The illusionary scenes of the dreams that engulfed his mind had proven to be ever-more surreal. As he remained unconscious, memories of the past began to haunt his mind in continuously increasing intervals of time that seemed to grow even more restless with every passing second.

Amidst his sleep, his subconscious began to reminisce of his terrible past, a life that was full only of suffering and pain for the most of its duration, an experience that he never wanted to live through ever again: to be abandoned by one's own birth parents at such a young age... to be forgotten by the rest of his relatives and thrown into an old, decrepit orphanage whose caretakers cared not about his pitiful existence... And to be kicked out of the children's shelter after a few years as he was eventually forced to work at a low-paying job whose salary just barely allowed him to live through the toils and struggles of life...

He had lived through all that with a steel resolve, enduring through all these momentous events of his life that would have taken his life had he relented for even a moment. He had weather3d through all these challenges, and had eventually managed to create a decent life for him to nurture and sustain...

He had built up quite a fortune's worth of money, which was all in due thanks to the hardwork he had done for the majority of his life. However, despite having a firm resolve and a sense of responsibility, the poor man remained unaware of the other hidden cruelties that lied within human nature- despite being able to weather through all these hardships with an iron will to live through it all, even more tragedies would come cascading into his unfortunate life, each of which had easily torn apart everything he had worked hard for with an incredibly merciless ease.

He had unfortunately fallen in love with a fortune hunting, opportunist of a woman, and had even managed to conceive a daughter with such a lady amidst their short-lived marriage: eventually though, after draining him of his riches amidst his naivety, their marriage would fall into a quick dissolution, with the woman easily leaving him behind for a far wealthier man who she could leach onto for more money once more.

Despite this, the man would not fall before his despair- the child who the selfish mother had left behind for him to care... he still loved and took care of his daughter despite the immense pain that plagued and ached his heart, caring for her even despite the dreadful terminal illness that refused to leave her body.

Eventually though, after a few years would pass by, the last light of his life would finally be taken from him so viciously: his sickly daughter would inevitably fall prey to the disease that torturously gnawed away at her body for every minute she breathed, eventually draining her of all life as she would finally be laid to rest by her sickness on her own bed.

And that was it... The man had finally realized: there was truly nothing wonderful in this world that could ever hope to last, and the only constant that thrived in this reality was suffering. He hated it, he loathed it... He despised it with every fraction of his being.

He wanted to lash out at the world for taking everything he had rightfully earned by wasting many years of his life as a hardworking man... However, because he was weak and did not have even his fortune left as an advantage in his life, he had nothing to gain back at least a portion of what he had lost throughout the years.

His final chance of redemption would come when the great war had suddenly come and consumed earth in a vast, trial by fire: otherworldly invaders had come from these series of massive gateways, destroying everything in sight as they torched entire cities ablaze... It was the perfect opportunity for him to regain something for his life again.

It was a do or die... If he had become a soldier, there would only be 2 paths to his now-destined fate: he would either perish in one of the many battles and have his name forgotten for the rest of the passing years, or the less likely outcome, where he would manage to persevere through it all and make his name remembered through stories and history books that would last for an untold amount of time.

And alas, did he choose this option, diving into the hellscapes of war as a frontline soldier without hesitation as he joined the ranks of the GFI's soldiers. He would eventually become a great soldier and leader both, earning the position of battalion commander of the 41st GFR battalion 'The Black Dogs', a legendary unit of the Global Front Initiative that won countless battles for humanity until they all met their end in the trap that the enemy had set upon the shores of Khaenriah.

This was the story of Novus Sturne, a loathsome terror who had been steeled and molded into a terrifying monster by the hardships of life...

Though at the same time, he was only a man who wanted to have a peaceful life with the people he loved...

________________________________________

"... Argh... My head..."

Novus' vision was a bit hazy as his eyes slowly opened themselves to reveal where he had been brought to amidst his unconsciousness: almost quickly, he immediately found himself seated upon a metal chair, with his arms, feet and wrists bound by indomitable steel restraints, rendering him completely unable to move as he could only see a black monitor that only presented an unattractive screen of static.

It had all happened so quickly again: as soon as he had confirmed his capitulation, one of those robots had suddenly flashed a bright, white light at his face, instantly knocking out his senses and allowing them to bring him to the current place he was in right now: a dimly-lit room with a few, weak lights as he remained trapped within the steel confines of the chair that bound him.

"... This is a bit... Bad..."

