The pale azure light of the moon shone down onto the earth. Amid the allimmersive dark of night, a town to the northwest of Tuldarr's capital city
slept deeply.
Apart from the occasional distant howling of a dog, all was still. Silence
reigned.
However, something crawled very slowly through the grass on the edge
of town.
It moved so sluggishly that a casual glance in its direction would reveal
nothing at all. The sprouting seed absorbed the moonlight and glowed with
magic as it gradually grew ever larger.
Lying on her back, she gazed up to see an unfamiliar man leaning over her.
He was standing right next to her, something warping his considerate smile
as he gazed down at her.
Whispering something, he lifted the object in his grip. The sharp edge of
a dagger flashed in the argent light streaming from the window. He plunged
it down toward her belly without hesitation, and she let out a shriek.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Aurelia jerked awake with a scream. She was in her room in the estate,
alone. There was no one else there, and she was uninjured.
The dream had felt so real. She was shaking all over as she hugged
herself. Sweat coated her body
"I am so… glad… I woke up…"
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Aurelia's racing heart
practically stopped.
"What's wrong, Aurelia?" Travis asked as he walked in. Once she saw
his face, she finally trusted that she was back in reality and felt relief wash
over her.
"I had a dream… Someone was trying to stab me… They…"
"You had a vision about her past, huh?" Travis said with an irritated
click of his tongue.
Aurelia had an unusual ability to see into the history of others.
Normally, Travis kept that power suppressed, but it did slip through the seal
when Aurelia encountered someone with a particularly intense past.
Powerful mages typically had old traumas, and there was no better example
of that than Tinasha. It was truly an unfortunate accident that Aurelia had
met her when Travis hadn't been there.
"I'll take that memory out. Her past is wholly unpleasant," the demon
stated. He approached the edge of the bed and laid a hand on Aurelia's
forehead. After some hesitation, the girl closed her eyes. He gazed down at
her.
Her face is so small and pale.
She was so fragile. Should he wish to, he could snap his fingers and
make her disappear. Not even dust would remain.
If he killed her now… she would linger in his memories forever, and the
loss would torment him. Aurelia had the power to do that to him. Her strong
will glowed from within her tender, vulnerable frame.
Why was he so attached to her? Even Travis couldn't say. At some point,
he'd found himself fascinated by the way she was intent on standing on her
own two feet, even though they were shaky and trembling. She never gave
up on herself. Despite being a weak creature, she was stronger than
anything.
For that reason, Travis was willing to pay any price to keep her safe.
Each time Aurelia spoke his name, he could feel something inside him
changing.
He whispered the girl's name, and she looked up at him.
"What?"
"I'm going to have to step out for a bit. I'll post some guards, so behave
while I'm away," he said.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere good. I'll be back before you know it."
Aurelia cast a suspicious look at Travis. "What does that mean? You're
not going off to cause trouble, are you?"
"I'm not. Have a little faith."
"Impossible," she fired back. Travis made an exasperated face.
The expression turned unusually grave after a moment, though. "If
someone you don't know comes by asking about me while I'm gone, tell
them I'm head over heels for that woman."
"What woman? The queen of Tuldarr?"
"Yep. Also, do not leave this house under any circumstances."
"O-okay," Aurelia replied, feeling compelled to nod.
Noticing the worry in her eyes, Travis gave her a smile and stroked her
hair to assuage her doubts. "Now that you understand, go back to sleep.
Don't want any dark circles under your eyes tomorrow."
"No, I don't," Aurelia agreed, lying back down. She glanced up at
Travis, watching how the moonlight threw his features into dark relief. "So
you're coming back?"
"Of course I am. I'll return before you know it," he answered.
He hadn't told a single lie where it counted, so Aurelia felt she could
believe him.
She closed her eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep.
When she woke up the following day, he was gone.
In the morning, a half-asleep Tinasha dragged herself into a bath. An hour
later, the blood in her body was finally circulating, and she felt more awake.
She stood naked before her full-length mirror, examining her pale and
slender form. Her lips curled downward as she observed the bright red crest
blooming across her chest.
"I suppose I'm glad it's somewhere I can hide, but it's quite the garish
symbol," she commented.
"Of course it is. That's the sort of thing that's meant to be shown off. It's
like he wrote his name on you," Lilia pointed out from behind her, handing
her master a fresh set of clothes. "You shouldn't wear any light fabrics. It'll
stand out like a beacon."
"It's too dangerous for me to go to Farsas until it's gone."
"That Akashia swordsman might rip it clean off your skin if he found
out," Lilia agreed.
"Stop it, that isn't even funny…"
He wouldn't really, but he might be so angry that he'd want to. Oscar
would definitely hate Travis even more than he already did. Keeping it a
secret from him was absolutely critical.
Tinasha donned a mage's robe that buttoned up to her neck. "I wonder
how long it'll take until the situation is resolved."
Lilia shrugged. "Who knows? That all depends on Travis."
"Meaning it's completely unpredictable," Tinasha concluded, gazing
beseechingly up at the ceiling.
It was that very afternoon when the first attack came.
The queen was doing paperwork in her study when she abruptly looked up.
Something was approaching from the air, tripping the castle wards. Tinasha
looked to Mila, who was sitting in a corner of the room.
"They're here," the spirit said.
"Looks like it," Tinasha concurred, getting to her feet. As she did, a man
teleported into the center of the room. The high-handed way of warping in
without even setting any coordinates was something only the highestranking demons could do.
The slim man with bright lavender hair gazed right at Tinasha, or rather,
at the mark on her chest. He sneered, as if he were looking upon something
too trifling to even bother with. "Are you his little doll of the moment?"
"Well… I suppose he does often toy with me. Why are you here?" she
replied.
"My master says that mark of yours is hideous. Your life's a short one
anyway, so it won't matter much when it ends, will it?"
"I agree with half of what you said. However—"
Tinasha grinned and spread her arms wide. In response, an enormous
spell configuration hidden within the room flared to life. A magic circle
made of silver threads materialized on the floor, with the man at its center.
It was then that the demon realized he had walked right into a very
carefully planned ambush.
With a beatific smile on her lips, Tinasha stretched a hand out toward
him. "Today will not be the day I perish."
She snapped her fingers, and power surged forth.
There wasn't even time to scream. With a horror-struck expression, he
exploded into pieces. Bits of murky blood and guts and black fog spattered
all over the room. The gruesome spray hit a barrier Mila had set up and
dripped onto the floor.
"That was over too soon," Mila giggled. With a wave of her hand, the
barrier and the man's remains vanished.
The queen resettled back into her chair, a tight smile on her face. "If
they're all that weak, I welcome however many more she sends."
"It does feel like a waste of time."
It was Tinasha's belief that the success or failure of magical warfare
hinged on strategy, whether the target was a human or a demon. As long as
she knew her enemy was coming, it wasn't too difficult to engage them,
high-ranking demon or not.
Still, Tinasha felt uneasy as she reset the spell in the room.
There's no way something Travis asked me to do would be this easy…
"Danan's been wiped out," a woman muttered dispassionately, her tone
belying a lack of any real grief. But to those who knew her well, that was
shocking in and of itself. The demons stationed around her all froze.
The woman seated on the throne was as beautiful as a painting—so
much so that she didn't seem real. Her long silver hair flowed to the ground
in gentle waves. The shimmer of the clearest ocean waters shone in her
eyes.
While she appeared to be around twenty years old, her true age far
exceeded one thousand. She was one of those at the pinnacle of the demon
race.
Resting her chin in one hand, she said to the man kneeling closest to her,
"I wonder what his new toy is like."
"It would seem she is a powerful mage, for a mortal. However… she is
served by twelve of our own," a man answered timidly.
The woman frowned. Her lips curled in a sneer. "Twelve? They can't be
much better than trash to serve such a lowly worm. What a disgrace to our
people. I'll put all of them out of their misery while I'm at it."
"Oh, but I think I'll be putting you out of your misery first," someone
called. All present let out cries of shock as their gazes converged on a
silver-haired man with a gorgeous face and a derisive smirk on his lips.
The woman rose, a mixture of surprise and joy in her expression.
"Travis! You've come?"
"Only because you've forced me to," he said. The woman stepped
forward joyously, but Travis snorted and kept her away. "I want you to stop
clinging to me already. This is the last time I'm going to bother with you,
Phaedra… You can break into a million pieces for all I care."
It was a brutal statement.
Phaedra's smile froze on her face.
