"I can still rember its blood-curdling screams as its own father ate it."
"..."
"He—the man with a baby's blood all over his face—looked at with a disgusted expression and said 'A failure. Was this prophecy a lie by the gods!? I feel no different!' as if I was the one to bla for it."
"...Did he eat his other children as well?"
"No... He said that the reason he felt nothing when he ate our child could've been because its power didn't awaken yet."
"The waiting ga, huh. Then... did he bring other won ho and marry them?"
There is no way soone with a goal as grand as "surpassing the normal limits imposed on us by the Tiline Gods" only had one plan and one tool.
"Yes, after witnessing his power, the king asked him to impregnate his wives and daughters, the reason for this being obvious. It was around that ti that I was free to roam around on my own, on the condition that I return ho imdiately once my bump starts showing." Guinevere clenched her fists hard, "It felt like I was thrown aside. That wasn't how I imagined my married life would be. He showed those won a side of himself he'd never shown . I can still rember the youngest girl coming up to one day when I was gathering my things. She told how special he made her feel when he took her purity, making sure not to hurt her. I...I wanted to tear her apart... Why did I almost take out my hatred on a human...? I would've been no different from him..."
Arnold hesitated for a second as he looked at her trembling shoulders. With a deep exhale, he moved closer to her and put his arm around her. Of course, his arms were still a wreck so it was a rather awkward embrace.
"I know this makes no difference now that so much ti has gone by—"
"No," Guinevere cut him off and put her hand on his that was on her shoulder, "Rembering all of these things right now makes it feel as if it happened yesterday... It makes a big difference to ..."
"Alright... What did you say to that girl?"
"...I told her to never let him go... Maybe I was thinking of Gederick in that mont and how I always seem to let him slip through my fingers... Regardless, that innocent smile on her face as she hugged made regret my words but I didn't have the courage to correct myself. I quietly left the kingdom and went on my own travels. I let my frustrations on any monsters that crossed my path. Of course, human bandits and gangs were also a troubleso bunch but I rely avoided their territories since I did not have it in to crush weaklings to soothe my own feelings. If I had to kill humans, then I needed to test if they were redeemable... I have seen many evil people throughout my travels but none could co close to that man, the abyss that confined ... Due to the fact that all nations were on high alert of each other, there was a lot of unrest and unnecessary conflict so avoiding battles beca quite difficult. The people of that era, how do I put it... They were quite surprised to see a woman put up a fight. I learned the reason for this when I visited the Theocracy, where knights were the most common than anywhere else."
'Hmm, I forgot that the Theocracy is the oldest nation on Diacree. By the ti the empire grew into a small kingdom, the Theocracy was already ruling several regions around the Great Ridge.'
Were it not for Prothius being stationed in the kingdom then the empire wouldn't have grown at such a rapid pace. Everyone was looking to get close to the "Hero" so they offered alliances to the empire and married off their daughters to Prothius' royal harem.
Arnold looked closer at Guinevere's face and wondered why she was telling him so much. How much ti does she have left? Did she think of that at all?
Well, maybe her talking about the Theocracy leads sowhere that involves Prothius.
"—The Theocracy had sophisticated training thods for their knights that no other nation had so they had the best army out of all the nations and settlents on the continent. However, these thods were only taught to n since they had physically stronger bodies than won and have more aura channels regardless of the type of aura they possess. This is common knowledge for humans but I had the mindset to train them like my tribe trained . There were a lot of talented female trainees looking to join the army in the Theocracy but were all rejected for obvious reasons. And I could see why. The n were trained hard, and their physical strength was undeniable but their aura was left untouched, aning the nation relied on nature to make up for their soldier's other lacking areas. The thods used by the Theocracy had shaped them into formidable warriors by human standards, each more disciplined than the last. But as I observed the won who were turned away, I saw sothing that piqued my interest—potential that was being wasted due to strict traditions.
Instead of adhering to the established rules, I started working with those rejected trainees. I trained them using techniques from my tribe—thods designed to push the body and mind beyond what the Theocracy's regin offered. But instead of working on their bodies alone, I taught them to circulate their aura and Ki to make their bodies naturally stronger without the need for physical training,"
'That's the sa thod Sebas taught ... I never thought that even demigods follow this kind of training regi seriously.'
