A Background Character’s Path to Power Chapter 443: Reunion!

We passed through the sturdy oak doorway.

The surroundings engulfed us without delay.

We moved along utterly dark pathways, even as my thoughts swiftly questioned if they could truly be called pathways.

No walls or steps appeared in my sight. The area surrounding us stretched into an infinite void of oppressive gloom. It seemed precisely like soaring through empty nothingness. The ground under my feet felt barely there, more like walking on dense fog than firm rock.

I held her icy, stone-smooth hand a bit firmer.

She served as the sole anchor in this disordered realm. The choking weight of the shadows eased a touch near her, forming a small sphere of protection where I could remain. I readily assumed that without her grasp, I would have vanished at once or been utterly pulverized by the abyss's force.

At last, the perpetual darkness started to twist.

A faint, purple tint seeped into the shadows. We exited the oppressive passage and arrived in a spacious area.

The atmosphere changed, striking my chest with a keen, piercing chill. We stood in a wide courtyard illuminated by the strange glow from the Nemure heavens.

I scanned the odd scenery, absorbing the weird vista. Bizarre trees with coiled, black-as-night stems rose from the gray earth. Their limbs looked like sharp crystals, and their foliage held a rich, throbbing red shade, leaking a shining liquid onto the soil.

It formed a foreign, alarmingly lovely garden.

I advanced to inspect a close crystal limb.

Suddenly, my form went rigid.

My gaze fell on an object in the distant edge of the yard.

Leaning against the immense dark barrier of the Spire sat a rough, rounded stone building. It bore a strong likeness to a huge hound shelter. A dense, shining chain of violet power stretched from the edifice, securing a big shadowy form to the earth.

The beast huddled in a ball, appearing completely wretched and dusted in pale soot.

Detecting our steps, the monster gradually raised its ponderous muzzle. Its purple orbs fixed on my features. The animal's irises narrowed, then expanded moments later in total, pure astonishment.

"N-Nemo?"

I whispered, my words emerging as a faint whisper.

<M-Master?>

A known, quivering tone resounded straight in my thoughts at the same instant.

"Nemo?!"

I yelled, entirely overlooking the fearsome ancient being right next to me.

<Master!>

Nemo’s tone broke in my mind, brimming with intense feelings.

I released the Mistress’s frigid hand and dashed over the dusty yard.

Nemo jumped to his feet, his talons scraping the ashy ground. He charged at me with matching urgency, the radiant purple chain clanging noisily in his wake.

We met in the garden's center. I flung my arms over his sturdy neck, and he encircled my midsection with his enormous dark limbs. We held on firmly, resembling two separated sweethearts meeting again after a devastating conflict.

<I knew you weren’t dead!> Nemo cried in my head. He pressed his huge, woolly nose into my shoulder, weeping without restraint. No liquid fell from his ghostly eyes, but his inner voice was utterly broken.

"I thought I lost you!" I exclaimed, rubbing his rear vigorously. But I truly believed I had lost him during that time.

<Me too!> he whined strongly. <I missed you, Master. You don’t know how hard it has been!>

"It is okay now," I reassured him, gripping his coat. "I am here."

<Look at me!> Nemo bellowed in sheer complaint, indicating a shaky limb toward the luminous rock shelter. <I am the Nightmare Devourer! A proud Overlord! And yet... I’ve become a dog! A dog! She literally tied me to a doghouse!>

I glanced at the stone edifice, then back at the violet tether shining around his throat. A stab of real sympathy struck my heart, quickly chased by an abrupt, icy awareness.

I turned my head gradually.

The Mistress of the Spire stood several steps distant. She observed our overly emotional, dry-eyed meeting with a mildly angled posture and a deeply puzzled look in her radiant red eyes.

Abruptly, a hazardous golden spark flashed in them.

!

My [Foresight] activated right away.

Was it envy? Was it the guarding fury of an ancient being witnessing her ’husband’ holding another being? I couldn't tell.

I knew just one certainty. I faced dire peril, and Nemo was moments from total annihilation.

Instincts for survival suppressed my happiness immediately. I ceased stroking the huge wolf and pushed his broad sides apart. I stepped back purposefully, straightening my garments, and shaped my face into a guise of icy, severe disapproval.

"Hmph," I snorted, folding my limbs. "You completely deserve this."

<Master?>

Nemo stared, his mouth hanging wide in utter confusion.

I disregarded his inner bewilderment and motioned politely toward the fair woman behind me.

"The Mistress did the exact right thing by chaining you up."

"Don’t think I have forgotten your past actions," I went on to berate him vocally, ensuring each phrase rang out distinctly over the yard, so the mistress caught it. "Your sins are immeasurable. Frankly, this is a far easier punishment than you truly warrant!"

I declared with true belief, pulling from my real doubts about him. Prior to our bond, Nemo had been the dreaded Nightmare Devourer. He ruled the icy fields as Overlord, a monster likely responsible for slaying numerous individuals and creatures.

Though it made some sense for a feral beast to act on its hunting drives to pursue and eliminate, wrongdoing stayed wrongdoing. The vast scale of malice and bloodshed on his claws was indisputable.

Actually, right before that last frantic clash with Bane, I had seriously considered if I should even link with him. Tying myself to such a savage force had posed a huge ethical conflict. Indeed, without that dire circumstance, I likely wouldn't have proceeded.

"!"

The Overlord wolf went still entirely.

The stark reality of my statements hit him like a solid strike.

"...’

He gradually dropped his enormous head, his ears pressing flat sadly against his head.

The first jolt from my abrupt detachment waned, giving way to a surge of true remorse and deep regret across his face.

"Now go and reflect on yourself," I commanded icily, directing a stiff digit at the stone shelter. "We will discuss how you are going to atone for those sins later."

<...Yes, Master.> Nemo murmured quietly.

His tail squeezed between his hind legs, he pivoted and hauled his weighty, luminous chain to his doghouse, huddling into a sorrowful, guilty heap of dark pelt.

"Hmph." I issued a last icy grunt, wholly turning away from the pitiful mound of dark fur.

I confronted the Mistress of the Spire, allowing a profoundly thankful look to spread across my countenance. The perilous golden flicker in her red eyes had started to fade, but I aimed to fully neutralize the tension.

"Thank you," I stated evenly, inclining my head slightly to display deference. "Thank you for properly disciplining this sinful dog. You were incredibly merciful to spare his life, considering his past atrocities."

Upon hearing my commendation, the fearsome, claiming strain in the atmosphere dissolved entirely.

The Mistress grinned softly, evidently delighted by my honest praise and my quick dismissal of the beast’s warmth.

She reached out her chilly, stone-like hand to me again.

"Come, dear. I will show you the rest."

I accepted her hand promptly, giving her a warm, agreeable grin.

"Yes, let’s go."