Paladins Pride

Vanitas

The monster never had a chance to reach for their weapon, as the dagger quickly shattered their Soul. Vanitas shifted, and he moved his dagger away, before anything was covered by Dust.

After all, Dust was a pain to clean up.

He adjusted his mask, earlier, during the chase, his target had managed to get a lucky hit, and had shifted it a bit.

"Hello lovely Pride." Desire purred, leaning against the assassin.

Vanitas, who was Pride, tilted their head, which was the clearest sign of annoyance from him.

While the Lust Sans was easier to deal with than Malice, they were much too clingy.

"Mou... still wearing your mask, and all that leather?" They said, running a finger down his chest, and he ignored them.

"Come on, don't be a pain. You talked to Malice, before that brat somehow got to them." Desire grumbled pulling back.

After all, Malice had been his handler.

He shortcutted away, to report to Mara, and then, he would be off, unless he was given another target.

------

Epic sighed when he saw the recent report on another battle between the two Empires. How long would it take before they started to realise that their pride was killing innocents?

Epic had no idea just how long it had been since Cross went missing... He prayed at every Shrine, Temple, and Church that he found, wherever it was still in use, or abandoned, but it didn't work.

It only reconfirmed his thoughts about Gods, Goddesses, and Higher Powers. They didn't care, they didn't exist, and they weren't going to help him...

"Old Matro is dead, how?!" A voice said.

"No one is sure, the guards searched his home, and found forbidden books." Another voice said, the voices were coming from a few older monsters on a bench.

Matro... Wasn't that the old Elder's name? Epic had been in the old Elder's place enough to know that he didn't have any forbidden books there, but the Elder had moved to that Town... It wouldn't be a stretch for him to keep things that would get him in trouble elsewhere... Like the place that he lived in, before he moved to the Town...

He sighed, and he walked over to the older Monsters. "Matro is dead?"

"Yes, they identified his dust yesterday." The monster on the left said, an elderly cat monster.

"Huh... That's weird..." Epic frowned, sensing an opportunity to get some revenge on the Elder. "Matro is supposed to be the Elder of a town in the neutral zone. What was he doing here?"

The two monsters traded looks. "Apparently, he was buying books from the black markets, and apparently, one was supposed to tell you how to get the Face Eater's attention."

"What the fuck was he thinking?!" Epic almost screamed. "Our world barely survived the last encounter with the Face Eater! Getting their attention is a death sentence! That's almost as stupid as his constant instance that I became the next Town Priest! I only know the fucking death rites, because of a tradition in my homeland... If one was going to leave it, and travel, you had to know the outside rites and traditions so you didn't accidentally insult another by using the wrong one!"

The other elderly monster, a Canine, sighed.

"I think that he was thinking of the eternal youth that the Face Eater, and it's Sins, were supposed to have, and well, if the book worked, he got death instead."