It was just supposed to be a simple clean-up job. To reclaim the children lost from Slavemaster Vask.
But, being sent out here to the Demon's lands always makes me feel sad.
It's not as though I pity them, they deserve this fate, such was their ancestor's doing in rebelling against Aurum.
What I'm simply sad about is the lack of cohesion, the lack of effort given by them to finally dig themselves out of this curse.
My one earnest wish is to cull them all when they've reached their fullest potential. I want to erase them, to strike them down as they reach their zenith.
That is my desire as the Virtue of Diligence, to see my enemies fail just as they reach their fullest potential. To give due diligence, as one would say.
But, unfortunately, I do not think this will ever happen.
"You cannot escape from here, Paladin," The now sun-scorched Demon known as Stergos the Grey Wolf, managed to spit out as he lay dying at my feet.
"Where are we?" I asked him, as I had completely lost my bearings from the fight. Beyond the two of us, there were other ashes of scorched Demons surrounding us in a circle. They must've come along in the spell that the Grey Wolf had done in effort to quell mine.
"We are in her domain, a secret place known only to a few... it will take you a very, very long time to escape from here, ha...*HACK*" The Grey Wolf said as he was assailed by a terrible cough; he didn't have much time left.
"How irksome, you've teleported me away from that man and the children," I said, deducing that his cryptic language was disguising the naked truth; this was simply a mass teleport.
We were in what looked like a sweeping valley shaped in a crescent, illuminated by the blue glow of the Fractured Moon. I could only faintly feel the Twin Sun's protection here, as if it were being stifled. It was decorated in glowing blue flowers, but as I took a closer look, I saw that they were in fact not blue; but rather transparent.
They reflected the moonlight, giving the illusion of a blue glow.
"It is a testament to your strength that you had managed to survive my Heaven's Strike, Grey Wolf. Rest easy now, your death will be recorded in my sister's database, you were a worthy foe,"
But the Grey Wolf said nothing as his eyes glazed over, softening as they watched Lunarsa's accursed vessel above.
Seeing that his time was now at an end, I took my leave. Any of my other sisters would've crushed his head in for causing them such trouble as this, but other than Patience and myself, we believe in the restful passage of death.
Sigh, I do hope I won't be scolded by the Goddesses for failing, especially after they had overridden my directive from the Queen to focus on that man.
But to think... such power... it could rival even mine, maybe even all of my sisters.
"Ahh... delicious," I couldn't help my sweetly whisper to myself, my body ran hot as I thought of him.
His potential, that surge of mana...
I must kill him, I must cull him as he reaches his zenith...
"Mmmm, wonderful..." I mutter as I bit my lip, hardly holding myself back as I felt a surge of heat grow in my loins.
No, not here... I wouldn't wish to sully the Grey Wolf's dying breath with something so... unbecoming.
I'll wait to relieve myself as I further my leave of this place.
Yes, that is the proper thing to do.
That is my due diligence.
---
*Wheeze*
It was beautiful, the moonlight above me.
To think, after all of these years, that it would end this way.
*Wheeze*
Ah, the Paladin, she's begun to move. The likelihood of her ever leaving this valley is slim, it has a powerful curse in place to prevent anyone not under Lunarsa's protection from escaping. It was my trump card, a hidden technique I had developed over my lifetime, it could only be used once; as it would devour my soul in turn.
A fitting fate for those who've taken the curse of the Lycan; and be it so.
But, she is a Paladin, one of the golden Seven; the chosen under the Twin Suns. She likely has something hidden under her sleeve still to improve that chance.
If anything, I've given her Majesty and that man enough time.
Yes, enough.... time.
I'm dying, half of my body was caught in that spell that Human woman had cast.
If anything, I had mere minutes left before I'd be reclaimed by her.
My eyes trailed up to the Fractured Moon, I studied her many fractures and the creasing split of her core. Even though she had been stricken down, she still remains up there; ever watching of those she loves.
"O' Lunarsa of the Fractured Moon..."
"Please, protect that girl, she has suffered enough to fulfill a hundred lifetimes..."
I felt the strength in me disappear as the words escaped my lips.
My mind began to swell with the life I had lived, of being nothing but a walking disaster on the battlefield.
Stergos the Grey Wolf, devourer of champions. Such a twist of a fate it was, to escape that past and become a mere butler.
Bah, I'm nothing but an old man now; it was foolish for me to think I could still replicate the strength of my prime.
I apologize to you, my Majesty's men, for believing in my foolish hope.
But rest easy now, as I will escort you to paradise.
The last thing I thought of as I felt my soul be whisked away, was of that man.
An enigma, his soul unlike others, wasn't full.
It was almost as if, translucent; reflective.
A reflection, but of what?
Ah... I see.
It was you...
all...
along...
Goodbye, your Majesty.