‘I feel weird…Where am I? How long have I been asleep?’

Nur Finnerman opened his brown eyes, only to find himself inside of an unknown room, lying on the lap of a black haired feline demi-human he did not recognize. She had a prominent burn mark scar on the right side of her face.

Judging by the softness of the surface underneath his bottom, they were on top of a bed.

‘Who is that?’ Nur managed to think before he felt a sharp pain in his head. Then, everything ended up blacking out and Nur’s eyes involuntarily closed as he was swallowed by the darkness…

Now the eyes opened once again, but they were no longer brown; one was white while the other was red.

Dark Lord was back in control.

“Jun”

“Milord! You are awake!”

“So it seems…” Dark Lord now saw that Jun’s hand was placed on top of his chest. Now he was really confused. “Please explain”

“Milord passed out, so I brought you to the nearest inn to recuperate. Mister Camilla told me once that you need to intake mana in order to function….”

“I was going to use your hand, but it kind of fell off…”

Glancing at his body, Dark Lord noticed that his right hand and right foot were gone.

“Where…”

“Right here, milord. I tried to reattach them but…”

She pulled out his missing appendages out of a bag.

“No worries”

Dark Lord took the detached skeletal foot and proceeded to stick it the rest of the right leg. The foot proceeded to seamlessly attach to the leg.

Same was true for the right hand.

After reattaching his skeletal appendages, Runfar attempted to stand up only to fall down, but luckily Jun ended up catching him.

“Milord! Your body is currently in a horrible condition. You must rest” Runfar once again found himself lying on her lap.

“It appears I don’t have much of a choice on the matter” Runfar muttered with a sigh.

If his body failed now, he would end up looping back again, and Runfar wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

But the odd part was about Jun, specifically how she was tightly holding on to his right hand; his passive undead ability was absorbing her mana at an alarming rate, but she did not show any sign of wanting to let go of his hand. It was rather unexpected that she was donating him mana without hesitation.

‘As expected of a demi-human, her mana reserves are quite large’

Since she was his subordinate, Runfar made sure that his undead half would not take too much mana, absorbing it at a gradually slower rate.

“I am just glad Milord is ok”

“Are you not afraid? I mean, I am a male so…”

“It is ok if it is you, milord”

This was not the angry murderous voice of an assassin, but of the girl he saved back then.

Age-wise, at least biologically, Jun was the one who was closest to Runfar’s actual age.

Perhaps turning her into a ruthless killer was a bad idea. Perhaps in his need to find a reliable subordinate, he ended up going too far. But it was tad bit too late for regrets now…

“Are you sure…I can always contact Camilla…”

“Milord. This is the hand that you offered me when I was broken, left for dead, and about to be turned to ashes. The hands of human beings took everything away from me, but it was your hand that freed me.”

“I still remember, you holding on to me, pouring in life force to keep me alive, even when I have given up, you still held on to me. So brazenly, so selfishly…In such a long time, you were the first one who stubbornly told me to live.”

“Could you possibly imagine how much I wanted to hear that? Ever since those horrible people took me from my mother, my life was destroyed. They chained my hands up, and left me to rot in one of their cells, before selling me to nobles…”

Her hands were trembling as she recalled the not so distant memories.

“Day after day, my body was defiled, again and again. Night after night….There were others… our owner tortured us while laughing….and then, when our bodies became unusable, he said ‘Trash is meant to be burnt to ashes’. I will never forget that smile on his face as he condemned all of us to be cooked within that infernal flame….”

Dark Lord sat up and muttered in a sad tone.

“What an irony. To escape torture of one nobleman just to end up in the claws of another”

Jun hugged Runfar’s back.

“You could never be one of them, master”

“Huh? Why is that?”

“Master is the only one who would extend his hand to those who are hated by humanity. You are the only one who would help and save someone like me. Master represents everything humanity is not, gentle and kind”

“Jun, you seem to be having a massive misunderstanding. I have never intended to help or save anyone.”

“But…”

“The only reason I have aided you or any of my subordinates is because I needed allies. There is a limit how much one can accomplish alone. By myself, I could never have accomplished so much in such a short time if ever.”

“Master” Jun took off the mask she was wearing. The burn mark scar on the right side of her face was clearly visible.

Tears were trailing down her face.

She took hold of Runfar’s right hand with both of her own.

“Master’s hand is the only one I am not afraid to touch. Because this is the hand that had saved my life”

“That hand has taken far more lives than it has saved”

“Maybe, but to me, this is the hand of my savior”

Her words shocked him.

And her action, holding his skeletal hand usually hidden by a glove, it was most strange.

“Saving people is not my style, but that would make me hypocrite considering my actions….” Like it or not, while he did destroy many lives, he saved many as well. “If anything, I emphasize more with the goblins rather than the heroes that try to kill them.”

After a momentary pause, Dark Lord uttered.

“Jun. I am not sure how to say this, but I am no savior. No…definitely not a savior. I always have done everything for my benefit and mine alone.”

“Master is a poor liar”

“Is that so? I thought I had mastered the art of lying by now”

“The only one master is lying to right now is master himself. But I can see just how much you cared for each and every one of the ones under your wing. I can tell, if it was just for the sake vengeance, we would never have gotten this far…master wanted to protect us….”

Jun’s eyes closed as she ended up falling fast asleep.

That was another effect of giving too much mana to an undead being, making her fall asleep from exhaustion.

But since she still was a demi-human with extreme physical strength, Runfar was essentially trapped in her embrace either until she lets go or wakes up, whichever comes first.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel heavy sorrow within his very being when he gazed upon his sleeping subordinate.

With his left hand lightly touching the right side of sleeping Jun’s face, Dark Lord uttered.

“I am sorry”

Dark Lord may be ruthless but he was not heartless.

He knew just how wrong this world was on so many levels, and he tried to fix it, as much as it was within his ability to do so.

But while a broken vase can be put together once again, it will never be the same.

And that’s what Shadow Lords were essentially, a band of broken people, led by someone who was shattered so completely that only a monster remained.

A monster.

Ever since the day he emerged, Dark Lord considered himself a monster.

The shadow that lurked within Nur Finnerman that eventually grew into darkness that swallowed him whole.

For a while, he was fueled by pure desire to destroy, but the more and more time he spent with his allies, the more he came to care about them.

He was not sure why nor did he know if that was the correct path to take.

But he knew this: if he didn’t do something, none else would.

As much as he would loath to admit it, they grew in on him.

From their perspective, they have known him for around four to five months, but he, a prisoner of time, had known them for years.

Perhaps this is what he wanted to have all along. A family…

With that thought, Dark Lord fell asleep by the side of his ally.