Categories > Anime/Manga > Death Note > Shinigami: Death of the Old World
“…What’s going on?” Arva asked as Moloch opened the door to the King’s quarters.
“I want you to stay in here for a little while. I’ll come fetch you when it’s time…you’ll like this surprise. All of you.”
Dornes looked curiously around the room, but Keichi was looking up at her mother, mirroring that comically concerned expression on her face as she continued to ask questions…
“But…this is Shoboro’s room, isn’t it? Where’s he gone? Where’s anyone in this tower? It’s practically deserted…”
“Don’t concern yourself with that just yet. I’ll be back…stay here until then.”
Arva’s eyes widened in surprise as Moloch picked up the scythe that was hidden behind the door. She clutched the egg closer to her chest.
“Moloch? Wait! What…!?”
He waved merrily back at her before he shut the door. He whistled as he descended the stairs…far away, he could hear surprised yells. He chuckled…it was going exactly as he’d planned it. Of course someone in the tower had overheard him while he was instructing his pawns…he’d tried very hard to make sure they did, and make it seem accidental. It hadn’t been easy, keeping track of Old Sidoh so he’d be in the tower at the right times to overhear. Just as expected, when he’d told the ones in the basement to charge, the tower had already been evacuated, and now, shinigami were trying to subdue them with rope and handcuffs…a move straight out of the history books. He wondered what Old Sidoh had thought the “element of surprise” he’d mentioned was…the scythe, perhaps? Or some strategic placement of his forces to lure Shoboro into an opportune spot? He obviously hadn’t guessed correctly, because things were going according to plan. There had been another component of keeping track of Old Sidoh-not only talking about the plan to take over while he was in the tower, but also being extremely careful not to talk about a certain something, not until just now, not until the tower had been evacuated and he could speak freely…the knives Geoffrey had made in addition to the scythe.
Obviously, Old Sidoh had never found out about them. And obviously, the pawns had believed him when he’d told them that Shoboro considered treason a crime punishable by death, that his forces would be primed to kill, and it would be us or them…they’d have to slice through the ropes as soon as they were caught, and then use the knives on the attackers before the attackers used their knives. If the facts were lacking, play on their emotions…if anything, fear was an even more potent controller than anger. He’d managed to convince them that as King, Shoboro had many more knives than just the five traditional ones that he handed out to the ones he trusted most…that he kept several more a secret just in case a situation just like this occurred. Yes, it was obvious that it had worked…the screams proved it. Moloch would’ve felt just a little bit bad about it, if it weren’t a necessary sacrifice…after all; they were only the useless shinigami who still sided with Shoboro.
He stepped off the last stair and into the hall and stood, waiting-he didn’t have to wait long. Two shinigami appeared out of nowhere and dropped down from the ceiling-Rhyinn and Armonia. Moloch was disappointed. He’s been expecting…someone else.
“Moloch, you need to stop your friends, right now!” said Rhyinn.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“It is necessary, Moloch…they’re going too far. You really ought to know…they’re…” said the golden, skeletal shinigami beside her. Moloch tried not to laugh…the two females were putting up a good show at acting tough, but he could see the hints of shakiness in their limbs…
“I already know what they’re doing with their weapons…Armonia Denzai, was it? And I know what your plan is…you two are in charge of ‘taking care’ of me, correct?”
He was right…the threatening glares flew right off their faces. Now they just looked blankly shocked…he snickered to himself he raised the scythe, and they glanced at it and then each other with a flicker of panic…their wings shot out, in preparation to flee the instant he came at them.
“I’m disappointed that Shoboro didn’t have the mettle to come and face me himself…this was meant for him, not you two.”
A sound like an iron spike crashing into rock exploded through the hall; Armonia jumped and looked around wildly…Moloch giggled at the scream she let out when she looked over at Rhyinn.
