Asya's claws extended silently. Her eyes trained on the back of the demon king in front of her.
Her mind imagined numerous ways to kill Lief.
Should she strike him from the back, plunge her claws and grab his beating heart, then teleport back to her cave? Or should she slowly enjoy a one-on-one battle where both of them could kill each other until there's only one standing?
She exhaled as smoke curled out through her parted red lips. Her blood was graving for action. Adrenaline burst out all over her lithe body and rushed to her ears, turning her eyes bloody.
Fuck plans. She's ending this in a blink of an eye. When her thoughts settled down, eyes trained on Lief's unguarded back, she attacked. Her claws stabbed right through flesh as if she was cutting butter. Or so she thought she should have done.
None of those happened.
In fact, she never moved at all.
Stuck in the same position with her claws out in the open. Confused, she tried it again, then again, but she remained where she was. Something had stopped her. A force she could not comprehend yet.
Before she could guess what it was, the old magician's spell was completed.
It shimmered brightly like an eyesore. When she carefully read the writings on the runes, she realized it was a summoning spell. Based on the layers upon layers of runes of the old magician and his minions who backed him up, something humongous was about to tear right through their runes and out into the mortal world.
"Sven, escort Lady Asya out of this area, will you?" Lief said without turning to look at them. "Some magicians seem to desire for my attention, might as well play with them."
Sven rolled his eyes in exasperation, but he nodded like a good servant and grabbed Asya's forearm, saying, "Let's go."
Was she supposed to just say 'Okay' like a meek, obedient woman? Was this their way of protecting a lady, pulling her away from the danger zone? She snorted. She did not need protecting. Not now, when some strange phenomenon was halting her from completing her mission.
Besides, the one who needed protecting was the small-horned Sven.
Shrugging Sven's hand from her arm, she spun to face him and grabbed his collar, then flung him like a rag up into the sky before he could realize what was happening. All it took was a second. The servant demon disappeared in the sky with his mouth agape.
Then a powerful burst of energy tore the air, and a strong gust of wind slammed against them. She brought her arms up like a shield. The blast was too strong and prevalent, it could demolish buildings like a wrathful hurricane. But Asya had no trouble staying on her spot, unmovable. Although she's not allowed to access old magic, her physical prowess was enough to level a mountain and protect her from these kinds of events.
Not so with the other magicians hidden in the spaces who were torn out of their hiding. Their bodies could not hold against the roaring wind that they got slammed into trees and Asya heard the telltale breaking of bones, some smashed into boulders and others were chucked out into the sky.
Asya blinked through the sharp wind and glanced where Lief had been standing. No, not had been, more like, is standing. Yes, the demon king still stood on his feet, watching the spectacle as though the hurricane was nothing more than a breeze dancing erratically around him. For some reason, this irritated her.
Then the wind stopped.
Uprooted trees and shrubs littered the ground. The blue sky was right in the open, no more thick foliages to shade their trail.The place was no longer a forest, but a dead clearing. At the center, a humongous nine-headed beast stood tall and proud. A hydra. The old magician and his minions stood on top of the hydra's nine-heads.
Asya was terribly confused.
How did a magician summon one of the gods of darkness's pets? The hydra that slithered its long necks in curiousity at its surrounding was one of the Guardians of the Underworld. And only the god of destruction could summon them, not to mention tame the fucking menace.
Had she been asleep for too long she did not realize there had been a change of rules in the Seven Realms? And what were those three gods fucking idiots doing? Were they even aware of this?
Asya fumed because the answer was obvious. The three gods wanted entertainment. And here was the perfect candidate for it. Narrowing her eyes, she snuck a glance around her, looking for three scrooges.
Absent. Not a smoke of them were here.
But it won't be long before they got a whiff of their pet's presence in the mortal world. She need to get out of this melee before they would arrive at the scene.
"Hydra of the God of Destruction will be your demise, demon king!" the old magician shouted on top of his lungs. Asya was hoping he would croak then and there. Or even a heart attack would suffice. If only she could teleport, everything would be done in seconds.
However, he wasn't her target.
It was the demon king who never moved a single muscle ever since, coolly gazing at the immortal creature whose muzzles were pulled back, showcasing long sharp teeth and smoke curled out from their mouth. The only way to incapacitate these beasts was fire. Not any random fire, but the eternal burning flame of the devil. Not even dragon breath could burn these monsters.
Asya ignored the creature and the old magician. She had a mission to accomplish. To kill Lief of the Valkyri Clan.
Having seen Lief unperturbed by the roaring wind earlier, which caused HER to raise her arms to keep herself from being blown away, she knew Lief did not just wear the title of demon king for no reason.
He was the most powerful demon among his kind.
She had to change her tactics in subduing him. Claws would do nothing. Her magic was out of the question. One on one combat was the only answer. But there was something she must try first.
Grabbing a sharp pole of wood that littered the ground, she did not waste time to throw it with all her might at the demon king. If she were an average dragon, she wouldn't have been able to trace the wooden spear with how fast it whizzed through the air and struck the demon on the back right through the heart and skewered him on the ground like a rag.
None of those happened.
Again.
As she looked down to her hand, the long, sharp wood was still in her grip.
Her blood turned cold. A dreadful realization punched her hard in the face. The pit of her stomach spasmed as she came upon a terrifying conclusion about this strange phenomenon.
She can't kill the demon king. Not here, not now or ever.
The Horn Locking did more than bond her to him for eternity. It locked their fate together, and it won't allow any physical harming.
"We, Saram Magicians, will be your end!"
Asya's heartbeat thudded erratically, uncontrollable. Boiling frustration rushed in her veins, turning her vision red. What have she done?
"Come, demon king, let's fight to death!"
Had she walked past the point of no return? Her head throbbed. If she won't release this massive ball of fury and confusion building up in her chest, she was sure to turn into a monster herself.
"Cower in the face of death!"
Asya's arm flung the wooden spear with all her might, bursting with frustration. It hit the mark head on in a blink of an eye, passing through flesh and bursting into pieces, shredding the torso of its target.
The old magician blinked as if he was waking up from a pleasurable dream, and slowly looked down to his chest. A massive hole gaped at him. Torn veins spurted out fresh blood, spraying everywhere. Realization hit him, but he crumpled down like a puppet whose strings were cut off.
"YOU WERE SAYING SOMETHING, YOU FUCKING BALL OF SHIT!? IF YOU CAME TO KILL, THEN CUT THE CRAP AND DO YOUR FUCKING JOB PROPERLY!"
She huffed as her chest rose and fell from exerting too much energy by shouting at the top of her lungs.
An intense pair of eyes grabbed her attention.
Lief was staring at her with a lop-sided grin on his sexy lips. She couldn't look away again. But the rage inside her suddenly calmed down, exchanged with something that made her heart pulse erratically.