Atrocious Acts

However, Lord Nightshade was not done just yet. 

"On the contrary, the Divine Kingdoms would probably send an army of assassins consisting of Greater Light Fiends and Light Kings just to wipe any trace of your existence from this world. They would be willing to engage in a full-blown war or siege even a stronghold just to kill you," he revealed.

Now I was seriously concerned. Before I could ask any questions, he continued on as if he had not dropped two bombshells on me in the span of mere minutes. 

"The reason we did not tell you this before is simply because knowing you, you would have insisted to do anything you could to help us Dark Elementals out of a misguided belief that you still owe us something. Truth be told, the mere fact that you have saved myself and a squadron of Greater Elementals means that if anything, the Nightfall Empire owes you,"

"Of course, it does not really care about such insignificant existences as myself, much less the soldiers under me - although I am somewhat notable for my rapid rise, it would take my ascension to a Night Reaper for any talent of mine to truly be recognised," he said candidly.

"However, that is not the main point. The problem is that once your existence is revealed to the Nightfall Empire, you will never know freedom again. Even if this were not true, the moment a single Light Elemental learns of this, you would be hunted down by a murderous horde of them and be forced to seek asylum in a Night Citadel anyway. In short, your comparatively peaceful life would be ruined, which is hardly a way for me to repay someone for saving my life."

"Now, the plan was for us to quickly send you back to a human organization and order the mortals there to give you whatever fancy titles they can and a peaceful life away from any warfare. Unfortunately, the fact that you are somehow able to enhance light spells - something I am now unable to deny - has ruined everything. If you were ever to cast a light spell if we followed our plan, your life would become a misery far worse than any torture you can imagine," he explained grimly.

"Wait - what's so bad about going to a Night Citadel or whatever you call it? Wouldn't it be better if I knew more about my powers and how to use them? I don't mind losing my freedom, at least I would be able to contribute to the war effort while still being protected. Isn't that a win-win situation?" I asked.

At this point, Lord Nightblade, who had been largely silent until then, said sharply, "Do you really understand what going to a Night Citadel and having your powers being revealed would entail? You would be dissected and operated on or used to carry out tests every day, while being continuously healed so you cannot die. When they have found out all they can about your powers, you would be used to 'aid in combat' - your enhancing ability would be extracted through a fatal process to turn you into a sort of one-time use battery that can empower a single attack from a Night Reaper, just to gain an edge in a fight or injure a Holy Angel. It would have been more merciful if we were to kill you now."

Perhaps due to her agitation, her last words carried a sharper impact than before, sending serrated blades of agonizing pain through my mind. However, I was busy analyzing her words, considering my options. Her words sounded truthful, if cutting and dripping with contempt at the Dark Elementals that had carried out these atrocious acts.

Lord Nightshade gave her a side glance before speaking once again. "Those were events from hundreds of years ago. Nowadays, at best they would do a cursory test on your abilities, maybe a more invasive one if your enhancement did not fit into the ones they already knew. However, they would hardly cut you up or extract your life force to boost a Night Reaper's attack, although they might collect some of your ghostlight to make enhancing substances that can be used by Dark Lords to give temporary increases to their power during a fight."

Confused, I queried, "So… what's the problem now?"

Visibly frustrated, he said, "The problem is that you seem to be able to boost light-based spells as well."

"And…?" I asked.

"That means you need to die," Lord Nightblade interjected.