The restraints were unwaveringly fixed onto his limbs, firmly preventing any form of escape as Novus could not do anything else but remain on the metal chair he had been strapped onto... He had begun to wonder about everything, and a slight sense of regret began leaking into his heart: perhaps the option of surrendering had been a terrible choice in the first place? Maybe there was a better option he could have chosen beforehand...

Well, it's not like he could revert what he had already done anyway: all he could do was await what was about to happen next, as he chose to remain in silence and patiently wait for the individual known as 'Thurien' to pay him a visit.

"..."

The sound of a metal door opening itself loudly, as well as a few foot steps would echo from a location behind him, though unfortunately, he was unable to see who had truly entered the room due to the iron fasteners that held him in place upon his fixed, unmoving seat.

As the sound of the foot steps gradually became closer however, Novus could suddenly feel a hand touching the top of his head: it had a gentle touch, as well as a hypnotically soothing feeling that he could immediately feel the moment its fingers reached out to lightly caress his rough hair.

"... What an interesting human you are..." the unknown individual behind him spoke as its voice became that of a whisper and drew closer towards one of his ears. "... You're not like the other humans I've met before... You even have access to these... Devices that aren't possible for an age as primitive as this..."

A smile formed quickly on his face as he replied. "... Well, I'm quite special after all... anyway... I'd first like to apologize for barging into your home all of a sudden. It was a matter of utmost urgency, and I-"

"Hm, a polite one, even despite the rudeness you did previously... You truly are quite different..." Thurien quickly cut him off. "Would you be able to maintain that personality after we're done with 'that', I wonder...?"

"... What do you mean?"

"It's because you're too interesting, dear human~" A mischievous smile would form on her face, though Novus would be unable to see this due to being unable to move his head. "Hahaha... Don't worry, this won't hurt~ it'll actually feel good... A bit too much though..."

"W-what are you about to-"

An overwhelming sense of what seemed to be soft, yet excessive waves of pleasure then began drowning his mind in a sea of ecstasy. It was too pleasurable, so much so that it quickly became more 'painful' than anything else. Alas, the poor lad was unable to do anything amidst his torture: his body moved and twitched violently in an attempt to break his restraints, which would only lead to no avail.

Seeing this, Thurien would giggle lightly as her hand that was placed on his head continued to apply the esoteric effects.

"Please don't resist too much~" she said with a hint of what seemed to be enthusiasm. "... Ah... Wait..."

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

The newfound feelings had been too much on his already weary, mortal mind- it didn't take long for him to lose consciousness, as his eyes became glued shut while his body remained completely unresponsive and motionless upon the chair full of restraints.

Thurien would begin to sigh again, as she looked at the pitiful sight before her: had she perhaps taken it too far again?

No, it was impossible. This kind of 'torture', if it could even be called that, wasn't even that painful or damaging to human bodies. She had made sure of that. Surely, this human wouldn't be some rare exclusion to an already tried and tested case?

Well, she already got what she needed anyway: it was a rather interesting find she had gotten from his mind, a series of informations so baffling and bizarre, that she couldn't even help but think if they were truly possible.

For now, she had to wait for the interesting human to wake up and to present her queries: she had so many questions, yet so little time...

...

...

How interesting, Thurien thought.

There were so many interesting memories in this man's mind... So many fascinatingly engrossing details that sparked a great sense of curiosity within her mind, and yet the problem was that she had so little time to ask about all of them.

As she continued to probe through his swirling memories, her questions would somehow begin to reduce in their number: the more she looked into it, the more things became clearer to her...

This man... It would seem that he was actually related to her in some way... He was the adopted son of her old friend... Anastasia, the one who had used to visit her home before that bastard of a human king betrayed her and threw away her trust and love...

His name was Roland, yet he calls himself by the name 'Novus'... There were other memories connected to this detail, but they were too hidden within the deep recesses of his mind... It was as if it was actively being enshrouded by some unknown force whose presence remained completely undetectable to her senses.

Ah well, she thought. She could simply clarify things after he woke up, then would she finally be able to fully understand this man and his intentions for coming here; all Thurien had to do was wait, and everything would finally make sense to her already curious mind...

If only this peculiar man would wake up from his slumber any time soon though...

...

...

He had fainted. Yet again. It was completely embarrassing, though fortunately, there wasn't anyone who could laugh at it.

That bastard; she had somehow engulfed his mind with some powerful feeling that made every single one of his nerve endings ache to such an intense degree.

His eyes slowly opened, and he found himself still greatly restrained upon the seat he had long been on, as his limbs were still firmly fastened by the shackles that bound him onto the chair. Preposterous, he thought. He never should have surrendered in the first place: everything had instantly turned into a chaotic mess the moment he did.