It was rare to find people at Arnold's who can regulate their aura seamlessly throughout their bodies and use its full potential. This is what made him a 5th Star Knight according to the academy's ranking system.
"I trained them in secret, making sure they were prepared to handle anything thrown at them in combat. Their progress was undeniable. They quickly adapted, becoming more versatile and efficient in ways that the traditional training didn't emphasize. With continuous circulation throughout their bodies, even their aura pools and Ki control improved. Their results spoke louder than anything I could have said, and whispers of their skills spread through the ranks. Eventually, I helped these trainees complete a campaign which showed the higher-ups that they were capable to be included in the army. My identity as the Hero's—that man's wife—wasn't revealed. I rely told them my birth na—Guinevere. Eventually, those trainees beca leaders in the army, all of them outperforming their seniors in many ways."
A gentle smile appeared on Guinevere's face.
"That was the first mont I truly felt happy. They were the clay that I molded into perfection."
That smile vanished, "My deeds were recognized by the Oracle of that ti who wanted to visit her in her personal chambers, a room only her servants and the Pope were allowed to enter. I wasn't given the opportunity to et with other higher-ups so I knew what she wanted to tell was sothing no one else could know. The mont I stepped into her chambers, I heard her call my full na and the tribe I was from. She told the next mont that lis spoke to her about my arrival in her world. 'I know you have questions', she said, 'but please let tell you why I called you here first'."
**
"The gods lacked judgnt because they were blinded by power they wanted to control. They were so blind that they could not see beyond their own selfishness." The black-haired Oracle said to Guinevere, "Don't look at like that. I am well aware that I am disrespecting the gods but lis is clearly different since she was the one who entrusted with a certain task that will surely upset them..."
The confused Guinevere was taken aback by that.
"lis... She wants you to kill Prothius and beco her champion."
**
"...." Guinevere sat in silence.
"...lis is an incompetent goddess so how did she plan for that...?"
Guinevere looked towards the Gardtree that bathed this dark world in its divine radiance, "The tree that consus all. That is what I needed, is what she said. But in order to get it, I needed the help of a certain... demon lord... That would be the demon called Ekterina Foruthfla."
"..."
"Do you know her?"
"I know that she's the weakest demon lord out of the other two. And Oriel was the strongest."
"Ah, yes, Oriel... I recall her being very loyal to him. So loyal that she would kill anyone and do anything if it's an order coming from him."
"Wait, you were there? In the demon world?"
"Yes. lis and Ekterina had an agreent. The war was inevitable but a factor had to be taken out of it for the realms to not be given to a tyrant once it's over. Allowing Prothius to achieve his goal ant allowing him to surpass the gods and becoming an evil greater than the Demon King, Star Beast, and Progenitor. Knowing that, I couldn't refuse the offer. Should I have succeeded, Ekterina would inevitably face if the blessing of the [God's Champion] was given to . But she was given a choice: leave the Demon World and live her life in so faraway world. Only she was given this salvation because she was a half-blood demon."
'What? Did Lilith sleep with a human or sothing?'
Lilith was the na of the Succubus Queen from hell who was basically the breeding machine for demons and devils. She cos up to the demon world a few tis every few years or so to breed powerful offspring for the demons. Were it not for her then many of the powerful Greater Demon clans wouldn't exist.
"...Is Ekterina related to Oriel in so way?"
"I'm not sure. She was conceived from Lilith's womb directly while Oriel was born from a relationship between two greater demon clans. I do recall her calling him brother since he was always looking out for her."
"The strongest demon lord looking out for the weakest link... This is really ridiculous, especially for demons."
"Well, Oriel was not a savage. I could tell that much but he was not an innocent demon either."
"No demon is innocent in your eyes, are they?"
"...."
"Alright, what led to you taking Prothius' blessing?"
"The Oracle and I t up with Ekterina later on. No greetings were exchanged so we just silently followed her, until we ca to a place where a certain tree was growing. It was located in a damp, dark place without sunlight all year round. But this did not stop it from becoming what it is today." She looked back at the Gardtree, "Instead of the soil in the ground, it was growing from the ceiling of its dark cave."
The ceiling...? Since when do trees grow like that?
"...Where was this?"
"The Dragon God's lair."
"?"
'Is that where the Gardtree cos from? I've never cleared the dungeon on my own so I'm not sure...'
"Was that tree fully grown when you found it?"
