"Haven't you destroyed enough things that now you even came back to life, just to destroy even more?" Cassandra said with a dry, humorless chuckle.
"Destroy? Destroy what?" Esdeath asked, a wicked grin spreading across her face as she slowly approached.
"Are you seriously asking me that? You literally made the whole kingdom go into an uproar. Everything is your fault!" Cassandra added, a flicker of anger breaking through her usually emotionless expression.
Esdeath paused for a second, not even blinking. Then she said, "Me? You're blaming me for that? Quit dreaming. All of this is happening because of you!" Her voice rose to a high, angry pitch.
Cassandra showed a puzzled expression and was about to ask why, but Esdeath continued before she could speak. "Did I tell you to be a messiah and try to save this kingdom, which basically had no big threats? Did I tell you to frame Lortell and punish her for everything she did? Did I tell you to join the king and bring rulers from all other kingdoms here to pass judgment?" Esdeath said, her voice bone-chillingly cold.
To be honest, it was kind of true. When Esdeath had told Maruti she was going to rob the whole kingdom, she meant she would use Maruti's status as a prophet.
By blackmailing Princess Ravenna, she planned to loot the kingdom's treasury. She had no connection to the revolutionaries and no desire to conquer the kingdom. Being queen would only restrict her actions, and that was not what she wanted.
Esdeath approached even closer, her words becoming more venomous. "You talk about justice, yet you tried your best to kill me. You are nothing but a hypocrite!" she added.
Cassandra's eyelids trembled. She instinctively tried to crawl backward using her hands, but the wall behind her made it impossible to go any further. Esdeath's red eyes seemed to glow under the dim light as she raised her scythe.
Her facial features twisted into a mask of rage. "I had no intention of doing anything, you know. But how dare you! How dare you plot against my beloved Lortell! I won't give you an easy death!" she said menacingly.
She had already decided to cut off Cassandra's all limbs first, then kill her by beheading her.
Chtcha!....
"Ahhhh~!" Cassandra immediately screamed. The scythe pierced the exact same spot where Esdeath had hit her before, causing the pain to be even more intense. Esdeath hadn't severed her limbs on purpose because she wanted Cassandra to feel even more pain.
"Not enough, not enough at all! It's not even a fraction of what I felt when you plotted against Lortell!" Esdeath screamed, raising her scythe high to strike again. But then, a spear came out of nowhere, aiming directly for her head.
Clang!
Esdeath immediately drew an arc with her scythe and blocked the spear.
"We found Esdeath! Everyone, come here!" an angel screamed loudly, making several other angels come rushing at her.
"Shit, not now!" Esdeath gritted her teeth.
"Golden Rays!"
"Holy Qi!"
"Judgment Strike!"
Several killer moves were shot at her at once. Esdeath had no choice but to dodge and block them.
"This is my chance!" Cassandra's pupils lit up. She immediately stood up on her wounded leg and ran past Esdeath, bolting as fast as she could.
Although her legs trembled and blood oozed from her wound, she didn't stop at all. Since the angels had no animosity toward her, they acted like she didn't even exist.
"NO! You can't get away!" Esdeath shouted, running to catch Cassandra, but another spear flew directly toward her, forcing her to block it again.
"Better focus on us first!" the blonde-haired angel said with a smirk.
Esdeath's gaze remained locked on Cassandra as she fought the angels.
In an instant, time itself seemed to slow down. The movements of the angels became sluggish, their thoughts turning into a crawl.
"What is happening?" the blonde-haired angel managed to think, her eyes wide with confusion.
But before she could react, Esdeath was already upon her. She put the sharp edge of her scythe to the angel's neck and, in one clean motion, beheaded her.
The angels had descended without much preparation. In heaven, no one had a physical body, not even the angels. To come to the mortal realm so quickly, they had prepared basic, temporary flesh bodies. Because of this, their bodies were very weak and were easily to destroy.
Esdeath didn't stop. She charged directly at another angel, splitting her body into multiple pieces. At the same time, she made sure to keep closing the distance between herself and the fleeing Cassandra.
