Slowly, Nero opened his eyes. For a moment, he was still a small child, vulnerable and lonely from so long ago, but then he heard the unusual language of the Polykenas from outside. Slowly and surely, his mind returned to reality.
He was no longer a small child. He was now the leader of a huge army. He was a magician powerful enough to destroy entire neighborhoods and shroud everything in darkness with a flick of his hand. But he was still weak.
Slowly, the Duce sat up as the memories of the dream returned to his subconscious.
Gerald, the golden general of the city of Gloris, had almost defeated him, even almost killed him. Nero would still have no chance against a god. He could kill him faster than Nero could kill an ant on the ground.
He draped the long black cloak around his shoulders, the symbols glowing brightly. His sword had been destroyed, but Nero preferred to fight with his magic anyway.
He placed the dark black crown on his head. With his head held high, he stepped through the opening of the tent. Shire stood in front of the entrance, silent but standing tall, like the obedient bodyguard he was. When Nero stepped outside, he bowed immediately, like all the other Polykenas standing nearby.
"My Duce!" they greeted him with bowed heads. Nero paid no attention to them, but simply gazed into the distance.
There stood the remains of the glorious city of Gloris, a large area already in ruins. The last of the Polykenas were swarming out of the city, carrying captured humans in their claws. Nero spotted Xersies standing high above the Polykenas in the air. When the last Polykenas had left the city, Xersies turned toward it. He raised both hands high into the air. Golden light streamed from his fingertips as a gigantic wave of pure golden flames hit the city of Gloris. Like a tsunami, the light swept through the city, destroying everything in its path. The light illuminated the entire area for almost half an hour before Xersies was satisfied.
Gloris was now nothing more than a ruin, while Xersies bathed in the chaos energy released by the destruction.
Nero raised his hand. The cracks had almost completely disappeared, so Nero must have slept for a whole day.
He could feel the magic moving within him. It was guiding him to a specific place, deep in the center of Gloris. Dark wings spread out on the ruler's back as he lifted off the ground. He flew toward the center of the city, the feeling inside him growing stronger with every passing moment.
It was as if his magic was guiding him, as if it was searching for something, and Nero knew exactly what it was. He flew past Xersies, who bowed submissively but did not follow the Duce.
When it finally arrived above the center, it hovered motionless in the air for a while. It was above the ruins of a huge cathedral, which must have been Luis's headquarters. He waved his hand. His magic surged as darkness spread. Huge tentacles of shadow swept the remains of the building aside. They exposed the entrance to a cellar. Nero slowly flew down. When he touched the ground, the black wings retracted into Nero's body. He concentrated, watching for any movement in the darkness of the cellar, but there was nothing.
Nero slowly walked down the basement. He followed his instincts, which led him along three long corridors. Finally, he came to a thick metal door. He placed his hand on the door. Darkness covered the entire door like a liquid. Nero clenched his hand into a fist, and the darkness crushed the metal door into a small metal ball, which left a deep crater when it fell to the floor.
Nero stepped through the opening. He now found himself in a large hall, which was clearly the treasure chamber, for gold lay in neatly stacked bars in cabinets in countless quantities. Sacks clearly filled with the currency of this planet lay scattered to the right and left. These treasures were innumerable, and any inhabitant of this planet would have fainted at such a sight, but they were worthless to Nero.
He walked past display cases filled with strange artifacts and weapons. They were undoubtedly valuable and could even prove quite useful. Nero would send Ester to retrieve the artifacts later, but that wasn't why he had come here. The strange feeling emanating from his magic was so incredibly strong here that it threatened to suffocate him.
And before him lay the reason why. In a securely protected display case lay a huge black crystal. It emitted a chaotic aura that only the Polykenas could produce. Nero raised his hand toward the crystal, his magic craving its power. He smashed the display case and took the crystal. The Chaos Shard. This was the source of his power, this was the reason for the conquests, for the eternal fighting and slaughter.
It was time to go home!
---
Sophie sat in the great hall, talking in a firm voice.
Gustavio sighed, "Miss, I don't know if he cheated, you'll have to find that out for yourself."
"He won seven times in a row, can you imagine how unlikely that is?"
"No, I can't, Miss Sophie."
"It's very, very, VERY unlikely, actually impossible. No one can be that lucky!" she hissed, glaring angrily at Hans. He chuckled and shrugged, "Unless you can prove otherwise, I was just lucky."
