There Was Never An 'Us'!

Pricilla was in the holy room where the Artus would usually sit to give a sermon to his loyal children. Or, in other words, Artus' throne room! Pricilla was walking around the head chair placed at the front of the room. She was looking at the gold-crafted seat intensely, and once he entered, Artus could see that she wanted to seat in it very badly.

But even Pricilla knew that it would be sacrilege to sit in that seat. Only Artus was allowed to sit there! No matter how much the two of them did not see eye to eye, Pricilla still held high regard for the church, and so she respected the seat!

Pricila started to talk once Artus entered and bowed to her as the queen.

"I don't think it has been ten years since we last spoke. I wanted it to be longer but I didn't have a choice this time,"

Artus felt his eye twitch. He knew that she didn't like him but why did she always try to insult him in that backward way? Just say what you want and leave here you bitch! It's not like you're the kind of person I want to spend my night with!

"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? I don't think that the church was expecting you for any ceremonies,"

Artus said this with a smile and he was a bit surprised when he saw Pricilla frown. She would usually take this opportunity to throw a jab at him as well. This was strange! There are very few things that could make Pricilla this worried! Artus could just feel like there was something wrong! And the next thing that Pricilla said made his blood run cold!

" I don't think the hero is really dead,"

Artus tried his best to see if what he heard was right! Did he just hear her right? Maybe she really said something else! There is no way that he heard her right!

"How can you say such a thing? Did we not promise not to talk about this anymore. We killed him once and for all. I was there to see the life leave his eyes! How can you make a joke like this?"

"I'm not joking! I... I don't know what else I can use to explain this! Valkyrie is already dead and a soldier that brought her back said that she was killed by the demon lord named Floid! He even called himself the hero! I managed to kill the soldier that brought Valkyrie back before he could spread the news that the hero was alive but this is a serious problem for us. What are we going to do?"

Artus was completely shocked and it shows on his face! Valkyrie was dead!? Valkyrie might have been the most unhinged out of all of us but she is not weak at all! It would take three SS class knights just to give her a challenge!

And how can Floid be alive!? They killed him! Artus was sure that they killed that bastard and sent his body into the ocean! Why would the demon lord start calling himself Floid? This is a big problem! If people start to find out that the demon lord was named after the hero it will cause a big panic and if the news of what we did gets out to the public then they will surely riot! The church might be popular, but the people all loved the hero!

But out of all those things, the one thing that pissed Artus off even more was the fact that Pricilla was asking him what 'they' would do! Was she not the one that wanted to kill the hero in the first place!? Was it not because of her own stupid jealousy and her desire for power that they killed the hero!? She killed him because she was afraid that he would take the throne of Uta from her because of how popular he was! She shouldn't even try to bring me into this again!

Artus frowned as he spoke up.

"I don't think there is an 'us' anymore when the hero is concerned. I helped you to handle him before, so I don't owe you anything anymore! The hero is dead, stop trying to make me scared for no reason!"

Artus was not going to believe this woman! He knows that they killed the hero! There isn't any kind of magic in this world that can bring people back from the dead!

Pricilla was a bit stunned by what Artus said. Is this man an idiot!? Does he think that the hero will care about who's plan it was in the first place!? The truth is that we all killed him! He will still go after you even if it wasn't your idea!

"Listen here, you dirty priest! Don't ever forget that I still have that dirty secret that you have been trying to hide all this time, so don't fuck with me! You can try as much as you want, but as long as I know about your secret desires to fuck every female demon you see, you will be under my heel forever!"

Pricilla said this to Artus with a glare and he grit his teeth while trying to stop himself from strangling her to death! He hated her! He hated her so much! She already promised that she would let go of that secret if he helped her to kill the hero before and she is still bringing it up now!?

Pricilla was breathing heavily after shouting at him and she forced herself to calm down before giving him a warning stare.

"Just make sure that you are careful for now. The hero might come at any time and you do not want him to catch you when you are not prepared. If he is the demon lord then he already has an army. We are preparing our own army but we don't know when he will come so it is not going so well. Just be careful Artus, that is all I came to tell you,"

Once Pricilla finished, she started to walk out and Artus bowed respectfully as she passed him. He has to respect her as the queen but he was so angry! She was telling him what to do!? She is the one that needs to watch her back! If the hero ever comes and Artus is in a sticky situation then don't think that he will not expose her to save himself! She is just as dispensable as he is!

Priscilla left the town of Noir that evening and she hoped that Artus would take her warning seriously. She might not like the priest, but she knows that in this world of lies and treachery, it is very rare to have anybody that you can call an ally. They might not be friends, but he was the only other person she could call her ally. Priscilla already went to meet the other member of their former party and it didn't go so well. The priestess that uses defensive magic was hostile and she didn't want anything to do with Priscilla anymore, so Artus is the only person that she has left. Dammit! She hopes this entire thing is a lie! If that hero is back then there could be serious problems for everyone!

.......

Noir was a ghost town late at night. During the night, people would stay indoors and shut their doors. They would barricade it with wood and then place holy water at their doorsteps. It was a warning to all vampires to keep out. Even if the people had gotten rid of many vampires, they were still a serious issue! Just one vampire is cable of killing a hundred humans easily! The stronger ones can wipe out an entire town in a night if they try! The humans here might trust in their god, but they don't trust him enough to leave their houses unguarded!

During these nights, the vampires would come out from their hiding places and move around. They couldn't go near houses because of the holy water, but they knew that no matter how careful the humans are, there will always be idiots that come out! It might be that errant teenager that doesn't believe in the folktales of vampires and wanted to go outside to meet their friends. Or that little kid that just got lost in the night and can't find his mother. They would serve as a good meal for the vampires!