Chapter 42: Khaos Brigade (2)
[Rome, Italy.]
"[Collect]."
Azrail placed his index finger on Lyra's forehead, and with a small surge of his demonic power, she watched as a tangible, pure white orb of energy came out of her body.
"That is..."
"The old trick devils used to collect souls as payment in the past..." Azrail continued from where Lyra trailed off, looking down at her with a small smile while holding her soul in his hand. "I'm sure someone as ancient as you should recognise it..."
"I thought they stopped teaching such techniques after the Devil Civil War..."
The technique allowed devils to seize the souls of those beneath them and have absolute control over their lives. In the case of humans, lower-ranking devils would even consume the seized souls to increase their strength.
The boost from consuming human souls was negligible for those of noble lineages, so their sole reason to consume them was because of the pleasant taste.
"Yeah, it's forbidden to teach or utilise these techniques now... Krens only gave it to me after I promised not to flaunt it around."
As he continued, Azrail placed Lyra's soul in his mouth before gulping it down.
"Human souls are fine for devils... Other supernaturals, though? It's akin to poisoning yourself."
In the worst-case scenario, consuming such a soul would permanently reduce the amount of demonic power a devil's soul could generate, reducing their overall potential by a lot.
The only reason Azrail could even forcefully collect Lyra's soul was because of her currently miserable state, and considering the difference in their strength, consuming it was no different from destroying his future.
Lyra was sure Azrail knew about it, as well, but instead of showing concern, he smiled at her.
"I can always recover from the after-effects with the help of Senjutsu, but what about you? The moment I digest your soul, it's game over."
Lyra scoffed at his words. "You are being overly cautious. In my current state, what can I even do?"
She had no magic power to perform aura enhancement or darkness manipulation; her intrinsic skills as a vampire couldn't work anymore, and with most of her physical body destroyed, she couldn't even move.
"The last time we met, I almost died. Be grateful I'm not crushing your head at this very instant."
Despite what he said, Lyra couldn't sense any anger in Azrail's eyes. On the contrary, it seemed like his words were a form of self-mocking.
'His behaviour makes me wonder if the incident happened years ago instead of a few weeks...'
It was strange.
"I wasn't the one who asked you to sacrifice your life force to fight me."
"Your guesses are a bit too accurate..."
Azrail's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and Lyra smiled.
"Please. It wasn't my first time witnessing a person sacrifice their life force for a momentary increase in strength..."
However, she never thought she'd see a devil use such methods. After all, sacrificing lifespan for a temporary boost in strength was most commonly associated with the wielders of Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, and Regulus Nemea.
Without waiting for Azrail to speak, Lyra continued. "So, what now? Since you took the liberty to take my soul hostage, you must not wish to kill me. But as I am right now, you can't torture me for information, either."
Even though she could barely cling to life in her current state, if her brain received damage beyond a certain degree, Lyra would die despite her immortal body.
'If my previous guess of him reading the memories of the dead was correct, then the reason he came here...'
She remembered the little information her subordinates had, and after thinking about it for a second, she concluded that there was only one reason why Azrail would risk coming here.
'He came for the reports about Gleipnir's current location and the excavation date set by the Tepes Faction...'
Her subordinates didn't know about most of her dungeon's layout or the treasures she had, so that was the only thing that could evoke someone's greed.
'And the reason he hasn't killed me yet might be because I don't fulfil the criteria for him to read my corpse's memories, which should be an intact head, or he has another use for me...'
{The dead told me about it.}
That was what Azrail had told her when she asked how he knew about her identity, and only now did she understand what he meant.
As numerous thoughts passed through Lyra's head, Azrail brought his hand above her mouth.
"Torture? There's no point. From our last encounter, I can tell you wouldn't even flinch at what I did to Elmenhilde, so doing all that work is meaningless."
'Elmenhilde… Karnstein? Does he have some secret connection with Krul's daughter?'
Lyra had done an extensive background check on Azrail, but regardless of how much she thought, she couldn't link him with Elmenhilde beyond the few days they spent together during the Carmilla Faction's investigation.
And from the familiar way he talked about her, their relationship wasn't of formal business acquaintances.
"Here."
Although there was no wound on his hand, a drop of blood came out of Azrail's index finger and landed on Lyra's lower lip.
Maybe it was because she hadn't drunk any blood in a while, but she instinctively licked her lip, and when she did—
"What..."
Her eyes widened in shock.
Despite the non-existent amount of blood, the moment she gulped it down, her body started to regenerate rapidly, and within a few seconds, her upper body had healed completely.
