Zeno shook his head as soon as he saw the lizardman die. He didn't expect that he would fall too soon.
'Dimwit,' he thought.
Now, he needed to confront the wrath of the vampire in front of him while under the effects of her domain. He started to walk closer to Cinn, and unlike the lizard earlier, in his every step, he didn't receive any damage. His hands remained inside his pocket, and his lips were curling upward.
Cinn stayed on guard upon seeing Zeno move forward. She watched the demon with all her focus, waiting for his next move.
However, Zeno didn't do a thing like the vampire was expecting; he just continued to walk towards her and stopped upon reaching a short distance away from her.
Cinn reached the thing strapped above her right knee while not looking away from Zeno. She was not surprised after seeing the demon not get affected by her Legacy. After all, she knew that he had already realized how her domain worked.
On her hand, she held a flute, which she had pulled earlier. It was made of wood and painted white. It had black linings down to its body, and it had a pendant with a black onyx hanging on its opening end.
She leaped backwards and put the blowing hole of the flute in her mouth. Then her fingers started to cover the holes, and despite her Legacy being activated, an enchanting melody echoed in the area as soon as she blew the flute.
Zeno also heard the sound, and he felt vibrations swirling around him.
'Its tune and rhythm are pleasant to the ear,' he thought.
However, the damage it had done was clearly the opposite, as Zeno started to leap and jump to evade the endless vibrations chasing him.
Shockwaves appeared as the result of the explosions made by the soundwave striking the ground. Craters appeared, and the ashes flew up in the air.
Cinn watched how Zeno dodged her attack, and she decided to level it up. The rhythm of her music turned faster, while her attack became quicker and stronger.
However, it was still not enough to catch the silver-haired demon. Despite the attacks thrown at him, Zeno looked like he had no intention to attack Cinn. Instead of moving towards her to intercept her from playing the flute. He was evading without any plan to counterattack.
Cinn already knew about it a while ago, but she still continued to harass the demon. She was still mad about what he did to Aichelle.
Then she saw the demon glance at her and smile as if he were mocking her. Zeno opened his mouth to speak, though he didn't make any sound. He made sure that Cinn would understand his message.
'Is this the best you can do? Show me more.' Cinn read these words from Zeno's lips, and her brows knitted.
Then she stopped for a second; the flute parted away from her lips, and she took a deep breath before she started to play once again.
If her previous music was pleasant and soft on the ears, this time she played differently. It still had the perfect rhythm, but the sound spelled chaos. The area within her Legacy started to shake and crack. And after a few seconds, giant pieces of land were hurled in Zeno's direction while the ashes transformed into a whip, chasing Zeno to bind him.
Beads of sweat appeared on the vampire's forehead; she was using every bit of her remaining energy to control all of the sound particles and throw them at Zeno. It was clear that she was nearly reaching her limit and would suffer from exhaustion, but she didn't think about it. All that she wanted was to seek vengeance for Aichelle.
But Zeno was dancing with her every attack, and even a single thing didn't manage to hit him. Despite all of Cinn's efforts, he always escaped unscathed. The music continued for a couple of minutes before Cinn dropped to her knees and sat on the ground while chasing her breath. The fluctuations around the area vanished, signaling that her domain had been deactivated. Her hands were shaking, and she tried to stand, but she couldn't muster any strength.
Then a silhouette leaped in front of her. She stared at the man's boots and spoke.
"Kill me," she said before raising her head to stare into the demon's eyes.
"You're nothing compared to your father," Zeno said without any emotion; his casual smile was now hidden behind his deadpan expression.
His words left a deep impression on Cinn. She felt sorrow. All this time, she knew how disappointed her father was that, after she ran away from the palace, he didn't bother himself to look for her and even forbade her mother to search for her.
And now, an unknown demon was comparing her to him without any consideration for her feelings. Though she was aware that the man didn't know a single thing about her relationship with her father.
"Yes, I'm a failure. Now kill me!" She yelled; tears were slowly forming in the corner of her eyes. Even though her knees were shaking, she stood up and thumped Zeno's body.
"Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!" She uttered it in a repeated manner while still staring at Zeno. Her tears started to flow as she banged her head into the demon's chest.
