The Scourge always felt like it lacked a purpose, it was a monster that had no form, no voice of of its own, no birth, no life, no death, it had powers but what for?
It was the best propagandist one could ask for, it could instill abject and nonsensical in the minds of nearly anyone given enough time, it could even crush their minds and take their bodies for itself but once again, what for?
It could live their lives but not feel like they did or see like they used to, his mind crushed everything, it would have a body but it would be like a hollow shell, a puppet he animated by keeping the soul hostage.
When one needed neither nor couldn't feed, sleep or reproduce, what should they do?
The Scourge had popped into existence long ago and while it never understood what it yearned for, it still tried to find an answer to this question, taking over bodies without stop at first, perhaps expecting that the answers would appear before it by taking the place of a being that had a built-in purpose.
It couldn't read memories however and ultimately failed, incidentally becoming known as 'The Scourge' as it was being taken as a mysterious illness as it left mindless bodies in its wake.
Leaving them in what appeared very much as a coma, the people at the time failed to discover the truth and The Scourge stopped its possessions as it brought nothing for itself.
It was slowly forgotten and simply wandered aimlessly until its purpose uncovered itself, the Obsidian Queen had risen and as a powerful monster, it became her seventh minister, titled after a name it never knew it had had for so long and that no one should have known.
The Scourge had learned to show itself as some form of respect or reverence, appearing as what Axio had seen, some vague figure that seemed formed by simply seemed to have wind detailing its shape.
Although it still remained unseen for most of the time.
This minister was one of the few that was always busy with something not because it had a single task that it could repeat endlessly like Sovereign Of Flesh but because it was simply too engrossed in this purpose it had found after so long.
Right now, it was inside of the United Lands Of Amor, nothing simpler for The Scourge than to bypass defenses, since it barely counted as something in the first place.
Although it seemed like Amor was geared to resist its mind tricks, not every single person in this enormous nation was protected, it didn't do anything about this fact for now however.
The minister had spent most of its time simply serving as the eyes and ears of the Obsidian Queen, since she could share the senses of any monster under her command.
It had watched as mages discussed new ideas to reinforce the barriers, as high-ranking officiers gave out orders, it had observed the defense mechanism closely and even the leaders of the nation, getting so close to them that they walked through its formless body more than once, without ever even suspecting a single thing.
It had been there for a long time, it probably knew more about some people than their loved ones at this point, perhaps even more than themselves.
The Scourge had stood and moved around without a hitch while Undying Prophet and his troops kept getting bombarded and blown up every single day, the orc had been leading only offsprings of Wretched Lord and creations of Sovereign Of Flesh, since they were expandables and easy to replace, so there were no loss for the monsters.
Amor had noticed this too of course, they weren't blind to not notice that fact, wretches and flesh slimes were definitely not the main forces.
But they couldn't advance and counter attack the monsters, they had no clue where any of the ministers was except for Undying Prophet and it appeared like, by all means, this minister was immortal.
They had no clue about the mysterious monster queen either, they only knew that she was called the 'Obsidian Queen' and nothing else.
Their hands were tied into defending and they were doing a great job so far, they dreaded the arrival of stronger forces however, if their defenses were breached and monsters flooded in, they would have to retreat to their second lines of defenses, which would eventually doomed to the same fate.
This would repeat until the monsters were everywhere, Amor felt constricted, they would fight of course, they would surely be offered a similar deal to Roderst eventually but it didn't sit right with them, to bow their heads like that.
Those thoughts were clear for The Scourge to read on their faces and hear in their minds, it didn't comprehend the complex feelings and emotions but it didn't need to, the queen would understand and that was all that mattered.
After weeks and months had passed, the Seventh Minister was called back, with a clear mission this time.
It seemed like the queen wasn't planning to make an offer again, Amor wasn't going to be able to make little sacrifices unlike many of the nations before, but it wouldn't be a full-scale assaults like they feared either.
The Scourge was to smuggled a minister inside of the lands of Amor, by encompassing him with his formless and undetectable body, it didn't have much formless mass to spare but it didn't matter since the minister to bring inside was small and portable.
'I wouldn't recommend going in there for now' advised Faceless Lord, after exiting Amor, The Scourge was obviously brought to Axia by him, the distance to trek wasn't small and the Seventh Minister wasn't exactly fast on its nonexistent feets.
The Scourge looked around and went in, not following its fellow advise while being invisible.
It didn't understand the need for a warning though, there wasn't anything dangerous, only Axiolypito partaking in reproduction, with a curiously bored expression.
Piecing its observations of others during its long years of existence, this was strange, beings with high cognitive capabilities were supposed to enjoy such activity, especially since the other participant should have been, according to its perfect memory, a desirable partner.
It tilted its formless body in wonder, looking down and thinking up a word to describe what it noticed as the wretch removed himself, looking pleased like someone leaving their job would be.
'Horse'