The black door gently shut behind her, and Naya started to walk the spiraling staircase toward the floor where Carla would be.
Her forearms stung with every step, and the noise of her blood dripping onto the ground went with the light taps on the stone stairs as she climbed up.
Though she put on a cold exterior, a whirlwind of negative emotions dominated her mind.
It took all she had to hide it from Rula, and even that was difficult.
Rage.
The Witch had injured her, nearly killed her. The thought of a Witch nearly causing her grave injuries enraged her. One that was merely in the 3rd order with such little combat ability that she had to borrow another's guardian. And for the injury to not even be from a direct confrontation but from the tactics of a snake.
However, mixed in with her anger was shame.
Lia had warned her that killing Witches would not be as straightforward as it had been thus far. Naya ignored her, tossed her words aside, and jumped head-on to a place that could have easily ended her life.
However, the biggest shame was the knowledge that she, a proud Elf, almost became the victim of a lesser Witch. It was hard to accept that she nearly had her spine snapped, not because of the trap itself but because of how she reacted.
Lia was silent as the negative emotions swirled in Naya's mind. Perhaps she wanted this to be a learning opportunity, so she offered no words of comfort.
The higher Naya got, the higher her desire to slay the Witch grew. If before it was just to prove that she could do it alone, now it was to teach it what fighting Naya, an Elf, really entailed.
After what felt to her like hours of climbing stairs, Naya finally stopped before a simple, brown wooden door.
Once she opened it, she would be face to face with Carla, the Reality Witch.
--Your Arcana is running low.--
[I know. ]Naya still couldn't clench her fists without the stabbing pain, but she didn't need to.
She took a deep, steady breath; she would not fall for another petty trap.
Naya raised her leg and aimed it at the door. With a swift motion, she slammed her foot into it with all her available strength.
The door didn't shatter as she expected, but it flew off its hinges and crashed into what sounded like glass.
"You violent bitch. You claim to be above the other Races yet behave like a rabid dog." Carla's voice sounded monotone now, without any crazed emotions from the prior floors.
Naya stepped into the room and saw that it was totally unremarkable.
Crates piled high on both the right and left sides of the room as if getting ready to leave. Lining the walls were bookshelves and display cases, each empty save for a few objects. In the middle of the room, a high-quality crimson carpet had a simple desk on it.
Sitting leisurely on the desk was the Witch, Carla, with her legs kicked up on it, and she leaned back in her chair.
Or at least, that's how she appeared.
Carla was a beautiful woman with long blue hair and green eyes, though that was caused by the contract, with light signs of maturity on the corner of her eyes. However, there was no light in those eyes.
--She's... she's already dead. --Even Lia couldn't keep the shock out of her tone.
Though the way she was positioned looked like she was enjoying a leisurely break in the office, her herms were hanging off her sides, lifeless.
"How?!" Naya yelled and rushed to the desk.
Carla had no noticeable injuries, and her clothing was in good condition: a pair of black pants and a white shirt. But she had no signs of life.
"Why?!" Naya's voice trembled, and her hand shot across the desk, yanking Carla's lifeless form from the chair. A sharp pang of pain shot through her forearm when she clutched the body, but she ignored it.
With a dull thud, Carla's body met the crimson carpet.
Naya's gaze was fixed on Carla's lifeless body for a long while, not making a sound in her tumultuous emotional state. How long had she been dead? Was someone else messing with her in this tower? How was it even able to maintain its state without Carla? Worst of all, who was the one that nearly killed her?
--This isn't right; the Devil's essence isn't here. Her body was obviously positioned the way it was on purpose after she died.--
"Who spoke to me!?" Naya took her frantic eyes off the corpse and scanned the room.
There was another brown door nestled between two bookshelves.
--She hasn't been dead for long... If this means what I think this means.--
Naya stared at Carla's corpse for a moment longer before going to the door.
She slowly twisted the knob and pushed it open; her desire to fight had decreased substantially and was instead drowned out by overwhelming disappointment.
The door opened quietly, and Naya stepped through.
"Hello, Elf." The voice was no longer Carla's but sounded simultaneously like a husky-voiced woman's and a guttural man's voice.
--How is this possible?! --Lia sounded horrified.
It was disorienting and definitely not from a race Naya knew.
"Devil," Naya said coldly, with her ears perked up.
The room was dark, but standing in the center was a blue, transparent humanoid with the same form as Carla. It was staring at Naya but didn't have eyes for Naya to make out the emotions it was feeling.
"Devil." It brought its hand to its chin. "Not what we call ourselves. Too... violent sounding?" Its head tilted.
"Silence, vermin," Naya commanded. "Tell me what happened to your Witch."
--Nayalisia, this thing should not be able to exist in our world. --Her tone was grave.
"Carla Meleria, the Human. Too timid, fearful of conflict. Still, she served her purpose well enough. A shame, but I will start again, as it always is." Both of its voices sounded tired when it spoke the last of it.
"Answer my question." The lines on Naya's hands glowed, and her eyes squinted slightly.
