They have expected him inside of this very throne room, sitting on his throne and patiently awaiting for them to enter in from the double doors that they opened inward. However, once they entered, the three came to a complete stop once they saw the very person they were looking for.
Sitting on the chair was the God Emperor of Celephais; his missing head was nowhere to be found, leaving them in a horrified, confused place about what happened, as Janus and Schrodinger were too shocked to see a freshly killed corpse belonging to a very important person.
Could it have been a recent assassination? Both thought the same thing, but it didn't make sense why the entire city itself had mysteriously disappeared. It doesn't add up in their minds, knowing this city wasn't easy to just overthrow without any clear signs of fighting.
"Father...?" Saomi's eyes widen at the very sight of her decapitated father, falling to her knees and raising her hands against her lips. "Father!" With her muffled voice, her tears of both sadness and anger welled up with the heartbroken gaze of him before she immediately ran up to him, embraced him with arms wrapped around his back, and held his motionless body, burying her face into the chestplate.
Janus and Schrodinger were surprised by the turn of events: "Father?" Both said in union as they stared at one another and then at the girl, having never learned this new revelation that her connection to Marcus was the fact that the emperor of his own city was in fact the adoptive father of the young woman.
Her agonizing screams echoed throughout the room, a sound that made the two's hearts feel heavy and regrettable. The sight alone has greatly hurt Janus heart to see his loved one being emotionally devastated by the death of her own family member.
He had never seen her this distressed; it is a memory he won't and can't forget, as the girl's calls to her dead father's grief-stricken moments will remain in his mind forever, no matter how impactful it was for him to bear witness.
"Come back, papa!" She began desperately scratching her fingers through the lifeless husk that once was the mighty emperor, as the sorrowful cries continued unceasingly, "I don't want to lose you again! I refuse to lose you!" It was too much for her; having been separated from her real family was bad enough, but losing another, especially the very man who was responsible for giving her the new home where she felt she belonged, was like them again.
Blood streamed down from her fingers as she continued to rub them on his armor, not even caring what kind of pain she experienced through the act; it did not matter. Only that man was all that mattered. "Papa, please. Please come back."
Not only was her family lost, but all of the innocent people and friends she made in Celephais are gone, bringing her further to tears and increasing her mournful wailings for her dead home. For the second time in her pitiful life, she felt truly alone once again.
Quickly, he ran up to her and pulled Saomi back. "Enough! You are hurting yourself!" Janus scolded and tightly wrapped both arms around her as she struggled to free herself, screaming and calling for Marcus, "What's gotten to you?!" It's not good to deal with people in this state, but it wouldn't hurt to try to comfort someone in need.
"I hate you!"
"What?" His whole world was torn apart by those words, shocked, scared, and appalled; he let go of her, not understanding the meaning of her words, "What...what are you talking about?" He chuckled awkwardly, feeling the tense atmosphere hit him.
Falling down on the ground with her hands clenched and breathing heavily, she looked at him with both anger and frustration in her eyes. "I hate you, Janus!" The overwhelming rage within her reached its climax, exploding, "You did this! You ruined everything! You ruined my life! All of this is your fault!"
Taking a step backwards, he couldn't believe what he was hearing: "You...you don't love me anymore?" So many emotions came rushing towards him, all of them inundating him, causing him to clench his spear tighter. "Why?!" Frustration. Sadness. Anguish. Anxiety. Rage. Confusion. Disbelief. The myriad of emotions overwhelmed him as he shouted, "Just why!?"
Forcing herself to stand, Saomi faced him angrily, pointing the blame at him. "I'm sick and tired of seeing you cause everyone harm! All you do is ruin everything." With a heavy breath, she gritted her teeth in furious glare as her hands remained at her side, shaking. "If I wasn't associated with you all those weeks ago, those cultists wouldn't harm my loved ones, and now look what happened?! Everything was a lie, my new home. Everything that was done to make me happy was a farce, an illusion created by you."
The sound of glass breaking echoed in his mind, unable to process the event that unfolded before him. He was left standing there, frozen and still, while his thoughts raced: "She's blaming me for all of this?" He could hear his heartbeat pounding.
With heavy steps, she approached him before slapping him across the face, sending him into further shock. "This is all because of you and your selfishness, you egoistical bastard! Are you even aware of what's going on around you!? All you do is refrain from using your godly powers to help others."
She sighed, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow in anger. "My new and only family is dead, leaving me undisclosed answers that I will probably never know." Looking away, she bit her lower lip from the growing anguish she was feeling. "It's so sudden, realizing my father is dead along with all the people who lived in the city...and I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye." Turning around, she lacked the strength to deal with him any longer.
No words could come up to his throat. He was too shocked and devastated by her accusations, and even for a God of Beginnings, he was unable to accept any of them. And here he is, hearing her loud and clear. "I'm...the one to blame?" Janus said under his breath, hanging his head low, his eyes cast downward, "This is my doing?"
"I told you she would betray you!" Saturn pitifully muttered, "I thought we could trust her, but she had us fooled!" For all his cowardice, a hint of vengeance seemed to bubble up: "If she won't join our side, then it's time she was disposed of!" Suggesting he should kill her, Janus didn't hesitate to put Saturn back in his place.
Vesta was in tears, a mix of confusion and grief plaguing her voice. "Don't do it, Janus!" Refusing to let him kill an emotionally damaged young lady, she insisted that he shouldn't commit such an evil act. "Shes in distress! Saomi doesn't know what she is saying!" She only wished to ease the tension for their sake.
