The Demon King and the Magician (7)

"Hey, relax. Are you okay? It's fine if you don't wanna say." Xavier tried to comfort her, something he was extremely unfamiliar with. He didn't have much experience as to how to do such a thing, so he recalled the time when Ava, his little sister, acted when he met her for the first time.

Seraphina, meanwhile, took deep breaths as she tried to get herself back to her senses. She had many problems in her mind, but she couldn't break down so easily so often.

"I'll tell you. I was just disgusted for a moment." She said with determination in her eyes.

"Those psychotic fuckers were inhumane. Instead of killing us, they captured and treated us like slaves, animals, and some inferior beings. It was much worse than what the evil nobles you set out to purge did. They first disassembled all human rule and took the place of the kings and nobles. Then, they started treating all natives like farm animals, making them gather our precious natural resources and feeding them literal shit. 

They were like parasites on this land. Their path of 'cultivation' required extensive resources, unlike our path. We found out that the reason they invaded in the first place was to gather resources. They took every single thing, leaving our land barren and dead. When that was over, they were still not satisfied, so they started 'raising' natives to 'refine' them into human pills which they ate to increase their strength.

Do you know why they did that? Why they looted our planet like hyenas? It was all for strength. Everything for them revolved around strength.

Strength, strength, strength! Everything to them was just about strength. They killed their own brothers for strength, they raped virgins to harvest their strength, they ate their own kind to raise their strength. The only thing those fucking trash bastards lived for was pointless strength. Their whole fucking society ran on the laws of the jungle! There was no morality, no principles, nothing! JUST. FUCKING. STRENGTH!"

Seraphina, by the end of her tirade, was screaming at the top of her lungs. Xavier stood by the side and silently observed her. He could feel the pain, the hatred in her voice. It was only someone like him, the manifestation of wrath, who could have somewhat of an idea about her rage. It was similar to the one that started his whole journey as a Demon King.

"Calm down. I understand how you feel. However, you need to control your rage, otherwise you might become a Demon Queen."

"...Huh? The fuck?" Seraphina momentarily forgot her anger as she heard the most out-of-pocket thing Xavier could possibly say.

"...No, that came out wrong, extremely wrong." Xavier hurriedly corrected himself before any embarrassing misunderstanding could form.

"I meant that this rage might consume you. I know I am nobody to tell you what to do with your hatred, but it's better to weaponize it properly than to let it weaponize you. Trust me, you don't want to end up on a path similar to mine."

Xavier speaking such words of wisdom unlike his usual self was enough for Seraphina to rein her emotions in. Such behavior was not herself, but it started manifesting ever since those traumatic times she went through. After all, she was still a human being.

"I know, but it is not easy to do so when you've seen your closest friends and family go through unspeakable things. Only I know just what sort of despair and hopelessness our world had gone through, with no light like the hero in sight. I tried to step up, but my measly power was nothing in front of them. We could only suffer in silence for decades."

"So the darkest era of humanity never really ended..." Xavier muttered in melancholy as he paced around. He was satisfied with the amount of information Seraphina provided, but there was still one thing he was curious about. He hesitated a bit, but curiosity won him over.

"Tell me, how did you finally die?"

"Heh, it's nothing heroic." She said with emptiness in her eyes.

"One of the Paragon-level immortal's sons took an interest in me. Due to my beauty, men have always coveted my body, so this was no surprise. I knew I was not strong enough to defend my own purity, so to retain at least the last bit of dignity I had, I killed myself."

"..."

Xavier really had no words. The weight of despair that could lead to even a prideful like an Archon to commit suicide was something he could never understand. This tragic story was suddenly sprung upon him, informing him of the despairing situation of the world after his death. Right now, he could only ask one thing,

"Then, what's your plan? You, the magician of the hero's party, must be preparing something to face this disaster."

"Yeah, I am. I don't have a thorough plan yet, but I do have some goals set." Seraphina said with determination as the light returned to her eyes. She had regressed, ultimately obtaining a second chance to set things right. She can't let this go, and she would do anything to make sure the immortals suffer.

"First, I plan to raise the average strength of the world. The Age of Chaos had already done so by increasing the number of masters and grandmasters, but sages and beyond were still rare. We need to match their might as a world to stand a chance against them.

Second, I plan on nurturing any talents I can find that can help me fight against the paragon-level immortals. At first, I thought about nurturing you, but your dangerous and violent nature made me reconsider. I thought that searching for someone else with as much talent as you, but easier to control would be better, so I found and took the sword manual that you had encountered in your childhood. Now, I find out that my actions were entirely useless."

"Wait, you tried to sabotage me?" Xavier said with displeasure, but Seraphina did not back down under his gaze.

"The only thing you had caused was harm to the world in the period you were alive. If it weren't for the hero, your actions would have completely fallen under terrorism. I don't think I'm wrong in trying to eliminate one unstable element for the sake of the world. The potential deaths of talents you might cause were also not worth it, since you had it out for the nobles."

Xavier could not say anything against that. It felt shitty and cold-hearted, but her decision was rational from her perspective. He knew himself very well that he wasn't someone that could be controlled easily.

'If I hadn't regressed too… Fuck, let's not think about that.'

"Finally, I plan on reaching the Paragon realm. To stand a slim chance against them, I need to at least match the power they have. If possible, I plan on learning some sacrificial techniques to match my power to the one above the paragon level. That is why, this trial is important to me. There is something important I can obtain if I clear this trial."