Azanor and Kazius were both frozen as they stared at Damon in horror.

A cold chill ran through Kazius, fear overcoming him. After all… If the people from Vargstam heard even just half of what the two were discussing, a revolt would be inevitable… And all of Kazius’ preparation would have been for nothing.

It was then that Kazius got a frightening thought.

‘Perhaps I should just kill him…’

Kazius was spooked by his own thoughts, quickly dismissing them. It didn’t sound like him… No… He couldn’t do that. Damon was his friend… A real friend unlike Leo and Alex… But he also could not afford to have Damon turning on him… The situation was just a terrible one all around.

There was no attempt to explain anything that Damon had heard. After all, they were not the only ones that looked horrified… Damon looked just as horrified as them, but at what he heard. His eyes were wide, but he did manage to compose himself.

It was then he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry for listening in… I… I had a question for you, but then your room was empty… So, then I went to go and find you… I’m a pretty good tracker…” Damon began, speaking in quite the quiet manner that was almost unnerving to hear from him. It was always so strange when Damon was so serious.

His expression showed shame at being caught eavesdropping… But there was a hint of uneasiness. This fact combined with his tone meant that that it was safe to assume that Damon had heard everything.

Kazius mentally scolded himself, if he had been patient and just waited for tomorrow then this would not have happened… He should have just spoken to Azanor in the morning like he normally did.

Damon took a deep breath before smiling at Kazius apologetically, “Look, Kazius… We can’t pick our fathers… I know that more than anyone… I understand how you feel. I don’t care what you are… I know you are a good person… I don’t know if you understand it… But you all saved me… Especially Alice and you…” Damon continued, his expression turning into a slightly somber grin.

“You guys saved me… All Vind ever did for me was give me a power and a spear I did not ask for… She blessed me… She blessed my father… She blessed my grandfather… And maybe she did bless me more than she did them… But I never wanted any of it. All I wanted was to not be alone… Not power… If anything… The power she gave me only made me more alone…” Damon admitted with a frown. After all, he did speak about how the stronger he got, the more afraid of him his mother had become back when he was a child.

It was then that Damon looked surprisingly angry.

“So, don’t look at me like you did… Ever again. Don’t you dare… After all we have gone through… Don’t you dare act like I would tell anyone… Even if you were the worst person in the world, Kazius… I would follow you until the end. To Hell and back.” Damon said with surprising firmness and seriousness. There seemed to be zero doubt in his eyes as he said this. He meant every word and Kazius knew it. Damon felt an immense debt towards his friends for saving him from his isolation. The loyalty Damon felt was unawavering.

“Thank you… Damon… Really… I’m sorry… I just… All of this has me on edge.” Kazius admitted, his tenseness fading into pure relief to the point he almost felt like he would shed tears… But he managed to keep it together.

Azanor smiled at this. He seemed satisfied, perhaps also thinking about how different his current friends were from his former ones.

“I hope you know you are in deep shit with us now… Now that you know all of this… It is dangerous knowledge. The name you heard, I would not repeat it even when talking to each other… For your own sake.” Azanor stated as he crossed his arms, holding his cane to his chest.

“I got it. I understood that much.” Damon stated with a nod.

“I hope from now own you won’t keep stuff like this from me, Kazius… I thought we were best friends.” Damon scolded with a more relaxed and goofier grin.

“No more secrets between the three of us…” Kazius agreed with a sigh.

“Though when it comes to stuff like this… Azanor and I usually chat about it early in the morning before anyone else gets up… Tonight was just… Well… Urgent.” Kazius admitted sheepishly.

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“Early? I get up early usually… I will join you then.” Damon beamed, cheering up despite the seriousness of the situation.

“That is fine with me.” Azanor agreed, seeming more open to sharing something with Damon too… Then again, Damon had been an open book with them all.

“Nothing we speak of leaves this place though… Not even Alice can know.” Kazius stated firmly. He wanted to tell Alice the truth of things… But… He was actually afraid, perhaps she would react how Damon did… But… Whether Kazius wanted to admit it or not… He liked her… And he was afraid of rejection in a different sense… Perhaps he would let her in on things later… Though he was certain she would be angry at him when he finally told her things.

“Not even Alice… I feel bad, but I understand.” Damon agreed after hesitation.

