Oliver shot his minion a look of utter disdain, finishing it with a snarl that exposed one gleaming fang.

“They were her words, Master. Her words alone,” Amos murmured as he turned to me, his eyes silently pleading for help.

I let out a dismissive laugh. “You don’t really know her yet, but I’m sure Nora just wanted to get your attention with that ultimatum of surrender—”

“Well, she certainly has it,” he snapped.

“Be nice,” I warned. “She’s my best friend, and she’s coming with us, so I won’t tolerate any nonsense between you two.”

Even as the words left my lips, I knew they were cheaply stitched with desperation and misplaced hope. Thankfully, Oliver felt no need to tell me I was full of it. Instead, he focused on cleaning up his throne room, flicking his hand this way and that. Broken bits of stone flew back into places. Although it appeared tidy, I couldn't help but notice that there were slight but lingering imperfections in the areas that had been fused. I did, however, appreciate that the sap and blood on the floor had swirled and eddied away into the shadows.

Whose blood was all of that, anyway?

Maybe it was just for special effect.

“Bring them both here,” Oliver commanded Amos once the room was to his general satisfaction. “I believe it’s time to set some expectations.”

“Maybe ladies first?” I offered with a nervous squeak. “I don’t think—”

Oliver’s incredulous stare only strengthened as his head tilted too far to the left. “Are you questioning my authority, right in my very own sanctum?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

His eyes once again drifted shut as he shrugged, his head snapping back into place. “So you’re not fearful of Nora. That means it’s Relias you’re worried most about.”

I flinched. “Look, we finally stopped fighting about—”

“Oh! You were fighting with him?” He seemed almost breathless at the thought. “About me, no doubt. However, I stand by my decision to educate them simultaneously. Go on, Amos. Let them in.”

Amos bowed and then disappeared, not bothering to straighten up first. Nora and Relias materialized on the far side of the throne room, both enshrouded in a holy barrier of gold. Nora’s staff lay discarded nearby, its glass orb long gone. In its place, she held the Demon King’s scythe in both hands, and her dreadful stare never once flicked my way.

“Surrender, Dark Lord!” she yelled at Oliver. “I have your focus of power!”

“Nora! Look, I’m okay. We, uh, eventually managed to talk it out, and—”

Oliver suddenly appeared in front of me, dark tendrils of shadow coalescing as he spread his arms. “Go on, outsider. Show me how you tamed it.”

To her credit, she did hesitate, deliberately looking to Relias for reassurance. His barrier strengthened around them in response.

“Nora, you don’t have to—”

Nora swung the scythe, and a tiny puff of black vapor trailed after the blade.

“Huh?”

“Again!” Relias shouted. “Remember how you did it before!”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve broken it,” Oliver murmured as Nora failed a second time, snapping his fingers. The scythe lurched out of Nora’s grip, then reappeared in front of him, hovering for his inspection.

“Seems alright to me. How about a third time? Someone once taught me that’s a charm.” He then returned it to a relatively unruffled Nora, who made no move to repeat her performance.

She… knew it wasn’t going to work?

“Let me guess,” Oliver purred, thoughtfully tapping his cheek. “After struggling with it, it eventually lets you have a small taste of victory. A small discharge of animus. A larger one on the second swing. The third was very impressive, correct? All within the confines of a safe and secure portal realm created by Amos, my loyal subject." Oliver's gaze flickered toward Relias. “All of this gave you the confidence you needed to demand my surrender?”

Nora calmly shrugged and answered in his stead. “More or less, yeah. But we’re all here together now, and that’s all that really matters.”

“Lady Nora, don’t give up!” Relias shouted shrilly. “You must—”

“Do you get it now, priest?” Oliver sighed. “You’re always the last to arrive. You cannot use that one to break into Paradise. You’ll need me—and the sooner you accept it, the less of a fool you’ll appear.”

“I have a name, you know,” Nora chided.

Oliver turned dark. “There’s no requirement for me to use it.”

Though Nora was still close by, it was clear that poor, misguided Relias now stood alone, his face stricken.

“You don’t have to be so rude to His Holiness! He was only trying…”

To kill you.

“I mean…”

“You made another deal with him,” Relias said, shaking with rage. “After everything that has happened, after all that he has done to you...!”

“All I did was ask him to help us, and he agreed,” I replied as my chest tightened. “And yes, you have every right to be mad at me, but not because of that. You should be mad at me because I…”

“I…”

Relias deserved the truth, even if it meant showing him what a monster I truly was.

“I’m the one who had Councilman Vetus recommend him,” I said, louder than I meant to. “Because I knew who he was. And I knew what I wanted him to do.”

I couldn’t stop there, because I simply had to keep going. Instead, my words rushed out faster, confessing the broken bits of memories that had reared their ugly heads.

“I set the whole thing up. I wasn’t tricked or coerced.” My throat tightened, but I still managed to squeeze the sharp words out. “I was desperate.”

“I wanted to leave Speranza. I never wanted to be Captain Raelynn Lightbringer.”

My head lowered as my shoulders began to tremble.

“I wanted to be Rachel,” I whispered as my tears fell. “Just… Rachel.”

“Rachel is selfish,” I laughed squeakily. “The girl who sleeps in late and overindulges. She’s not polished. She’s crass, at best. A goofball who makes dumb choices simply because she wants to...” I finally looked up. “Rachel is someone who can afford to screw up without unraveling an entire world.”

“In other words, she’s nothing like the Chosen One.”

“Doubt,” Nora interjected. “You’re still just carving yourself into pieces when you're the same being. You need to accept that you’re all these things. That’s all.”

“Maybe…” I muttered. “But I can’t do that until I admit I’m not the person you want me to be, Relias. I’m not a hero. I didn’t kill Epiales on my own. I had help from both you and him.” I pointed at Oliver.

“And I was all too eager to provide my services,” Oliver stated before frowning. “Even if I still haven’t received my final payment.”

Relias had stopped looking at me long ago, his eyes burning a proverbial hole into the throne of the demon king. “Vile creature, your payment was exactly what you deserved. A kingdom of evil!”

“And you failed to show for the coronation,” Oliver drawled. “You didn’t even send your condolences. The least you could have done was send someone in your stead. Frankly speaking, I’m terribly hurt by your lack of etiquette.”

“Etiquette?! You would chastise me on matters of courtesy? Your actions have brought this world to the precipice, without the Goddess to guide it!”

“Mm… that was a miscalculation. Neither one of us thought she’d run off like that,” Oliver admitted, a shadow crossing his brow. “However, that doesn’t excuse your lack of correspondence. I attempted to speak with you several times before… well, things went truly awry.”

“Awry? Awry?!” Relias’ words sounded like an angry squawk. He then turned his gaze back to me. “Chosen—Captain—Rachel!” he spluttered. “Rachel, I refuse to travel alongside that demon! Our safety is at stake!”

At least he’s talking to me again.

“We can’t open Paradise without him,” I reminded him as gently as I could.

“We could… We could force him to teach Nora how to—”

“Oh, absolutely not. That scythe is a part of me.”

It would be remiss of me not to note that Nora threw down the weapon with a loud clang. Relias followed up by locking it into place with a golden ward.

“However, I believe…” Oliver said slowly, his eyes focusing on the raging sage. “I can offer His Holiness a choice that may be of comfort to him.”

“What would that be?”

“Why, he doesn’t have to come along at all. He can tell us where Paradise is, and then his Purpose is fulfilled. Then he is free to return to his safe bastion in Chairo, where he can hide from the world like a coward and simply pray for it. That’s what he’s always done best, after all.”