"That child!"

A beautiful and feminine voice echoed through the halls of the 'Church'.

"That damned child! I should have known he would betray me one day!"

An angry Layla was pacing through the room that was her bedroom.

"If not for this stupidly enraptured woman, I would have been unable to proceed with my plans. I can at least be thankful of that."

-

Moments after Elliott freed himself from Miasma.

"Lord Elliott's..."

Layla crouched in the puddle of black sludge and picked up the black pearl emanating a dark aura.

"T-This is..."

She was in shock. Her Lord completely ignored her, and even more surprising, he did not seem interested in conquering the rest of the continent.

All of her hard work seemed to have been meaningless to her. The world came crashing down on her as tears began to pour down from her cheeks.

"Why?! Why is this happening!"

With the pearl in her hand, she began to lose it, thrashing left and right while grabbing her head with her free hand.

"I did my best to impress Lord Elliott, forced everyone to acknowledge his power over the world, and even sacrificed everything I had! For what?!"

Her nails pierced her skin, making her blood flow on the pearl.

"..."

The pearl seemed to talked to her, as the craziness ate away ever so slightly more at her mind.

Even if she had been corrupted long ago, she was still quite lucid. Her self-control was perfect, but this little event made it waver.

And at that very moment, her control slipped away.

"Fuck it."

She swallowed the black pearl without thinking of the consequences.

"..."

At first, nothing happened. She stood up, cleaned her knees as much as possible, and walked away from the puddle.

With a heavy mind, she returned to her own room, which was connected to this very room.

It is when she sat on her bed that the changes happened.

"Gh... Gah!"

She hugged her waist in pain, as a very painful feeling invaded her whole body. Black veins traveled through her limbs, while her eyes turned completely black.

"What is... happening?"

Saliva flowed from the corners of her mouth as she asked herself.

'Shh~ Don't think. Let me take over. I promise it won't hurt for long.'

A very sinister voice answered in her head.

"Who... are you?"

As she bent her body inward, the dark veins arrived at the tip of her fingers. Her consciousness began to fade away, and she lost control of her own body.

Layla stood up, and laughed maniacally.

"What a minor setback this all ordeal was! Just wait, traitor of a son! I'll get to you soon enough."

That was how Layla became the second person possessed by Miasma. She became the second Elliott.

-

"Alright, let's have a look at whatever you've been working on. Trudging through your memories is way to bothersome, so I'll just check it myself, if you don't mind."

"Taking that much time to get accustomed to a woman's body... I hope you can make up for that big loss of time. MY time."

Miasma talked as if he was talking to her, and in fact, he was. Just like Elliott, she was able to see everything, but not interact whatsoever.

With a devilish smile, he walked through the halls and corridors of the 'Church', getting a feel of the place.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I haven't walk in two thousands years. It kind of feels nostalgic. Hmm?"

He stopped in front of a door that emitted an energy he was quite familiar with.

"What are you hiding in there."

Opening the door, he found himself looking down into darkness.

"A cellar?"

Stepping on the first step, he smiled.

"This energy is quite strong. I can already guess what you have in there."

The more he went down, the more he smiled. At one point, he found himself at the bottom of the staircase, in front of a brightly lighted wooden door.

"Let's go in, shall we?"

After opening the door with a loud creaking sound that echoed through the cellar, he stepped inside.

"That is splendid! Truly marvelous!"

An large room with pillars supporting the roof from collapsing spread in front of him. He clapped in his hands seeing what Layla had hidden in there.

"You managed to capture all of the pawns I wanted to sacrifice, haven't you? How many is that? Two thousands? Four thousands?"

The army that joined during the last Apostles meeting was chained in there.

"GRAAAA!"

"SHRRR"

A lot of them were thrashing around, trying to free themselves, while most of them remained lifeless.

"Hey, the lots of you. Look at me."

His words echoed through the underground room, making the corrupted soldiers look at him. The moment their red eyes looked into his dark eyes, they went quiet.

"Good, good! I will find a use for you at some point, but for now, I'm more interested as to what is in 'this' room."

Layla's head slowly turned to the right, and with a freaky smile on his face, glanced at one particular door that was heavily chained.

"Oh~ What naughty things have you done behind everyone's back, huh?"

He stepped in front of the door, and using Layla's water element, he made a blade that enveloped his hand.

With an effortless movement, he broke the chains and opened the door.

