Chapter 12: The Dark Lord’s Agenda

Chapter 12: The Dark Lord’s Agenda

I can’t believe I am having such a hard time squashing this fly… Nako looked down at her torn clothing and badly injured body and irritably bit her lower lip. She pressed her right hand to her aching left shoulder, and her palm came away sticky with bright-red blood.

She had been careless. Johann may have been Ivan Clarence’s descendant, but she never imagined a mere human child could land a hit on her, much less injure her. So she foolishly believed she could toy with him without getting serious.

How could I have known it would be an even fight?

Nako glared at Johann lying face down near the opposite wall. Rather than cower from a head-on fight against the Lunar Goddess, he boldly struck her down with mighty attack spells. Attack spells not usually in a Priest’s wheelhouse.

Squishy humans normally wet their pants in fear of merely standing before a goddess. Fear should’ve consumed him and wracked his body with the shakes.

Enemies that they were, she still respected his stouthearted bravery that lacked a healthy modicum of fear.

But using the Holy Spear had taken a great toll on his fragile human body.

Johann’s magic hit zero before hers did after a long, drawn out battle of throwing spells at each other. And still, he didn’t give up. He stopped using his spear as a magic conduit and charged at her with it as a physical weapon—and she had used that opening to pound him down with a lethal ballistic spell that dealt a fatal blow.

Shockwaves had blown him into the wall protected by his barrier, the impact knocking the Holy Spear from his grasp and the air from his lungs. He dropped to the floor unconscious. The winner had been decided.

Nako’s eyes lingered on Johann lying lifelessly next to the wall with his head slightly angled toward her. His eyes were shut as he gasped for air. Soot and blood dirtied his beautifully white vestments, and blood dribbled from his partially agape mouth.

She tottered over to him, her legs unsteady with the damage he had inflicted on her, and crouched at the unconscious boy’s side. …So this boy is Ivan Clarence’s spawn, eh?

Well-acquainted with the Sanctuary’s founder back in the day, the Lunar Goddess couldn’t help but recall those Creation Era days when she looked at Johann. Those days of peace before the world’s Creation Energy went out of whack were her prized memories.

Were it possible, she would happily give up everything to return to that time. However, once something is lost it can never again take on the same shape. Those irreplaceable days and the man who had loved her would never again be hers.

That was the reason why. Why she couldn’t leave the world he loved in this despicable state.

By annihilating this haywire world with her own hands, she would be protecting his dreams. She believed that was the only way she could atone for what she did.

Nako scooped Johann’s silver hair into her bruised hand. His beautiful tresses feebly spilled through her fingers.

“…Seems like such a waste to end your life,” she whispered.

Nevertheless, solely being Ivan’s spawn made him her enemy, and she would eventually have to eliminate him as a member of the Hero Party, anyway. Even if she had no personal grief with him, she didn’t have a reason to let someone she had to kill live another day.

Nako shut her eyes, blocking out memories of a happier life. When she opened them again, they filled with the icy layer covering the moon as she looked down at him. She swung her right hand up and thin tendrils of light formed around her fingertips, transforming into icicles.

“You shouldn’t feel much pain while unconscious. Farewell, Johann Clarence.” With her final word, she aimed the light icicle at his heart.

All of a sudden, the barrier behind Johann shattered, and a man with dark green hair appeared from a pitch-black rift.

Witnessing Nako about to slam her magic icicle into Johann’s chest, the man promptly swiped his hand to the side. The shockwaves born from that movement blasted Nako’s icicles away.

“Kya…!” she cried out, holding her hand numbed from the magic backlash against her chest.

The man surely held back—his attack left her otherwise uninjured. Clasping her tingling hand, she glared up at him from under her lashes. He stared down at her with eyes redder than freshly spilled blood.

“…So you showed up, after all. Stop using Nako’s body as you please,” he commanded in a deep baritone suited for ordering around legions of soldiers.

“…Dark Lord…”

He’s finally here. The Lunar Goddess internally gave up the fight. She couldn’t use the girl’s body any longer now that he had run to her aid. Looks like time’s up.

