Lilith pushed herself to her feet, her sword now freed from its holster and in her hand. She was furious. I saw her beginning to walk down the pathway before I jumped to my feet and grabbed her.
"Lilith, wait!" I gripped her arm and tried to pull her back, but she didn't budge.
"Why are you stopping me?" She coldly asked, her gaze turned to me. Her left eye now red. "Weren't you supposed to help me kill him?"
"Y-yes, but think! Didn't you hear what he just said?" I didn't really want this to escalate to that, that would cause much more problems.
"I heard, and so what? You believe it?"
"Well think about this, we killed a demon trying to kill Chris, right?" Lilith paused for a moment, looking down when I said that. "We basically stopped a plan that was supposed to be completed, Lady Marika is probably pissed at King Lucian and wants him killed now!" Somehow, this idea was making more sense than what arael told me.
Actually…Arael didn't tell me about this at all. That bitch intentionally left shit out! Like she always does. Now she has to explain what the hell was happening. The fact that she intended me to stall Issac so that Lucian would die is insane to me. if that plan proceeded to happen, issac would've been executed here. But I'm not even sure if that'll happen. I don't even know what to believe right now.
"Are you saying we caused this?" Lilith finally turned to me, it seemed her anger was dying out. Her breath is getting more normal.
"I'm…afraid so." Lilith looked conflicted now. I guess her mind was split into two with what she needed to focus on. Killing her dad or perhaps saving a king.
As much as I'd love to make my promise to her true, killing her dad would not accomplish anything if two kings end up dead. Plus, I don't even know if she is capable of fighting him. Who knows what the hell He is capable of.
"Can I trust you enough?" She asked. It didn't seem like her dragon was powering down. "If you really believe we caused this…I'll let my father slide this one time."
"R-really?" I was stunned by what she said. Did..did she push her own goals aside for the better?
She pointed a finger at me though. "I'm only doing this because of you…" There was a frown on her face. "If you weren't here and I saw him…" she trailed off. Lilith then holstered her shortsword. She seemed to have calmed down now, though her eye was still activated.
I didn't expect Lilith to not jump for the opportunity…well she did, but she stopped herself for me. Some point later on, I gotta give this girl something for having that much self control…maybe a big ass basket of pastel.
"I guess our dance is called off now then since this just happened." I awkwardly said. Lilith was still frowning.
"I'm still mad at you." Lilith scoffed. "Made me lose my chance to kill him."
"Ugh…if it makes it any better, you can punch m-aaoogh!" Lilith sent a fist into my stomach, causing me to collapse.
Yeah…She's still angry.
"A-alright…D-did you get that out of your system?"
"I got a lot to take out…" Lilith said in a monotone voice. "But I'm not taking it out on you. Except for the one you asked me." She turned around. "I'll take it out on whatever is going to kill Lucian, if that even happens."
That Dragon eye of hers really does change her attitude and strength. I feel every time I come against her in that form, my life is in jeopardy.
There was a moment of pause before Lilith turned back and then lifted me to my feet, gently patting my stomach. "Sorry though if that hurt too much…" I guess she had some of her gentle side with her still.
As we made our way down the pathway, the density of the trees and bushes spreaded out. Revealing the back side of the university. Here there was a large open clearing. At the end of the clearing, there was a large wall which separates the university ground from whatever was on the other side, presumably the Residential district. Really wish I explored that area of the District…
It was quiet. Very quiet. I held onto my staff tightly. I sort of forgot that it was on my back this whole time until now.
"Lilith, do you see anyone?" I whispered to her. We were walking towards the center of the clearing. There wasn't anyone here?
"No…are you sure we should believe whatever he said?"
"Well…I mean, King Lucian isn't here…" Perhaps I misheard what Liliths dad said? No, I heard it clearly and loudly. So what the hell was happening?
Standing in the middle of the clearing, I looked back at the university. The windows were shining light, I could hear the noises coming from inside of it. People cheering and the band playing their music. Everyone inside was having fun…
"Hey! Kota!" Lilith hissed out. My attention then averted to the clearing again. This time across from us. On the other side of the clearing, rustling noises came from that direction. Lilith put herself in front of me, her hand tightly wrapped around the grips of her sword.
I held my staff up, ready to cast anything at whatever came out of the bushes ahead of us. However…
"What are you two doing here?" That same cold voice spoke. Out stepped a somewhat tall man. Silver hair fluttered in the air as he pushed his way out of the bush. There were no emotions on the man's face. His eyes glowed a yellow color as he now stood clear of the bushes.
His attire was that of a white trench coat. Fur ran across the collar of the coat. This seemed to be attire for the winter time. He had black winter boots that were dirty.
