"WHERE IS SHE?"

It was a disaster. In a short moment of laxness, to think something so preposterous could have happened...it was truly a fiasco of madness. The Orbis-Exeo, the only existing machine that could allow travelling across worlds, was gone, together with the radio Vincent has given to the boy. Even more freakish, the corpse of Alastor's only daughter, Odium, was also missing from the scene. What could this mean? Was she actually alive all these times, only pretended to be dead? Could she have taken the Orbis-Exeo as well? As a means to take revenge on Alastor? But that was impossible. Alastor has checked that. He made sure of it. But if it wasn't her, then who could have done such a thing?

"YOU! Did you take it?" the boy shouted at the only other person who was there with him.

"What are you talking about? I was with you the whole time." Cynthia retorted. She was just as surprised as him to see that both the machine and Odium's corpse were gone. From Sullivan's encounter with Vincent, she knew that the demon lords, or at least Sullivan and Nyx, wished that the Orbis-Exeo would be brought to Astora. Yet, none of them really knew why they should do that.

But Alastor didn't know any of that. To him, Cynthia was the most suspicious person out here.

"But you could have lured me away so one of your accomplices perhaps could use that time to sneak it and take them." Dashing to her position, the boy threw her off to the ground. Putting his hands around her neck as he pinched her down and sat on her, Alastor shouted at the defenseless woman. "You have five seconds before I snap this feeble neck of yours. It can't be Odium. SHE IS DEAD. So it can only be you. I won't let you or anyone defiling her body. Now, tell me!!! One!"

"I....I don't know!" Cynthia gasped for breath. Despite their size, the small hands of Alastor were firmly gripping her throat, making her unable to breathe properly. "Ah...A...!"

"LIES! TWO!" Alastor raged. He tightened his grasp even more.

"......." Cynthia struggled as hard as she could to no avail. The boy was simply too strong for her.

"THREE!"

"I....swe..ar!" Moaning in pain as she tried to shake him off her. How could he be this strong?

"FOUR!"

"...Ju...st...kill...me!" a shed of tears dropped from her cheeks as the pain that was inflicted to her started to feel numb. Cynthia was already on the verge of death.

It was at that moment that Alastor regained his self. What was he doing? Why could he do such a thing? Was he always this violent? His breathing got heavy as he laid his eyes upon this helpless woman. He almost killed her, just like that without any proof. What has he become?

Slowly releasing his hands, Alastor abruptly stood up and stepped away from her. Finally, being able to respire, the flow of air made Cynthia cough hardly as she tried to regulate her breathing. For a moment, she has seen the light, signalling her incoming end.

"Cynthia..I..." Alastor uttered in awe.

" *cough cough* *heavy breathing* It's...it's fine. You don't have to dwell on it. *heavy breathing*" the woman muttered softly.

"I am so sorry, Cynthia. I..." Carefully reaching his hand to the woman out of concern, he walked up to her and tried to help her stand up.

*SLAP*

"Don't touch me!" Cynthia yelled at him, slapping his arm to a side. The expression on her face, it was fear. A natural reaction you would say, considering how he almost killed her just now. But it wasn't why she slapped him. No, it was something much more, shrouded, concealed, hidden behind the darkness of her somber past.

If you thought about it, Cynthia has shown how she had little regard for her own life and she had no qualms with exposing her body as she saw it as horrendous. It was as if to her, the life she led so far was a pitiful and miserable existence, one that has pushed her to end it herself on so many occasions. Yet, she didn't, for a very simple reason. If she was to die, how would she able to avenge for what they did to her? Yes, whatever retained of Cynthia right now that allowed her to live till this day was her hatred, the fury, the rage she kept inside her all these years, waiting for the day to gratified.

Being a priestess of Malatas might sound like a grand title, something anyone would envy. But that was not the case for Cynthia, not with her story. One look at her body would make one understand why it was that way. Those scars, living testaments of the life she led so far, were only the remaining vestiges of that inscrutability.

