Goodbyes. Goodbyes are simply amazing. Goodbyes may be the single most important thing in a relationship between two people. Goodbyes are the culmination of your deeds towards someone else. A single goodbye is enough to understand what the other person thinks of you. Their rage, their gratitude, their love: everything can be understood with a goodbye. And for some reason mine always end with a hero trying to get my head.... I'm not good with people. At all.

????

"Your holiness, are you there?"

"Yes, bishop Huins, what is the matter?"

It was a sunny day, in which the light of the sun hit even the darkest corners of the world. It was in the north region of Kieris, where recently Sunlen, its most important city, was turned into a den of ferals by a demonic cult of humans that worshiped Belua, that the Arch-Cardinal currently resided in. And in this moment she was praying in her tent in the main camp of the Church expedition.

Edresia Sanctum, this was her name. Since she was young, she had been considered one of the most talented persons in in the world in the use of holy magic. She has trained for most of her life, while also protecting the fateful from any evil, accomplishing such amazing feats and showing such charisma, that her quick rise through the ranks could only be considered inevitable. Not only that, she was also blessed by the goddess Lux herself, further augmenting her already amazing abilities.

People also considered her the incarnation of both virtue and beauty, having the face of an angel, with golden straight hair and eyes, with pupils in the shape of a greek cross, sign of the blessing of Lux. She was only a sixteen years old girl but her body was quite developed, with all of her curves and alluring parts covered by her long, white Arch-Cardinal tunic, heavily decorated with the Church's symbols and a miter, symbol of her status.

The man who was talking with her was bishop Allio Huins, one of the most prominent members of the Church, and loyal follower and assistant of Edresia. He was a 47 years old man, quite talented himself, with black combed hair and a short beard. He was a little short for his age, but his body was adequately trained to face any eventual danger. He wore a completely white tunic, with only a small mater to show his status as a bishop, since he didn't like clothes that attracted attention. He looked quite worried and nervous.

"I'm here to inform you about the development of the Gorwyn incident"

"I see. Then please tell me what happened"

"Well..... in the end the Guild has been chosen to deal with it by placing one of their bases near the dungeon"

"How could the king have chosen them to solve this matter? They may be efficient, but the Church would have been a much better choice. What were our representatives doing?"

"Lord Whitesteel said at the reunion that our templars weren't enough to completely eliminate the dungeon"

Her eyes widened. Lord Whitesteel was an incredibly proud man, how could he just admit something like that?

"Did he really say that?"

"No... but he implied it.. when he said.."

"Said what?"

She wanted to know what could he have said to imply the weakness of the Church.

"He thought... of asking for reinforcements from the... Pope"

Edresia's face turned to one of shock,t hen to one of pure rage.

"How... HOW DARE HE SPEAK ABOUT REINFORCEMENTS FROM HER! I DON'T NEED HER HELP! I CAN DEAL WITH THIS ALONE!"

"You holiness, please cal-"

"HUINS"

The girl calmed down, but now she released a murderous aura that only a few people could resist. Huins almost tried to run away when he felt such a dangerous aura.

"Yes?"

"We are going to the capital, the Church has been shamed far too much"

"But Sunlen hasn't been completely purified yet!"

"What is left can be easily dealt with by the other priest of the expedition"

"I guess you're right.... I will warn your guards to prepare to return"

Huins turned away and began going to the tents of the guards, leaving Edresia alone. The tent was filled with a strange silence, almost unnatural.

"Lanius"

"Yes, my lady?"

A man suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. He was clothed in a full body dark gray armor which hid every single part of his body apart from his brown eyes, that could be barely seen if one looked attentively at the small slits in his helm. He was a gigantic man, his height easily reaching two metres and a half. One had to wonder how could such a tall person hide himself so well. His armor had no decorations apart from a black colored cross surrounded by some kind of sun symbol,the insignia of the Church, with a slight modification: in the center of the cross there was a skull.

"I want you to discover the cause of Gorwyn's fall"

"It will be done. But after that how should i proceed?"

His voice was very deep, giving an impression of strength and authority, but also adding to his mysterious aura.

"In case it's some kind of demon or evil force, destroy it. If it was something else, like a human mage, capture them and bring them to me"

He lifted his head a little, in sign of confusion.

