CHAPTER 4.5: MADNESS

**Maddie**

“Maddie…”

Once again, my ‘mother’ stood in front me, amidst the vast darkness, typical of my recent dreams…or nightmares. Perhaps this was what Natasha told me…that Kuro’s future was uncertain. That he was bound to get erased, forgotten, even though he gave a lot to this world, and to the others as well…

Anyway, I have to deal with this apparition.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, activating my god-powers just in case the need for it arises. “I banished you already!”

“Indeed, you have!” she chuckled, “And I think, that’s too disrespectful, considering I created you, your mother.”

“My apologies, whatever creature you are,” I raised my guard, “You may have ‘given birth’ to me, but I believe respect is earned, not given. And you—for all that you did in the past and in the present—can’t and shouldn’t be accorded that.”

A smirk appeared on the Seductress’ face, “Well, no matter. I came here not because I want you to respect me. In fact, you can lower your guard; I won’t do anything to you.”

However, I ignored her words and cast a spell on the Seductress, “Begone! Go back to the Void in which you came!”

My mother—no, the monster from the Void—winced just as she was about to be hit by my god-powers. Out of desperation, she shouted, “Are you sure you wanted me to disappear even without listening to my words?”

“I don’t need it!” There she goes again with her seducing words. She won’t fool me!

“Even if it’s about your man, Kuro?”

“I…I d-don’t care!” I increased the intensity of my magic. “Begone, I say!”

“You stupid girl!” she screamed. “You just care about yourself even as your lover is suffering in Cherflammen!”

I shouted too; I never want to hear anything from her, “I don’t need to hear your words!”

“Kuro is suffering! The demon princess, Noir, is keeping him prisoner! Yet one word from your saint ‘friends’ and you believe their lies! Natasha is a demon saint; of course she does whatever works for her!”

“Shut up!” At that moment, I put all my mana in the spell, and within minutes, the Seductress’ form disintegrated. Then, the darkness crumbled, and I found myself sitting on one of the couches in the Holy Palatial Gardens.

“…”

This dream. This is the…I guess I can’t count them now, it’s been recurring lately. All with the exact chain of events. It’s exhausting my mind…but I will endure. I know that her words are only a ploy to entice me to conflict against Cherflammen. I will not fall for it.

“…”

But what if her words have a sliver of truth in it? And Natasha’s been hiding a lot of her thoughts from me lately. Is she conniving with that demon princess to hide Kuro after I nearly took him last time? Argh! I’m overthinking again.

“…”

Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I go there to see my Kuro.

“…”

Yes, Kuro…he is mine. And I’ll make sure that he’s fine in Cherflammen! There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just claiming what is mine.

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***Gaius’ garden***

“That was hard,” Natasha quipped. “You know, convincing Maddie to stop on her self-destructive behavior.”

“That girl is pretty banged up on her head,” Seirna replied. “Makes me wonder how the previous Human Saint determined that the Lady Rubinforth is the ‘rightful heir’ to her authority. See, that’s why the Lord Gaius entrusted me to eliminate the current human saint. But your otherworlder teacher foiled my efforts, and messed up the timeline.”

“Stop it, Seirna,” the Saint of Darkness told her. “Instead of ‘killing’, how about you find a more ‘peaceful’ solution to the problem instead?”

“I’m not you, Cass,” the Saint of the Flame countered. “Unlike you, my master taught me to kill, and most of the time, it is more effective than convincing someone to change their minds. One stab, and the person is dead, no questions asked. Your method, however, it takes a lot of time and effort! What if the person decided the otherwise? Won’t your investments to convince them wasted?”

“And this is why we’d often find ourselves on each other side of the fence. I don’t approve of Gaius’ and your methods.”

“Well, I don’t need your permission for me to act. I’ll do what I think is necessary to keep this world safe.”

“In any case, we need to do this quick,” Natasha reminded her companion. “I don’t trust that Maddie would take heed of my warnings to her. She might end up attacking Cherflammen after all.”

“Well, if you didn’t put those ‘overkill’ restraints, we can feed my master faster.”

“This is Gaius we’re talking about. My seal is enough for him.”

