6 6. Nightmare Winter | part 2

[Humility] was humble, kind. [Humility] was good.

For hundreds of thousands of centuries, he offered a hand to every person, and guided them to perfect joy.

Every human was different from each other, each one an individual claiming their own destiny. He thought that was good, for it is the differences in man no matter how big or small that made them special in his eyes...

...

[ THE WAR IN HEAVEN ]

A war, where his mercy found no place. A war, where the lives of all his people were on the line. Whether he liked it or not, many would die, and his weakness would no longer do good...

He was powerless. [Chastity] tore [Humility's] angels apart, and fell his great kingdom. Lands and cities turned barren in an unending wave of mind eating horror. He screamed for his followers' help, for someone to rise when he could not, to protect what he could not.

When the world mangled, his people heard his calls. Talented, and heroic warriors appeared.

When the gods fell, his heroes stood up and led when he could not. They brought his followers together and preserved the remnants of his kingdom as the last holy bastion. He blessed his champions, exalting their brilliance, their talents, and their *uniqueness.* For he was thankful... thankful of the prodigies, the guardians, the heroes that stood above all other humans.

...

In the end, he too fell with the other gods...

He gave up on humanity, for he found a new love, a love for the few truly special humans.

When the broken gods surrounded themselves with immortal fallen angels and unthinking machines, [Humility] surrounded himself with his champions, and he was *proud* of them, for they were good.

---

"Avarice… w-we… we can still recover…"

"I..." Mother couldn't bring herself to look, but she knew countless of her daughters had perished, and every second, a dozen more were struck down. "Please... save-"

"I can't do anything, you know that already… that's why you must-"

Suddenly, a giant boulder instantly collided with the queen, launching her off the hive's top to crash on the bark of a colossal tree. The collision created a crater on its side. She dropped down. Carapace cracked.

She pulled herself up, to see the silver knight in the distance. He raised his great sword above his head, ready to swing down. The cloaked adventurer appeared and tapped his armor, then he shined a light, and in an instant he was right before the Queen and threw his blade down upon her.

The Queen's was crushed onto the ground as her carapace fissured.

"A-avarice... you... you have to fight back." He said beside her, a book hanging on one hand.

"Human... please spare me... my family will leave..."

The silver knight heard her. He pointed his hand, and released a jet of flames, engulfing her in an unending stream of fire. She released a flash of green light. The fire flickered, but still overpowered her magic. When he stopped, her carapace was burnt and eaten away, steaming.

"No humans... will be harmed... we will go... forever... away from this forest... we'll kill your enemies... away... away... from you..."

The knight placed a hand on the ground. A pillar of hardened soil rose and pushed the queen to the tree. It pressed upon her, covering her armor in cracks, just a little more and her entire body would snap and cave in. The pillar broke down into soil, and dropped her to the ground.

"Please... listen... I just... want... to live... with my daughters..."

He speared his blade into her face, piercing into her mouth. From his sword, ice grew and covered her head, and spread throughout her body, turning her into a sculpture of ice.

The shadowy man stood, shaking. An opened book on one hand, black feather on the other.

"I'm... sorry..." She looked at the shadowy man. "I... am... such... a... f-"

The silver knight kicked her frozen head, shattering it into a dozen pieces. He grabbed her core among the shards on the ground, and crushed it on his hand.

The shadowy man grit his teeth. There was nothing he could do. This wasn't his fault... it never was, he told himself.

He couldn't break the rules, he couldn't protect her from humans.

He only did what he could...

It didn't matter whatever he did.

She could have done so much better. She could've been so much greater.

It wasn't him. This was just another failed experiment. Just another experiment.

He would write it down, so that he wouldn't repeat it. Never again...

But his hand stiffened, he couldn't write on his book. He stared at the blank space. Was this really how he wanted to remember Avarice?

No, he couldn't let himself be bothered by this. Why should he bother himself over her own mistakes...?

The cloaked adventurer appeared beside the silver knight.

"Where's the demon?" She asked. "Did we come here for no reason?"

The shadowy man's eyes widened.

"It must've ran away." The knight's voice echoed from his helmet.

"No, the priests around that we hired didn't detect anything leaving."

"Then there was never a demon."

The masked man chimed in. "Why would there even be one in the Overgrowth in the first place?"

The shadowy man realized... they came here for him.

It didn't matter what her choice was.

It was her who was doing what she could.

It was her, who suffered because of his foolishness.

If he wasn't there, if he had left...

*She would still be alive.*

*She would still be with her daughters.*

*She would still be with him.*

He looked at Mother's frozen, and headless corpse, and then at his hands.

The scypedes all around had been slain. But not one dead human in sight...

Suddenly... It was cold. Red ice began to form on the surfaces of the trees and the ground. Mist fogged the area.

