Death's Door

"Now we can have some privacy, Miss Lukalis."

Lukalis resisted the urge to snap her fingers to see if the door would respond to her command as well.

Usually the enchanted doors responded to a specific command, like the finger snap he did earlier, but it could be that the spell on the door was designed to only answer Runfar"s command.

She could not afford to think about it at the moment.

No, right now she needed to face this person head on, otherwise she couldn"t be sure what h.e.l.l awaited her next.

"How do you know my name!?"

"I have my ways of obtaining valuable information…Never mind that. You see, I believe we are able to help each other if we work together. So what do you say…."

CRASH!

Before he could finish speaking, Runfar found himself flung to the wall with an unimaginable force.

It was wind magic, used to propel an opponent far away, making Runfar crash on the wall with so much force that his body left an indent upon it.

There was no mistake about who cast this spell.

Making sure to have Runfar pinned down under the gusts of mighty wind, Lukalis walked up towards him, and with strength exceeding that of humanity, she took hold of Runfar by the throat.

Her wind magic was no longer active, instead it was simply her physical strength at work, holding him up by the throat with only one hand as his feet were lifted off the ground.

Her left hand held him by the throat, pinning him to a wall, her right hand was prepared to cast a spell that would kill him in an instant without leaving a trace.

"Don"t mess with me"

Her words seethed with anger, but somehow Runfar kept maintaining his cold indifference, it was as if nothing that happened to his physical body was of bother to him.

Much to her fury, he simply smiled.

"Very curious indeed" he muttered.

"What?"

"Well, I did not think you would do the same thing all over again but I suppose in your perspective this is the first time you did it, though I was hoping the way I phrased my words would make you reconsider. I suppose it can"t be helped…"

He sighed before addressing her.

"While I did mend your body and restored your mana, I can just as easily take away what I have given"

With his sole eye focused upon her blue eyes, he simply put his right hand upon her shoulder.

In an instant, her knees gave out, her vision started to blur, her balance was shaken.

She ended up falling to her knees, letting go of Runfar in the process.

The power she was wielding disappeared almost completely.

"What is going on? What did you do?!"

"It is nothing to be wary off"

"What have you done to me?"

Her eyes barely managed to focus on his figure, he proceeded to walk towards her, slowly, almost as if each step took an enormous effort for him to muster.

"I guess now I have your undivided attention, wouldn"t you say?"

When she tried to muster the remaining power within her body to attack him, she felt the mana in her body drained away by a strange force, it was like a leech, sucking away all her power.

"My mana, he took it away!"

"Try this again and I will drain you till you are half dead and then I will have you become a breeding pen for goblins. I am sure goblins would be delighted."

Finally losing any means she had to fight him, she was reluctantly forced to accept defeat.

She could no longer attack; the only thing left now was to speak to this fiend.

"What do you want!?"

"Right to the point, aren"t ya? I like that."

He put his left hand under her chin, focusing his evil gaze upon her.

"I want everything. That is why…."

He extended his left hand towards her.

"Become mine, Lukalis Kreschen!"

For a few seconds, the meaning of Runfar"s words did not sink in.

"EHHHH??!"

"EEEEHHH??"

Lukalis found herself crying out loud and she could have sworn she heard someone else cry out as well, but she thought she might have been hearing things.

Though she did think there was someone else inside this room other than Runfar, she had dismissed those thoughts entirely after sensing that there was only one other mana signature in the room other than hers, which she a.s.sumed to be Runfar"s.

"Whwhwhat do you mean!?"

"Exactly what it sounded like. I wish for you to become my subordinate."

His response made her calm down somewhat.

It was not what she thinking at all, huh….

"And in exchange, I will aid you with taking your vengeance."

Lukalis thought hard at what she could do.

Refusal meant he would be free to kill her on the spot, he already demonstrated that her magic was useless on him. He could drain her dry of mana at any time he wants and she would be at his mercy.

She would lose any chance at achieving her so desired goal of revenge. That was the worst case scenario under the current circ.u.mstances.

But becoming his subordinate meant that she would lose her freedom. And that was the only thing she had left.