The only parts of her body that didn't heal were her limbs, as the four hands extending out of Azrail's shadow hindered the regeneration process, but that wasn't what concerned her.
'For a single drop to have such immense vitality...'
It was even beyond the level of a dragon, as there was no way a single drop of blood from even a Dragon King could have such effects.
'What the hell happened after our last battle?'
Lyra couldn't understand. She had already drank Azrail's blood from his severed forearm to survive, but the vitality it had wasn't even a fraction of what the single drop of blood possessed.
"Don't be too surprised..." Azrail grabbed Lyra's throat and lifted her body outside her coffin, only to then roughly throw her on the ground. "This is just the beginning..."
Thud!*
Lyra's body crashed into the ground, and she glared at Azrail from the corner of her eyes.
"Is this how you treat a lady?"
The fall didn't hurt her despite her current state—it'd be strange if it did, but the fact that someone far weaker than her could treat her like this and get away with it annoyed her.
"This is already a much better treatment than what you deserve..."
Azrail's hand went inside his lab coat's pocket and summoned a wooden box with numerous holes in its lid, similar to a salt dispenser.
'Dimensional storage? So that coat is an enchanted item…'
The barriers around Lyra's dungeon distorted the space similarly to her [Shadow Domain], which made it impossible for anyone to utilise Spatial Magic like [Dimensional Storage], [Communication Magic], and [Transportation Magic] inside.
If Azrail could use his [Dimensional Storage] in such conditions, it meant that he had the assistance of an item which acted as a second entrance to his storage.
"I noticed it before, but..." Azrail walked over to Lyra's side and crouched next to her, resting his right index finger between her breasts before trailing it down her stomach. "You're not built like a fighter. Above average bone and muscle density, barely any signs of formal physical training. I would've mistaken you for a mage if I didn't know better..."
That was a given.
Although she was a close combatant who utilised weapons with the utmost mastery, Lyra wasn't physically strong.
Her combat included buffing her physical attributes with her unique [Aura Enhancement] to fight.
While it was an inefficient fighting style for most people, Lyra created an aura enhancement method that was much more efficient than simply condensing her aura around her body like others through numerous trials and errors.
The reason she created such a method was that her Magic Power Reserves weren't enough, as even using [Shadow Domain] with five of her subordinates took a toll on her body and rendered her unable to use most of her combat-centric abilities, leaving her arsenal limited to only [Aura Enhancement] and [Shadow Construction].
If it weren't for how Alice's existence made Lyra wary enough to use [Shadow Domain], her battle with Azrail would've ended much differently.
"And even without that..." Azrail's eyes moved towards Lyra's breasts, soon falling to her waist and hips. "You have one hell of a body. Is it normal for ancient vampires?"
"Not necessarily... I am one of the few who inherited our intrinsic skill called [Charm]; it doesn't appear frequently in the current generations..."
"Intrinsic skill? You mean abilities inscribed on someone's body rather than their soul?"
"Indeed."
Vampires had a handful of intrinsic skills, from the well-known [Blood Consumption], [Mist Manipulation], [Undead Creation], [Transform], and [Immortality] to the almost extinct ones like [Charm] and [Blood Manipulation].
On the other hand, a vampire's [Darkness Manipulation] was an ability inscribed on their soul.
People in the current era lumped intrinsic skills and soul-based abilities together, making the distinction between them non-existent.
"I never heard of 'intrinsic skills' even in the memories of the oldest vampires I had... How old are you exactly?"
"It's impolite to ask a lady about her age."
"I thought vampires were beyond such superficial things..." Azrail brought the wooden box in his hand above Lyra and started sprinkling a white powder over her bare skin. "Well, I'm sure you'll be more willing to talk after a few hours..."
"Am I getting cooked?"
"You were cooked the moment we ran into each other..."
Lyra didn't understand the meaning behind Azrail's words, quietly watching as he sprinkled the white power all over her body.
After he finished with the front, he flipped her body around and continued to sprinkle on her back.
"I originally created this to use on Ajuka, but you're a good test subject…"
Azrail made sure that no part of Lyra's body was spared, from the insides of her mouth, nose, ears, vagina, and even her buttocks.
"My body is immune to most toxins or outside substances. What can this powder accom—!"
Lyra paused mid-sentence, and her back arched at the uncomfortable feeling below her right shoulder.
If she still had her limbs intact, she would've used her left hand to scratch on the itch, but in her current state, she could only move her body in hopes that the uncomfortable feeling would disappear.