It was a shame that he hadn’t gotten to use it on Shoboro, but at least he knew that the plan would have worked…it had worked on these two, at least. Call their attention forward by acting as though he was going to attack with the scythe, then, while they were distracted, step surreptitiously on the button that detonated the device he’d installed in the wall behind them mere hours ago, one that was supposed to have given him an advantage in the fight against Shoboro…
Rhyinn didn’t look at the tzargantium spike that was protruding through her chest for long, or at the hole that was rapidly getting wider as sand and rust flowed out of it. Instead, she stared straight at Moloch, looking ridiculously indignant…the poor thing was trying to speak, but the blow had likely knocked the wind right out of her.
“Sorry, Rhyinn. No hard feelings. I didn’t think a two-on-one match was fair, and you just happened to make a bad choice in places to stand…and an extremely bad choice in becoming Shoboro’s mate in the first place. It’s nothing personal…oops. Too late-I suppose I should’ve spoken more quickly. I was right about one thing, though…looks like Shoboro gave her one of the knives when he became king.”
A final small drip of sand fell off the spike, spattering on the cover of the death note that was lying in the steaming pile of grainy debris. Next to the death note, half-embedded in the sand, was one of the five gleaming knives bestowed by the King, only to be used in an emergency…Moloch plucked it out of the pile and tucked it into his belt. “Now, then…” said Moloch as he stepped toward Armonia, raising the scythe. “Don’t you still have a job to do? Are you supposed to kill me, or is Shoboro being noble again and only allowing you to capture me? I wonder if you have a knife…it would seem as though I’ve started a bit of a collection, and I’ll need all five if I’m going to have a complete set…”
Armonia didn’t have a knife. She’d thought to grab Rhyinn’s, but she’d been paralyzed...and now that Moloch had it, she was mentally kicking herself…no, even if she’d grabbed the knife, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything with it. One puny little knife against a scythe, and when she didn’t even know how to wield one properly…pointless. Everything was much, much worse than she’d expected…she’d just seen another shinigami killed right before her eyes, and she could hear dying screams behind her…never in the worst of nightmares would a shinigami have dreamed this up…yet it was happening. Shinigami weren’t supposed to die…Armonia had often wondered how humans dealt with the thought of their own mortality, and she wondered even more right now…she’d never had to contemplate the possibility of her own death, because never in a million years would she have imagined even one shinigami in this realm dying, much less several, and all at once…
This was no time to panic, or she’d die next. Quickly, Armonia calmed herself down, weighed her options…the only logical thing to do was to run, get everyone to retreat, get back to the holes as fast as possible. Calmly, Armonia pictured herself sprinting down the hall and spreading her wings, flapping as fast as she could while she shouted for everyone to get out…it was beyond her why she took one shaky step back and fell down, instead. Her mind was calm enough, but apparently, her body wasn’t getting the message…again and again, she ordered herself to get up, getting less calm and more frantic as Moloch loomed over her, scythe raised…
Suddenly, Moloch wheeled around, catching the black spectre that was rushing toward him from behind and slamming it against the wall.
“Ah…and where were you?” asked Moloch, tightening his grip on Xithl’s throat and hoisting him further up against the wall.
“Right behind Rhyinn and Armonia…” said Xithl, keeping the knife in his hand raised. Moloch wasn’t surprised…it made sense that Shoboro had given Xithl a knife.
“Ah…you were the backup, just in case something went wrong…what happened, Xithl? What about poor Rhyinn…?”
Xithl shook his head, looking tortured… “It was fast…”
“You’re right. I was much too fast for you to do anything. That wasn’t very nice of you, Xithl…I’m sure Shoboro didn’t tell you to try and kill me. What did you do that for?”
“You were about to kill my mate…and not just my mate…you deserve to be killed…you need to be killed, for the good of every shinigami in this realm. Look at what’s happening…look at what you’ve done…you’re every bit a monster as Shoboro makes you out to be…”
“Acting high and mighty won’t save you now,” Moloch said as he crushed Xithl’s hand against the wall with his scythe, forcing him to drop the knife. “Are you afraid?”
