A necessary act.

Ares traveled from the north down to the south with the Knight of Valtris that took him a month to reach there. The condition had gotten worse, the Straederham city was already being occupied by the Laustasia Kingdom. Ares and the rest of the Knight of Valtris were ordered by the Emperor to take the city back from them. With only 20.000 soldiers they marched to the city and fulfill their duty with Khazad that led his army to the battlefield.

The battle lasted for another month, and Ares proved himself as a Knight of Valtris. He killed hundreds of the enemy on his own and didn't get any serious injury during the war. Khazad and Hidar acknowledged his achievements and his bravery, they both couldn't believe for a 17 years old kid to shine in a war.

The battle didn't end there because the Laustasia Kingdom sent their full force to take the city again. The lack of food and rest after the long battle made them unable to hold the city. Unfortunately for Khazad and his army, they had to fall back because he didn't want to risk his life and his army's lives for something impossible to achieve.

Ares sat down and leaned on the tree to sleep after patrolling all night around the camp. The breeze made him relaxed and helped him fall asleep.

"Saint Lazarus," Ares called to the beautiful long white-haired man who walked in the hallway with the priests.

Lazarus looked at the garden and saw Ares standing under the sunlight. "Paladin Ares!" Lazarus replied as he approached him. "It's been a while, how was the mission? I heard the news that it was a great success that you made the Laustasia Kingdom our ally," Lazarus continued.

"It was all thanks to the revelation that you had, Saint Lazarus. We managed to convince them with the revelation and it went smoothly afterward," Ares replied as he smiled and bowed his head.

"I believe the revelation isn't the main reason why they decided to become our ally, Paladin Ares. It was all because of your heroic acts in the past that your name has been glorified all around the empire and the neighboring countries. They respected you and your righteous acts that made them want to become our ally, Paladin Ares," Lazarus explained with a big smile on his face.

Ares just smiled.

"Anyway, Saint Lazarus," Ares said. "Can I have a moment? There's something that I would like to talk about with you," Ares continued.

"Of course! I will always have time for you, Paladin Ares." Lazarus replied. "How about we go inside so we can relax and talk comfortably?" Lazarus asked.

Ares just bowed his head and followed Lazarus into the palace.

Ares walked behind Lazarus and stared at the shiny white hair that he had, people oftentimes mistook him for a beautiful woman since his long hair and beautiful face. His voice was also so gentle and soothing that it was impossible to look at him as a man.

Ares entered the palace of the Saint, it wasn't his first time in that life to enter the palace but there was a room that he was always curious about, the room that nobody was allowed to enter.

"Saint Lazarus, what's behind that door?" Ares asked as he looked at the huge doors on his left.

Lazarus looked at the door and smiled. "That was a praying room of the previous saint. He worshipped Goddess Morrianne and since the God that I serve and everyone serves is God Mannussias, we forbid anyone to worship the Goddess and put everything that has something to do with Goddess Morrianne in there." Lazarus explained.

Ares kept staring at the door as he followed Lazarus into another room.

They both sat down on a fancy couch and faced each other with the table separating them.

"What do you want to talk about, Paladin Ares?" Lazarus asked.

"I heard that you had another revelation, a big one. You said something about the destruction of the Eurel Empire," Ares answered.

Lazarus was staring at Ares for quite a while then he crossed his legs and rested his hands on his lap. "That's true, I have seen it many times. Do you know Alexandria Valtris, Paladin Ares? I'm sure you have heard about her at least once since she's quite infamous for what she did." Lazarus said.

"I have heard a lot of things about her, why? Does it have something to do with her?" Ares replied.

"Unfortunately, yes," Lazarus said as he nodded his head slowly. "At first, I didn't want to make a conclusion with just a single dream that I had. So I decided to visit the Archduke Valtris territory a year ago to see it for myself. I met with her once and talked with her and something felt off about her but I still thought it was just because I was a stranger to her," Lazarus explained.

