Stella woke with a start.
Moaning from the pain despite having no wounds, she tried to remember how she ended up back home. Because yes, this was her own room at the Nord estate.
And she had no recollection of being anywhere near it for the past few weeks.
She only left Halaima when visiting the frontlines. Or rather, fought over the pass.
And still, someone tucked her in with warm, fluffy covers.
Birds chirped outside her windows, the curtains open to reveal a revitalized manor. It was her heritage, whether she deserved it or not. A place she could have called home.
If not for the fact that all her vitality was gone, waking up here like this might have been nice.
But how? The only thing she remembered was seeing that insane duel unfold.
She thought the Demon Lord was strong? She'd better think again.
Welf's suggestion of running away wasn't cowardice. It was the only way to survive. But with everything happening so fast, by the time she made that crazy decision—
Her body jolted, her fingers clutching the empty air.
The Demon Lord's staff was gone.
"You're up," a familiar voice noted.
Another jolt, more painful than before, but she only realised how Lady Gabrielle sat by her side.
Her tone carried no questions nor concern. Her halo and wings were gone, but she was still majestic in her frilly blue dress, which—wait. That couldn't have been the same one.
The duel between those angels tore even the fabric of the universe, let alone her garments.
And now that she thought about it, the Prodigy's wife always wore the same thing.
How many of those clothes did she have prepared?
"Ask Duke Schwertburg," the angel replied with a sigh. Not that Stella ever opened her mouth. "I told him I liked this color and the style only once. Then, he brought me dozens more of it."
Did such a doting father exist? Stella would have laughed if not for the pain.
But the thought of happiness alone made her sides hurt.
"What's more important," Gabrielle said, tapping her feet against the wooden floor. "What the fuck were you actually doing with those undead critters?!"
Ah. She was mad.
She had to be if that noble mouth of hers went as far as cussing.
"Yes, I am," she confirmed, though Stella still didn't say a word. "Now answer. The spirits like you for some reason, and I negotiated a truce with the saints, but if you raise an army—"
"They were to keep watch over the mountains," Stella muttered, her voice hoarse. "S-sorry."
"Watch?" the angel repeated, narrowing her eyes. "So that's why that brute of a tribesman called them the Deathwatch? This is ridiculous," she said, rubbing her temple. "But I guess—"
Her voice trailed off, and to Stella's great surprise, she stood up to bow her head.
"You have saved my life there," she claimed. "And in heaven's name, I owe you one."
Owing? Her?!
And was that a thanks, not a scolding?
Now, that was not something she got used to.
Not after failing her master over and over, and especially not from that cruel angel, for sure.
"I guess Lilith was right to put you in charge," Gabrielle said, touching the bedsheets. "And her brother's a tough one. Loyal, even if he no longer remembers the greater demon."
Stella blinked. She felt the heat of her touch even through the many layers of fabric.
But brother? Greater Demon?
Wait. Someone did put her in charge. Someone powerful, even if she couldn't recall the details.
And then, there was Welf.
"Is he—"
"No, he's not fine by any metric. But as I said, he's tough. He arranged your pests to be, um—delivered. The Kitsune Trading Company must have already taken them to the mountains."
Meaning, it was Eyna.
Right. It didn't happen often that Lady Gabrielle gave credit to actual people.
And she got a bow from her right now?
This might have still been a dream.
"I'd rather you recovered your strength, too," the angel said. "Plenty of wildlife in the nearby woods. You could syphon their essence without killing anything or causing a ruckus."
She shuddered.
Despite those warm hands and the words of thanks, Gabrielle was still cold.
Almost as if she hated her.
Which, well, it wouldn't have been too surprising.
"Ugh, if I'm honest, I liked you better when spirits still screamed in your mind," the angel noted. Her feet tapped an impatient rhythm. "Now you keep spacing out, and it's too easy to read you."
But of course.
Her brain tried too hard to fill that silence in her head. She vacillated way too long about everything, and—wait. She could actually read all that?!
Stella jumped out of the warm bed, pain or not. Only to find herself naked.
Still, her main issue was her newfound dependency on something she never wanted.
And on something else, she had already lost.
"There was no other way," the angel noted, turning away. "Lucifer made that staff, and wanted it back. You overheated it somehow, so I made sure that when it destroyed itself—"
"Is he dead?" Stella cut in, finding her usual robes and sliding into them. "That fallen angel?"
Gabrielle scoffed.
"Angels cannot die. The time anomaly I've locked him in will keep him at bay for a while. Especially with that staff exploding in his face for infinity. But you still have your power."
True. The staff was a mere tool. A shortcut that made everything ten times easier for her.
But her curse was never lifted. She was still a necromancer, whether she liked it or not.
"Indeed. So now, go get to it," the angel sighed, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Right. It would have taken her a while, but it was easy to regain her vitality in the woods.
She didn't have to torture innocents. The ambient life essence was strong in that place. It almost felt like her parents had left everything behind like this on purpose. For her.
Even after she burned the estate down.
This remained a place that catered to her special needs.
While other nobles would've cut down the forest to use the wood and cultivate the lands—
Her parents—did they actually know what she was?
By the time those thoughts stopped flooding, she had already found herself on a forest trail.
Her body resonated with nature. She closed her eyes and could almost reach out to find something solid to latch onto. No, not almost. She actually did. And it was too solid, even.
Her fingers wrapped around wood, a staff that no longer existed.
Opening her eyes, she could even see the skull on top, and when she gasped, letting go—
The artifact immediately dissolved into nothingness.
Closing her palm and focusing on the life essences, the staff had materialized again.
For some reason, she wasn't even surprised anymore. If the artifact could explode over and over inside a strange time anomaly, why not appear in her hands next?
This way, she could've regained her strength much faster.
She could have been of use again.
Work harder until the Prodigy returned. Impress him—and that greater demon she had no recollection of. Because why else would she exist in the first place?
There was no rest for the damned.