An angry wind shook the room of Lord Salam that the four of us were in.

"I NEED TO TEACH YOU A LESSON, KING," said the devilish voice. "YOU HAVE KILLED A VERY BELOVED AND DEVOTED SLAVE OF MINE.'

I had never heard such a terrifying voice in my life before, for it shivered my hands and knees once again. I looked at Kaya, Pia, and Varian in front of me and they were all weakened and under the same shivering state as me.

The voice came from outside, possibly from the main entrance room.

Suddenly, the intense wind opened the door of our room. It tossed me with strong force outside the room. I collided all the way against the thick walls of the main entrance room with a loud thud, and then I fell to the floor.

My back was numb. I think I have broken a rib or two.

"I AM STILL UNSATISFIED."

The wind lifted my body into the air again as I realized that the voice came from the giant statue of Salamander. The white marble statue was now glowing in a red rage.

This religion of the Saladians was actually tied to Salamander himself?

"Are you Salamander?" I asked while I was getting slowly lifted into the air.

"ADD AN HONORIFIC MORTAL."

The wind pushed the two ends of my left leg, and the bone started to bend.

"Stop it, it's gonna break!" I shouted.

"THAT WAS MY INTENTION."

The bone of my left leg got snapped into two. I shouted from the bottom of my lungs while my left leg was hanging loose like a broken wooden branch. I then fell unconscious.

I do not know how long has it been since I went unconscious. But it was not for too long since the holes of the roof were still showing a black sky.

After this notion, I was greeted by an extreme piercing pain coming from my left leg... Now I remember, it got broken by some unnatural force. Or by the most natural being on this Earth.

I looked around while trying to ignore the pain, and saw three half-burnt bodies beside me. I soon realized they were the bodies of Kaya, Pia, and Varian.

"Your Majesty," said Varian with a faint and frail voice. "What have we been doing? We have been fighting against a being beyond our mortal capacities. Something beyond the powers of all the humans combined."

I know Varian, I know. But what can I do now? I am powerless...

"Why did you punish me and Kaya my Lord?" asked Pia while staring with blank eyes at the statue of Salamander. "We were worshiping you with lord Salam for many years now."

"YOUR HEARTS HAVE BEEN SWAYED BY THIS KING. I DO NOT NEED THOSE WITH WEAK DEVOTION."

I cannot use Regalia at this moment for I cannot fulfill its requirements right now. No, even if I could use Regalia, what use would it be against the mighty Salamander?"

"LORD SALAM WAS SPECIAL. HE DID EVERY CRUELTY I ASKED HIM, CRUELTIES THAT HAD HARMED HIM AND HIS OWN LIFE."

"Then why did you let him die?" shouted Kaya suddenly. I could not comprehend how her half-burnt body could muster enough courage and stamina to shout at Salamander. "If you are this capable and benevolent then you could have stopped his deat—"

An explosion, followed by red liquid covered my view and most of my face. Kaya's body was nowhere to be seen. Her body exploded and got scattered all over the room.

"ONE MUST NOT SPEAK TO A GOD LIKE THAT. IT MUST BE IN A VERY FEARFUL, VERY HUMBLE, AND BEGGING TONE."

Pia was about to shout instinctively after she saw the remains of Kaya on her body and all around this main entrance room. But Salamander's voice replaced her shout with deep fear.

"Please spare me, my benevolent lord," said Pia beggingly to Salamander. "I will do whatever you want, whenever you want. I will do more than what lord Salam did for you, but please spare my life."

Did not she utter similar words to me after I had killed lord Salam? And after she said these words she stabbed me. So she could be trying the same trick. What are you doing Pia? These petty tricks won't work on Salamander.

"A TRUE GOD DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF MORTALS, BUT TO THEIR HEARTS. YOU ARE LYING."

Pia's body flew up into the air. She got terrified, yelling "No, please I apologize." But it was too late.

Slowly but surely, Pia's head got twisted, and her neck bones were snapping.

After her head got twisted ten full circles and went loose, Pia fell on the ground, motionless.

Why is all of this is happening to me? Why is this natural disaster always blocking our path? I am not even fighting for an ambitious, greedy goal like Father. I am only trying to get back what we have lost from the Third-Year-War. Unfairness always blocks my path, without any way to crack through it.

"I AM LISTING YOUR SADNESS, KING. WHAT A JOYFUL MELODY. FALL INTO DESPAIR MORE AND LET ME HEAR MORE OF YOUR SADNESS. YES, I LIKE THIS GLARE, KEEP LOOKING AT ME WITH IT."

"What do you want more?" I asked. "For a single human, you have tortured the four of us then killed two of my people. Is not that enough?"

"LORD SALAM'S DEATH OUTWEIGHS THE SOULS OF YOU FOUR COMBINED. HAD I NOT BEEN SHACKLED BY THE CRIMSON RING, I WOULD HAVE BURNED YOUR WHOLE KINGDOM FOR KILLING HIM."

The more time passes, the more I regret killing lord Salam.

"BUT I WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE, KING. I WILL CURE YOUR BROKEN LEG AND EVERY OTHER INJURY YOU HAVE RECEIVED TODAY. YOU WILL LEAVE IN THE SAME CONDITION THAT YOU ENTERED THIS CHURCH. BUT FOR THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO AGREE ON THE DEATH OF THIS GUARD NAMED VARIAN. IF YOU AGREE YOU WILL BE CURED, AND IF YOU CHOOSE VARIAN THEN I WILL KILL YOU INSTEAD."

So I will have to choose between my death or the death of Varian.

"And I assume that you will also heal Varian back to his full health if I got to choose him?"

"THAT I SHALL IF YOU MANAGE TO CHOOSE HIM."

Even though my death may bring civil unrest in the kingdom and the demise of many, I just cannot favor myself over Varian. I will regret it my whole life.

"I will choose Vari—"

A sudden sharp gust of wind cut my whole left ear and interrupted my sentence. I groaned in pain, and covered what remains of my left ear with a bloodied hand. What is Salamander doing?

"WHAT IS WRONG, CAN'T CHOOSE?"

Salamander's voice was so petrifying that despite the severe pain my body forced itself to respond.

"I choose Vari—"

Another sharp wind cuts my other ear.

"CHOOSE"

"Vari—"

The wind this time severed my whole left hand and then it fell to the floor.

"YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW WHERE THIS IS GOING, KING. I WILL CUT YOUR BODY AND HEAL IT BACK AGAIN TILL YOU CHOOSE YOURSELF OVER VARIAN. YOU FIND THIS CRUEL? YOU SHOULD THANK ME THAT I HAVE NOT TORTURED YOU WITH FIRE INSTEAD. I WILL CRUSH EVERY RESISTANCE WITHIN YOU AND LEAVE YOU WITH NONE... CHOOSE!"

I kept choosing Varian over myself for two suffocating hours, the longest two hours of my life. But Salamander interrupted my words by cutting through my body and healing it seven times over. And with that, I gave in.

"I choose myself."