“C-CELESTIAL!”

  I screamed at the top of my lungs as I dashed forward towards her.

  “Marisa...”

  I forget how intimidating Celestial’s voice was in her dragon form, just listening to it made my body shake but that’s not important right now!

  “Celestial! What happened!?”

  I asked while checking on her condition, I tried to heal her wounds but they won’t close! there’s blobs of bck goo all over her body, just like the ones Ellie had, where is this coming from!? I have to get rid of them! They’re the thing preventing my healing spell from helping her but fortunately, they seem to be freezing solid when in contact with Celestial’s skin, having trouble actually spreading!

  “...”

  Celestial didn’t answer me, I quickly started pulling the goo from her body, tearing it apart as chunks and dissipating them.

  “Don’t die on me Celestial!”

  “I... I won’t die yet...”

  Her voice, despite being hoarse and imposing, was clearly wavering and weak...

  “Now more than ever... I still... have a promise to fulfill...”

  “Y-Yes! There’s still things to do! So hang in there, I will get all of this off soon!”

  I continued until I couldn’t find any more bck tar to remove from her body, despite her breathing turning shallower with every passing moment she was still holding on, for now stopping the bleeding is vital, so I’m doing my best but the healing spell is closing her wounds very slowly!

  “Much better... thanks Marisa...”

  “I-it’s fine! You’ll be fine! Why didn’t you come to me! Why hide yourself in this cave, are you stupid!?”

  Celestial just gave me a loud exhation, and her body started glowing, turning her back into her human form.

  “S-shouldn’t you stay as a dragon so I can keep healing you!?”

  “Thanks dear, but I’m ok now...”

  She then stumbled down, so I dashed to catch her, and helped her sit down on the side of the wall within these ruins.

  “Ok my ass! Don’t push yourself!”

  “Sorry, but I will be fine, that’s a promise”

  Her wry smile doesn’t fill me with confidence, go back to your inexpressive poker face if you’re feeling better!

  “What even happened for you to get so hurt!?”

  I asked her, since it’s obvious she won’t let me continue healing her wounds, more so since she’s doing so herself right now, the glow in her hands as she uses magic flickers constantly however.

  “It’s... nothing you should worry about dear...”

  “Again with your secrets! Do you expect me to just sit down with my arms crossed after what happened to you!? I-”

  Celestial stopped me mid sentence, by rubbing my head, having a bit of an awkward time given the horns.

  “You’re just like your mother...”

  “D-don’t say things that make it look like you’ll die!”

  Celestial just gave me another wry ugh, followed by a warm smile.

  “You’ll have me around for a long while baby, I can’t go to the other side, not yet”

  “If you say so! But what happened!? Just- should I be worried!?”

  Celestial looked at me with a painful expression, I can feel sadness and anger in her stare...

  “Well I promised to tell you everything next time we met... I think you deserve to know, more so since it will probably involve you soon as well...”

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Celestial’s POV***

  Another dead end...

  I’ve been looking around but I found nothing, not even a trace of those cloaked figures, nothing at all but an empty warehouse. I'm not surprised but it’s annoying nonetheless.

  Still I can’t be too careless, the curses, the impeccable way of working and even the mysterious followers, they all do nothing but bring back terrible memories...

  I take the pendants Marisa gave me to take care of and hold them both in my hand, It’s simply not possible, is it?

  Are the ghosts from the past finally coming back to haunt me after so many years, or is it simply my own paranoia?

  Hestia... What would you do if you were still around?

  For now I headed back to tell Marisa the hideout was a bust, but I should also take this opportunity to track them down, if they moved base, they couldn’t go too far or settle as easily, and so I decided to go out, try to find them myself, perhaps my senses are not as sharp as Marisa’s but I can make do somehow, it’s only two people after all.

  She and I... I feel like our retionship is eroding slowly, she distrust me somewhat now, and I understand better than anyone but...

