4. Purgatory's Dark Flame

Dan is just a puny village boy, who left his hometown village because of the famine. Either he stayed over there and starved to death, or he tried to succeed as Adventurer, maybe Mercenary.

He thought being able to enter the Adventurer Academy when he was nine, but he was disqualified at the very first entry examination. So he tried to follow his parents' steps as a farmer. But he couldn't give up his dream after all. Anyway, the drought, famine, and heavy taxes didn't help him to give his dream up. So he finished by leaving when he was fifteen, and register himself as Adventurer.

Starting at Rank G, he did the easiest missions possible, like Cleaning or Collection missions. And for a brief time, he managed to live with that.

But once he got to Rank F, he saw his dream's limits.

He tried his first Hunt mission, and almost died in fighting Goblins. Too careless, without essential skills, he has failed his first mission.

Traumatized by that failure, he tried to join a party,... just dragging down the only one which gave him a chance to prove himself. Kicked out from it, he stayed an F Rank Adventurer for two years, and kept to do Cleaning Missions, mostly. Then one day, he was scouted by a group of men, in the middle of the forest where he goes to collect herbs.

At the beginning, he thought he joined in a group of Adventurers. When he found out they weren't, that was too late to leave. He didn't have either the strength, or the chance to.

Everyday, he has to make some chores for the Bandits. If he was alone for that, he could get away. But there was always a "Big Brother" to monitor him.

He managed to make scouting only, reporting when there are merchants passing on the travel roads, and runaway people from the raids the bandits performed. But the resulting guilt won't let him sleep. So most of the night time, he trained or keep watch at the Bandit camp.

But this night, when he heard innocent people screams again, something snapped. So when he briefly spotted two children running for the forest, he didn't report it.

But Bolpa, Matt's dog has smelt later where the runaway children left, and Dan took a beating from the Bandit Boss for that "mistake". Even so he didn't regret it. He almost wished he died under the Bandit's hits.

Dan doesn't care about the fact he probably won't survive that dark flame. If he deserves to die, so be it. But he won't help his "Big Brothers" anymore.

When the dark flame wave is about to reach him, he just closed his eyes. His parents' faces appeared in his mind.

('Dad, Mom, I'm sorry... I'm really, really sorry.')

He felt a stinging pain which spread over his body, with a strange soft warmth. However, the pain subsides down quite fast. While he wonders if he instantly died, he heard inhuman screams in the two "Big Brothers"'s direction, with a painful howling.

Opening his eyes, he saw himself with dark flames still over his body. Not understanding why he's fine when Jeff, Matt and Bolpa are twisting in pain instead, he stays dazed for a moment.

On the altar's side, Jul is horrified hearing the kind of screams the bandits do. Kate hugs him, trembling at the scene before them.

Jack calmly gets closer to those people tortured by a pain seeming devouring their own souls. Once he's close enough of them, he puts a knee on the ground and looks at Jeff who appeared the most resisting one to the pain, yet doesn't feel less assailed by it.

Trying to ignore the pain, the bruiser stares at the silver-haired child with hatred.

"What a ....hypocrite you are..."

"? What do you mean?"

"Doesn't this place,....guarantee the guests' ...lives?"

"Ah, that. Of course it guarantees that. But you know I am the Guardian, don't you? I have the right to apply an adequate judgment on guests myself, depending on the situation."

"....Adequate?... Don't bullshit me ! How is this an adequate judgment?! That's inhuman!! You Demon !! Urgh!"

"Purgatory's Dark Flame."

"?"

"That's a mainly Dark Magic spell. It fuels itself only on the bad karma a person gathered on its own. And, bad acts are the main way to collect bad karma... Got it now?"

"!!"

"That"s right. What you're feeling, right now, are your own way of life's consequences. And that's definitely a pain you deserve, unlike someone else here."

"!!"

At his words, Jeff finally saw Dan who was walking to them. Some parts of him are covered in dark flames, but he isn't in the same pain than them. With that, Jack adds.

"In about two minutes now, the flames will burn more strongly. The resulting pain will follow that. It seems you've lived many years doing bad acts, poor guests, and I don't think you will survive, except this young man."

At this very moment, Jeff feels something else, beyond his suffering and rage. He feels fear. Fear of Death. One high enough to supplant any other emotion.

"! W-wait! S-spare me! I will do anything! I will be your Servant too! P-please, just give me a chance!"

Matt sees his comrade begging for his life, and tries to get mercy from the Guardian boy too.

"P-please... M-me too ! Spare me too ! Argh !"

