The Kind of Evil

‎Anastasha and Rasmus walked up the stairs toward the podium, and that took everyone's attention. Seeing both of them walking side by side, it put Lenin and the others on edge. They were worried about the things those two would say in front of the public.

‎"I have to apologize for ruining the moment and taking your time, but there's something that we would like to convey," Anastasha said with a serious expression. "It's about the future of mankind..." she continued, her brows furrowed as she looked at everyone at the tables, especially the nobles and the royal families.

‎Everyone began to murmur, wondering about the purpose of Anastasha standing at the podium, especially with Rasmus by her side. They didn't want to speculate, but deep down, they knew that what Anastasha was about to say, they wouldn't like it.

‎"I can see it in your eyes, most of you..." Anastasha paused to clutch onto the edges of the podium. "And no, I'm not asking you to fight someone else's war. No, I won't try to persuade you to do anything like that," she shook her head with her eyes closed.

‎"All of you have done a lot for the people, and your sacrifice will only bring more pain to them. If these figures could speak, they would say that you should enjoy the rest of your life without having to raise your weapon and shed blood anymore, but they couldn't," Anastasha said with a troubled expression. She frowned as she shut her eyes tightly. "The world is not safe right now, and even if they wanted you to get rid of your weapon, soon enough, you would take your weapon again to fight..." she continued.

‎"How much blood is needed for this world to find its peace? How many lives does the world have to take to make it understand that it's enough? How many tears, screams, and pain until the world realizes that we can't take it anymore?" Anastasha asked as she stared at the soldiers' darkened expression, resonating every word that she said.

‎"That's why... I'm here," Anastasha said as she straightened her back and put on a serious and determined expression. "All of you must be wondering, how did I end up here in South Neva? The answer is because I need to find the solution to this chaos that's happening across Neva," she continued as she looked at Rasmus.

‎The soldiers' minds were no longer lingering with their emotions when they heard Anastasha's revelation. As an Asghar family with the power like a spider that had spread its web around the whole tree, it made them curious about the solution she was talking about.

‎"What you have achieved, the victory that you attained, it was all Thanks to this man," Anastasha pointed at Rasmus. "But do you know what things he has gone through to make it possible?" She asked with her brows raised.

‎Everyone, including Thalior and the others were curious about it as well. They never knew what Rasmus did behind the scenes, and they knew that he was the key figure who made the victory achievable. If it wasn't for Rasmus, South Neva would have become a continent where demons enslaved and devoured every living being.

‎Rasmus carefully got onto the podium and stared at the eyes that were pointed at them.

‎"All of you must have heard the phrase of making a deal with the devil," Rasmus said, his voice wasn't loud, and yet not too quiet. "I made a deal with the devil," he revealed with a straight face.

‎Gasps were heard from the tables and even from the people on the sides. They couldn't believe what they heard; the hero that they looked up to was nothing like what they had expected.

‎"Not only him, I also made a deal with the devil," Anastasha revealed with a loud voice and put on a serious expression. "But there's more to it than what you think," she continued, clearing the doubts in everyone's minds.

‎The moment the silence returned, Rasmus looked everyone in the eye without a single remorse or regret in his eyes. He let the silence grow a bit more before he decided to open his mouth.

‎"Making a deal with the devil, all your wishes would come true, but they're just an illusion. That's why we pretended to make a deal with the emissary of evil, and we both learned about our enemies that way," Rasmus said with a serious expression. "We both took the risk and turned their plans against themselves," he continued.

‎"Every move we made during the war was all orchestrated by me and Princess Anastasha. Every threat that we prevented was all because we both sold our souls to them, but everything came with a price," Rasmus said as he furrowed his brows and stared back at the eyes that were pointed at him.

‎Everyone was slowly losing their doubts about Rasmus and Anastasha, and they began to understand and see the big picture of those two's vision. They realized it would have been impossible to pull if they were in Rasmus or Anastasha's shoes. They might have gone out there to war against the demons with their weapons in their hands, but Rasmus had to fight with his brain and weapon at the same time.