What was more disturbing though…was what was in the man's hand. In his left hand, he held what I presumed was a head of sorts, its long ears and teeth resembled that of a bat. Blood dripped out from underneath it. It was clear that somehow, it's head was ripped clean off.
Did…did he kill the demon on his own? He didn't even have a weapon on him, I noticed his right hand was clenched and bloodied as well. I felt the hair on my neck raise as I felt his eyes pierced me. Once I looked back up to his face, there was a grimace look he gave me.
This…was Emmit Esheram.
"What are you two DOING here?" He repeated the question. Sounding more irritated. Before I could respond, Lilith spoke first.
"I'd ask the same about you…Dad." Her voice seems much calmer than I expected. But I could hear the anger mixed in as well. She was obviously doing her best to hold the anger in. Her free hand clenched until her knuckles were white.
Emmit raised his head, tilting it slightly. It was like he was observing Lilith as his eyes squinted. Lilith took on a defensive stance, her hand raised in front of me. Emmit raised an eyebrow as he finally recognized her. Still, he retained that cold look as he spoke.
"Lilith…Didn't expect you to be here. You should be in Shanford…" There was a hint of puzzleness to his words. Did he really think she wouldn't leave Shanford? "You aren't going to attack me?"
Lilith stayed silent, but I can see that she was ready to attack him at any moment. As much as she wanted to, she held herself. Emmit looked with curiosity before he focused on me.
"Hmph, curious. Maybe you can answer for me." Emmit went back to his original question. "What are you two doing here?"
Ok, First impressions of this guy….He is scary. The way his eyes stare at you makes it feel like he knows all the things about you. Even with his somewhat average attire and the fact he had no weapon…he gave off an aura. An Aura that felt like it was pushing me down. If we got into a fight with this guy right now…we'd lose. No…we'd be killed in an instance. It's best to be honest with him…or least mostly honest.
"We came here to stop King Lucian's death." Emmit gave me a long stare before sighing.
"Mr.Rabidawg is fine. My goal today was to have the two talk about Lady Marika…" He studied me more, he took a glance at the staff I had in my hands. "…Who gave you that?"
I stared awkwardly at my staff. "Uh…My parents?"
"Who are they?"
"…Synthia and Gerald."
"No, Wrong." Emmit frowned. "Gerald and Synthia only have a daughter."
"What?" Lilith said, confused. "Kota was Born in their home." She raised her sword, but Emmit paid no mind to it. His focus was still on me. "What the hell makes you think he isn't a part of their family?"
"…say…"Emmit slowly continued. He tilted his head down a bit. I felt my heartbeat in my ear, they were blaring and loud. I felt cold sweats on my back.
"…Does the Name Arael mean anything to you?"
My eyes widened as I took a step back. I almost choked from the air from sudden shock. How…How the fuck does he know of her? Is he the guy she was talking about?
"Who guided you here?" Emmit Persisted. "Was it you that stopped Chris's death?" He took a step forward.
"Stay there!" Lilith yelled, now taking on a Fire King style stance. "You're damn right we saved Chris!"
"No, Lilith!" I yelled. This guy was a bad case! How in the fuck was I suppose to know Lilith dad was the fucking person Arael was talking about?!
Emmit eyed Lilith, not even looking ready to fight. His demeanor was that of someone who has seen it all, unimpressed.
"The Lilith I know hadn't learned any of the styles. Reckless…Violent. Still, you hold that anger towards me." Emmit dropped the head he was carrying on the ground, placing a foot forward. "Come."
What did he mean by that? The Lilith he knows?
"Hrrraaargh!" Lilith screamed. With no precautions, she bolted at Her father with lightning speed. I could barely make it out before I saw the impact. It was a massive shockwave that rang through the clearing, dirt flew up and obscured my vision as I tried to see what was happening.
Once the dirt had settled, I saw that Lilith had struck Emmit's hand. Not even scratching him at all. The man held her shortsword with just the tip of his right hand fingers touching the blade of it. He then raised his left one and held it open towards Lilith.
"Counter." He simply said. Then, a sudden blast of sorts knocked Lilith back towards me. She rolled and flipped her way to the ground, ripping her outfit and dirtying her hair before she laid on the ground. She was gasping and holding her stomach, as if he was punched. She was going to be out for a while.
This is bad. This is really bad! That's literally the first time I've seen Lilith get knocked down that hard. If she's getting knocked like that, I'm fucking dead!
"Those who follow that witch's guidance are sent down a path of death and suffering. Not only for themselves but others." A voice said close to me. I turned my attention to what was In front of me, Emmit was standing tall in front of me. How the fuck did he get here that fast?
"Now answer me. Do you serve Arael?"
