There were things Tristessa had grown accustomed to after traversing the Abandoned Meridion Highway several times, whether on foot or by wagon. The strong headwind or wind that pushed her northward; the presence of flying creatures corrupted by the Dark Lady's evil; the constant jumping over the potholes of the untended road and the pain in her ass in result.

"Miss Tristessa, you don't look so good..."

But there was one thing she couldn't get used to.

"I told you... to call me Triss... or Tessa, Lucahn."

"I-I know, but…!"

"I'm…fine…"

DRIP

A dark drop fell heavily onto the old, crumbling wood of the wagon floor, along with several others, almost absorbed by the splintered surface. Tiara and Lucahn followed the path of that drop with their eyes, then turned back to look with obvious concern at the gray-eyed girl sitting opposite them. Even Gaal looked with one eye half-open, pretending to sleep beside his owner's legs.

"Miss T… Tessa, please! Don't you think you should rest?" asked Jin, armed with his rifle and acting as lookout, though he was more concerned about her than the natural threats of these lands. "At least let me…!"

"J-Jin… If you don't shut up, I'll order the Vilecross to throw what's left of his intestines at your head."

Trembling like a leaf, sweating profusely, both hands also drenched in sweat resting on her legs, Tristessa was pale as a phantasm. Dense drops of blood fell from inside her nose, not as constant but heavy enough that the discreet sound of splashing against the floor didn't go unnoticed.

"It hurts... it hurts so much... damn it..." she repeated in her mind, a sea of flames igniting her brain with a fever so high that she was on the verge of delirium. "Why does it hurt so much? Is...is my spirit still that weak?"

She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to writhe in pain and, more than anything, stop the agony imposed on her soul. There was no suffering worse than feeling the very fabric of one's being tortured in this way; a pain so intolerable, so brutal and merciless that for seconds, dying seemed better than enduring such transcendent suffering.

Her spirit, subjected to unbearable pressure, a tension that was cracking her as if she were in free fall toward the dark depths of an ocean, the waters crushing her second by second. Unable to escape the imprisonment that was drowning her, compressing her muscles, her bones, bringing them to the brink of total destruction.

And almost the worst part was all the negativity flowing from the undead Vilecross pulling the wagon chains, aimed at her. Making her feel like garbage, a heartless scum capable of denying the dead rest in order to achieve her goals.

An immoral, vile, cruel selfish person…

"Look."

Tiara, though she had initially shown some dismay at Tristessa's condition, had no qualms about ignoring the miserable girl and pointing north, in the direction the albino revenant was leading them, covered in that hooded black cloak to contain both his condition and its fetid, vomit-inducing odor.

"The Derelict Outpost... By Xiliarra, it's been so long," Jin commented, sighing at the sight of the structure almost obscured by the shadows of the setting sun.

Such was his nostalgia that he had to forget about Tristessa for a moment, Lucahn being the only one left there deeply worried about her.

"Ugh! Ah, fuck..."

Just moving a few inches toward the leather bags on the floor, she felt the magnificent imposition of the world's gravity, almost unable to bear the weight of her own body.

Almost blind and receiving a lick of encouragement in her face from the large dog, she groped in search of something Lucahn had been kind enough to find before her and hand to her.

"Th-thank you..." she said in a small voice, tightly clutching that small glass vial filled with spirit potion.

In a single gulp, she swallowed the foul concoction, and the effect was almost instantaneous: the sluggish feeling receded; her limbs subjugated by gravity regained stability. And most importantly, the suffering parasitizing her soul dissipated, fading like a mist before the coming dawn.

"Wait, it's still too soon for another dose!" Jin scolded her after shifting his gaze towards her and seeing the empty vial in her hand. "You could get poisoned!"

"I couldn't wait another second. I really thought I was going to die," she complained, helped by him to rise from her seat and look toward that structure uncontrolled since the Age of Kings. "Let's leave the wagon and go on foot."

"Wait, you want to go there accompanied by that dead beast?" Jin, stupefied, pointed a nervous finger at the hooded albino vilcross. At the mention, the undead demon let out a guttural growl and focused his hollow gaze on his summoner, amidst the darkness of his hood. "Don't you think it would be better to..."

"If there's someone there, they should know they're messing with someone capable of resurrecting the dead," she replied, smiling before wiping the last drops of blood that escaped from her nose, under Lucahn's fearful gaze and Tiara's coldness. "Maybe they'll think twice before trying something."

"…fucking necromancer."

"Shut your mouth, Tiara!"