  Marisa shouldn’t get involved with any of this, I do not wish for the peaceful life she strives for to be further compromised, she already has enough worrying about those human kids, and all the people she rules over.

  ...heh, I couldn’t help but smile, Hestia dear, your daughter carries your bloodline with pride, even if she does it in her own way, still it is the job of the adults to look after the new generation after all, you taught me that yourself.

  ...

  ...

  And so I headed out to look for the hooded figures. My journey sted for a couple of days as I soared aimlessly across the continent. On the off chance I could find anything involving them, I rather comb the nd first, before going for pn B and start interrogating people.

  A week and some more days passed me by, and just before I was gonna give up in this search attempt, A sudden feeling stopped me dead in my tracks.

  I felt the presence of the two mysterious figures, all the way back near the town of Welst, I teleported towards it but the 2 hooded people were simply sitting in the clearings just outskirt of town, obviously waiting to ambush me, is this a trap?

  I won’t risk it, soaring in the sky I prepare to shoot them with ice spears, holding back a bit however, although not too much, I still need answers and they’re surprisingly strong, the spears rained down on the forest, but as expected, it didn’t do anything to them as they simply avoided them with some level of ease, now they’re floating in front of me, with the female one proceeding to raise her voice.

  “That’s one way to greet us, Lady Celestial!”

  “Silence, you’ll only open your mouth when I order it!”

  “Don’t be like that, we came in peace see”

  “Nonsense!”

  As I was preparing my next attack, opening my mouth to bst them, the two of them raised their hands in the air.

  “If you don’t believe us, turn us to dust and lose your only clue~”

  They... seriously intend to die from my next attack, without putting any resistance, I could finish them off, I should! I really should but... I need answers first and foremost!

  “Very well, you know what I’m gonna ask already! So tell me!”

  “I’m sure you put the pieces together oh mighty dragon~ but instead of spelling it out, how about seeing it with your own eyes”

  The hooded dy shook her hand and a letter appeared as she wavered it in her grasp.

  “Milord wishes to hold a meeting with you, please consider attending”

  Hmm... I turned into my human form, to receive said letter, as I took it in my hands, the two hooded figures went back to a neutral stance.

  “That’s all from us, now if you’ll excuse us~”

  “Don’t think I’ll let you get away!”

  “I’m sure you will, look~”

  As the woman said that, the hooded man pointed behind me, it’s such an obvious trap, but I then felt energy and heat radiating from behind me, as I looked for a second I saw a huge fireball heading towards the city where Marisa is.

  “I’m sure that’s nothing to you, but it’s probably enough for us to get away~ make your choice”

  “Tch! Scum!”

  The answer it’s more than obvious, I must protect Marisa and her well-being. She could probably stop the fireball herself if she saw it approaching, but if she ends up hurt, I wouldn’t be able to look at Hestia in the eye whenever we meet again.

  After stopping the stray spell and the two people escaped with a teleportation spell, I looked at the letter I was handed, only for a grim memory to make me scowl at the contents.

  No doubts, it’s HIS handwriting, this only confirmed all my suspicions...

  **********************************************************************************************************

  Greeting my beloved Cel

  It’s been so long! How have you been? Probably ok considering the legends I hear of you floating around, how fleeting is the memory of people, if they only remember your presence since you tend to fly across the skies, although I’m sure Hestia would prefer it that way, for us to be forgotten by time.

  A letter it’s no pce to catch up however, see me in my castle, you know exactly where it is, don’t leave me waiting, we have so much to talk about after all these years!

  **********************************************************************************************************

  Even his stupid habit of never signing letters hasn’t changed...

  Still I now know what I must do, when was the st time I visited frosthelm? Wasn’t it abandoned after the demons moved to the west? Countless questions popped in my mind, as I made the long flight across countless countries and towns, not stopping for a second as my mind wandered and my heart wavered...

  ...

  ...