Sophie growled, "Fine!" She pushed her portion of food toward the fat man. "As promised," she grumbled, "It's not like you haven't eaten enough in your life." She pointed to the man's big belly.
Hans just shook his head and laughed, "It's just because you don't know how to enjoy life, princess."
Sophie was about to respond when she spotted a person in the crowd strolling toward them.
It was a young man, slightly older than Sophie, with hair as black as raven feathers, pale skin, and eyes that seemed to absorb all the light. People looked at him with fear and awe as the tavern fell silent. Not everyone knew him, but those who did had turned pale. He was the leader of these demons; he was the one who was destroying this world.
It had been weeks since Sophie had last seen him, but the sight of him had remained deeply etched in her memory.
Nero looked around the room, "Continue eating, my friends, just ignore me." He gave a friendly smile, then walked back to their table. He looked at Gustavio, who was sitting across from Sophie. The old man seemed to be on the verge of a heart attack. He was trembling all over. "My... My Lord..."
Nero smiled kindly. "May I sit down?" he asked politely.
"But of course!" Gustavio said immediately and was about to get up, but Nero stopped him.
" No need to get up, old sir."
Slowly but still uncertainly, Gustavio sat down next to Nero again. Hans had even stopped eating; he didn't dare look Nero in the eye, and neither did anyone else present, except Sophie, of course.
"What do you want, monster?" she hissed at him. Gustavio flinched, but Nero didn't seem offended by the young woman's words. "No need for such formality, you can just call me Nero."
Sophie clenched her teeth to keep from spitting in Nero's face. "If you want me to give you information about Gloris again, you can forget it. I know what your plan was to bring me here, but I still won't betray my family!"
Nero looked at her briefly with feigned confusion, then laughed. "But no, milady, we conquered Gloris long ago, there's no reason for me to ask for information."
Sopgei looked at him in shock. "You're lying!" she hissed.
Nero sighed in disappointment. "Be that as it may, we will now leave this planet. We have what we came for."
"And that would be?"
"Unfortunately, that's none of your business. The only important thing is that you and all the other humans are now free to leave these buildings. It is now up to you to rebuild this world, hopefully this time without the corruption of a greedy, power-hungry church." Nero shrugged,
"But that decision is up to you, of course."
Sophie looked at him with hatred. "You, the great conqueror and destroyer, came here just to tell me that?"
Nero actually hesitated for a second before replying with a smile, "Of course not. I'm here to give you what is rightfully yours." With that, he waved his hand. A Polykenas came through the door, shocking the already frightened humans, a wrapped blade in his hand. He placed it on the table, then the creature disappeared again in a golden glow.
Nero just kept smiling at Sophie, "It's yours!"
Hesitantly, Sophie took the bundle, feeling nauseous. She unwrapped the blade. It was a magnificent golden blade. The hilt was adorned with the noble symbol of the church. Sophie recognized the sword immediately. She looked up at Nero in shock, but he had already left. He was already walking away, but Sophie ran after him. No one stopped her as she stepped through the door, outside into the bright sunlight. The camp around her was now empty. Only a few demons were still flying around or running across the ground, otherwise everything was completely silent.
Sophie couldn't help but look towards the glorious city of Gloris, but there were only ruins left.
"WHY?" she yelled at Nero with tears in her eyes, "WHY?"
But when Nero didn't respond, she yelled, "I HATE YOU!"
Finally, Nero stopped. He turned to Sophie, darkness literally radiating from his eyes.
"Would you hate a wolf for eating a deer?" he asked her. Sophie was shocked by this question, "What is this..."
"Answer my questions and I'll answer yours, I promise!"
Sophie blinked the tears from her eyes, "Of course not!"
Now Nero turned completely around, "Would you hate a wolf that eats your deer?"
Sophie thought about it, "No."
"Why not?" he asked, with genuine curiosity.
Sophie didn't know why she was asking this person all these questions, but she answered anyway, "Because it's in the wolf's nature to kill sheep. Just as it's in the sheep's nature to eat grass."
"Then why do you hate me?"
Sophie was silent for a long time, but then she looked Nero straight in the eyes and said, "You're a human being. Killing is not in your nature. You kill because you can."
Slowly, Nero looked down at his hands, darkness flowing down. A slight smile appeared on his lips, "You want to know why I do all this? The killing, the destruction?"
He turned back around, "Because it's the easiest way to achieve my goal."
With that, darkness enveloped him, taking him away.