Arpious of the Planes

"Why is it my status?"

"Well, honey…" The devil suddenly grabbed my cheeks again, and I turned my head towards her. "*sigh*... I'll just heal you now," She muttered, releasing a black glow that caused my eye to practically instantly regenerate.

The snapping of flesh and veins was a bit disturbing, but it healed back perfectly as if I was never injured in the first place.

"Hey! If you want that to stop hurting, then come over here as well!"

The dragon glanced back before giving her the middle finger, his hand still carrying his abdomen as he walked back toward the palace.

…

It was the next day, and I had just said goodbye to my family on the icy plane and was now making my way back to the plane with Ysal and her beloved elven empress.

Of course, the woman was displeased by my appearance but couldn't do anything about it except let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"That was the best week of my life," The woman rolled her eyes before handing me a wooden cup of beer which I swiftly retrieved.

Currently, we had set up a base at the edge of the dark and almost evil forest, allowing us to do quick recons to each and every corner of this place without having to traverse back to the kingdom where we would get approval for shit.

Loath, the elven empress, was also queen, meaning she had full authority over this mission… and so I also had to kind of follow her orders as well.

"Come on, just relax for a bit," The elven empress smirked, clearly in a drunken stupor, nearly about to pass out into my lap.

"I am relaxed," I sighed before hearing the light creaks and groans of the towering trees just past the wooden wall we had set up.

"Uh huh… anyway… come on, drink up," She smiled, crawling over to me with a light smirk, the wooden cup she was just holding down now rolling across the grass.

Once she had sat next to me on the wooden log, the smile faded from her face and a loose expression attempting to contain her mixed feelings began to pour out.

"I want to be empress again… and I love Ysal, but I want to rule again. Leading this army for such an important battle has opened my eyes once again to how fun being powerful can be… I want to be a ruler again,"

My eyes shifted over to her as I took a sip from the cup in my hands.

"Then, will you betray her for power or stay with her to have safety and love?" I asked, and to be honest, I didn't really care what her response was going to be as long as she didn't touch my family.

Sure, she can break off as her own ruler and such… but if she touches Ysal, I'm gonna absolutely obliterate her, even if it takes all the strength I can muster.

"What is your decision?" I smiled, the elf slowly leaning onto my shoulder, grabbing the wooden cup from my hand.

"I'll stay with her. I'll be smart about it and expand my own power from Ysal's… why waste such a loving wife for a future that is uncertain. If it ends up not working out, then so be it…." She muttered, and just as I was about to open my mouth to talk to her, light snores began to escape from her mouth.

I let out an icy breath, my hand reaching up to slowly stroke her silky hair as I took the near-falling cup from her hand and chugged it down.

"*sigh*... What an idiot," I chuckled.

…

The next day we set out to raid the dark forest since a few of our reconnaissance men had come back within only a day's time… and the information they brought was incredibly intriguing to only me, but also Loath.

"Hmmm… Okay, we'll go there first, then… I never expected such a thing to actually be true, though,"

"A-Are you sure you would like to attack the witches? They're peaceful people who live in their own bubble, uncaring of the outside world," The soldier stuttered, tripping over his words as Loath let out a smile carved from demonic stone.

"Huhhhhh~... What are you talking about? I never said we'll attack them," Loath continued to smile before signaling for our raiding team to gather up as we would be heading off in about half an hour.

I could already tell what she wanted to do, contrary to the soldier's beliefs.

"Don't worry. I understand as well," I lightly chuckled before helping to gather the men of our raiding team and then summoning an old friend.

It was a horse made of charcoal but had the eyes of an angel and two angelic wings sprouting from its back, both flickering up and down as I mounted it.

As all of our fifty soldiers had mounted their horses, we soon set off, feeling a light eery breeze cut through our skin and hair as we traversed deeper and deeper into the forest.

It was a strange feeling, but it soon disappeared as our eyes landed on a settlement surrounded by a garden of marshes, the houses on stilts that held them above the wetlands.

VWOOM

A woman suddenly appeared in front of me, purple smoke pouring out of her orifices as Loath and I greeted her.

"I assume you are envoys of Queen Ysal. We have been notified of your presence," The woman smiled, causing both me and Loath to look at each other.

Shit… she found out.

It wasn't like there was any turning back now, so we followed her into the marshes, keeping our guards up as we got off of our horses and inspected the land.

Of course, it was muddy, wet, and smelled a bit funny, but the entire society seemed to be working perfectly fine and functioning without any problems.

"This is cool as shit," I smiled.