15 years after Van's departure, and his agreement with the Dragon King.
Location: Arataxia.
The Dungeon beneath Supremium, the city of eternal day.
The sacred seat of Goddess Varolia.
Within its depths, the cell of Magus Veil.
"...Why let me talk...?" Magus rasped, voice brittle. "Even if you're no longer under my influence... what reason did you have to come here and talk to me...? After all these years..."
He lay sprawled across the cold stone floor, tilting his head toward the bars—toward her.
Varolia.
The Goddess herself.
Her radiant figure looked almost unnatural against the damp, torch-lit air of the dungeon. Light danced in her eyes. Eyes that narrowed as she folded her arms.
[I just love seeing you like this.] She started with an exhale, a tiny smirk hiding in her lips, [And I was curious what you'd say. After losing everything.]
[Including your powers.]
[Guess I'm admiring my daughter's handiwork. Stripping you of it all.]
She hissed the words with a satisfied edge, then turned away.
"Our daughter," Magus corrected quietly, gaze lowering to the floor.
[Mine.] She stopped herself, her back still turned to Magus, [You may have reminded me what it felt like to be pregnant again...]
[But that ended the moment I gave birth.]
[Along with any sentiment I had left for you.]
Magus let out a dry chuckle. "You've always been like that... getting off on watching people suffer."
[Hmhm.] Her laugh echoed, harsher now. She looked up at the ceiling of the dungeon with a smile; her arms still folded.
[How perceptive. Always the sharp one.]
[Or maybe that's just the last embers of your influence trying to speak through me.]
[Either way, I got what I came for.]
She resumed walking, already halfway up the stairs.
[Enjoy the rest of your life here.]
"Hey." Magus's voice was low now. Barely audible.
"Why don't you just kill me?"
She stopped.
Half-turned. [Because,] she said, [you're still useful. A tool I might need... when Hellix and I meet again.]
"...Right." Magus exhaled again. "If you're really free of my influence, or even his with that dumb curse he has, remind me again why you hate him so much?"
Varolia went quiet.
Then, coldly: [He holds power beyond anyone in this realm... Well, besides my Markia right now, whose existence is neigh conceptual. But she earned that power for being my daughter. Hellix is young and reckless. This is survival. He needs to die. And it has to be by my... Or Markia's hand.]
"...?" Magus raised a brow. "Why you?"
She took a slow breath.
[Because he walks around as if nothing happened. As if erasing his past and cozying up to the Demon Lord excuses everything. Power like that... unchecked... can topple us all. It's an insult.]
YOU ARE READING
Betrayed, I Met The Demon Lord
FantasíaVan and his friend Magus had reincarnated in another world with magic. Tasked to kill the demon lord, they set forth. Van was granted very rough skills that made life for him in that world a living hell, yet he muscled through. Magus however, was be...