With her trembling arms, she tried to cover herself. It showed a complete different woman from earlier. The same woman that had no problem to show her entire naked body was now shaking in fear, caused by a mere touch from Alastor. It was Alastor himself that induced that fear in her. No, it was his nature that provoked it. A man, a male, a boy. That was why. It was the fear of man that made Cynthia to push him away. One had to wonder: just what could have happened in the past that made her this way?

"I am..sorry....I didn't mean it." Alastor muttered in regret.

"No...it's fine! It's not your fault." The woman held her arms tightly. She was trying to regain control of her body, to rid herself of the shaking. "And I said it already. You can kill me anytime you want. This body is yours to take, to do whatever you want, to throw away when you are done, as long as you hold up to your promise by keeping me by your side."

"Don't say things like that about yourself! You have to treasure your body!" the boy pled.

"Ha how funny! What is there to treasure when every inch of this corpse has been defiled long ago?" Cynthia laughed forcefully.

"Even so..."

"I don't wish to talk about this, demon lord. I didn't come here and pledge my service to you so we can chat about me and my past." Said Cynthia as she stood up by herself, fixing her clothes and regaining her composure. "Like I said, I have nothing to do with the disappearance of your machine and Odium. You can ask your demon lords friends about that. Those stalkers are always watching even when they are already dead."

"It's fine...I already said that I will trust you, for now."

"Then you are more of an idiot than I thought you were." Cynthia grunted.

"I have heard that a few times." the boy smiled softly, scratching his head.

"...Let's just take a look around before getting out of here! If we are away for too long, it will be difficult to convince people that I survive the miasma." The woman counselled.

"Yeah...let's do that! By the way, Cynthia..."

"Yes, my dear lord?"

"I am very sorry for what I did. Truly I am."

"....Idiot!"

* * *

Regrettably, there was no sign of either of Orbis-Exeo or Odium even after a thorough search of the castle and the nearby areas. It was as if the two simply vanished into thin air without leaving a trace. Left with no other choice and no suspect in mind, Alastor decided to return to the beastmen's camp together with the Priestess of Luna. In the journey back, Alastor's thoughts were filled with conjectures on who could have done such a thing. No one was supposed to know about the Orbis-Exeo, at least no one from Astora so there was no way anyone could have just steal it like that. They didn't even know what it was. What about the people of the Other World? Impossible! That meant they needed to go to Astora in order to steal the machine back? Then how on Earth did they come here in the first place? But the most worrying aspect was still Odium. A dead body could not just rise up and go away just like that unless necromancy or something similar was used on her. But if such magic was to be cast, Alastor would have noticed it already, even if he was in the underground at that time, he still had his sense. Yet he didn't sense anything out of place that could be responsible for the disappearances.

With a heavy heart, the boy exhaled a long sigh. Odium's body was one thing. But the Orbis-Exeo and the radio were the last things that were connected to the Other World. How was he supposed to go back there now? Well, at the very least, he still had the hand-cannon Faith that was given to him by Kennedy. Luckily, he put it on his belt instead of posing it on the chair inside the machine.

"God damn it! How could I be so careless?" the boy complained to himself. "How stupid I am!" he hit himself in the head.

"That, you are." Cynthia added.

"I know!!!" Alastor spoke loudly.

Unknown to him, while he was complaining, talking to himself, Cynthia was having a conversation with the entity residing in the crystal she had engraved on her chest.

'Was you the one who did it??' Cynthia spoke in her mind.

'Hell no! It wasn't me or any of the demon lords. Else you would have known! Remember that you and Alastor are our only connections to this world! We can't do anything without you noticing.' The demon lord Sullivan explained himself.

'But you insisted on bringing it here, didn't you? And now it's gone. You are telling me that you really have nothing to do with it? That's hard to believe.' Cynthia said.

'As I have told you, we only did as the vision Nyx saw indicated. We have no idea what is going to happen exactly. Perhaps this is for the best. Who knows what fate has in store for us?'

'.....' Cynthia remained silent.