"You know, I realised something after living among the devils for over a decade..."
Upon noticing Lyra's expression change in discomfort, Azrail smiled at her.
"When it comes to everyday problems like a sore throat, muscle cramps, itching, and so on, supernaturals are unfamiliar with suppressing the discomfort since their bodies are so strong that they've never dealt with such problems, to begin with..."
Lyra paid little attention to his words because her entire body felt itchy. She tried to twist her limbless body around and rub her skin against the floor to satisfy herself, but it was to no avail.
However, the worst feeling came from places she never expected.
'This is too much...'
Lyra kept rubbing her tongue against the roof of her mouth because of the itch, but the more she did, the worse it became, and she had no choice but to move her tongue even harder until she tasted blood in her mouth.
And that was without mentioning the itch she felt inside her ears, vagina, and buttcheeks.
It wasn't painful, but it was far more uncomfortable than anything she experienced, so much so that she couldn't even think properly.
"Hold on, we aren't done yet..."
Azrail placed his hands on Lyra's shoulders, pinning her to the floor before sitting on her stomach to stop her from throwing her body around.
Lyra gritted her teeth and suppressed the uncomfortable feeling. "You said no torture..."
"I wasn't lying. I had no intention of torturing you for information, but..."
Azrail rested his hands on Lyra's cheeks, gently caressing them before leaning forward and bringing his face a few centimetres above hers.
The only thing on his face was pure bliss and joyful excitement, and his eyes stared at her with an unknown, almost bone-chilling obsession.
Azrail's blood-red eyes shone inside the dark room, and a shiver ran down Lyra's spine as she watched him continue with an ecstatic smile, appearing like a child who found a new, fascinating toy.
"Something about watching you helplessly suffer on the ground makes me excited..."
Lyra understood how Azrail felt.
His expression was the same as hers when she hunted a prey she found interesting—a state where she experienced nothing but sick pleasure and excitement derived from tormenting others...
However, this time, she was the prey.
Her body trembled at the realisation.
"I've tortured and killed thousands of individuals—both weak and strong, but never once had someone's suffering filled my heart with such happiness..."
As Azrail spoke, the force behind his fingers increased to the point that his nails ripped Lyra's flesh apart, digging into her skin.
"I would've really loved to keep your limbless body locked up inside my closet forever, but the situation doesn't allow for that, so before we move on to important business..." Azrail straightened his back and removed his hands from her cheeks, the tips of his fingers covered in her blood. "I'll just enjoy myself..."
Two hands extended from Azrail's shadow—one held Lyra's head in place while the other covered her mouth.
"For the final touch..."
Azrail's right hand went inside his lab coat's pocket, and this time, he summoned a test tube filled with a transparent liquid from his [Dimensional Storage].
"Don't move..."
With his free hand, Azrail forcefully opened Lyra's right eye and poured half of the transparent liquid into it.
"Mmmmppphhhh....!"
Veins bulged on Lyra's forehead as she tried to scream at the top of her lungs, but the shadow hand holding her head didn't let her, and all she could do was arc her back at the burning sensation in her eye.
However, Azrail paid little attention to her screams and proceeded to do the same with her left eye before removing the constraints holding her head.
"My eyes....!!!! They burn...!!!!!!"
The burning sensation in her eyes, coupled with the constant itching she felt all over her body, overwhelmed Lyra's senses completely. She thrashed, hitting the back of her head against the floor until blood pooled around her.
She wanted the pain to distract her from the overwhelming sensations, but alas, it didn't help much. The only thing she did was mindlessly hit her head in a pool of blood, splashing it everywhere.
"I poured concentrated sulfuric acid in them; of course they burn..."
With a light chuckle, Azrail got off Lyra's stomach.
"Just torture me instead...!!!!!!!"
Following that, he quietly watched Lyra's limbless self struggle around on the ground like a fish for several hours.
When it felt like she was getting used to the burning and itching sensation, he poured some boiling chilli sauce into her nostrils and forced her to chew on hundreds of raw garlic cloves.
And as if that wasn't enough, he summoned a pair of speakers and made her hear the Bible so loudly that it felt like someone was punching against her eardrums.
Touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. He messed with her senses to the point where she considered getting skinned alive a luxury.
Her body only recovered from what he did after gave her a few drops of his blood.
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.
.
"You're a fucking lunatic..."
"Who are you to call someone a lunatic? Have some conscience."
No matter how much she thought about it, Lyra couldn't retort against Azrail's words, so instead, she looked down at her naked body and moved her limbs around.