However, considering the fact that he freed her from that cave meant that he was not trying to use her, at least not in the same way the mercenaries have been using her for her mana.

But what could he possibly want with her? She couldn"t even think of a reason for him to waste his time to pick up someone like her if he did have an ulterior motive. But what could it be?!

Yet having a chance at vengeance was not something she could pa.s.s up.

Nay, vengeance was all she could dream of in her current state.

"Will you insist upon a master-servant contract?"

"Of course"

"Will you not take my word for it?"

"Unfortunately, trust is not something of abundance in this world. So, no, I would rather be safe than sorry."

"I see. Then I agree to become your va.s.sal….on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Runfar tilted his head in question.

"You must always tell me truth and nothing but the truth. That is the condition at which I will accept being your va.s.sal. Otherwise, you can forget it."

Unless he is willing to tell her truth under contract which would force him to speak no falsehood, she would never consider being his subordinate.

Human heroes have taught her very well to be cautious of lies, she was not about to make the same mistake again.

"Is that all?"

"What more could there be?"

"I accept"

He extended his left hand.

She did not expect him to accept her condition that easily, it was very suspicious…but under current circ.u.mstances, she did not have much of a choice…

Hesitating a little, Lukalis took Runfar"s hand into her own.

Both stated their conditions for the contract and the bond was created.

The master-servant contract between them was now established.

There was no going back now.

"Since you wish to have the truth, might as well start with this…"

He proceeded to take off his half mask concealing the right half of his face.

Lukalis gasped.

A pair of mismatched eyes, one blood red and the other glowing white seemed to be peering at her very soul.

And the half of his face he took so much trouble to conceal was that of a skeletal being.

That face, it was not that of a human but of a creature from nightmare…

She found herself grasping for air, all the air in her lungs had seemingly gone cold.

This man was not a human; he was a monster… the monster she swore to serve.

"Such is the ugly truth. I welcome you to the Shadow Lords, Lukalis Kreschen. I am sure we will have plenty of things to discuss…"

* * *

"I am very sorry about this Camilla"

Runfar was currently walking with the a.s.sistance of his servant, he could not walk by himself, his body… although healed of damage caused by Morphus"s occupation it was still drained dry of energy and stamina.

His body was overused, plain and simple. And now he was steadily gaining back his capacity to walk with Camilla"s a.s.sistance, but it was plainly obvious that without his servant"s help, he could barely take five steps.

He barely managed to walk a little while talking with Lukalis, each step was excruciatingly painful, but Morphus did say that he would rehabilitate faster the more he moved.

Every time Morphus found himself in Dark Lord"s company, he would apologize over and over again to the point Dark Lord found it a little annoying.

It took him twenty one attempts to get Lukalis on his side. To those who did not know, it may have looked like a perfectly executed plan, but in reality, it was a trial and error.

Letting her hit him with long distance magic without counterattacking and letting her get close enough for him to drain her mana was all planned out.

After getting defeated by her in previous loops, he knew that he was at a disadvantage at a long range, so he had her come close enough for him to use his undead ability.

Aside from making him lose his humanity, maybe he should be thankful for the liches…Maybe not.

"Worry not, milord, Camilla is always glad to be of help"

"I really would walk by myself, if I could that is. Sorry for unloading such a burden on your shoulders"

Camilla was inside the room as well, of course, hidden away with his concealment ability, watching everything unfold.

Dark Lord told him that Camilla was to watch and only act on his signal, making Camilla think that he was guarding his master.

In reality, his reason for being there was more crucial.

Dark Lord was not confident he could walk back to his room, not in his current condition at least.

He needed someone to lean upon to be able to walk.

"What are you saying, milord?! It is subordinate"s duty to help his master in any way possible!"

"I am glad you think like that, thank you"

"Camilla wishes to be as useful as possible for milord"s sake."

"I feel a little bad for having you essentially be my wheelchair…"

"Pay it no heed milord."

"Again, thank you."

Walking a little before reaching Runfar"s room, servant and master conversed.

"If it is not inappropriate of me to ask, why did you promise to tell only truth to that woman?"