"As you wish," Zeno replied, and the next thing he did brought silence to the vampire.
Cinn looked down at her body and saw Zeno's hand piercing her chest, then lifted her head up to glance at the demon's face once more before coughing up a lot of blood.
After that, her eyes began to close as Zeno retracted his hand, and she fell to the ground. The ashes turned red as her blood tainted them.
Then Zeno looked at the small thing beating on his hand; it was Cinn's heart. The next second, he clenched his fist, making its blood and tissues splatter on his clothes.
. . . . .
Aichelle's consciousness returned, and the first thing she saw as she sat up from lying down was her mistress falling on the ground. Then the silver-haired demon stood beside her while looking at something on his hand.
The scene before her eyes sank into her mind as soon as the demon clenched his fist.
"No! What have you done?" She yelled.
The next second, she dashed to where the demon was while pulling daggers from a portal. Then she attacked Zeno with all her might, but she was sent tumbling as the man flicked her on the head.
She felt pain, but she ignored it; there was nothing more painful than seeing her mistress in that state. There was a hole in her chest, and from the looks of it, the wound was not healing.
If her assumption was right, the thing that the man clenched earlier was her Mistress' heart.
"Why did you kill her?" She shouted again before leaping into a portal and appearing behind Zeno.
However, as soon as she leaped out of the portal, the demon was already facing him, and he grabbed her on the head before throwing her one more time.
But she still stood up and charged to attack Zeno again. Tears were flowing from her eyes as she threw herself at the demon while aiming her dagger at his neck.
Memories of how she met Cinn resurfaced in her mind, which made her grit her teeth in anger. Her mistress was her savior and her first friend. She even considered Cinn her big sister. She had no other reason to live aside from aiding and protecting Cinn.
But now the demon in front of her had taken that reason away.
"I will kill you for Cinn," she said, her voice filled with grievance.
It was her first time calling her mistress by her name. She wanted to avenge her, not by being a maid but as a friend.
However, Zeno shook his head, parried the dagger away from him with his hand alone, and spun around to perform a kick that landed in Aichelle's face.
The maid flew away, and she rolled on the pile of ashes. She had difficulty moving due to pain. And when she was about to stand, a palm covered her head and slammed her on the ground once more.
She tried to free herself from Zeno's clutches by stabbing the dagger into his body, but the demon was too powerful for her to handle. The next second, a bluish-dark curtain appeared beneath her, and she slowly faded onto it.
Afterward, she jumped from a portal above Zeno and struck her dagger on his head, but he caught her arm and smacked the ground with her body.
Aichelle growled in pain; she was now covered with bruises, but she still wanted to stand up.
"F-for Cinn, I'll definitely kill you," she uttered before she got up bit by bit. Then he slashed her dagger towards the demon's face.
"Your persistence is something else; just lay there," Zeno said, and he gave her a palm strike on the chest, causing her to cough up some blood.
However, Aichelle ignored the sudden burst of pain and rotated her dagger to pierce Zeno.
"I won't forgive you!" She exclaimed.
But the next second, she was sent hurling in the air again by Zeno's kick.
Afterward, a portal appeared beside the demon, and a dagger flew out of it. Zeno moved his head to dodge it, but another one came straight to his face as soon as another portal materialized in front of him.
He caught it and threw it back into where it came from. Then he tossed the black dice in the air, and a jet-black scythe appeared.
"You're now getting on my nerves," he said.
He was about to leap in Aichelle's direction, but a heavy explosion rang behind him. This made him smile, and he immediately turned around. The scythe on his hand reverted back to the black dice that flew on his palm.
"Finally! Your maid would be dead if you stayed lying there a little longer," he exclaimed.
Afterwards, an ear-crushing thunder reverberated into the clouds while a series of lightning bolts flashed along with it. Even the ground shook for a moment before a giant pillar of blue flames erupted and reached up to the sky.
"Its color is magnificent as ever," Zeno commented, satisfied by the scene before him.
Then he stepped closer and looked at the silhouette hiding behind the curtain of flames.
"Now that you've been reborn, show me what you've got," Zeno said with excitement as he gazed at the cyan-blue eyes staring at him.
. . . . .