Lucius looked over the horizon as the human army descended from the long, snowy mountainside. Jala stepped to Lucius's side, missing his left arm. ""
"
"
Lucius flinched. "
"
********
"
Lillian focused as she flew over the gates of Oar. Alarms blared, and fireballs shot toward her. She weaved through the air, barely dodging them. Picking up speed, she neared the castle. Guards formed a line but faltered as Lillian landed and dropped her hood and mask.
"
"
"Cassell said she was with that core, but…" She clenched her fist and picked up the pace, practically running and twisting through the halls as she drew the attention of the servants. Eventually, she crossed the balcony bridge and froze at the sight of Cyrus and the captain, who were sprawled on the floor by a tangle of lifeless vines.
"No!" Lillian jolted. "I won't let you!"
"Kalika!?" Lillian darted into the open passage, her pupils narrowing as she raced through. She entered the chamber and halted, watching the blue barrier dissipate. "W… What's going on?" Her eyes scanned the room until she finally saw a blue demon woman balanced on both knees over Rakon.
"R-rakon!?" Her fingers twitched. Anger flashed. Without thinking, she shot a wind blade through the woman. Lillian clenched her jaw, regret washing over her. She pushed past her initial feelings, ignoring the headless body and grasping Rakon by the collar. "Where's Kalika? Where is she!?"
"Lily?"
Lillian shook. "That voice…" She turned her gaze and froze in place. Her eyes widened, staring at the demoness's face, a face that mirrored Kalika's.
"N-no… impossible…" Her hand loosened, and Rakon fell flat on the floor, continuing to writhe. From the silence, a chuckle escaped Lillian's mouth. "I'll give you one chance… Where's Kalika?"
"Lily—" A sharp wind sliced through her chest, silencing Kalika.
"DON'T USE THAT NAME!!" Lillian shuddered, her eyes widening in shock as she watched Kalika's wound heal along with her red dress. "W…What?"
Lillian clenched her teeth. "Th-this can't be—!! No! It's not possible!"
Lillian launched a barrage of earth spears, trying to push and pierce Kalika, but each one crumbled and was absorbed into her. She shifted to water, whipping at Kalika's head and slicing it off. Moments later, Kalika's head returned to her body.
Revived, Kalika stood tall as if nothing had happened, then glared.
Lillian shuddered, stopping the intense fire she was about to unleash. She stared at Kalika's scowling face and stepped back, her chest tightening as she struggled to comprehend the woman before her. Hastily, she moved closer to Kalika, touching her face and horn, then pulled away.
"Get off me!" Kalika's tail whipped Lillian's leg, and she stepped away. Kalika continued her silent glare as Lillian froze, unsure what to say. Slowly, Lillian clenched her hands into fists. "H-h-h-how?"
"I don't know. It just happened," Kalika replied.
"It… just happened?" Lillian straightened, tears in her eyes. "THIS DOESN'T 'JUST HAPPEN', KALIKA!!" Lillian's eyes darted back at Rakon, darkening. "It's because of 'him', isn't it!?" Fire erupted in Lillian's palm. "HOW COULD YOU!!"
In a flash, Kalika grabbed Lillian's wrist, forcing her palm toward herself. Fire exploded onto Kalika, burning her face to ash. Lillian recoiled, stunned, as Kalika's wounds healed instantly.
"Leave him alone," Kalika said, her voice sharp and cutting deep.
Determined, Lillian conjured and shot earth spikes at Rakon. Kalika clicked her tongue and darted in, yanking Rakon from danger. Lillian unleashed another dizzying flurry of earth spikes and spears at them both.
"Why are you protecting that bastard?" Lillian fixed her gaze on Kalika and lunged, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her against the wall. "Stay out of the way!" With a sharp gesture, Lillian summoned a hail of spikes above Rakon.
Suddenly, a red knife shot up and slashed Lillian's wrist. She cried out in pain as Kalika hunched over Rakon, shielding him and absorbing the barrage head-on. The spears crumbled away and were absorbed into Kalika's body again.
"Why are you doing this, Kalika? I'm trying to SAVE YOU!"
"Save me?" Slowly, Kalika rose, her back facing Lillian, and the red knife arced back into Kalika's hand.
"You ABANDONED me."
"I did what I needed to do to protect you—"
"Protect me!?" Kalika exclaimed. "So leaving me to rot and stealing my memories was 'protecting me'?"
"Yes!" Lillian's wrist healed. "What else was I supposed to do?"
