“So, what are the ups and downs of going to the nearest portal to go to the elves?” I asked as I paced back and forth in front of Laianne and Alrod who were both sitting by the campfire.

Laianne's enthusiasm was fully on me, though the same couldn't be said with Alrod. He was there, but he wasn't looking at me. His head was downcast while his arms were crossed. I could tell he was too busy to even think about how weird his current behavior was. What's inside his head, that I didn't know.

“We can get ambushed again.” Laianne said, her hand raised. “And even if we arrive there safely, there's no guarantee that the elves will be happy to see us.”

I stopped my feet, hand combing my white hair. “But I thought humans are their enemies? You know, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

Wait, that's wrong. The friend of your friend is your enemy.

“Humans are their enemies, no doubt.” Her eyes slacked. “But that doesn't make them our allies. We're not at war with the elves, but we're not friendly with them either. Neutral, where one wrong move could spark the flames of war.”

“Then why did Nariad tell me to go there?” I asked.

“Who knows.” She shrugged. “Maybe she has something outrageous in mind.”

“Fair enough... Next option.” I cleared my throat. “What about going to the king?”

Alrod, who was just nodding in agreement a second ago, looked up at me with widened coal eyes, hiding the crow's feet beneath them.

“Lord Alrion, I don't think that's—”

“—That's a better idea.” Alrod was unintentionally cut off by his daughter. Laianne's hand was on her chin, eyes on the scarlet sparks of the small fire as it burned the twigs inside it.

“Your spear is there after all, inside the artifact hall of the royal palace.”

“… Spear?” My head bobbed to the side.

“Your weapon, Hamartia.” She said.

“Oh... That's a nice name for a weapon.”

“Hmm?” Laianne tilted her head.

“In my world it means ‘fatal flaw’.” I said

I may not look like it, but I was once a part of the theatrics club back in high school. That coupled with the fact that our club advisor was a Euripides tragedy junkie, it's really not surprising that I know a word so unheard of these days.

“I see. Well anyway, that weapon will help you live long enough for your divinity to fully heal. A year is a long time, Lord Alrion, if you're facing death everyday.”

“A good point.” I nodded. “Still, I wasn't expecting a spear to be my weapon.”

I was actually expecting the sword of plot advancement. Maybe Frostmourne since I'm the big bad but, oh well. Dark Lords can't be choosers.

“Hamartia is not always a spear.” Alrod chimed in. “It can and will change forms on your command, Lord Alrion, although you're fondest of spears.”

“Oooooh... A morph weapon.”

This Hamartia is raising a lot of tropes. Seriously, I'm getting this.

“In any case, going to Larcon will definitely be a better move than risking it with Aether.” Said Laianne, her arms crossed on her undefined chest.

“No, honestly it is not.” Alrod stood up, much to Laianne's surprise, a stern expression wrinkling his broad bridge. “Lord Alrion, can I have a word?”

He leveled his vision to me, his freckled carbon eyes narrowed in cautious apprehension and his sturdy jaw twitching.

“Sure.” I said. “I'll follow.”

Alrod bowed down and walked forth, away from the camp, with me trailing behind.

A dozen steps after, Alrod stopped. He peered over his shoulder, at Laianne who was left alone by the campfire, watching our backs dazzled. He turned back to me and leaned closer, like a robber who's about to introduce his plan of buying realistic-looking toy guns to hostage a bank accountant and get to the vault.

“Come on, what's wrong?” I asked.

“... I've been thinking about, things.” He said. “It's about the traitor you speak of, my lord.”

“Oh? Let's hear it then.”

“The traitor, might not necessarily be allied with the humans.”

“... How so?” I squinted. “She's the reason the three of us nearly died by the hands of a human-side demigod, right?”

“Yes, there is that but,” He looked around. “There is also a chance that she works for the king.”

Shocking revelation there.

“And why would the king do that?” I asked. “Unless...”

