"I'd suggest you remain here with us. Things will get really dangerous, really quickly." Theresis responded, his face giving no particular emotion.
Looking to the east, Ili saw lots of people around the streets, staying disorganized, running towards the gate. But as the people were passing through, the gate's mechanisms started to move, and the three rows of gates started to close.
"What's happening? Why are the gates closing?!"
Theresis stood silent, looking at the gates with a solemn expression.
From the streets of the city, demons started to make their appearance, moving towards the groups of people.
Ili's eyes widened, as she moved towards the edge of the building. Theresis stopped her, raising his hand in front of her.
"Don't try to stop it."
"How can you say that? So many people will die!"
"People always die sooner or later. These are simply sacrifices that will be reborn in the New World..."
"And if the New World doesn't come, what then?! You would be letting all of them die in vain!"
"The New World will come." Theresis responded coldly. "There is no question about it."
Ili finally took out her sword from its sheath, breaking the invisibility, with a determined look on her face. The other men drew their weapons as well, pointing them towards her.
"We won't let you stop this. Stand down, and you will be safe." Theresis spoke in a serious tone, holding his weapon.
Ili looked down, lowering her sword. She looked at her hands. She thought she would see them shaking, but they weren't. She felt an unusual calm…
"I know what path I'm choosing, master..." Ili spoke softly, still looking at the ground. "Until now, I could only stay and watch as people were killed… As I was powerless to save them… But not anymore… I finally know what I want to do... I want to help people, and keep them alive if I can..."
She raised her head, looking in Theresis's eyes with a determined expression. "People die, eventually... But even then, they should die later rather than sooner. Life has value. And I will do anything in my power to protect it."
"So, that's your choice then..." Theresis said, as they all raised their weapons towards her. "It's a shame... But once you're reborn in the New World, you'll understand why we're doing this. Farewell..."
Ili raised her sword, as they attacked.
The diplomat remained still on the podium, watching in horror the aftermath of the fight. The floor was covered by blood and corpses. Looking around, the only survivors were him and his Emperor's Blades. The hand of a kalzraak moved, raising his head from the pool of blood, struggling to point his head towards him.
"Die!" he barked, his mouth full of blood, as a crystal shard appeared in the air, pointed at the diplomat. But the shard didn't have enough time to shoot towards its mark, as an Emperor's Blade killed the kalzraak in a moment, crushing his head under his foot.
The diplomat's feet gave out, as he fell on his knees, looking down. This was too much for him... His purpose was to sign the treaty, nothing more... It was supposed to be so simple, and yet...
"Marvelous work, marvelous indeed!" a laughing voice was heard, as the diplomat felt a hand on his shoulder. He froze.
'This can't be... I must be imagining things... This isn't real...' the diplomat continued telling himself, as he slowly turned his head to the side and up.
"You have no idea how much work you saved me!" the Sangv'dhinaes spoke with a smile, patting him on the shoulder. "You soldiers really deserve to be Bwovn's elites. I'm impressed, really!"
The Emperor's Blades tightened their grips on their swords, looking at the Sangv'dhinaes.
"How... How are you..."
The Emperor's Blades launched at him. The kalzraak smiled, leaping backwards. One Emperor's Blade got right in front of him, cutting halfway through his neck. But instead of crying in pain, the Sangv'dhinaes' smile widened, as his blood retracted inside his body and his wound closed in an instant.
"What the..." the Emperor's Blade spoke, stunned. With a simple, near instantaneous swipe of his hand, the Sangv'dhinaes cut through the soldier's chest plate and made an extremely small cut on the soldier's chest. The soldier smiled. "It's gonna take much more than that to–"
The soldier's body exploded like a balloon of blood, splashing everywhere across the room. The diplomat looked at the scene, frozen, unable to believe what had happened.
"You monster! You'll pay for that!" another Emperor's Blade screamed, attacking the Sangv'dhinaes. The kalzraak smiled once again, throwing some of his blood in the soldier's face. "What the..."
The soldier's body exploded just like the other one, reduced to nothing but stains on the walls.
"This is getting boring," the Sangv'dhinaes said, making a hand sign. In an instant, the rest of the Emperor's Blades suffered the same fate as the previous ones, without even coming into contact with him yet.
For a few seconds, a rain of blood fell in the room, until it made its way onto the ground, adding to the pool. The diplomat was petrified. He turned his body towards the Sangv'dhinaes, shaking incomprehensibly.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." the diplomat spoke.
"I know you are," the Sangv'dhinaes said with a soft smile, looking at him. "Come on, run away. I'm feeling generous today."
"Y... Yes! Right away!"
The diplomat immediately got on his feet, running towards the doors leading to the corridor. But right before he reached the doors, he felt a small cut on the back of his neck, no more painful than the sting of a bee.
'I must have known he wouldn't…'
The diplomat's body exploded.
The Sangv'dhinaes looked calmly around the room, his eyes landing back on the treaty.
"What a useless piece of trash..."
The took the treaty and crumpled it in his hand, before throwing it in the pool of blood from the ground. He then stepped down from the podium, casually walking away, passing by the diplomat's blood stain near the door, and leaving the room.
The twelve members attacked Ili all at once. Theresis was the first to strike, aiming at around her chest. But suddenly, the girl vanished.
"What the..."
From behind another man, Ili appeared, hitting him at the back of the neck with the side of her palm. The man fell on the ground, not moving anymore. Another man tried to attack her, but Ili jumped over his sword, kicking him in the chest with both her feet. The others launched at her, ready to attack, but she vanished once again.
As they quickly turned around, preparing for her reappearance, Ili appeared right in the same place she was before. Another two men fell to the ground before they even realized she reappeared.
"Get back!" Theresis shouted to his other men, looking at the girl with a cold expression. "I will take care of her."
Theresis took out a small glass bottle with a dark liquid in it. He flicked open the cork, before quickly raising the bottle to his mouth.
He felt a sharp pain, as the liquid didn't even get to touch his mouth. His hand fell to the ground, along with the bottle, which shattered as it touched the cold stone of the roof. He turned his eyes up to the girl, with hatred, holding his bleeding stump. "What did you do?!"
Before he could react, Ili tripped him and put him to the ground, with her sword pointed at his neck.
"It's not worth it," she said softly.
The anger in Theresis's face only grew. "What are you doing?! Kill her!"
His surprise grew as well as he looked around, seeing all of his other men on the ground, motionless.
Ili kicked the remaining liquid away with her foot from the ground. She went to the edge of the building, looking over at the demons that were approaching the people trapped inside the city. Her sword was completely clean, without a drop of blood on it.
"How did..." Theresis wanted to speak or attack, but a thing was clear to him. He lost. He clenched his teeth from the pain of his severed hand.
"Stay here and take care of your bleeding hand, so that you don't die from blood loss." Ili spoke softly, not even turning to face him.
Theresis chuckled, getting on his back, looking towards the sky. "What would even be the point... I failed..."
Theresis turned his head to the side, to look at Ili, but she was already gone. He turned to the other side, looking at his bleeding arm. Next to it, there was a small roll of bandages and cloth. Theresis let out a soft chuckle, before relaxing his body, turning his head towards the sky. He closes his eyes, calming his breath.
"Ayana... My love... It seems we'll meet again sooner than I thought... In the New World... I hope you can forgive me... For all I've done in your absence... I hope you'll understand..."
Ili felt her chest tighten all of a sudden. She looks back at the building she left from, as she felt his mana fade away... A tear fell down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it with her sleeve. This wasn't the time for it... She clenched her sword tighter, turning back towards the direction of the demons. Without a second thought, she started running. She wasn't going to let any innocent people die... Not anymore...