Xithl blinked up at the scythe, and then stared back at Moloch, wincing as he tried to move his fingers. “I can’t honestly say it isn’t a little bit disconcerting.”
“Any final words?”
Armonia’s heart leaped into her throat as Xithl looked straight into her eyes.
“You can’t save me, Armonia. Don’t try.”
She knew he was right…with a horrible sinking feeling, she knew he was right…she had nothing; no way of stopping Moloch…
“Run. This will take Moloch a few seconds…at least I’ll be serving a final purpose. Get everybody out of here. That’s the best thing you can do. I love you. Go. Now!”
Armonia shot up into the air and flew down the hall, but she couldn’t stop in time as a row of bars shot out of the ceiling and blocked off the hall. She flew right into them and fell to the stone floor, clutching her head in pain as stars burst out in front of her eyes…
She heard Xithl sigh. “Another button in the floor…another trap…”
“You didn’t think I’d try something like this unprepared, did you?”
“…No. No, I didn’t.”
Xithl didn’t scream when Moloch cut across his throat, but Armonia more than made up for it with hers. He just dripped down onto the floor, flowing through Moloch’s hand as he disintegrated. Moloch shook the last few grains off his hand, then bent down and picked up the second knife, sticking it into his belt beside the second one. He walked back to Armonia, who was leaning against the bars. Goodness…there was moisture in her eyes. Again, he would’ve felt guilty, if it hadn’t been necessary…to make another shinigami cry was something else. They didn’t cry over the silly little trivial things that humans did…a lost toy, a little too much stress at work, a fight with a prospective mate whom they’d only known for a week…it was said, that to make a shinigami cry, you needed to “strip them off all hope; send them to the very darkest place their psyches can reach, with no prospect of redemption or recovery…”
Yes, that was definitely a drop of moisture, running out of the corner of Armonia’s eye…
“Again, I’m terribly sorry about this, dear…it’s just a case of you being in the wrong place at the wrong time…well, and making a bad choice in sides. What about you, hm? Anything you want to say?”
She took a rattling breath in. “…Promise me…”
What? Had he heard her correctly?
“Promise…promise me you won’t touch my boys. Promise me you won’t hurt them.”
Moloch looked down at her, slightly perplexed.
“What kind of shinigami do you take me for, Armonia Denzai? It’s not as though I’m doing this without a reason…what would be the point in killing children? I like children, for goodness’ sake. I can’t promise you anything, but if they give me no reason to, I can’t see why I’d want to harm them.”
With an easy flick of his wrist and the hushed whispering sound of falling sand, Armonia slumped over and became the third pile in the hall. Moloch let out an exhausted sigh…that bit hadn’t been exactly as he’d planned. He’d thought he’d only have to kill one shinigami today…after killing the first one, he’d had no choice but to kill the others, so they couldn’t go back and warn Shoboro about the traps while he reset them for the main event…oh, well. It couldn’t be helped. He flipped a rock out of the ceiling, twisted a knob that pulled the bars back into the ceiling, replaced it, and then turned to go push the spike back into the wall…
Moloch’s eyebrows went up in surprise. Arva was standing at the foot of the stairs…she wasn’t smiling. True, she hadn’t been smiling when he’d left her behind in the King’s quarters, but there’d still been a hint of good-natured curiosity around her eyes, as usual. He’d never seen her look like that…never in his life had he seen her look so horrified, with no trace of a smile anywhere on her face…
“Arva? What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” he asked, taking a step forward. “Are you all right?”
He was shocked when she took a step back, still looking at him with utmost terror…
“Moloch? Wha…what have you done?”
“What have I done?” he said, looking confused for only a second before he it all snapped into place. “Oh…this. I’m sorry, Arva…I didn’t want you to find out until all this was over, but I suppose the surprise is spoiled now…you’re going to be queen in a matter of hours.”
She said nothing.