"Take this!" another angel shouted, striking at her with a sword.
The blade came slowly, and Esdeath easily dodged it before cutting off that angel's hand completely.
With the time already slowed and after landing a clean hit, the angel froze completely.
BAM!
Esdeath slammed her head against the stone wall with brutal force. Cracks spread through the wall, and the angel's body crumpled. Being made of temporary flesh, her blood barely spilled, leaving only a faint red smear
Esdeath didn't waste a single second. She could feel time returning to normal. She realized it was useless to kill every angel and then try to capture Cassandra.
With three angels still left, she dashed toward Cassandra, determined to kill her before she could escape.
But before she could reach her, time turned back to normal, A huge shadow enveloped cassandra and swallowed her whole.
"NOO!" Esdeath screamed with wide eyes. She didn't know who had helped Cassandra or where that shadow had come from, but she knew one thing for sure: she could no longer sense Cassandra's presence.
---
Meanwhile, Meldia was still chasing down Ethan and his team. They had already run all the way to the outskirts of the royal palace. They tried everything to obstruct her path—erupting earth spikes, freezing the ground, even trying to trick her to make their escape.
But Meldia was just too persistent. She kept chasing them down, never letting them out of her sight.
But then, she felt a sensation from the shadow armor she had given to Esdeath.
It was a warning, telling her that Esdeath was facing some kind of danger. Meldia didn't know it was a group of angels who had finally found her, but she knew Esdeath was in trouble.
Her steps immediately felt heavy. Should she keep chasing Ethan and the others, just like Esdeath ordered? Or should she turn back to help her?
Esdeath had said to finish them off no matter what, not to worry about her. But Lortell's words echoed in Medlia's head: "Protect Esdeath at all costs."
If anything happened to Esdeath, it would be Meldia's failure.
At that exact moment, Meldia saw a huge shadow come over Ethan and his team, enveloping them all.
Meldia took a step forward, intending to stop whatever it was and capture them, but then she changed her mind. She decided to give up on them and rush back to check on Esdeath instead.
She ran as fast as she could, sprinting back through the hallways. On her way, she saw the giant, bull-headed demon, lying beheaded on the ground, but she paid it no mind. She ran toward the path where Esdeath had been chasing Cassandra and finally spotted her.
Esdeath's face was a mask of pure anger and disgust. She was relentlessly smashing one of the angel's heads, even though it was already a butchered mess.
"Fuck you... Fuck you... fuck you all!" she screamed, kicking the mangled head over and over again.
Meldia's lips twitched with surprise as she saw this side of Esdeath for the very first time.
She gulped slightly, and for some reason, she felt a prickle of fear. She was returning empty-handed, and she knew Esdeath would not be pleased. Meldia immediately knelt on the ground, lowering her head in respect.
Esdeath sensed her presence and finally stopped her brutal kicking. She turned to Meldia,"Did you kill them or not?" she asked solemnly, even though she already suspected the answer.
"No, my lady!" Meldia replied in a low voice.
Esdeath gritted her teeth. Her gaze flickered around the room until it landed on a severed angel's hand lying on the floor. She grabbed it and threw it directly at Meldia's face.
"Then why are you here? You should have chased them until you killed them!" Esdeath screamed, her voice high-pitched and furious.
"I-I... sensed that you were in danger, so I had no other choice—" Meldia tried to justify her actions, but Esdeath immediately cut her off.
"Danger? I'm not in danger. I AM THE DANGER!" she roared, as if she were a manager and Meldia a junior employee who had made a terrible mistake.
"Fuck, that's why I don't team up with anyone else. At least predictor does what I tell her," she murmured to herself. She then took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Since the beans had already been spilled, there was no point in dwelling on it. They were under attack by two demon lords and a high-ranking angel. She had much bigger things to worry about.
"She is also Lortell's subordinate. What if Lortell gets the wrong impression of me because of her?" Esdeath thought, shaking her head. She walked toward Meldia and slammed her back, as if comforting her..
"Well, forget about whatever happened. Let's go and find someplace secure instead!"