  Finally north, way up north and past the ocean, I reached the ruins of the previous demon realm, this pce has never changed, sunlight it’s but a few hours a day, cold and lifeless, pnts barely grow and the brutal weather makes it nigh impossible for normal people to cross easily without a lot of preparations, I know this pce well, a bit too well...

  No point in being sentimental about the nd I was born in, I abandoned this pce millennia ago.

  For now I headed back to the pace, the tacky dark building towering the tundra, imposing its presence like it has always done.

  ...

  “Miss celestial, this way please”

  As I approached the front door, one of the demon maids greeted me and tried to guide me inside, there’s still people living here it seems, even if the town is now nothing but ruins covered by snow.

  “There’s no need, I know my way around”

  I said walking through the halls, reminded of the pces and battles we lived in these corridors, but nothing filled my memory with dread as much as the sight my eyes rested upon.

  The throne, sitting at the back of this dark, gloomy audience room, as ornate and imposing as always, but not as much as the man sitting on the floor in front of it.

  “Maldi...”

  “Cel! Long time no see!”

  I hate his smile, that cursed smile that betrays his imposing aura, one so warm and genuine it’s unfitting for the man holding the title of demon lord...

  I prepared an attack, if Maldi still breathes, that means my job is not done yet, I must end him, for everyone’s sake.

  “I missed you too! Could you not destroy the castle please, it takes a while to rebuild”

  “Are you joking? It’s always so difficult to tell with you, what are you pnning!?”

  “Nothing relevant, for right now at least”

  “As if! You’re always up to something!”

  “Would you not take my word? I’m a changed man, I promise”

  “The smell you’re giving off it’s telling me otherwise”

  “Ahem! you know I can’t live without some level of skinship, I stopped my intimate sessions just to see you dear~”

  “See! you’re the same as always!”

  “Harsh! Has the passage of time not been enough for you to forgive me? 4366 years I’ve kept to myself, are those not enough proof I seek peace, at least for myself?”

  “...how can I believe you?”

  “Things change my dear Cel, I’m sure you’ve realized it, borders, people, culture, barely anything it’s the same as it once was back then no?”

  “But there’s some things that never change, and things that cannot be forgiven!”

  “And there’s things that can change, I see you’re not wearing the ring my beloved Hestia gave you”

  “Don’t call her like that! As for the ring... I have it with me, just, I feel like I haven’t been worthy of wearing it after all those years”

  “Is it also, perchance, the reason you haven’t come back home?”

  “How could I ever step on this cursed isnd!? The pce that saw the end of my best friend!”

  The ring just reminds me of the things that I failed to protect...

  “I’m... truly sorry, I understand your pain, that’s the one sin and burden I carried with me, even after all these years...”

  “You killed her, how can you possibly say that!”

  “WE killed each other, I never wished for Hestia to meet her end that day, and I know you understand that, better than anyone else”

  “...Even if it’s true, she did so just to stop you! So how come you’re still alive!? I saw your corpse, your once soulless body with my own two eyes!”

  “You’re not exactly wrong, but I think I will keep what happened that day to myself, lest you try to finish what Hestia started”

  “Tch! Guess I’ll have to try anyways!”

  As I was about to get ready to fight, I saw Maldi make a sad and pained face, something that only helped to infuriate me even further.

  “Cel, dear, if that’s what you really want... then I shall y my life down for you”

  What is he plotting! Is he seriously not trying anything? Will he let me end his life just like that!?

  “I wish we could go back to how it was... back then with just the three of us”

  “...don’t say that!”

  “Hestia, you and I, seeing the world once again, free as we once were”

  “Not a single word!”

  “It saddens me beyond words that Hestia isn’t with us anymore”

  “Enough!”

  I lunged at him, grabbing him by the neck and smming him to the wall, but despite my aggression he didn’t even pce his hands to stop me from strangling him!

  “You! You never really loved her! How can you say things like that!”

  I screamed letting go of him, as Maldi fell to the floor once again.

