The Duke's Unwanted Wife

“I feel like you’re ignoring me. It is lovely. Is that made from purely cotton?”    

“Yes, it is. You love even lovlier in it, your highness. The wedding is soon, is it not? I cannot wait to be there.”    

“What about you? Why won’t we attend your wedding? Come on, Lady Natalia. You know you would look absolutely beautiful in a wedding dress.”    

“I hate wedding dresses.”    

“...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”    

“I’m not angry, Princess Temara. I know how much you care about me and I know how much you love my brother. Honestly, it worries me. Would you really slit your throat if he asked you to?”    

“...of course not.”    

“Your highness, you hesitated. Well, it doesn’t matter because he would never ask you to. Like I was saying, I understand why all of you are worried about me. Yes, I know you’re all behind that door. But I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. But if you don’t all trust me to make the right decision, then is it really love?”    

“You’re right.”    

“Now, come on out, Marvis. We have somewhere to be, remember?”    

The two of them walked out in their midst. With one snap of Natalia’s finger, they were gone. They appeared in Aldie’s hollow, holding hands. Madaline appeared in front of them, sighing.    

“You don’t have to do this.”    

“You’re right, I don’t. But if I don’t, he won’t know the truth.”    

“What are you talking about, Natalia?”    

“I love you, Marvis. But when exactly did I fall in love with you? Well, you can see for yourself.”    

She covered his eyes, giving him a look into her memories. He saw into her past life, from the very first one where they met. She showed him everything and when they were done, he parted, shock in his eyes.    

“You…Fredrich…How?”    

“I thought it would be better to show you than explain manually why I hate marriage so much. I didn’t want to be enslaved or have to ruin the beautiful thing we have together. I love you. We don’t have to commit now.”    

“I understand.”    

“Do you?”    

She looked up at Madaline. She sighed tiredly again and the hollow began to fade away, Natalia parted from him. She looked back and smiled.    

“It’s already been three months. It’s completed.”    

“Natalia, you can’t leave me again. Please, Natalia.”    

“I’m sorry, my love. I have to do this so both of us can survive. This is our only hope. More than anything, I value you, Marvis Jane and I would do anything to keep you and my family alive.”    

“NATALIA, PLEASE! I don’t care about any of that!”    

“But I do. And what I want…”    

A huge shadow rose behind her, dwarfing her. It was Aldie, the black tortoise. She floated to the top of his head and he broke through the barrier, forging ahead. He transformed, chasing after her. Madaline sighed, going the other way. She had to save the others.    

Aldie was fast for a giant tortoise. He demolished the forest in his way and remained unstoppable despite the obstacle. Just as the forces banded together to try to stop her, both of them disappeared.    

The spirit realm was right before her eyes. Maowry showed her what they had collected, the bodiues of all the original gods, all except for them, Nataroth and Non. She had the key ingredient to resurrect them now that she had all of them. She also had to be careful not to resurrect Egerth first.    

She took a deep breath and unleashed her magic. It spread from the tips of her hair, turning it white. Her body began to change, growing bigger. Her eyes was the final part of the transformation.    

{MAOWRY}    

“Nataroth. Is this really going to work?”    

{AS LONG AS WE DON’T LET ANYTHING OR ANYONE INTERFERE}    

“Yes, mother.”    

Nataroth got into a sitting position, spreading more than just magic. The spirit world wasn’t easily accessible by people, so it was safe. But…it was accessible by gods. The portal opened and Uriel walked in with Thiton.    

“Maowry. I should’ve known you were still alive.”    

“Disappointed you can’t kill me, Uriel?”    

“Yes, maybe I am. You are the most troublesome of all the original gods. That’s why I am here to get rid of you, permanently.”    

“So you admit you were trying to kill the original gods in the first place?”    

“When did I ever say that?” Uriel smirked, rushing at them with a curved blade. Thiton supported from behind, bending the shadows against the spirits.    

“You can’t help her, Marvis!”    

“I can’t just stand by and watch this happen! I’m going to help her!”    

“Mortals cannot enter the spirit world! Just stop and stay here! She needs you here to help stop him.”    

“Stop who?”    

In the depts of the dungeon, a pain growl echoed down. It sent fear rippling through their bodies. Madaline tapped his shoulder.    

“It’s up to you now.”    

She disappeared, heading to the spirit world. The growl came again, paralyzing them. Sebastian held his spear and Fredrich transformed his hands to claws. Whatever was there, they had to deal with it.    

The procedure of resurrection was harder than she made it look. To bring the gods back to life, she had to put a piece of her soul in them. Splitting her soul into multiple pieces required concentration and iron will. Placing each soul into each body required uninterrupted time split.    

“Need help, Maowry?”    

“Madaline!”    

The fairy god mother covered Nataroth and the gods in a barrier, going straight for Thiton.    

“We haven’t finished our fight, moron. This time, I will end this.”    

“I’d like to see you try, Fairy!”    

They charged at each other with weapons in hand this time. Thiton’s weapon was a giant saber that could cut through space and Madaline’s was a broadsword that used the blood of angels. One collision shattered the spirit world.    

The creatures they encountered were several giant amalgamations of undead people. They were one big body with mismatched parts and several faces of crying undead. It felt like they were forced together by someone and charged with blind rage.    

They were far from just ordinary creatures. They were hard to kill and just cutting off the head wouldn’t do anything. They were also numerous so they were quickly surrounded by the creatures that cut off their exit.    

“Does anyone know how to kill these creatures?! I don’t even think any one of us uses holy magic!” Fredrich exclaims from the back.    

“More importantly, does anyone know what this place is and how there are so many undead here?! How does Natalia have any connection to this place?!” Sebastian’s angry voice reached their ears.    

“I don't think that’s important right now. We just have to keep moving forward so we can find out the truth. Also, it’s better to close your mouth here,” Marvis replied, making the most progress. He had a large body, near impenetrable skin and claws that could shred them to pieces immediately. That was more effective than manually cutting them up. Still, with some evil spell, their bodies came back together and they became even more aggressive.    

They continued fighting like that for hours. They couldn’t move more than a few meters and they were getting exhausted. Just when they were getting on their last legs, they heard a voice.    

“Which dumb person fights undead without a cleric?“    

They felt a strange wind gust by them and an undead melted into a puddle in front of their eyes. It happened to be the one Marvis was fighting. The woman in a black veil looked very familiar.    

“You’re that Saintess my sister took prisoner. Right, you can use holy magic.”    

“One of you must have the key out of here. I’ll help you and you’ll help me. However, none of you would be able to stop me from killing Natalia Adamantine!”    

They looked at each other. None of them had the key out of there but there was no need to tell her that.    

“Fine, we have a deal. Just enchant us with holy magic so we can deal with this undead. How did they get here in the first place?” Sebastian grunted, blocking a surprise attack.    

“So none of you knew about this place?” She asked, beginning to enchant both them and their weapons in holy magic.    

“How did you get inside?” She asked with a suspicious look on her face.    

“We got in through a portal,” Marvis immediately responded. The two panicked and thought their cover was about to be blown but she accepted it.    

“Figures. There are several portals around this place that make it like a maze. However, if we fall into the wrong one, we might just encounter that monster. Better to just purify these ones and get out of here.”    

“What…is this place?” Fredrich asks.    

“This is a dungeon Natalia Adamantine built to house the god of death and destruction, Non. At least, that’s what she said. The undead here were the ones constructing this place. I don’t know what happened to them but that magic that made them into this definitely comes from that monster.”    

“How…she did this?” Sebastian asked, shock in his eyes. It felt like everything he knew about his sister was being subverted. He didn’t know what to believe anymore.