Leaving the wagon on the side of the road and getting out with their belongings, the Mercer-Archeos and Tristessa walked toward the Derelict Outpost, respecting the pregnant woman's speed. This was something Tristessa was grateful for, as her legs were still very weak, the joints tensing from the non-natural pain that had been temporarily assuaged. She felt that if she walked any faster, she was sure she would fall, or worse, faint.

"Mommy, why don't you like Miss Tessa?" the boy asked his mother, following alongside Gaal, who remained cautious and suspicious of the Vilecross, growling at him from time to time. "She's very good to me, and she wants me to teach her how to read! Don't you like her because she's not of this world?"

"That's precisely why I don't like her. And also, because she smells disgusting with all that Discord around," she replied, not caring that Tristessa was practically walking in front of her, next to Jin.

"I've gotten used to that Evil Dream smell! But…" The boy covered his nose, watering as he felt a new gust of wind carrying with it the smell of a rotting corpse. "That vilecross smells so bad, it makes my stomach hurt."

The group was closely followed by the revenant, which had at least stopped spilling the internal contents of its decomposing body—although that didn't mean it didn't smell as bad as sin.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"It's better than feeling the influence of that detestable dark soul."

Tristessa narrowed her eyes and received an apologetic smile from the hunter.

The shadow of the twilight made it impossible to see the abandoned structure in any detail. So, Jin and Tristessa went ahead to spy from a location rich in vegetation, thickets capable of providing cover. It wasn't the same location as during the previous loop, but Tristessa saw almost the same pattern. From Jin using his brass eyepiece, to the ease with which someone familiar spotted them from the outpost's perimeter.

Soon, that individual was on an interception path with them, and they resumed their journey to that location. Everything was just as Tristessa had hoped.

"As precise as ever, huh, Reiden?" thought the young woman, whose gray eyes shone more beautifully as they received the last rays of daylight and thanks to the small smile that appeared on her lips. "I wonder if I managed to gain your trust in some timeline... No, I guess not. You're just a hero by nature."

The last time she had seen the leader of the mercenaries guarding Madame Luchie, he had been paralyzed by a poison administered by a criminal stalking that territory. And he had almost given his life for her; not out of trust, but because, despite being paid for his services, deep down, he was still the hero she had heard about.

In this new loop, she was glad to see him again, once his dark face and short gray hair became visible among the shadows that rose with the fall of night. She was glad to see that suspicious side of him, understandably intimidating in the face of the arrival of newcomers from the south.

"Hello!" Tristessa decided to speak first when her group and Reiden stopped, facing each other a few meters away. She stepped forward to the mercenary, confident enough to assert her knowledge of the nonexistent past. "I'm Tristessa Irandell, it's a pleasure! I'm escorting this family to safety!"

"A family coming from the south can only mean one thing, Miss Irandell…" he retorted, looking at the three Mercer-Archeos and the pet without lowering his guard, his right hand gripping the pommel of his bastard sword. He had identified them with ease. "My name is Reiden Malak Invran, and I lead a group of mercenaries. We are based at the Derelict Outpost until our employer decides otherwise."

"Ah, your reputation precedes you! It is an honor to meet a hero such as yourself, Mr. Malak Invran!" It was difficult to feign enthusiasm when there was no reason to be surprised, but Tristessa considered herself very good at lying when she wasn't being victimized by fear. "I would love to hear about your exploits; I've heard you saved the lives of hundreds of people during your years as a soldier!"

Flattery, an obvious attempt to gain her trust, only made Reiden raise her guard even more.

"I'm no longer a hero. That's in the past, back when these bones could bear it… Tell me, Miss Irandell, why are you leading the Mercer-Archeos away from the exile imposed upon them? And also, I'd like to know why…" The mercenary threatened to draw his bastard sword, causing Jin to quickly cover his wife and child. Tristessa, on the other hand, didn't move an inch. "…that savage Vilecross is standing and following you even though he's dead."

The hooded revenant's scent of Death was stronger than the Discord Tristessa's soul emanated by default. And if that weren't enough, his furry face, deformed by the vargs' bites, what remained of his neck, and the wounds along his arms and legs, were clearly visible.

"Relax! It's thanks to my Divinity: I can reanimate the bodies of the dead," she explained, telepathically forcing the vilecross to bow its head in submission. "You see? I have complete control."

"Yes… And is that why you look so sick and keep shaking?" he asked, his experience with his own Divinity giving him insight into the girl's health. "You'll die if you push your spirit too hard."

"I know, but I have no choice. That vilecross is our means of transportation and our safety. I must make the effort."

Reiden looked at the revenant with a mixture of distrust—obvious and logical from any point of view—and disgust. Especially the second one, his senses overwhelmed by the miasma of putrefaction surrounding that hooded creature and, consequently, those travelers as well.