Unless of course he's secretly in league with the humans. Like RPG games and their plot twists that can be seen from a fucking mile away, where the kind human king is actually in cahoots with the Demon lord because he wants evuuul powers for no reason other than to be the unexpected second-to-the-last boss.

“It's probably not what you are thinking, Lord Alrion.” He said, as if reading my mind. “That was what I also thought at first but, there might be a little more to it than the king simply siding with the humans.”

“... I'm listening.” I said.

I leaned on the tree next to me, but something inside the bark of the trunk moved and so I instinctively pulled back. It was an inch-long earthworm with brown flesh and head shaped like a cockroach's, crawling out of the blisters on the tree's surface.

Have troubles imagining it? Look at a cockroach through a magnifying glass, then imagine its head getting stuck on one end of a finger-sized worm. As an advice though, don't eat anything eight hours prior. If the vomiting persists, consult your doctor.

“King Correus,” He sighed. “He does not openly declare it, but I can tell he's not pleased with your return.”

“Hmm...” I put a hand to my chin. “Why is that?”

“Well, it has something to do with the war.” He shut his eyes and exhaled. “Right now, Aster is peaceful because of the ceasefire King Correus and the human king agreed on years ago. It only became possible because you were already dead, and there was no reason to fight anymore. Or so King Correus said, because he is still young and naive.

I think he believes in peace. And he might take measures to protect it.”

“Even if he has to send me back to the grave, huh.”

“Yes...” He nodded. “But he cannot do anything against you out in the open, for those that are still loyal to you might make a move.”

“And he couldn't risk a coup d'etat so, instead of doing the dirty work himself, what he did was give away my whereabouts to the enemy using someone from the castle.”

Alrod nodded as he lessened the creases on his forehead by massaging it with his hand up and down. While me, I almost exhaled my lungs out.

If that's the case then we're not going to catch anyone during this trip. Because there's no traitor, only dogs of the King.

“This is bad...”

Damn, I have to hand it to the King. Impressive wit, I guess he's not called the Asterian King for nothing. But that said, he's still stupid. He forgot to take into account how genocidal humans are. And then while he's sitting pretty in his throne, enjoying his ‘peace’, this Nariod guy is slowly building his army.

“That's why,” Alrod looked back. “That's why we can't go there, Lord Alrion. It's too dangerous.” He said, his gaze focused only on Laianne who was watching us from the distance, her head tilted with an innocent question mark on her face.

“I get it.” I dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You're worried for Laianne.”

He hung his head down. I could tell he didn't want me to think that family was affecting his decisions.

What made him so loyal to me, I wonder... Was I that good of a guy before I died?

“I apologize.” He said in an undertone.

“You don't have to.” I gave his shoulder a grip. “That's normal, you're a father. Actually, I think I like you more now than that time in Verden where you were seriously thinking of letting Laianne die just so I won't.”

He lifted his chin up and stared at me, jaw-dropped, wide-eyed, like I was a saint of salvation that descended from the heavens or something. Too bad for him.

“I understand you completely.” I said. “That's why we're going to the King.”

“Pardon?” His eyes trembled. “But I thought you understood...” He said, words trailing off.

“We can't let things stay as is, Alrod.” I told him. “That Darius blabbed about Nariod planning to restart the war. We can't afford to have a mascot king who will just wait for the enemy by the doorstep and greet them good day as they invade. You already said it, he's young and naive. A king like that will get all of us killed, that's why we have to go there and slit his throat and murder his royal family and kick their dogs.

Okay all of those are unnecessary but you got the message, right? He's in no condition to rule a war-driven kingdom. What does he know about it when, as you said, Asteria was peaceful the whole time he was ruling?”

“But my lord, shouldn't we wait for you to fully recover first?” He asked, agitated. “The main city is too dangerous for us.”

“You don't think too far enough. The reverse of what you say is true.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Just think about it, Darius failed to kill me. So right now, the King is planning his next move, and if he's as smart as I think he is, his next move would be to send assassins to kill me, us, while we're merrily playing picnic here. Laianne will be in grave danger—all of us, will be in grave danger.”

“All of us, Alrod.” I reiterated.