Then a huge wave of power tore the hall apart.
Oscar caught a baby's cry, and a strained grin came to his lips.
The abandoned infant was a boy, and for convenience's sake, he had
been given the name Ian.
It was two days after the celebration, and there was still no information
on the child, and no parent had come forth. The ladies-in-waiting in the
castle were still taking care of the child in shifts.
After tidying up some papers, Lazar caught sight of the king's
expression and pricked up his ears. "What will we do if we never find the
baby's parents?"
"Raise him in town, I guess. We'll find him a foster family," Oscar
replied, and Lazar nodded in relief.
Oscar narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't think I've forgotten how you
screwed things up with Tinasha and got her upset with me. I'm still working
out how you're going to pay that one off."
"B-but I was only speaking the truth," Lazar countered.
"Maybe, but you still didn't need to say it. I wonder how long you can
stand being hung upside down."
"N-not even an hour!" Lazar squeaked, violently shaking his head back
and forth. Oscar eyed his panicked friend, who looked utterly defeated.
"Anyway… I never thought she would truly take offense to it."
"You know she's the jealous type. We're just lucky all the windows
stayed intact. Although maybe breaking a few would've helped her feel
better? I might set aside some panes for her to smash if she needs to."
"She'd be even angrier with you if you did that, Your Majesty. But at the
time, she really didn't seem too bothered by what I let slip…"
"So you agree that you let something slip," Oscar said.
Lazar was right, though. Tinasha really hadn't looked that upset. Or
maybe she just hadn't let it show.
She'd given her flimsy excuse about a sickness before Oscar had
brought that up, however. Something didn't add up. It was nagging at him.
Oscar frowned. "I guess I'll just ask her about it the next time we meet."
He reached for his next set of documents. Privately, Lazar breathed a
sigh of relief.
Now the baby's crying sounded much louder than before. A lady-inwaiting had to be walking around with the infant, trying to soothe him.
Oscar found that odd, but he returned to his work instead of checking on
it.
The day she first met him, Aurelia was covered in mud.
Occasionally, she had dreams about that rainy day.
She'd lost her parents when she was only ten, but she had to go much
further back in her memories than that to recall a time when they'd showed
her affection.
When Aurelia was around five, she had asked her mother, "Did
Grandfather hit you yesterday, Mother?"
She would never forget her mother's reaction. It shifted gradually from
astonishment to fear. Young as Aurelia was, she couldn't understand why
her mother reacted like that.
After many more conversations like that one, Aurelia finally learned that
she should not speak of everything she saw in her mind. But by that time,
her parents no longer wished to see her.
They would leave her at home and rarely return. Even when she did see
them, they would treat her as if she didn't exist.
But when they passed away, Aurelia cried, nonetheless. Of course she
was sad. They had hardly shown any kindness to her, but she still loved
them.
It rained during the funeral the following day.
Aurelia was hiding out under a tree in a corner of the expansive gardens,
sobbing. She couldn't take the servants' pitying looks.
After she'd cried herself out and her whole body had grown cold,
Aurelia got up to go back inside… only to slip in the mud and fall over.
With both hands planted in the muck, she felt fresh tears begin to roll down
her cheeks.
All of a sudden, a man's voice came from overhead. "Are you crying?
Oh, you're all muddy, too. Can't you get up on your own?"
He sounded amused, whoever he was. Aurelia didn't recognize the
voice.
Glancing up, she saw a beautiful man she had never seen before. His
bright silver hair wasn't wet from the rain at all. He was floating a little
above the ground; perhaps he didn't want to get his shoes dirty.
Aurelia slowly climbed to her feet and brushed the mud off her hands.
Throwing out her chest, she stared at him head-on. "I was crying, but I can
stand on my own. A little grime doesn't bother me."
He was taken aback by the strength of will blazing in her eyes.
That was how the story of Travis and Aurelia began.
After waking, she walked around the mansion, looking for Travis. That had
been her habit for over a week now.
He still hadn't returned. A blond man was standing at attention in the
great hall. He was a guard Travis had left behind.
"Hey, do you know where Travis went? He told me he'd be right back,
but he's not," Aurelia said.
"There is no need to worry. He will return. I'm sure he's simply taken a
detour on his way back," the man answered.
"I hope that's all it is…"
She had known ever since they met that her guardian wasn't human.
Travis had never made an attempt to conceal that from her. Just when she'd
thought the man she met at her parents' funeral was gone for good, he'd
reappeared as a duke claiming to be her legal guardian. Her jaw had
dropped.
When she asked him if he was strong for a demon, he made a face and
gave her a roundabout answer. "Listen, the higher rank you are as a demon,
the more you need to present as a human, or you'll lose yourself."
He consumed food; he bled. That made him a very high-ranking demon.
When she asked him why he consorted with humans, he replied,
"Because it's fun."
He had a nasty personality and a bad philandering habit. When they
were together, she felt like the guardian.
Worst of all, he was utterly incorrigible. Was that just his demon nature?
Yet, all the while, he supported her. That was more evident now that he
was gone.
Aurelia was the black sheep of the Gandona royal family, but Travis
never abandoned her. His attitude was to never look back and never give up.
There were struggles along the way, but he was always by Aurelia's side as
she worked to move forward.
Where could he be? Why wasn't he coming back? With so little
information, she could only worry.
She bit her lip. "Travis…"
What if he's gone to that beautiful queen?
The queen Aurelia had met in Farsas was unlike the rest of his usual
entourage. When she pondered why she felt so uneasy about her, Aurelia
realized something. Based on Tinasha's attitude when she saw Travis in the
ballroom, she probably knew what Travis was.
Aurelia didn't know if it was because she was such an exceptional mage
or because they had some shared history. Regardless, the queen knew Travis
was a demon, and she was still close with him.
Perhaps she knows where he is.
Aurelia closed her eyes. She was just too anxious. Little by little, that
fretting was turning to a leaden feeling in her gut.
How long would he be with her? Would he leave someday?
Maybe he already had.
Aurelia fought back her hesitation, opened her eyes, and marched out of
the great hall. Determination burned deep within her heart.
All had been calm in Tuldarr since the attack one week before. Tinasha
stopped in the middle of her daily paperwork to stretch her arms overhead.
She even let out a silly squeak, which attracted the attention of Karr and
Mila, who were playing cards.
"Things sure are peaceful," commented Mila.
"It's not over yet, though," Karr pointed out.
No more assassins had come, but that didn't mean the situation was
resolved. The mark on Tinasha's chest hadn't disappeared, and Travis
hadn't dropped by.
Tinasha pulled down her shirt a little to check on the brand. "How long
is this going to take?"
"Time passes differently over there, so it's likely only been a few hours
for them at most," Mila replied.
"What? Really? I had no idea," Tinasha replied.
"Demons in the demon realm only exist as conceptual entities, so they
don't pay much attention to how long or slow time is."
"I see…"
High-ranking demons existed on a separate plane of existence. Only a
few chose to appear in the human realm.
Unable to fathom such a world, Tinasha sighed. "Travis will definitely
win, right?"
"Undoubtedly. There are twelve demons in the uppermost echelons, but
he is the strongest of them all. Lady Phaedra is at the top of the midrange,"
Mila explained.
"Wow. There's a whole other ten of them."
"Personally, I think you're much more impressive. It's hard to believe
you have as much magic as a higher-ranking demon in that fragile little
body of yours," Karr remarked.
"Hmm. We must seem very strange to one another, demons and
humans," Tinasha mused as she gazed out the window. Clouds covered the
sky; it was not fair weather that day.
Wondering if it was going to rain, Tinasha got up from her desk and
walked over to the windows. Just then, she got a flash of instinct and took a
step back.
Travis dashed through the darkness in pursuit of his enemy.
Time and space existed and limited the demon realm, though not in the
same ways as in the human realm. Demons, whose forms were more like
conceptual entities, simply had a different awareness of those things.
Phaedra had fled the instant she'd sensed Travis's hostility. While they
were two of the most powerful demons in existence, she was no match for
him in a head-on fight. Unfortunately, catching her when she ran was very
difficult.
The end of his long pursuit was nearing, however.
"I've blocked off all your exits. Come out, Phaedra."
His cold, irritated voice rang out in the darkness.
The concept of love was foreign to demons. The closest things they
experienced were curiosity and attachment. Travis couldn't abide anyone
who wanted to legitimize those as genuine affection.
The woman he was pursuing was no different. Phaedra didn't love him
—she only wanted to possess and monopolize him. Travis would never
agree to such a boring game. He had found something much more
important.