“Speechless? That’s all right. You don’t need to thank me. You deserve it in every way possible…you’re the one who inspired me to do this, love…you and your spirit, the way you never let little setbacks defeat you…that’s all Shoboro’s kingship was, really. Just a minor setback…”
He’d expected her face to light up again at the news, but that look was still there…where was that smile of hers? It was infuriating…why wouldn’t she show at least a tiny bit of gratitude?
“That’s why I told you to stay in the King’s quarters until I came to get you…now, the surprise is ruined. How long have you been down here?”
“…I followed you down a few minutes after you left. You…you…killed them.”
“I’m afraid so. Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary…” he said, starting toward the stairs…
Arva held up her hands, as if she were shielding herself. She took another step back. “Get away from me.”
Moloch stopped short, as if she’d punched him in the gut. “What did you say?”
“Don’t come any closer…I’m warning you…”
“What…what do you think you mean by that?”
“If…if I’d known…you…capable of this…after all these years, I thought I knew you…stay away!” she commanded as he lifted one foot.
“Arva…love…you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying…look! Look at this! Look at what you’ve done! You’re…you’re…a…a monster!”
Moloch felt her words cut straight through his heart and rip it out of his chest. He couldn’t control his arms anymore…they started trembling of their own accord, and his grip on the scythe tightened until his fingers hurt…he was losing track of any coherent thought as his brain overflowed with a searing red colour…monster? After all this work, after so many hours he’d sacrificed, after all the risks he’d taken to get this far…monster?
No. He was King, and he would not stand to be called a monster…
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. You’re a murderer…a cold-blooded murderer…”
“After all this…after all I’ve done for you…you dare to call me…?”
“I’m leaving, and I’m taking the children with me. Don’t you dare try to follow us.”
“WHAT!?”
“STAY RIGHT THERE! YOU’RE INSANE, MOLOCH!”
At that moment, Moloch’s mind was overwhelmed with the blinding redness, not even aware that he was rushing toward the stairs, roaring with incoherent fury…
“LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!” Arva screamed as she ran back up the stairs…
“I want you to stay in here for a little while. I’ll come fetch you when it’s time…you’ll like this surprise. All of you.”
Dornes looked curiously around the room, but Keichi was looking up at her mother, mirroring that comically concerned expression on her face as she continued to ask questions…
“But…this is Shoboro’s room, isn’t it? Where’s he gone? Where’s anyone in this tower? It’s practically deserted…”
“Don’t concern yourself with that just yet. I’ll be back…stay here until then.”
Arva’s eyes widened in surprise as Moloch picked up the scythe that was hidden behind the door. She clutched the egg closer to her chest.
“Moloch? Wait! What…!?”
He waved merrily back at her before he shut the door. He whistled as he descended the stairs…far away, he could hear surprised yells. He chuckled…it was going exactly as he’d planned it. Of course someone in the tower had overheard him while he was instructing his pawns…he’d tried very hard to make sure they did, and make it seem accidental. It hadn’t been easy, keeping track of Old Sidoh so he’d be in the tower at the right times to overhear. Just as expected, when he’d told the ones in the basement to charge, the tower had already been evacuated, and now, shinigami were trying to subdue them with rope and handcuffs…a move straight out of the history books. He wondered what Old Sidoh had thought the “element of surprise” he’d mentioned was…the scythe, perhaps? Or some strategic placement of his forces to lure Shoboro into an opportune spot? He obviously hadn’t guessed correctly, because things were going according to plan. There had been another component of keeping track of Old Sidoh-not only talking about the plan to take over while he was in the tower, but also being extremely careful not to talk about a certain something, not until just now, not until the tower had been evacuated and he could speak freely…the knives Geoffrey had made in addition to the scythe.