Alrod bit his lip and hung down his head.

“But if we go there now, he won't be able to do anything about it. He will let us in. He can't openly disobey the God of Darkness, the creator of Asteria, can he?”

He couldn't do anything but shut up and nod.

“Remember Alrod, this is like a chess game, but not a king against a king. It's a king versus a God. We have all the advantage.”

“… What's this, ‘chess’?” He asked.

“You're ruining my moment, Alrod. Ask later and just nod.”

He nodded.

“What I'm saying is, once we're already in front of the populace, he can't harm us. It's checkmate for him.”

“... What does ‘checkmate’ mean?”

“Ugh, Alrod.” I glared at him.

“What is it, Lord Alrion?”

“Just pack up the camp, will you? And wake up Danrel while you're at it.” I said.

“... Understood.” He bowed down and, as told, walked back to the camp.

---

Alrod was taking down the first tent, uprooting the wooden pegs he knocked into the ground by pulling them with sheer force. Laianne took care of the small stuff, emptying buckets, cleaning her father's sword with a piece of black cloth, putting the campfire out, and shelving our items back inside the black sack.

She completely acts like the stereotypical teenage rebel, but oh boy is she so diligent. The idea of her being my second wife isn't so bad anymore.

Who am I kidding? Of course it still is! You don't have to be a lolicon to be a pedo. She's my granddaughter dammit.

Danrel was up and raring to go—or not... He was eating the tree leaves that happened to dangle above him in pure bliss and was in no hurry to go anywhere. Watching him was like watching a giraffe eat leaves while chewing slow like a cow. Surreal, but cute.

Just don't make him flash his teeth, or you'll receive an item named ‘Adventurer's Soiled Pants +10’. Still a stronger equipment than the ‘Trousers of Eternal Darkness’, but many times unbearable in the grossness department.

Jana, she was still asleep inside a tent. After our little heartfelt chat last night... The hell am I saying? It's always night in Asteria. And heartfelt? Screw that shit. Anyway, after we talked, she retreated back to her tent. Haven't seen her get out of it yet, so I decided to wake the girl up. I wouldn't want to leave her here to rot and die, not after she just gave me a whole box full of jelly-coated questions. And no, I'm not thanking her for it.

I crouched before the entrance and moved aside the dangling cloth covering it.

There she was, in the middle of the spacious, rectangular inner. Her body was curved into the fetal position, shivering every other second.

I already got used to Asteria's temperature, most likely because I'm a God and I'm tailored for it, but the same couldn't be said to her. As one would expect, a world without a sun is just too cold for a human.

I crawled inside, since the ceiling was too low for anyone to walk in even with the back hunched. I crept up until her side and sat down with my legs crossed. She was still sleeping, though I couldn't see her face since her curdled blonde hair was everywhere. I combed her hair with my fingers and tucked them between her ear, then when her sleeping face was finally clear, I poked her cheek. It was so soft and supple, but also cold. Like marshmallows in a fridge.

She groaned, but her eyes didn't open, instead, what she did was bite my finger like a cute puppy.

It was more than a play bite though.

The sting of her sharp canine digging into the joint of my index made me scream like a little girl getting butchered in the local slaughterhouse.

Her blue eyes shot open.

At least my shriek woke her up, but there was something else going on. I could hear footsteps outside, approaching us.

Meanwhile, Jana's eyes stooped down to look at what she had in her mouth, then she looked up at me, question in her eyes. All while still grinding my finger inside.

There was a nearby rustle, followed by a frantic shout.

“Alrion?!” It was a high-pitched, feminine voice. Wait, where did the ‘Lord’ go?

The dangling entrance flipped upward like a tornado swept over, revealing a crouched down figure of a girl with long black hair clad in a dark, baggy robe. Her expression was dire. Eyes bulging out, forehead wrinkled, and cold sweat dripping from her temple.

It changed into a WTFH expression sooner than later, though.

A second passed, Alrod arrived with the wind and positioned himself behind Laianne, holding his unsheathed, gleaming steel sword.

