"What is the mission anyway." Frei asked while bored with the endless forest.

"You do not need to know. For you, the mission will be simply to help out in case something goes south." Their boss, that had finally given them his name, Crow, explained. it was the most cheesy thing Frei could think of.

"So we are simple goons, that will be easy." Frei nodded and rolled his shoulders.

"Why do you even travel with her? She is a baggage, you have not even used her at night." Crow asked and the atmosphere changed in an instant. Frei have almost forgot that Nitarja belonged to a race that was being imported from another universe as slaves.

"I have not been in the mood." He tried to brush the matter aside.

"Can I borrow her today then? She looks passable." Crow asked with a glint in his eyes.

"I . . . " Frei was quite derailed by the open request.

"It is fine, if master has no need for me tonight." Nitarja said as if she had just sold a slice of pizza to a hungry customer.

"Aaah finally. . . "

"No, it is not fine." Frei said coldly and the expression of his superior froze.

"Ugh . .. ." Crow stopped and for a second, it looked like he was about to attack him, but he then just relaxed and continued walking along the forest path as if he had never brought up the matter.

The silence was heavy, but for some reason Crow had not said a single word to rebuke Frei.

The surroundings gradually changed, the green needles of the conifers around them gave way to leaves of old trees, the forest becoming denser with more small animals. Frei watched an animal reminding him of a squirrel that had green and red stripes on its back, suggesting that it might be poisonous, if he used the logic of his home planet. It begged the question of whether the forest was really as toxic as presented to him, if such animals could thrive here.

"Based on the strength you have shown, I expect you to be of some use." Crow suddenly said and looked at Frei with scrutinizing gaze.

"Our target is Kronias Elestar, a leech that have made his base in the Black Forest, trying to hide under a rock." He continued focusing his full attention on him, completely ignoring Nitarja as if she was air.

"A leech?" Frei asked, surprised by his boss' willingness to talk.

"You really don't know much, huh?" Crow smirked, looking around them before he continued in his unexpected explanation.

"I do not have time for this kind of babysitting, but since we have nothing better to do on the way. . . Souls are the source of power for everyone. By possessing some souls, you possess the power of the Arcane Universe itself. Naturally, that power is finite, yet there are still more souls being born into the universe." Crow looked at Frei as if to ascertain that his brain had not yet exploded.

"No power is created from nothing, so how come that new souls are born and possess power? The total soul power of out universe is like a big cake, it is cut into so many slices, as many souls there are." Crow flashed his eyes in Frei's direction again and saw that his brain still held together.

"There are people called leeches who enslave easy targets to create breeding farms for souls." Crow continued and Nitarja next to them flinched visibly.

"Like breeding children only to slaughter them for souls?" Frei was not surprised, he had expected something similar going on somewhere given slavery existed.

"Yes." Crow answered and was amused by the face Frei made.

"Haha, I see that you are not that naive to believe that we are some sort of messengers of justice, but all organizations hate the practice, because it steals power from everyone else in addition to incurring the wrath of the public. It is even worse, the more total soul power the organization holds, the more is stolen by this practice, as all the existing slices are divided anew. The more you control, the more you lose. To eradicate such individuals is a matter of prestige and necessity for big organizations and states alike."

"Eeeeh." Crow looked into Frei's eyes for a time until he saw a bright light of understanding in there.

"Intriguing, but I bet the big players are doing it themselves behind closed doors anyway." Frei could not believe such a powerful tool was left unused.

"They are not, because with the help of fine measurement, everyone knows if someone does. It can be traced." Crow finished his explanation.

"Wait, but what about population booms and such? Are they some genocidal practices or. .. "

"It is uncommon. Fertility of the poor can by regulated by access to food, drugs, water and by disease if soft approaches fail. Direct culls of population usually happen only on planets with incompetent leadership or alien influence."

"Why are you telling me all this? I am just a muscle, am I?" This was the question Frei could not get out of his head since a while ago.

"It is not smart to spit around when walking, most competent people started as a muscle." Frei was a bit startled by Crow's answer, the man had looked like a simple goon at first, but had clearly some level of agency.

"I do have eyes, it is that simple. Those two were no amateurs and your companion is certainly utterly useless in fights." He glanced further to his right, but had not met Nitarja's eyes, as her head swiftly bowed down.

"Hey! You should hold true to your words." Frei made a big step and ended up blocking Crow's gaze fiercely, while patting Nitarja's head with his hand gently, trying to provide some comfort.

"Uh, do we have love here?" Crow laughed shortly, before he continued.

"I will respect that, but you should think twice about it, as a relationship like this can never be an equal one and often ends in a tragedy. Just a friendly advice." He laid his hand on Frei's shoulder, leaving him with mixed feelings about the man nicknamed Crow.

He heard Nitarja's sniff, she squeezed her body closer to his, but it lacked the aggressive nature of her usual behaviour.