Obviously, Old Sidoh had never found out about them. And obviously, the pawns had believed him when he’d told them that Shoboro considered treason a crime punishable by death, that his forces would be primed to kill, and it would be us or them…they’d have to slice through the ropes as soon as they were caught, and then use the knives on the attackers before the attackers used their knives. If the facts were lacking, play on their emotions…if anything, fear was an even more potent controller than anger. He’d managed to convince them that as King, Shoboro had many more knives than just the five traditional ones that he handed out to the ones he trusted most…that he kept several more a secret just in case a situation just like this occurred. Yes, it was obvious that it had worked…the screams proved it. Moloch would’ve felt just a little bit bad about it, if it weren’t a necessary sacrifice…after all; they were only the useless shinigami who still sided with Shoboro.
He stepped off the last stair and into the hall and stood, waiting-he didn’t have to wait long. Two shinigami appeared out of nowhere and dropped down from the ceiling-Rhyinn and Armonia. Moloch was disappointed. He’s been expecting…someone else.
“Moloch, you need to stop your friends, right now!” said Rhyinn.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“It is necessary, Moloch…they’re going too far. You really ought to know…they’re…” said the golden, skeletal shinigami beside her. Moloch tried not to laugh…the two females were putting up a good show at acting tough, but he could see the hints of shakiness in their limbs…
“I already know what they’re doing with their weapons…Armonia Denzai, was it? And I know what your plan is…you two are in charge of ‘taking care’ of me, correct?”
He was right…the threatening glares flew right off their faces. Now they just looked blankly shocked…he snickered to himself he raised the scythe, and they glanced at it and then each other with a flicker of panic…their wings shot out, in preparation to flee the instant he came at them.
“I’m disappointed that Shoboro didn’t have the mettle to come and face me himself…this was meant for him, not you two.”
A sound like an iron spike crashing into rock exploded through the hall; Armonia jumped and looked around wildly…Moloch giggled at the scream she let out when she looked over at Rhyinn.
It was a shame that he hadn’t gotten to use it on Shoboro, but at least he knew that the plan would have worked…it had worked on these two, at least. Call their attention forward by acting as though he was going to attack with the scythe, then, while they were distracted, step surreptitiously on the button that detonated the device he’d installed in the wall behind them mere hours ago, one that was supposed to have given him an advantage in the fight against Shoboro…
Rhyinn didn’t look at the tzargantium spike that was protruding through her chest for long, or at the hole that was rapidly getting wider as sand and rust flowed out of it. Instead, she stared straight at Moloch, looking ridiculously indignant…the poor thing was trying to speak, but the blow had likely knocked the wind right out of her.
“Sorry, Rhyinn. No hard feelings. I didn’t think a two-on-one match was fair, and you just happened to make a bad choice in places to stand…and an extremely bad choice in becoming Shoboro’s mate in the first place. It’s nothing personal…oops. Too late-I suppose I should’ve spoken more quickly. I was right about one thing, though…looks like Shoboro gave her one of the knives when he became king.”
A final small drip of sand fell off the spike, spattering on the cover of the death note that was lying in the steaming pile of grainy debris. Next to the death note, half-embedded in the sand, was one of the five gleaming knives bestowed by the King, only to be used in an emergency…Moloch plucked it out of the pile and tucked it into his belt. “Now, then…” said Moloch as he stepped toward Armonia, raising the scythe. “Don’t you still have a job to do? Are you supposed to kill me, or is Shoboro being noble again and only allowing you to capture me? I wonder if you have a knife…it would seem as though I’ve started a bit of a collection, and I’ll need all five if I’m going to have a complete set…”
Armonia didn’t have a knife. She’d thought to grab Rhyinn’s, but she’d been paralyzed...and now that Moloch had it, she was mentally kicking herself…no, even if she’d grabbed the knife, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything with it. One puny little knife against a scythe, and when she didn’t even know how to wield one properly…pointless. Everything was much, much worse than she’d expected…she’d just seen another shinigami killed right before her eyes, and she could hear dying screams behind her…never in the worst of nightmares would a shinigami have dreamed this up…yet it was happening. Shinigami weren’t supposed to die…Armonia had often wondered how humans dealt with the thought of their own mortality, and she wondered even more right now…she’d never had to contemplate the possibility of her own death, because never in a million years would she have imagined even one shinigami in this realm dying, much less several, and all at once…
This was no time to panic, or she’d die next. Quickly, Armonia calmed herself down, weighed her options…the only logical thing to do was to run, get everyone to retreat, get back to the holes as fast as possible. Calmly, Armonia pictured herself sprinting down the hall and spreading her wings, flapping as fast as she could while she shouted for everyone to get out…it was beyond her why she took one shaky step back and fell down, instead. Her mind was calm enough, but apparently, her body wasn’t getting the message…again and again, she ordered herself to get up, getting less calm and more frantic as Moloch loomed over her, scythe raised…
Suddenly, Moloch wheeled around, catching the black spectre that was rushing toward him from behind and slamming it against the wall.