“What happened?” He asked in urgent, like he was prepared to cut down anything hostile within range. For a moment he wore a no-joke expression complete with sharp eyes and lowered brows. The kind of face you'd expect a professional assassin to have, but then it quickly crumbled to a face resembling a stupefied sheep.

“What, are you two doing?” Laianne's narrow glare alternated between me and Jana.

“Uhhhh... Good question.” My neck creaked as my head turned to the startled blondie, searching for an answer perhaps.

Her clamping on my finger eased down, but it was still half in her mouth. She looked at me with a question mark, then at Laianne, then Alrod, then back at me.

Since her press softened, I took the chance to pull out my index from her lips. When it came out, it was wet and slimy.

Looking at my finger that just came out of her orifice, realization came to her with widened eyes and hot cheeks.

“Wh-what were you doing?!” She asked as she sat up double-time. She covered her mouth, all while looking at me like I just took her virtue.

“Don't ask me, I was just going to wake you up, and then you chomped my finger.” I shrugged. “Tell me, were you dreaming of marshmallows?”

“What, what are you saying? I, I don't dream of marshmallows... Only chocolates.” She said and averted her gaze, teeny tears of embarrassment escaping her ducts.

“Chocolates, then.”

“Oy, when are you two going to speak in a language that we can understand?” Said Laianne with her cheeks and eyelids sagged down.

“... What did she say?” Jana asked, her index pointed at Laianne's grumpy face.

“She said good morning.”

“Oh... But why is she like... mad?” Jana asked as she distanced herself from the entrance bit by bit.

“She's just like that, that's her kind face.” I told her with a cramped smile.

“Hey! I still can't understand!” Laianne barked. Alrod pressed his forehead.

“See? She's not mad.”

“… Liar.” The meek girl squinted at me for the first time.

---

After the little chaos—Little? Really? We finished packing up and are now in the process of loading the baggage on Danrel's wooden platform. Well, I say we, but in truth Alrod and Laianne all did the work, while I did the thinking of plans, and Jana, ummm... She did the caring for Danrel.

“We're done, Lord Alrion.” Alrod shouted from above me, aboard Danrel's back.

I was standing by the slanted wooden ladder, now that I think about it, the ladder looks closer to a stair, maybe because it was angled and wasn't a straight drop.

I didn't climb up yet, because Jana was still on land, petting Danrel's scaly snout with a tender smile on her fair face.

The thing is, Danrel was liking it since he purposefully lowered his head for Jana to reach. What a spoiled dragon. I was kinda jealous of him.

“Hey!” I shouted.

Jana paused and looked at me.

“We need to go now.”

After hearing me, she gave Danrel the last soothing tap and skipped her way to the ladder and climbed up, then I followed closely behind.

When all of us were already aboard, the whole platform tilted steep to one side. It was Danrel standing up. Laianne and Alrod couldn't care less about it, but me and Jana had to hold on to the wooden hand rail for dear life.

When the floor leveled and stabilized, Danrel took his first step forward, causing the forest ground to vibrate.

“Oh yeah, I've been wondering about how Danrel knows where we want to go. Is there an explanation for that? Because I don't see any reins attached to him.”

“He doesn't need reins.” Laianne said. “Dragons are controlled through mental communication.”

“Ho...”

“So it's best if you don't talk to the one who controls him too much.”

My eyes flew to Alrod. He was there at the other end of the platform where he can touch the dragon's neck anytime. He was just standing straight, not a word, not a move. I couldn't see his face since his back was turned to me, though.

“I'll be a good sheep, then.”

I sat down on the wooden floorboard with my legs crossed. Jana, like last time, was by my side, looking back at the path of destruction Danrel left—broken trees and etched footprints on the ashen forest ground. I really don't get her. Often times she would ignore me when I say hi, but she wouldn't distance herself from me. I guess that at least means she's not afraid of me anymore.

