"Custodian Order!"
Parasitic Sovereignty's mad glee receded at once, replaced by a deep scowl.
He didn't wait for them to descend before commanding Love to intercept them, but it was futile.
The dragon had passengers on its back.
A dozen demi-humans.
An elf stepped onto the dragon's head and intercepted Love's flesh with a fire spell so cataclysmic that it reached the earth below, scorching a kilometer of land and the Narkals upon it.
Love was burned just as badly.
Although it was little more than a scratch to someone with her Concepts, the attack had bought the dragon enough time to land.
And the moment it did, the people on its back dispersed, each unleashing carnage and death upon the alien invaders.
Ashen merely remained rooted in place, waiting for the next exchange.
But no foe came for him.
Instead, a red-haired woman in a maid dress approached.
Her attire was completely at odds with the surrounding atmosphere, but had he been conscious, Ashen would have instantly recognized her as none other than Regina, the vampire.
But it didn't matter.
The moment she reached him, his spear moved.
Thrust—!
Regina's eyes widened as she felt death approaching through a single spear thrust from this half-dead man, forcing her to retreat hurriedly.
Thankfully, he did not follow her.
He simply remained rooted in place.
"Tsk."
A distressed expression graced her face, but she did not relent. Instead, she opted for dialogue.
"Count! We are here to save you. Please cooperate!"
No response.
"Damn it!!"
She was about to use force, but that was when another presence landed beside her.
Regina looked beside her to find a short girl who could only be described as a white princess.
Her long hair was white. Her eyelashes, her eyes, her pupils… everything about her was white.
"Goddess… we came here at your request, but he is not cooperating. What now?"
"Allow me."
The so-called Goddess uttered the words in a monotone voice before walking toward Ashen.
"He is all yours. But you can't say I didn't warn you." Regina spoke with a touch of disdain.
But to her shock, even as the Goddess approached his striking range, the man did not react.
No. He was just about to, but Ashen's blood suddenly boiled within him.
The reaction induced an air of familiarity inside his body, as if it had encountered a kindred spirit; or a long-lost family member.
And so, his body's instincts did not react.
The white Goddess finally reached him.
She lifted a palm and gently ran it across his arm. Her eyes lingered on the cracked spear that was miraculously still holding together, but she did not stop.
She did not care about the blood marring her fair hands.
She simply continued caressing every part of his body.
And with each caress, his wounds healed.
Bit by bit, Ashen's body returned to functioning, while the Hollow Resolve Skill that had unknowingly taken hold of him slowly receded, giving his consciousness enough room to surface.
The first thing he saw was an expressionless girl caressing his cheek.
Aside from a small heart-shaped mark on her cheek, she was completely white.
For a moment, he almost mistook her for an angel.
'Am I dead?'
"No. You are still alive."
Her voice remained flat, almost emotionless.
"I came here to make sure that fact remained true."
"Who… are you?"
Ashen asked numbly, his brain still incapable of producing much bewilderment.
"Goddess of Salvation."
She took his hand.
"Come with me."
She was about to pull him away when she felt resistance.
"No…"
"No?"
The Goddess tilted her head slightly.
"If you stay here, you will die."
A brief pause.
"And Salvation will have no chance."
"I need… to kill…"
"Who?"
"False… Mercy."
He didn't know what he was saying.
Nor did he know why he was saying it.
Even if he tried to rationalize those words as nothing more than a desperate need for revenge, Parasitic Sovereignty should have been his target.
So why…?
He didn't get the chance to question himself any further. The answer came in the form of the memories assaulting his psyche.
"Ah…"
He nodded, more to himself than to her.
"I need to kill him now."
"Are you crazy?!"
Regina finally lost her patience.
"Do you know how much we are sacrificing just to save you from them?! How can you be this selfish?!"
Ashen looked at her.
Even as he finally realized who she truly was, he barely acknowledged her presence.
"If it wasn't for the Goddess's request… this wouldn't be happening!"
The two individuals completely ignored the vampire and continued looking into each other's eyes.
"I understand."
The Goddess eventually nodded gently.