"Because truth is a low price to pay for getting what I want"

"A low price…Milord, do you think of all your servants as p.a.w.ns, to be used and eventually discarded? Are we all just disposable tools?"

"Camilla, I am not sure how you wish for me to answer that. I can tell you that I would be fine with all my servants dead at my feet or I can tell you that I cherish them more than anything in the world. Either way, it will be both true and false."

Considering in several loops he ma.s.sacred the entire Sevilles estate just for the sake of fun, his words were no lie, but to Camilla, it sounded unimaginable.

"I see, milord seeks people who are useful, no matter what kind of use it is, just like those women in goblin nests."

"Exactly, even if they are useless otherwise, as long as they are capable of being used for their mammalian reproductive qualities, then it would be of benefit for us."

"I understand."

Camilla nodded before asking.

"Milord, I wish not to offend you, but may I please ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"I understand that as your servant, Camilla must not question milord"s orders, but Camilla wishes to know one thing, who is Camilla to Milord?"

Runfar now chuckled a little, confusing his servant.

"Was that all? That"s what you are worrying about? He he he…"

Seeing that Camilla seemed to be sulking a little, he stopped laughing.

"Who you are to me…Isn"t it obvious?"

Camilla shook his head.

"Closest thing I have to a friend. Might not be the answer you were looking for, but that is the only answer I"ve got."

Camilla was shaking just a little, but Runfar could feel that his servant just gulped, from the corner of his eye, Runfar saw stream of tears coming from Camilla"s eyes. Camilla turned away so that Runfar wouldn"t see it, but Runfar already caught a glimpse of it.

"Did I by any chance upset you, Camilla?"

"No, milord, just the opposite….Thank you"

"You are welcome."

Supported by Camilla, Runfar managed to cover the lengths of several rooms; the mansion seemed to be much bigger now that he could not walk properly.

"Still, milord, are you sure you wouldn"t prefer to have Camilla in female form instead?"

"Now that you mention it…Is this your male form?"

"No. In this form I am neither male nor female."

"How does that work?"

"Members of my clan choose their gender at the time of mating, before that, they are inherently genderless."

"So you can change into either one any time you want?"

"Yes. If it is to milord"s tastes, Camilla can serve you as a woman…"

"Let"s keep that option open for the future, for now, remain the way you are now, I would prefer it like that."

"As you wish, milord"

After a few minutes of silence, Camilla spoke up.

"Milord, after you accomplish your goals, will you…will you build a future with me?"

But now Runfar sadly smiled.

"I am sorry, but it is tad bit too late…at least for me. As far as I can tell, the direction I am heading is to be inevitably be swallowed by darkness….So, I can"t promise you anything."

"Then, milord, let us hope for the best."

"Doing that usually results in the worst though."

"Please don"t say that milord!"

"As far as my experience can tell, that is usually the case."

"Also, Milord, Camilla is little curious about something… Camilla overheard the words of one of the Demon Lords that Milord is a crow demon just like him, is that true?"

"I am indeed a crow type demon, so he might be my distant relative; that is most likely the case."

"Milord, if it is not too rude to enquire, who are you?"

"What do you mean, Camilla? You of all people know who I am."

"Camilla knows Milord"s goals, but next to nothing of Milord"s past or even his name."

"You already know what I am called."

"It is a t.i.tle, not milord"s true name!"

"True name, huh? Well…I don"t have one. My predecessor did….but I rejected it along with him. The only name I accepted was the name I took as my own, Dark Lord, and that is enough for me. As for my past…." Dark Lord hesitated for a moment.

"I will tell you one day…but not today. It is not that I wish to keep it a secret, it is just I don"t know where to even start…"

"It is fine, milord, please take all the time you need. Camilla will wait until milord is ready."

"Thank you, my friend."

Of all the servants he has, this one, aside from Morphus, was the closest one to him, the one he viewed as his comrade in suffering, and the one who currently was the closest person Dark Lord had to a friend.

However, as insightful he was, Dark Lord was not aware of the budding feelings the snake demon started to develop for him.