“Ah…and where were you?” asked Moloch, tightening his grip on Xithl’s throat and hoisting him further up against the wall.
“Right behind Rhyinn and Armonia…” said Xithl, keeping the knife in his hand raised. Moloch wasn’t surprised…it made sense that Shoboro had given Xithl a knife.
“Ah…you were the backup, just in case something went wrong…what happened, Xithl? What about poor Rhyinn…?”
Xithl shook his head, looking tortured… “It was fast…”
“You’re right. I was much too fast for you to do anything. That wasn’t very nice of you, Xithl…I’m sure Shoboro didn’t tell you to try and kill me. What did you do that for?”
“You were about to kill my mate…and not just my mate…you deserve to be killed…you need to be killed, for the good of every shinigami in this realm. Look at what’s happening…look at what you’ve done…you’re every bit a monster as Shoboro makes you out to be…”
“Acting high and mighty won’t save you now,” Moloch said as he crushed Xithl’s hand against the wall with his scythe, forcing him to drop the knife. “Are you afraid?”
Xithl blinked up at the scythe, and then stared back at Moloch, wincing as he tried to move his fingers. “I can’t honestly say it isn’t a little bit disconcerting.”
“Any final words?”
Armonia’s heart leaped into her throat as Xithl looked straight into her eyes.
“You can’t save me, Armonia. Don’t try.”
She knew he was right…with a horrible sinking feeling, she knew he was right…she had nothing; no way of stopping Moloch…
“Run. This will take Moloch a few seconds…at least I’ll be serving a final purpose. Get everybody out of here. That’s the best thing you can do. I love you. Go. Now!”
Armonia shot up into the air and flew down the hall, but she couldn’t stop in time as a row of bars shot out of the ceiling and blocked off the hall. She flew right into them and fell to the stone floor, clutching her head in pain as stars burst out in front of her eyes…
She heard Xithl sigh. “Another button in the floor…another trap…”
“You didn’t think I’d try something like this unprepared, did you?”
“…No. No, I didn’t.”
Xithl didn’t scream when Moloch cut across his throat, but Armonia more than made up for it with hers. He just dripped down onto the floor, flowing through Moloch’s hand as he disintegrated. Moloch shook the last few grains off his hand, then bent down and picked up the second knife, sticking it into his belt beside the second one. He walked back to Armonia, who was leaning against the bars. Goodness…there was moisture in her eyes. Again, he would’ve felt guilty, if it hadn’t been necessary…to make another shinigami cry was something else. They didn’t cry over the silly little trivial things that humans did…a lost toy, a little too much stress at work, a fight with a prospective mate whom they’d only known for a week…it was said, that to make a shinigami cry, you needed to “strip them off all hope; send them to the very darkest place their psyches can reach, with no prospect of redemption or recovery…”
Yes, that was definitely a drop of moisture, running out of the corner of Armonia’s eye…
“Again, I’m terribly sorry about this, dear…it’s just a case of you being in the wrong place at the wrong time…well, and making a bad choice in sides. What about you, hm? Anything you want to say?”
