"
Impatient, Rakon tossed aside brown and grey parchment, glared at the two. "
"
Bewildered, Rakon looked at Gaz. " " ""
" " Rakon raised a brow. " " Charcoal sticks and other tools fell, scattering across the ground as Rakon stepped away in shock. "Kalika?" He shot his gaze back at Mae. " " Rakon cringed. " " "Grr!" Rakon slammed his fist on his desk, growing more frustrated by the second. " " " " Rakon glared. " Both Mae and Gaz shook from the sudden revelation.
"< It's impossible a name like that would be among our kin. Something's going on.>" Rakon leered down at a lack parchment on his desk and snarled. " ********
Kalika's eyes twitched, annoyed by Bjorn's snoring as he leaned against the cart's back door. She glared at him, looking at the stone mask he wore with a deepening frustration.
"I don't understand how he can sleep at this time of day, and with that stone mask of all things," Kalika said.
Donovan glanced at Kalika, pulling his stone mask up. "He was probably up all night. Besides, we gotta stay low. The less attention, the better."
"Whatever."
Donovan pulled his mask back down and continued driving the cart along the wide path by the massive lake. Curious, he peered at the lake, watching as ships sailed across to a town just out of sight. "Honestly, I never would've thought the demons would know how to row a boat, let alone a ship. They're certainly full of surprises sometimes."
"Right…" Kalika gazed at the crystal ceiling of the pit, where the colors of the Crystal all glowed vividly with each of their individual colors. They slowly dimmed. Signal of the encroaching night.
"Looks like we'll have to set up camp soon," Donovan noted. He then glanced back, feeling an unusual silence. "Hey, Kalika… You didn't all that jerk, did you? You're a little bit quiet back there."
"I'm fine. Really. I just… Need some more time to get my head on straight."
"I understand. At the snap of a finger, sometimes everything just changes. And sometimes you can do nothing about it." Dononva huffed his chest and spoke louder. "Speaking to myself…I never thought I'd be venturing into a world filled with demons and monsters I've never seen before. In fact, I thought I was minced meat a few times. But in the end, I still managed, and I survived through it all."
"Right." Kalika nodded. "And that's the only thing that matters. Is that what you're trying to say? Because the way I see it, there's no point to it at all. It only delays the inevitable. You kill someone so that another person will come to do the same to you. And they keep coming and coming and coming until they get what they want… And even then, it's not enough for them. It's never enough."
"That's a cynical way to think about it. Don't you think?"
"That was my life… Donovan. And I'm tired of it. And I refuse to go back to it."
"And you won't. On my word, I'll get you out of here. And that's a promise. And trust me. I never go back on my promises."
"Peh. Be careful. I might hold you to it."
"Hmm?" Donovan, looking in the far distance, caught sight of a large stone building. "Is that… An Inn?" Suddenly, a demon, riding a Garu. sped from the building and past their cart, surprising Donovan.
"Hey, Kalika. How many crystals do we have?"
"We only have a bag left."
"Just a bag?" Donovan turned. "What happened to the other four?"
"I don't know." Kalika quietly shuffled a few bags behind the barrels of mead and took a single jerky to silently snack on.
Donovan sighed. "Alright, I guess we'll have to see if we can pay for the night."
"Sounds good to me."
Slowly, they drove to the building and pulled into a large clearing, passing another cart with a large textile roof covering its sides.
"Hey, Donovan. Why don't we have one of those?" Kalika pointed.
"I don't know. We can probably make something like that if we trade skins. But let's ask Bjorn that later. Why don't you go in and see if we can rest here for the night? I'll watch over the cart."
"Sure." Kalika, with the pouch of crystals, approached the entrance.
Just then, the door suddenly slammed open with a tall hooded woman looking down at Kalika with her stone mask. " "< There's no time for that, we need to leave now.>" another demon with a hood and mask said. He gestured for the woman to move on.
" Kalika moved and watched as the two demons hurried to the roofed cart where another hooded demon sat in wait. Curious Kalika cocked her head as she saw the woman's long white hair peek from the hood.
"Why does she seem so… Familiar…?" Kalika thought. She watched as the cart trailed off in the direction they came from. "Oh, well…" Shaking off the thoughts, Kalika turned back to the entrance and entered its dark hollows. "It's not like it matters anyway."
********
From inside a wobbling cart. The hooded woman pulled her mask down, relieved by the freedom.
"Sorry, Lillian, but if what the woman said was true, we need to get to Oar's as soon as possible. We can't afford to sit idle." Lucius said.
Lillian exhaled. "It's alright. I don't mind. But uhh… Hmm…"
"What is it?"
"I don't know. I feel like I forgot something important. But don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing."
Lucius nodded and peered out the driver's seat window, watching as the slowly encroached on the city of stone. All the while, Lillian could only gaze out from the back, feeling an invisible thread pulling at her.
"We're almost there. It won't be too long now."
********
A red demoness, clad in armor, looked down at the war map along with several other demon commanders. A cold sweat ran down the side of her face as she pursed her lips in deep concentration. " " " " " " Azar stopped, taken aback by his answer. She clenched her fist. " " Azar snatched the collar of the guard, " The soldier panicked, unsure whether to believe his own words. " " Another soldier rushed in. " Azar gasped, startled by the new news. " "As we speak, our men are trying to hold them back right in the main throne room!>"
Azar sneered and clenched her teeth. ' On her order, the three demon Commanders rushed forth, past the terrified demon soldiers."