This was all his fault. He finally understood. How could he ever forgive himself? To blame her for his own shortcomings. To give up so quickly. No... no... no...

He wouldn't, he couldn't run away, not anymore, even if he would be trapped in the void for another thousand centuries.

They... will... all... suffer...

The silver knight noticed the scypede queen's frozen corpse, turning red. The ground and trees began to frost in demonic red, icicle thorns growing.

He quickly realized the situation. "Taghai! Now!" The silver knight shouted.

The bird masked adventurer rushed for something in his belt, and pulled out a wooden 4 armed star, held like a cross.

"Got you now, demon! You shoulda just run away when ya could!" He clicked a button behind the device, and suddenly a massive beam of light covered the entire battle zone, all the adventurers covering their eyes.

When it disappeared, the ice had lost its crimson energy. Clear white frost, yet... It was still frost. The place became colder... and colder, and not too soon later the ice turned red again.

"Shit! What? We got delayed by a day for this useless crap?"

In front of the group, a looming shadow appeared, with two glowing red dots for eyes.

When the knight realized what was happening, he breathed in, and with all the strength in his lungs shouted. "Everyone! Rout!"

The adventurers understood and manually activated the spells. They began to get covered in white lights, but when the light disappeared, they did not. They were still there, standing in confusion, the teleportation should've worked...

"Holy magic won't save you..." The shadowy creature said with a malevolent echo. "Why are you all so surprised...? When you take lives, you should be prepared to lose your own. How arrogant must you be to think otherwise."

Suddenly, ice began to crawl up their legs. One adventurer screamed as he tried to pull his feet out of the ice, yet it creeped up his body and pierced into his skin, eating into his flesh. Thousands of tiny crystals entered his blood. Every blood vessel burst as spines of ice needles formed from his blood and out of his skin, before finally turning his corpse into a sculpture of blood red ice and thorns. Another human realized what was happening, and screamed in terror as he smashed his frostbitten legs off, he was freed yet he fell on his back. The ice immediately gripped onto him, and did not let go.

Screeching and wailing for rescue, but none came. One by one, they burst into human shaped morning stars.

The knight realized the ice crawling up his feet, and also his two companions' legs.

The silver knight infused his sword in flames, and stabbed it into the ground, but instead of melting the ice, it overwhelmed his sword, he tried to pull it out but it cracked in half instead.

"Look around you... is this what you wanted to happen? I know I didn't, yet you came here..."

The knight looked at his two companions, they were both distraught. He looked at his hands, then the demon, the knight's face still hidden behind an expressionless helmet.

He bowed down. Ice creeped up his legs. "Please... I beg you..."

"Oh?"

"Spare them... I'll do anything, going here was my decision, so please..."

"How lovely. Very well, but there will be a cost."

The knight looked at the shadowy creature, it was grinning.

"Allow me to visit your mind."

The knight hesitated, he looked behind him to see his two friends looking back at him worriedly. "I..."

"Will you give me, Konozoth, Champion of [Pride], permission to enter your mind? Half-elf?"

"Leon, adventurer knight of Taldony, gives permission..."

A destructive blizzard exploded from Konozoth, surrounding them in the middle of a storm of red ice and snow.

The demon reached a spindly limb towards the knight, and touched the forehead of his helmet.

...

Leon opened his eyes, he was in a forest in spring, wearing a hunter's furred clothing, bloody hatchet on his hand, he pulled the hair of a woman's corpse towards the campfire, leaving a trail of blood on the grass.

"W-what am I doing... where am I?" He looked around, and noticed the corpse he was pulling. He checked her pulse, there was nothing. He suddenly felt something well up inside of him, he started drooling. He opened his mouth, and started devouring the woman, raw.

...

He opened his eyes again, and vomited on the floor. He looked up, and saw a cornered man, bleeding from a stab on his chest. Leon stood up. "Wait... I... this is not…" he suddenly went silent, and furrowed his brows, enraged by the man before him.

Leon pulled out his knife, and walked towards the man.

"Please, stop! We were friends, think about my wife! My kids-"

Leon stabbed a knife through his eye.

...

He opened his eyes again. "Stop! Please! End this!"

He was in a wooden house, with a pregnant woman begging in front of him. "Brother! Please listen!"

"What...? I'm not... no, your child is a demon child! A demon! Cursed us! Cursed this village, you will have to burn! Burn!" Leon reached for her.

...

He opened his eyes. Cave floor, a woman in leather armor with a broken leg on the ground, crawling away from him. "I thought we were comrades! Why... why..." Leon felt a desire, an unfed lust he had hidden since the first day he met her, but now... she is all his...

...

Leon opened his eyes. He was inside a cabin he had just broken into. There was a little boy in the bedroom, trembling in fear, alone in the home. Leon made a lecherous grin...

