Alex shouted in shock.
The deafening sound of Felicia's hard collision and the subsequent shattering of her vanity table's mirror filled the air.
Felicia crashed down onto the floor. The pain of the broken shards which had cut into the back of her head and neck only briefly caught her attention. Then the mark on her chest flared up again.
Glowing a sickening red color.
Alex rushed over to her and pulled her away from the broken mirror shards. The table had cracked.
"Felicia! What's, what..." Alex's words trailed off, his eyes bulging. The devil's mark was emitting a foul odor of black magic. It was strong and heavy. Alex coughed as it entered his nose. It was like breathing in poison. Similar to the green water the Pope had used against him in their first fight deep in the bowls of the church.
The infinity mark on his wrist began to glow.
Felicia groaned in pain and began clawing at her chest, which felt like it had been set on fire. The pain came in flashes. She could not manage it at all. Pride demanded she not wail like a baby, so she bit down on her lip until it bled.
"Calm down! Hey, calm down!" Alex struggled to hold Felicia in place when she started convulsing like a fish out of water.
He grasped her blood stained hands to stop her from further hurting herself.
They heard a pounding on the door. "My lord! My Lady!"
"Cut it off!" Felicia screamed, tearing away at the skin on her chest. "Alex! Use the sword! Cut it out of meeee!"
Tears streamed down Alex's face as he realized what she meant. Summoning the Holy Sword he straddled Felicia and pinned her arms down with his knees.
Felicia was growling like a demon, caught in a paroxysm of agony she had never experienced. She had felt the hot sharp pain when the Pope had placed the mark on her, but it was nothing compared to this. It felt like her heart was constantly being stabbed by a hot knife.
Raising the sword over Felicia's chest, Alex's expression cracked. "No, I can't! How can I possibly?" He would have to stab her!
"Do it! Do it now!" Lightning exploded out of Felicia's fingertips. The marble floor, which she had been clawing at cracked and the room grew hot.
More pounding on the door. "Lord Alexander! Lady Felicia! What is happening?! Do we need to come in?!"
"Forgive me, forgive me sister," Alex cried in a broken voice before pressing the tip of the Holy Sword into her chest. He aimed next to the glowing mark as he pushed the sword in and under, trying to just sear the symbol and not hurt Felicia more than he had to.
Felicia's eyes went a solid white. She let out another ear shattering scream as Alex finally managed to cut the mark off.
Tossing the burned piece of flesh away, Alex dropped the Holy Sword and grabbed Felicia's hands, bringing them to her bleeding chest.
"Heal yourself! Come on. Felicia!"
No response. Felicia lay prone with her eyes wide open and still glowing a solid white. Her body, completely limp with her chest bleeding heavily.
Alex startled when he heard a loud thud. Followed by two more. Looking away from Felicia, he glanced at the door.
The servants outside had called for the knights once they realized that neither Lady Felicia or Lord Alex would respond to them. And they were out of their minds with worry. First they'd heard the sound of a heavy shatter, followed by continuous screaming from Lady Felicia.
Lord Alex also keep yelling frantically. And neither seemed to hear them outside the door.
With the Duke having taken medication to sleep the day away after the siblings had shown up looking a hideous mess and suspected of having been involved in some sort of attack on top of the second earthquake at the Holy Temple, all the servants were taut with tension.
The knights had also called out to the pair before deciding to break down the door. Thus far, one of them had struck the door knob three times with his sabaton boot.
The maids covered their ears.
A sixth stomp was about to take place when Young Master Alexander's voice came through.
"Enough! We are fine! Stop kicking the door!"
The knight lowered his foot. "Master Alexander, we heard Lady Felicia screaming! What has happened?"
"Nothing!" Alex retorted.
Felicia had stopped bleeding. Her chest had healed and the mark was gone. She was also breathing steadily so some of his panic had abated.
But she was still limp with her eyes wide open. And they were still glowing.
"We are both fine! Leave us!" Alex couldn't think of a single lie to tell. Nor was he in the mood to. What he needed to do now was take Felicia back to the holy temple and retrieve the red ruby from the statue of the Goddess.
The ruby would help them! It was the one thing they were missing! And he didn't know what else to do.
"My lord, we heard a crash and Lady Felicia was screaming most horrifically! We cannot simply leave!"
Alex cursed. "Go check on the Duke. He was in a bad state earlier. Take the physician and ensure he's not slipping into a coma!" He was talking complete nonsense right now. Hoping to distract them.
A moment of silence and then Tyren's voice came in. Followed by Helena. The Butler had gone to fetch them. Not that he needed to. Felicia's screeching had woken up half the castle.
"Alex! Open the door right now and explain yourself! Both you and that wench have been causing nothing but trouble! And you, Felicia! How dare you scream bloody murder like that! Have you no manners? You've terrified and disrupted the entire manor!"
"Mother is right. Brother. Sister. Let us in and tell us what is happening. Why were you screaming like that, Felicia?"
Ignoring the two stupid women, Alex walked over to Felicia's bathtub and picked up the bucket of cold water placed next to it. Dipping the washing cloth into it, he proceeded to wash the blood off himself before going to clean up Felicia.
Though the sky was already growing dark, Alex knew they could not wait another moment. Felicia looked like she was in a state of magical paralysis. Though the mark was gone, clearly something was still wrong.
Bundling her up into his arms, he summoned the Holy Sword.
His head snapped back to the closed door. So many voices were speaking. Indeed, a large party had formed outside the door. Felicia's screaming was no joke.
Placing the length of the sword over Felicia's body, Alex shouted a message before disappearing into the infinity loops.
"Tell the Duke that Felicia and I have gone back to the church! And that all of this will end tonight!"