'There's no sensory delay, and the damage caused by [Incinerate Anthem]'s flames has healed completely with no after effects...'
If she had waited for her body to heal naturally, it would've taken her a couple of years to recover from Alice's attack.
'No, it's more than that. My senses feel a bit sharper than they were before I accepted the last mission. Even my physical attributes increased by a little...'
The changes were so minuscule that most people wouldn't even notice them, but Lyra couldn't possibly miss even the slightest improvement in her body.
She glanced towards Azrail, who sat at her study table while reading through the reports on it.
'For his blood to have such healing properties... I doubt I'll need to consume blood for at least a month now...'
After only drinking a few drops of Azrail's blood, Lyra's body regenerated from all damage within ten seconds, and even her magic power somewhat recovered.
'If the Tepes or Carmilla Faction knew about his existence, they'd try every possible method to obtain his powers...'
Azrail's blood was no different from an infinite power source for a species like vampires.
Whichever of the two factions got a hold of him would automatically have the strength to demolish the other.
'But I can't imagine what might happen if a vampire drinks more than a few drops of his blood...'
From what Lyra theorised, her body would most likely explode or mutate into an unrecognisable form if she drank Azrail's blood beyond her limit because of being unable to contain so much energy.
Too much of something was as bad as too little, after all.
'Not like it matters to me right now...'
Lyra's shadow rose from the ground before covering her entire body from the neck down in a thin layer of darkness, and when it retreated, a green-coloured dress appeared on her body.
Image.
"Hey..." At Azrail's callout, Lyra turned towards him, watching as a hologram appeared above his palm. "Is this the entire layout of your dungeon?"
"... How did you get that?"
As far as she knew, Azrail never left her room to explore the dungeon.
"[Sound Magic]... I used your screams to analyse this place's structure."
'So that was [Sound Magic]...'
Lyra still remembered when Azrail screamed, 'DID YOU PRAY TODAY?' next to her ear, causing her to lose consciousness.
It was probably the most bizarre attack she had defended against.
Just thinking about it made her head hurt.
She glanced at the hologram for a few seconds before shaking her head. "That's only the first part of the dungeon. Other parts are further underground."
"Is space distorted in all parts of the dungeon?"
"Yes."
"Then, how do you travel through different parts if [Transportation Magic] isn't an option?"
"Even if it weren't for the distorted space, I don't know how to use [Transportation Magic]..."
Azrail's movement paused at her words. "What?"
His dumbfounded expression wasn't out of Lyra's expectations.
Since he already had access to her soul, he could sense whether she was telling the truth, so there was no point in lying or hiding information.
The fact that someone who almost killed him couldn't even utilise a basic [Transportation] spell must've been a surprise.
After a few seconds of silence, Lyra let out a small sigh. "You have a far greater understanding of [Darkness] than me, yet you don't even know how to utilise basic combat-oriented abilities of this element..."
"You have abilities other than [Shadow Construction] and [Shadow Domain]? Tell me about them."
"Why should I?"
Rather than answering her question, Azrail smiled and pulled out a few cloves of garlic from his pocket.
Lyra's face distorted in disgust when she saw them, and she unknowingly stepped back. Even though her body had healed, the taste of the hundreds of garlic cloves he made her chew was still fresh in her mouth.
While her disgust towards garlic wasn't as prominent as most vampires, it didn't mean she liked them—especially after what Azrail did to her.
Without even waiting for him to say anything, Lyra spoke. "It's a skill called [Shadow Movement]... Put those away..."
She felt like she'd throw up any second.
"[Shadow Movement]?"
"Yes. It's a rare skill that allows people to travel through shadows and darkness, completely hiding their presence..."
Lyra's shadow rose from the ground and covered her entire body, soon devouring it until nothing remained.
"I feel like that skill is a bit too advanced for someone to call it [Shadow Movement], but..." Azrail turned around with an obnoxious smile, glancing at Lyra, who stood behind him with a pitch-black sword aimed at his neck. "Why did you stop? I had no intention to defend myself, you know?"
'I released just enough presence for him to detect my attack, yet he made no attempts to defend himself... It doesn't seem like a bluff, either. Where is his confidence coming from?'
Lyra couldn't sense anyone except Azrail inside her dungeon, so she wanted to confirm whether his seizing her soul was a bluff.
Now that she had recovered her strength, even if he had her soul in his stomach, Lyra could behead him thrice before he had the chance to absorb it.
However, Azrail showed no signs of panic and didn't try to defend himself.