"You're finally awake, dear human~"

That voice again... It was the voice of his unrevealed torturer, one who spoke from behind him with an oddly cheerful and happy voice: could she perhaps be taking great pleasure in tormenting others?

Once more, her hands moved to her head and began gently scruffing his hear: this quickly made him shiver slightly, as he couldn't help but shudder at the thought that she was about to repeat the torment that she had previously done unto him.

"... That hurt... You said it wouldn't be... Well, painful..."

"Was it really~?" she teased, as a smile which he could not see formed on her lips once again. "Don't complain too much now, I could've done much more terrible things to a home invader like you, you know..."

"... Well, not that it matters anymore anyway. I'm not going to do it anymore you see~" she continued. "I've already figured things out, dear human~"

"... What do you mean?" Novus questioned curiously, his face remaining groggy as he was still recovering from the 'torture' that had been done to him.

"Simply put... I've already learned who you truly are... There's no need to conceal it any longer~" her tone became that of a smug one, as she then walked towards her view and finally revealed what she looked like before Novus' eyes: a rather tall, beautiful woman with pink hair and rose colored irises as she adorned a suit that closely resembled that of a nurse. If there was only one term that Novus could use to describe such a being, then the word 'mesmerizing' would be the perfect match for such an occasion.

The restraints would suddenly lift themselves from their restrictive positions, as the iron clamps and fasteners that once heavily controlled his bodily movements instantly became loose, finally allowing Novus to freely move his body about. Quickly, he would waste no time to stand up from the chair as he began stretching his arms a bit in order to relieve the light soreness: it seemed that, from the moment he was first placed there while he was unconscious, he had been trapped there for quite a while already.

"You're my friend's son... Anastasia's child... I haven't seen her for such a long time, and her son had suddenly come to visit me... In a rather rude way though..." Thurien surmised after a short pause as she got inches-close to his body and placed her index finger upon his chest. "... Am I correct with this assumption?"

His eyes would widen slightly as he heard what she said: she'd managed to solve the entire thing so quickly, much faster than what he initially expected. There was no point in beating around the bush nor hiding anything anymore, as it was the best opportunity to get straight to the point.

"... Indeed, but... That quick? Did you use some mind reading technology or something...?"

"Correct~ as expected, you're obviously quite familiar with such advancements thanks to your mother, hm?" she said while chuckling a bit. "I'm really sorry if I inflicted too much pain on you earlier... I've been having a bit of an issue with 'trespassers' a while ago you see, so I had to resort to... Extremes..."

"Ah, by the way, since I freed you... would you mind answering a few questions of mine?"

Without a word, Novus nodded thrice in response: Thurien smiled of course, and would then continue speaking.

"Thank you~ Anyway..." she said, as her tone quickly moved into that of a scolding one. "... Why the hell did you just barge into my home, hm? You could've just asked for permission through the transmission... Or something. What you did was just plain rude, even for someone who's supposed to be my niece!"

Novus quickly looked down a bit in defeat; after all, she had a point there, it had been quite discourteous for him to suddenly appear out of nowhere and land his craft within the vicinity of her home without permission. Well, he didn't do that without reason in the first place, to say the least.

"... About that... Yeah, that's kind of my bad... Sorry..." he apologized, as he then quickly moved on to begin reasoning a bit. "... You see, I wasn't sure if I was gonna get shot down by your defense systems, plus there was the issue that, well... I don't really know how you'd react, so..."

She quickly understood what he meant: the reason why he had acted that way was simply because of a 'fog of war'. He had not a single detail about her personality and how she'd even begin to perceive the visitation of sudden guests into her area, which was why he had chosen to act like this.

Still though, the way he had acted... It was rather impertinent for someone as old and ancient as her. Well, she'd eventually choose to forgive him anyway, since she understood where his actions rooted from in the first place.

"... Alright, I get what you mean. Just... Don't do this kind of thing in the future again, alright?" she responded, to which Novus would quickly give another series of affirmative nods. "Now then, for my next question..."

"Those 2... Women fighting that dragon... Are they... You know..."

He would quickly interject her, as he already knew what she was about to say. "My companions? Yes, they are. Me and Anastasia built them... Although, about her..."

"... That's not what I was meaning to ask, but... Alright..." Thurien would pause for a moment, though his answer was already somewhat within her expectations. "... About your mother then... Which leads me to my last question..."

Her tone of voice would suddenly grow into that of a serious one as her next words came out of her mouth.

"... Is she truly dead? I saw it in your memories... Is she really...?"

