Claire unsheates her sword and points it at me.
"I remember you."
I pull my sword from the assassins body and ready myself to fight her.
"I have no reason to exchange any words with you human."
she goes into longpoint guard and replies.
"that's a big shame, I really wanted to conversate with the only Demon who caused me trouble in a fight."
I swing at her and after our swords clash after she
blocking my strike, she says.
"I guess it's all business just like last time."
I swing my sword at her a couple of more times, but she blocks them, and at my last swing that she block, I get kicked away from her, I then make a comment.
"it seems that you have gotten faster with swinging that longsword of yours."
she chuckles.
"you aren't too shabby yourself, you've managed to keep me on the defense."
she sighs.
"but unfortunately I can't afford to waste anymore time playing with you."
she swings the sword around her quickly, creating
a visible whirlwind sucking in various small knick knacks and decorations, I then think to myself.
"this is new she didn't so this last time."
my sword hoping that it penetrates the whirlwind but it bounces off onto to floor, she then stops spinning and instantly closes the distance between us, and because of my heightened Demon senses I barely manage to roll out of the way as she thrusts with her longsword with so much force that all the items she sucked in with her whirlwind blasts various holes into the walls, I then push her away and quickly pick up my sword, she looks at me baffled that I was unharmed with that attack.
"you don't fight like the other demons."
she looks at my forehead and asks.
"are you a Demon-Human or a pureblooded Demon."
I reply.
"I'm pure blooded of course."
she returns to her longpoint guard stance and replies.
"that is strange, you don't have the bulky build that the typical Demon has or any horns."
I respond.
"I was born weak and with long horns, but Mistress Isabelle had them removed for me and I had to work my ass off and prove to everyone that she didn't make a mistake taking me in."
she sighs.
"that's too bad, if you were a Demon-Human I would have tried to reach into your inner humanity and fight that tainted demon blood."
I grin.
"yes it's a real shame for you, since you will die here by my hands."
I then think to myself.
"if I kill her, Mistress Isabelle's power will increase when she consumes her."
I then say to her.
"well I guess it's time for me to show you another skill of mine."
I quickly close in to perform a series of spinning upward slashes, and she struggles to block each strike but I don't let up and follow up with an additional series of downward slashes, in which on of the slashes grazes her, and she falls on her buttocks, she quickly gets up and returns back to her longpoint guard stance, breathing in and out, already looking tired with trying to keep up my
with my sword dancing skills, she says.
"you've improved way beyond from last time."
I reply.
"I need to become stronger, if I want to fulfill Mistress Isabelle's goal."
she asks humoring me.
"what is her goals? complete destruction of humanity?"
I answer.
"believe it or not she doesn't desire the destruction of humanity."
what I said seems to interest her and she asks.
"if she doesn't desire that, then what is her endgame."
I respond.
"we want to overthrow that foolish Demon King Lucious and once we have her in power the fate of humanity will be serving us Demons as slaves."
she chuckles.
"doesn't sound pleasant, but I guess it's better than the alternative."
she then asks.
"why can't we just go back in time where humans and demons coexisted for a millennium."
he growl at her.
"your stupid human kings started this war, indiscriminately killing innocent demons and destroying demon villages."
I stop and ask.
"for what? for resources?"
I growl again.
"if anything Mistress Isabelle's plans for humanity is an act of kindness and a mercy."
she replies.
"I'm sorry to hear that, I truly sympathize with how you feel, but I can't allow humanity to fall into the fate of demons."
she charges up to attack, and is quickly surrounded by the whirlwind, I then think to myself.
"I don't know if she noticed but, my dancing strikes wasn't the only thing the made her tired, it was also that whirlwind skill she is using."
she stops and once again closes the gap between us almost instantly with the same forceful thrust, I stumble out of the way and quickly notice the slash mark on the side of my body armor, I then take a swing downwards behind her neck, but she blocks it and while our swords clash she twists her body around, and then swings her sword upward, I then feel something with here strength as she manages to disarm me and sends my sword flying away from me, my instincts kick in and while I push her away with my foot, I think to myself.
"she still had enough of force when she thrusted and used that to disarm me."
she chuckles.
"it's been fun my Demon friend, but I can't afford to waste anymore time with you."
she points her longsword upward and shouts.
"holy lightning."
the tip of her sword starts sparkling with lightning
and then it follows up with multiple lines of lightning strikes shooting in random directions, and no discernible pattern, making it hard to properly dodge them, but there is one slight misjudgement and as one of the lightning strikes is about to hit me, I shout.
"bloodlust."
I take the lighting strike head on with little effect on me, she chuckles.
"this is absurd, you've been fighting me this whole time and you weren't using bloodlust."
I reply.
"I don't like using bloodlust, I try to avoid using it whenever I can, but you got me to use it."
completely out of breathe and exhausted she says.
"this will not deter me from doing what needs to be done."
she looks at where my sword landed and asks.
"are you not going to grab that sword of yours?"
I slowly breathe in and out and reply with my speech slowed due to the bloodlust.
"that won't be necessary, as yours will suffice."
I charge her and she reacts by slashing at me, but since she has wasted energy earlier and because of the state of mind I'm in due to bloodlust, I evade each slash and grab her arm, I then force longsword loose from her grip and snatch it away from her, she falls flat on her back and is shocked at the amount of physical strength I'm displaying, she stands up and begins running away, I then think to myself.
"oh no you don't, I will not fail Mistress Isabelle."