I felt my heart thump hard, my breathing grew heavier as I simply crawled back from him. My body was on fight or flight right now! I couldn't say anything about Arael since she told me to not specifically say or tell anyone about her. But the fact this man knew about her and asked me about it made me sure that he was the one she was talking about.
"Answer me, Boy. She cannot harm you in this world."
"Huh?" I looked at him in disbelief. She can't…Hurt me here? Well, actually that made sense. This was the physical world.
"Arael is not capable of hurting here, nor can she do so in the Abyss." Emmit explained.
The abyss…That the white space I was in. Wait, how does he know that too?
"H-h-how do you know these things?!" I said in a panicked manner. Perhaps I shouldn't have said it like that. As Emmit didn't respond. His face grew more intense. With a sudden movement, he grabbed my neck. Wringing me up in the air.
"Hgn! Gack!" I struggled to pry his finger off my neck. I dropped my staff onto the ground as I started to fight for my life.
"I do not tell the Puppets of that witch anything. Your purpose to her is for her own greed." Emmit said in a deathly tone. "You're nothing but a play toy for her." He raised his free hand, looking as if he was ready to impale me.
"When you die, tell Arael I'll destroy he-." Before he could finish his sentence, Lilith came in from the side and kicked him with all her might. The impact caused him to let go of me, having me drop back to the ground gasping.
"Kota! Kota! Are you ok?!" Lilith asked urgently, she looked at me with concern as I rubbed my neck. She was still holding her stomach from the pushback Emmit did.
"Y-yeah…Jesus…" I was almost killed there. And for what? Because I said the wrong thing? No, I think he would've killed me anyway if I answered. The words 'Play toy' echoed in my mind. I recalled when Arael seemed to have thought that this was all a game to her. A sort of fun time for her to watch.
I was always suspicious of Arael when I first met her. Her playful attitude and goals were things that reminded me of someone who thought this was a game of sorts. Her lack of description or usage of vagueness always ticked me off. Because now I'm stuck with trying to deal with Liliths dad and potentially dying.
"Why do you protect the boy, Lilith?" Emmit voice raised up. From the dust in the ground, Emmit stood tall, unscathed.
Lilith didn't say anything but she positioned herself in front of me again. Once again, she took on the Fire King style stance. Though she made it look like she was ready to fight again, I could tell that she was trembling. I think she knew we weren't capable of beating him.
Emmit looked at her with curiosity. "You choose to protect the boy rather than fight me, that isn't you…"
"Shut it!" Lilith barked back. "You don't know me! You left mom! You left me! And now you want to try and kill Kota! That makes me even more pissed!" Lilith's left eye glowed an even darker red.
Emmit seemed taken aback from her response. It was clear that this wasn't what he expected to hear from her. What did he expect?
"…You've grown." Emmit slowly said. Lilith looked at him with confusion.
"Huh? What do you mean by tha-Ack!" Suddenly, Emmit blinked right in front of Lilith-No, he walked to her at such speeds it almost seemed like he did. Then, he palmed her with his right hand. The impact of it sent her flying across the clearing into the nearby trees, slamming her into one of them. The force of it snapped the tree, causing it to fall.
"Hah! Lilith!" I yelled. As I looked on to the trees, I saw Lilith laying motionless at the trunk of the broken tree.
"Why are you here? What did Arael send you to do?" Emmit looked on at me. "None of you should've been here. I'm not even sure why you saved Chris that day…"
"What?!"
"You won't understand." Emmit raised his hand. "Those under Arael never do. Every action you've done has distorted everything." His tone was cold and merciless.
Shit, he's walking closer to me. I need to maintain distance from this guy. I can't die here!
"Hrragh!" With much effort from me, I casted a wind spell that blasted me back from Emmit. The spell also hit him, causing him to be pushed back a few meters. Tumbling on the ground, I recovered and stumbled to my feet.
I need to slow him, I need to do anything I can to just stall him. At this point, I guess my task was messed up. Lucian is alive and probably talking with Sir issac. But if Emmit is telling the truth, then perhaps Issac won't kill Lucian. I don't know. My Brain is just focusing on living!
"Hrngh, silent casting…Did Arael give you that?" Emmit brushed himself off. "What were your goals here, today? To kill Lucian?"
"I only came out here because I heard of Issac killing Lucian!" As I said that, I casted a earth spell. Two large slabs of the earth formed beside Emmit and smashed together. But I knew that's Wouldn't slow him down as I saw immediately that the slabs were cracking.
"Fuck it!" I aimed my staff at Emmit. I don't care who was telling the truth. Arael or Emmit. I just wanted to live a fucking normal life, I got forced into this! I don't care if Arael finds out I failed this. If it's enough for her to leave me alone, I'm fine with that! I am not dying tonight!
