The black scythe swung down decapitating the skeletal man, his body dissipating into light blue particles as his soul reformed somewhere else in Athrem. The woman with silver hair turned around to face the gate that led out of Athrem, her hair catching the constant red glow of the world around. One soul managed to get passed her to the gate, but that wasn't a problem.
She could see the large wolf woman with half her face missing on her hands and knees only two steps into the path of sinners. A weird space that appears between the two side of the gate that led in and out of Athrem. For Lucilla the path didn't appear at all, and she was able to walk through the gate to the other side with only a few steps. Yet for those trying to leave Athrem a long tunnel stretched between the two sides.
The path of sinners was, as far as Lucilla able to tell, unbearable. Each step taken changed the type of punishment inflicted on the subject. One step they could feel their entire body on fire, while the next could have them feel large portions of their body simply melt of them. Many think they can handle what the path throws at them since Athrem wasn't that much kinder, but most didn't make it even halfway through.
This wolf woman might be able to make it further if given the chance, but Lucilla wasn't going to give it to her. Approaching her from behind she stepped onto the womans back, taking a certain bit of pleaser from treating the woman like nothing more than dirt. The wolf woman cried out in pain, but Lucilla just smirked as she placed her scythes blade next to the woman's neck. She then slowly dragged the blade deliberately dragging out the process, severing her head from her body as the womans gurgled screams echoed down the tunnel.
Soon the woman also dissipated into light blue particles as her soul reformed somewhere in else in the Hell she tried to escape. "That's what you get for scratching out my eye." Lucilla muttered to herself with satisfaction.
She no longer died to every person that came to the gate. She was still fairly banged up with one eye missing, and most of her body covered in fresh wounds. She limped back to the open muddy plain that made up the scenery around the gate. She surveyed her surroundings trying to see if anymore souls were coming to escape. Once she was sure no one was coming, she collapsed to the ground, staring up at the blood red sky with her crimson eyes.
Her heavy breathing caused her chest to rapidly rise and fall from exhaustion. She closed her eyes and focused on the Celestial energy inside her body, willing it to transform into mana. She used the mana and converted it into Chi, letting it course through her body, while also imbuing it with the water element. This wouldn't heal her, but it would speed up the process alongside her own natural regeneration abilities.
It has been one-hundred and thirty-nine years since she's come here. She was now capable of converting the Celestial energy into mana, even during combat without trouble. She still struggled using the raw form of the power without her insides burning away. Though she has noticed her body becoming increasing stronger throughout the years, making so that she didn't die from even messing with the Celestial energy inside her anymore. It's why she's now able to convert it into mana without a problem.
"Uhg..." Groaning Lucilla sat up. Despite how battered she was. Lying on the ground completely defenseless will get her killed. Using the scythe as a crutch Lucilla forced herself to stand once more. She wanted to head back for the day before someone else showed up and killed her. Once on her feet she checked her surrounding once more, hoping that no one else would show.
"Oh, fuck you." Lucilla complained when she noticed someone climbing over the edge of the cliff. The area where the gate was located was a muddy plateau, and a few meters from the gate the area ended at a sheer cliff.
Lucilla inwardly groaned as she saw another death coming in her immediate future. Nonetheless she had a job to do. Gripping the scythe in both hands she prepared to fight. The figure of a demon, specifically a succubus, stood near the edge of the cliff, seemingly sizing up Lucilla. She appeared unarmed, but that didn't mean she was any less dangerous.
"Fire, expand, wind, enhance, thirt-" The succubus started chanting, programming a complicated spell that was sure to cause devastation.
She was fast too. She was not only speaking fast, but she was clearly cutting out words of the spell. If Lucilla had to guess, this woman was probably capable of performing most spells without the need to chant. Meaning that whatever spell she's currently programming right now would be devastating.
Panicking she focused wind Chi into her legs and eyes, she was going to cut this woman down, or at the very least disrupt her before she could let the spell fly. Two seconds had already passed. Two seconds to many as far as Lucilla was concerned. With her speed she would need about four seconds to even reach the woman.
If she had to guess this spell was maybe a grade C spell, maybe higher. It was powerful but not on of the stronger spells in existence. So, the spell should take anywhere from fifteen seconds to thirty seconds to finish depending on how skilled the woman was. She already wasted six seconds in total already, so the moment she was in range she swung her large scythe. The woman however, without breaking her concentration, dropped low and rolled away.
After rolling away she kicked mud at Lucilla's face, wanting to blind her. Lucilla managed to avoid getting mud in her face, but that still gave the woman time to create more distance between them. Lucilla was going to pursue the woman once more, but her instincts told her to stop and move to the side. the moment she did a dagger glanced passed her, cutting a bit of her hair.
That whole altercation took three seconds, meaning she only had at least six more seconds if she was unlucky. What she didn't understand though was where that dagger came from. That is until the same dagger that just went flying appeared in the woman's hand from thin air.
'She has a soul weapon!?' Lucilla thought surprised.
She didn't dwell on the thought for long considering she was racing against the clock, but she was much more warry. She once more dashed at the woman, closing the distance in a second, leaving only five seconds. Instead of shying away like before, the woman actually got closer to Lucilla herself, making it harder for Lucilla to use her weapon by the close range, but making it easier for her to attack with her dagger.
Thinking quickly Lucilla let go of her scythe and used her hand to hit the woman's arm, knocking her blade of course. She followed that up by using her left hand to claw at the succubus's face with her clawlike nails. The woman managed to lean back enough to avoid injury while also kicking out, landing a hit into Lucilla's stomach.
'Four seconds.' Lucilla thought as she stumbled backwards but kept herself upright.
