For the first time in a while, Zarian caught Luciana off guard.

Ever since the Darkrun Apocalypse, she had this weird and corruptive smugness to her that tested the limits of Zarian’s boundaries. She’d strained his patience plenty of times.

But now he had something that she simply couldn’t resist.

The traumatized tears of another Evil God.

Sinfeast was a divine ruler taking up one of fourteen major seats at the top of the alignments. Granted, there were five Freedom Leaders holding another five major seats, but the freedom alignment ran on different rules compared to the traditional alignments.

Besides, out of all the gods and mortals holding major seats, Sinfeast was someone Zarian hated the most. His hatred for Sinfeast was so great he would rather endure Purgehunt and Purehome’s persistent attacks than let Sinfeast have an ounce of breathing room.

The Madness Wizard imagined giving Sinfeast’s tears to Evil Goddess Shadowfell was the most heinous action he could exact right now. It could also help break the slavery bond his wife kept pushing into their arranged marriage.

Of course, doing all of this high-level political maneuvering took a lot of mental energy, and Zarian was at his wit’s end. Yet, the Madness Wizard dug deep, for the sake of freedom, and for the sake of screwing over Sinfeast again.

Zarian strode through the old basement floor where the portal had deposited him and the others a year ago. He felt for the ley line and noted how it wasn’t there.

There was no portal going back, and that was fine. He had no genuine connections with the old world, only the faint connections that mattered to his friends, specifically Bianca.

He set aside ideas about the way back home and filled the silence from Luciana with his own voice. He did his best not to sound too smarmy, but they both knew he had the winning hand in this game of theirs.

“Let’s drop the pretenses. We both know what this slave thing is about. If I take advantage of that, I cross a line that can’t be undone. I’ve already crossed plenty of lines, which I’m willing to live with, but this slave angle you’re pushing really strikes a nerve with me.”

He was the first Freedom Leader. Even with him leading the free evil sub alignment, he couldn’t let this part of his relationship with Luciana stand. But it took two to tango, and he needed Luciana to agree.

“I could refuse. It is interesting to serve as your slave. I haven’t yet had the satisfaction of seeing you properly use that. How much of you would break and change if you order me as your godly slave wife?” Luciana argued.

She was on a roll now. She pushed further, her voice surrounding him with some heavy force.

“Don’t you wish to unleash yourself from such heavy morals? Don’t you wish to go further into your darkness? Isn’t it intoxicating? Delicious? Wonderful? You’ve already crossed plenty of lines, haven’t you? What’s wrong with crossing a few more? Why limit yourself to these weak mortal considerations? You can be anything you want and make everyone submit to you.”

Zarian stopped in a dark, bubbling puddle of his wife’s evil tears. Her words resonated from the surrounding space and from the divine tears, vibrating the air, passing through him with an ominous and shadowy divinity.

He could imagine the most obvious thought experiment: to make Luciana docile through slavery, saving the Infinita Star System from the corruptive horrors she could create. It would be easy to convince himself with logic and rationality, especially with his free evil +4.

By using the slavery bond in his arranged marriage, he could conduct the greatest amount of ‘good’ in the rational sense. He could bound Evil Goddess Shadowfell through the superiority of his bloodline being the master of her bloodline.

Perhaps he could one day use her to break some of the System parameters when necessary. He already had plenty of cheats, but what was one more added to the mix? She was in an influential position after all.

Everything sounded rational and logical when put like that.

And that was why Zarian refused.

He knew that was how evil men could convince themselves to do irrevocable or horrible things. By worshiping rationality and logic at the expense of what felt right in their hearts.

And in his heart, Zarian felt for an unseen bird crying out for what mattered most.

Freedom.

“I enjoy having power,” Zarian said smoothly. “Most people like having power. With power, you can make changes that others without power can’t do. And because you have that power most don’t have, it’s almost as if the power should stay with you, because that’s what it seems to mean to have power.”

Luciana filled the room with her breath, as if she was growing more excited or worried. Maybe a mix of both.

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Zarian waited to build up the suspense before delivering his caveat. “Yet, today we all witnessed what’s possible when we take a risk on others. When we believe in others. When we share our power with others.”

Zarian grew bolder and more determined with his speech. “Naomi is the definition of making the impossible a possibility, and for that to happen, I had to let go of things most people wouldn’t.”

Zarian paced slowly from left to right and back. “Maybe that’s because I grew up seeing the worst people you can meet. Or maybe it’s because I still owe Naomi for helping me when she could’ve tossed me away like trash. Either way, I want to do better. I want to repay kindness. So I invested in her. I invested a lot that some people would’ve looked at as idiotic.”

