As I stood there watching while the rest of my army entered the teleportation gate for Abaddon, my heart was filled with emotions that I couldn’t really describe. I was the leader of this expedition and I decided that I would be the last to enter the gate. However, it wasn’t just for the sake of appearances that I did so, rather it was because I wanted to persuade Majosha.
Even now, Harlow’s death remained a thorn in my heart that I simply couldn’t remove within such a short period of time. To some degree, it all felt like a dream. I’m sure Majosha felt the same way as well, that this was all a nightmare and that everything would be alright once we woke up.
It was this false illusion that caused even Manasha’s words to fail to reach her. No matter how hard her sister tried, Majosha wouldn’t even look at her let alone listen. She merely sat there hugging Harlow’s corpse, not caring at all that it could suddenly reanimate itself and bite her.
We won and yet there was no sense of jubilation to be had. Was it because I was numb to it or perhaps it was because of Harlow’s death?
“Dearest, this harpy will wait for you on the other side.”
Numila pulled me into a tight embrace and buried me in her fluffy mounds for a good long while…she definitely said that she was going to leave first, but somehow it ended up like that once more…
“Alright, that’s enough for now, just wait for me over there.” Resisting the allure of that inviting fragrance, I pulled myself away from her and did my best to smile for her: “Your clan still needs you to look after them, you should leave first, there are still arrangements to be made.”
“Mhm, Dearest, you should hurry too.”
“I will.”
Eugenia and Elena wanted to give me a hug and a kiss as well but unfortunately, they were dragged away by Numila before they could do so.
“I’ll be making my move as well.” Said Habona with an unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes on the other hand, were a lot more open with their grief. In the end, she threw her brother’s corpse one last look but coolly turning around to leave.
“Ah, Mistress Habona, wait for me.” Seeing the leader of the werewolves leaves, Weslin and Westley quickly greeted me before rushing off after her.
As for Manasha, she was still busy persuading Majosha. Unfortunately, Majosha might as well have been deaf right now.
Finally, as a hint of grief flashed across her serpentine eyes, Manasha gave up on persuading her sister. As the head of their clan, she had a heavy responsibility to bear on her shoulders. She simply couldn’t give up her entire clan just for one person, even if that person was Majosha. Besides she herself knew how hard it was to find a male that didn’t mind their snake tails and snake hair. If she had such a male die in front of her like that, she probably wouldn’t want to live either.
“I know that what I say now won’t reach you, but as your sister, I still have to say this one last time. For a male, will you really throw away your sister? What about the other sisters in the clan, do you wish to discard them as well?”
It was a poignant question and yet Majosha still didn’t react to it, not even a tiny bit.
“All right then, I get it.”
Deeply sighly, Manasha no longer tried to persuade her but instead turned around to leave as well. At the last moment before she crossed the gate, she threw her sister one last look and there she found her sister looking right back at her. Majosha had finally lifted up her head and was whispering to her.
Though I couldn’t discern what those words were, I could roughly guess what they were: well wishes.
Manasha sighed once more. Right now, all she could do was sigh and leave. The rest of the medusas continued streaming into the teleportation gate, each coming up to the crestfallen medusa to bid her farewell before leaving. However, Majosha was just as unresponsive as before. She was probably afraid to respond, afraid that if she were to respond, her heart would not be able to bear this separation and that she would leave with them as well…
“Your Highness, it’s time to leave.” Julia didn’t have much interactions with Majosha, neither did she really know Harlow either. In her eyes, this was merely a death and shouldn’t occupy so much of my time.
Looking at this loyal but frowning subordinate of mine, I ended up giving in to my emotions once more: “You guys go ahead for now, I’ll be the last to leave.”
“Alright, your subordinate understands and complies.” With that, she left as well with Mo En, Mimiya and Mo Xixidi in tow.
Before leaving, Mimiya stuck her tongue out at me while Vick, who was floating beside her as any trusty sidekick should, pulled a face at me.
At the same time as Julia’s household departed, I left some instructions for my bodyguard, Baccarel, who had been guarding me nearby all this while. “I want you all to leave with Julia. Given that’s Abaddon, you guys should be more familiar with the surroundings than the other devils.”
“Understood, my Master.” He replied after a brief pause. He originally wanted to stay behind and guard me but upon seeing the injury-ridden members of his clan standing behind him, he accepted the order.
“Evilin, No.3, No.5, Big 5 and Violet Snow, you guys follow Baccarel as well.”
At that, the majority didn’t have much to say except for the severely injured No.3.
“Master, I wish to stay.” Said the severely burnt imp as he stood there supported by a female devil. Perhaps it was because of his severe injuries, his voice sounded exceptionally grating. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel touched by his concern. “I’m the Master’s bodyguard, ever since I recognized the Master as being the Master, I’ve never left the Master’s side. Unless I die, I would never leave the Master!”
“Alright then, you may stay.”
