Waxing Crescent

"Did I just hear you correctly?" Solitar asked, knowing that he had understodd everything perfectly, but still, what he just heard didn't seem logical at a first glance.

"I want her dead, you must not bother yourself much with what happens outside this castle but still, you took the opportunity to slay monsters when given the occasion" Axiolypito ignored his question and went on.

"Let me assure you one thing: If you don't take action quickly you and all of the fools down there will die, you are strong, but not enough to stay idle" he clicked his tongue.

'He didn't mention Superstes, he must truly not be aware' the ultimatum didn't move Sir Solitar, he only paid attention to the way Axio phrased his sentence, a foul little thing such as himself wouldn't have missed the close relationship he had with the heroine and neither would have he not used that as his first argument.

He only mentioned Solitar's own life and that of the rest of the group below.

The swordsman stretched his neck a bit before answering, the cracks coming from him seeming incredibly loud in the dead of night.

"I have absolutely no trust in you whatsoever, how can I know that this isn't some sort of trick from your queen?" Solitar would be lying if he said that was completely cool with the fact that monsters were overtaking the whole continent, in fact, it seemed like Lordlorn would soon be under the Obsidian Queen's full control.

With the barrier breached, Amor was quickly being consumed by the tides of monsters.

However, Solitar knew that as strong and powerful as he was, he couldn't just challenge this entire army by himself, especially when it was most likely headed by a being on his level.

"You can not, I am Wretched Lord after all, the fourth minister of the monster army" the possessed wretch shook its head with a cheeky smile.

"But I am certain a warrior such as yourself managed to get a good idea of my psyche during our brief encounter, so let me be honest" Sir Solitar frowned, the air the monster let out in this instant was much different from last time.

There was something special about his presence now.

"I am not doing this out of the kindness of my heart, I am no good samaritan, I want her place, her position, I want to be the king of monsters, or rather, their god" he was dead serious.

He waved his index finger from right to left slowly, Sir Solitar now couldn't help but imagine that was there Axio in person rather than speaking through an offspring he was puppeteering.

"It is nothing but a beneficial situation for us all, you can be guarranteed that your life will be in danger if I succeed, I will be even worse than she is, you can count on it, however, if you don't agree to help me, you'll lose for certain"

"So take my offer and we shall see, we will see whether you lot can betray me before I can betray you, alright?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, that's how it goes right?" Axiolypito chuckled lightly as the offspring visibly began to lose strength.

"Think about it, I'll send another to get your answer in a week or so" without any other words, the offspring collapse to the ground as the needle in his nape crumbled to pieces.

Solitar stared at the corpse for a few instants, the monster's words still stuck in his mind.

'The god of monsters?' this particular line stood out the most, Solitar could tell that this wasn't just a hyperbole or a strange choice of words, Axiolypito truly meant it, he believed in it more than anything else.

He was certain that he could become a god.

Coming with such certainty out of the mouth of an apostle of Mov, Sir Solitar didn't dare to doubt it.

In this instant, he made his decision, Axiolypito couldn't be allowed to roam this world any longer than the minimum, the monster would be most vulnerable to attacks if Solitar agreed to his proposal.

If he didn't, he was certain that Axio would just remain hidden and unreachable.

Even if he knew that he couldn't do it himself, Sir Solitar would have to believe in fate, he would have to believe that Axiolypito's and Superstes's paths would cross one another at the right time...

_____________

At around the same time Sir Solitar had been conversing with Axio through an offspring, Axiolypito's real self was doing something else.

Garbed in his typical dark attire, he was stuck to the ceiling in reverse, his four limbs clinging to the surface but his body and face facing to floor.

Appearing like a demented spider, he overlooked a man scribbling away at some paper with a quill while simultaneously doing some calculations.

Axio had learned the man's name a while back when doing some espionnage for the Obsidian Queen.

It was Rent, the treasurer of Roderst, he was a thin and pale, young-looking man.

Even after being conquered by monsters, he hadn't stopped his work, not even stopping to mourn the death of Jareld, the captain of the silver knights and man who had faced Undying Prophet during the duels.

They had been good friends and the animosity aimed at monsters for his death had remained asleep on the depth of this man's soul and heart, suppressed by his will to fulfill his duty no matter what.

Without making a sound, Axio dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of Rent, further away from his desk, just beyond the reach of the lantern he used to see clearly.

Axiolypito hadn't come to see him specifically, he wasn't here for a mere advisor, he had come to meet with the king in person.

But he had arrived in the middle of the night, when most except for patrolling guards were asleep.

As such, he was forced to wait, wanting the king to be fresh of mind when he spoke with him.

With not much else to do, he chose to observe Rent toiling away without rest.

'How pathetic'