The absolute confidence in his eyes made Lyra uneasy, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.
"That was [Shadow Teleportation], an advanced version of [Shadow Movement]..." The sword in Lyra's hand disappeared as she continued. "It allows me to connect two 'shadows' and move through another dimension, imitating instantaneous teleportation that cannot be hindered by barriers."
Azrail's interest increased after hearing those words. "Another dimension?"
"I don't know much about it, but from what I learned, it's a dimension that connects all darkness and shadows. As long as one knows how to move through that dimension, no barriers can stop them..."
"Is that how you escaped from Alice's barrier?"
"Yes..."
Before the [Incinerate Anthem]'s flames could burn her entire body, Lyra initiated [Shadow Movement] and teleported her head inside her coffin.
"What else can you do with [Shadow Movement]?"
Lyra raised her arms forward, and two pitch-black circles appeared above her palms.
"Connecting two points in space-time and allowing instantaneous transportation through them is also possible. I can also use them to redirect projectiles instead of devouring them..."
Azrail threw a garlic clove inside one of the circles levitating above Lyra's palm, only for it to come out of the other circle with no delay.
"Sure enough, [Shadow Movement] is much better than [Transportation Magic]..."
"Indeed, but because of how unique and versatile it is, only a handful of vampires can hope to master it and..."
Lyra paused mid-sentence when she saw a pitch-black circle appear on the ground in front of Azrail's chair, along with one that appeared on the ceiling directly above it.
"This is how you do it, right?"
As if he didn't notice Lyra's doubtful expression, Azrail jumped inside the black hole, and the moment he did—
"Whoa...!"
His body fell from the black hole in the ceiling before once again entering the hole on the ground, continuously repeating the endless cycle.
'The skill that took me decades to properly utilise... This brat learned it with such a measly explanation...'
Lyra suddenly felt that the countless hours she had dedicated to refining her combat abilities and skills were in vain.
The pitch-black hole on the floor disappeared moments before Azrail landed on the ground, and he turned towards Lyra. "What?"
"How did you do that...?"
"I copied it with [High IQ], how else?"
"The Astaroth Clan's trait can only copy magic spells, right?"
Her [Shadow Movement] wasn't a magic spell but an extension of her inherent [Darkness Manipulation].
"In most cases, yeah... [High IQ] can analyse all sorts of supernatural powers with enough mastery. However, we can only copy custom spells because we are familiar with the magic system and can implement them immediately. I already knew how to move through shadows, but the method was too crude and required refinement, which I copied from your [Shadow Movement] and added to my [Darkness Magic]..."
Lyra blinked stupidly at Azrail's explanation, somewhat dumbfounded. 'It's nerve-wracking how much he reminds me of her, from his talents to how well he hides his real abilities...'
"Moving on, do you know any other such abilities?"
"Most of them are for support purposes, but if you're asking for something on par with [Shadow Movement], there's only [Shadow Merge]..."
"[Shadow Merge]?"
"As the name suggests..." Lyra's shadow rose from the ground and covered her right hand. "[Shadow Merge] allows me to merge physical matter with shadows, making it immune to both physical and magical attacks..."
She pressed her right hand against the wall, but to Azrail's surprise, her hand passed through it as if the wall wasn't even there.
"This skill consumes too much magic power, so it's hard to maintain it for more than a few seconds in battle..."
Lyra pulled back her hand from within the wall, and it reverted to its normal state.
"Why didn't you use these abilities in our last battle?"
"Because I couldn't." Lyra smiled at Azrail, leaning against the wall with her shoulder. "[Shadow Domain] takes a huge toll on my magic power reserves... In that state, I can't use anything besides [Aura Enhancement] and [Shadow Construction]..."
"Then..." Azrail pondered for a few seconds before continuing. "How long would it have taken to capture me if you weren't using [Shadow Domain]?"
Lyra raised her forearm towards him.
"Three minutes?"
"Thirty seconds; three if it were an assassination request."
Azrail pursed his lips at those words. "It looks like Alice saved me just by existing..."
"Don't make it sound like you survived entirely because of luck. In this world, having an extraordinary background is a skill, too."
No matter how much Lyra wanted to deny it, the only reason for her loss was herself.
She had underestimated her opponent and decided to torment him rather than focus on her work.
The main reason for [Shadow Domain] was Alice's existence, but Lyra could have blocked the tracking spell on Azrail with a few simple barriers. However, she instead used [Shadow Domain] to limit her capabilities and make it entertaining for herself.
