The Crimson Tale of Conquest

---Sara General POV---

Sara watched as her teacher and Anastasia walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. She smiled slightly noticing that her teacher looked far better than before. She was always unnaturally pale on the account of being albino, but for the past few days Lucilla had looked even more ghostly than usual. This morning however color seemed to have returned to her face and the deep bags forming under her eyes have cleared up a little bit. She was still pale however so anyone who didn't know her probably wouldn't know how to tell the difference.

No longer having a reason to be in the area, Sara turned around to head back to her room. She had other worries that didn't concern Lucilla. Like what she was going to do with her father and brother. A lot of that concern came from the fact she wasn't upset about her father dying and was more upset about the circumstances surrounding his death. His death affected her the same way a famous performers death would. Sure, she was upset, but it wasn't like a loved one died.

She now understood that this weird disconnect from her father was due to the contract her family had with Nielia. Her affection is only really saved for Intelligent monsters, Fay, and Mythical Beast. Anything or anyone else seems to fall to the wayside. It was also the reason she seemed to hold such a strong attachment towards her brother. Or at least she did.

The moment her brother's blade drove its way through their father's chest, her lingering affection turned into anger and disgust. The desire to kill weld inside her, and the fact he just killed their father who she still respected intensified that feeling to the point she couldn't hold herself back. If it wasn't for her teacher, she would be dead by now. She even ended up crying while being held by her. Not that she even knew why she was crying in the first place.

'Was I crying over my father's death... or was it my brother?' She thought as she continued wandering the halls.

Lost in thought she didn't even notice the person approaching her from the front. She ended up walking into them face first, unemotionally letting out a small sound of surprise as she steadied herself. Looking up she saw the figure of Cristina looming over her.

"Sorry, I didn't notice ya kid." Apologize the Vampire. "Ya a'ight?"

Sara just glared at the woman before walking off. She trusted her even less than her teacher. Though the mistrust she felt for her was manning day by day. Cristina however was still on the lower end of her list of people she wanted to talk to. She heard the blond sigh behind her before continuing down the corridor in the opposite direction.

Sara risked a glance behind, catching the retreating back of Cristina. She knew she would need to get along with that woman eventually, but she wasn't there yet.

______________________

---Vadim General POV--- 

Vadim was in his office sighing documents as he delt with the many task that piled up while he was away, along with all the additional problems that appear after any large military movement. One of the tasks was tracking down the hundreds of Fays and creatures that were located in the second district. He had a portion of his forces stay in the city to raid the second district and capture whoever they could get their hands on. When he returned to the city however it was reported that there was no sign of life left in the second district by time his forces arrived.

He was frustrated, but it wasn't as big of a problem as it could've been. Unbeknownst to Lucilla and the others Vadim had his people capture instead of kill. It wasn't his goal, but Vadim decided to continue Davis Cathrendors experiments to see if they provided anything useful. His true goal had already been achieved. He and his people now had access to the Enchanted Forest without anything in his way.

Sure, his family may have had access for the past seven hundred years, but there were still areas of limits to them. Resources that were ripe for the taking, creatures with rare materials that could be used to further progress his quality of life. Yet he wouldn't have accesses. He specifically wasn't welcomed thanks to his curse. The moment he steps foot in that forest he would be in danger, and he couldn't bring a force with him because that would go against the contract.

His own people that should serve him would also be against him. So, he needed a justifiable reason to forcefully take the Forest for himself. While his curse was still a problem, it only made Monsters and animals dislike him at first. So, while unsafe he was still able to enter the forest just fine with a small group of guards.

Nielia would only talk with someone from the Prosperty family or the Captain and her brother the Scholar, so getting an audience wasn't hard. He sowed discourse between his city and the Archangel. She demanded to speak with someone else and use her dragons to intimidate them. As far as his father and the rest of city was concerned Nielia had started threatening them for no real apparent reason.

Now he has a reason to keep a permanent military base within the forest. As long as they avoid the lake, they were free to do whatever they wanted there. He didn't know why such a powerful being couldn't act against them unless they approached that lake, but it worked out in his favor. The only thing that didn't go according to plan was the death of his father.