Oh well, thinking more of her can wait, strategies can't. I may already be a murderer, but I'm not a psychopath. I still know what I want and what's right, and my gut tells me that I can't let these three die. Because I need them? Yes. But there's something more to it. Something more humane.

Laianne, she walked up to my right and sat down. She reclined against the wooden rail and looked at me, lips pursed and eyes upturned.

“Something on your mind, Lord Alrion?” She asked with concern.

Whenever I stare at her face, I couldn't help but think about how she could've died back there, and how I'm thankful she didn't. Something inside tells me I would've been something unrecognizable then. I don't know, I already killed two, but I'm still afraid to become something... else. This girl might well have helped me contain this, this thing inside. What do they call it? Monster? I think that's the word.

Wow, a Destroyer refusing to be a monster. Well, I'll end up as one whatever happens anyway. I'm far from done taking lives yet. I'm sure of it.

“Nothing.” I shook my head.

“Liar. You're almost crying.” She drilled me with her carbon gray eyes freckled with black spots.

“Come on.” I groaned. “I told you it's nothing.”

I dropped a hand on her head. I felt like it, because she was short enough for me to see the top of her head even when we're both sitting. Either that or I was really tall.

What's good about Laianne though, is that she doesn't mind me touching her like this. Hell, she doesn't even mind me seeing her nude. So, I enjoyed the moment and stroked her hair. Something about it felt good against the palm, her hair was silky and smooth, and I found my hand crawling down the stream of her hair, until I was already touching her nape.

She let out a moan and began rubbing her cheeks against my arm with her eyes closed. She was more a cat than an Asterian, it seems.

It felt nice, who can blame me? I'm a healthy youth. But sadly, all things need to come to an end, Jana behind me was looking down at us with flabbergasted eyes.

I retracted my hand away from Laianne, prompting her to snap out of her feline trance and open her sleepy eyes.

“Anyway. Tell me more about Larcon.

Or better yet, do we have a map?” I asked.

“Hmmmm... Wait a moment.” She crawled on all fours to the black sack and started rummaging.

Meanwhile, I felt a poke on my shoulder blade. I turned around and saw that it was Jana with her lips pursed.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Look there...” She pointed to her right.

To where she was pointing, there were nothing but trees. Or so I thought. I stood up and zoomed in on the dark scenery.

There I saw, jumping from a tree branch to another, parallel to our pace, were shadows. They were moving so fast that I had no way to be certain, but I think there were at least six of them. Hooded figures clad in black robes. Although the robes they were wearing were different from what we were wearing. Theirs had violet outlines, and they were more like long coats than robes, judging by how its end fluttered freely behind them as they hopped around.

Faster than the time it takes to say ah, a gleaming object flew out of one of the shady figures. Whatever it was, it was sharp, and it was aimed at us.

I didn't even have the time to shout ‘look out!’. Before I knew it, Jana was already in my arms. I closed my eyes and willed the shield, hoping that it deploys before the lethal object gouges my back.

A sound of glass shattering. The purple dome didn't disappoint.

It protected me and the girl I was holding just in time inside its velvet confines.

“What are you... Eh?” Jana looked around, unblinking.

I peered over my shoulder, my arms still wrapped around Jana's slim frame. There I saw a small part of the shield cracked, and a silver dagger with a serrated edge and black handle, pinned on the wooden floorboard.

Damn, my prediction had been right.

“... What's happening? Hey...” Jana looked up at me, her eyes shaking.

Seriously, this is the worst time to get attacked. Aboard Danrel, we don't have any cover. Unless, unless they don't need covers.

“You, get down and duck.” I let go and told Jana.

She didn't need be told twice, she hit the floor like an expert.

“Alrod, stop Danrel!” I shouted.

Danrel stomped his last the moment Alrod turned around.

“Lord Alrion?!”

“Don't just stand there! Protect Laianne and Jana.”

“U-understood.” He pulled his sword out from its hilt and rushed to us.

I dispelled the shield and walked up to the ladder, when Laianne shouted.

“Where are you going?!” She asked with worry on her startled face.

“I'm going out.”

I slid down the ladder.