The World Is Mine For The Taking

"You didn’t manage to defeat her?" Foriel asked, her voice carrying an unmistakable note of disappointment after hearing that my battle with Satania hadn’t ended with me killing her like she had hoped.

"I did manage to defeat her," I replied after taking a small breath. "However, at this point, I honestly think keeping her alive is in our best interest more than anything else."

"So... you chose to spare her instead?"

"Yes, that was the decision I made."

Foriel frowned at me, and her expression alone made it painfully obvious that she completely disapproved of the choice I had made.

"Keeping her alive means she’ll continue expanding her undead armies, and more innocent people will end up dying because of it," she said while keeping her eyes fixed on me. "So why did you decide to keep her alive after everything she’s done?"

"It’s because there may be enemies in the future that are even more powerful than she is," I answered calmly while meeting her gaze. "If that happens, then I need Satania as an ally so we can stand a real chance against them instead of fighting them without someone of her caliber."

A heavy silence quietly settled throughout the room between us.

She simply stared at me as though she couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of my mouth. I supposed that reaction was only natural. Satania had slaughtered countless people, including her people, so it made perfect sense that Foriel wanted her dead more than anyone else. Still, wanting someone dead and actually killing them were two completely different matters, especially when the future of the entire world might be at stake.

For one thing, I couldn’t really kill Satania just yet.

Well, technically speaking, I certainly could if I truly wanted to.

The problem was that doing so would mean throwing away someone whose power could eventually become my own. Since she wasn’t one of Lilith’s fractions despite possessing overwhelming strength, that meant I could potentially conquer her without risking becoming Lilith myself. That danger only applied to Elise and the other fractions. Satania wasn’t one of them, which meant conquering her was actually a realistic possibility rather than an impossible dream.

The second reason was honestly much simpler than the first.

Satania was unbelievably powerful, and that fact alone couldn’t be ignored.

That alone made her a valuable asset for the war that was inevitably coming sooner or later.

I had absolutely no idea when the war between worlds would begin, but I was certain it would happen eventually. When that day finally arrived, having Satania fighting on my side would be infinitely better than having her standing against me as an enemy. Someone with her level of strength could dramatically increase our chances of surviving against the Great Ones if they ever descended upon this world again, or against whatever terrifying threats might arrive from other worlds beyond our own.

I was also certain there were many other benefits I could gain from keeping Satania alive.

For the time being, though, those two reasons alone were already more than enough to justify the decision I had made.

Unfortunately, Foriel clearly didn’t share the same way of thinking that I did.

She let out a long, exhausted sigh that sounded full of frustration.

"I hate this," she muttered quietly while shaking her head a little.

She slowly rose from her seat before turning completely toward me, her expression remaining as firm as ever.

"Bring Samui back to me."

Well, I figured this was the natural conclusion to our conversation after everything that had been said.

Since I had failed to accomplish what she originally asked of me, and I had absolutely no intention of entertaining the idea of killing Satania anymore, it also meant I had no right to keep the sword she had entrusted to me for that very purpose. Honestly, that outcome had been sitting in the back of my mind from the moment I chose to spare Satania.

"Are you planning to kill Satania yourself?" I asked while watching her carefully.

"I am," she answered without even the slightest hint of hesitation.

"You can’t do something that reckless."

"You don’t get a say in this matter," she replied firmly without backing down. "I will kill Satania, even if it ends up costing me my own life in the process."

She wasn’t joking.

She wasn’t trying to sound dramatic either.

Everything about her expression told me she truly intended to throw herself into something that reckless without caring what happened afterward.

At the same time, I couldn’t exactly say I didn’t understand where she was coming from.

"Did Satania kill someone you loved?" I asked after thinking about it for a moment. "Is that why you’re willing to go this far? Honestly, I don’t understand why you’re pushing yourself so hard, even if it means standing against one of the strongest people in the entire world, all for the sake of revenge."

I couldn’t stop myself from asking that question anymore.

That thought had been lingering in the back of my mind for quite a while now, refusing to disappear no matter how much I tried to ignore it.

She looked at me with an almost irritated expression, as though she couldn’t understand why I would even ask something like that.

"Why do you think that?" she asked while folding her arms across her chest. "It doesn’t matter whether the people she killed were my lover, my child, or anyone else close to me. They were my people. If someone slaughtered your people for nothing more than their own selfish reasons, wouldn’t you want to do exactly the same thing without hesitating?"

I understood exactly what she meant.

After all, I am seeking revenge myself.

I wanted to kill the bastard who drove my sister to the point where she took her own life, and that hatred had stayed with me for a very long time.

I knew exactly what that kind of anger felt like because I had experienced it myself.

Even so, something about Foriel’s determination still didn’t sit quite right with me, and I couldn’t shake that feeling no matter how hard I tried.

It felt deeper than simple revenge, at least from where I was standing.

Something else seemed to be hiding underneath all that anger, and I couldn’t help feeling that she simply wasn’t willing to talk about it yet.

"What is your real goal?" I asked after a brief pause.

"Killing Satania is my goal," she answered calmly while staring straight into my eyes. "My only goal. Nothing more, and nothing less."

I quietly looked at her for several long moments, hoping her expression would reveal something she wasn’t saying aloud.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

I guessed I wasn’t going to get anything more out of her for now, and pushing the issue any further probably wouldn’t accomplish anything except making her even more stubborn.