Travis grew irritated at Phaedra's refusal to face him. He let his power
rise in preparation for the kill.
"Then you can die," he spat, words sharp like a blade.
Just as the words left his mouth, a blast of searing white light sped
toward him.
Tinasha took a step back only to behold a pillar of golden radiance right
before her eyes. The light struck the barrier on the floor and exploded.
"Whoa!" she yelped, leaping away.
Her two spirits conjured a shield to protect her from the blast. As
Tinasha cast a defensive spell, Mila and Karr stepped out in front of her.
The surprise attack had penetrated multiple barriers. Tinasha licked her
lips nervously.
Karr said tightly, "Run, little girl. We'll buy you some time."
She'd only heard him talk like that once before. Of the twelve mystical
spirits, Karr was the second most powerful. Tinasha's eyes grew wide in
shock as Mila added, "Please run, Lady Tinasha. I think she's here."
As she spoke, a fearsome and intimidating presence filled the room.
Tinasha took in the sight of a woman clad in a blinding, brilliant light and
finally realized what was happening. "Oh no…"
The last time Karr had addressed her that way was when Travis had
appeared. That meant this woman was of the same rank.
She had gently undulating, long silvery hair and pale blue eyes. There
was no doubting her beauty.
Like Tinasha, there was something strange and ephemeral in her
features. But hers were twisted with malicious intent.
Her clear eyes glittered ominously as her gaze pierced straight through
Tinasha. "Are you that little insect I've heard so much about? Rejoice, for
you get to die by my hand."
Tinasha smiled tightly in the face of her death verdict. While trying not
to leave herself open in any way, she spared a glance up at the ceiling.
Faced with one of her greatest dilemmas yet, this all-powerful mage and
queen's first reaction was a sigh. "Stupid Travis."
Her tone held a pronounced tinge of resignation.
As he used both hands to divert the light that came suddenly rushing at him,
Travis frowned suspiciously. That attack was far too powerful to have come
from Phaedra.
However, he did know who was powerful enough to manage it—a man
who was also one of the highest-ranking demons.
As he suppressed his annoyance, Travis let a cruel smirk curl his lips.
"What do you think you're doing, Taviti? Where did Phaedra go?"
"She's manifested in the human realm," something replied. The other
demon had taken no physical shape. Only words alone, infused with his
will, filled the space.
Travis clicked his tongue irritably. At some point, his quarry had
changed places with someone else. Fury boiled within him for getting so
roundly deceived.
The voice continued mockingly, "Perhaps you didn't notice because
you've grown so accustomed to wearing that filthy meatsack of a body? Oh,
how the mighty have fallen."
"Can it. Why are you here?" snapped Travis.
"I'm simply trying to help cure you of your pathetic addiction to those
insects. The dignity of the greatest demons is in jeopardy, and that concerns
us all," the voice explained.
Travis smirked. He held his left hand out invitingly, scarlet lightning
crackling at his fingertips. "So we agree, then. I'm equally fed up with
sharing my position with the likes of you."
As Travis poured his emotions into his magic, he thought of two
mortals.
One was the girl he had sworn to protect.
The other was a woman who possessed enough power to match his own.
Taviti wouldn't let Travis go easily, and Travis didn't intend to run
anyway. He meant to give Taviti everything he deserved for standing in his
way.
In the meantime, Phaedra must have arrived with great fanfare and
devastating might to kill his old friend. In one part of his mind, Travis
wondered if he would make it in time or not. Ultimately, he gave up
midway through. "Eh, she can probably fend for herself."
Then he unleashed a scarlet bolt of light.
The room surged with searing bolts of lightning. Karr and Mila worked
together to warp the attacks far away.
Phaedra's lips curled in a bitter grin as she beheld their swift teamwork.
"You're pretty good for trash who takes orders from a nasty bug."
"Believe it or not, we've been around for a long time," replied Karr with
a friendly smirk, though he couldn't hide how tense he was. Unpleasant
memories from four hundred years ago, when every mystical spirit had
been soundly defeated by one high-ranking demon, flashed through his
mind. While Phaedra ranked below that man, she was still one of the
strongest of their kind.
Behind Karr, Mila signaled with her eyes to her master. But before
Tinasha could respond, a golden shaft of lightning formed in Phaedra's
hand. The blood drained from all three of their faces as they beheld that
blinding glow.
This one was much more powerful than the one before. One wrong
move and half of the entire castle would be rubble.
"Lady Tinasha!" cried Mila, leaping in front of her master to shield her.
Several spells were cast all at once.
Everything went white.
"Ngh!"
Tinasha reached out, suppressing the magic that was gushing up.
The next thing she knew, she was hurling through sudden darkness.
Mila was flabbergasted when her beautiful master first announced she was
going to put herself in a magic sleep.
Going back in time was impossible. That man had to have lied about
coming from the future. So then why was her master putting such stock in
it? Why was she so in thrall to this desire that she was attempting to go
through time? Mila couldn't understand any part of it.
Many of the other spirits chided Tinasha for it, too. Mila felt confident
that they could dissuade her. That changed when Tinasha explained things
to her.
A tiny bit of loneliness swam in the darkness of her eyes, and yet they
blazed with determination.
It was the first time Mila had ever seen her master with a wish so strong
she was intent on having her way.
When Tinasha's pleading gaze, more like a little girl's than a queen's,
fell on her, Mila felt herself crumble. With a grimace, she said, "I'll be your
guard, then. Trust me to handle everything."
Her master was stunned, as were all the other spirits.
But that didn't bother Mila. A strange sense of duty had come over her,
filling her with satisfaction.
That was probably the moment she stopped being a spirit of Tuldarr. So
long as her beautiful and entirely unique master existed in this world, she
would fight to protect her.
"Mila! Mila! Wake up!"
Someone shook her shoulder, and Mila's eyes opened. Close to nine
hundred years had passed since she had taken corporeal form and
manifested in this realm; she had adapted completely. She opened and
closed her hands over and over, getting a feel for all her senses.
Glancing up, she saw Tinasha and Karr peering down at her with
concern. She waved a hand at them and sat up.
They weren't in the palace; they were behind a half-crumbled wall built
of stone. Looking around, she realized this was a part of some sprawling
ruins.
"Are we in… the old capital?"
"Yes," Tinasha answered. A presence-muffling barrier surrounded them.
Mila recalled what had just happened. "Lady Tinasha, is Phaedra…?"
"I believe she's searching for us," replied the queen with an upward jerk
of her chin. No figure was visible in the dark sky, but Mila could sense
something out of the ordinary.
During the attack in the study, Tinasha had put up a barrier to enhance
the spirits' defenses and had simultaneously teleported everyone out via an
array. Their present location was an entirely uninhabited wasteland found
south of the main city of Tuldarr.
The stone megaliths that made up the cityscape were all that remained of
an era when this had been the center of Tuldarr. Close to five centuries ago,
a forbidden curse ran amok and left the city partially destroyed. The
survivors relocated to the north. Weathered ruins were all that remained.
A wave of Phaedra's magic wriggled through the skies above like a
homing beacon. They wouldn't remain hidden forever.
Mila staggered to her feet. "Sorry, but I'm going to go buy us some
time."
"Absolutely not," Tinasha said, rejecting that at once.
Mila gaped at her. "But Lady Tinasha…"
A tender smile appeared on her master's lovely face. "I will go. You two
keep the barrier up around this whole area."
Her tone brooked no objections. Fierce determination blazed in her dark
eyes.
Mila knew that look well. Since Tinasha was just a girl, she had ruled
over them as their queen. In the face of such inviolable majesty, the two
spirits bowed their heads.
An amused-sounding peal of laughter rang out from above. "So this is
where you are? How sneaky. I found it dreadfully dull."
Tinasha gave a tight smile in response to her enemy's scorn. She spread
her arms out wide. "Itz, Senn, Saiha, Lilia, Kunai, Eir, Sylpha!"
The Tuldarr mystical spirits who had served the Magic Empire for nine
hundred years answered her summons. All of them materialized around
Tinasha, save for the three who always guarded Tuldarr.
Phaedra snorted. "You lot came all this way just to be brought down by
my hand?"
The spirits ignored the demon queen's open scorn and looked only at
their master, awaiting her orders.
Tinasha flashed them a relaxed smile as a spell formed between her
hands. "All of you hold your positions."
Every spirit understood what that meant. Their master had decided to
fight alone, and she would permit no dissent. They bowed and vanished.