If it wasn't for his sister kidnapping, he would've become the new lord in a year's time without having to do anything. He had hoped to have his father stabilize their occupation of the Enchanted Forest for him. Instead, he has to deal with everything by his lonesome. Including holding a funeral in his honor.

Just like his sister he didn't feel an ounce of love for his father. Unlike his sister though, he didn't even hold any type of respect, attachment, friendship or any other positive emotion for him. Whatever mutation that was meant to make him feel attached to the fay and Monsters, and malfunction. He was unable to hold any true emotional attachment to anyone. So, despite working on the documents to make an extravagant show of respect for his father in the city, the only thing he felt was annoyance by how much of time he was wasting.

He couldn't wait for everything to be over. He wanted to get back to the task that truly mattered.

______________________

---Jason General POV--- 

The Hero found himself walking down the spotless marble corridors, pillars lining the walls at even intervals, holding the vaulted ceiling above. His heavy footsteps echoed the white halls, his armor clinking together with every step forward. He was leaving the medical ward that was located in this city's church, he was visiting the survivor found in the basement of Cathrendor estate. Unfortunately, nothing useful came from the visit.

"Jason." A sensual voice called from behind him.

Turning around he was greeted with Amelia. Her dark blue eyes sparkled with mischief as she smirked at him. Tucking a loos strand of blond hair behind her ear, she continued speaking. "I heard you let that monster escaped again."

Jason held back the urge to roll his eyes at her. He really didn't need her or any of the other cardinals criticizing him right now. He knows he messed up. Again. He decided it was time to change his approach on how he handled the girl to avoid another mistake.

"I didn't let her go. Nielia got in my way." Jason answered her.

"Yes, I heard. I also heard you lost against her." Amelia continued to smirk as she slowly approaches Jason.

"I didn't lose." He shot back.

Both he and Nielia were unable to defeat the other. That's what Jason would like to believe anyway. He knew she was only stalling for time and even in her weakened state, would have defeated him if the fight continued on for much longer. Luckily for him Nielia had retreated shortly after their fight began. Vadim and his forces were unable to continue their own war while the both of them fought and by time they finished Lucilla, and her army of Fay and Monsters vanished. He wasn't the strongest Hero, but that still put him above most people in the world, so the fact someone was stronger than him existed frustrated him greatly.

"You certainly didn't win either." She whispered into his ear, a hand on his shoulder. "It would be a shame if you lost your usefulness, wouldn't it?"

"You can't afford to get rid of me. It'll take fifteen more years before you can summon another Hero." Jason countered. "Plus, you've already tried killing me many times already. None of you attempts succeeded so far. Next time come back when you have more than empty threats."

Jason had a complicated relationship with the Church. This organization certainly wasn't as innocent as it claimed to be. Yet he wouldn't say they were evil. Everything they did they believe is for the greater good, and their presence in the world has for the most part kept the Mankind from fighting each other. Other than the occasional skirmishes here or there of course.

His problem stems from the fact they had wished to kill him after he served his usefulness. There were two main reasons for this he discovered. One is that it takes fifty years for the hero summoning circle to be usable again and an additional fifteen if the current Hero isn't killed within that time. Meaning if fifty years had already gone by, and then the Hero died, they would have to wait for sixty-five years in total.

Jason had already lived on this planet for nearly a hundred and fifty years. When he dies, they will have to wait fifteen years before they can summon another Hero. So, they could summon a new one when needed the Church tried killing him off as soon as possible. Which leads into the second reason as to why they wanted him dead.

They just couldn't trust someone with that much power. The Hero is akin to a walking natural disaster if they grew into their power fully. Not one has reached the level as the first Hero who was essentially a walking God stuck in a mortal body, but the Church wasn't willing to risk any of them getting there.

Of course, since Lucilla showed up the Church had stopped all their assignation attempts on the old Hero.

Amelia smiled and shrugged at his provocation. "You haven't seen everything we got." She walked towards the open window turned back to look at Jason one more time before jumping.

Panicking Jason rushed over to the window to see what just happened. Peaking his head outside her looked down, seeing no indication that the Cardinal of water had just jumped to her death. Frowning Jason backed away from the window. He observed his surroundings warily as he continued on his way.