Kalika lunged.
A wall of stone blocked Kalika's attack, but it shattered instantly. Lillian conjured another wall to replace it, barely keeping up.
"Bullshit!"
Lillian leaped away, dodging the attack.
Kalika dashed.
Lillian poised herself, summoning water and sweeping Kalika off her feet.
With a gesture of her hand, the pool turned into a tendril grasping Kalika by her ankles. "I was under a contract!" she blurted.
To Lillian's shock, the water loosened, freeing Kalika.
"Shut up!"
Kalika's knife shot at Lillian, streaking red then striking stone.
Lillian hurled the knife-struck stone into the wall as Kalika closed the distance and conjured her signature dagger.
She drove her dagger into Lillian.
"So what!? Did a contract tell you to kill me over and over again in my Prison!?" Kalika drove it deeper. "Did it tell you to steal my memories and play those damned cruel games!?"
Lillian summoned the wind, pushing Kalika back.
Kalika slid back, eventually breaking through the gust. "Or did it tell you you had to break me over and over again to the point that I couldn't take it anymore!?"
"N-no!" Panicked, Lillian formed her holy barrier.
Kalika sneered and recklessly dashed into the barrier, evaporating at its touch. Her dagger fell flat to the ground, leaving Lillian in stunned silence.
Suddenly, an eerie sound filled the room. Alarmed, she spun, discovering Kalika manifesting a ball of eerie dark magic as she reconstructed on the spot. "Then why should I believe you?"
The chamber shook.
Lillian stumbled.
Kalika's aim shifted upward as she shot dark magic past Lillian.
Kalika's magic sizzled away at the touch of Lillian's barrier.
Lillian peered back at Kalika as she scoffed. "What kind of magic was that?"
Kalika, stone-faced, prepared another ball of dark magic.
Lillian leapt back, conjuring stone walls and slamming them into Kalika. Kalika shrugged off the stones, sweeping them aside, and fired a blast of dark magic at Lillian. Lillian countered, throwing up another block of earth just in time.
Their attacks collided, the impact canceling their momentum and engulfing the stone block in a flare of darkness.
Kalika broke free from her makeshift cage, conjured her dagger in one hand, and hurled it at Lillian.
The dagger struck stone, and a whip of water lashed out from behind Lillian toward Kalika, only to wash over her as she dashed towards Lillian.
Lillian clenched her fists, jumped out of her barrier, and summoned a powerful torrent of wind at Kalika.
Once again, Kalika pressed on, unfazed by the gust of wind. "Why isn't my magic working!?"
Lillian planted her feet, expecting Kalika to vaporize herself and appear from behind. But to her shock, Kalika passed through the barrier unfazed.
Lillian jolted, watching as Kalika's eyes turned a deep orange.
"Die."
Dark magic cloaked Kalika's hand.
Desperate, Lillian conjured a small holy barrier. The two collided with a fierce ferocity of dark and light, shimmering and flashing through the chamber.
Before Lillian knew it, the darkness grew, cloaking Kalika's entire arm.
In a final push, Kalika sent Lillian flying and crashing through the chamber wall, back into the city of Oar.
Lillian fumbled and quickly extended her wings, only to crash into the central pillar of the castle's plaza, startling the formation of guards. Her eyes darted everywhere. The guards were stupefied, and the citizens, wandering about, slowly stopped at the sight of her.
Gritting her teeth, Lillian placed her hand on her hip and healed the wound. Her eyes locked on the new hole as Kalika looked down at her with her newly returned yellow eyes.
The space around Kalika distorted. Seconds later, a black sphere consumed her, then blinked out of existence.
Lillian shook, hairs on end. "
"
Sensing bloodlust, Lillian glanced up, watching as Kalika materialized, attacking with her red knife.
She leapt back, hands raised, and quickly created a cage of stone around Kalika.
"How original," Kalika mocked.
"
Acting fast, Lillian flicked more blood on the ground and pressed her hands to herself, enveloping her in a faint golden glow.
Unfazed, Kalika closed the distance, thrusting her knife at Lillian, startling her and forcing her to catch Kalika by the wrist.
"Stop this!" Lillian begged, confusion clear on her face.
"Shut up!" Kalika pushed harder, only to be redirected into the pillar.
Like before, Lillian pressed her hand to her chest, channeling magic within herself. "Faster. I need to be faster!"