"My lady, do you perhaps intend to interrogate the culprit? If its like that then i can do it myself"

"Lanius, i know that you could do it alone without a problem ,but.... i wish to meet personally someone that could do such despicable acts. I think i could learn a lot from it.... maybe understand why someone would do such things"

".......As you wish, my lady. I will bring you this evildoer without fail. I swear it on my title of Lord Inquisitor"

"Well, then begin your mission.May Lux shine upon you"

"May she bless me"

Lanius prepared to disappear once again but Edresia stopped him.

"Lanius?"

He looked back at her.

"Yes, my lady?"

She smiled.

"Thank you"

It could only be heard slightly, but a small laugh cam from Lanius.

"You don't have to thank me, my lady. After all i owe you my life. Now, then, i'll be off"

The inquisitor finally vanished, leaving Edresia alone with her thoughts. She sighed, she was tired quite a bit, when she looked outside of the tent she noticed that the sun was setting.

"I suppose i should sleep, a long trip awaits me"

She closed off her tent, placing some barriers in case of emergency, put on her night gown, and laid in her bed. While sleep caught her she felt something, something like a premonition:

"I can feel it. I can feel that i'll meet evil face to face. I'll gaze into it, so that maybe, just maybe, i can finally understand it"

Tears began flowing from her eyes, reflecting the small rays of moonlight that managed to get into the tent, like a sorrowful mirror.

"And, maybe, finally, understand why they were taken from me.....mommy,daddy....."

Finally she fell into the loving arms of sleep, her eyes still flowing, like a river of bad memories.

Meanwhile, in the ruins of Gorwyn

"Oh, you're doing great father, keep it up!"

Nero was currently on the edge of the remains of a plaza along with Steve ,cheering on Andrew, that was currently trying to learn some new kind of magic, which he didn't have in his enormous database. And that magic was...

"GREAT MY ASS!I CAN BARELY MAKE A SLIME!"

[Miasma Manipulation]. While Andrew thought he would already have such a magic somewhere in his collection due to the fact that he had [Miasma Leak], he discovered Murgin could only give him that one, since that was the limit of his knowledge about Miasma. After all that's not even an element which has some divine association. Still, Andrew thought it could be very useful in the future so he had been training with it for the last four days, but the best thing he could make was a slime, and it took all of his mana to do so. This highly annoyed Andrew, since he let the fact of being a Dark Champion go to his head. But that tends to happen when you swiftly defeat over a thousand warriors.

"Please, father, calm down, it is quite shameful for you to get angry over such a petty thing"

"SHUT UP! IT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY WHEN YOU CAN DO IT WHENEVER YOU LIKE!"

"Father, i am a DUNGEON KEEPER. I'm supposed to do it so that i can defend more efficiently the dungeon. Normal humans die just by staying in contact with Miasma for too long. You should be proud of yourself for managing to do this"

Andrew fell on his back, breathing heavily, so that he could recover a bit of strength. In the last days he hasn't only been training, he's also been helping Nero with the management of the dungeon. What a few days ago was a mere ruin, was now a lethal and cruel dungeon, full of traps, monsters, dead ends, magic traps, bigger monsters and dead ends with trap monsters. Also, due to the effects of the Miasma, the dungeon was full of strange purple plants, which blocked the way and contorted the road, some even became bridges between buildings. The plaza Andrew was training in was devoid of these plants though,since it was the center of the city and where Nero resided in, basically the boss room. The ferals were all around them, watching with childish curiosity.

"I.... ugh, guess you're right... oh God, this is tiring"

"Are you invoking your God so that he may restore your energy father? Though i think a devil would be much more fitting for you"

"What... ugh... no.... it's.... it's a long story..."

"If it's like that then i'll stop asking.... Anyway how do you feel now, father? Regarding that thing..."

Andrew suddenly felt a bit depressed. Nero was talking about how he felt about seeing the destroyed city. The hundreds corpses of his victims, devoured, slashed, burned, rotten and with their faces full of terror. At first he vomited in front of such a spectacle and he was so he horrified by it that he almost ran away, but he contained himself. He had to face it, or else it would have haunted him forever. He explored the the remains of the town thoroughly, so as to find all the corpses. He saw the remains of a building that seemed to have exploded, due to the copious amount of ashes around it along with a lot of pieces of stone and wood that circled it.There he found a lot of small mountains or corpses, probably from the zombie plague. He burned every single body he found, he was decent enough not to let the bodies rot. He had to be alone for a while but he managed to accept it. This may have not even been the worst thing he'd have to do during his journey, he had to learn to deal with it.