Nako held up both hands and rose to her feet, taking a step back from the unconscious boy at her feet. She haughtily angled her chin in the air and elegantly flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“You’re surprisingly late. You may have very well lost this girl forever if Johann Clarence hadn’t been here. Growing careless, are we?” she goaded him.

The Dark Lord stared impassively back at her. “You were equally careless… You look like you’re teetering on the edge of defeat. It’s a testament to the boy’s skill that he carefully avoided inflicting any life-threatening injuries,” he stated, unconcerned.

Nako took another look at her body. The only reason she wasn’t fatally wounded was because Johann used spells that wouldn’t permanently harm the girl. From the start, the Lunar Goddess knew he couldn’t fight her seriously as long as she used the girl’s body as a shield.

Looking at it in that light, he had been fighting at a great disadvantage, yet he still managed to buy time until the Dark Lord showed up. Fearsome child.

…Very well. I shall withdraw today in deference to Johann Clarence’s good fight. Besides, I’m not foolish enough to challenge the world’s strongest magic wielder in this damaged body.

Thin smile on her lips, Nako submissively spread her arms, accepting defeat. “Dark Lord, you can have the girl’s body back this time. It would be ill-advised for even me to take you on here.”

“…A wise choice. A temporary truce it is, then. Next we meet, I will bring forth all my forces and power to confront you.” The Dark Lord cast a glance at Johann.

He probably meant he would make an ally of the boy by then.

Gathering all the Holy Relic wielders to his side would certainly make them a force to reckon with, even for a Goddess such as me.

The Holy Relics she remembered were: the Hero’s Holy Sword, the Dark Lord’s Holy Garments, Ivan Clarence’s Holy Spear, and the Holy Dagger Ivan bestowed upon his best friend, Lenard. It was unclear who possessed the dagger now.

Even she had to honestly admit that it’d be a hard fight against all the Holy Relic wielders, but she was the one who had bestowed the weapons upon humanity in the first place. She wouldn’t be easily defeated by her own creations.

Nako tilted her head and flashed a confident smile. “I see. I look forward to it. Build up as much power as you can until then,” she said, closing her eyes.

The Dark Lord held his index finger out to her. The crimson gemstone ring on Nako’s ring finger radiated a bloody glow in resonance with his magic. As if on cue, all the strength left Nako’s unresisting body, and she slowly crumbled. The Dark Lord dashed over and held her up in his arms.

Nako’s small body weakly nestled against his chest. He solemnly looked down at her and apologized. “Nako, I’m sorry. I came too late. Your suffering is over now.”

Sweat beaded her forehead after the moon crest vanished. Small cuts covered her body, but thanks to Johann’s deliberate avoidance of her vitals, she wasn’t in danger of bleeding out.

The Dark Lord Kerdes lifted her into his arms, and barely moving his lips, chanted the ancient magic words. Faint silver light wrapped around her, instantly healing all her injuries. He then knelt beside the unconscious Priest. “…You fought well. Most unexpected.”

He genuinely didn’t expect Johann to take on the Goddess alone, much less wound her in a fight to the bitter end. Maybe he should have had higher expectations of Ivan Clarence’s descendant, and the Hero’s chosen Priest.

Freely wielding the Holy Spear at his age proved he had remarkable talent.

Kerdes held his hand over Johann’s forehead and healed him instantly. His tensed expression eased once he stopped losing blood.

“You fought hard to protect Nako. Thank you. You have my gratitude.”

Johann’s ocean blue eyes flickered open and looked blankly at the Dark Lord as if awoken by his sincere expression of gratitude. “Where…what happened…?”

“Johann Clarence.” Saying his name snapped him out of his stupor.

Johann shoved himself upright, but the motion was too jarring in his state; he slammed a hand down to stop from pitching forward.

Kerdes softened his aura to calm the boy. “Take it slow. I healed your external wounds, but your fatigue remains.”

“…Are you,” he took a breath, “the Dark Lord?”

Kerdes nodded in confirmation.

