Gehenna didn't have a pattern for when it appeared.
It would show itself to the world when it was needed, otherwise hiding away where it was meant to be.
Gehenna and the real world weren't supposed to have any interaction in the first place.
But since they'd become connected, Gehenna had become inextricably tied to destiny.
Sometimes, generations could pass without any sign of it.
Of course, the Saintess would always come in contact with it somehow, but for a majority of the Saintesses, Gehenna appeared in their minds, not in person.
They were granted power in their sleep, blessed by the real secretly.
But this time, Gehenna appeared.
It came specifically for the two enthronements that were taking place within its borders right now.
Damien was enlightened by the Crown of Realis. He was able to understand its purpose, and as he was shown the location of the Celestial Prison, his mood became extremity calm, almost disturbingly so.
On the other side, Thalia's crown formed and put the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. She felt fulfilled, as if she'd finally found her truth in this world.
The two of them had accomplished what they needed to do in this place.
They'd both met the objects of their destinies.
Therefore, Gehenna had no more purpose in the real world.
Whether it was coincidence or something planned by the mystical forces of this realm, the lesser geniuses who entered the realm also finished digesting their inheritances around the same time.
That was why, as soon as Damien and Thalia stood up, their eyes and minds clear and their crowns proudly displayed on their heads…
Gehenna began to change.
It was time for those geniuses to return to the real world.
It was time for them to see the state of the Gehenna Tribe.
***
Blood.
There was so much of it.
The Saintess had never seen so much blood before, not in real life at least.
But she'd seen it endlessly in her dreams.
She'd seen it, but regardless of what she did, she couldn't change it.
What could she have done?
She had no fighting power.
Her power only allowed her to see things other people couldn't see. She didn't have the ability to fight, nor did she have the ability to protect.
She'd managed thus far, because she was destined to reach this point, but she didn't believe it would last much longer.
She absolutely believed in destiny.
How could she not?
Ever since she was a young child, she'd been seeing visions of the future. There wasn't a single time when those visions didn't come true.
Even when the Uruk came the first time and killed so many of the tribespeople, she knew it was coming.
Back then, she was younger. Even though she'd been the Saintess for a few decades already, she still maintained hope that she could change things.
And she tried.
She did everything in her power and used all of the tribe's resources to try and save them, but still, the Uruk came and killed.
The tribe managed to survive, but it still lost some of its best hunters, including Thalia's parents.
That was when she lost all hope.
No matter what she did, it was impossible to change the future she saw.
The ongoing events only made her more hopeless.
"Saintess, what's wrong?"
That putrid creature spoke again.
He was the reason for all of this.
His petty greed was the reason why all of her tribe's warriors were dead.
The entire 250-man group that took up arms to protect their families was lying on the ground as nothing more than bloody puddles.
And the Count didn't even touch them once.
He was a germaphobe, after all.
If one asked how they died, however, nobody would be able to answer.
They just died.
It was like the world itself wanted them gone.
The Count refused to kill those he considered lesser beings. That was indeed his code, and it was indeed the reason why people like Cairo and Caissa were always around him.
But when Cairo and Caissa were both gone…?
Naturally, the moment would come when such a situation arose, and the Count was long prepared for it.
His method was simple.
If he did want someone dead, he just needed someone else to kill for him.
Cairo and Caissa were his attendants. They didn't just take care of the trash, they also had their own jobs they'd have to do at times.
Whenever he went on an excursion, the Count genuinely kept a third person around him, a true shadow guard, whose existence was quite literally only for the purpose of killing ants.
It was an inefficient method at its core, but it was also the easiest and most abusive, which was always the path Count Verex would choose over any other.
The fifty hunters who managed to survive until the end all died before they knew what happened.
As their bodies dropped to the ground, the Count approached the Saintess with the same smile on his face.
"Come on, now. Don't glare at me like that. Maybe a few decades ago it would have done something to me, but you've gotten a bit old now, haven't you?"
He really didn't care.
He didn't care about the hatred in her heart or the grief she felt about the deaths she'd witnessed.
He didn't care about the people he'd killed, nor did he care about the ones hiding away in the village.
He was here for one thing.
And by now, he was well aware that the Saintess had no plans of giving it to him.
"What's the point?" He asked.
The Saintess didn't reply for obvious reasons, but he continued talking anyway.
"I really don't understand your hesitation, but that's not what I'm asking right now. Rather, what's the point of me being here if you won't give me anything?"
He needed to find Gehenna. The Saintess was the shortest path there, but if she didn't cave, he didn't have the patience to force her.
"You know I can find that place on my own if I really try hard enough. I thought I could get a pass from you and be on my way, but now I feel like I've done all this work for nothing. Isn't that a shame?"
A shame?
A shame…?!
That's how he considered all this slaughter and bloodshed?
In the end, to him, it was just a shame that he wasted his time?
The Saintess was boiling over with so much rage that her face was turning red, but again, there was nothing she could do as he approached closer and closer.
Until he was standing right in front of her.
"Saintess, you know what comes next, don't you?"
The Saintess closed her eyes and turned her head to the sky.
She knew.
She'd seen this time many times before.
"Then…"
The Count grinned.
"...let's get it over with."
Unlike her people, the Saintess was someone worthy.
And since she refused to cooperate, since she had no use to him…
The Count raised his hand, and in one swift motion, he impaled his arm through her heart, holding it in his hand as it protruded out of her back.
The Saintess coughed up a mouthful of blood, which the Count proceeded to gleefully lick off his cheek.
And as they stood in silence, almost frozen in time…
Space shook.
Gehenna really was a cruel mistress.
It was at a moment like this, just a moment too late, when it decided to return them to the world.
And the first thing both Damien and Thalia saw was that.
The scene of the Saintess' pointless death.
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