"I'm good....I'll live with it, thanks. So, regarding your dungeon, it's ready now, no?"

Nero showed a slight smile, then he answered.

"Yes, father, me and my colleagues are ready to cause pain and desperation to any pesky adventurer that gets in our way. With much pleasure... ah.. ahah.... ahahahahah"

He began to slightly laugh maniacally, while everyone watched him awkwardly .After a minute he realized what he was doing and put himself together. He gave his attention to Andrew and began speaking.

"Apart from that, father....i think it's time for you to go"

Andrew finally got up, and his face turned to one of tiredness to one of melancholy.

"So, i guess i finally have to go, uh?"

"Indeed, you have nothing left to do here father. The time has come for you to show the world the true power of darkness...and bon ton, of course. You can't be a good villain without bon ton"

"What?!? I'm not the villain!"

"Well, from the humans' point of view you are. So lure them to the dark with the ancient and great art of bon ton"

"It doesn't work like that, Nero"

"Father, never underestimate bon ton! It can bring you to new and never seen before heights!"

Nero began posing dramatically, like any gentleman would, of course. With the difference that normal gentleman don't crush the floor with their clogs.

"...Yes,l ike you say. Anyway, first i gotta say hi to the goblins"

"Oh, don't worry about that, i called them over"

Suddenly an horde of a hundred goblins came running out from the direction of the city's gate, all crying and screaming one thing:

"LOOOOOOOORD ANDREEEEEEEEW!"

Leading them there was as always Golind, who, along with the black knights jumped at Andrew.

"OH SH-"

The champion of darkness was now on the ground being hugged by way too many goblins.

"GUYS....CAN'T BREATHEEEEEE!

All of them let him go, even if reluctantly. Golind, still crying, stood in front of his hero.

"Hi, Golind"

"My lord, uuuugh, so you're leaving?"

"Yes, it seems the time for me to go has come... Anyway i told you not t-"

"SHUT UP! I CALL YOU LIKE I WANT YOU DAMN MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!"

"Ok, ok, calm down... Well, i gotta tell you all a thing guys"

The goblins orderly put themselves around Andrew, who was feeling more and more depressed watching their sad faces.

"Guys, first of all, thank you. You helped in my time of need and thought of me as your hero all this time. There's really not any good way i can express my feelings in words, apart from thank you. Thank you Golind, for saving me from getting stoned alive-"

The goblins began laughing a little, crying and cheerfully smiling to themselves.

"For teaching me everything you know and fighting by my side even in the most impossible situations"

Golind brought his chest out proudly. He was still crying though.

"And the same i can say to all of you, little guys, you all have been an amazing help"

All the other goblins began cheering, like they had just won the World Cup. Andrew then turned to Nero.

"Nero, also thank you for supporting me, protecting the goblins and acknowledging me as your father"

"You don't need to thank me,that's what any gentleman would do"

"Yeah, like you say"

Andrew began crying, in his whole life he never had so many people that trusted him wholeheartedly. It was one of the happiest moments ever for him.

"Well,guys,it's time t-"

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!?"

Golind screamed at him while doing a flying kick, almost knocking him out.

"YOU GOTTA DO GOODBYES PROPERLY! AND THOSE ARE DONE WITH HUGS!"

"Wait, what do you mea-"

Golind hugged Andrew with an iron grip that threatened to break his spine.

"And now the others, my lord!"

Andrew was confused at first but then, slowly ,hugged every goblin of the village. There were cries, there were smiles, but everyone in the end was happy. The boy was quite tired of so many hugs. Then he saw Nero, watching in another direction, his clog beating the ground impatiently.

"Oh, come here Nero"

The minotaur's face showed the most childish and pure happiness Andrew had ever seen. Nero kneeled down and held his father in his hands while the boy tried to surround his little finger with his arms, but failed miserably. After that, he returned to the ground.

"Well, now, we-"

He was speaking,when a random feral skeleton came out of nowhere with open arms, with a fac-skull full of expectation.

