The sun soon reared its head over the castle, casting its light upon the shadows looming around it. Marking the castle's domination complete, a new quest for Ratella and Liliana is on the horizon. The two retreated back into the castle, Liliana's dreaded meeting with Lust being inevitable at this point after putting it off all night to stay with Ratella.
The meeting between the aspect of shadow, Lust, Sloth, Ratella, and Liliana was held in a newly designated command room. The other one is still holding the stench of death despite the removal of their corpses.
Lilia had disappeared from the castle, taking her father's body with her, before a single Devil stepped through the gate.
The leading figures of Faravos all stood in the same room, their gazes all falling upon Ratella, his earlier outbursts doing nothing for his reputation.
Liliana stood at the center of the room, leading the conversation with Ratella behind her, his six wings and hers overlapping on each other.
"Is everyone here? Iron Maw, Karravok, Maiden of Night, Nyserra, Warden of Chains, Zerynth, and Silent Thorn, Lyrith. Okay, that's all the aspects accounted for. Sloth, Lust, and Ratella are here so we can begin."
Liliana pointed to a map of the battlefield between Kathoros and Faravos, with the name Brightwatch marked with an X.
"Lust, you will take Zerynth and Lyrith and march towards Ashfall. If you come across any Dominions, you are to retreat back to Willow's Watch. Sloth, you are to take Karravok, and Nyserra, and march towards Ironstar. You'll lie in wait until Ratella and I arrive. It may be a while before we arrive, as we have business to attend to, so don't expect us to be there in a timely manner. If you encounter any Dominions, alert me, and we'll come quickly. If you encounter a virtue, take care of it yourselves; they are greatly weakened with Discipline and Temperance eliminated, but their numbers will eventually be replenished, so be on your guard," commanded Liliana, twirling the chess piece in her hand.
"If I may, Lady War. What will we do with this castle?"
"You are to destroy the walls and gate, leaving them completely irreparable. Comprise every part of the castle's defenses and raze the main keep. It isn't a useful location for Faravos. Stonefall is a better location for us, so we have no need for this castle."
"But what was the point in taking it in the first place?"
"To kill the two virtues hiding within its walls, now that the task has been completed, this castle is no longer of any concern to me. It's not like we lost any troops in its taking thanks to Ratella and Iris' intervention."
"Who is this Ratella? We've never met this person before, and the first thing he does is challenge Nyserra to a duel and crush a couple of my soldiers."
The man talking was of a large, bullish build, completely bald, with not a spot of hair upon his head. As his name suggests, the man had metal in place of a normal jaw, adorned with the horns of Devils he's killed in duels.
He had simple brown eyes, with nothing special about their exterior, except for his stern, sharp gaze, which pierced anyone he looked upon.
Liliana rolled her eyes at the question, causing Karravok to withdraw slightly, scared of the consequences of his question. Her reputation for being the most ruthless of the Horsemen loomed in his mind despite her appearance.
"I'm sure Ratella will tell you himself. It was his action after all."
Liliana avoided the question by pushing it on Ratella, drawing all the eyes in the room to fall upon him, awaiting a response from their newfound ally.
"I challenged Nyserra to satiate my itch for a fight after Temperance rolled over and died, giving no protest to an arm through the skull. As for the Devils, they were merely in the way of my lance when I dropped it, so it's no fault of mine."
Liliana's face twisted into a gleeful expression, suppressing the urge to snigger at his response to the Iron Maw. The man's eyebrow twitched with anger at his response, denying all responsibility for their deaths.
"No, you had an outburst after I sliced your neck. You thought yourself superior to me because of my rank," stated Nyserra, a certain tone of disdain written upon her face.
"I'll admit I felt quite annoyed and borderline furious at my mistake, and your attitude after the battle was over. But do not think you are superior to me because of a little mistake."
"You've already said this, but showed no evidence to back your overwhelming power."
Ratella's face was starting to crease with anger this time. Nyserra's words were becoming a great annoyance to his mind; his might had already proved within his mind. The doubt of another party was seriously playing upon the strings of confidence encompassing his mind.
"You're strong, I'll admit it. The power of darkness is a formidable opponent to face in combat, but it isn't a match for the power of time."