What was with her suddenly? He could not figure it out, so he just let it slide.

* * THE DIVINE UNIVERSE * *

" . .. and a roasted onion it is." A hand patted Nitarja's head, making her smile. She quickly presented her plate, while making puppy eyes at the person with unkempt hair and ears a bit too big for his head, his fur the color of rust, he had inherited his wild look after his father.

"Thank you brother." She said brightly and swished her tail from side to side.

"On second though, you will get nothing for you have been very naughty!" He exclaimed suddenly and inched the frying pan back away from her plate.

"NOOO! Not fair!" She pretended to throw a tantrum and her brother laughed and proceeded with his previous action, serving her the onion.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of someone knocking on the door. Nitarja tried to stand up, but her brother put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"It is probably just a neighbour, coming to borrow something." Still, Nitarja felt her throat tightening with fright. People said they came at night, it has to be just a neighbour as her brother said.

He turned around and she could not but be reminded that his rusty tail was as messy as his hair. She had offered him to comb it many times, but he said that he could not be tamed so easily and refused her with a wave of his hand.

"Good morning, you will come with us, young man. Your country needs you." A strict looking man stood in the door dressed in a military attire and Nitarja fought to hold back her tears.

"Sure, someone has to do it." He answered with determination in his voice and she saw that the tension of the man and the ones behind him lessened, as if they expected resistance.

"Everything will be alright, your big brother will return before you know it!" Her brother said to her and patted her head gently.

That was the last moment she had seen him.

The army officer had come a month later.

Simply saying that he was sorry.

That the enemy was too strong.

That her brother was a casualty.

And that was it. A casualty!

Such a horrible word.

That moment when her brother left their house was the end of her ordinary life, the beginning of her personal hell.

* * * *

"It is not love." Frei retorted.

"Do as you will, but be ready for some nasty business tomorrow. It will not be pretty." Crow clearly had no intention to dissect the corpse of Frei's romantic life.

Frei really did not feel anything more towards Nitarja, he just considered random acts of ill will to be the poison of humanity. Baseless hate was for people who gave up on life, such people could just die as far as he was concerned, why spoil the experience for the others who had some life in them left? Well, he would have lied to say that he had not lusted for her at times, but that could be hardly called love.

The next day, they have finally arrived at the place.

Frei had expected to be greeted by an old castle ruin, fortified prison-like facility, a deep cave where the atrocities were happening, but instead, the first sign of the place of horror was a terrible stench that forced him to put his arm in front of his nose. When he looked around he spotted a large hole filled with bodies and he turned away immediately, even before he had been able to discern any details.

"Shit, this is not happening." Frei turned away his head while following Crow, he himself being followed by Nitarja, but the two of them did not show any noteworthy reaction, like they had seen something on this level several times already.

Walking on, they passed a man pushing a cart with several bodies in it. He passed them like a ghost, not showing any reaction to their presence. Crow ignored him completely as well and led them in the direction of the entrance into the deranged Mage's lair.

It was really a cave.

"What are you abilities? We can silently eliminate the guards and then. . ." Frei whispered to Crow, but he did not seem to be listening to him.

"Well, let's make it official." He just muttered and his next words were shouted aloud, his words echoing far into the silent Black Forest, as well as the cave itself.

"KRONIAS ELESTAR, I HEREBY SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH FOR THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE. YOUR SENTENCE SHALL BE EXECUTED NOW, BY THE SIGIL OF MERIDOR!!!!"

Frei cowered instinctively when he heard the loud roar of his companion.

"Crow, what are you doing?! Everyone knows we are here now!" He whispered angrily, but Crow seemed to be pleased with himself.

"Do you remember what I have said? Prestige and necessity." He said proudly and continued to walk in the direction of the cave like some symbol of freedom.

"Yeah, he has completely turned into a fucking statue of liberty. I hope we will not be killed because of this." Frei grumbled and followed the act, because their chance of a surprise attack was absolute zero anyway.

"I hope that our prideful memorial of freedom can back his attitude with abilities." Frei thought, wondering about the competence of their companion.

"Our scouts have discovered an escape tunnel near the mass grave. Hey, you, go there and follow Kronias if he decides to escape through there, you will be our scout." Crow looked at Nitarja and ordered out of the blue,

"A-agh, ok." She blurted out, taken back by the sudden request and unwillingly turned around to head back several hundred meters.

"Wait, What? He is a Mage, he will kill her the moment he sees her waiting for him!" Frei flew into rage immediately, angered by Crow's unreasonable order.

"Do not question my orders and do as I say, unless you want to become our next target. Do you dare to become an enemy of The Sigil of Meridor?!" Crow faced him threateningly, the tense atmosphere of the moment turning every second into ages.

"Then an enemy it is!" Frei whispered coldly and activated all his support abilities and transformations, tentacles shooting out of his transforming body.