Jack, of course, doesn't want to spare them. However, he reminds himself about a few small things he and Venus have set up when they met themselves.

"Sigh, very well. Venus. Make two ten-years Crests for them."

["Understood, Master."]

"!!"

Hearing that, Jeff and Matt are relieved about the Guardian being soft-hearted, or at least looking soft-hearted. Unfortunately, he didn't immediately extinguish their torturing dark flames.

Jul and Kate are bewildered about that. Why should their master forgive those bandits, when that should be Jul and Kate's choice to do?

But when they see the Crests appearing before the bandits, they knew they heard Jack right. No matter what they want, they can't change his mind, by fear to be hurt. After all, even if he helped them, he's a Demon. Not a Human. He does things differently.

Struggling against the pain, Jeff and Matt succeed to touch their Servant Crests. Like Jul and Kate's, they spread on their bodies.

But, at the half of the process, the Crests are like rejected by them. The rejection is so strong that the Crests burst out like fireworks.

"?!!"

"Oh. Sorry, but it seems the Crests won't be anchored on you, because you have collected too much bad karma. You. Are. Really. Scum. Guys."

"K...KU.KUAAAAARGH !!"

"G-GYYAAAAAAAAAAAARGH !!"

When they were about to beg again, the dark flames on them spread, and burned them to ashes. Their last screaming sounded like those their numerous victims probably have howled too. But these ones are more horrifying.

Once silence returned, and ashes flied away, a whining is heard.

*Whine*

"Oh, that's right. You're still there, little mutt."

Bolpa, despite having been touched by Purgatory's Dark Flame, only suffered for a few moments.

"Seems that karma thing doesn't work on you. Well, don't worry. I won't kill you. But I can't keep some owner-less animal here. Venus, get that thing out of here."

["Don't we need to collect some assets for your plan, Master? For your record, we don't have dogs yet."]

"We will get some. But not this one. At least, not before seven years."

["Understood, Master."]

At these words, the Mark anchored on Bolpa shined red, and a same red light wrapped him up, before disappearing with.

After tthat, Jack turns around to look at Dan.

"What's your name?"

"I-I am Dan. Er, I--"

"Dan."

"Y-yes?"

"You're free to go. You know, you should be proud of yourself. You lived a quite honest and kind life. Otherwise, you would have ended like them."

"I-I--"

"If you have something to tell, you'll need to wait. I still have things to do."

On these words, a portal appears and Jack enters it, leaving the two Servant children and the unlucky Adventurer in the Altar's Floor.

*****

Abby is a villager woman about thirty. She has two children who are enclosed in a carriage with others villagers' children. She can't help to silently cry, knowing she probably will never see them again. She heard about raided villages where children are sold as slaves in mines, and women sold as prostitutes to brothels. She is smart enough to not resist when some of the Bandits took her with others mothers and young girls to satisfy their carnal desires.

Even so, it was so mortifying to let his husband's murderers soil her. The others mothers who resisted, calmed down when their children lives were used to threaten them.

('Goddesses, why us? What did we've done, to deserve such a misfortune? Please, have mercy.')

When she sees her last partner getting out of the room, letting the next in, she clenches her lips, trying to denying the terrible night she's about to continue.

The man greets her with his ugly grin, undoing his belt.

"Nice to meet you, sweetie."

Closing her eyes, in an attempt to keep her tears to flow, Abby is about to be soiled again, when she and the man hear some men screaming. In same time, the light of the lantern on the desk extinguished itself, and dark flames flow into the room, bursting the door.

The man has no time to react or understand his situation, before the dark fire spread on him and Abby. She is scared by that fire which moves like a waveupon them.

After been flooded by it, she felt only a little pain, whereas the man began to experience hell. Screaming like a pig sended to the slaughterhouse, he relentless rolls down on the floor, in attempt to extinguish those evil-looking flames.

Thinking about her children, Abby wrap herself up with a sheet and run outside, calling them.

"Nash ! Merry !"

Perhaps because of her, the others mothers started to call their children too. Mothers and young maidens run outside the differents intact houses of the village.

Outside, Abby is stunned by the scenery mostly covered in dark flames. If it wasn't for the starry sky and the three moons' light everything will be in oppressive darkness.

"Nash ! Merry !"

Calling again for her children among the men' disgusting squealing, Abby finally hears them.

"Mommy ! Mommy !"

Running to the carriage, she finds them partially covered by those flames, scared, but safe and sound.

"I'm here ! It's okay, I'm here my children !"

"Uwaaah, Mommy, I'm scared !"