“Thank you…” Kazius stated, feeling like some weight was lifted off of him.

“As for Egil… I think if Vind tries talking to anyone it would be me… I think it will be safe… He will never find out. She has only ever showed interest in my family.” Damon assured.

“But what if she does? Aren’t you afraid of her taking away your power or something?” Kazius questioned, wondering if Vind could even do such a thing… Then again, the Tribe seemed to be born with these powers at this point…

‘I guess we will find out whether she can do that or not…’

Still, if Vind hated Kazius before… She would surely despise him even more now. Damon was his friend, but Kazius doubted that she expected Damon to choose Kazius over her. Even Kazius wasn’t expecting such a thing.

“Buahaha! I don’t care if she does. I was strong enough on my own before she intervened, I don’t need her power. I have my own strength.” Damon laughed out with a shrug, meaning every word he said.

“Hm… Well… Like I said, Gods have limited influence now because of what happened… For her to speak to your ancestor like she did… It is very rare considering the amount of power and effort it takes… Her blessing you also likely took a lot of effort. I don’t think she will be able to speak to anyone other than you for a while… And even then…” Azanor could not help but allow a slightly twisted expression to appear on his face. It was no secret what suffering did to a Demon… And whether Azanor liked it or not, imagining Vind’s expression at learning her chosen had turned away from her was likely quite the enjoyable image.

“Losing the loyalty of one’s chosen is quite the blow to a God… It would take a century for her to recover from such a thing. So as long as none of us say anything about it, no one will know.” Azanor concluded while in thought.

“Which gives us plenty of time to try and guide the loyalty of Vargstam away from her.” Kazius agreed, relieved and content… Perhaps everything would not be lost after all…

“Exactly.” Azanor responded with a smirk.

Of course, the statement did make Kazius think… A century… Most Humans did not even make it to such an age… Kazius was half Shadow Fiend and half some sort of humanoid being… He was a Monster… And he was beginning to realize he was thinking in a time frame that was unattainable to most. Azanor spoke of a century as if it were nothing and it took Kazius a bit to even realize how alarming such a time frame would be to someone like Alice… Something Kazius did not want to think about though.

“How long does your kind usually live, Damon?” Kazius decided to ask.

“My grandpa was killed at 120 something… So that is a good question… I am… I think I’m 30… Caleb probably knows my age. I think making it to 150 is normal though.” Damon admitted with a shrug, not seeming to care about his own birthday, from the sound of it he probably didn’t even know what day it was.

“Not too different from Humans then… It will be a whole generation before Vind can do anything…” Azanor stated with a nod to himself.

The whole situation gave Kazius mixed feelings. Their plotting right now was nefarious… But it was for a good cause… He needed to unite more Monsters for the future… He was grateful for his friends’ help… But he also did not want to lead them down a bad path…

‘I need to get stronger and get more power so things like this don’t become necessary.’ Kazius thought to himself.

“Then going forward that is what we will do… We need to put resources towards a school.” Kazius decided.

“A school?” Damon questioned, not sure what that was exactly.

“A place for learning for children… They will learn to read and write… But… it is also an opportunity. The Church in Ratier did their best to manipulate us to think how they wanted during it. It was almost nonstop for someone like me who lived at one of their Orphanages… And it works… I learned to read and write, but for a while I was following what they said without any doubt.” Kazius agreed, feeling a bit upset with himself for resulting to such a tactic.

“And here I thought Demons were devious.” Azanor responded with a raised brow, admiration in his stone.

Whether he was referring to Kazius or The Church, Kazius was not sure.

“We should get Caleb to teach. He is smart.” Damon agreed, seeming to either not realize or not care about how morally questionable their plan was.

“I will just need to tweak the studying materials… It will be subtle.” Kazius assured while in thought, a bit horrified with himself. High Priest Jordan would be proud at such an idea… Well, if he did not hate Monsters that is.

Still, The Demon King would come… The idea it would take a century was idealistic… The preparations was good for long term… But Kazius knew that time was not on their side. If Azanor was able to find a way to free himself… The Demon King was likely not too far behind. At best they had a few years… Due to this, deep down Kazius felt like there was more to his own planning than just some virtuous drive to protect the world. Yet here he was… Plotting something to keep him in power for over a century…

Whether he wanted to admit it or not...

He craved power.