“Master…me…me too…” Big 5 wanted to stay as well but was rejected by me.
“I’ll wait for you on the other side, don’t keep me waiting.”
As she said that, Violet Snow proudly turned up her little doggy head and gave me a small nudge on the knee cap. Smiling, I ruffled her fur: “I got it, my little princess.”
“Hmph, as long as you get it.”
Just like that, there was only Majosha and a tiny portion of my subordinates left.
Sweeping my gaze over the surroundings, I was suddenly struck by the surrealness of the situation. Over ten thousand devils and humanoids, all gone, just like that. Rather, I should say that they left.
With regards to these teleportation gates, I had to admit I was really fascinated by them. Back on Earth, humans could take to the skies and penetrate the very earth, and yet they could never cross dimensions like this. Because of that, I always held a deep sense of respect for this world. What the Earth had, this place didn’t;what Earth didn’t have, this place had. However, there was one thing Earth certainly didn’t possess that this place had; the ability to raise the dead.
‘It’s about time for me to leave as well.’ Truth be told, I still wasn’t sure what I could do to persuade her. She had steeled her heart and resolved herself to accompany Harlow. Her sister couldn’t stop her and, even more so, neither could I.
Just as I was about to put forth my last ditch effort, she suddenly raised her head and stared me right in the eyes for several seconds before finally saying in a melodic but emotionless voice: “The Medusa clan do not have any males. In order to reproduce, we have to find a mate from the other clans. If we stumbled upon a female, we would kill them for food, if we met a male…”
Whether or not I wanted to hear her speak, she continued on without ever pausing. Seeing that, I gestured for the female devil in charge of the devil egg to pass it to me. With grimoire and egg in hand, I then played my part as a devout listener.
“Initially, when I first captured Harlow, he struggled for his life however he couldn’t escape because I had him coiled up in my tail, just like now…he was a Three-stars and I was a Four. After being captured by me, there was no way he could break free…after that, we mated…for a long time. He was a strong fellow and he didn’t seem to want to struggle the moment we started, in fact, he even took to it willingly…”
As I continued listening, the tale became stranger by the second, it almost felt like I was listening to some kind of audio novel…however, I astutely chose not to interrupt her.
“In order to reproduce, I had mated with a lot of males before. Each time, I would pretend to fall asleep after finishing. All of those males would then try to escape or even kill me. No matter what their intentions were, whether it was to kill or escape, they all failed and ended up ripped to shreds and eaten by me…”
Suddenly, the audio novel turned into a hunting novel…still, I maintained my silence and listened.
“Harlow was the only one who didn’t try to escape but merely waited for me to wake up…I continued pretending to sleep as a way to test him. However, he didn’t seem to harbor me any ill intention at all…later on, I asked him why he didn’t try to run and guess what he did say then? He merely scratched his head with a silly look on his face and said that when he was young, his mother once told him that a man had to be responsible for his woman…”
“I didn’t understand what that meant back then but I knew for certain that I had gained a husband that day…a husband that would never leave me…from that moment on, I felt that I had become the most fortunate medusa in the world because finding such a husband who wouldn’t fear us was the greatest wish of any medusa…the demonic werewolves were a race with a sensitive sense of smell and I knew that my body odor wasn’t particularly pleasant to them so I thought of a number of plans…”
The medusas ate their mates, that was common knowledge in this world. What people didn’t know however was that they did so because their mates feared them and tried to harm them or escape…while saying that might seem a little messed up, I knew that at the end of the day, they simply wanted love, to have a husband that loved them. Unfortunately, the heavens cursed them with a snake body and a voracious sexual appetite that would scare off any potential male…truly, Harlow was a strange one to claim responsibility after being forced like that.
‘In a sense, he was truly a man to be respected.’
“However, the happy days didn’t last long. When the both of us left to find Habona, we stumbled upon a flock of harpies. These birdwomen were similar to us in that they only had females…Harlow was captured, Habona came looking for her brother and couldn’t find him so she fought with my sister…”
‘Huh, I guess the harpies snatching away Harlow can be considered the appearance of a love rival, does that mean that this is now a romance novel…’
Majosha then proceeded to give a simple recount of what happened after. Somehow, I ended up being persuaded by her even though I was the one trying to persuade her. Throughout all that, her tone never fluctuated once, other than when she talked about Harlow’s good points. Thus, I came to the conclusion that she would never give up on Harlow.
Perhaps in our eyes, they hadn’t been together for long and shouldn’t be too attached; a few simple persuasions should’ve done the trick. I even considered finding her a new man in order to change her mind. However, we were all wrong, their relationship had deepened to a level none of us could imagine.
With Harlow by her side, Majosha felt that she was the most fortunate medusa in the world. Now that Harlow was gone, did she perhaps feel that she had become the most unfortunate medusas in the world?
Either way, I now knew that it was impossible to make her leave Harlow.