She nodded, "But it could not stay there for lis' plan to go forward so I broke off a branch and planted it where the war between humans and demons was predicted to take place. It feeds off life force so a battlefield where millions die was the perfect location for it."
"How did Ekterina know about it? What was her role in all this?"
"I told you already that she's half-demon. If you find out where the rest of her blood cos from then you might have the answer to your question. She is currently the adopted daughter of the Demon Monarch Watcher—the demon that watched over the Demon King until she hatched, which has been the case for all the demon kings before her as well."
"Hmm..."
'I'll need to speak to either lis or that demon father of hers... Lilith was never the kind to be attached to her children since she's a whore that can't survive without fucking soone all day every day. Taking care of a kid would ruin that.'
"After the task was done, it was ti for to return ho... 20 years passed by and I had already given birth to thirty children. I never t with either the Oracle or Ekterina again but I still continued on my travels, helping people whenever I could. Traveling was sothing I looked forward to the most. Even though I was chained to one world, there were so many people I could et and so many locations to discover. One day, across the mountain ranges that divides the continent in half, I discovered a barren land with corpses piled up in every settlent."
'I'm not at all surprised that she was able to cross those dangerous mountain ranges...'
"I found survivors who told that the demon lord Ekterina commanded they pledged their allegiance to the Demon King. Upon refusing, anyone who couldn't escape was killed. I knew Ekterina was no saint and had no compassion for humans but I also know that she does not an to kill humans of her own volition. She was rely following orders. Regardless of what I think of her, that was a sign that the demons were getting ready to invade. When I returned to the empire, I heard that the Oracle was going to visit. It was around this ti that everyone already found out that Prothius was the champion of the gods. It took fifty years of idling in the kingdom for him to do what he was ordered to..."
"He didn't save anyone or stop any wars during that ti?"
"No, he was just an ordinary subordinate of the emperor during his idle years. He only moved when demons were discovered."
"For a guy who wanted to surpass the gods, he was really an obedient pet who followed orders. Why was lis the only one who wanted him dead?"
"I'm certain that she was not the only one. Soone with the ability to see into the future must've told her what that man could've beco if he reached his goal."
That was either the Destiny or Fate Goddess. But why put the responsibility on lis? She wasn't the only one who blessed Prothius.
"For the uninford, he seed like a diligent hero who was prepared to lay down his life for humans but this was far from the truth. He made the children—who were capable of using aura, Ki or magic—train under the empire's best fighters and scholars. Everyone was preparing for the upcoming war so that itself wasn't strange but I noticed as ti went on... More and more of our children kept vanishing. I asked the other wives but they wouldn't tell , which I assud was due to that man. I searched the empire desperately. Even though I could sense and differentiate the signatures between up to a million people at once, I could not detect them. Strangely, I could not detect that man either." She grabbed her face, "I almost went mad. All those 20 years I never treated my children as a mother should, never showed them love, disciplined them, helped them... Traveling was more important to than my own family. At the back of my mind, I had this thought that they were disposable so why go out of my way to nurture them as the human mothers around did? I could always have more because we Valkyries pride ourselves in our fertility and strong bodies that can have hundreds of children without issue... But I was wrong... I could not stand to lose my children, not after what happened to my first child.
I flew to the Theocracy and sought an audience with the Oracle. I... I wanted to kill every soldier that tried to stop but before that could happen, she appeared in front of . Her kind smile was enough to tell that she knew why I was there. She told that the Demon King and the rest of the demon lords were in a ferocious battle with one of her demon lords so the Demon Army was unorganized of sorts. The ti is nigh for the perfect opportunity to strike, she told . I knew she ant I had to kill that man but I asked her why now? Why after so long and not while I was sleeping right next to him after he violated and put his child in ? Why could I not strangle him in his sleep...? Fate has finally allowed you to kill him, that is all I can say. That is what she told . If I killed him earlier, would a great misfortune have befallen ?"
Misfortune... Fate...
Madilith's face appeared in his mind when he closed his eyes. He killed Madilith and not long after he was also killed. If he waited long enough, would she have died regardless? Not by the curse itself but other misfortune that even fate was blind to?
"...Didn't you need his blessing? If you managed to kill him in his sleep, it would've died with him..."