Although he had enough, The constant negative feelings pouring into his soul begin to drive him over the edge. Now he could feel it; his hand was quivering. Those few sentences hurt him more than he realized. A large lump formed in his throat as he fought back tears, and his grip on the genitals tightened.
Slowly, he raised it with both of his hands, ready to backstab the human who had the audacity to play with his feelings. After all of their hard work, blood, and sweat, they bond with one another as good friends. It all ended up to this moment where he should see the logical conclusion in all of this.
Humanity is a lie, a waste of space in his own torn heart that was still beating. Everyone can be seen as untrustworthy. There is no room for compassion and consideration behind that term; it was just a fabrication of reality. It is all a hoax in its purest, truest, and most depressing form.
And yet, he couldn't do it, no matter how much he wanted. "My hands..." He looked down to see them shaking, having later realized his entire body was also trembling. "It won't stop; they're shaking all over the place." Even as he tried to calm down and force them to stop, it just wouldn't work.
Is his humanity a lie he made for himself so he could associate with humans and Saomi? Are the altruistic actions he has taken nothing? Does he even make a difference in the grand scheme of things? Probably not; in the end, all things are meaningless for him.
It's all so complicated, so convoluted, so confusing, and so indecipherable. Still here he is, unable to end this traitor's life for her own betrayal. Those damn emotions of his were making him soft, weak, and vulnerable. "I can't believe you!" Shouting painfully, he dropped it on the floor as the shaft of it rattled against the ground.
"You know this isn't true, Saomi!"
After a few seconds and not a single response or answer, she kept silent for the rest of the time. "Saomi, please!" He felt his entire soul hurting at the fact of how cold she is. "Please don't ignore me! Talk to me, damn it!" Janus doesn't want to believe Vesta, but part of him still does, and this notion greatly worries her. "I know what you said earlier isn't true!"
No matter how much he begged, there was no reply coming from her. Instead, silence was all that was left behind. Leaving him to wonder if all of this is truly worth it. At the same time, the agony was eating him alive, and he could not do anything about it. All he had ever known is now crumbling apart right before his own two eyes.
"Disappear from my life." Her cruel, horrifying words lingered in his mind. It was unlike anything he ever heard, and he's sure it's far worse. "I never want to see you again, Janus," the last sentence itself, tore him apart, even more so than he had expected.
"I see," Janus stared down at his own feet, having his entire humanity snuffed out of him. "I'll be going then," he turned and walked back to the entrance, avoiding any cold glances in her direction. "I thought you were different than the rest, but I was wrong; all humans are the same." With his final words echoing throughout the room, he left without further comments.
Schrodinger watched all of this in his very vicinity, trying to take all of this in to process what had transpired. "What have I gotten myself into?" He whispered in low breath, a bit surprised by how quickly it went from a simple job of just meeting to having their group break away because of infighting.
"Papa...everyone..." Dropping down with both of her knees, she digs her broken nails into her scalp, letting down a river of blood from it as the pain is still fresh and vivid. Bitterly biting her lip harder, she muttered something in broken incoherence, "Papa, big sis..."
The cat isn't sure what to do now after this happened. Should he confront and comfort her first, or Janus? He glanced towards the crying girl and then the entrance of where they had earlier entered—two conflicting paths—a choice he had to make for better or worse.
Breathing a heavy sigh, he already decided it would be the latter, as much as he wanted to help the two of them. "I'll be back," he quietly told her, making sure she didn't hear a word from him as he then dashed out of the corridor, reaching the other end of it while the other still continued to sob miserably.
Loneliness began to set in with her as time passed. She would look and hope for some way to revive them, but knowing Janus, that task alone is seemingly impossible. Her loved ones are dead, never coming back from their grace.
This memory will forever haunt her for years to come for the rest of her days. It would be engraved into her being and mark her for the remainder of her miserable existence. Even if she tries to forget, it won't stop the guilt and regret that are gnawing inside of her; the memories are still there, and it pains her greatly.
The smiles, festivities, birthday parties, love and warmth. It was all taken away from her in an instant. It's so much it's unbearable to watch, so much she wanted to tear it all away until there's nothing left. Yet she couldn't because she felt powerless to stop.
Who is to blame? Was it Janus? No, she knows it isn't true. In fact, part of her just lashed out at something to cope with the loss. Yet another part of her knew better than to do that—to bottle it up and let it fester rather than releasing it outward in a burst of uncontrollable rage.
In the end, the ideals of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and so on while being hesitant to take on life were what doomed her all along. If it weren't for her kindness, this leading situation would likely never have happened in the first place.
Yes, it's not Janus or Schrodinger fault, but them. Especially The Great Darkness itself, "they need to die," memories of her father's wisdom in being compassionate disappear after learning her entire loved ones are truly dead, "every single one of them will die under my blade," baring her teeth, she furiously stood up and looked up at the ceiling above.
Her once soft and kind expression was gone, erased from oblivion, and instead replaced with the hollowed-out look of someone who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Hatred coursed through veins, boiling into an uncontrollable rage that threatened to consume her whole.
"I will kill them all!" Grasping the handle of her sword in her hands, she immediately swung it across the air while shattering the ground beneath her. "No more mercy, no more tolerance, no more second chances! I will not forgive anyone! Ever!" Raising her sword high, the blade was as hot and bright as a star.
"I'm coming for you, you bastards!"