"I will do it."
Ashen didn't answer immediately.
He turned and looked around him.
The Outer Gods were occupied.
The Narkals had been pushed far away.
And False Mercy was in a wretched state after the prolonged battle.
"No need."
He looked back toward her.
"Instead… can you cover me?"
"I understand."
"Thank you."
"It is my duty."
A faint smile finally appeared on his face.
It seemed that he wasn't alone in this quest for salvation after all.
"Let's go."
The Goddess nodded.
"Understood."
◉◉◉
False Mercy's body had turned more female than male, courtesy of Love's care, as the war against that one man and his immortal army continued.
It was a testament to how many blows he had survived from that treacherous human who always found a way to reach him.
But he was confident in his survival, no matter what, because he possessed something no one else did, aside from his parasitic leader, of course.
Eros.
The will to live above all else.
The Concept had long since transcended mere biological logic and could even save him from Concepts that assured death, such as the Instant Death Concept that one of his old comrades possessed.
But that left him with little in the way of offensive means, aside from the minor Concepts he had swallowed throughout his journey, as well as the many spells and physical techniques he was proficient in.
Of course, Thanatos remained his main attacking Concept, but it was still true that it lacked true destructiveness.
It was a curse that led others toward death, whether sooner or later. But that was only under the assumption that the other party was vulnerable enough.
And the first requirement for that was emotion.
Unfortunately, his current opponent was a creature of pure logic.
He looked at the bald, eight-handed man with a displeased expression.
'An emotionless doll. How troublesome.'
Even against this kind of foe, if he had enough time and patience, he could still make him kill himself.
But currently, he had neither.
Those eight hands were more like tentacles than true hands, their ends tapering into sharp points. They shot toward False Mercy at speeds that left blasts of air in their wake, forcing him to constantly dodge rather than attack.
"Aren't you an Octari from the Thalassai Clan? How are you this good at combat? I never understood it…"
False Mercy complained even as he dodged, subtly revealing to the Octari that he wasn't struggling nearly as much as he appeared.
"I have sworn that I would never use my predictions to see further than one hour ahead. So the art of combat was the only other path available to me if I wished to remain useful."
The Octari answered calmly.
He calculated that allowing the Outer God to keep talking was worth the price of revealing some of his own information, albeit, most of it was inaccurate.
Maybe he would let something worthwhile slip in his insanity.
Who knew?
"You won't look into the future beyond one hour? Is that why your strikes are so unusually accurate?"
"…"
"Hmm… That's interesting. Did you see something that made you take that vow?"
"…"
Fwhooshh—!
Fwhooshh—!
Fwhooshh—!
The tentacles turned black from their initial skin color, and their hardness jumped several levels, judging by the terrible explosions they produced whenever they collided with the earth.
"I'm willing to bet it wasn't a good vision, right? Did it traumatize you so badly that you also lost your emotions?"
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Now, all kinds of spells manifested at the ends of each tentacle, forcing False Mercy to counter the point-blank attacks with spells of his own.
"So you operate solely on logic because you're hiding from your own emotions…?"
A smile crept onto False Mercy's face.
"Not because you're some kind of savant?"
He tilted his head.
"How nice…"
The Octari's veins throbbed, now realizing that perhaps engaging in dialogue wasn't the wisest choice when the conversation partner was one of these deranged creatures.
Thankfully, he saw something in the near future that would liberate him from having to hear any more.
Normally, seeing any future involving Outer Gods was as fickle as a mundane person trying to guess what would happen.
That was why he mostly focused on seeing the next few seconds to aid his combat, since there wouldn't be much time for variables to interfere then.
But the future he initially saw for the next couple of minutes wasn't changing.
Even the emotionless Octari felt a throb of anticipation.
That was how outrageous that future was.
'Any time now…'
Fwhooshh—! BANG—!
'Just a few moments… closer… Good… Almost there!'
The Octari's pupil-less black eyes widened, and all eight of his tentacles attacked at once, forcing False Mercy to jump upward.
"NOW!"
❖⛧❖
.
.
[Goddess]