A small smile graced the boy’s lips as if he were actually relieved to be sitting face to face with his enemy. “…I see. Then I successfully bought time until your arrival,” he breathed with the relief of a man who had accomplished his mission in life.

His eyes fell on Nako sleeping safely in the Dark Lord’s arms, bringing a rare tranquil smile to his face. Weakly smiling with that ghostly white face of his revealed just how mentally and physical exhausted he was. It was painful to look at.

Is he relieved to see Nako safe even after he risked his life and sustained heavy injuries because of her?

Kerdes casually dipped his head in reverence to the boy’s kindness. “You did everything in your power, even putting your life on the line, to save Nako. The Hero has fine allies.”

Johann weakly shook his head. “No, I do not deserve to be considered Elias’s ally…” He paused, then changed the topic. “You healed me as well. Thank you.”

“You needn’t thank me. If anything, it is my carelessness that brought this pain upon you. I’m sorry.”

Johann gave his head another shake.

Some of the tension left Kerdes with how calmly Johann conversed with him. Judging by the way the boy hadn’t pestered him with a million questions despite the baffling circumstances, the Sanctuary had filled him—one of their High Priests—in on most details pertaining to the Lunar Goddess.

Kerdes was relieved to find Johann shared the same knowledge as him.

Conflicted over how to breach the next topic, Johann threw aside his hesitation and looked Kerdes straight in the eye. “Dark Lord, please answer me this: why did you allow Nako to leave your side? You knew Nako housed the Lunar Goddess’s soul within her and preemptively sealed her personality with a ring imbued with your magic. As the man who did all of that, you must have known the Goddess would leap at the chance to take over her when you let Nako out of range of your magic.”

Blame didn’t fill his tone. He seemed to be genuinely seeking the answer to his question.

“…A fair question.” Kerdes hesitated a moment before picking his words. “I had two reasons. The first was to show your Hero Party that I am not your enemy. Going directly to the Hero to express that sentiment risked triggering unnecessary conflict. So I set the stage for Nako to take the mirror to you.”

“You set the stage?” Johann puzzled his brow. “You and Nako have built a relationship of trust. She would have gladly cooperated with any plan of yours if you had explained it to her. Why go about it in a convoluted manner just to send her alone?”

“Because…” Kerdes trailed off, that confession too embarrassing even for him to make. He bashfully shifted his gaze out the window. “…I wanted to let Nako see her older sister.”

“Pardon?”

“Nako has been longing to see her sister ever since she came to this world. She hated worrying her sister. And a piece of her was lonely. But if I went with Nako to meet her sister? My presence would only worsen the situation and prevent them from speaking openly. Thus, I sent Nako on her own. That is my second reason.”

Everything he had done, he did it thinking of Nako. To his great regret, his actions allowed the Goddess a step closer to her ambitions, producing the exact opposite result from what he had desired.

He should’ve gone with Nako even if it meant things wouldn’t go as smoothly as hoped. In the end, his choice resulted in Nako’s suffering and Johann, the Hero’s dear friend and ally, being injured.

Tormented by his lack of foresight, Kerdes sank his fangs into his lower lip. Oddly enough, Johann laughed. Kerdes’s brow creased with confusion at the boy’s amusement.

“…Why do you laugh?”

“Pardon my rudeness. I had always wondered how cruel and coldhearted the Dark Lord who incited fear throughout the world would be, but you appear to be kinder than most humans,” Johann remarked without malice.

“I’m no kinder than most. And, for that matter, the world only views the Dark Lord as a hateful villain because of the crafty way Sanctuary has manipulated the masses.”

“I can’t deny that…” Johann winced.

The Dark Lord is a villain out to destroy the world—spreading such a venomous lie was necessary to hide Ivan Clarence’s grave digression from the world and to give a valid reason for the Hero and Dark Lord to fight to the death.

After all, a hero couldn’t exist without a villain.

Hero and Dark Lord had to fight in order to inject the world with fresh Creation Energy. But the Sanctuary wanted to keep that a secret from the masses at all costs. Ivan Clarence’s heinous sin had caused the problem they were solving, after all.