Lazarus paused for a bit and stared blankly at the table in front of him. "Then, I had another dream about her. She slaughtered a lot of people, burned them, poisoned them, and all the scary things that I would never imagine," Lazarus said. "The more I tried to get close to her, those nightmares went worse and it troubled me from closing my eyes at night," Lazarus continued.

"Then you announced that revelation to the people?" Ares asked.

"I tried to love that child, Paladin Ares, I did. But all those terrifying visions that I got, and the way she treated the commoners and the people she despised, I believe that will come true if I don't stop them," Lazarus answered. "Her existence is a danger to the empire and I don't want to regret it by not telling the people the truth about her," Lazarus said.

Ares closed his eyes as he nodded with understanding because all those events that Lazarus mentioned in his dream were all true in Ares's previous loops. Each loop had at least one of those events, so he believed that Lazarus didn't make it all up and the fact he tried to prove it first before announcing it made Lazarus a good and reasonable person.

Ares started to think what if that Alexandria was really the problem but the voice that he heard wanted him to save her which was really confusing.

"What's wrong, Paladin Ares? Why are you so suddenly wanted to talk about this matter?" Lazarus asked.

"What if that she's not the problem?" Ares replied.

Lazarus furrowed his forehead and sat straight. "What do you mean, Paladin Ares? Do you have something in mind?"

"I had something similar to what you called a revelation," Ares said as he looked at Lazarus with a serious expression.

"You had a revelation?" Lazarus asked with a serious expression that he had to sit straight. "What kind of revelation that you had?" Lazarus continued.

"I was in a place that doesn't exist in this world, it felt like I was brought to that place. I heard a voice and I don't know if that was a man's voice or a woman's voice, but it told me that I have to save Alexandria Valtris." Ares explained. "I don't know what that means but it seems that it doesn't want Alexandria to die." Ares continued as he looked at Lazarus.

Lazarus was holding his hands and putting them in front of his mouth. "That's really interesting, when did you get that dream?" Lazarus asked.

"During my mission in the Laustasia Kingdom," Ares replied.

"That's problematic..." Lazarus said. "I think it's too late, Paladin Ares." He continued as he looked at Ares with a concerned expression.

"What do you mean it's too late?" Ares asked.

Before Lazarus could say a word, a priest knocked on the door and entered the room.

"Saint Lazarus, Lady Alexandria is found dead in her bedroom. It's said that she was poisoned and the maid found her dead this morning," The priest said.

Ares was shocked and clenched his fists until the gauntlets made a cracking sound.

Lazarus looked at Ares that seemed so angry and pissed. "I'm so sorry, Paladin Ares, if only I know about this beforehand, I might be able to stop this," Lazarus said.

Ares slightly smirked. "It's no use, I have tried many times and none of them worked..." Ares mumbled to himself that Lazarus could hear it a bit.

"I should leave now, Saint Lazarus, there's another matter that I need to take care of," Ares said as he smiled at Lazarus. "I will excuse myself," Ares said then left the room.

"Ares, wake up..."

"Hey..."

Ares opened his eyes and immediately took a deep breath. "What is it?"

"Lord Khazad summoned you, he's waiting for you in his tent," The knight said.

Ares nodded and stood up then went to the camp.

"Ares, there you are, there's a mission for you," Khazad said with Hidar standing next to him.

"Yes, my lord?" Ares replied.

"There's a rumor that there's a priest that has been spreading his words about our victory during this war. I want you to bring him here because they said it was a vision that he had, I want to know what he saw. Are you capable of bringing him here?" Khazad asked.

"What's his name and where's he, my lord?" Ares replied.

"He's somewhere in the Straederham city, if he's a priest then you should check the temple first and see if you can find him there. His name is Lazarus Hallewell, and they said he had a long white hair so it should be easy for you to find him." Khazad said.

Ares bowed his head. "Yes, my lord, I will bring him here as soon as possible."