*Bariel’s Perspective*

For so long, I lusted for power… When I finally gave it up, I felt liberated. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was finally free at last.

Our cozy little town was called Gwas. It was to the southwest of Black Mithril and to the south east of the capital: Minas. The kingdom we were part of was also called Minas. Joseph’s mansion was on the water, so I would often go swimming with ‘my’ daughter, Angelica. It was fun… I was content.

I was also foolish to believe that things could stay that way for long. My peaceful family life was destroyed because of a single order from the King of Minas. There was a plague that spread in their slums and he blamed it on Goblins. So with his order “All Goblins must be exterminated to safeguard our people from the plague.”

Obviously Joseph and Angelica didn’t turn on me because of that, but it made things difficult for them. Especially since so many other nobles and common folk in the town new of my existence. A mob of lunatics with torches and spears eventually surrounded our mansion in the middle of the night and set it ablaze. Fortunately, like I said, we lived by the water.

I was also a Fire Mage. Although my manipulation was weak with so little Mana in my system, but it was enough to allow the servants to put out the fires, while the guards killed or chased off most of the crazy assholes.

Unfortunately, that only solved the problem temporarily. There was only one way to fix things. For once in my life, I would make the selfless choice and leave the people I love, in order to protect them from myself.

As I left the bedroom to prepare my things, I could hear Joseph mumbling in his sleep. I sighed, then walked back over to the huge bed, kissing him on his chubby left cheek for the last time. Then I heard him whisper “Lord Belial, please, grant me your strength in order to save my family…”

“No! Don’t!” I screamed and tried to wake him up, but it was too late. The temperature suddenly dropped and I felt like I would freeze to death in my thin nightgown, but then it started rising until my skin was scalded from being so close to the source of that strange phenomenon. I backed up to the door, as his body lifted up into the air, then all the fat on his pale and pasty body withered away until he was almost a skeleton. After that, he let out a deafening roar and fell back onto the bed.

“So thirsty…” He slowly sat upright, murmuring as Angelica walked through the open door behind me.

“Daddy?” She cautiously asked, hiding behind my back from the strange naked man who was slowly limping over towards us.

I was crying. For the first time in ages, the situation was so horrible that it brought me to tears. There was nothing I could do, except take Angelica and escape. I locked him in the bedroom and barred the door. We were lucky that he was weakened, so I didn’t have to kill him.

“Angel, honey, we need to go, now. Grab your things and get dressed! We have to go!” I brought her to the room that we both shared and started packing as much as possible. Money, spare clothing, some small weapons like daggers, food and water… Along with other miscellaneous items.

The little girl was solemn, but didn’t cry or complain. She seemed to understand how dire our situation was…

***

Do I regret not killing Joseph when I had the chance? No, of course not. He was the love of my life, and I knew that he wasn’t ‘dead’. Accepting the power of a Demon Lord usually has some severe consequences and side effects. I had gone through that more than once before then, so I understood the danger. Whether he would be the same person I loved, was something I didn’t know at the time.

If I was alone, then I probably would have just stayed there and accepted my fate… But Angelica’s life was far too precious for me to sacrifice. Ironic, isn’t it? That I would sacrifice so many of my own children for my own lust for power, yet would struggle so hard to protect a daughter that I didn’t even give birth to…

Anyway, we left out the back of the mansion without waking anyone up. I slit the guards’ throats, in order to maintain secrecy. Also, because they were talking about “Killing that disgusting Goblin whore.”

Those other Green Goblins came with us. There were five girls and one boy. They were stupid, but at least they could sense danger and understood something simple like rowing a boat. Our ship was a really long canoe.

We traveled along the coast to the southwest for a few days. Stopping on the shore every night to sleep but… Unfortunately, there really was a plague going around, and the first ones to get sick were those Green Goblins. Two of the girls had huge boils sprouting up all over their bodies. They were in horrible pain and agony. Moaning an groaning without the strength to even scream or cry.

I told Angelica “Don’t look. I’m going to put them out of their misery.” After I was sure that she turned away, I plunged a dagger through both of their hearts, one after the other and then conjured some fire to cleanse the blade. In Black Mithril, we at least had some understanding of diseases and how to prevent them. Unlike the humans, who thought that everything was a fucking curse from some God or Devil…

Actually, they were kind of right. The ‘corruption’ was spreading all throughout human civilization. Before people started getting sick, I heard that there were tons of crops that had died off. There were also wars and civil strife constantly ongoing. It was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose, and I ended up being the straw that broke Humanity’s back.