...

It happened, over and over again. Leon committed every sin, every atrocity, and he enjoyed every single moment of it. He wanted to lie to himself, but he wanted it all, he enjoyed it all...

"A lovely feeling, isn't it?"

Leon stood mindlessly staring at the ground.

"Human identity is so fragile, just manipulate what makes them feel good, and feel bad, and you can make the most righteous the most cruel and sadistic beings in existence, interesting is it not? I could even get rid of your guilt right now in a snap of a finger, but I'd rather not. I prefer you like this."

Leon stood mindless.

"Your two friends... I will spare them for now, but I will come for them one day. They will suffer this exact fate."

Tears dripped down from Leon's eyes. Ice started to crawl up his legs.

"Do you think this makes up for what you've done? Humans enjoy the comfort of eternal life. You threw Avarice into an eternity of nothingness. If I had the mana to spare, I would keep you here for a thousand years..."

Leon became a sculpture of ice.

...

The demon sighed, giving the sculpture one last look before punching it on the chest, shattering the knight, crumbling him down into pieces.

"Leon! No!" The bird masked man shouted, feet still stuck on ice but not creeping any higher. He looked at the cloaked adventurer. She was still. Face hidden in her hood.

The demon looked at them with disdain. "As promised, you two will be spared, do as you wish with your disgusting lives, I don't ever want to see your faces again."

The ice holding their feet turned clear, they both got covered in a white light.

"No! Not yet!" The adventurer shouted.

They both disappear, teleported to safety.

...

The demon looked around, nothing but sculptures of needle covered men in struggling poses, and the corpses of scypedes, including the Queen's.

The shadowy creature dug a hole on the soil, and with one limb carried and dropped Mother's corpse into it, before filling it up with dirt with his hands.

The demon looked behind him, a shadowy little boy with glowing red eyes stood, staring from the distance.

"Have you come to punish me?" The demon looked down and turned back to his normal humanoid form. "I get it, I broke some rules, but at least give me time. I need to bury all the humans here."

The boy snapped with his fingers, and all the bloody sculptures sank down the soil, burying them all for him. "Don't worry." The boy turned into smoke and popped up in front of him. "You see, [Chastity] has broken a few rules himself recently! So I can let you go this time, he wouldn't dare be a hypocrite..."

"Well, alright..."

"If you're curious what he's doing, it's [Chastity] preparing for war as usual, next 5000 years I'm guessing."

"That name… [Chastity.] pisses me off. Why not just call him what his servants do…"

"That is who he is, am I wrong?"

"Then should I call you [Humility?]"

The boy's eye twitched. He hung his head to the left, then to the right, with furrowed brows and a forced smile. "Of course!" His tone betrayed his face. "Whatever makes you happy, my champion!" He floated up and pat Konozoth's head. "I wasted my free rule break because of you. But it's okay! You can make up for it by having some fun!"

The demon looked away, unsure.

"Come on! You smiled so much when Avarice was alive. Here, how about this." He pointed to the forest. "Over there, one of her scypedes is still alive. They've kidnapped one of the adventurers during the chaos of battle before you appeared, and is currently having their own type of fun! They can be your new start, your new Avarice!" He spoke of me.

"What if... I don't want a new start... what if I just want this all to be over."

"NO WAY! I already told you this, like five hundred years ago." He gestured cross hands. "But I don't blame you... I wish I could somehow lift the limitations of human memories..." He scratched his head. "One of my champions in the past asked me to end his immortal life, I didn't do it, and a thousand years later he thanked me because he regretted wanting to die! So unless you can guarantee me an unavoidable permanently despairfully horribly abhorrently painfully horrible life from now on, forever, I won't do it. Not a chance! I'm sorry, even I hurt to tell you this... I really want to fulfill your wish..." He wiped a tear and sniffed, then recovered instantly.

"Then... what am I supposed to do now..."

He turned Konozoth around by the shoulders. "Go forward."

"..."

"If you need me, I will be here, friend. You've been working so hard to eradicate humanity... don't give up, it's a non-zero probability for you to achieve it. Very unlikely, but I can still imagine you achieving it after a few million millenniums. You deserve it, after helping me so much, after saving so many lives." The shadowy boy hugged him from the back, and disappeared. Leaving the demon alone in the forest. Melting red ice pooled on the ground. He heard the scream of a tortured man, from the direction The Devil told him where I was.

He took a deep breath. He produced his book and opened it, remembering why he had gone here in the first place, why he met Avarice. This time, he promised himself there would be no sentimentality. No more foolish attachments to the short lived. He believed he didn't deserve such things anyways.

He told himself that this time I would only be his tool to exact his vengeance, and headed for me.