Then, the two saints fell silent as they walked towards the spot where Natasha left the former god sealed in the magic circle she made. As they got nearer, however, the Saint of Darkness broke the ice,

“You think I convinced him, my Sir G?”

Seirna heaved a sigh, “More than convinced, I’d say you scared your teacher. After all, while some can take the prospect of them dying, I’ve never seen a person who would welcome his existence erased. Everyone wants to be remembered in one way, or another.”

Natasha stared at her colleague, “For some reason, I find it hard to believe those words of yours. You’re infamous for purging people from the timeline yourself!”

“I had to do it, Cass,” the Saint of the Flame replied. “It’s not like, I’m erasing anyone’s existence upon my whims. I’m not the one who’s allowed to change the timeline!”

“Don’t pass the blame to me! Remember, you ‘killed’ someone close to my teacher by accident!”

“Hey, the Marquise of Monfort’s existence wasn’t completely wiped out; your otherworlder still remembers her!”

“And my teacher is in danger of losing his own existence! Good job, Seirna!” Natasha clapped, though the Saint of the Flame could tell that she was sarcastic. “Well, how about we erase Gaius’ existence, then? I think he deserves that more than my Sir G!”

“I dare you do that, Cass.”

“Have you forgotten that you’re the one in-charge of existences? So, if Gaius loses it, you have no one else to blame but yourself!”

“Fuck off! My adoptive father, and master, is only blinded by his ambitions, but he’s never a bad person,” Seirna countered. “If you killed him before, then you won’t get out of this place alive. I’ll kill you myself.”

It was only then that the Saint of the Flame noticed that Natasha had stopped walking. She turned at her colleague, and she caught her staring back at her, with a horrified expression on her face. Seirna was about to ask what was wrong, but then, the Saint of Darkness pointed behind her.

“!!!” The Saint of the Flame, following Natasha, saw a terrible sight. It was Gaius, free from the seal that bounded him, and the Seductress, her miasma engulfed the former god. Together, they welcomed the new arrivals.

“It’s been a while, Alexa Cassandra David!” it was Gaius speaking, yet his voice was that of the Seductress’. “How nice of you to grace us with your presence! Makes it easy for me to avenge what you did to my beautiful body eons ago!”

The old hero wasted no time talking. Once she brought out her rapier, she immediately went on the attack, compared to Seirna who was frozen on the spot where she stood, the moment she saw what happened to Gaius.

“!!!”

“You think I’d let you repeat your victory?” the Seductress repelled Natasha’s thrust with her miasma, sending the saint reeling back to her colleague.

“Seirna!” the Saint of Darkness called on her ally, “What are you doing? Don’t just stand there! Help me!”

“B-But my master…”

“That isn’t Gaius anymore!” she shook the latter, so Seirna could return to her senses. “Wake up! Or we’d all be dead if both of them gets out of here!”

Realizing what was happening, the Saint of the Flame took out her own sword, and charged. As it was a sudden, impulsive move, Natasha had to cover for her, for their attacks to be effective. However, it was an uncoordinated offensive; the Seductress, by using the possessed Gaius’ body, easily fended them off. And, not wishing to wait for them to recover, the Roman went on for a counterattack, pushing the saints to a corner.

“Seirna! That isn’t your father!” Natasha pleaded to her, “You got to fight back!”

“Y-Yes, what do you think I’m doing, Cass?”

But no one could deny that the Saint of the Flame was shaken by what she witnessed. Her attacks were half-hearted; she couldn’t even properly defend herself! Gaius, under the Seductress’ control, got through her defense and gave her wounds to her arms, and legs, effectively crippling her. Seeing that Seirna was already out of action, Natasha tried to defend her, but the Seductress bombarded her with magic spells, forcing the old hero to counter.

“!!!”

Gaius saw through that, and with one swift movement, his gladius pierced through Natasha’s shoulder, and her sword-arm was disabled in an instant. The old hero, using her remaining arm and legs, valiantly fought back. She threw magic spells against the Seductress, and when she could, she would attack Gaius as well.

Nevertheless, two powerful enemies against one injured opponent were too much for Natasha. The Roman chopped off her right leg, and as she fell, he brought the pommel of his gladius crashing to her head, causing her to lose consciousness.