"Wh-what?! What did you just say?!"

Charymos was so shocked that he nearly bit his tongue, refusing to believe what he had just heard with his own ears, his brain simply refusing to register what his trembling eyes reflected.

"That’s not possible! Someone like you, a Name? Ha! What nonsense is this?!"

Charymos balled up his fists with such immense force that his nails clawed into his palms, drawing blood.

"Umu. The truth is often times stranger than fiction..."

Megaloblatta pulled the folded sleeves from his wrists up the entire length of his forearms before loosening his tie, he then reached into his breastpocket for a handkerchief and wiped the drops of blood from his face.

"... I understand your confusion, your refusal to accept reality for what it is. I empathize with you, I truly do, Lord Charymos. However, your fate remains sealed nonetheless."

Megaloblatta spoke as he neatly folded his handkerchief and placed it back in his breastpocket.

But despite how calm he seemed, there was an uneasiness about him, evident in the twitching of his antennae and the trembling of his mandibles.

He had gotten stronger, his long sought out revenge was before him and yet, he still felt anxious, and who could blame him? He had spent the entire course of his life under the tyrannical thumb of Charymos —That is, millennia of fear instilled within him.

"How dare you talk down on me? My fate is sealed you say? Can I take this as an act of treason?! Are you challenging my authority?!"

Charymos didn’t even know what he felt at that point. Within him was a nasty concoction of anger, confusion and fear corroding his mind, to such an extent that he could barely even think straight. Was this all just a bad dream that he would soon awaken from?

[This is a fucking nightmare...]

[... No calm down, Charymos. This can still be salvageable.]

Charymos looked at the decapitated head that wobbled at his feet, then at Veylith, then at Kaelen and finally at Megaloblatta.

"Megaloblatta, was it? Seeing as you have retrieved Veylith from Veladreth’s snare I would assume that you are still loyal to me?"

"Ah, I suppose I should congratulate you first? But still..."

"...Tell me, who is it that gave you a Name? Was it this Lamprey?"

[Not everyone can bestow upon another, a Name. Even if he could, I doubt he would do so without permission. Which begs the question, would Veladreth truly order such a thing? For what purpose?]

Charymos racked his brain until he felt a migraine settle at his temple.

"Answer me, Megaloblatta. Just how in the world were you able to obtain a Name? And just a moment ago, you said that my fate was sealed? What did you mean by that?"

[There is far too much that I do not understand! Even if this ugly pest was given a Name, is that truly enough that he should be on the same level as me now?! He had to have been given an elixir! An insignificant insect like him would never develop a secondary heart!]

[Yes! Someone gave him an elixir, and a high quality one at that! But who, damn it?! It’s clearly not Veladreth since he has killed one of his subordinates.]

[...]

[It can’t be... Can it? Caelvorn?]

[That is the only thing that would make sense. But why? I cannot understand why Caelvorn would bother to do such a thing?!]

Charymos chewed his lips raw as he continued racking his brain for an explanation that Megaloblatta clearly had no intention of providing.

"What are you thinking of in that big brain of yours, Lord Charymos? You are indeed intelligent, that has always been your greatest strength. But at moments like this, it is your greatest weakness."

Megaloblatta snapped at Charymos who was in a trance-like state, only to fall into one of his own:

[Can I truly defeat Lord Charymos? I have dreamed of this exact moment and yet...]

His hands trembled within his pockets and breathing was gradually becoming something difficult to do.

[Why am I so afraid? Because he has more experience than me? Because I have lived as his servant from the moment I drew my first breath? What is it?!]

Megaloblatta chewed his mandibles, his heart pounding out of his chest.

"..."

Seeing his inner turmoil, Kaelen turned and walked over to Megaloblatta.

"What are you doing? There’s no going back now, Megalo. If you falter even once, then we’ll all die, and everything we’ve done will be for nothing. All of your kin will have died for nothing!"

Kaelen shouted, and both of the monstrosities that had been imprisoned by their own minds were dragged back into reality.

"Remember why we’re doing this, Megalo. It is for our freedom!"

Kaelen’s eyes became ablaze and he turned once again to glare at Charymos.

"Fuuu... You’re right, Young Lord Kaelen."

Megaloblatta stepped forward and his claws grew longer, each as long and sharper than a blade.

[...Young Lord?]

[Ah...]

A light switched in Charymos’s mind.

"Kaelen... Kaelen! Kaelen?!!! Why is it that you are at the center of every shitstorm in my life, huh?! It was you wasn’t it?! The one who Named this pathetic insect!"

[Now that I think about it...]

"Was I even the one to name you, Kaelen?! I seem to recall you rejecting my Mana! Don’t tell me, haha! Did you Name yourself?!"

"Hahaha! What am I even saying?! You named yourself?! That simply cannot be, can it?! But if it’s you, the bane of my entire fucking existence, then it’s possible!"

Charymos’s fit of rage evolved into something vile, his manic screams echoing on the walls.

"Go, Megalo!"

Kaelen pointed his spear at Charymos and...

Fwip!

The insectoid calamity instantly charged, his claws aiming to puncture a hole in Charymos’s skull.

CLAAAANG!!

Charymos parried the attack with his trident and a vibrant array of sparks bloomed from their clash, deafening shockwaves worsening the cracks on the walls, even bashing some of the Homunculi against it.

"Argh..."

Kaelen was pushed back a short distance, and from that one clash he knew that this was a fight he could not join just yet.

"Kaelen."

Veylith’s cold voice called from behind.

"What is happening?"

She asked, her eyes gesturing at the Homunculi.

"Why did you do that to them?"

It was rather confusing to her, seeing Kaelen who would always go out of his way to protect members of his decadon, being the one to cut them down —Yes, even members of his decadon were not spared his onslaught.

"I had no choice, Veylith. This had to be done, they were adamant on standing in my way."

A pained expression dawned on him, but not for long as it immediately thawed like midnight’s frost turning into dew at dawn’s first light.

Kaelen, perhaps in his naive kindness and consideration, had told the members of his decadon that he would escape this place and leave for the outside world.

He had formed a sense of camaraderie with them despite having only spent a few days together. This was due to the numerous life and death situations which they had triumphed.

So how could he possibly, in good conscience, leave them in such a horrible place?

However, things did not go as he had hoped, they saw his words as an act of treason against their Master, and knowing Kaelen’s might, they rallied the other decadons against him.

[I knew that loyalty to Charymos is like a chain that binds their very souls, I mean, he definitely formed a Blood Pact with them, with all of us, it’s just that...]

[...I had hoped they too would be different, like me and Veylith...]

[But then...]

He glanced at her, whose crimson eyes lingered on the motionless bodies of her kin.

[Why are you so different Veylith?]

"Hey, listen —"

"No, you listen, Kaelen."

She cut him off before continuing:

"I don’t know why, or how but I’m not like the others."

She turned her gaze to Charymos who was in the distance.

"My Master..."

"I don’t like to see him like this, I want to go and help him... I don’t want to see him die."

She said, and for the first time ever, Kaelen saw a truly troubled expression cross her face, and it even looked as though she was about to cry.

[Veylith...]

Kaelen bit his lower lip, out of everyone, she was the one he really didn’t want to bring harm to or kill the most.

"But Kaelen, more than seeing my Master die... It’s you who I fear losing the most, why Kaelen? What have you done to me?"

"..."

Kaelen had no words as he too didn’t know why she was like this.

"That’s why I..."

She paused, drawing a deep breath to strengthen her conviction.

"I’ll come with you Kaelen. I’ll leave this Tower with you."

She declared, and Kaelen honestly felt relieved that she would stay by his side through the treacherous path that awaited him.