Immediately after, a barrier sprang up with Tinasha at the center,
encapsulating the little city. This barrier, maintained by nine powerful
demons, would demarcate the battlefield and prevent any magic from
escaping and damaging some other place.
Tinasha took a deep breath of air into her lungs. She held her breath and
teleported into the sky, her long black hair fluttering. "I certainly didn't
think I would get this opportunity again…"
The spirits weren't the only ones reminded of the battle with Travis.
Tinasha still tasted the bitterness of that defeat. She and all of her spirits had
only survived at his whim.
But things were different now. Phaedra clearly sought to kill her.
If Tinasha died, the contract with the spirits would end.
She thought back to four hundred years ago, and a smile cracked her
lips. If she perished, the spirits might be able to flee. They weren't mere
servants to her—they were her friends that she cared for deeply.
Tinasha pulled her mind away from morbid speculation. She was not
expecting to lose this fight. Why had Travis come to her with this? If this
was just a matter of a capable demon assassin, his underlings probably
could have handled it. In all likelihood, he had asked for her help because
he'd anticipated a direct confrontation with Phaedra.
"I wish he'd just told me that from the start," she muttered under her
breath. Focusing her mind, she eyed the powerful demon queen before her.
I'm one of only a handful of mortals who can defy them.
Tinasha lifted her right hand, and a sword appeared in it. Her eyes traced
the length of the blade, which glinted purple.
So quiet only she could hear it, Tinasha whispered, "No matter who I'm
up against, I am done losing."
Phaedra smiled pityingly—and yet cruelly—at the mortal woman
leveling a sword at her. Her lilting, melodic voice rent the air. "Are you
ready for your death? Come and let me kill you quickly, filthy pest. I can't
stand this tepid sack of flesh. I want to be home now."
Even the words she spat in disgust carried an alluring charm.
"Yes, I'm ready for your death. Please come whenever you're ready,"
Tinasha replied, undaunted
"Why you little…"
Silvery white and obsidian black clashed. Two women, such opposites in
every way, filled the sky with vast and powerful spells.
The two magical forces collided in a flurry of sparks, like a streak of
lightning.
A drop of rain hit the windowpane.
Popping his head up at the sound, Oscar glanced over his shoulder at the
window. It was still afternoon, but the sky was dark and gray with heavy
clouds. A light rain began to fall, dripping down onto the trees in the
gardens.
The king sighed as he picked up a pen to sign a few documents. "Should
I have gone to Ynureid in the morning?"
"The weather's been ghastly all day," Lazar pointed out.
The new fortress at Ynureid was mostly complete, and Oscar had plans
to head there for an inspection. The structure was entirely protected from
the rain, so that wouldn't hamper anything, but a lack of sunlight would
make things fairly annoying.
Still, that was no reason for him to change his plans. Oscar got to his
feet. "Guess I'll go get ready."
"Yes, Your Majesty," responded Lazar, opening the study door to go and
help his liege make his preparations. But once he looked out into the
corridor, he froze. "Aaah!"
Oscar frowned when he heard Lazar's shriek of terror. "What is it?"
"Th-the baby…"
Oscar peered over Lazar's shoulder to see the baby, wrapped in
swaddling cloth, lying on the floor right outside the door. His blue marble
eyes stared straight at Oscar.
"What's he doing here? Who's the lady-in-waiting in charge of watching
him?" asked Oscar.
"I—I'm not sure… That really scared me. He's not even crying, so we
have no way of knowing how long he's been there," said Lazar.
"This is ridiculous. Take him away, and I'll get ready on my own,"
Oscar said.
Heeding his king's orders, Lazar picked up the baby and headed for the
drawing room where the ladies-in-waiting could be found.
Oscar turned to go the other way, unaware that the infant was watching
him the entire time.
Ynureid's walls were wet with the drizzle.
Because Oscar had completed the majority of the inspection earlier, after
the battle with Cezar, he only needed to inspect the storehouses, the armory,
and the overall defense of the fortress.
Oscar was in a council room with General Granfort and other military
personnel and magistrates when an officer entered wearing a bewildered
look. "Your Majesty, a visitor has arrived for you…"
"A visitor? Here? Who is it?" Oscar asked.
"She says her name is Lady Aurelia of Gandona, sire."
He recognized the name. It was difficult to forget the girl who had
accompanied that demon bastard.
What did she want, though? With a scowl, Oscar asked, "Is her
companion with her?"
"No, she is here alone. It appears she's come on urgent business."
"Very well, then. I'll go see her," said Oscar.
Normally, he would have no obligation to meet with someone from
another country, especially one who arrived without an appointment. But if
Aurelia claimed it was pressing, then he had to listen. After clearing out all
but a handful of magistrates from the chamber, Oscar gave orders to have
her brought in.
When Aurelia entered, she apologized for rudely arriving unannounced.
Then, with a steely look in her eye, she got right down to business. "Your
Majesty, do you know where Travis is?"
"Excuse me?" was all Oscar could say, utterly flabbergasted by that
question. "I have no idea. I haven't seen him since the party."
"It's been more than a week since he left me. He said he'd be right back,
but I don't know where he's gone… Nothing like this has ever happened
before," she explained, gazing earnestly at Oscar.
The king of Farsas frowned. If it had been a week, then that meant
Travis had departed shortly after the celebration in Farsas. It wasn't
surprising to learn Aurelia was fretting, but he couldn't see what it had to do
with him. Besides, that man was one of the highest-ranking demons. Oscar
couldn't think of much that would be a threat to him. Travis had likely
flitted back to the demon realm on a whim.
Oscar was about to say as much to Aurelia when the next part of her
explanation stunned him silent. "I thought Queen Tinasha might know
where he'd gone, so I went to Tuldarr. But she's not there, either… No one
knows where she's gone, so I thought she might be with you."
"No… she's not. I haven't seen her since the day of the party, either. So
she's gone missing?" he asked.
"I was told she was in her study until the afternoon but has since
vanished. There are burn marks in the room, so some manner of magic may
have been used…"
Unconsciously, Oscar began to grind his teeth.
Something didn't add up. And this feeling was oddly familiar.
Tinasha had been acting suspiciously after the party, too. And Travis had
disappeared on the same night. Something had been off about Tinasha, and
now she'd vanished as well.
Maybe he was worrying too much, but Oscar began to have a bad
feeling that something had happened.
He needed to look into things immediately and act before it was too late.
Rising to his feet, he glanced at his magistrates. With a sour look on his
face, he said, "I'm sorry, but I have to go to Tuldarr. I'll finish the
inspection another day."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the magistrates responded right away.
In sharp contrast, Aurelia leaped up in surprise. To her, Oscar said,
"You've got me worried now, so I'm going to have a look. Once I've
arrived in Tuldarr, I'll have my dragon track Tinasha down. I'll contact you
when I know something."
"I—I'm going, too!" Aurelia insisted.
Now it was Oscar's turn to look flabbergasted. His eyebrows shot up as
he replied, "We don't know what's at the root of this. I can't be responsible
for your safety."
"I'm a mage. Take me with you, please," she pleaded.
"But you may become the enemy," he said.
"What enemy?"
Aurelia was confused; she didn't quite understand what Oscar meant.
Was he implying that the two of them might wind up as foes? Or that she
and Tinasha would be? It was difficult to imagine, and Aurelia wasn't sure
how to answer.
While she was sorting her thoughts out, the king cut in coolly. "The man
you're searching for is the most suspicious one in all of this. Two times
now, he's almost killed Tinasha simply because he felt like it."
"He has?"
"And if he's trying to do the same thing again, you should know that I
will end him. And if you come along, what will you end up doing then?"
"Travis really did that…?" Aurelia asked with disbelief. Were Oscar's
words true? Had Travis almost killed Tinasha?
Her eyes darted here and there frantically. She wasn't catching glimpses
of another's past, but rather, she was rifling through her own memories.
Yes, Travis was bad-natured and enjoyed upsetting others. But over the
last six years they had spent together, he had never once caused her physical
harm. When he'd admitted to "riling" Tinasha up before, Aurelia never
imagined the truth of that statement was so dark.
Aurelia knew what Travis really was, though, and she understood that he
had a tendency to regard mortals with very little care.
Still, that couldn't be all there was to it.
When Aurelia glanced up, Oscar was staring her down with a fierce,
commanding gaze. She looked down and away, her face turning sorrowful.