"Oh,come-Just come here..."

Andrew hugged the skeleton, only to find out that all the ferals were waiting with open arms.

"Nero"

"Yes, father?"

"I always knew i would die by hug exhaustion"

And so the Champion of the Abyss began his hardest task yet: hugging an entire den of ferals.

After many hugs later, Andrew finally finished his epic task, his spine feeling like a broken stick, and his arms as heavy as lead.

"Guys, finally the time has come, i have to go"

"...Yes, we know, my lord. Though i thought the hugs would convince you to stay.... Please, have a safe trip and thank you for everything"

He was saying this calmly but his eyes were still quite watery.

"I'll take care of myself, i promise"

"Father, show those templar pansies who's the real man!"

Nero was cheering him on, while waving his axe trough the air, to the dismay of the few flying ferals of the dungeon.

"Of course i will, Nero. What would the point of me leaving if i didn't?"

"Have a nice trip!"

"Good luck!"

"Kick ass, boss!"

All the goblins started to cry again and said goodbye to their hero. He began walking away, trying to keep himself from doing the same as them. Everyone was waving his hands to him, even the ferals. One of the most strange goodbye scenes Andrew had ever seen. He finally got out of the city, and began going towards the capital of Kieris, of which he knew the location thanks to a map he found.

"Well, finally i begin this journey, uh? Good luck, boys.... and thank you"

"Is he out?"

"Yes, Nero, he is"

"OK, BOYS, LIKE I TAUGHT YOU, LET'S BEGIN!"

"Oh, this'll end badly for my throat"

"OK,I WANT TO BE HEARD FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY. IF SOMEONE DOES IT WRONG, HE'LL HAVE AN INTIMATE MEETING WITH MY CLOGS!"

Andrew had walked for barely a minute and the city was still quite close. But, suddenly he heard a chorus coming from there:

"Weeee'll meeeeet again"

"Oh you can't be serious"

"Don't know where,

don't know when,

but we know we'll meet again some suuunnyy dayyy"

"Oh,come on guys, i just stopped crying"

"Keep smiling through,

just like you alwaaays do,

'till the blue skies drive the dark clouds faaar awaaaay"

"You're just a bunch of assholes *sigh*,*sigh*"

Andrew couldn't stop crying, he tried to walk away from the song, but the farther he went, the louder they got

"So will you please say hello,

to the folks that i know,

tell them i won't be long"

"Oh, i'll kill you all when i come back"

"They'll be happy to know,

that as you saw me go,

i was singing this song"

"*sigh*,*sigh*"

"We'll meet again,

don't know wheeeree,

don't know wheeen,

but we knooow we'll meet again some sunnyyy dayyy"

"Jesus, why do you do this to me? *sigh* "

"Keep smiling through,

like you always do

'till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far awaaaayy"

"God damn, i love you guys, but fuck you*sigh*"

"So will you please say hellooo,

to the folks that i know,

tell them i won't be long,

they'll be happy to know,

that as you saw me go,

i was singiiiiing this sooong"

"Really love you..."

"We'll meet again,

don't know where,

don't know when,

but we know we'll meet again some suuuunnyyyy daaaayyyyyy"

And so Andrew marched towards his new life, full of hope and a promise to meet again. A promise he'll make sure he'll maintain at every cost.

Hello guys,enjoyed the chapter? I hope so, because it was longer than usual, dammit, my hands are not okay with that! Also i had to copy that amazing song by hand, since copy&paste gave me quite the shitty results. And yes, i know you're wondering how Nero knows that song. Honestly i don't know myself, that guy has mad gentleman psycho powers, as long as it regards anything before the birth of rock'n roll, he knows every song in existence. Also his favorite group is PostModernJukebox, though i don't know how he gets the resources (of another world too) to listen to them in a fantasy world. About the important things, the bird has finally left the nest! After 11 chapters, the Greyleaf Arc is over and the Inquisition is finally entering the show. PREPARE FOR BADASSERY! The Abyss Gazer is finally gonna show his true potential! Though obviously Andrew will have no problem defeating those foolish servants of the corpse-emperor,after all the power of Chaos Und-Wait, oh, right, it's another Inquisition....Anyway,i hope you enjoy the future chapters!