*Whistle*

"My dear, what were you playing at? Not that I'm complaining, really. Curiosity? Stupidity? A bit of both perhaps."

A large glass container with a transparent liquid could be easily noticed in the far back. There seemed to be some sort of machinery that kept it working, similar to what a certain angel created a long time ago.

Inside that container was a man, or what was left of it, floating in the liquid. His red eyes were impossible to ignore.

"Really, my expectations are through the roof! With this much, I can work on making this world a fuming pile of garbage! And I'll make sure to bring enough chaos, so that they have no choice but to appear again."

Layla's face darkened.

"You don't have to know. But get ready, you will become the next 'monster'."

"It is time to bring back my army, and for that..."

Miasma clapped his hands together, and focused his power.

~

Elliott turned around.

"What is it?"

Noticing the strange behavior and the serious expression on his face, Nylon asked.

"It's beginning. Just as I thought, father sealed Eogis away."

When these words left his words, a pillar of dark energy emerged in the distance, followed by a shockwave.

*RUSTLE*

The leaves flew away, the branches cracked, and the wind blew strongly. The pillar broke into six, and surrounded the entirety of Eogis. From those six points, a barrier of dark magic sealed it from the rest of the continent.

"He is planning on reviving his army. This is going to be tough for Orion."

"What does that entails? That army, I mean."

Elliott nodded.

"Multiple Corrupted Lord class, probably a lot of Giant class, and tens of thousands of 'Pawns' as he call them."

"Let's not forget about whatever he can find in there. There are humans trapped in there, though they were corrupted long ago. Who knows what he will make of them."

Nylon felt a chill down his spine.

"Then, what can we do?"

"What can we do indeed. Honestly, the answer is quite simple."

"..."

"Get stronger."

~

*Tap*

*Tap*

Orion was hammering at a piece of wood, progressing his work inside the guest house. There had been some changes that had to be made if everyone were to stay in Horizon.

Not only the guest house was too small for everyone, it's purpose had also changed.

Before, it was supposed to make guests stay for a short period of time, but now, it was the opposite.

So, the main purpose stayed the same, but the whole building was for the men guests.

'I can't let those girls stay with the other guys.'

After his talk with Amelia, he decided to take the five women seriously.

-

"You want to what now?"

Said Amelia with a stunned expression.

"I don't 'want', I'm asking if it's possible to upgrade our house."

"And what is the point? If you don't tell me why, I don't see a reason to do so."

She crossed her arms, waiting for his answers.

Orion scratched his cheek, and nodded.

"You're right. I should've told you."

"After our talk about the other's feelings, I thought I'd at least be a little more... open. But if that is the case, I cannot tolerate to have them sleep in the same house as other guys, right?"

"I trust Florian, Eric, and Nylon, but making them stay with the girls could hurt our relationship, that's what I thought."

Amelia squinted her eyes.

"At least you understand a little about our feelings."

"I try. Anyways, that's why. I would like to request an addition to the second floor."

"How many rooms?"

"May's, Deveralna's, Senia's, and Dramia and Drania's. Is that alright?"

She nodded.

"If it's just that. I'll do it later."

-

'I can't thank her enough for everything she's done for me. I'll go look for some cooking books later as a thank you gift.'

As he was working on the changes of the guest house, he thought of what to do while he was healing.

'...'

Many plans for the future concerning his fight against Miasma came and went by, but none were actually worth keeping.

Most of them depended on Elliott, and that was something...

'That I refuse to go with. I will fight, without his help.'

So instead of patching up worthless ideas for nothing, he thought of what to do with the girls.

'Who should I... go out with first?'

This felt wrong on so many levels, but what could he do about it? If they were alright with it, and that he could avoid them being sad, then he would sacrifice himself.

Or that was the excuse. He liked them, and they liked him. He was simply confused because it was unusual to have so many lovers.

'I might bother them if I go and ask 'Hey, do you want to go on a date with me?'

'That would never work, right?'

'...'

The hammer stopped right before slamming on the nail's head. Orion stood up, threw the hammer on the ground, and warped away.

He walked through the portal to the fairy realm that led him to Tiohr-nam, looked around the room, and noticed the queens enjoying a cup of tea while chatting peacefully.

"O-Orion?! What is it?"

Surprised, the sisters' stared at him with wide opened eyes.

"Hey, do you want to go on a date with me?"

"Wa-!"

That was how Orion chose to tackle the problem of asking.