"What he did was inexcusable. I know it's not something that an apology
can solve, but do allow me to say I'm very sorry…"
"There's nothing you need to apologize for," Oscar pointed out,
suppressing a sigh. This was a tricky situation. Aurelia was a member of the
Gandonan royal family, so he couldn't ignore or offend her, but her sudden
visit had brought a significant upset.
Oscar puzzled over how to deal with her, and the girl showed no signs of
backing down. "If he is about to fight Tinasha, I will stop him. I promise I
won't get in your way. Please take me with you."
Desperation was written all over her face. Her delicate, fragile frame
emanated pure determination.
Seeing her like this gave Oscar the strangest sense of déjà vu. He
realized he was thinking of his fiancée and the way she would set her jaw
and step forward, vowing not to lose. Despite the inherent awkwardness in
that posturing, it was difficult for Oscar to ignore it.
Feeling himself break into a faint smile, Oscar sidestepped the girl to get
to the door. "If you're a mage, then you should be able to look after
yourself."
"Th-that's right!" she cried, running after the king as he opened the door.
Then Oscar froze.
"What's wrong?" the girl asked, peeking over his shoulder.
There, in the hallway, lay the baby, wrapped in swaddling cloth.
At her core, Tinasha hated battles.
Since before her original coronation, she had constantly found herself
entangled in a maelstrom of conflicts almost daily. Despite having the
power to destroy an entire country overnight if she wanted to, she seldom
wielded her full capabilities in battle. Even in the war with Tayiri, she was
undecided to the last over whether she should mobilize all her strength and
decimate the opposing army.
For that reason, Tinasha was actually almost grateful when the Witch
Who Cannot Be Summoned came to kill her. Fighting a witch eliminated
the indecision on whether to marshal all her power. For the first time, she
brought out the whole might of her magic to slay her enemy.
The clash lasted for an entire day. The fierce showdown was on a scale
that had never been seen before, with the mystical spirits and witch's demon
servants in the fray as well.
And when Tinasha killed the witch at last, she stood stock-still on the
ravaged earth, devastated by the ruin of it all. The first stirrings of doubt
flickered through her heart. Was Tinasha not a witch herself, to be capable
of wielding such immense power?
While Tinasha's right hand loosed a spell, her left swept through the air,
setting off a wave of magic that neutralized the golden thorns flying at her
from all directions. Phaedra growled in irritation that Tinasha had used the
smallest bit of power to stop all her attacks. The demon queen scowled and
was halfway through casting a new spell when she was suddenly yanked
down by her ankles.
"What in the—?"
Innumerable silver threads were coiled around Phaedra's legs, pulling
her down through the air and throwing her off balance. After struggling to
free herself from the restraints, she made a split-second decision and
applied the spell she was casting to herself.
No sooner had Phaedra done so than Tinasha sent forth black flames that
engulfed the demon.
The fire should have been enough to incinerate Phaedra down to her
bones, but it fizzled before it had the chance. Free of the flames and silver
threads, Phaedra glowered at Tinasha with fury burning in her eyes.
"You impertinent little…"
She had thought this insect beneath her. And her wounded pride only
fueled her bloodlust.
"Tch," Tinasha tutted. "I suppose it was never going to be that easy.
Let's try this, then."
Another spell took shape. It turned into nine spears that zoomed for
Phaedra at staggering speeds. The demon shattered the first furiously, but
the other eight evaded her attacks and arranged themselves in midair.
"Miserable little worm!" Phaedra howled.
"Call me whatever you like while you still can," Tinasha said, carefully
controlling the trajectories of the remaining spears. Then her focus
happened to shift to Phaedra's right leg. Rivulets of blood were running
down the white flesh, the result of the silver threads previously wrapped
tightly around it. The wound must have been deep, because the crimson
streams thickened, dripping down before scattering on the breeze.
"Hmm?" Tinasha mused. As Phaedra smashed the last spear, Tinasha
teleported away. A second later, a bolt of lightning struck the spot where
she'd been.
Time slowed to a crawl, and Tinasha's world narrowed until there was
only the battle—anticipating and acting. She felt her own mind gradually
grow sharper and sharper. Her next spell came with no recitation, then she
crafted a double incantation on top of it.
"All right, here I go," she whispered before releasing three spells at
once. As a feint, arrows rained down on Phaedra. When she blocked them
with a magical barrier, a silver ball of light whizzed through it at breakneck
speed and closed in on her.
"Ugh!" the demon growled. Although she raised her hand, she was
unable to muster a complete defense. She leaped to one side to try and elude
the attack but found that she couldn't move. Her eyes grew wide with shock
and panic. Myriad vines held her firmly from behind. She wouldn't make it.
The ball of light struck Phaedra and swallowed her. As Tinasha put up a
hand to shield herself from the blinding white glow, she giggled. "You've
still got more in you, don't you? Go on and show me what else you're
capable of."
She was high on the exhilaration of battle. The spells ricocheting around
the space were more beautiful than anything.
Tinasha read her enemy's next move. Her thoughts were clear.
A natural grin spread across the queen of Tuldarr's face; her mind now
honed to a razor-sharp edge. That beatific, gracious expression carried with
it the power to enchant all who beheld it.
The light that had consumed Phaedra exploded. The woman who
emerged from it wore a bone-chilling smile as she faced her opponent. "Of
course… I will take great pleasure in breaking down every meaning in this
world for you."
The demon cast her eyes downward. Hundreds of sickles materialized in
the air without an incantation. Tinasha beamed at such a sublime sight.
Immediately, the golden crescent-shaped blades arced through the air,
racing toward Tinasha.
While channeling magic into her sword in one hand, the queen created
beads of light in the other. She leaped backward and used her blade to
dispatch the sickles rushing at her. As she did, the orb of light formed argent
streaks in the sky as they shot down the remaining crescents.
Despite not being consciously aware of it, Tinasha knew the paths all of
Phaedra's projectiles were taking. She could fully perceive each and every
bit of magic in the space the two women were in. If things continued as
they were, she might just manage to overpower the demon.
But then, something made the faintest of impacts with Tinasha's magic.
"What was that?"
Her moment of discomposure allowed an attack to connect with her.
"Ow!" she cried as pain lanced through her right arm. From the corner
of her eye, Tinasha saw her sword fall from her grip and tumble to the
ground. Sickles seized upon the gap in her concentration, grazing her chest
and left leg.
Wasting no time, Tinasha cast a spell, and hundreds of luminous beads
appeared in front of her heart.
"Go!"
The globules scattered, flying at the crescent blades and crashing into
them explosively. In the chaos, Tinasha teleported away and used magic to
stop her bleeding. Upon inspecting her deepest wound, she found that her
arm was torn to shreds from the elbow up. Her tendons might've been
snapped because she couldn't move her fingers very well.
"Oh? Whatever is the matter?" Phaedra asked with great amusement.
"Nothing at all. I'm only feeling a little sleepy," Tinasha replied,
purposely smiling back.
Inwardly, however, she was far from calm. Something had touched the
defensive barrier placed on Oscar, which had distracted her and created that
opening.
His barrier vibrating meant that something had attacked him with magic.
What in the world was going on?
"Oscar…"
I want to go to him right now. I want to make sure he's okay.
Tinasha had to dismiss that idea, though.
If she warped away now, Phaedra would follow. And to fight outside the
space she had enclosed, which the spirits were keeping warded, would
mean extraordinary damage. She couldn't allow that.
Tinasha took a deep breath. Then a brilliant grin split her face. She used
magic to make her immobilized arm stretch out toward Phaedra.
I believe in him.
From birth to death, humans were all alone in the world. Only thoughts
and feelings, as fine and fragile as spider silk, linked them together.
Right now, winning this fight was Tinasha's goal.
She would believe in him, and she would defeat her enemy.
"At the moment, you have my full attention. So how about a smile for
me?" Tinasha purred.
Power amassed in the young woman's right hand. A dark crevice rent the
air between them.
Phaedra's lips curled up. Her gaze was locked onto the mark on
Tinasha's flesh, exposed when a sickle had grazed her chest earlier. "That
hateful mark. What does he see in you?"
"Oh, who knows, really?"
The crevice grew wide enough that the tip of it reached Phaedra, who
forcibly compressed it with a spray of magical sparks.
The demon queen licked her lips with a bloodred tongue. "Then what is
it about him that entices you?"
