778 Revelations and Machinations

"Y-you! You monster! What kind of evil beings did Lord Obsidian bring into my castle?" Avaris thought aloud.

Ren shook him and said, "Now talk if you don't want to get skewered with salt and alcohol."

Azazel grabbed Ren's palms with the best of his ability, his sticky little hands trying to beg for dead life. "F-fine. Fine. I'll talk. I'll talk! I'll cut to the chase! Just don't skewer me with salt and alcohol!"

"That's my Ren," Elena commented with hearts in her eyes.

Evie nodded with pride. "He could be very persuasive if he wanted to."

"Are you sure you two should be proud of his evil ways?" Lorelai deadpanned.

"We don't want to hear that from you," Evie and Elena retorted simultaneously, both wearing identical deadpan expressions.

"Tell us what happened, Avaris," said Azazel. "How did you become like this, and how did the corruption got stolen from you?"

Avaris took a deep breath and sighed. "First of all, I'm glad that you're alive, Lord Azazel. I have been so depressed ever since you've been gone that I couldn't sleep."

"I can see that," Azazel remarked, eyeing the numerous treasures piling up in his castle.

Avaris cleared his throat. "That's my outlet for me to cope up with my depression."

"Just cut to the chase," Ren warned, his patience wearing thin.

Avaris shrieked and he shrunk before Ren. "R-right. I will tell you about my depression some other time and how my life had been since the moment you were gone."

"No, you can just skip that part. I'm not interested in your life," Azazel interjected.

Avaris ignored him and continued, "Actually, the one who invaded my castle is none other than Malifira herself."

"I knew it," Desira said.

Vivi sighed. "Why would she do that?"

Azazel's face turned serious. "So it's really her?"

On the side, Ren was surprised that Avaris could really cut to the chase if he wanted to. Looks like he didn't care about anything else if it was not the story of his life.

"That's the reason why I had let my guard down and welcomed her with open arms," Avaris said as he recalled what happened. "Besides, she was only with another man, and I was confident in my abilities in case a fight broke out."

Vivi rested her hand over her tilted waist. "She must have brought you something precious that's why you couldn't resist letting her in."

"How did you! Ahem! I mean, that's not it, of course not! It's out of our friendship! She's like a sister to me in the past!" Azazel defended.

"So what happened next?" Elena urged.

Avaris crossed his little snail hands. "What happened next was that she brought me a gift, this very beautiful stone. She told me that it was rare and precious and that time would freeze if I used it."

Avaris gnashed his teeth, his face darkening at the memory. "Now that I think about it, time really did stop. For ME, that is! That witch! Good thing that there was a piece of living here, and I transferred my soul just in time before it was too late for me."

He sighed. "But then I got trapped in this snail's body. If I don't get my real body back soon, I'm going to be stuck like this. Lord Obsidian, you've got to help me!"

"You can just call me Azazel."

"Lord Azazel, you have to help me get my body back!" Avaris pleaded.

"Well, we don't have a choice; we have to get to the other warlords as well and get those corruptions," Desira said matter-

of-factly.

"Oh, right. Why do you want to take the corruption again?" Avaris asked, and Azazel and the rest filled him in.

Avaris crossed his tiny snail hands and thought for a moment with closed eyes. "Hmm . . . If that's the case, then the only warlords left would be Malifira, Iraelyn, and Hubrion. The biggest threat is definitely Hubrion."

"Iraelyn?" Ren asked.

"Ah, you don't know her yet, right? Iraelyn is the warlord of Wrath," Vivi explained, muttering to the side, "She's very unpleasant, too."

"She is angry all the time," Desira finished.

Elena couldn't contain her smile as she jestingly remarked, "I wonder what she's like now that the corruption has taken hold of her. She must angry and growling every waking seconds."

Evie imagined it and laughed with her too.

"You have a weird sense of humor," Lorelai commented. She then asked Avaris, "By the way, do you know that demon she was with? Salister Kane, that man with Malifira."

Avaris paused, and then his face turned to recognition. "Ah, that guy. He was ugly, so I didn't pay him any mind. What about him?"

"Is he part of the rebellion army?" Elena asked.

"Hmm . . . now that you have mentioned it, after they froze me and took all the citizens here, they did talk about the rebellion army."

"What did they talk about?" asked Elena curiously. "And why did took all the citizens here?"

Avaris tried to recall. "I don't know why they took them. But they were a little far, and I only heard something about storming Iraelyn's domain next."

"Why would Malifira do that?" Vivi sighed.

"Because she's a nasty, jealous witch, that's why," Desira snapped.

Avaris offered a different strand. "Actually, I heard them talking about taking the corruption from Iraelyn and then storming Hubrion's territory with all the might of the rebellion army, ending the tyranny of the warlords once and for all."

There was silence for a moment.

"So that's their plan all along," Vivi muttered.

"They plan to take the corruption and probably boost Malifira's powers so she could defeat Hubrion," Desira conjectured.

"But what would she gain from helping the rebellion army?" Azazel asked no one in particular. "It's not like her to cooperate with that bunch. I know the leaders in the rebellion army. They're cunning, and they definitely wouldn't let Malifira off the hook after they're done with Hubrion."

"That's right," Vivi seconded with a nod. "If the nobles wanted to take control again, they needed to kill all of the warlords."