  “Cel... there isn’t a day when I don’t think about Hestia, and that day in the hills where we exchanged vows by exchanging pendants is something that haunts my dreams every night, even to this day”

  “Ugh! Maldi!”

  I couldn’t help but cry, why!? I know! I know for a fact he’s not lying! Then why did you do it!?

  “Why did you have to go and ruin everything!”

  “You wouldn’t understand Cel...”

  Why!? Why are you crying as well! Are you trying to mock me!?

  Ugh! What should I do!? Countless memories and thoughts running through my head, all of them telling me something different...

  “...why?...”

  In the end I couldn’t help but clench my fists, Maldi simply got up and dusted himself before heading back to the throne, to sit down properly this time.

  “Thank you for believing in me Cel”

  “I don’t, but I’ll let you off for now since you haven’t done anything harmful, but you still need to expin for your subordinates!”

  “My subordinates? What about them?”

  “What are they trying to do? What’s your end goal?”

  “Oh I just send them to gather intel and sabotage the church, as you know they’ve been trying to eliminate us since that war, it’s self defense”

  “It certainly doesn’t look like self defense! Not when they’re clearly trying to get at Marisa!”

  Ah! I shut myself up quickly by spping my mouth, Maldi shouldn’t know-

  “It’s fine, I’m aware my daughter it’s up and about, I heard the tales all the way here after all”

  “Then why?”

  “Maybe my subordinates wanted to get Marisa to come home? in all honesty I wish I could see her”

  “You two will never met, I’ll make sure of that”

  “Am I not even given the right to see my own daughter? Sigh... I understand”

  “You can’t fool me, I know what you did, to all of your unborn children”

  “What are you talking about? Regardless of what you’re trying to imply, would you rather I have a million kids? Tell me how people treat my daughter nowadays?”

  ...I can’t really answer him, it’s true she’s been getting nonstop finger pointing from her lineage.

  “It’s ok, I have no pn of killing my beloved daughter, I can promise you that much, cross my heart and hope to die”

  “I still don’t believe you, sigh...”

  He’s been up to god knows what for the past couple millennia, maybe I should really let go, there’s things I will never forgive but...

  “Keep to yourself then, as you’ve been- ugh!”

  !!!

  “MALDI!!!”

  Before I realized it, a couple of shadow spikes erupted from the floor puncturing my torso. I yelled at him while coughing up blood!

  “I’m sorry Cel my dear, but don’t look at me like that, I’m just returning the favor from all those years ago”

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***narrator***

  Outside in the cold snowing nd, a couple of figures observed as a loud explosion originating from the castle that made the side colpse into rubble, where an imposing dragon flew out, followed by a man who simply took a jump outside.

  “Phew~ would you look at that”

  “Celestial it’s finally fighting milord, we should assist-”

  The burly man was stopped and interrupted by the woman holding his shoulder.

  “No, let milord fight, when was the st time he got to flex his muscles like this?”

  “But-”

  “Besides, we would just get in the way, look”

  The sight of the fight was quite astonishing, Celestial flew and after opening its mouth, it tried to bst Maldi to bits, the demon whoever was capable of deviating it with the back of his hand, the beam of energy was sent flying to the ruins of town, where a loud explosion made the pair tremble for a second.

  “It’s quite a violent fight, we should remove ourselves from the scene”

  “Not yet! I want to see more! Don’t you want to?”

  The woman mentioned with a tone filled with excitement, the man thought for a second.

  “I must admit that it’s a tempting proposition”

  “Right!~”

  The floor begins to shake as the pressure of the two monsters battling each other is palpable, Maldi is fast, fast enough to manage to get a surprise attack on Celestial, and while she knows this, she tries her best for not knowing where Maldi will strike next, she continues firing projectiles from her mouth, but the same keeps happening, Maldi deflects them since he doesn’t wish for the castle to be in disrepair.

  “How many casualties do you think we’ll have?”

  Asked the cloaked man, worried about the different demon workers and people that live inside the castle.

