Salem sat upon his throne of bone and machinery. "How could you f**k your night operation up that badly?" He demanded, coldly gazing at Alina, who was still wearing the skimpy assassin costume he had designed for her. "Nevermind, I'll just send Reaper. You can wait for me in my bedroom."
"Yes, master." Alina replied, her eyes downcast as she backed out of the room.
Summoning Reaper, Salem explained the night operation. He was to enter a secure rebel facility and assassinate the leader of the resistance. "Be careful, though. Apparently, they have two nanomancers." Salem warned. Salem didn't directly act because he wanted to feel the joy of battling two new opponents that could possibly kill him. Nothing beat that thrill for him.
After dealing with a few small matters for his ever-growing empire, Salem went to his bedroom. Beneath the transluscent silks draped around the four-poster bedframe, Salem saw Alina's nude figure. She had splayed herself seductively for when Salem entered.
"Hello, master." Alina didn't sound the slightest bit happy with her current situation. Salem ignored this and proceeded to enjoy her late into the night.
....
The next morning, Reaper returned with the resistance leader's head.
"Thank you, Reaper. You may rest." As Salem spoke, Reaper quickly diffused into his shadow.
Salem had dealt with the rebels the previous day and he could put all of the work onto Ruby for today, so he could take a day off.
Salem hated having guards, so he left them in his palace of bone and machinery.
Feeling nostalgiac, he entered the nuclear wasteland thst had long since been purged of it's radioactive material. Despite it no longer being radioactive, it was still as barren as Salem remembered his adventures before he had ascended.
As he reminisced, he felt a pain in his back. Grabbing the source of the pain, he turned and saw Alina.
"This isn't you, Salem." Alina said, crying. "I don't know what changed you, but if you're going to be like this, I'm going to have to stop you."
"Oh, Alina." Salem said, mildly irritated. "It'll take far more than that to kill me."
"I know." She sobbed.
Alina looked at him sorrowfully before his head rolled into the ash, still wearing an expression of shock.