The villagers backed away.
Silas swallowed.
"The ones he's looking for? Don't tell me you—" the young boy blurted out in surprise.
"I what?"
Silas took a breath and asked a question.
"W-Who are you talking about?"
A bluff...
...Far too stupid.
"It's too late to play dumb, come on... I'm talking about Master Sentios, of course. And you already seem to know him..." replied the succubus cheerfully but mischievously.
Around them, even the leaves suddenly stopped rustling. It was as if the mere mention of that name had just extinguished the world.
Lumiona's face softened, and her eyes lit up when she uttered that name.
...A little too much.
There was a gentle but unstable flame in the half-succubus's facial expression, a strange mixture oscillating between deep melancholy, pride and extreme joy.
Like a mother talking about her child... who is no longer there.
"...My master-liberator." She added.
As she said this, her tone vibrated with sombre gratitude. A gratitude that did not resemble that of a disciple, but that of a creature shaped, reshaped, broken and then rebuilt.
"You... You... You know... that guy?" Mireille suddenly managed to say with difficulty.
The servant, still panting, seemed to be still affected by the mist and the visions, but now appeared significantly less weakened.
The wind, or at least what was left of it, slipped between them, laden with whispers that were most likely only in their heads.
Or maybe not...
But Mimi didn't want to think about it. It would have been far too terrifying.
Lumi smiled warmly again.
"Of course, I know him. In fact, I owe him everything I have. He is the one who helped me become who I am. The one who taught me to bend the mists. To play with consciousness."
She paused for a moment and sighed again, her voice becoming melancholic as she shot a murderous glance at the men from the hamlet.
"...To purify the world of its injustices."
Lumi suddenly shook her head, as if to chase away old, bad thoughts.
"But whatever."
Her smile widened after that. Then it tightened again, until it disappeared completely.
"So you're one of the "chosen ones", then? You're a carrier?"
Silas paled.
The succubus raised her hand.
"Hmm. Come, step closer... I want to see what you're worth."
The mist immediately closed in on him, too, condensing into a living, oppressive cage, filled with hungry whispers.
***
"NO!"
Mireille sprang between them, screaming.
Lumiona's fingers closed around the servant's throat, but Mimi managed to slice through the air with her weapon, thanks to a precise feint.
She struck. And she hit her mark.
Lumiona's milky skin was streaked with a scarlet mark.
The succubus froze. Then, very slowly, she wiped away the drop of blood that was flowing.
The silence that followed was so heavy that even the men behind them held their breath... as if they had just witnessed a sacrilege.
"My blood?!" she said in a tone in which surprise crept in, which almost seemed foreign.
The demoness tasted the blood and smiled.
"Well... It's been a long time since I've been hurt!"
Taking a deep breath, she moved towards the servant.
"...For that, I thank you. You reminded me that..."
Then her expression hardened. Her eyes became two demonic slits. Something flashed in the depths of her gaze... an ancient, deep, almost personal hatred.
"...I hate being wounded."
The blow that followed was almost too fast for Mireille. The maid had no time to dodge it.
A burning violation of pain shot brutally into her side.
The sound of the impact echoed — sharp, violent — like a bone cracking or a branch breaking.
The Wrightons' maid rolled on the floor, gasping for breath, her vision blurred, the images still haunting her. The mist seemed to laugh in her ears.
She struggled to remain conscious. And Lumi knew it.
What followed was a barrage of pure violence.
Lumiona's blows were no longer human — not that they had been up to that point.
They were more precise, methodical, almost surgical.
A truly monstrous dance.
Mimi parried, dodged, jumped back, but the succubus was a storm, a hurricane of mist and demonic flesh.
One blow struck her in the chest.
Another in the shoulder.
Then a third broke through her guard and sent her rolling to the ground.
Mimi's blood stained the stones.
Silas screamed.
"Stop!"
The succubus obeyed. And stared at him.
Her eyes, a gloomy purple, widened. A smirk returned to her lips, mischievously marking the features of her slender face.
"Oh! You care for her..."
As she spoke, Lumi advanced slowly, menacingly, one step at a time. Her feet barely touched the ground, as if the mist itself were carrying her.
"…What a shame." She continued, her tone somewhere between melancholy and disgust.
Then Lumiona raised her hand.
She was about to strike.
"Mimi!" Silas shouted.
When he saw his friend, his mentor, his everyday companion — for years now — collapsed, her side and half her body covered in blood, reduced to a pitiful state, something inside him broke.
An indescribable pain that came from no wound.
At least, not in the body... But in the soul.
The young boy then felt something emerge within him.
A light. A pain. A memory that wasn't really a memory.
The jade pendant then pulsed deeply.
Once.
Then a second time.
And a third one again.
The air changed.
The temperature seemed to rise.
The mist curled up like a wounded animal.
A warm, luminous breath rose up Silas's arm, filled his chest, and then reached his mind — like foreign traces from a life that was not his own.
He unconsciously raised his hand. He was not in control; it was something else that controlled him.
All the young nobleman had in mind was simply the wish to protect his friend.
...And he was willing to do anything to fulfil that wish.
The mist contracted in fear.
Lumiona also took a step back, surprised.
The green glow surrounding the boy spread like a wave.
The mist screamed.
The succubus backed away further, her eyes bulging, screaming too.
Splinters of black smoke escaped from her skin, burned by the jade light.
"What the—" she growled.
Silas couldn't hear her anymore. He couldn't see anything except Mimi lying on the ground.
At that precise moment, some kind of primal instinct guided his arm.
His mother's sceptre — which he hadn't even realised he had drawn — glowed with green runes, and the light concentrated into a single point.
...Then it burst forth.
A ray shot out, pure, brutal, silent.
It struck Lumiona squarely in the chest.
She screamed in pain...
Real pain.
The half-succubus was thrown several metres backwards, her body trembling, paralysed by the energy crackling around her.
The mist around them suddenly dissipated for a full three metres, pushed back by a living breath that blew the fog away like smoke from a torch.
Then silence fell.
Silas blinked. His hand was shaking.
...And his body gave way.
He felt his heart slow down, and his vision blurred.
Then everything went black.
"Silas!" Mimi screamed, struggling to get up.
Unfortunately for the devoted servant, she did not reach her master in time.
The young man collapsed, unconscious, the sceptre rolling out of his hand.
Lumiona was wounded, smoking, paralysed...
But she was still smiling.
A maniacal smile, indicating that this fight was far from over.
So she tried to isolate herself in the mist...