"I've noticed your eye and your wings affixed to your head, but can you really wield their power? You didn't tap into their power once in our fight."
"Why would I tap into a power I didn't need at the present? You are powerful for an aspect of shadow, but nothing compared to a Sin. You are considerably more powerful than the Bloody Barons. I'll give you that."
Their argument grew more volatile by the moment, yet no one stepped in to stop the escalating conflict. Liliana merely chuckled under her breath at Nyserra's and Ratella's pointless back and forth.
Lust's eyes were beginning to get brighter and brighter while looking at Ratella, an overwhelming feeling of love and ecstasy pouring out of them. She held no worry for her supposed beloved in their argument, directing her full attention to Ratella.
Sloth was already sleeping, snoring in between the gaps of their voices.
"You would compare me to those idiots? That's the height of disrespect."
Nyserra crossed her arms, her cheeks puffing outwards.
"Are you done with your pointless babbling now?" asked Ratella, his never-ending taunts never failing to annoy the woman.
"Says the man who pointlessly killed a couple of higher sphere Devils because he was angry that a woman beat him."
"Shut up! I've been beaten by a woman many times. I was only angry because I am useless when it comes to ending a conflict without death!" spat Ratella. For some reason unknown to him, Nyserra really got under his skin, making him furious just looking at the grin forming on her face at his outburst.
"He. Not like you could kill me anyway."
"Shut up!" shouted Ratella, directing the divinity in his blood and freezing time. He burst forward, using his wings to propel his charge, thrusting his fist into the woman's cheek. He landed behind her body and returned to his starting position all in less than twelve seconds.
Once time reverted back to its natural course, no longer impeded by Ratella's intervention. His attack landed on her cheek, sending her flying backwards into the wall behind, crumbling it into paste before she continued her flight, impacting the earth below.
She landed directly in the remnants of Devils, smited by his lance, spraying her in a scarlet mist.
"Oh, no. What happened? Did you trip?"
Ratella now wore a proud grin at his actions, the woman's half sunken form in the distance inviting an ecstatic feeling to flood his mind.
A fit of laughter burst from Liliana's mouth after his attack, no longer able to contain herself. Clenching her belly, she was greatly affected by their pointless argument.
"That's what she gets for talking shit. He, he, he," exclaimed Liliana, her childish laughter not slowing down.
Apart from Ratella and Lust, the room was filled with disappointed, unamused expressions, none of them finding the situation anything like funny. Ratella stood there tall and proud, his feelings only emboldened by Liliana's outburst of her own.
"Iron Maw, can you go collect Nyserra?" asked Sloth, rolling his eyes before nestling back into his seat.
Karravok nodded his head, walking away from the room, using his wings to fly down to Nyserra, inspecting her condition, and dragging her from the crater made by Nyserra's body.
He didn't return with Nyserra; supposedly, she had declined coming back to the meeting or was in no condition to return. However, Karravok said nothing more about the situation, and nothing was asked of him, meaning he would find out at a later date.
"Right, you'll all have your orders now, destroy the castle, then depart to your respective locations."
"What will you and Ratella be doing while we march to the other side of the battlefield?"
"We'll wander the battlefield training ourselves for the fight to come, killing anything we come across and drawing the experience from its soul. All to accomplish our mission of plunging the moon and sun into darkness."
A cheeky smile spread across Liliana's face at the plans formulating in her mischievous mind.
"You don't plan on eliminating the Dominions of Sun and Moon, do you? The Moon Sovereign's power is said to be absolute even when compared to the Seraphim."
"We'll have to see what happens, won't we?"
The meeting was soon dismissed, and the few members filed out in an orderly manner, quickly disappearing to prepare for the march to come and the castle to raze.
Shortly after, Liliana turned to Ratella with a grin. "So Ratella, how about we head out into the stricken lands of war right now?" asked Liliana, the smile on her face only growing wider.
Her childish demeanor is in full force in the company of Ratella, her quest to help train and strengthen Ratella becoming the center of her attention.
The earlier blades summoned from her personal hell affixed themselves to the bone of her wings, making up for the lack of feathers, allowing greater speeds than a normal wing.
She flew into the air from the hole Nyserra's boy made, beckoning for Ratella to follow behind her. He did as she asked, flying at her side, looking down at the expansive lands of the Realm of War.