"The first, absolutely terrified, couldn't help but shake. " " The soldier gazed back up at her. His eyes filled with dread. " Azar huffed at the pathetic display.
" She walked past the other soldier, prepared to leave, and stopped short of the door. " She glared back. " The soldier stood to attention. " " ********
Azar, along with several guards and commanders, dashed through the black castle corridor.
She watched uncaringly as several groups of soldiers, guards, and the castle servants fled past her. Understanding the dire straits, she hastened her descent through the castle, with the soldier in tow.
She rushed past the chaos, speeding ahead with every step, and reached the throne room. Her skin crawled, and every fiber of her being told her to flee. Ignoring her instincts, she clenched her hands into a fist and forced herself into the room.
She gasped, shocked to find two tall white beings standing tall among the pile of demon bodies. The piles of bodies slowly shrank down and pumped into the white monsters until the room was vacant, with only the sound of quiet satisfaction filling the room.
The far left monsters formed and shifted to that of a muscular demon with white skin. "Hmm… This face is not bad either, but not my taste…"
The other peered at their companion with their green eyes. "Does the face matter to Enocht? God Cassell only needs us to take control of this stone fort."
"Yes, but I'd like to explore this world's magic once our mission is complete. Enex Spent over a century with Cassell's creations, and I would very much like to do the same, Terrocht." Enocht quickly caught sight of Azar and her fellow soldiers who stood right behind her. "Ah~~ More faces to try."
Provoked, the demon soldiers rushed past Azar headfirst with their spears and stabbed Enocht and Terrocht.
To the soldiers' surprise, Enocht grabbed two of the soldiers by their necks.
"You must have a lot of magic to be so brave." Slowly, Enocht absorbed the screaming demons, silencing them into himself with a satisfied chuckle, before taking one of their forms. "I was right… Another three hundred years."
Terrocht, uninterested in the soldiers, chopped their heads off with his bare fist, then turned to Azar.
"I recognize you…. Ah, yes, the fleeing demon from the city I was born in, and the General of the armies we've fed from. Azar, I believe your name was. To think that we'd meet again so soon."
"She has quite the luxurious face," Enocht said.
A cold sweat ran down Azar's face. Her hands shook as she stared directly at Terrocht. " Azar, Panicking, whipped her arms, shooting several balls of explosive magic at the disguised angels.
Each one struck with explosive force, shaking the very foundations of the castle.
"Ah~. This magic the saintess used to." Enocht's face contorted into pure excitement. "This one is mine."
From the smoldering dust in the air, a white hand shot at Azar.
She dodged and launched a wave of her explosive magic at the angels.
Suddenly, a bombardment of white hands shot at her one after another. Piercing and the stone walls as she evaded each one. Overwhelmed, she darted her eyes back to the door only to find Terrocht standing guard.
"Finish this quickly, Enocht. Cassell wishes me to return to the mountainside by my birthplace."
"Sure." Enocht appeared before Azar, shocking her. "This'll only take a second."
Azar conjured a hammer in his hand and smashed it on the angel's chin, stunning him.
She swung again, hitting him, sending him crashing into the stone wall.
Dirt and debris were scattered around as Azar morphed her hammer into a sword.
"Such fast reflexes. And she's much braver than she looks." Enocht tore himself from the wall, with eyes gleaming ever bright. "And such fine mastery of Teru's gift. She is an outstanding catch!"
In an instant, several balls of water appeared around Azar.
"It'd be a shame to ruin a body such as hers before absorbing her."
Azar's eyes widened, startled by the angel's display of power.
At the snap of his fingers, a torrent of water bullets shot at Azar, forcing her on the run. She dodged, weaved, and blocked to the amusement of the angel she fought. Irritated, she manifested a surge of fire in her hand and shot at the angel.
Bullets of water quickly doused the flame, sending an explosion of steam into the air.
"Clever…" Enocht noted.
Azar zipped around to Enocht's back and sliced his head clean off. She prepared another surge of fire, blasting it at the angel's head with a torrent of fire.
She turned back to his main body, prepared to slice, only to be faced with a bubble full of water. Her head sank in, and water forcibly rushed down her throat, choking her. A hand pressed on her neck, and the water quickly sloshed to the ground.
She choked and gasped, forced to look at the angel in front of her, turn from a demon soldier to its proper faceless form. It cocked its head, with an unnatural smile forming on its face. "Yes, ~ You'll do very nicely. It's been fun, but I'll be taking your body and mind now."
Azar's muffled screams echoed the stone halls of the castle as Terrocht watched her squirm with all her might. Ultimately, her muffled screams were silenced and her body assimilated into Enocht, whose body contorted and convulsed as its form shifted.
"Satisfied?" Terrocht asked.
Enocht felt her new face with a deepening satisfaction, then spoke with her newly attained voice. "Yes… Oh? It looks like she is still trying to resist me. How amusing." He chuckled. "Oh, how I can't wait to meet the saintess again~❤."