  “Either all of them, or none, it depends on whether Celestial can push milord to fight seriously”

  At their words, and due to the constant explosions and rumblings, almost like clockwork, all the demon workers started fleeing in terror from the pace gates, fearing for their lives.

  “Look at them, running like cockroaches, some can’t even withstand the pressure of their presence and just colpse dead~”

  “A waste, really”

  The fight will simply not work, a battle of attrition would be impossible to win, Celestial needs to turn the tides and fast, for the first time in millenia, she would use everything she had in a fight, simply not having to contain herself was already enough for the majority of regur people to die from just being near her presence, the cruel winds of the tundra begun swirling around the pair, as a snowstorm was forming in the battlefield.

  With a deafening roar, Celestial prepared another attack, not before covering her whole body in thick cloudy ice as a form of protection, Maldi on the other hand simply stayed in pce, wings spreaded from his back made of pitch bck winds, he fpped only once every now and then, but it was strong enough to keep him stationary and withstand the snow pelting him, something that would blow away just about anyone.

  With a loud crackling sound, rays of electricity began forming in the storm, Celestial was preparing a spell to end Maldi in a single strike, simir to the one she used back when she wished to end the other two figures, but this time without holding back or any remorse.

  Celestial knows her power very well, not only the whole isnd, if the spell hits, it would be enough to freeze solid even a rge chunk the ocean and its surrounding, and yet, Celestial flinched for a second, as the ice covering the lower part of her belly was turning into a reddish hue.

  “What’s the matter Cel, can’t heal the little hole I made a second ago?”

  “SILENCE!”

  Her voice was imposing as always, Maldi simply looked at her in the middle of the snowstorm with a rather unfazed stare.

  “I think I should meet aggression in kind no?”

  He lifted his hand, suddenly a volley of dark lights blitzed across the storm, trying to hit Celestial, and while they cracked the ice armor covering her, they weren’t enough to pierce her.

  Maldi simply whistled.

  “You’re good, I need to do something or I’m really gonna be in troubles”

  It sounded like sarcasm, but Maldi was being genuine, that spell Celestial is preparing is nothing to scoff at, the fact of the matter is that the energy is being gathered to obliterate a single enemy, if that same amount of energy was dispersed, life in the pnet would most likely cease to exist, or at least unable to continue as before.

  “DIE!”

  The dragon excimed, her thunderous voice reverberating the isnd, as she lobbed the condensed energy towards the king of demons.

  Maldi didn’t hesitate, lifting his arm up for a second, the castle contorted one of it’s towers, giving him footing where he could stand, once he pnted his feet down, he lifted his other hand, the palm meeting the attack, and the moment it made contact, a wild fire of bck fmes erupted enveloping the ball of energy.

  Maldi buckled for a moment, it was more than what he was expecting, he used his other hand, and had to hold the ball in a sort of hug, grinding his teeth, and sweating, the fmes begun to fly uncontrolbly, falling all around the tundra within the isnd.

  “Hah~ I can’t stop watching, milord is so amazing!~”

  “We really should back down, or else be caught in the crossfire”

  The only remaining bystanders were the man and woman from before, and despite their best efforts to barely remain watching, it was true that even they would be in trouble if they stayed this close to the fight.

  “Tch, party pooper! But you’re right, and we have our orders as well”

  “Let us go then”

  And with a swing of a hand, the two of them teleported away, leaving the two combatants to continue the deadly bout.

  It took a minute, but Maldi managed to contain the spell, and with a cp of his hands after closing the ‘hug’ of the sphere, it dissipated into nothingness, blinding lights shining the surrounding area for a second.

  “Phew! You definitely got stro-”

  Maldi couldn’t finish his sentence, the next thing he saw was the maw of Celestial in front of him, and in point bnk, she bsted him without giving the demon king a chance to protect himself or dodge.

  Celestial didn’t lose the opportunity, she knew this wouldn’t be enough to kill him, his regeneration is absurdly strong, if there was any chance of her beating Maldi, she would need to turn him into dust.

