484 The Abyssal Eyes
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The Abyssal Eyes didn’t called themselves a cult but called themselves the apostles of the Evil Gods. Celeste and those demons and beast-kin she gathered knew them one day, as they infiltered into their facility and easily got into their room. They tried to fight, but they were all beaten easily by their incredible power and magic. However, they were not killed, they offered them all… a helping hand.
“Come, child. Stand up. I have not come here to kill you. I have come here to help you have your revenge… So you and your people can have the safe haven you’ve always dreamed to have.” A man with pale white skin, covering his face with a mask, extended his hand towards Celeste back then, and she accepted his help.
Since then, the Abyssal Eyes taught Celeste and her allies many new things. The existence of True Demons, powerful entities Demons had the inherent ability to summon once they were blessed by an Evil God, and the many artifacts made through their blood and demonic cores, which brought an even stronger power than normal magic artifacts.
Thanks to their help, they grew stronger and learned more, expanded their secret hideouts, and began to recruit more members, even from the outside. Villages, small tribes, they all were added, becoming one single an enormous organization living right below the noses of the humans of this city.
They planned for many years for a day to finally strike, with patience and calmness. Celeste received the Divine Protection of two Gods named the “Evil God of Dungeons” and the “Evil God of the Abyss”, giving her incredible and unprecedented power. In exchange, the gods asked her to fulfill her revenge, as it would eventually “bring them to their true goal” one way or the other.
Celeste didn’t really understood their only divine message, but she used their powers without care, and grew even stronger, forging her Magic Circle into a higher level by adding an excessive amount of Runes over a small amount of time.
As things slowly prepared, her mind was getting ready for what she was about to do. For the children and the nuns in the orphanage, and for the legacy of her mother, a warrior that stood strong for many years with her, who gave her life for her…
However, an unexpected visit suddenly surprised not only her, but even the Abyssal Eyes… although ultimately, it seemed that it was what their gods had planned. The family of the Heroes that had slain the Demon King were here, somehow.
.....
Not only that, but they came to her orphanage, visited the place, and offered their aid. Celeste was told many times of their monstrosity and how vile and barbaric they were against demons, however, no matter how much time passed since they arrived, them and their children were good people.
It made her frustrated, it made her even more hateful, she hated them for being not like she was told they were, that they were pretending to be good people. Perhaps they were finally regretting their actions, after years of bringing the doom of so many innocents…
And Sylph and Aquarina, these two girls… although they were cute and nice, they were still not her friends. They were her foes, they were… her foes.
But despite that, she couldn’t help but feel like something was odd here. Why was she not feeling any enmity from them? Why were they trying so hard for her to like them? No matter how much she wanted to know, there was just nothing. They were simply being like this from the goodness of their hearts.
“This is not how it was supposed to be, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be!” She thought many times to herself. Quickly realizing the targets of these Abyssal Eyes were good people that at the end, deep down, she couldn’t bring to just kill.
Sylphy was… especially impactful for her. Somehow, even though it was only a month that she got to know her, this girl changed her perspective, and showed her a new world of possibilities. She told her about her dreams, about the world outside, and about what she wanted to do…
Sylph and Celeste were worlds apart, yet somehow, they found a connection with one another, as if Sylph could understand Celeste’s suffering, and Celeste felt comfort and even… a slight amount of happiness in talking with her, with a girl so intelligent at her age, who was a lot like her in personality and ambitions.
For a moment, Sylph felt like Celeste’s equal, not just someone lesser than her, or weaker, or smaller… she was an equal, and to her, even if she didn’t wanted to admit it, felt like her first true friend.
“I just want to explore the world and see things by myself before I take all my decisions…” Sylph said one day. “You know? I just… want to see and learn things firsthand.”
“Why? Why do you want to do that?” Celeste couldn’t understand Sylph’s mindset sometimes.
“Because there’s a whole world out there, of endless possibilities. Amazing people waiting to be meet, amazing sceneries waiting for me to see, and challenges that I want to experience and overcome. I just… want to see this world and its beauty, everything.” Her smile seemed to melt Celeste’s iron heart, as the half-demon girl realized that Sylph was… someone very dangerous.
Too dangerous.
She had the power to manipulate her emotions with a few words and that beautiful and bright smile…
She was able to make her rethink her own thoughts, her own ambitions.
She was even able to make her realize that there was something very wrong with what she was about to do…
“What’s wrong?” Wondered Sylph back then.
“Hm? Nothing… I was just thinking.” Sighed Celeste.
“Come on, relax a bit.” Sylph giggled. “It always feels like your guard is high in front of me… I am just trying to be friendly, you know?”
“...”
Celeste remained silent in that moment, she knew that if she answered back there, everything she had been planning could had crumbled apart.
“No, it’s nothing. I am fine…”
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