'No need to worry, my dear! The deal is still on, with or without the Orbis-Exeo. We don't care about it anyway. Focus on helping Alastor do what he wants and we will give you what you want!' Sullivan encouraged.

'I don't think Alastor is capable of such a thing. The fact that he didn't kill me shows his weakness.'

'I have nothing to comment about that. But let me assure you that Nyx's prophetic dream is one hundred per cent accurate. Whatever he saw, it will become reality.'

'Let's just hope that it will, soon enough or the deal is off!' Cynthia menaced.

'It will, soon!'

.....

Finally arriving at the camp, Alastor was immediately greeted with a pair of...melons in his face.

"Alastor, you are back!" Ikarus jumped at the boy, hugging him tightly.

"Ikarus..." Alastor put his hands on the girl's cheek and caressed it gently. To Ikarus, it has only been one day since they last saw each other but to the boy, he has done quite a long journey just to come back here. It was only now that he realized how frightening it would be if he could never see the beautiful face in front of him right now ever again. "I..I am back!" The boy jumped and kissed her lightly on her soft lips before turning his head away in embarrassment.

It was an astonishing moment for there were so many people around, especially for Ikarus. She was overjoyed by the kiss but at the same time worried. She noticed that something was off about Alastor. He wasn't this...emotional before, at least not in public.

"Are you alright? Did you hit your head or something? Do you have a fever?" Putting one hand on his forehead and the other on hers, the girl tried to check if the boy was sick or something.

"No no, nothing like that! It's just...I miss you. That's all!" a gentle smile was shown on his face as he hugged the girl tightly. "I am back, my angel."

"Welcome home, my love!" Putting her hands behind his back, the celestial embraced the young boy, forgetting about everything around them.

"EHEM! Can you avoid flirting in public please?" a voice awoke the two love birds. It was the Beast King who was the first to speak out to break the awkwardness generating from these two. "We still have a war at our hands. If you really need to do your family duties, go find a tent but please, not in the middle of the camp!"

Embarrassed by the statement, the two immediately pushed each other away, looking down to the ground in avoid the stares.

"The war is already over!" a woman spoke out.

"Cynthia! You are safe!" the priestess of Solana, Eris, shouted upon seeing the figure behind Alastor.

"I would not have been if lord Alastor has not passed by at the right moment. I own my life to him."

"What do you mean the war is over? We still need to make the Elf King answer for his crimes." Zen retorted.

"He did. Alastor has already killed him back at the castle after an intense confrontation." Cynthia said.

"Dead? Where is his body? We need to see it with our own eyes."

"There is none. He blew himself to bits trying to take Alastor with him but as you can see, he failed. The court mage who is also in cahoots with him has also been punished. If you want to check, you can go to the castle to see for yourself. Though, I would not recommend it since the miasma has taken over the whole country, including the castle." The priestess explained.

"Then...it is really over?" Zen uttered in disbelief.

"I assure you, King Zen. The war is already over!" Alastor intervened. "Your people have won."

"We won? Just like that? Not a sounding horn of victory? Not anything? Then what did all those thousands of people die for? What of justice?" chief Gon shouted in anger. "These damn elves are still here."

"...So are we!" the wise voice of the last Beast King spoke. It was chief San. "They died so we could live. I understand you anger, chief Gon. Believe me, I do!" the old beastman clenched his fist before releasing it. "But you have to let it go. You cannot blame the crimes of one person, even if that person is the leader, on the rest of the country. Too much blood has been spilled already...it's time to end this."

"Even if you say that, I am not satisfied with this result." Gon grunted.

"Well it's not up to you." Said Loo. "Lord Zen, what is your stance in this?"

"There is nothing to think about. We have won. That's what matters." Zen said calmly.

"Then what do we do with these remaining elves?" Pointed Gon at the two priestesses. Worrying about her life, Eris was taken back, cowered in fear behind Cynthia.

Ever since the Luna priestess has saved her life from the rebel princess Elena, tensions between the factions, or at least between their leaders, have been rather limpid with Eris opening up to the idea of coexistence, instead of one completely overshadowing the other. Especially now since they found themselves leaderless, Eris and Cynthia would have to work together in order to bring the country back in order.