"I'm afraid I couldn't say," Tinasha responded tartly. She was simply a
stand-in for Aurelia. She wouldn't have the faintest clue what was attractive
about Travis. She found herself drawn to a different sort of bright light
altogether. "I doubt any answer I gave would be satisfying."
Tinasha flung out her right hand, sending the blood on her arm flying.
As she did, a dark bolt surged out of the half-closed crevice and made for
Phaedra, forking off many times over into a network of jagged lines. The
sparking cage closed around the demon queen. Phaedra scowled in distaste
at this attack from the most powerful mortal mage. Spreading her arms
wide, she produced a luminous golden sphere.
Branches of black lightning licked Phaedra's skin and left shallow cuts
on it as the ball of light pulled them inside, absorbing them. "Repugnant
child of the spirits… That nasty, lukewarm body of yours will not fall under
his control. I'll slaughter you first, until not a single drop of blood remains."
After swallowing the lightning, the golden orb turned a murky black.
Tinasha kept an eye on the situation while her right hand moved in the
air. A sword the color of night formed in her grip. She calmed her mind
while readying her weapon made of pure magic.
The world of the senses that is revealed to me is so very clear.
Nothing was warped or distorted, nor marred or stained.
She was alive, now and at this moment. She was in good spirits. Her
senses were sharp, her magic was polished to a sheen, and her spells were
developing beautifully. All of it gave her great joy.
Eyes dancing, Tinasha faced Phaedra. "My body is my own. Only I and
one other may lay a hand on it."
"Shut up, filthy worm!" Phaedra cried, hurling her conjured sphere.
With a full, throaty laugh, Tinasha leaped out in front of the demon.
After a blank moment, Oscar finally came to his senses and looked around
the hallway.
There was no one there but the baby. Lazar was still back at Farsas
Castle.
"Then who brought him here?" Oscar muttered.
The infant stared silently at Oscar. Anxiety surged through the man as he
caught a glimpse of some bottomless darkness in the child's blue eyes.
"What's that? A baby?" Aurelia asked, slipping around Oscar and
reaching out for the infant on the floor. However, Oscar grabbed her arm to
stop her.
"Your Majesty?"
"There's something off about that child. Don't touch it," Oscar
cautioned, his judgment informed by his intuition alone. Tinasha had said
there was nothing particularly dubious about the baby, but she only meant
in a magical sense. She was just as suspicious as he was of why a baby
addressed to him was abandoned now of all times.
This is no abandoned newborn. It's after me.
Tapping a finger against his jaw as he puzzled over how to handle the
situation, Oscar watched something bizarre happen. A black mist rose from
the baby, climbing slowly toward the king. Instinctively, he reached for
Akashia.
Aurelia screamed, "Your Majesty, don't touch it!"
Oscar's eyebrows shot up at her shrill cry. He pulled her back and shut
the door on the baby. As he kept a wary eye on the door, he asked her,
"What was that?"
"It's a very strong miasma," she replied. "If you touch it, you may be
poisoned. What is that… baby…?"
Aurelia trailed off, her ashy blue eyes going wide as saucers. Oscar
followed her gaze to the door and was just as stunned.
The massive door was slowly being dissolved from the other side, as if
by a spray of acid. A small hole was developing in the wood. Groaning at
the sight of black vapor seeping in, Oscar took a half step back and checked
all around him.
The magistrates were staring back at the king with a mixture of fear and
distress in their eyes. Faced with an unexpected emergency, Oscar made a
split-second decision. "Everyone, get to the wall."
As he spoke, he edged closer to the window. Opening it, he peered
down. They were on the second floor, not too far from the ground.
"Pardon, Your Majesty?!"
"It's probably after me. I'm going to draw it away, so you do as I say,"
the king ordered, pointing to a door set in the wall opposite the windows. It
connected to another council room, and if the magistrates exited that way,
they should be able to avoid the baby and escape into the hallway.
Oscar already had one foot on the windowsill when Aurelia touched him
and said a short incantation.
The next thing he knew, they were both teleported to a grassy field south
of the fortress of Ynureid.
Oscar frowned as he stared at the fortress far in the distance. "Thanks
for saving me, but what about everyone in that room?"
"I apologize for acting so rashly. However, I don't think we need to
worry about them," Aurelia said with a tight smile, pointing in the opposite
direction from the fort.
The baby was floating there, a black mist coiling around it. It had
warped over in pursuit of them.
"If Lazar were here, he'd faint immediately," Oscar whispered, tilting
his head and frowning at the infant. Fortunately, they were surrounded by
open grassland. Deciding to fight, the king pulled out Akashia.
"Can you teleport out of here? Go back to the fortress or Gandona,"
Oscar said to Aurelia, without taking his eyes off the baby.
The girl shook her head, however. "I'll help you. I'm not as good a mage
as Tinasha, but I can still be of use."
Oscar wanted to order her to go anyway but gave it up when he saw the
look in her eyes. He adjusted his grip on the royal sword. "I guess I'll take
you up on the offer, then. Thanks."
"I am at your service," she replied.
The baby regarded them silently. Oscar's lip curled when he noticed that
the black gas seeping out from the infant was withering the plants around it.
"It sure looks like a human baby."
"It does to me, too, but that miasma… It's definitely coming from the
child," Aurelia replied.
There was no spell visible in the vapor. It simply billowed from the
baby, slowly covering more and more.
Oscar glanced between the baby and the blade of the royal sword.
"Never killed a kid before."
The child wasn't a demon in disguise. Whatever he was doing, he was
still human.
At the bitterness in Oscar's tone, Aurelia bit her lip. "Your Majesty,
could you try stalling to give me some time?"
"Do you have a plan?"
"I'd like to search the baby's memories. They may hint at some way of
banishing the miasma," she replied.
Oscar's surprise lasted only a moment. He took a step forward to cover
Aurelia. "Got it. I'll buy you some time."
He didn't need to ask for details. Aurelia wouldn't have proposed the
feat if she weren't capable of it.
Oscar dashed in and used Akashia to dispel the surrounding gas. The
black mist dissipated at the touch of his blade. Some weakly drifting
remnants made contact with his arm, but Tinasha's defensive barrier
repelled them.
"Let the past come to my sight."
Aurelia closed her eyes. Travis had locked away the abnormal ability
that had ruined her life.
And now, of her own volition, she was setting it free.
No matter what kind of power it was, it was her own. Aurelia wanted to
find meaning in it. She wanted to believe she was making progress, even
with this smallest of steps. Oscar was covering her without questioning a
thing, which Aurelia was very grateful for. And she had to honor that trust
by giving this everything she could.
Aurelia fixed her gray-blue eyes on the baby. While maintaining control
of herself, she sent her consciousness into the time contained within that
small creature.
At first, the miasma had no clear shape and merely undulated slowly, but
once it seemingly realized that it could not catch Oscar that way, it began to
shift its form.
A cone-tipped spear lunged forth out of the mist. Oscar lopped it off
with his sword and leaped to one side. While preserving a reasonable
distance, he kept its attention focused on him. He couldn't let it grab
Aurelia, who was standing some distance away.
The girl's eyes were blank as she stared at the baby within the miasma.
Oscar turned away, deliberately not watching. While he didn't know what
she was looking at, he had the distinct sense that she would peer into
something even he didn't know about himself. Eye contact felt like a bad
idea.
After deftly handling a series of attacks that came at unstable speeds,
Oscar heard the girl calling for him and fell back.
Aurelia walked up to him. As she put up a barrier, she asked, "Do you
know what Simila is?"
"Sure," Oscar replied. "That's the forbidden curse Cezar tried to use just
recently. I believe Tinasha said it uses people's negative emotions as a core
and draws out power from another plane of existence."
"It's a forbidden curse?!" Aurelia yelped in shock. Evidently, she hadn't
known about Simila at all. But her question informed Oscar that their
current situation was related to a forbidden curse.
Nervously, she relayed her findings. "That baby has some leftover
remnants that weren't molded into Simila sealed inside him. He's been
made into an instrument to assassinate you. The remains are a formless
mass of evil… or maybe negative emotions? Anyway, because of that,
they've evaded magical detection. They're attached to the baby through a
mark drawn on his back. If you can destroy that…"
"Oh, so the power can be separated from him? Got it. Thanks." The king
responded easily, then he strode from the safety of Aurelia's barrier. The
girl's jaw dropped.
Though Oscar knew what he had to do, the baby was surrounded by a
massive cloud of deadly fog, and the mark was on his back. Achieving the
best scenario without dying or killing the child wasn't going to be easy.
