Vaan trudged forward.

His steps were slow and firm yet burdened with a laborious breath.

Each movement sent aches across his dying body.

He stopped before an inconspicuous grave and dropped the bag held in his hand.

"I'm back."

Several blood-soaked wands peeked through the bag's opening.

The rusty odor spread in the air. 

"I've killed all of them."

He sat in front of the grave.

A flicker of warmth appeared in his hollow eyes for a brief moment.

"I'm…."

Sorry for not believing you.

Sorry for not being there when you needed me the most.

Sorry for being a failure of a husband.

He swallowed the words.

Vaan did not have the right to ask for her forgiveness.

His gaze lingered at the gravestone and his thoughts continued to move.

Would she have thanked him for killing her murderers?

Probably not.

She would have hurried him to tend to his wounds.

Or maybe she would have tried to stop him from killing her murderers.

That's how she was.

A stupid woman who was too kind for her own good.

If she could love a monster like him, she could definitely forgive those bastards.

The dark clouds continued to rumble in the sky.

Vaan ignored them until a lightning bolt crashed on top of him.

The lightning changed its path just as it was about to hit him. 

It struck a nearby gravestone and transformed into a human.

Thousands of similar lightning strikes followed.

When everything returned to normal, hundreds of mages appeared in the once empty graveyard.

The mage who had come out of the first lightning bolt stepped forward.

She stared at Vaan with a complicated gaze, then bowed.

"Lord Vaan, please help us."

The alliance of mages followed the woman and lowered their head. 

Vaan could've ignored them, but he decided to humor himself.

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?" 

The leader of the mages clenched her trembling fists at the sarcastic question.

She bit her lips to stop the curses that were threatening to overflow.

"Lord Vaan..."

The mage, Livia, pleaded.

"With the Magi Kings dead, you are the last hope of our world."

She pointed her wand at the sky. 

The simple motion cleared the dark clouds, revealing a sky filled with cracks.

"The Gate of Gehenna is about to open. Strong as we might be, we are helpless against the invaders without a Magi King leading us."

"You mean these Magi Kings?" 

Vaan threw the blood soaked bag at her feet. 

The mages felt a mixture of despair, anger, and fear when they saw the wands roll out of the bag.

Despite Vaan's open taunt, Livia and the mages did not voice out a shred of complaint.

For the first time Vaan pitied the Magi Kings. 

They were tyrants. Calling them monsters was an insult to the monsters. But they treated their subordinates justly.

Yet, their subordinates were wagging their tails in front of him, the one who killed their masters.

After receiving his answers, Vaan ignored the plea of mages and returned his gaze to the gravestone in front of him.

He sat there without doing anything.

Finally, Livia spoke, unable to wait any longer.

"Lord Vaan, we don't have much time left. Please let us heal you. Even the witch of frost—"

Her words were cut off when a thin red line appeared over her neck.

A beat later, her head rolled on the ground and her headless body fell with a dull thud.

No one saw Vaan move. 

Just as the mages were about to fall into panic, a man stepped forward from among them.

"Lord Vaan, I apologize for Livia's transgression. But she was correct. Your wife wouldn't have liked your current state." 

Unlike Livia, the mage, Kane, spoke confidently.

"Allow us to heal you, Lord Vaan. If you stay stubborn, you won't be able to stay alive for more than a few minutes."

But Vaan ignored him.

He continued to suppress his regeneration and didn't allow his body to heal.

"Lord Vaan, y—"

"Leave, or die."

Vaan gave the ultimatum.

The mages grew restless.

On one hand, Livia's corpse and wands of Magi Kings proved that Vaan wasn't giving an empty threat.

On the other hand, if the Gate of Gehenna opened, they would die either way.

Minutes turned into hours. 

A few mages had left after the first hour.

The remaining ones left one-by-one when they realized that no amount of pleas would get Vaan to help them.

Kane was the last one to leave.

"Lord Vaan, I hope you survive the coming ordeal."

Vaan ignored the words which could have been genuine worry or a sarcastic remark.

His gaze never left the gravestone.

Even as the sky split open and hordes of invaders appeared, he did not move.

He would succumb to his injuries before the invaders could reach him.

Sensing his own end, Vaan poured out his grievances.

"Do you remember the first time we met?"

"I stormed into your house and forced you to marry me. I didn't do that because I loved you, but because I got infatuated with your beauty."

"Back then, I was obnoxious, unruly, and repugnant. I couldn't wield mana and was scorned for it."

"My terrible upbringing had twisted me."

"I thought you would also treat me like others did."

"But you gave me love, something I had always longed for."

"And what did I do?"

"I was scared that your love was fake."

"The thought that one day you would reveal you had been tricking me, that it was your revenge for forcing you to marry me, made me unable to stay with you."

When Vaan got the opportunity to grow stronger, he felt that it was the god giving him an answer.

To grow stronger, to finally be able to use magic, he needed to leave his wife.

It seemed like a perfect choice back then.

She would be freed from the unfortunate marriage and her stigmata of having a manaless husband would disappear.

"Why did I make that choice back then? What do I do now that I have become the strongest?"

"I…"

"I just want to meet you again."

His breathing slowly came to a halt.

The Devil who had once terrorized the world died next to his wife's grave.