"My Lord is in trouble!" Victor exclaimed, standing upright and carrying a frown on his face.
"What do you mean Sir Andraste is in danger?" Androncia questioned, walking over to Victor sporting a worried look, "Could you please explain how you know, and why you came to us instead of going straight to him?"
"Mm, it's a bit complicated…In simplest terms, we have a contract in place that makes it to where I know what his state of health is, and I just got a signal that he is close to death," He explained.
"WHAT!? Then why didn't you tell me!" Arawan shouted angrily at Victor, then grabbed his shoulder and turned the other towards him, "Urgh! I could've gone over and helped him you blood-sucking idiot!"
"Don't get mad at me! I was only following orders given to me by His Grace!" Victor shouted back, swatting Arwans hand off of him.
"HA! Orders my ass! I doubt he would've given you orders like that instead of telling you to help him in those kinds of situations!"
"Ahem, could you stop your bickering? We have more pressing matters at hand," Andronica cleared her throat and reminded the duo, "Do either of you two know of his current whereabouts in the castle?"
"Yes, he went alone to recover Mrs. Devika, he said he would come over to you as soon as she was safe with him," Victor replied, calming down and facing Andronica with a serious look on his face.
"I see…Well, I'm glad he went to help her, but he was an idiot for doing so. Haaaa, I knew I should've told the three of you guys," She sighed, regretting her mistake.
"Told us what?" The two said almost in unison, Arwan tilting his head and Victor wearing a pensive look.
"HA! I can answer that one for you." Oliver said, still being chained up by Amos and getting over his shock of now being an old wrinkly man, "My closest advisor, Kyros Greer, is a half-lich, and currently protecting the room of that bitch, he's also far more powerful than your half-dark elf lord. He's likely dead by now, heh too bad, I had high hopes for him!"
As soon as Oliver finished his sentence, his mouth was muffled with a rag by Almos, who was annoyed at the lover of his commander being called a bitch. Then Almos nodded at Andronica to continue.
"Right, what that bastard said," Andronica continued, tilting her head in Oliver's direction, "Listen, I'm real sorry for not informing you, it was a mistake on my part, I thought it would be fine either way…"
"It's fine, don't blame yourself. If anything, it's our fault for not having one of us tail him to make sure he was fine," Arwan lamented, a sad look adorning his face. If he was a dog, his ears would be drooping.
"UGH, Enough chatting! Shouldn't you three be going and helping Sir Andraste?" Almos chimed in, annoyed by the loitering trio.
"Ah, he's right! Almos, would you mind taking over?" Andronica asked, though it was more like an order, then walked past the two bodyguards towards the door, "Come on, I'll show you the way to Devika's chambers."
***
"Haaaa, haaaa," I was breathing heavily, shaking from the tips of my toes to the tip top of my head.
'What in the obsolete fuckery did I do?' I thought, standing in front of a pile of ashes, looking at my sweaty hands, my eyebrows furrowed.
As I looked behind myself, I was mortified. The sight caused me to stumble backward, almost tripping over myself and falling into the pile of dust.
There was a pile of, let's just say corpses for now, all strewn around the hall. It was the zombie knights, or at least what was left of them. Numerous piles of ashes, nothing remaining except for their weapons, there were some corpses, though they weren't in one piece.
'Did…did I do that?'
My heart was beating wildly, my throat dry from shock at the sudden sight. My pupils were shaking and I was sweating like crazy to match my heavy breathing, my scythe lying on the ground beside me after I dropped it.
To explain, the last thing I remembered was losing consciousness from the weird-looking ball of mana that Kyros shot at me, then I woke up to see a pile of corpses and ashes behind me and one in front of me.
Once I saw that scene I dropped my weapon and started shaking, i didn't know if I was the person who created the piles of ashes and corpses or someone who was merely a witness, but what I did know was that Kyros Greer was nowhere to be seen and all that was left was his grimoire.
There was something I was certain of though, it was indeed my body who did this deed, but I don't know if it was me or not. Just as I lost consciousness, I heard a voice.
The voice said something along the lines of "Ho? So it's finally my turn huh?" I didn't know if it said anything following that, but what I do know is that that voice didn't belong to me.
I reluctantly bent down and picked up the grimoire, dusting the ashes off of it. Just as I was about to open the lock, I heard approaching footsteps behind me.
When I saw who the footsteps belonged to, I instantly felt a smidge of relief. It was Andronica, followed by Victor and Arwan. But that relief only lasted for a short moment before the anxiety of the current scene once again swallowed me.
"M-M'Lord, are you alright?" Victor asked, walking fast past Vendetta and over to me.
"I…I don't know…" I mumbled, biting my cracked lips, tasting the bit of blood left on them from the punches and kicks that Kyros threw at me.
"Mmmm, Miss Andronica, why don't you go and see Devika? I'm sure she's been missing you quite a lot. We can take it from here," Victor suggested, motioning to the current scene and my state of being.
"Right. If you say so, then please excuse me," Androncia replied, jogging past me and bursting through the doors to Devika's chambers, where the sound of a joyful cry would soon be heard.
"My Lord, could you please tell us what happened here? Especially where all of the piles of dust came from," Victor questioned.