"The price was the thousands of lives that were taken away, and I looked away from it. It was necessary in my eyes to put the demons and the emissaries of evil to lower their guards, and I'm not asking you to understand it or to put yourself in my shoes. I take responsibility for every death that I have caused or that I purposely didn't prevent," Rasmus said without hesitation or any remorse in his eyes.

Although Rasmus said the ugly truth, nobody saw him in a different light. They understood the cost and the risk. They had seen and experienced the real dangers of the demon army during the war, and if the enemy was cautious, victory wouldn't be possible. They had let go of the past and accepted the countless deaths as the price of peace, and Rasmus knew that, which was why he dared to say the ugly truth, because everyone had accepted it.

"If you asked me, am I a hero? No, I'm not. If you asked me if I'm evil, that's for you to judge. My only goal right now is to keep mankind to survive and to win against those demons, and there's nothing else more important than that," Rasmus said with a cold and serious expression. "Will I let innocents die? I will, but that doesn't mean I will do it for nothing. I wouldn't let innocents die for no reason, and I would prevent unnecessary victims and casualties. I don't glorify or romanticize deaths and sufferings, I bear them and remember them," he continued.

Everyone sat there, staring at Rasmus with conflicting thoughts, but somehow they couldn't see him as evil. There was an air around him that made them see nothing but reality without any fog of illusion. They knew he wasn't a hero, but they couldn't put him in the light where all evil resided.

"You all have achieved peace in South Neva, but not on the other continents. Countless are dying, humans are decreasing while the demons are increasing, and the privilege of having to sit down and to relax is a luxury that the other continents can't have," Anastasha said as she stood right beside Rasmus on the podium. "You may have achieved victory, but the war is far from over, and we are losing," she pointed out, pain and concern lingered in her voice.

The knights and the mages looked down, clenching their fists. They tried to clench their fists as tightly as they could, like they did when they held their weapons, however, they couldn't because of the fear that prevented them from getting back to their feet. They were all still traumatized, and some began to remember the insignificance of humankind in the face of powerful beings.

"Rise!" Anastasha shouted, her voice shattered the silence.

Anastasha's scream startled everyone and snapped them all back to reality.

"Soldiers from other continents are bleeding! Screaming in pain! And desperation overwhelms them. Rise and become their strength! Rise to let them know they're not alone! Rise because you know how they feel!" Anastasha's voice trembled when she shouted those words. "Don't abandon them because you knew how scary it was to feel abandoned..." she continued with a frown, her voice quiet and gentle.

The soldiers' hands trembled, their heels tapping on the ground as if they were resisting the fear within them. They knew it was impossible, but they knew how terrified the other soldiers out there were, fighting against those demons. Slowly, they gathered their courage to fight their inner fear and to become someone else's strength.

"Rise, papa..." The black-haired girl looked up at her father with an innocent grin on her face. She had no idea what was going on, she only repeated what Anastasha had said.

The knight looked down at his daughter, and slowly he rose and stood tall. Everyone looked at the knight slowly unsheathing his sword, holding it up as high as he could, even though his hand trembled. He then began to shout, to push away the fear that lingered on his spine.

"Yaaaah!" The daughter repeated after her father and giggled.

The children then began to shout as loudly as they could, and that gave the soldiers immense courage, close to being fearless. They all slowly stood up and unsheathed their weapons, raising them up high into the sky as they began to shout as well.

"I, Anastasha Asghar, will promise all of you that I will be by your side! I, Anastasha Asghar, will lend everything I have to assist you in the wars to come! I, Anastasha Asghar, have decided that I will become the next Asghar head family, and I will bring those evils away from our world and the people we love!" Anastasha shouted as she gripped onto the edges of the podium tightly.

Rasmus was the only one who could see the rawness in Anastasha's words. It was her plan all along to protect her family, to avoid bloodshed between her siblings because of the seat to become the next head of the Asghar family. She was going to make the world see her as the prominent candidate, preventing her siblings from cutting each other's throats, and to focus on her instead.

"You're not alone! You'll never be alone!" Anastasha shouted as she leaned forward and stared at the unified soldiers. "We have to win the war at all costs!" She continued.

"To win the war!" All the soldiers shouted at the same time.