strength to even do that. She was nothing, nothing but a failure.

(-)

Strained wheezing echoed across the cave. Gael slowly entered the cave before suddenly leaning onto the wall for support. His body felt as though its strength was being sapped from him, and unimaginable pain throbbing in every inch of his being. It was like the times he died to the toxic fumes of pyromancers in his countless campaigns, but he knew what it was. Just like before at the start of his previous quest, his body was growing, shifting, changing. But this, this felt different.

It had taken him forever to find a safe place to rest, and this cramped cave would have to do. But he couldn't rest at the entrance, no then someone would see him. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to stand back up again and move forward. However, after a few steps, his wretchedly old legs gave way, causing him to collapse onto the ground face-first as he dropped his blade. Instantly his vision was nothing but darkness.

Then came the hushed whispering of the voices, "We gave you your power, yet you defy us. If that is so, then we will take what is ours from you. No more will we help you. We will break you. We have broken you before, and we will do it again, slave. No matter how long it takes."

...

...

...

Everything was dark. Not a sound was heard. Then a voice of an elderly woman spoke amongst the darkness, "Even now, you are still the same monster as before. Wretch." The sounds of footsteps echoed across the cavern walls.

Slowly Gael opened his good eye and looked up while his head still remained on the ground. Before him was a small crow, their fathers as dark as night and staring at him with equally dark eyes. A bit aways beyond it, Gael could see a pair of pale white feet walk up behind the crow. He did not dare look up further. "You're dead...You're not real..." Replied Gael weekly.

The voice did not say anything at first, but Gael could feel the person's eyes glaring at him with hatred and sadness, "Do you know what you have done? You act as though you are not the Red Hood that committed countless atrocities, but you are still him. You are nothing but a murderer. A monster" Spoke the voice coldly.

Gael did not say anything as only the eerie sound of the wind blowing by the cave entrance could be heard. "Why are you here?" Asked Gael in a hushed voice.

"You know full well why I am here Gael. You cannot ever be forgiven. Even now." Spoke the voice harshly.

With a groan of pain, Gael heaved himself up with his arms. Still on his knees and his beard almost touching the stone floor, Gae still refused to look up. "I ask again, why? You... you shouldn't even be here."

Gael received nothing but silence. Then he heard the voice behind him, "Do you know the consequences of your actions? Do you know how many are suffering? How many fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives are dead because of you? Do you? A slave who merely changed one master for another?" Gael's fists slightly tightened as they said those words.

The sound of the person's footsteps echoed once more, and once more Gael saw the feet in front of him. Even now as they ridiculed him, he refused to look up. Unable to find an answer to their question. "What of your lady? What would she have thought if she saw you on your crusade, or even now? A bloated monstrosity that only knows how to kill and consume like a wild animal."

That was enough, Gael would not let her say those words. With pure anger, Gael forced himself to rise all the way. "Do not dare ...speak of her! You have no right!" Roared Gael. However, no one was there, save for him.

"Right? I have plenty of right." Came the voice behind Gael near the entrance. Instantly Gael turned to the origin of the voice but found the entrance to the cave missing, and in its place a stone wall.

Gael scanned the room quickly, trying hard to peer into the dark void around him. Suddenly rows and rows of hands rose from the darkness, all of them pointing directly at Gael. Then countless voices that sounded exactly like the women all began to yell at him repeatedly, "Murderer. Monster. Killer. Wretch. Failure. Worthless. Criminal. Sinner. Slave."

Then three circles of light surrounded him. Gael instantly recognized them, they were his own way of white corona, but how? All of the hands then clenched and sank back into the darkness, causing the rings to close around Gael's hands, legs and feet.

As if they were behind, held or wrapped around some kind of rope, they then tugged Gael down. His skin burning from the energy as he fell onto his knees and his head landing hard onto a bloody stone slab. Then for a few moments, there was nothing but empty silence, save for Gael's heavy breathing.

Then he saw a sight that confused him, it was... him. Not him now but himself when... when he first was a slave knight. The same beard, the same hood, and the same blade. It was a carbon copy of himself before his journey to the Ringed City. What sort of sorcery was this?

Then it dawned on Gael what was happening, and he started to struggle against the rings of light, but it was in vain. Gael did not retract his gaze from himself as he stood there, before noticing a hooded figure walk out of the dark behind his younger self. Gael could not see their face.

With one finger the figure pointed at Gael with a thin and deathly pale hand, and in the other, it held and opened up an ancient book. Then the feminine voice came once again, "You have been tried with accounts of murdering the innocent, countless acts of genocide, the wretched act of consuming the flesh and souls of countless lives, and defying the gods, and betraying your master. What shall be his punishment?"

Then from the darkness came countless stone hooded faces, each one of them unique. However, every one of them was filled with negative emotions of every kind. All at once, they spoke, "Make him go hollow! Kill him! Take his soul! Take his humanity! Torture him! Draw and quarter him! Eat him bit by bit! Execute him!"

The faces did not go quiet, instead, they became louder and louder. Until The dark hooded figure raised their hand, causing all of them to be silent. Gael could only watch as his past self walked up to him and raised his undamaged executioner blade, but he did not bring it down on him, not yet. Then the figure brought their hand down hard, and in unison, his past self brought down his blade.

Gael watched as he was decapitated, and his head rolled across the stone, as his past self walked away into the darkness. His vision began to get blurry. Then he heard the voice once more, "If you truly are repentant, and care for this world even at the slightest. Then go to the shore, to the ocean, and the lands beyond. Go to this world's peak and the tribes of the forest below it. To the deepest and crampest of caves, and to the altars of the gods, you must go." Then the dark hood figure turned and walked away into the void as well.

Everything then went dark for Gael.

..

..

..

The sound of birds rang in Gael's ears, the rays of the sun shining down upon the cave's entrance. As Gael's vision returned, he saw a vulture staring straight at him in the eyes. With one hand, Gael shooed the vulture away who was surprised that their dinner was still alive. Gael could feel other vultures start to get off him and fly away as well.

With both hands, Gael pushed himself up as he groaned. His body still felt as though it was burning. Especially his old wound. That physical wound that would never leave him, no matter how much humanity he consumed or Estus he drank.

"Hmm... Estus," Muttered Gael to himself. To be honest he missed the times when he actually had an estus flask. Back in his old military days, it was seen as special treatment for an undead to be given one. Even for a single life. Gael would sometimes be lucky enough to get it though, probably because he managed to avoid hollowing the least amongst his companions.

Other than there were a few instances he got his hand on what, but someway or somehow it would always end up getting shattered to pieces.

Walking over to his blade, which was a good way across the floor, Gael picked it up. Even though now the dark had taken away even more of his power as punishment, causing his every waking moment to be painful. He now had directions. Which was better than nothing for an undead. Seems he would still have a lot of travelling to do.

Now that he thought about it, he did remember once hearing of a special brew that even undead could taste, other than estus. Maybe he could try to create such a thing as he travelled. He never really cooked or made anything of the sort before, especially with the dulled taste buds, but who knows. It might just help keep his mind off the wretched pain in his body.

(-)

Far, far away. In a distant land deep below ground, in ruins long forgotten, an ancient and decrepit door creaked open. If only a little. The sound of heavy footsteps and deep breathing echoed from the other side of the door.