The sole reason for her loss was herself.
There was no denying that.
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.
.
"Man, you're loaded..."
As the door of darkness behind them disappeared, Lyra and Azrail walked into one of the many floors of her dungeon.
The enormous hall had millions of gold coins piled inside, forming several golden mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Apart from the gold coins and things with only monetary value, there were tens of thousands of magic items, tools, weapons, potions, magic books, and magic circle scrolls scattered everywhere.
This floor was Lyra's treasury, where she stored all the payments she had taken since she became an assassin.
As for the items present here, they were everything she plundered from the people she had killed during her jobs.
If a client wanted to obtain the victim's belongings, they needed to pay the equivalent of the item they wanted.
"This much money can fund my experiments for over a century. There's no need to run online scams anymore..."
The moment Azrail had a good look around the hall, he grinned, and Lyra could swear she saw his eyes turn into money symbols.
"You don't plan on taking everything here, right...?"
Azrail looked at her with the most innocent, childish expression she had ever seen. "You offered me everything here out of gratitude because I healed you. How can I be so rude as to reject it now?"
The corner of Lyra's mouth twitched after hearing those words, but before she could reply, Azrail's shadow extended towards the piles of treasure and devoured everything it came in contact with at an alarming rate.
'I should've killed him back then...'
She hadn't regretted something so much in her entire life.
"That's..."
Azrail suddenly turned towards his right and narrowed his eyes, staring at the mountain of gold coins in the distance.
His shadow stopped devouring the random piles of treasures and transformed into several arms, all moving towards a single mountain.
The hands dismembered the mountain of gold coins before returning to him with two magic items and handing them over to him.
"I've seen these somewhere, and this familiar feeling and enchantment techniques..."
Azrail frowned, staring at the necklace and two bracelets in his hands.
'Ah, I forgot those were here, as well... No wonder he feels a sense of familiarity with them...'
"Unlike what everyone in our clan believes..." Azrail turned towards Lyra with slightly wide eyes. "Our ancestor didn't die because of her magic experiment failing, but..."
Lyra continued from where he left off with a small smile. "She died because of me."
The necklace and two bracelets in Azrail's hands belonged to Lilia Astaroth—a First Generation Devil and the progenitor of the Astaroth Clan.
She was also one of the thousands of people Lyra had killed—possibly the most difficult one, too.
"What's with that expression?"
Lyra expected Azrail to be surprised at that information, but for some reason, he seemed disappointed.
"You know, I held our ancestor in high regard because she managed to replicate other clan traits like [Power of Destruction], [Worthless], and [Crack], but for her to get killed by someone like you..."
A vein bulged on Lyra's forehead. "Someone like me?"
She didn't become one of the best assassins in the world for a child to mention her as 'someone like you.'
"Then again, it makes sense... Lilia wasn't strong despite the numerous abilities she had..."
It was a well-known fact that Lilia Astaroth never participated in the Great War herself.
She—and the Astaroth Clan, by extension—contributed by mass-producing enchanted weapons for the soldiers and creating support magic spell scrolls for them to use on the battlefield.
"She wasn't strong?" Lyra couldn't help but scoff at Azrail's words. "That bitch had the entire underworld fooled by hiding her abilities; it still baffles me how no one noticed..."
"Huh?"
Azrail seemed more surprised at Lyra's sudden change in tone than her words.
Even after hundreds of years had passed, Lyra still vividly remembered her 'battle' with Lilia, and how close she was to death that day...
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.
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[600 Years Ago: During The Great War.]
[Underworld.]
'She comes here alone every so often with no guards... Does she not care about the Devil Race or the Great War?'
Lyra stood atop the peak of a mountain, gazing at the empty grass field at a distance, surrounded by a dense forest.
At the centre of the empty grass field was Lilia Astaroth, sitting cross-legged on the ground with a magic sword and paintbrush in her hands.
'Maybe I was being overly cautious because of her versatile arsenal?'
For the past month, Lyra had 'marked' Lilia's shadow and watched her every action to determine the best time to assassinate her.
It was the standard procedure she followed with her targets. Not to mention, because of Lilia's extraordinary profile, Lyra even sent other assassins after her and watched them to determine the target's abilities.
'There's no one in the vicinity, and her guards won't come looking for her anytime soon...'
A pitch-black sword manifested in Lyra's right hand, and soon, her body fell into her own shadow before emerging out of Lilia's shadow instead.
As long as she had 'marked' someone's shadow, she could appear at their location no matter where they were or what barriers separated them.