She took a rattling breath in. “…Promise me…”
What? Had he heard her correctly?
“Promise…promise me you won’t touch my boys. Promise me you won’t hurt them.”
Moloch looked down at her, slightly perplexed.
“What kind of shinigami do you take me for, Armonia Denzai? It’s not as though I’m doing this without a reason…what would be the point in killing children? I like children, for goodness’ sake. I can’t promise you anything, but if they give me no reason to, I can’t see why I’d want to harm them.”
With an easy flick of his wrist and the hushed whispering sound of falling sand, Armonia slumped over and became the third pile in the hall. Moloch let out an exhausted sigh…that bit hadn’t been exactly as he’d planned. He’d thought he’d only have to kill one shinigami today…after killing the first one, he’d had no choice but to kill the others, so they couldn’t go back and warn Shoboro about the traps while he reset them for the main event…oh, well. It couldn’t be helped. He flipped a rock out of the ceiling, twisted a knob that pulled the bars back into the ceiling, replaced it, and then turned to go push the spike back into the wall…
Moloch’s eyebrows went up in surprise. Arva was standing at the foot of the stairs…she wasn’t smiling. True, she hadn’t been smiling when he’d left her behind in the King’s quarters, but there’d still been a hint of good-natured curiosity around her eyes, as usual. He’d never seen her look like that…never in his life had he seen her look so horrified, with no trace of a smile anywhere on her face…
“Arva? What’s the matter? What’s wrong?” he asked, taking a step forward. “Are you all right?”
He was shocked when she took a step back, still looking at him with utmost terror…
“Moloch? Wha…what have you done?”
“What have I done?” he said, looking confused for only a second before he it all snapped into place. “Oh…this. I’m sorry, Arva…I didn’t want you to find out until all this was over, but I suppose the surprise is spoiled now…you’re going to be queen in a matter of hours.”
She said nothing.
“Speechless? That’s all right. You don’t need to thank me. You deserve it in every way possible…you’re the one who inspired me to do this, love…you and your spirit, the way you never let little setbacks defeat you…that’s all Shoboro’s kingship was, really. Just a minor setback…”
He’d expected her face to light up again at the news, but that look was still there…where was that smile of hers? It was infuriating…why wouldn’t she show at least a tiny bit of gratitude?
“That’s why I told you to stay in the King’s quarters until I came to get you…now, the surprise is ruined. How long have you been down here?”
“…I followed you down a few minutes after you left. You…you…killed them.”
“I’m afraid so. Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary…” he said, starting toward the stairs…
Arva held up her hands, as if she were shielding herself. She took another step back. “Get away from me.”
Moloch stopped short, as if she’d punched him in the gut. “What did you say?”
“Don’t come any closer…I’m warning you…”
“What…what do you think you mean by that?”
“If…if I’d known…you…capable of this…after all these years, I thought I knew you…stay away!” she commanded as he lifted one foot.
“Arva…love…you don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying…look! Look at this! Look at what you’ve done! You’re…you’re…a…a monster!”
Moloch felt her words cut straight through his heart and rip it out of his chest. He couldn’t control his arms anymore…they started trembling of their own accord, and his grip on the scythe tightened until his fingers hurt…he was losing track of any coherent thought as his brain overflowed with a searing red colour…monster? After all this work, after so many hours he’d sacrificed, after all the risks he’d taken to get this far…monster?
No. He was King, and he would not stand to be called a monster…
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. You’re a murderer…a cold-blooded murderer…”
“After all this…after all I’ve done for you…you dare to call me…?”
“I’m leaving, and I’m taking the children with me. Don’t you dare try to follow us.”
“WHAT!?”
“STAY RIGHT THERE! YOU’RE INSANE, MOLOCH!”
At that moment, Moloch’s mind was overwhelmed with the blinding redness, not even aware that he was rushing toward the stairs, roaring with incoherent fury…
“LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!” Arva screamed as she ran back up the stairs…
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