Yet Oscar wasn't worried about any of that as he approached the baby.
In contrast, Aurelia fretted over what she should do. But soon enough, she
widened the barrier to prevent the miasma from coming closer to him.
Oscar chuckled when he noticed her assistance. "You're a mage, all
right. That's a big help."
As he moved forward, Oscar dispelled any harmful vapor Aurelia's
barrier couldn't push away. By this point, the miasma had come into contact
with Tinasha's protective spell numerous times, yet the woman herself
hadn't come running. That must've meant she was also tied up somewhere.
"She's probably gotten herself injured again. I've gotta hurry," Oscar
muttered, steadying out his breathing. He touched a hand to his chest,
wondering for a moment if he should use what was in his breast pocket.
"No, I bet I can make do without it," he decided, only needing a second
to make up his mind.
Brandishing Akashia before him, Oscar breached the center of the
miasma. The black mist formed spears and cudgels to attack him
relentlessly. Oscar sliced them all away handily, however, and continued his
advance.
But little by little, the vast miasma was seeping in from beyond Aurelia's
barrier. Black droplets clung to Oscar. They weakened upon contact with
Tinasha's enchantment, but as they were made of negative human emotions
and not magic, they slowly permeated that layer of protection and burned
him like acid.
Pain spread from Oscar's left shoulder down his arm, but he didn't let it
stop him. Instead, he only quickened his pace.
He was now a few steps away from the baby. Oscar's twilight blue eyes
met the baby's brighter aqua ones.
A void with no thoughts or feelings.
The birthplace of darkness.
The next thing Oscar knew, he was getting sucked into that dark world.
He could sense the flow of power like a frequency. Splitting his
consciousness apart, Travis managed to manipulate it.
Unlike in the human realm, where the structure of a spell was required
to exercise magic, the energy spilled forth from every corner here. In this
place, force of will was the only thing required.
An invisible snake pursued Taviti, who kept disappearing and
reappearing.
"Don't think you can shake me off, you worthless nobody," grumbled
Travis as he flicked a hand. The serpent divided into five. While he was
back in his original incorporeal form, he still felt like blood was rushing up
within him.
It was at that moment that an army of murky red hands crawled up
toward him from underfoot. As fast as a winged beast, they twined around
his legs. The crimson hands immediately began to corrode him from the
inside out, and the changes triggered a wave of nausea.
From seemingly nowhere, Taviti spoke in a blasé tone. "You've always
been all talk, with nothing to back it up. It's the act of a fool to bluff that
you're more than you are."
Despite Taviti's mocking words, Travis wore a dauntless smile. "Enough
yapping. You'll find out whether it's bluster or not when you're dead."
Travis used the strength of his mind to reshape his body. He cut out the
corroded parts and regenerated new ones. All the hands clinging to him
were blown off.
Taviti's astonishment filtered into the area.
Travis manipulated his power to deal the finishing blow. "Gloat too
much, and you're just asking to have your throat torn out," he stated, his
voice dripping with evident scorn.
When Taviti turned around, two snakes lunged for him with their jaws
open wide.
"How can this be happening?" Valt wondered with a sigh. He adjusted the
barriers strung up all over. Instead of raking his nails through his hair in a
panic, he was leaning against the armrest of his chair, resting his chin on
one hand. "This has gotten a little out of hand. I didn't think any topranking demons would show up."
"Is one fighting? With the witch?"
"Seems so. It looks like they're in the old Tuldarr capital ruins."
"No! Will the spell be all right?" asked the girl.
Valt knocked on the wood of the armrest. "Just barely… I think. She's
got the area warded off and all."
He grimaced as he withdrew magic from the barriers. Valt, Oscar and
Tinasha's prime suspect, was presently living with Miralys in a new
mansion.
Miralys blew on her sweetened tea to cool it down. She was sitting in
her favorite wooden chair, brought from Cezar. "So what's the Farsas king
doing?"
"He's engaged in a conflict of his own. Some sort of revenge plot by the
remaining cultists. Those two have no shortage of enemies, do they?"
remarked Valt.
"Aren't you responsible for at least half of them?" Miralys pointed out.
"Well, that is true…"
Valt folded his arms. The situation had taken a strange turn while he'd
been off getting his plans in order. He turned his thoughts to the surprise
appearance of the high-ranking demons.
Naturally, he knew that Tinasha and Travis were acquaintances. But
unlike Tinasha, who was relatively easy to predict, Travis was prone to
attracting unforeseen developments. That had caused trouble for Valt
numerous times in the past. It had even gotten him killed on a few
occasions.
Schemes that involved Travis were far too risky, and Valt had long since
given up on using him. Fortunately, things were better now, because a girl
named Aurelia had come along to weigh Travis down and balance things
out.
Miralys snapped her fingers, and Valt popped his head up.
"What do you want to do? Should we help? You don't want the witch to
die, right?" she asked.
"No… but actually, I think we can stay out of this. This is a good
opportunity, so I'll just watch things play out," he answered.
"Are you sure?"
"Mm-hmm. If she dies here, it means she's not strong enough. And if
that's the case, it's all pointless anyway," Valt stated, drawing a coolheaded
conclusion. Suppressing his emotions, he closed his eyes.
The world was constantly moving in new and unexpected ways.
And though it was far from comfortable, they stood in the midst of the
tremors from those battering waves.
Tinasha sliced through Phaedra's magic attacks.
Naturally, there was no ground to stand upon in midair. It was magic that
kept her upright. With concentration, Tinasha adjusted her footing so that it
was the same as when she was on land.
Reining in all the emotions that felt like they were about to spill forth,
she brought her sword down on Phaedra. The demon woman raised her
hands, seething with resentment. When the dark sword and Phaedra's magic
connected, the atmosphere exploded with a loud, unpleasant crackling.
Tinasha took a step closer and thrust her sword toward Phaedra's left
flank. The blade hit her defensive barrier and stopped.
"Corrode."
Tinasha quietly intoned a spell and infused her weapon with even more
power. The black blade started to eat through the barrier, and Phaedra paled.
Her hand hurriedly wove a spell to drive it back.
"Vanish!"
Light flooded out. As magic surged up to attack her from head to toe,
Tinasha released her sword. Shielding her head and heart with her arms, she
teleported away.
A light euphoria had overtaken her. The heat of it was what propelled
her forward.
Impatience and anticipation were the same—the wish to move forward
immediately. She wanted to see how everything played out, and it was
impossible to stop now.
Phaedra watched Tinasha retreat with satisfaction, but she froze upon
catching sight of something in those dark eyes staring back at her.
"You…"
It was the gaze of a bloodthirsty beast. A pure urge to kill glittered there.
Tinasha had gone straight into a mad, murderous trance.
How could someone look at one of the most powerful demons in such a
way? Phaedra couldn't comprehend it.
I'm scared.
Those dark eyes cast a shadow on Phaedra's mind. And while she was
briefly preoccupied, a flurry of black daggers ripped through her skin.
Tinasha had turned the sword she'd dropped into tiny little shards.
In the blink of an eye, Phaedra was as battered as Tinasha, shaking all
over with the humiliation of it. She detested the warm, red beads that
soaked into her clothing. "How dare you… I will tear you into a thousand
pieces and drown you in a pool of your own blood!"
Tinasha gave a gracious smile. "Too much anger can kill you."
Phaedra had only minor lacerations. Truthfully, Tinasha's injury was
more serious. She was in greater pain than the demon, and she could only
move her deadened right hand with magic. Other parts of her ached terribly,
too.
But even so, she was not worried.
Every drop of her power was at her command, and she loosed it with
impunity.
This was different from the silent irritation she'd felt when battling
Travis. She was in the midst of effortlessly challenging someone who
outranked her. Something about that got her fired up.
Tinasha turned a heated, hungry gaze on Phaedra. Pale blue eyes blazing
with fury glared back as the young queen held out a hand.
"I command you to come forth, o curse-adorned illusions. Render
definitions meaningless and revert matter."
Three white rings appeared as the result of that incantation. They were
composed of what looked like rows of letters, all intertwined around the
same center.
The sky was dark, threatening to rain at any moment.
The rings sparkled brightly in that monochromatic world.
"What is that?" Tinasha wondered. It was clearly powerful magic, but
she couldn't say what it might do. She uttered an incantation of her own,
erecting a barrier to protect herself.
The rings activated before she could complete her spell, however.
Revolving as they expanded, they suddenly warped to her position,
hemming her in.
"Ah!"