Lyra's sword moved towards Lilia's nape, intending to behead her in a single attack, but before it could hit—
CLANG!*
'Huh? She showed no signs of having a passive defence spell until now...'
The blade clashed with an invisible barrier, which caused Lyra's eyes to widen.
"No wonder the last two assassins were so weak..." As if she had expected this situation, Lilia turned around and looked into Lyra's eyes. "You sent them to gauge my abilities... Truly impressive."
'She knew...'
Lyra's eyes shook in realisation, and she hurriedly kicked the ground to distance herself from Lilia.
"A Vampire? That means she'll die if I destroy her brain..." After mumbling to herself, Lilia pointed her index finger towards Lyra. "Die."
Just from looking at her movements and eyes, Lyra could tell that Lilia was, by no means, a fighter, similar to what the reports said.
However, despite knowing that, her instincts screamed at her to dodge, and she tried to, but—
Thud!*
The invisible attack 'tore' her shoulder apart, causing her left hand to fall to the ground.
'The Belphegor Clan's [Crack], but... What the hell is with that insane output?'
Even though she lost her arm, Lyra solely focused on the mountain dozens of kilometres behind her, which had divided into two parts because of Lilia's attack.
If the attack had landed, Lyra doubted she could've defended against it even with her [Aura Enhancement].
Covering such a distance wasn't something even the strongest devils from the Belphegor Clan could do, and to make it worse, Lilia did so with little effort.
Lyra's first thought was to run away instantly, but before she could use [Shadow Movement], a black spatial hole appeared next to her, followed by Lilia, who teleported underneath it.
'The Abaddon's Clan's [Hole]?!'
"Always focus on your enemy in battle, especially if they are stronger than you..."
A magic circle appeared at the tip of Lilia's index finger, and six black chains created from [Power of Destruction] rushed towards Lyra.
'[Shadow Merge]...!'
Lyra knew that if any of those chains managed to touch her, they'd rip through her body with ease, so she used a decent amount of magic power and merged her entire body with her shadow.
"Hm?"
Lilia's eyes widened when she saw her chains pass through Lyra's body, and she stared at the vampire with some interest before surging some of her demonic power.
Swoosh!*
The sword in Lilia's hand moved towards Lyra at a speed she could barely follow, but because of her current state, it passed through her head.
Lilia placed her left hand on her chin and started mumbling to herself. "Even physical attacks don't work... How fascinating. Based on the analysis, I don't think attacking the soul would make a difference."
Lyra's [Shadow Merge] ended, and she launched several weapons made of darkness towards Lilia.
"I'm not interested in [Shadow Construction]..." Lilia raised her hand towards the incoming attack, a bit assertive. "Merge with darkness again..."
But the next instant, Lilia's eyes narrowed, watching the shadow weapons collide with her invisible defensive barrier and disappear.
"[Worthless] didn't work, that means..." Lilia looked at Lyra, who was trying her best to escape, with shock, awe, and some fascination, much to the latter's surprise. "You have a better understanding of [Darkness] than me..."
Lyra couldn't care less about Lilia's words, and she solely focused on activating [Shadow Movement] to escape, but before she could—
"[Bind]."
Her body stopped moving no matter how much she tried.
'She froze the space around me...'
"You're incredible..." Lilia's long, knee-length blonde hair fluttered in the wind as she leisurely walked towards Lyra with a small, nonchalant smile. "I never thought a vampire's abilities could be so suitable for assassinations. I doubt any devil except Lucifer would survive an assassination attempt from you. After all, strength doesn't matter if they can't even use it before being beheaded..."
A shiver ran down Lyra's spine after hearing the genuine compliment.
First Generation Devils didn't dare to say Lucifer's name, yet Lilia was referring to him as if she didn't even acknowledge him as her creator, much less the ruler she served.
'Such overwhelming strength despite zero fighting experience... Just how much is this bitch hiding from the world?'
Docile, non-violent, easy-going, soft-hearted, airheaded, and weak. Those were the words associated with Lilia Astaroth in everyone's minds.
For them, her value was in the advancements she made within the Devil's Magic System and the enchanted weapons she created.
No one within the Underworld cared about her replicating the powers of other First Generation Devils because they believed she could only utilise far inferior versions of it.
But Lyra knew... The potency of Lilia's abilities far surpassed the original.
The 'Lilia Astaroth' everyone knew was nothing but a lie.
"What's wrong?" Lilia's jewel-blue eyes stared into Lyra's blood-red eyes. "You seem scared..."
