Lazy Salvation

For the first time in her life, the Saintess stood drenched in blood that was not her own.

For the first time… she had crossed the line where prayers ended and killing began.

And as she looked upon the outcome, only a dark satisfaction stirred within her.

"Good job, hon. I couldn't have done it better."

"I doubt it."

The two loomed over the last surviving member of the Final Custodian Order, their leader.

He was nothing like he had been at the start. What began as mere draconic traces of horns crowning a human frame had spiraled into full metamorphosis. Flesh gave way to scale, bone to wing, until not a fragment of humanity remained.

Now he was a complete, monstrous, majestic dragon.

And yet, that same majesty lay broken, his colossal form crumpled against the ground, wings slack, breath shallow.

Around him, the remains of his order were scattered like discarded offerings.

Seraphine playfully twirled her spear in a fluid motion, poised to drive upward from his snout and into his skull.

His gaze stopped her.

There was none of the expected defeat, fear, or the crumbling pride that was supposed to appear.

What remained was a cold, contemptuous amusement. He eyed them as if watching trapped rats gnawing at the bars.

"What's with that look?"

Ashen, acting like a thug, stepped forward and kicked him across the face, displeasure written plainly. "Don't look at my wife like that, you overgrown lizard."

"Oh Ashen, you~"

"..."

"...Do you truly believe you are safe, having slain a mere team of our Order?"

"What? You've got more lapdogs hiding somewhere, waiting to jump us?" Ashen scoffed, tilting his head with a crooked grin. "Go on, call them out. I've got my trusty knight right here. I'm not afraid."

"You may not recognize it, lost in your madness…" The dragon's voice dragged heavily. "But you are already dead."

"..."

"We were never sent to kill you. Only to observe."

His lips, if such a thing could still be called that, curled.

"When the true monsters arrive, you will not escape… even if you flee to the ends of the earth."

Crack—

Those were his last words.

Seraphine's patience snapped and drove her spear forward.

Then, as if she had done a mundane chore, she turned to Ashen with a tilt of her head, "What now honey? It doesn't sound like we're safe yet."

"Well, the plan was to run to Esperra and shamelessly use my uncle as a shield, but I don't think there's any need for that now."

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"Huh?"

"The Beholder is beckoning…" he grinned, "we are leaving in a couple of hours."

"Yes!!" she jumped into his embrace, wrapping her hands around his neck and raining kisses on his face, "thank god!!"

"Three thousand loops… and we're finally free." His voice dipped quietly amid her cheers, "I told you I could do it. All you had to do… was trust me."

"Yes." She beamed, "I'll only ever trust you."

They stayed in each other's embrace, enjoying each other's warmth for a lingering comfortable moment. The moment was oh so sweet…

Sweet enough to forget, for just a second, what kind of people they had become.

But sweetness never blinded them for long. Seraphine hesitantly lifted her head from his chest. "Ash… I don't think it's safe to go back like this… is it?"

"Safe?"

"Not for us."

"Oh. Yeah… maybe."

"Yes, I don't think your territory is ready for the coming of the Time Magician." She smiled weakly.

"Really? I'm pretty harmless most of the time though…"

"No, you are not." Seraphine rolled her eyes. "Do something about it. And for me too."

"Ahh… fine. I don't mind." He sighed faintly. "It will suck, though. You'll feel like you're trapped in a constant cage. Even so… will you go through with it?"

"…Ashen, remember our friends. Our family… and your noble goal."

She spoke to him, but Ashen felt like the words were directed to herself as much as they were to him.

"Will you truly be able to save our world as you are?"

She hadn't seen the memories from the previous timeline since Ashen hadn't branded them in his blood, but it wasn't hard for her to deduce that something terrible was coming, something that would threaten them all, and he was preparing for it.

So, his ultimate goal was never hidden from her.

"Haah… no need to convince me, love. As long as you ask, I will do it." Ashen smiled sweetly, "We will use the Pale Chronicler to seal our current personalities."

"That is for the best…" Seraphine sighed resignedly.

***

Ashen had always used the Pale Chronicler to drag related memories to the surface whenever he cast spells, but that had never been its original purpose.

For the old vampires, it had served as a psychiatrist and a psychologist all at once, sealing away emotions they could no longer bear, erasing memories they deemed meaningless, preserving what remained of their personalities before erosion could finish the work.

And now, Ashen and Seraphine were about to use it on a far larger scale.

To condense the madness, the depression, the rot gnawing at the edges of their minds… and seal it all into a single, manageable fragment of themselves.

The memories would still remain accessible, but would be stripped of the emotions attached to them.

It would be akin to reading a tale in a book.

You might feel a brief sting upon remembering it, but in the end, you would move on as someone looking in from the outside, untouched by the misery on the pages.

But right now, the memories were far too vivid to submit so obediently.

So they gave themselves a moment to reminisce and to remember who they used to be.

They sat together amid the broken ruins, bodies pressed close. Seraphine curled into Ashen's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

In soft voices, they kept whispering about their time in Esperra, about the places they had passed through, and the distant, precious things they had once taken for granted.

They laughed quietly over the stupid things they had done back then; the small embarrassments, foolish bravado, the sort of memories that should have been meaningless, but now felt like treasures.

Ashen buried his face against her hair and let out a faint breath.

"Do you have any dreams, Seraphine?"

She was silent for a moment, then nodded against him.

"I liked music," she whispered. "I still do. I wanted to do something with that, even if it was just a small tune or a song."

Ashen's fingers moved slowly through her hair.

"Is that so… now that I think about it, Alice liked novels. She wanted to publish one but never got around to doing it."

Seraphine's lips curved. "I know, she also told me she wanted to make anime… that otaku."

Ashen gave a low hum, his eyes half-lidded as he stared at the broken sky above the ruins.

"Then let's do it."

She lifted her head a little, enough to look at him.

He smiled.

"Actually… let me tell you a secret."

"Hm?"

"I've been a tech geek for a long time." His expression turned faintly smug. "So I can handle building a platform for both of you. You can also make songs for her anime. How about it?"

For a moment, Seraphine stared at him, then she broke into a disbelieving laugh.

"That's great," she murmured, brushing her nose against his. "Then you can be our shared manager, hehe."

Ashen snorted softly. "Sure thing."

They held each other tighter after that, their foreheads resting together, breaths mingling in the cold ruin.

"...It's time."

"So… we're finally going back." Her voice trembled. "I can't wait."

Despite their calmness, an almost uncontrollable anticipation surged within them, and unbeknownst to either of them, the darkness that had clung to their faces for hundreds of years… had finally begun to recede.

What they had sacrificed might have averted a catastrophe.

But they did not know—

What was meant to be… would be.

No matter how long it took.

☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾

Volume 5: The Absurdist.

END.