"Yes, you are quite right. I would've ruined Goddess lis' plans. But even if I waited, I was still not confident enough to kill him. The Oracle told that there was a way but only if I accepted power to stand equal to him. You must know that Valkyries are a proud race and we do not accept power from others nor do we take shortcuts. We train and fight for our strength. Even though I made up my mind, my body and spirit were still hesitant, which is why the oracle told to accept the power. I could never achieve true equilibrium due to this dissonance between those three things. I wanted to be different from my people but I could never escape this reality, even 300 years later." She looked at her hands as if they didn't belong to her.
"...What did the oracle tell you next?"
Guinevere lowered her hands and closed her eyes, "If I wanted to see them again, I'd need to find the White Dragon Lord."
'The most powerful dragon lord and the eldest of the Seven Kings...'
"That's the sa dragon that Prothius used as a mount."
He recalled hearing that the White Dragon Lord vanished soon after Prothius' death.
"Yes. That's the one. I needed to prove to her that I could face Prothius when I found out the truth."
"Did you have to fight him?"
She nodded, "Asking questions is akin to being soone's equal. Dragon lords do not answer, only ask, because they are above every single mortal and demigod race. Even my people fear them as the gods of the mortal realms."
"If Prothius was the strongest of that era then the second strongest is obvious..."
Thalgrimm Krydrak, the White Dragon Lord, the firstborn son of the Dragon God.
So, Guinevere had to fight Thalgrimm to gain his acknowledgent. Prothius was his master who he vowed to serve and was entrusted with many secrets in return. This might also an he knew what kind of man Prothius was but perhaps due to so duty, Thalgrimm still aided that man.
"I cannot speak about the whole fight because it lasted days so I will only tell you the conclusion..." Guinevere said that as she brushed her hand along the edge of her cracked skin around the hole.
"I understand..."
"Thalgrimm flew to a castle that stood near the Intermid Border but it was located across the Great Ridge on the outer regions of the continent so it was isolated from basically every nation or settlent. Due to its location—in a place among many monster zones—no one attempted to visit it before. Even without the monster zones being in its region, the dread coming from the castle itself is enough to dissuade anyone from drawing near."
'A castle... I'm sure the only castle in that area belongs to a Vampire Lord but with Selia's appearance on Diacree, I think she already killed the vampire and took the castle for herself.'
Vampire Lords like taking the spoils of war—the belongings of their opponents—once they win against them. Depending on how far Selia plans to expand her territory, it's likely possible that no other vampire lord is living in the castle at the mont.
As ntioned before, you will almost never find two monster lords in the sa regions or country since they are highly territorial. Of course, the size of said territory depends on the monster's strength. Vampire Lords are the third strongest lords in the ga so they can possess a country's worth of territories. Orc, troll, insect lords and so on, are different since they aren't exactly the top of the food chain outside their own races.
'I never heard that Prothius used that castle as his base. What else is there that I don't know about?'
"...If it's a place like that then whatever he was doing inside is sothing he didn't want others to see."
Guinevere silently nodded, her eyes distant, as though trapped in the nightmare she was retelling. Her voice trembled with the weight of mories she had tried so hard to bury.
"The Demon-Human War was drawing close, but the people's hero... the one everyone relied on... was nowhere to be seen. Portals had already begun to open across the continent, and terror gripped every village, every city. I could have done sothing. I could have saved countless lives in his stead, taken his place, beco the protector the people needed." She paused, her hand trembling slightly. "But I didn't. My children were more important to . Why did I only realize that when it was almost too late? Why did it take the threat of their own father for to finally understand? I could've sent them abroad, let them grow up safely under the guise of studying... but I didn't. I let my fear of him, of that monster, dictate my every decision. I was a prisoner of my own terror."
Her breath caught, and for a mont, it seed as though the weight of her guilt would suffocate her. "I rember the castle that night," she whispered, "the stench... gods, the stench of blood, of torn flesh, it was everywhere. It clung to the walls like sothing alive, sothing malignant. I felt sick, but I couldn't stop. The halls were silent, but... I knew. Sowhere deep in my soul, I knew what I would find, but I kept moving, kept hoping I was wrong."
Her hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into her palm. "There was blood—a trail—leading from the dining room. It stained the floors in thick, glistening lines, guiding ... pulling toward the stairwell. I should have turned back, but instead, I followed it down. The sll of death grew stronger, almost suffocating, and the sound... the sound of at being chopped echoed up the stairs. Every step felt like an eternity, but I couldn't stop myself. There was a light at the bottom... a faint glow. I reached the bottom, and that's when I saw him."