She was still very much injured from earlier, and fighting in this condition was asking to be killed. She didn't really care however because while she's died hundreds of times already, it still hurt. A lot. She was determined to finish this woman off in the next four seconds. The woman didn't perform any follow up attacks, clearly prioritizing gaining distance so before long Lucilla was once again charging forwards.
She was out of mana again though. She used most of the mana she recovered increasing her regeneration. She needed to convert more Celestial energy into mana, however before she would even be able to recover enough mana to be useful, the woman would already be done chanting. No, she had to do this with what she had left.
She used two seconds to close the distance between the two of them. The woman, Lucilla realized, was much faster than expected. It was now or never then, if she failed there was a chance she would be killed in the next two seconds. Lucilla dived at the demon, not caring if she received an injury or not.
Not expecting this the woman panicked and stabbed her knife downwards with all her force hopping to get Lucilla to back off. She was hit cleanly through the right should, but she continued her tackle, wrapping herself around the woman's torso. The two of them fell to the muddy ground hard. The woman's chant faulter, and so did her magic circle.
Lucilla felt a sense of satisfaction run through her for a second.
"Shit I lost control!" The woman cried out in panic.
Lucilla then realized the magic circle didn't dissipate like she expected, instead it was glitching and growing brighter. It was a rebound. The spell went wrong and was going to explode anyway, the only difference being that the woman was going to be caught in the blast with her. Lucilla pushing herself up to run away, but the woman held onto her tightly.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me you fucker." The woman growled before the two of them exploded.
Lucilla was blasted back, arcing through the air before quickly falling back to the earth below. She hit the ground hard enough to bounce once before skidding through the mud. The succubus was blown apart in burnt fleshy chunks before dissipating into blue light like the souls before. Lucilla was not as fortunate as her.
The only sound that could be heard coming from the Crimsoned eyed woman was weak labored breathing. Her entire body was chard black, her clothes burnt away, leaving nothing but the blacken husk that was her body. She was missing her entire right arm and part of her right leg from the knee down.
One her eyes had exploded from the heat, and her long silver hair was burnt away.
Yet she lived. Very regrettably she lived. The next time someone came through she was going to die anyway making all her efforts worthless.
'It would've been better if I just died.' Lucilla Lamented, unableto even cry out in pain. '.... Guess I'll try this one more time.'
Closing her last remaining eye, Lucilla ignored the agony that overtook all of her senses. She focused all of her remaining attention of her fading consciousness on the Celestial energy in her core. She gently manipulated the energy inside her to course through her body. Careful to not suddenly flud her system, she allowed the energy to seep into her.
While the process was slow because of how carful she was being, her body was gradually recovering. Even with her healing abilities she would've died from her injuries before long if she wasn't killed first. Though it was only a little tiny amount of Celestial energy, her body was being healed much faster than normal. After only a few minutes her body had noticeably improved.
It was still mostly chard black, but bit of her skin started to regenerate. In her excitement at the obvious improvement, Lucilla lost focused, and accident pushed more Celestial energy than intended, causing a burning sensation to overcome her. Since she was already in a lot of pain the burning sensation didn't feel as painful as it usually did. It did cause a large amount of anxiety.
She messed up and this was usually an indication that she would burn from the inside out and die. She's experienced these enough times that she now braced herself for the inevitable embrace of death. So, she waited. She continued to wait but soon realized that she wasn't fading away. Lucilla waited a few more minutes, the burning sensation never fading away, but didn't increase either. Slowly she realized she wasn't going to die.
If she could laugh, she would. This was great news; it was the biggest indication that she's grown stronger. That her path would lead her to attain power on the same level as the Hero. She would continue to grow, becoming powerful enough that no one would ever dare meddle with her again.
Suddenly feeling experimental Lucill gradually increased the amount of Celestial energy she allowed to flow through her body.
She wanted to know just how much she could take before she died. With newfound confidence she proceeded with her experiment. It did not take long for her to find her answer, for she died shortly after doubling the amount. Which still wasn't a lot.
Lucilla's last thoughts before her world went black was simply, 'Fuck.'
_________________
"I might master using Celestial energy by the end of the next decade... maybe." Lucilla said to Veris the death Goddess.
"... Good job?" Veris answered.
Lucilla didn't really get to see Ovana often, nor Veris. Every few years Ovana would come to visit to check in on her progress, but other than that she didn't see her patron at all. Veris on the other hand came to visit her once a year at the very least, making so Lucilla had a better relationship with Veris than she did with her own Goddess.
She even got to see what she looked like now, with short light blue hair, styled into a bob cut, with a round innocent looking face with gentle facial features. She looked a lot like Ovana, if she was more cute than beautiful. Just like Ovana she had golden irises. If Lucilla was honest, if she never met Anastasia, and Veris wasn't a literal deity, she might've been tempted to ask the Celestial out on a date.
"You don't sound very impressed." Lucilla noted.
"I'm sorry I just don't know if that's impressive or not." Veris said apologetically. "I've always been able to manipulate Divinity, so I have nothing to compare it too."
"Sigh, It's fine." Lucilla said while taking a sip of ambrosia.
"How's your training going with the scythe so far?"
"Hm? Oh that, I think I have that down fairly well." Veris smiled faintly at this before standing up from the table. "Glad to hear it. My sister sends her regards, but I must now take my leave."
With those parting words the embodiment of Death for the world disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. While Veris visited far more often than Ovana she never stayed for long and would usually leave after a few hours. Ovana's visits end up being for one or two days but was far more spaced apart. Both of which just made Lucilla feel slightly isolated from time to time.
The Archdemons assigned to this area kept her company a little bit, but for the most part Lucilla was left alone. Now sitting at an empty table with nothing but the ambrosia to keep her company, the silver haired woman downed the rest of her drink. She slowly stood up and walked out of the mess hall. She had some more training to do, and for the first time in over a century she was excited to get started.