Before meeting with the others again, Kazius had… bit of preparations he needed to take care of. While Alice helped him once again, it seems she wanted to be a part of every single one of his atrocities. Then again, it was clear that Alice meant her words to him. She intended to get her hands just as dirty as his. This connection they had and their love… A part of Kazius was worried about what they would be capable of… Yet another half welcomed such a development eagerly.

What was surprising or perhaps maybe expected… Vidir had insisted on watching their work, the Dragon more than intrigued by Kazius’ abilities. After all, Kazius and Remus had an unique method of conducting their Necromancy. Of course, something like that was more than exciting to him… Enough so that Vidir offered up his lair to do the procedure. It was becoming more and more certain to Kazius that the Dragon would serve him quite faithfully due to his own greed.

Though Kazius was done with simple Necromancy… No… The eternal unrest that it would bring Luna was far from enough… And too wasteful… He would use every part of her. There was so much potential with the union of shadows and death, but he had people waiting for him, so he had little time… Somethings would have to wait…

The urgent matter was her soul. Souls did not linger for long, that was something he had learned the hard way in an alternative future. Thankfully, for this work… To construct Luna’s punishment… An hour was plenty.

Kazius felt at home playing with such dark forces. The darkness of the shadows and that of death itself… He would create a masterpiece by uniting them. Feeling inspired and greedy, Kazius ended up using more than just Luna. Any consequential casualties from todays’ events provided him with some ‘donations’ to fuel his new weapon. A weapon of darkness and hatred… Something he could not wait to try out.

Alice stared at the cage made of shadow in horror while Vidir looked all the more intrigued. The wails coming from it sounding hauntingly disturbing. The cage would violently shake as it sunk into Kazius’ shadow, disappearing. It was clear whoever else ended up contributing to their creation… Would not find peace in the afterlife.

“I suppose that is all we can do for now… Time does always go by faster when you are having fun. We should al head back, that includes you as well, Vidir.” Kazius stated with a satisfied expression on his face.

“Alright… You were so convincing and all… That I even decided to help you… Is that the story we are going with? I suppose it isn’t really a lie… But aren’t a good amount of them your friends? Will you continue to lie to them?” Vidir questioned in amusement, his tone obviously indicating a taunt. Clearly he was not worried about the ethics of what was being done, but rather he just found the situation entertaining.

“They are… And I would never do anything to hurt them… It is everyone else I don’t care about. I will get my hands dirty… And sometimes I may even need their help… But I will do everything in my power to keep them safe… And to have the strength to crush anyone that goes against that goal… Alice insisted she wanted to get her hands as dirty as mine… And as the one I love, I am granting her that wish… So I will not keep anything else from her… But this must be kept a secret from the others…” Kazius admitted, his expression softening a little despite the Dragon’s tone.

As he spoke. Alice would stare at him with a torn expression, her gaze a mixture of longing and sadness.

“I won’t force Azanor to lie… It would also have been simpler to just take Luna’s position as the leader of the rebellion and kill Sakura… But Damon fancies her… And now they are closer together… Didn’t you hear her ask him for tea? I do what I do because I care about them…” Kazius admitted, almost sounding like his old self, but just as fast as it occurred… It ended, his expression growing twisted, a wide grin gracing his face as he gazed intensely at Vidir, “So please do remember that… If you ever get any ideas… Ending up like that overly ambitious girl will be the last of your worries. Mercy and empathy things I no longer capable of.”

Vidir scoffed, “After watching you make that thing… Do you really think I would be foolish enough to get such ideas? Besides, there is so much to see and learn by following you… You do not have to worry about me.” He assured dismissively. “I do hope know that I am involved with your plans… Rubrumreptiscarlu’s troublesome offspring may get more uneasy if you intend to expand your influence near their border. Red Dragons have quite the short temper and are much more territorial than I am. Thankfully their father has been slumbering so sometime now… “

“I will get to it when I get to it… I am aware they will be an obstacle though… But there is a pest that we need to do something about first… But we will take care of that once Blossom is ours. Now come on, enough stalling.” Kazius stated firmly. With that, he would head out with the group.

Alice, Vidir, and Kazius were the last to arrive to the meeting. Unlike before, Sakura had less of an elegant set up. While any broken glass had been cleaned up, there was still windows in the room that now let in a draft.

Everyone sat on red cushions on the floor next to a low yet big wooden rectangular table. Everyone was sitting on the same level, as equals. This was rather different from any political business that would be held at the throne room.

On one end of the table sat Sakura, Damon sitting next to her. Next to Damon was Eve and Azanor. Across Damon sat Rowan. It seems they Sakura was shaking drinks with them as well since they arrived early. Sakura looked much more relaxed, Damon still drinking from what had to be the smallest drinking cup Kazius had ever seen. It was almost comical seeing the large Werewolf holding such a thing.

Of course, the moment they entered the palace, the sight of Vidir would surprise and confuse everyone present.

“Did you bring a new friend?” Eve asked giddily, seeming to almost be bouncing in her seat while eagerly waving at Alice and Kazius. Maybe it was not good to give her alcohol…

“You calmed the Dragon down? I suppose I am not surprised… I think you had enough alcohol, Eve.” Azanor chuckled out with a small smirk. It was likely hard to not hold Kazius in high esteem considering what the Demon knew he could do. Both in terms of making friends and strength.

“Long story short, we came to an understanding. He knows that the situation you were in was a peculiar one, Lady Sakura.” Kazius stated as they all sat down on the opposite end of Sakura, Ali.

“I do see I was acting quite… In an unsightly manner.” Vidir confirmed, “My name is Lazertavidir, you may call me Vidir.” Vidir introduced himself with a bit of a grin, “I have also hard of Kazius’ goal… So I will be helping you all. The events today… Made me realize I should do more than just be locked up in my den.”

“I see, thank you for listening to us… I truly apologize for the trouble my people have caused you… And Kazius… This goes for all of you… I… Please do not call me Lady… Sakura is just fine… I… The more I see how incredible of a leader you are… The less I feel I am worthy of that name…” Sakura admitted in dismay. “I was taking to Damon, he told me about how much you helped him… And his people…” She trailed off. It seems she and Damon had quite the heart to heart while alone.

“That is why… I believe you should take control over Blossom.” Sakura admitted, “Please… Help me people.” Sakura stated with, moving in her seat so she could bow towards Kazius.

Kazius would hold back a grin and instead just smiled warmly at her, “I accept… But I intended on helping your people anyway… I already sent word to Vargstam… They had a plentiful harvest this year… And have plenty of food that comes naturally from the area. We should have enough to avoid a crisis… Your people will be fine.” He assured.

At this, relief would wash over Sakura’s face. So much so that a few tears would stream down her cheek, “T-Thank you…” She stated, “I’ve heard about the Demons and The Church from Azanor when he first got here… I swear to you… In the name of any honor, I have left… I will help you… I owe you all so much… I will spend whatever is left of my life repaying that.” She stated with a determined expression on her face.

Kazius would smile warmly at her, shaking his head, “What are friends for? I hope we can form a new friendship with you and Vidir… Welcome to the team.” He stated contently. His plan worked better than expected.