I imagined a bomb, a huge bomb. One that could explode a whole mountain. A mushroom shape flashed in my imagination as I channeled my mana into the staff. A fireball conjured at the end of my staff, the heat of it searing my hands as it got hotter and hotter. The color of the flames changed from red to Orange until it finally culminated into a hellish purple color. The floor around me began to burn up, the grass burning as I saw the sleeves of my outfit burn.
In front of me, the two slabs of rock and dirt blew open. Emmit appeared from the debris looking at me with distaste.
"You'll kill everyone here, you know that? A spell of that magnitude would wipe this kingdom off the face of this world." He continued walking to me. "Was this your goal? Arael sent you here to burn this kingdom out of her own curiosity!?" He placed his left hand in front of him.
"Dragon Shield: Hades." He commanded. Suddenly a red dragon slithered out of the sleeves of his coat, its green eyes glowing as it stared at the fireball spell I casted. Its red scales and yellow whiskers seemed out of this world.
"Do it!" Emmit yelled. "Let's see how the pawn of Arael does!"
I gritted my teeth. Shut up about Arael! Shut up!
"God damn it! I just wanted a normal fucking life!" I yelled as I fired the spell. In a blink, the Purple fireball flashed across the clearing. A trail of fire gushing out of it as sparks of flames peppered the clearing.
The fireball blasted right at emmit, who stood there calmly. As the fireball was about to impact him, the red dragon slithered out and opened its mouth. The fireball hit the dragon, its flames surging as it was about to explode. However, something was wrong. The red dragon seemed to be engulfing the flames, it's jaw wide open as the flames of the fireball slithered into its mouth.
"Hm, your magic is strong…Strong like Duvul's. I should compliment you on your magic skill. However…" as Emmit spoke those words, I saw the fireball I made was slowly diminishing, being sucked into the dragon. "Sandra, do your thing."
"Huh?" I heard a noise. A crackling noise behind me. Once I turned around, it was too late for me as I felt the currents of electricity hit me in the stomach. What the hell was hitting me?
"S-sorry kid." I heard. As I was being shocked, I painfully looked down to see…a taser? And something else was odd. This person was speaking English.
Once the person tugged the taser away, I found myself laying on the ground, struggling to get up. Pain coursed through my body as I looked up.
It was Kagami…No, it was whoever Emmit said their Real name was. Sandra.
The taser in her hands crackled before she turned it off and opened her cloak, revealing a purse and a dagger. Underneath this cloak was a fur coat and a skimpy looking skirt…I've seen this somewhere… Her right eye glowed a red color just like Lilith's.
"Y-your from…ack!" I tried to say, but the pain stopped me.
Sandra looked at me with dismay. "From before? Yes. I was out scouting for Emmit when I found you." She leaned closer to me, examining me. "Hmph, glad I found you. Or else who knows what you might've done today."
"I-I…"
"What? Look, I don't know what you were planning. What this…Arael being told you. But it's wrong." She leaned close to me. "All of it. She's the reason I'm here. And the reason why I can't go back home."
Something clicked in Me. It was Like a long lost memory finally opening. I remember where I saw this person. Way before the festival, way before I was born here.
"Y-you…B-bridge…" I muttered out in English.
"What?" Sandra looked at me in confusion. Her eyes darted around, looking into my eyes and the ground. "H-how…are you…?"
"Enough." I heard Emmit. "This is it." I felt a hand grab the collar of my shirt. Emmit turned me around, to face him. I found myself dangling in the air. Emmit stared at me coldly as he raised his hand once more to pierce me.
I…This is it. I'm done here. All because some goddess asked me to do her bidding. I ended up having Lilith get hurt…Shit, I didn't even get to have that dance I promised her. And I failed Sarah's Promise. God damn it. I kept on looking at Emmit as he readied to strike me.
With a single jab, Emmit's hand pierced through my chest. I tried to make a noise, but only blood sputtered out of my mouth as he pulled his hand out of me. Blood gushed out as Emmit dropped me to the ground, I crumpled to the ground and laid in my own blood that pooled out.
"Arael will know who sent you back." I heard Emmit say, I felt my vision blur and my body go numb. I couldn't even feel the pain from my chest as I looked on at where Lilith lay motionless.
The sound of footsteps were the only things I heard before I heard Sandra speak. It all began to fade out, only some of her words I could hear as I began to close my eyes. The sound of a spell being casted rang and the cold air hit me. They were leaving, their business done for now.
"Hey…Kid…know him…Perhaps…" was all I heard before everything went blank.
There was no noise. No nothing. There was just a void.
A/N: Well…An unexpected end. Everything from now on until the last chapter will be ramped up with chaos. There is Two more Chapter for this Volume that I will do. And there is still more shocks to be given. Hope you enjoy this More action and shocking Chapter!