The others women come to them as well, helping to get the children out. Meanwhile, all the bandits are facing the retaliation of their respective criminal lives.

Hugging their families, every villager sees as each of those men who did destruction, enslaving and killing for a living, not mentioning numerous women's rape, being reduced to ashes. Each of their last moments was by screaming, crying, begging for mercy. But for not to be granted.

After moments, everything becomes silent, apart the children' crying. When most of the dark fire dimmed down, Abby spots it. A dark flame mass-like figure, standing in front of them just to the forest's edge. It's immobile, without any other moment than its flames. There are no eyes, yet she feels its stare.

Of course, she knows it's a Mamono. What else can it be, except an evil creature....?

Evil?

After what happened now, she's not so sure about that. Dark is a banned Element by the society. Dark Users are tagged as Evil, hunted down by everyone. They're doing terrible things and trying to bring down the world into nothingness.

But, is it truly that? If so, why did this Dark-using thing help them? Abby is confused.

Before an answer could come to her mind, the dark figure turns around and goes in the forest, leaving the village raid's survivors there.

*****

Burzbia's city.

"Fu, fu fu fu, ha ha ha ha ! So he did it for that, huh?! Ha ha ha ha !"

Hesti just finished her report about Him. From what she saw, the Orc who interested Akasuma, had previously established a lot of Geass on himself in the goal for a ideal Evolution.

A Geass is an oath which renders anyone stronger as long as he respects it. It's a method to become more stable before Evolution. But the more unstable a Mamono is, the more difficult to fufill a Geass needs to be.

One of these Geass was involving to get every captive woman in the Three Orc Clans where he lived next to, out of the Demonic Empire. Why? Just because he made the promise of it, to a precedently deceased Evoked woman. His Geass is probably about keeping promises.

An another Geass being him killing one of the Orcs who was responsible for his octrazisation and his surname, Gorn. Which means "Stupid","Idiot","Fool","Weak","Jester" depending on the context.

Once both would be established, he would have one last important Geass to create. But this one was decided by an unlucky event for Him.

In front of that twist of Fate, Gorn chooses the only possible solution about his Evolution, who has been pressed by meeting with Akasuma, then Defanny. Immature Evolution.

It's not a ideal solution, because by Evolving in that way, he lose a lot of abilities, specially abilities like Soul Armor and Soul Weapon. That makes him vulnerable, and until he Matures, he must keep a low profile. That's why he left. According to Hesti, the formerly known Orc as Gorn, "freed" every woman he had.

Now there's only one thing Akasuma wanted to know.

"So, what name did he choose?"

When a Mamono not born as Demon succeed in becoming one, he must choose a new name. It's like to be born again, since almost everything about a previously hornless Mamono, is changed, excluding one's own mana scent.

"Valastar. Dren Kurg Valastar."

"... Dren Kurg Valastar, huh?... What does he look like?"

"I don't know. He hid his looks behind a mantle of Darkness. He even distorted his voice."

Standing up, Akasuma walks to the terrace's edge. Hesti follows her Mistress, as the others Battle Maids.

"Whatever. He's probably young, if he's gotten an Immature Evolution... Helva."

"Y_yes, Dai Maou-sama?"

"You really should make a better throne for the next time I will visit you. I will not overlook it twice, you know."

Embarrassed, Halva knows she's to blame for her poor taste in sitting stuff. Yet, she's poor in funds. Seems she has no choice except going to fight in the Destruction Arena, at Karvann.

"I-I won't forget your advice, D-Dai Maou-sama."

"Hmph."

When Akasuma was about to fly out from the terrace, she halts and stares the Succubus Queen. Meredith feels the Empress' yellow eye scanning her entire being, for a moment.

"...Meredith."

"Yes, Dai Maou-sama?"

"Your mana has a very familiar faint scent."

"!"

Meredith knows what Akasuma is talking about. But there's so little of that mana than she didn't think anyone could "smell" it. But she underestimated the interest the Demonic Empire's Empress about Dren Kurg Valastar.

"If I knew someone besides me will choose to do a such thing with Him, when he was still an Orc, maybe I should have done it first. A pretty dangerous gamble you did there, didn't you?"

"I just thought he was stable enough to Evolve, despite his previous condition. I apologize, if I offended you doing that."

Staring the new Demon Queen a moment, Akasuma ends up by letting that issue go.

"...No, I'm not. Luck favors the Brave, after all. Yet, it's surprising. Just know I expect you being worthy of your chance. Later, I will probably duel against you."

On these last words, Akasuma and her seven Battle Maids leave Helva's castle.

******