Lillian conjured a long rod and struck Kalika's blade just as it came down. The new red knife, sharper than the old one, streaked through the air in a rapid flurry. Lillian dodged both the knife and Kalika's dark magic attacks in a desperate dance of survival.
Dark magic whisked past her, and hearing the screams of Oar's citizens, Lillian spun around and conjured a wall of holy magic, deflecting Kalika's attacks. Sensing Kalika's approach, Lillian raised her arm, letting the dagger strike it.
She winced and jerked back, blood splattering across the ground, then flicking more at Kalika's feet.
Lillian distanced herself, paying close attention to Kalika's reaction, finding her more focused than expected.
"My blood magic isn't affecting her! She might have to ingest it." Lillian darted her eyes to the flying red knife and crushed it to the ground with stone. She turned, blocking another of Kalika's expected stabs with stone.
Interlocked, they glared at each other.
"Magic isn't working, and that power she used to get to me is just like-"
Screams erupted as large rocks fell from above. Demons scattered, some pointing to the sky as even more rocks fell, some carrying large clusters of crystal.
Lillian and Kalika pulled away, evading the large stones.
Momentarily distracted, Lillian gazed into the sky, watching as the ceiling fractured and spiderwebbed beyond the city.
"What are you looking AT!"
Lillian narrowly dodged Kalika's slash. She backed away and conjured a black, ashy clump of earth, which was engulfed in flames. A fierce yellow ball of fire pulsed, then shot at Kalika, hitting her dead on.
An explosion of fire and earth consumed her, nearly taking Lillian with her as she winced from the smoldering ash.
Slowly the ash dissipated, and Kalika was gone.
"I got her?"
Suddenly a storm of stone and earth crashed into the streets and buildings of Oar's, tearing Lillian from her thoughts. Alarmed, she redirected her attention to the panicking demons.
She whipped her hands, summoning a barrage of wind blades and earth spikes that cut and shattered the boulders into smaller chunks above. She turned to the nearest guard.
"
The guard nodded, ordering citizens and spreading the word to his companions.
Lillian darted her eyes expectantly, ears perked as she listened through the chaos.
Hearing the buzz of dark magic, Lillian whipped around and conjured her holy barrier, shielding her and the demons behind. "KALIKA! Stop it!"
Kalika's eyes darkened. Her body fully reconstructed, her fingers stiffened as even more balls of dark magic formed around her. An orange hue enveloped her eyes once more as she unleashed a relentless barrage of dark magic against Lillian's barrier.
"Kalika! KALIKA!!! If you don't stop, people are going to die!"
"People? What people? All I see are pathetic demons."
A boulder suddenly dropped right next to Kalika. Her eyes snapped back to normal, and a wave of confusion enveloped her.
Using the opportunity, Lillian barreled towards Kalika as the Pit's ceiling continued to collapse over the city.
Kalika wobbled in place as a wave of nausea settled over her. Before she knew it, she was grabbed by the shoulder and pinned to the wall of a nearby shop. "Sorry, Kalika. I didn't want to do this."
Lillian used her own horns to pierce her hands, then smeared her blood into Kalika's mouth.
Lillian's eyes widened as a rush of memories flooded her mind—joy, bitterness, anguish, sorrow, and desperation. Every moment and second recalibrated as her own. "Wh-what's happening!? Why am I remembering all of her memories!?"
Horrified, she stepped away, lurching over with her hand over her mouth. "Sh-she remembers…"
"And she…"
Flashes of Kalika's memories washed over Lillian.
"And she…"
Each memory uglier and more unrecognizable than the last.
"And she…"
"Hey… Where am I?" Kalika wondered.
Tears streaked down Lillian's face, frozen in place as a single thought managed its way through.
"She's gone… Kalika's gone."
"You've played your part well, Holy Light Holder."
Lillian shook. Her eyes darted up as she watched Kalika look at Terrocht with a fond smile. "W-wait! How is he-"
"Donovan? Is that you?"
"Of course." Terrocht, in the face of Donovan, smiled carelessly. "Now close your eyes and go to sleep."
He raised his palm to Kalika's face and, in an instant, his hand expanded and engulfed her completely. His body expanded as Kalika entered and disappeared into Terrocht, leaving Lillian frozen in shock, unable to move.
With a wide smile, Donovan's face shifted and contorted along with the size of his body, matching Kalika's human form to a T.
Blonde hair, green eyes, regal clothes—all while wearing a sadistic smile, peering down at Lillian.
"K..Kalika?"