I take a deep breath and lift it high above my head with both hands and throw it at her direction with as much force as I can muster, the longsword spins and flies towards her at an incredible speed and the moment the sword hits her in the back, a loud thump echoes through the hallway of the double stairway, she falls down to floor and yelps in pain, I then smile and stop using bloodlust.
"I got her."
as I approach her, she begins to crawl away, with one hand and the other hand she is holding something close to her chest, I then stomp on her
back, and she coughs up blood, I sigh.
"damn, that throw really damaged her."
I then kick her side so that she is facing me, and I see a stream of tears rolling down, I then finally notice what it was she was holding on to and it was just a normal looking necklace, I sigh.
"I thought it would be some amazing item that I could give to Mistress Isabelle, but it's just some worthless luxury item."
while still clutching the necklace, she asks struggling to breathe properly.
"can you make my death quick."
I pick up the longsword without hesitation, and just as I'm about to lift it high above me, her hands begins to glow with a bright white light from the stone attached to it, I then point the sword at her and ask.
"what is that necklace?"
still crying and clutching it, she answers.
"it is an item that has been passed down our family for generations."
I grin.
"then that necklace isn't as useless as I thought it was."
she pleads.
"kill me, but please don't take my necklace away."
I lay down my sword and use my hand to pry away the necklace from her, and she softly say.
"please don't."
in that moment while staring at light blue eyes her, a memory of my voice pleading.
"please don't."
echoes in my head, while clutching her necklace in my hand, I bang my head with the other and shout.
"what did you do to me!? get out of my head!"
I feel a couple of drops of tears fall from my eyes and then I sniffle.
"I demand you to get out of my head human!"
she looks at me with pity and says with a very weak voice.
"it means you feel bad for what your doing to me."
I wipe the tears from my eyes.
"feel bad?! ridiculous! I've killed many humans, you are no different from them!"
still looking at me with pity, she mumbles.
"you sure?"
I slam my fist on the ground and shout.
"Of course I'm sure! how would you know?!"
at this point she wasn't responding to me as she slouches forward with blood pouring out of her mouth, and I just yell repeatedly.
"what did you do to me! what did you do to me!"
I sit there staring at her dead body thinking to myself.
"this sinking feeling in my heart, I need to consult Mistress Isabelle, she'll know what Claire did to me."
after calming down a bit I look at my hand and stare at necklace with the stone attached to it that was still glowing brightly, and but as the seconds pass by, the light instantly turns dark, I sigh.
"that's weird why did it stop glowing?"
I shrug and put it around my neck and tuck it neatly inside my armor.
"I'll show it to Mistress Isabelle after she consumes Cla-."
I don't finish saying her name and just start making my towards her bedroom thinking to myself.
"she twisted my heart somehow, I need to see Mistress Isabelle, she will lift this heavy feeling in my heart."
I take a deep breathe and enter her bedroom and see that she is up and is already in her light blue corset dress skirt and her blue sorceress hat, and as I'm about to say something, she says.
"I assume the deed is done."
I kneel and bow my head.
"yes Mistress Isabelle, The Hero Claire Tromair is dead."
she looks at my face.
"why the long face my Dear Darius? this is what needs to be done if we want to take down the Demon King."
she then says.
"now stand up and lead me to her."
I stand up and as I escort her to where I left Claire's body, she asks.
"is something weighing on your heart?"
I respond.
"you could tell?"
she replies.
"of course it is written all over face, and if you need something to get off your chest, I'm here for you my Dear."
I sigh.
"before dying, she began crying and for some reason it had an effect on me."
I sniffle.
"she probably did something to mess with my head."
we arrive at Claire's body where she is still sitting down, slouched foward and Mistress Isabelle says.
"you are not going to like what I'm going to tell you, but I did it to protect you."
I ask.
"what is it Mistress Isabelle?"
her deep icy blue eyes stares directly into me and she answers.
"you are not a pureblooded Demon, I took you in as a child."
I ask.
"does that mean I'm a filthy Demon-Human?"
she nods, I then follow with another question.
"so your saying she was trying to dig out the humanity within in me."
Mistress Isabelle hugs me and caresses my cheek.
"but you weren't swayed, which shows me how devoted you are to me and our cause."
I then think to myself.
"I truly don't deserve all the kindness she's given me."
she pulls away and kneels down in front of Claire's body and the places her hand on Claire's forehead and begins the process of consuming her power, I then think to myself.
"this nothing but a small bump in my road, from now on I will work hard to harden my heart and continue devoting myself to Mistress Isabelle."
after she finishes the consuming process, she approaches me and asks me.
"how are you feeling my dear?"
I reply.
"I feel-"
she buries a dagger downwards between my neck and shoulder, I fall to floor completely baffled, I then place my hand on the wound she left me and ask myself feeling confused.
"why did she do this?"
the stone from the necklace begins to glow but Mistress Isabelle doesn't seem interested in it, as she kneels next to me, I cough up blood and manage to ask.
"why?"
she answers.
"you heart has already been swayed, I can no longer trust that you will stay devoted to me."
she places one hand on my forehead to begin the process of consuming my power and with a tear in her eye, she sniffles.
"doing this breaks my heart but, it must be done if I'm to take down the Demon King."
feeling completely betrayed, my sorrow turns into anger, I then spit blood at her face and manage to squeeze out.
"fuck you."
as the last bit of life is sucked out of me, the bright light from the stone engulfs me.