The atmosphere within the rings grew twisted, and Tinasha felt a wave
of nausea, as if the air pressure was changing. The instant Tinasha realized
what was going on, a chill ran down her spine.
This technique was one that could distort any magic. Every spell cast
within the space encircled by the rings would be transmuted or rendered
ineffective. Tinasha had never heard of anything capable of twisting the
laws of magic and the workings of spells like this. It was hard not to marvel
at such unbelievable power and artistry.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of doing so. Her half-deployed
barrier disappeared. That wasn't all. The spells she had cast to stop her
bleeding and to hold herself aloft in midair contorted, assailing her with a
wave of intense dizziness and nausea.
"Oh no…"
Tinasha stumbled; she couldn't keep herself floating. As she lurched to
one side and began to plummet to the ground, Phaedra watched with a smug
smile. The demon queen summoned a whirling mass of wind directly above
Tinasha to deal the final blow.
"I suppose you did provide me with a modicum of entertainment," she
spat.
Tinasha tried to cast a teleportation spell, but the magic wouldn't hold
within the rings. The winds pressed down on the rings, accelerating her
descent.
A moment later, Tinasha slammed into the center of the ruins with a
sickening crunch. The impact sent a cloud of sand into the air. Phaedra
teleported down, alighting onto the top of a pile of rubble and gazing upon
Tinasha scornfully. "You really made me go to quite some lengths."
As the dust settled, a mass of long black hair sticking out of a pile of
broken stone became visible.
Phaedra snorted, raking fingers through her own mussed locks to smooth
them out. She positively abhorred the sensation of warmth from the blood
coating her skin. "What brittle little bodies. So very loathsome."
As the demon wrapped her arms around the human body she had taken,
something suddenly rammed into her and set her trembling.
Very slowly, she looked down at herself and saw a purple blade sticking
out of her chest, stabbed into her from behind. She watched in disbelief as
blood dripped down the length of it.
Behind her, someone said placidly, "Thank you for showing me how fun
a fight can be."
"But you… How did you…?" Phaedra sputtered, her gaze still fixed on
that long black hair below.
It should've been impossible, but someone was indeed standing behind
her. Phaedra craned her neck around for a better look.
Tinasha yanked out the sword and fell back. Her glossy black hair had
been chopped off just above her shoulders; her eyes glowed like a
predator's.
"I'm grateful to have witnessed such an incredibly rare spell. However,
only one person has the right to kill me. I'm sorry," stated the queen of
Tuldarr as she used one hand to flip back her short hair.
When she was slammed against the ground, Tinasha had released raw
magic to protect herself. Even so, she'd broken one leg, and several of her
ribs felt funny. Only her tremendous power had kept her body together.
Phaedra slowly turned around. When she attempted to cast an attack
spell, her vision went dark. She scowled.
Tinasha smiled as she watched the demon woman's face blanch. "You
can't move very well, can you? I don't think you're used to how human
bodies work. Too much blood loss makes them very cumbersome."
Tinasha had first noticed it when the vines cut Phaedra's leg. The demon
must have numbed her sense of pain, so she didn't notice the blood flowing
freely from her wounds or do anything to stop it.
The first thing a mage did when wounded in battle was to stop the
bleeding and dull the pain. Failing to do both risked disrupting their
concentration. Phaedra had only done the latter, so Tinasha made her
opponent bleed out with shallow cuts all over. In particular, she had targeted
Phaedra's back, as the demon wouldn't notice any lacerations there. Bright
red liquid coated everything from her shoulder blades down.
Even more blood gushed out onto Phaedra's back from the stab wound.
The demon queen glared hatefully at Tinasha. "This substance is so…
filthy…"
"Really? A warm body's not that bad, is it? I like this temperature. Not
to worry, though. You'll go cold soon enough," replied Tinasha.
"You're the one who's going to die!" Phaedra screamed as a silver light
flashed in midair. But with a short incantation, Tinasha negated it. A stroke
of her sword tore the demon apart.
Crimson stained Phaedra's lovely silver hair. Drops got into her eyes as
well, turning her vision red. Her lips trembled. She was so heavy and chilly.
Was she really going to perish here? Of all places?
There was no answer.
Her vision went black, and Phaedra shivered with fear like a child and
closed her eyes.
Tinasha sighed as she watched her opponent collapse onto a pile of
rubble. Phaedra's body lay twisted like a broken doll's. Black mist
emanated from her corpse and melted into the air. Such was the death of a
high-ranking demon.
"I will go on while you sleep in this city," Tinasha said, her eyes
watching the sky.
Rain had begun to fall.
Taviti fled into a space sealed off by darkness. Travis's snakes snapped at
his heels, chasing him from behind and from the sides.
He hadn't anticipated that Travis would be so much stronger than he
was. He'd dismissed his fellow demon as someone too used to living in
human skin. At the very least, he'd assumed they would be evenly matched.
However, that had quickly been revealed to be delusional thinking. All
he could do now was shake Travis off and hide.
After teleporting away so many times, Taviti despaired when he
emerged from his latest attempt only to find Travis's serpents already there
waiting for him. "Dammit!"
He manipulated his power, sending out invisible vines to crush the
snakes. But the tendrils struck at nothing.
"Convert."
There was nothing there. At a cruel man's instruction, the twelve
serpents reappeared and changed form. A glowing white cage took shape,
trapping Taviti inside.
The demon, caught inside its tremendous power, was aghast. "What the
hell is this?"
"Fun, isn't it? A mortal woman invented it. It divides into multiple hexes
and makes a single cage," Travis explained after appearing outside the cage.
He wore a caustic grin as he regarded his old acquaintance. There was no
mercy to be found in his eyes. He proclaimed, "This is the end. You can die
screaming."
He snapped his fingers, and the cage glowed brilliantly as it began to
collapse.
Contrary to Travis's hopes, Taviti didn't scream. He disappeared into the
white light until not a speck of him was left.
With a bored look on his face, Travis took his leave.
There was only darkness for as far as he could see. Oscar scanned the
space, unaware of how long he had been there or how he had gotten there.
The royal sword was in his hand, but he had nothing else.
Within the boundless gloom, he could sense many wriggling things.
"What's that?" he called, the words serving to reinforce his identity.
They separated him from the squirming entities. He was a drop that had
fallen into an inky sea.
"All the same," the wriggling things whispered.
Resentment, resignation, and grief—they were all connected. They were
all the same. So was this ocean of negativity, as well as whatever fell into it.
Their whispers gave Oscar the answer. "I see… So these are people's
darker emotions."
The instant he realized that, his memories came flooding back. He
recalled what he was.
Readjusting his grip on the sword, he slowly turned to face the endless
waves of negativity pressing on him.
"Just go to sleep," they whispered.
"Sadness never ends," they whispered.
"We are all the same, so join us," they whispered, reaching out for him
with immaterial hands.
Oscar's only reply was, "Don't feed me your lies. I'm different from
you."
Even if all this wickedness had originated from humans like him, he
couldn't stay here. He would keep going.
Resentment, resignation, and grief were not worth giving in to and
relinquishing oneself to. He would not surrender to anyone.
As the scraps of darkness attempted to latch on to Oscar, he declared,
"You'll never have me. Return to your homes, you ugly things!"
He slashed with Akashia, creating a rip in the endless darkness. Air
rushed in.
Many teeming invisible membranes passed through him, and the world
changed color rapidly. He was riding a rushing torrent.
No—it only felt that way.
It emboldened him to step forward, regardless. With another slash of
Akashia, his vision cleared.
Oscar was back in the grassy field. Amid the vapor that was so thick he
could barely make out his out hands, he found the baby and reached for
him.
"Your Majesty!" Aurelia cried.
"It's all right," Oscar assured her. Miasma seeped in from everywhere
through the gaps in Aurelia's barrier. It melted through his clothes and
burned his skin when it touched his arms and chest. But Oscar didn't falter
once.
He held the baby to his chest and glanced down at the infant's back.
When he undid the buttons on the child's clothing, it revealed a black mark
right in the center of his spine.
"Be a good boy now… Bear with it for a little," Oscar whispered. With a
little sigh, he dragged Akashia's blade gingerly along the forbidden curse
sigil.
The mark's outline shifted. Oscar heard a loud ringing in his ears, and
the baby's eyes flew open.
The change was instantaneous and dramatic.
The cloud of black mist burst open from the center outward. Aurelia let
out a cry of wonder.
Now that the vapor was dispersed, it gradually faded until it was gone
entirely.