"And regarding the Mercer-Archeos, they were marked for death by the Coven. The [Black Eye] of a Priestess of Moebius is fixed on them." At that mention and the seriousness expressed in Tristessa's voice, Reiden looked perturbed, slightly shaken by the mention of that group of psychopaths. "My intention is to escort them to Entrana. They can't stay in that house."

"And her idea is to convince Aurelia Eramisaptor that our heads won't roll when she sees us in her territory," Tiara added sullenly, holding her son's hand. Now that she was speaking her mind out loud, her frustration was more than evident. "Damn, this is so stupid…"

"Come on, Tia. She gave more than enough arguments for us to believe her," Jin chimed in, before Tristessa could do so, noticing the way he glared at her. "The way he described Daiana, the…the whereabouts of our son…"

It was difficult for Jin to talk about Mellion. His words remained on his lips; with his hands on his hips and his head down, the hunter couldn't continue with the thought, and Tiara simply stared toward the eastern grasslands, where mountain ranges arise on the horizon.

As awkward as the situation had become, it had at least been enough to convince Reiden that there was no reason to be so defensive, and he stopped threatening to draw his sword and parrying dagger.

"I think it would be best if you came with me. You can speak with my employer there at the Outpost, but don't think you'll be able to spend the night there," the mercenary warned them, arms crossed. "I won't put Madame Luchie and my brothers-in-arms at risk if the Coven is coming for you."

"I respect that position, Mr. Reiden. Please guide us," she asked, taking a step forward, but he stopped her with a hand on her right shoulder. "What is it?"

"First, make that cursed thing return to being a real corpse: still and with no intention of rising. Second…" the mercenary took a large green leaf wrapped around slices of bread from a small pouch hanging from his belt. "Here. It's hard and old, but I'll feel better if you eat something and don't faint on the way."

That made Tristessa burst out laughing, drawing the attention of everyone present and making the revenant growl, irate.

"Damn it, Reiden… Seriously, that soul of a hero of yours…" She accepted the bread, facing the man's confused expression, and then looked back at the vilecross. "…"

There was no response. She couldn't command him anything. The connection couldn't be severed, and the revenant remained standing. Waiting, looking at her with those vortices of darkness that reflected the Abyss…

And Tristessa felt warm blood beginning to flow through her nose and from under her eyes.

"R-Reiden…?" she asked, and a mixture of vomit and blood came out of the back of her throat.

"COME TO ME! TO ME, I SAY!"

At the mercenary's command, Jin acted right away, grabbing his wife and children by the arms and leading them behind him, away from the vilecross, which was growling with terrifying hostility. Gaal began to bark loudly and backed away, his fear growing as the vilecross began to move on its own.

With both his weapons ready, Reiden asked Tristessa only a single question.

"If I take that thing out, will you die?"

"N-no..." she managed to utter, holding onto a friendly hand offered by the hunter.

"Good."

With that, the gray-haired veteran activated his [Divinity of Shadowstep] and became one with the shadows brought to the material plane. The speed of darkness carried him swiftly behind the Vilecross's legs, where he reappeared in physical form and severed the weak tendons in its lower legs with two precise slashes of his bastard sword.

The revenant's knees bent, and he growled with increasing fury that transcended life and death. In those seconds, Reiden had returned to the shadowy plane and circled around the undead beast in the blink of an eye, leaping to reach its damaged neck with his sword and sever its head.

The rotting body fell right in the middle of the road, raising a cloud of dust that took a while to disperse. Along with its head, which had lost all ability to react and was still partially hooded by the black cloth Tiara had tied together.

"Amazing! Did you see that, daddy!?" Lucahn shouted, hugging Gaal, who was now much calmer without the presence of that vile beast. "What about you, mommy?"

The pregnant woman said nothing, seeking in silence her husband's support within a hug after pushing Tristessa away with her elbow.

"Uh, b-bitch..." The world spun slowly, and not exactly because of the blow Tiara dealt it. Her soul had just lost control of its [Divinity of Accursed Existence] and was nearly shattered, anesthetized by the spirit potion she had taken like a double-edged sword. "Ah… I-I'm going to…"

But Reiden had beaten her in every way, even at the speed with which she was about to fall to the ground, catching her in his arms and carrying her as if she weighed nothing, with ease. Up close, his yellow eyes and the scar that ran diagonally across his mouth gave him an aura of danger, heightened by the twilight shadows.

"Haha… Hot geezer, you're quite the hero," she whispered, further confusing Reiden. "Sorry…"

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