By giving the Hero and Dark Lord’s battle an epic background story such as “the legendary hero must defeat the villain out to destroy the world,” they obscured the true reason why these two powerful beings had to fight every couple of decades while making it sound meaningful. Thus, they skillfully turned the world’s eyes away from the truth and their crimes.

As the Dark Lord, Kerdes took umbrage with the unfair disadvantage placed on him since birth, but he, and all the Dark Lords before him, had grudgingly come to terms with their fate as long as they could replenish the world’s energy without the masses getting in the way.

Such was the mission that befell the one born as Dark Lord.

The circumstances and crimes stemmed back millennia before the young Priest was born, they were not his fault, yet he apologized as if he had committed them. He was too serious and righteous for his own good.

Johann came across as very mature for his age because of the burdens he shouldered, but he actually possessed an honesty in line with his twenty years.

Kerdes’s lips curved up slightly as he shook his head. “I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but you aren’t to blame. Moreover, both myself and the successive generations of Dark Lord are honored to die for the world. You think too much about others. No wonder you can’t do anything when you let yourself be torn between the Sanctuary’s will and the Hero Party you call friends.”

“That is not—no, you are absolutely right.” Johann switched from denial to facing the truth, bringing another faint smile to Kerdes.

Hero Elias has fine allies, after all.

Johann’s sincere struggle between being there for Elias and serving in the role expected of him as the Pope’s son was apparent just by talking to him.

Both the Hero and Kerdes desperately needed someone like him who could be the bridge between the Hero and Sanctuary. Even if he couldn’t make the decision now, Kerdes hoped he would someday choose to side with them.

Kerdes looked straight at the boy who kept his eyes trained on the ground. “Hero Elias needs you,” he encouraged. “Strange as this request may sound from me, please be there for the Hero. And someday, become my ally as well.” His lips drew a fearless smirk.

Hero and Dark Lord will join forces to put an end to the Lunar Goddess’s wicked agenda.

Struck off guard, Johann’s eyes went wider than the moon. He lowered his head, seemingly working through what was implied there.

“…I will remember what you said here today.”

Satisfied with his response, Kerdes stood, adjusting Nako in his arms. “That is more than enough for today. I am going to return with Nako now. Can you tell the Hero that I will be waiting for him at the Dark Lord’s castle?”

“I will deliver your message.” Johann gripped the transference mirror carefully tucked away in his vestments.

Kerdes gazed fondly upon it. One look and he knew that it had been powered with more than enough magic to send them to his castle. Likely the fruit of Johann and the Hero Party Mage, Leo Gaines’s, efforts.

Leo Gaines… Dark Lord Kerdes recalled a distant memory of that young lad with jet-black hair. He was one of the few people Kerdes loved dearly. He probably has no memory of me, but he’s my—

Kerdes turned his back toward Johann and asked about Leo as if he had casually remembered the Mage. “Speaking of the Hero Party, is Leo well?”

“You want to know about…Leo?”

Kerdes sensed Johann’s surprise behind him. Perhaps his question came across as abrupt and disconnected from the rest of their conversation.

He gave his head a shake, thinking better of it, and decided not to wait for Johann’s answer.

I shouldn’t have asked. It only serves to confuse Johann and lets it slip that I’m concerned about Leo.

“Never mind. Forget I asked.” Kerdes gazed into dark space and activated his magic to teleport. The space before him ripped open and a black swirling hole welcomed him.

He was about to step through the rift when Johann called out to his back. “Please wait! He’s—Leo is well! He left to find Elias and Aki. He will come back once he has them.”

“I see,” Kerdes said in a purposely disinterested tone, all the while his lips spread in an overjoyed smile. “That is good to hear.”

I am happy as long as he is well.

Wiping the smile from his face, Kerdes glanced at Johann over his shoulder. “I look forward to reuniting with you at my castle.”

Burning Johann’s firm nod into his memory, Kerdes disappeared through the rift to his castle with Nako, his heart leaping with excitement for the day the Hero and Dark Lord Parties would meet all together.