Guinevere's voice faltered, her throat tightening as tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill. She swallowed hard, but the mory forced itself out, relentless. "He had a butcher's knife in his hand... and in the other, he was holding down our youngest daughter, barely five years old. She had just awakened her divine power... she was so special, so full of life."
The tears ca now, freely, her voice cracking as she spoke. "Her eyes... she looked right at , her little body shaking. There was a mont... just one brief, horrible mont when I thought I could save her, that I could stop him as his back faced . But then, in a single, brutal motion, he struck her neck. I watched... I watched as her head rolled across the floor like she was nothing more than a piece of at."
Her whole body shook as the tears stread down her face. She gritted her teeth, the anguish and self-loathing pouring out of her. "I... I did nothing. I could do nothing. Why did I even go there? Did I truly believe I could stop him? That I could save them? How could I have been so blind, so foolish?" She choked on her own sobs, her voice barely a whisper now. "I failed them... my children. I was their mother, their protector, and I failed them. I let my fear rule , and because of that... I lost everything."
A brief mont of silence passed by before she spoke again, this ti in an eerily calm voice:
"I knew this even before I entered the castle but my reason for going against my vows and duty as a demigod was never about one god's order but my own feelings. I wanted to kill that man. I wanted to save people in his stead and be seen as their hero. I WANTED TO SEE THE EXPRESSIONS ON THE GODS' FACES WHEN THEY HEARD I KILLED THEIR PRECIOUS HERO!!"
Her powerful voice made the surroundings rumble and the entire world tremble.
"Haa... Haa..." she fell back against the tree, her eyes unfocused. The hole had already begun breaking off her left breast but instead of her lung, muscle tissue and ribs, there was a dark abyss inside her body. Her body appeared to be an empty husk since the blessing had eaten way most of everything inside.
An eerie laughter ca from Guinevere.
"...Prothius ordered to prepare him a al using the at that he had chopped up in that basent."
"..."
"In his own words, 'I will savor the taste now then the power later so I will dine for several daysbefore heading into the battlefield'. During my years on that world, I wasn't just travelling around aninglessly. I was looking for thods to consu another person's power without having to kill and eat them. The only safe thod I had found was Soul Bending... But this wouldn't just take the power lying dormant in one's body but also their entire self. Separating both was and still is impossible."
"Didn't you seek out the Archmage of that ti? If it's the greatest magician in existence of his era then he might've been able to create what you were looking for..."
The Third Archmage might've been a traitor to his people but he was genuinely intent on helping others when it's a magic-related ordeal. Maybe he was the kind of person who liked to show off his many abilities which is why he accepted nearly every task the populace threw at him—at a price, of course.
"No one was allowed to see him during the preparations for the war, not even kings. Commissioning such a ritual spell was impossible."
"I see..."
Guinevere looked at Arnold with a bitter smile, "What's with that face? It's almost as if you're the one telling the story."
A bitter laugh ca out of Arnold, "...We're not so different... Nothing goes as we hope, does it? But you're the one who's lived with this realization for centuries. We're just playthings of fate."
Even though he appeared calm on the surface, a desire was inside him to rip apart every single person who wronged him.
No one would be able to stop him and he wouldn't care of the consequences because he is strong enough to crush even those.
He is a Martial God—the strongest mortal in all the nine realms at this very mont.
Guinevere definitely felt the sa as him at this mont, making them no different. If fate was a person, both of them would kill it. They would savor watching the light in its eyes slowly die.
"..." she went silent.
Arnold waited for her to continue.
How long have they sat there? How long has Guinevere been retelling her past?
"The Gardtree is withering..." Guinevere's words made him look towards the Gardree. It was indeed losing its divine radiance—its bark now scorched but its leaves still as vibrant as gold.
"That ans—"
"My ti is almost up..." her face was turned away from Arnold so he couldn't see her expression but he could see her shoulders trembling, "I doubt there's anything nearby to satisfy the Gardtree's hunger. Even I am outside its reach but I do not have the strength to go towards it..."
"Even so... I still want to finish this story..."
"Alright."
Reviews
All reviews (0)