Zarian took a deep breath and smiled. “And look at her now. She’s so strong, she doesn’t care if her class is a quality or two below the others. She’s taking what I got and running with it. I invested in Hannah, Bianca, and Gilbert! And look at them. They’re growing so fast and becoming so great, they have no idea how proud I am of their efforts.”

Zarian laughed. “I’m investing in Ride-or-Die Village and its people, especially the two hundred and ninety kids of the Ride-or-Die Guild. I’m going to invest in our daughter, Foodie, who’s going to have a new lease on life! And I’m going to invest in you.”

“Why?” Luciana asked shakily. “Why do this when you are the alpha, the omega, the scion of the greatest masters? Why not dominate and take? Why give so much? Why not fall into darkness forever?”

“Because I’m a mess, and I’m a bit contrarian, and I want to have fun and enjoy the simple things in life. Going on adventures and doing the best I can to make things better, even if it means I have to use evil as a tool to make life better. Even if it means I have to do the illogical stuff to win in ways people can’t understand or may hate,” Zarian explained.

It all felt quite simple to him. Maybe others didn’t understand, but he understood what he stood for in his heart. His reasoning burned like a fire, and it refused to go out.

Some people might still find that weak.

To be fair, some of his beliefs were cheesy and corny. He did raise himself on anime and fantasy. He could see why he would have critics, haters, and attackers.

But Zarian believed he was powerful enough to stand up to those antagonists.

He didn’t think of himself as much of a hero. But his heart wanted to do what felt right.

Zarian continued. “I’m working on controlling my power. And that is a lot to handle. But I want to try while making others as powerful as they can be and spreading some cool vibes.”

“You will be attacked. They will want to destroy you. You are an antithesis to the way of things,” Luciana said.

Zarian shrugged. “Yeah, you are right. I know people like Jack, my little sister, the major gods, and whoever else will want to beat me, control me, or hate me. But I’ll fight them. With my friends. Whenever, wherever. And I will win. I’m kinda overpowered like that.”

“You would fight your sister, The Dragoness, with these morals?”

“Yes. I’ll put her in time out if I have to.”

“You are truly mad.”

“It is what it is.” Zarian waved it off. “I’ve explained myself enough. Now let’s get back to the topic of you.”

Luciana sighed.

Zarian carried on like a steamroller. “I feel you’re being a submissive weirdo because you don’t know any better. And that’s fine. I’m figuring shit out, too. But I need you to grow along with me. Regardless of how we got here, we’re going to be working together for a while. So, you gotta pick yourself up and learn to explore more beyond just me, you dig? So, here, take the tears and stop being my slave wife. Be my friendly wife or whatever, at least until I divorce you.”

Zarian looked down at the vial in his hand before placing it down in the pool of Shadowfell Tears. It stayed on the surface, unaccepted.

“Make one more offer,” Luciana requested stiffly. “Then I will also give something in return to make this change and exchange in our relationship more official.”

“Do less evil as much as you can and achieve as much balance as you can,” Zarian said.

“You will not ask me to stop being evil?”

“That’s pointless. I’m optimistic, maybe idealistic, but I’m not absurdist.” Zarian stopped to rethink that statement. “No, wait, I can be absurd. So, uh, you get my point, right?”

“Yes, I do, dear,” Luciana grumbled, showing some rare annoyance. “I’ve thrown myself at you. I’ve given you access to unbelievable means of power and control. No man would turn away from such temptation, by the way. Yet, there you are, being absurd.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows? Maybe there are other absurd weirdoes like me who like to fuck shit up and do radically righteous stuff. You never know.”

Luciana sighed, sounding defeated. “There is a certain item in your cloak. A bullet with your blood. Place it next to the vial.”

Zarian did just that.

He looked down curiously as the flattened bullet from a year ago sank into the bubbling pool of Shadowfell Tears. The same happened to the vial of Sinfeast’s tears.

The black ichor vibrated and sent droplets dripping upward before they fell back down quietly. Then something floated to the surface.

Zarian picked up the ring. It was dark, like onyx, with a weeping skull fixed onto the band along with some runic text encircling it.

Luciana spoke demurely. “I am no longer your slave. I will consider doing less evil and achieving balance. But in return, you must wear that ring to truly wed us in the traditional sense. And you can only take it off when the time comes for you to divorce me.”

She sounded quite upset.

Was letting go of her slave status that big of a deal?

Or was it her inability to corrupt Zarian that upset her?

Either way, Zarian felt like he was winning, but at a cost.

For the first time in over two weeks, he used Aura Mastery + Identify on something new, and the combination of traits worked: