As he tightly gripped the saber in one hand, Draigo stared down at the burnt form of the Marquis de Howlite once more.
’I...have a choice?,’ Draigo repeated to himself as switched his gaze over to the saber in hand. Hesitation seemed to grip at Draigo’s soul in this moment, a sensible feeling given that he had never actually had embraced the opportunity to kill someone up until this moment.
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Some time after Wyvara had died, Draigo went into a depression spiral of sorts.
He had attempted his best to maintain his promise with Wyvara, becoming a musician in his own way and by his own merits, but the pain in his heart was too much to bear.
As a result, he attempted to fill that void with lust, violence, gluttony and greed before essentially settling on booze.
During that time of violence however, he had somehow managed to get to the level of an Aether Grandmaster after several harrowing duels and consuming several substances that should have either killed him or paint a massive target on his back for consuming in the first place. Even more surprising, he managed to do so without having to kill anyone.
It wasn’t too uncommon for warriors to reach incredibly the upper echelons of cultivation without shedding too much blood, but they usually did so thanks to luck, genius, very specific aether formulas or a lot of resources.
During his time of violence, Draigo had grand delusions about finding the murderer of Wyvara and bringing them to justice via bloody, bloody vengeance. But he soon discovered during this time, that he didn’t have the heart to kill in cold blood no matter the circumstances.
Perhaps he thought he would lose something of himself if he went through with the act. They do say taking a life changes a person.
Perhaps he was too empathetic, and aware about how a single death can have a horrible rippling effect on those related to the victim.
Or perhaps...he only ever wanted to kill one person in his life, and that it was unnecessary to do so to others....
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’Nothing, I just thought he’d be consumed with the desire for revenge right now since the subject of his current circumstances is quite literally at his mercy.’
’Partially. The other part is still the moral question of what will he do, now that he has the chance for revenge.’
’Huh...good to know. Then I suppose this is question of morality.’
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’Just swing it downward Draigo, just one slash and he’s gone. Forever.’
The old bard gripped the saber even tighter as he walked closer to the Marquis. The latter had sense the presence of the former, and he could tell that there was some hesitation in his movements. Perhaps the kind he could exploit?
"P-please, I beg you...spare my life! I-I’ll give you...anything you want. Money...treasures...arts...aether tools! Just convince them...to let me go," the Marquis cried. It was honestly shocking to see such a complete heel turn in personality.
The Marquis, who was once so arrogant and condescending, was now begging and pleading with blood red tears streaking down his burnt face.
The perfect picture of pity...too bad the one making the plea was making promises that had no weight to someone like Draigo. Evidently, this pleading actually made Draigo angrier.
"Anything I want? Really?"
"Okay then...," Draigo growled in an annoyed tone, "Then I want the future you stole from me with your selfishness. Can you give me that?"
"I-what? No, I can’t-"
"What about Wyvara’s body then, huh?," Draigo asked while pointing towards the altar. He apparently didn’t notice that it was missing at this point. "Can you fix it? Return all of those body parts you stole from all those girls you killed, who’s families lives you ruined? Can you give me that?!"
Draigo’s eyes and heart were growing hot at this point, passion or rage, he wasn’t sure which it was. But it felt like it was going to explode at any moment.
"No...but I can give her new life...make her...even better than-"
"Can you bring back Wyvara? CAN YOU GIVE ME BACK THE LOVE OF MY LIFE?!," Draigo screamed at the Marquis. In this moment of passion, Zhen Liu could feel from the sidelines, that the old bard’s aether was becoming more and more active...as was his desire to kill. In the face of this aggression, the Marquis went silent.
’Huh...a strong desire...not enough for a core though...,’ Zhen Liu mused.
Tense second after second passed as Draigo waited for the Marquis’s answer. The Marquis finally spoke after a couple moments.
"Huh. That’s what I tho-"
"But!," the Marquis interrupted, "I know...who has the knowledge...to do so."
’Uh oh. Hurricroak, Frosttusk. Get ready to deep-six the Marquis if he tries anything funny.’
[Happy to oblige, maestro.]
"What do you mean, ’you know who has the knowledge?," Draigo asked, ready to lob the Marquis’s head off in a moment’s notice.
Surprisingly, the Marquis didn’t signal for Draigo to come towards him, but instead weakly gestured his towards Zhen Liu. This little nod threw everyone in the room off.
"You saw...what he did. He turned...that shamisen...into this frog," the Marquis said as he threw his head to the left." The one...on my right...is made of Fenririte...that red demon...made of jade...and the Razor Maiden...that I made...was given life as well. Don’t you know...what that means?"
"No...what?," Draigo asked, now actually curious. Zhen Liu was as well, but he had to play the part of an enigma right now, so he tried his best to look serious and focused.
"That boy...learned the lost formula...he knows...where the Demon’s Archive is."
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’Wait. That’s what the Library of Nowhere is actually called? How come that interface never called it that?’
’Probably not, but let’s see where this goes.’