  Bst after bst, spell after spell, she attacked the position where Maldi was standing with every attack she could muster, the earth rumbled by the strength of the attack, something that would be felt all across the world.

  “Haa... Haa...”

  The dragon was exhausted, she really used everything she had with no hesitation, and yet, when the dust settled, she found Maldi still standing, he had missing chunks of his body, and was severely burnt, but in a blink of an eye, he regrew and healed all of his injuries.

  “For a moment I thought you would kill me! Good grief, you’ve become so strong since you were a child”

  The man was naked, his clothes were turned to dust, so bck goo formed across his pelvic area to cover his dignity, leaving his burly figure out in the open, it seems very uncomfortable given the snowstorm that was created moments ago.

  Celestial didn’t miss an opportunity, the moment she saw he was still alive, she tried to slice him with her cws. The truth was that fear filled Celestial’s heart, she gave her best and it wasn’t enough, but she knew that giving up would not be an option.

  “Ok! That’s enough!”

  Maldi picked her cw, stopping it with his arms, muscles bulging and holding her, Maldi then flings Celestial around and toss her into the snow, shaking her head, she tried to get up, that is when Maldi opened his hand and a bde of dark light was created from thin air, holding the handle and swinging his arm, countless cuts were created along Celestial’s body, as a rain of dark ser rained down from the sky.

  Her armor of ice had deteriorated from the strenuous fight, and she was severely injured by Maldi’s attack, making her fall to the ground with a loud crash.

  Maldi jumped from his destroyed castle tower, standing in front of Celestial’s colpsed body, she didn’t have any energy left, she simply gred at her adversary with rage.

  Maldi lifted his arm holding the sword, preparing to nd the final blow, but after clenching his fists, he eased both of them and the sword disappeared into nothingness.

  “I won’t kill you, your life is pn C and I won’t be hasty, not again...”

  Maldi pondered, what was really in his mind is something only he knows, or maybe it was his heart taking the decisions?

  “...As s-soft as... always...”

  Celestial’s voice echoed in the raging weather, barely audible.

  “Ending the job would bring me more troubles than benefits, and my stupid workers already screwed up royally”

  Maldi looked at Celestial up and down, and after a moment, he approached her, and with a sleight of his hand, the pendants that were in Celestial’s custody were now in his hands.

  “...”

  He held the chains tightly in his fist, and after a sigh, he spoke one st time.

  “I can kill you whenever I want, so pray we do not see each other again”

  With a sway of his hand, Celestial was teleported, ying in the chamber where Marisa was once kept.

  “Maldi...”

  She groaned, her vision was blurry, and her consciousness drifting, her wounds were severe enough that she would die if left untreated.

  Tears fell down the face of the old dragon, she was sad and yet, a part of her felt happiness to know that she would be able to see Hestia once again, that was until the voice of Marisa caught her attention.

  The time is not right, Celestial made a promise, and she wouldn’t be able to go in peace without fulfilling it!

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Back to Marisa***

  “Are you kidding me...”

  The story that Celestial just told me is wild to believe, so my so called deadbeat dad still breathes, that doesn’t bode well, I’m racking my brain about what to do with this information, if he was able to do THIS to Celestial, then he’s a menace, that’s for sure!

  “Don’t worry Celestial, I-”

  “Are we interrupting?~”

  I turned around and saw the two cloaked figures, Celestial can’t fight, and I needed to protect her. As soon as I identified them, I tried to explode them in pce, but it didn’t work as expected.

  “Now now, we didn’t come here to fight! So calm down princess”

  “Like I’d believe you two!”

  As I was in stance so they don’t try to finish off Celestial, and protecting her, the two figures then pced their hands on their hoods, revealing their face after all this time, they’re pretty average, but the red hair and eyes are very peculiar, more so with the horns protruding in their head, they have pretty simir faces.

  “We just want you to hear us out, sister~”

  Joanne_carper