[Lilith, are you okay?] I receive a telepathic message from Freya, her tone is more like she just wants to ask without really expecting anything other than that I'm okay.
[I'm fine, Freya...] I tell a lie while dodging a blow from the captain of the royal guard.
[Freya, I'm busy now, I can't be talking, so you can focus over there on your side] I tell her, cutting off any telepathic signal while barely defending myself from a sword blow.
'Damn...' I'm in a pretty shitty situation, even being a hydra I can't deal with this, I really underestimated how annoying these worms can be.
Pandora made it clear, the teleportation circle was a trap that would send strong people to where I was supposed to be, up until that point it was all good, after all the captain of the royal guard showed up where I was.
She's not even close to me in power, so it would be absurdly easy to kill her...or at least that's what I expected, which made me underestimate her, but I didn't expect her to have such a problematic relic.
In the hands of the captain of the royal guard is the [Celestial Hunter], although now it's broken because I damaged it too much, the effect is still on me, the celestial hunter is an artifact in the form of a dagger specifically made to deal with monsters.
It completely deregulates everything in a monster, stupidly I was cut by that blade and now my power has declined a lot, I can't regenerate, my body is taking internal damage caused by my own magic, I can't use my mana properly.
Among several other serious problems, like the dagger is now broken and can never be used again, but the effect doesn't go away just because I broke the weapon, and the fact that I fought against the captain of the royal guard for 1 day and a half made me reach my limit.
'I think...I won't be able to go back and brag about how many I defeated for Pandora...' I'm certainly going to die, I look at the captain of the royal guard, her eyes are empty, a clear sign of mind control, probably one of the heroes since I don't notice any magical sign.
She doesn't care about the injuries she has and just attacks, she's also going to die considering all the damage I've done to her, but not before taking me with her.
'Damn...' I dodge another blow with sadness, Nix, Kaos and Iris have stopped reacting and just fallen to the ground, after all the dagger affected the control of my other heads, cutting off any function of them with my body, which is hellishly painful for me.
'Is Pandora okay?' I felt bizarre things and violent mana variations coming from Pandora very far away hours ago, I wonder if she's okay, her fight with the heroes seems to have ended, but I can't feel anyone to know, but I trust that Pandora won.
"..." I hit the captain of the royal guard, knocking her down, she is also very injured and cannot get up even by forcing her body, and soon she stops moving, honestly I never expected to die in such a ridiculous way.
Our fight wasn't even that big of a deal, she's much weaker than me, while I can't even use 30% of the power I have, our fight barely destroyed the area of a few blocks.
Of course, when I noticed what that dagger was, I destroyed it so that Pandora wouldn't have to suffer from this damned item, because I have to say, it's too painful to have your entire body affected by it.
'It was probably meant to be used on Pandora' With a strong blow I manage to crush her head, but soon I stagger backwards, falling to the ground too exhausted to continue.
"Pandora will be furious..." I murmur, spitting blood as I feel my body being destroyed from the inside, honestly I'm not afraid to die.
I've lived enough, I've seen several Demon Kings, and I've fulfilled my duty as a saint serving the goddess of the abyss, with the title of saint when I die I'll automatically go to meet my goddess.
Maybe Pandora will meet me again someday, I just wish I could still help her finish this war.
"..." I drag myself to a tree, sitting down while I start using magic to leave my last words recorded for whoever wants to read them.
"In the face of death, I'm calmer than I expected..." I thought I would fear death when it came, but now that I'm near the end, I only have one regret, not having completed my duty completely.
Unfortunately for Pandora, she won't even be able to avenge my death, since the captain of the royal guard is just a stupid puppet that fell for a brainwashing skill and is now dead.
Truly, I know that the [Celestial Hunter] would not kill Pandora, this dagger is very good against monsters, and critically affects any monster hit by it, but Pandora is currently too strong for the effects of the dagger to be as effective as they were on me.
"Death is so...lonely..." I murmur as the ground beneath me becomes soaked in blood, I thought that on the day of my death I would have my other heads with me.
But Nyx, Kaos, and Iris simply stopped responding and fell when the dagger hit me, in the end, this dagger was literally the worst weapon I could have faced.
Having multiple heads divided many functions between my body and what each one did, losing them all at once without being able to regenerate drastically reduced what I could do.
"20,000 common soldiers, two angels...and the captain of the royal guard..." I whisper those I killed, and I'm disappointed, I swore I could have done much more.
"It seems I've gotten too old..." I know that on the frontier, Elena is managing to deal with everything, while the fight on the coast is balanced, with our side able to stop the enemy's advance.
"Cough..." I end up coughing up more blood as my body gets very hot, my blood starts to boil, without Kaos to control the temperature of my body, it starts to overheat, entering a dangerous state.
And without Nyx here to regulate the work of my organs, everything starts to fail quickly because I no longer have the strength to sustain the various functions.
The body of a hydra is something far too complex, it is literally one of the beings with the most complex body on the inside, to the point where hydras always hatch with 3 heads, each one to regulate a part.
As soon as I was left alone to do the work that is necessary for three, obviously I was gradually overwhelmed, in fact, it's a miracle I lasted 1 day and a half fighting while having to take care of this.
"Is this how those who don't have regeneration feel?" It's bad, I've always been able to regenerate from everything, it's one of the high points of my race, hydras are naturally known for their incredible regenerative ability since birth.
Until now, nothing has been able to cut off my regeneration for a long time, so this is the first time I've experienced damage without regenerating from it, just like other beings receive damage and then regenerate with magic or some ability.
"..." I look at the sky, wiping my tears that are now blood, my body started to cry, but I don't know if it's because my brain is a mess or if it's because despite having accepted it, I don't want to die.
"Sorry Pandora...I think...I won't be able to have another fun duel with you" Many regrets come to my mind, I wish I had seen Azraelith one last time.
"I really...wish I could see you one last time..." I could send a telepathic message, but I don't want to bother, I don't want to interrupt or cause inconvenience to her.
I'll just die silently, I know Pandora will hate it, she'll be angry, not just with the humans, but angry with me, but I know I can't be healed in this situation.
That dagger ensured that, I could still have survived if I had sought help before the dagger's effect had been going on for 5 hours, but after 5 hours the effects were so high that I was no longer salvageable.
And despite being able to seek help, I didn't do it, a mix of pride, confidence, and finally the fact that the captain of the royal guard blocked any communication for 1 day with a spatial interference barrier.
So even though I didn't want to help, if I had tried to ask for help, it wouldn't have worked anyway.
"I think...this seems good" I murmur as my vision slowly fades, I managed to finish my last words for Pandora and I'm ready to meet my goddess.
'Will my goddess be proud of me? Did I do everything correctly?' I don't know, I think I did a good job, I may have been someone who was lazy and slept too much, but still, I also did my job to the best of my ability.
"I hope my successor is good...and that the next demonic saint is someone who will help the demons prosper" I join my hands in a final prayer to my goddess.
"My blood, my flesh...my mind and my soul are yours, forgive the errors of this impure child and allow their final rest in your sacred land...I pray to you as my last act in the service of my faith"
"I wish that all those who knew me will prosper and that my life has not been wasted, I thank you for giving me so much time in this world to worship you..."
"And I hope that whatever my destiny, it is made only by you..." I pray with my last strength as everything goes dark.
I really would have liked to have had one last exciting fight instead of a fight where almost all my power was taken from me by a relic, but death is something we cannot choose.
So I gracefully accept my end while praying to my goddess until it's all over.