"... Yeah... She is... There was an attack... And she got, well...killed ..." he said, his face quickly becoming a bit somber in its expression. "... Which is why I came here... I did some research on you using her datalogs... And I found out that you're good at fixing and healing... So..."

Novus pursed his lips as he made a small sigh: he had come so far now, and yet there was still that sense of hesitation growing within his heart... What if Thurien wasn't actually capable of doing the very thing he had come here for? Everything would have been for naught, and he would still have to deal with the sudden, cruel death of his 'mother'.

... Even so, it was still worth it to risk everything right here and now.

"... Can you... Bring her back to life?"

There it was: he had asked the main question he was supposed to ask. His heart seemed to skip some beats for a moment, as he waited in anticipation for her answer: would she truly be the salvation he had long been looking for, or would this only end up in the disappointment he was already expecting?

After a few moments of silence and consideration, Thurien would finally give an answer... However, it was a rather complex answer that was neither good nor bad for the likes of Novus.

"... It's complicated..." she answered. "... After I read your mind about what happened to her... Well, to put it in layman's terms... Her heart, which is made of this unique, non-renewable material, had been destroyed when she was killed, and there's no way to bring her back after something like that...

"... Unless..."

Novus didn't stop for a moment as he instantly replied. "... Unless?"

"... Here's what you're supposed to do..."

She would then lean her head towards one of his ears again as she began to whisper...

________________________________________

"D-damn it! Spera, don't get caught in those flames of his, alright?! The moment you're caught in those things, you'll burn to ash!"

"Don't worry, sister, I understand!"

Black flames came to life all throughout the ocean's deep space; flickering, seemingly sentient masses of impossible combustions that burned even the water and turned it into a black, filthy ash that quickly polluted the water with its disgusting, dark appearance.

In truth, Andromalius had already been rendered without life... At least, temporarily: his head was not even controlling his body anymore in the first place, and the reason why it was still functioning was due to a self preservation instinct deep within his cells that drove his broken vessel to protect his core.

His dragon heart: the most important part of his body, one that was even more vastly important than the rest of his vitals such as his head. As long as his core remained undamaged and undisturbed, he could regenerate and eventually recover from any form of heavy damage, so long as he did not lack the mana necessary and that his core wasn't being severely strained in the process.

[Flames of Purgatory.]

More jet-black flames would scatter throughout the waters in a chaotic fashion- they scattered and diffused about like a swarm of locusts, eating away at even the very liquids that could supposedly neutralize their presence, converting every form of matter that they could get their hands on into fine, black ash that would quickly dissolve into the ocean water and contaminate it into a murky presence.

[Scorching Pillars of Flame.]

BOOMMMM!!!

"S-shit! Sister, are you alright?!"

"Don't worry about me, Spera! Worry about yourself for now! Don't you dare die!"

Multiple magick circles would form in front of the headless draconian's body, and from these ethereal constructs came out beams of black, scorching fires that struck at almost every direction. One had even managed to nearly hit both of them and disintegrate them into nothingness, though fortunately, a temporary telekinetic barrier that Whitlea managed to form in the nick of time managed to save them both from such an impending doom.

The entire situation was quickly becoming hopeless: the headless dragon was unleashing too many attacks, and the 2 combat maids could do nothing but repeatedly move about to evade the constant attacks that were being launched at them in an unceasing hail of deadly spells.

"W-we're going to end up getting hit by those flames at this rate!" Speranza, who was now in complete, and total panic mode while still managing to act quite well despite the situation, screamed with such an intense fervor through their mental communication. "What are we going to do, sister? We can't afford to die here, but we can't afford to leave either!"

Her sister was proving a point: they could not afford to get hit at this very moment of time and place, as the attacks that the dragon were unleashing would instantly erase them and allow for no chance of survival of recovery. And to add to that, Novus had ordered them to keep the fell creature away from the castle, and the 2 combat maids were incredibly determined to fulfill that duty no matter what.

However, the situation they were currently in had now quickly proven itself to be a dilemma of disastrous proportions: regardless of what major choice they would eventually choose in the long-run, they would inevitably get screwed and bitten back in the ass for it, even with all the reasonings and considerations that they could possibly do while they were deeply embroiled within their fight against this now-mindless, monstrous creature.

Suddenly, however, a miracle would save them from the depths of their steadily increasing despair, as well as the hopeless situation that they had been entrapped in- a bright, blue construct of light suddenly took shape in the ocean waters at a space that was close to their proximity... And out from it came an important figure that the 2 sentient, biomechanical androids were all too familiar with.

"Rest easy, you 2... I've come to end this once and for all."