But could things really come back to normal? Technically, they no longer had a country to go back to anymore. The land was filled with miasma and no one knew how to get rid of them. Who could predict how long would it remain in Malatas? Where would they go in the mean time? Those were some problematic questions without any easy solution. At least that was what it seemed to Eris and the rest of the council of the elves. Yet, none of them realized that their solution might just be in front of them, in the form of a young boy.

"The elves go with me." Alastor proclaimed. "As it was dictated in our agreement, lord Zen, Malatas now belongs to Zagon, including all the surviving citizens. They are welcome to stay in our country, either to become citizens of Zagon or only temporary before they could find another place to stay. Or so said my mother, the Empress."

"I don't have any problem with that. But what makes you think they are going to follow you?" asked Zen.

"Yeah, what makes you think that we are going to follow you?" Eris joined the conversation, speaking with a pompous tone. "You might have killed Aldol for us but that doesn't mean we are going to submit to you. We elves are proud of our lineage and legacy."

"And what is left of that legacy now? A land filled with miasma? Yeah that's going to attract a lot of tourism and trade." Alastor jested. "What I am offering is only beneficial to you. You can stay in Zagon, speak with our leader while deciding what to do next. If you want, you can stay and become our citizens. What is the harm in that?"

"But Zagon is a country for humans, not elves!" Eris snapped back.

"The ideology of a racial country is already outdated. It won't do us any good and only brings out conflict because of our differences. But imagine if we, together, can form a coexisting society! I won't say there won't be any conflict at the start but at the very least, it will help prevent wars like this one. Won't you agree with me?" preached Alastor.

"That's..." Eris uttered.

"A contemplative ideology! But to accomplish it is not easy." Cynthia commented.

"If it's easy, you would think it has already been done by now. There will be difficulties, challenges, oppositions at the beginning but only when we overcome those obstacles, can we truly find peace." These words seemed almost too unbelievable, especially when it came from such a small boy. But those who had spoken to Alastor knew that he far surpassed those of his age or even adults.

"I see. Then in that case, I accept your offer!" Said the Luna priestess.

"Cynthia!!!" Eris yelled.

"We don't have a choice, Eris. Where else are we going to stay? Certainly not here, don't you think?"

Eris looked back at the hundreds of beastmen around her, only to see their eyes filled with anger and dissatisfaction. Alastor might have calmed things on the outside but most of the soldiers, the survivors of the beast tribes were still in morn of the death of their loved ones. At time like these, people were unstable. To see an elf, their enemies, even if it wasn't the one who actually did the killing, might incite some unpredictable troubles. In short, they were not welcomed here.

"Yeah...you are right. Then we will take on your offer...for now, lord Alastor!" Eris conveyed.

"A most wise decision! Then I will talk to my troops immediately to prepare our departure." Alastor turned to the Beast King. "What about your people, Lord Zen? We have the same offer for you."

"...I will have to decline. At least not yet. My people are still mourning over the death of those who have fallen. Now it's not the time for such an important change.

But I do have to admit. Your words have convinced a part of me. Show me how you will deal with the elves first and we will see how things go between us." Zen confessed.

"Then I hope you will keep close eyes on us then." Alastor added,

"Trust me, I will! That's why I decided to send a small group of ambassadors to Zagon, as a gesture of good will for our alliance. And to keep an eye of your actions, just in case you want to invade us."

"Wow you sure don't mince words don't you? Why the need to tell me that?"

"Haha I am sure your Empress already knows about my intention so there is no need to hide anything. Besides, if we cannot trust each other, how do you expect us to accomplish that idea of yours?" the Beast King claimed.

"That's true. You know, you might be much better at politics than you claim to be. Suppose that's why everyone follows you."

"Spare me that! I prefer to go smash my enemies' skulls with my sword than throwing words around like those nobles."

"So who are you going to send for your ambassadors?" asked Alastor.

"Viviana and her group."

".....I see." The boy muttered.

"What? You don't like her?"