"I'm not really sure…honestly, I don't even know if I caused this or not," I admitted, biting my lips and fiddling with my fingers.
"Well all that matters is if you're hurt or not, are you?... My liege?" Arwan asked me but I didn't respond, instead, he sighed and came towards me, then whispered in my ear, "If you keep on biting your lip, I'll have to bite them for you,"
"!" I jumped when he whispered that to me, then I pushed him away, blushing and holding the ear he whispered into, "Y-You rotten pervert! How could you even suggest something like that in a situation like this?!"
"Heh," Arwan chuckled and I slapped him on the back until he stopped, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just wanted to help you snap out of it, and I looked like it did the trick…I'm happy you're okay."
Arwan's smile was filled with gentleness, though that smile was soon erased when he noticed the gaping hole in my shirt and jacket.
"You-You! What the hell happened!?" He exclaimed, rushing over and grabbing my waist, putting his hand on my abs, feeling them to make sure it was all there.
I was about to give out a little moan from the way he was touching me, but luckily Victor intervened before the embarrassing moment happened. Victor grabbed Arwans arms and pulled him away from me, before stepping in between the two of us.
"I think that's enough intimacy for now," He interjected, then turned and looked me in the eyes with a serious look on his face, "It was that ability, right?"
'That ability? Oh! He must mean the one from the cave when I first woke up as Lev.'
"I think so, still not exactly sure though," I answered honestly, shrugging my shoulders.
"Alright, well we should still get you checked out just to be sure…and get you new clothes while we're at it," Victor expressed, looking over me with his eyes, then he walked over to the doors Andronica went through.
"Um, my liege?" Arwan added, turning my head towards him, "Sorry, about that just now, sometimes I don't think before I act…"
Arwan put his head down with a look of genuine apology on it, twiddling with his fingers the same way I did when the trio first got over here. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, he then looked up at me.
"It's fine, i know you were just worried about me, so there is no need to feel sorry, alright?" I commented, smiling at him, and then I walked over to Victor.
I pocked Victor to get his attention and once he turned his head towards me I shook mine, then turned around and walked down the hall to the corridor. Arwan and Victor followed, sticking close behind me.
***
"Alright, everything looks okay, even if there is any damage to your organs it's very minimal considering that I don't feel anything wrong," A doctor said, using his healing ability and feeling my torso where the hole in my shirt was.
"Okay, if that is all then I'll take my leave," I said, hopping off of the table and walking out of the tent over to Victor, "Where's Arwan?"
Arwan teleported us back to the field where the final battle was at, just so that I could get checked up on. I also had a tent pitched up over here, considering that I was one of the people leading the charge.
"He went to help the General and Vice-Commander over at the Palace, he should be back soon," Victor replied, handing me some clothes.
"Alright…ugh, is this the only outfit I have?" I said, cringing at the clothes in my hand.
"This is the only extra out you brought with you to the battlefield," Victor exasperated, giving me a tired look. Then he pushed me into the tent, my face scrunched up.
'Huh, with Lev's face and features, this doesn't look half bad on me.' I thought, examining myself in the mirror after I put it on.
The out had red and black ruffles on the sleeves cuffs and lining the buttons, the long black sleeves puffed out a bit, and the base of the shirt was mostly covered up by a black cape, covering where the red tailcoat connected to the shirt. The pants were black with a matching red as an underneath part with black lace lining the sides on my legs, paired with heeled black leather boots.
I tied my hair back into a ponytail, right smack dab in the middle of the back of my head, it was adorned with a red and black ribbon.
When I came out of the tent, Victor turned towards me, he started to laugh but quickly held it back with a hand over his mouth.
"Yeah, laugh all you want jackass," I said coldly, walking past and shoulder-bumping him for extra effect. I felt silly in the outfit, considering that its ruffles screamed boy lolita, and the heeled boots adding to my height didn't help.
When I was in my original body I was around 6'2, which was about four inches taller than Lev. He seemed to be quite embarrassed of his height, considering that almost all of his shoes had heels.
I walked over to the tent Frederick and Conlaed was in, stumbling on the heels of my shoes a bit. 'Damn heels.' I still hadn't gotten used to walking in them, especially since each heel he owned was around three-four inches tall.
"Oh, your back. How was it over at the palace?" Frederick said, greeting me with a smile, while Conlaed just nodded, clearly unhappy.
"It was fine, got a giant hole in my shirt so now I have to wear this shit," I said, motioning to my clothes.
"Pfft, you look like some young master from a high-ranking noble family," Conlaed laughs, covering his mouth the same way Victor did, who also just entered the tent.
"Well jokes on you, I was a young master from a noble family, and I'm still a noble," I said, leaning over in Conlaeds direction and glaring at him, who just looked in the opposite direction.
"Ahem, changing the topic, you're staying for two more days, right?" Frederick asked, making sure I was staying with the same schedule.
"No, I got a message from one of my servants while I was changing. A problem has arisen so I have to go back earlier than planned, my apologies," I admitted, putting my hand over my heart and bowing a little.
"Heh, no worries. Go do what you need to do, we can take care of things just fine here on our own," Frederick explained, shaking his head with the same smile on his face.
At that moment, Arwan walked into the tent. Nodded at me signaling that everything was ready to go, then I faced the Peralian duo, thanked them, and left.