It looked at her hands and then back up to her face. "Interesting. I've never seen that sort of magic. I wonder what it is?" It seemed uncaring as if Naya was not a threat to it.
"Last warning, Devil."
It fake shivered. "Terrifying." It glanced around Naya toward Carla's corpse in the opposite room. "One of yours killed her. It was very distasteful."
Naya's eyes widened in shock, and her lines dimmed. Another Elf outside Aleria? It wasn't possible. None would willingly leave the island, and even if they wanted, it was outlawed by the Tribunal. Nobody had been banished in centuries, and Naya was an extraordinary exception; there was no way someone had been banished after her.
"You're lying." Naya squinted. There was no doubt in her mind the Devil was trying to hide the real killer.
It shrugged. "Well, I'm sure you'll meet her one day."
"Tell me the truth, or you will die here, Devil!" Naya took a threatening step forward.
It didn't flinch, "Kill me? Please. This form is tiring; I can't gain more power and exist in this... distasteful form." It moves its arms as if to display them.
--Essence given form shouldn't be possible until the 5th circle. Something is wrong here, Nayalisia.--
Naya and the Devil stared at each other, the Devil seeming completely uncaring and unguarded.
"How are you here, in this form?" Naya asked, and her lines began to glow again.
"Your information is outdated, Elf." It chuckled. "Or maybe I'm special. I am quite remarkable; I think your world will like my transformations."
"You won't ever come close," Naya said. [Is what it said true? ]
--It... shouldn't be... but the reality in front of me speaks otherwise... I don't know.--
It shrugged again, then moved its gaze to Naya's bloody forearms. "I was really shocked when you survived that trap."
Naya raised her arms again; the anger from the trap rose again. "Why?" If it wanted to die so it could restart, why did it try and kill her?
"Well, because another Elf is not something we want outside Aleria right now... Did you like my acting, by the way? I even got the little halfling to want to leave. I hope you take care of her; I'll need her in my new world. I quite valued her paintings."
[It made her leave?]
--I get it. It can't take down the tower on its own, but without a stable supply of Arcana, it should dissolve on its own; who knows what would happen to anyone still inside. That's probably why the upper floors were abandoned.--
"Your new world won't happen."
Naya didn't give it a chance to respond.
She launched forward and arrived in front of the Devil instantly, with her arm out to touch it.
"I will return." It said nonchalantly as Naya's hand made contact with its body.
Naya remembered the other Devil's essence and knew to tightly shut her eyes.
A bright purple light flashed from her hand, bright enough to lighten the dark room and for Naya to turn her head away despite her eyes being shut.
The process wasn't instant, and Naya felt a purple vortex forming on her palm the same way it did when she absorbed Arcana.
"WHAT?!" The Devil's tone changed for the first time, and it tried desperately to resist. "HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS POWER?!"
A blinding battle of bright blue and purple filled the room, along with the noise of rushing wind, as Naya struggled to maintain her position without being flung away in the turbulence.
"NO!"
And those were the Devil's last words. The battle of lights faded along with the rushing wind, the room returning to an eerie calm as if it never happened.
Naya released her held breath. "What was that?"
--I have it. Now we have the essence of the Shade and Reality Devils.--
"This was not pleasant at all." Naya's arms were pulsing in pain, made worse through the turbulent absorption, and she could barely feel her fingers.
--It was never going to be a tough fight. Unless it was able to create a physical form and alter reality instantly, it would never have been a challenge. Many Devils are like this; their powers don't translate well into mortal hands until the later stages.--
[Then there are ones like the Shade Witch.]
--Those are the scary ones; even 3rd order, they can cause a lot of problems.--
Silence came back as Naya was stuck in thought. It was an eventful day, and she learned a lot, though she would rather not have learned some lessons. She still had the letter in her pocket, and the Devil seemed certain that another Elf was outside Aleria.
[What should I do?] She asked. Naya wasn't expecting an answer, but so many things were revealed to her today, and she was lost on how to proceed. She started feeling like it would be a sin to simply ignore everything, despite how little she cared about the rest of the races.
--For now, get Rula and get out. This tower will lose its shape and might kill you both.--
[Right.]
"Carla!" Rula's voice came from the other room, and Naya walked out to meet her.
"Y-you really did kill her..." Though she seemed enraged at her just a bit ago, Rula still had tears in her eyes over Carla's death.
--She was technically the only person in Rula's life for who knows how long.--
"She was dead when I got here," Naya said. She wasn't sure how to handle someone crying, so she just stood silently behind her.
Rula shed silent tears for a while, and Naya patiently waited. She wasn't sure why she was so patient, but it did remind her of herself when she had to leave her Mother behind. It made her sad watching, and her ears drooped.
She couldn't feel pity for the Witch; she was evil, and Naya would have mercilessly killed her. She only felt sad for Rula because maybe she cared for the vile thing.
"Wow~ You really did manage to kill her by yourself!" The silence was broken by Sophia suddenly walking through the shattered remains of the door. "That's too bad; I wanted to play knight in shining armor today."