Lyra wanted to speak, but because of the frozen space around her, she couldn't even manipulate her magic power properly, much less move her body.
Lilia raised her hand towards Lyra's face, and a magic circle appeared at the tip of her index finger.
"Your abilities were interesting. Tell me your name..." After not hearing a reply from Lyra for a few seconds, Lilia continued. "I freed your head. Speak."
'She also released some of my magic power...' Lyra knew she couldn't escape with such little magic power, so she answered without much thought. "Lyra Darkvein."
"Lyra... That's a nice name." Lilia smiled sweetly, and the magic circle at her fingertip glowed in a green light. "I'll send you off with one of my deadliest attack spells, so let me examine your soul and read your memories, okay?"
'My attacks can't break through her passive shield, but what if it's her attack?'
Before she could think anything more, Lilia opened her mouth. "[Disintegration]."
A pure white beam of energy shot towards Lyra's head, and from her mouth, a shadow emerged, creating a pitch-black hole just big enough to swallow the energy beam.
The hole's purpose wasn't to devour the attack but to transport it somewhere else, and that place was—
"Gah....!"
Lyra's heart.
"Wha—?!"
Lilia's eyes widened in shock when her [Disintegration] spell emerged from within Lyra's chest. She couldn't even react as her spell pierced through her defences and left an enormous hole in her chest, destroying her heart.
'[Shadow Construction]...'
Lyra felt the space around her revert to normal, and she used [Aura Enhancement] on herself before attacking Lilia again, beheading the latter in a matter of milliseconds.
"Amazing..."
Even as her head detached from her body, Lilia seemed fascinated by Lyra's abilities, looking at her with awe and surprise until her consciousness disappeared.
"Haah... Haah..."
Lyra stumbled a bit, only managing to stop herself from collapsing by increasing the output of her [Aura Enhancement].
Her legs still trembled in fear.
She had fought countless life-and-death battles, but never once had she met someone who could overwhelm her to this degree with such ease.
If it weren't for the fact that Lilia had no fighting experience to react in the moment of surprise, Lyra would've died right there.
.
.
.
"After that, I altered the evidence of her death, making it look like she died because of her spell backfiring on her..."
"I see..."
Lyra sat on her desk with one leg resting above the other, watching as Azrail leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes.
'The story must've been a lot to take in...'
Lyra and Azrail were probably the only people who knew about Lilia's true abilities and how her life ended.
"I wonder what Lilia's end goal was besides studying magic..." After a few seconds of silence, Azrail opened his eyes and looked at Lyra. "By the way, there's something I'm curious about..."
"Go on."
"Was Lilia beautiful?"
Lyra expected some intellectual questions, but Azrail's words left her speechless. "Haven't you seen any portraits of her?"
"No. There are no portraits of Lilia in the Astaroth Clan. I only recognised the necklace because I read about it in one of the many books written in her memory..."
"Lilia was said to be one of the three most beautiful women in the Underworld during that time and was quite popular for her docile nature... The other two being Leviathan and Runeas, the former known for her overbearing persona and the latter for her cheerful personality."
"Runeas? The Gremory Clan's dead ancestor?"
"She's not dead."
"For real?"
"Yeah." Lyra didn't bother concealing such meagre information anymore. "She hid about her survival for some reason, unlike Zekram Bael."
"How do you even know that?"
Lyra lightly shrugged her shoulders at that question. She knew more about the devil race than most devils these days.
"Well, whatever the case might be..." Lyra expected Azrail to question her more, but instead, he turned towards the magic items in his hands. "Running into you must've been my luck..."
"What's so special about that necklace and bracelets? You're acting strangely enthusiastic since getting your hands on them..."
The necklace granted some resistance against physical attacks while the bracelets protected the user from magical attacks, but other than that, they weren't anything special.
"I have always been curious about what 'nature' Lilia's demonic power had to mimic the clan traits of other 72 Pillars, and these items have traces of her demonic power..."
Lyra didn't understand at first, but soon, she frowned when she realised what he meant.
"Wait..."
"Yeah..." Azrail's lips curled up into a smile. "With these, I can analyse Lilia's Demonic Power Nature and study how she replicated other clan traits..."
"You want to have the same powers as her?"
"Don't be naive..." Azrail denied Lyra's assumption without a second thought, letting out a small laugh. "I plan on exceeding it and achieving something even Lilia couldn't..."
Lyra stared at the child in front of her.
'I might've accidentally recreated my worst nightmare...'
No. Considering what Azrail did to her a few hours ago and how he wasn't even a hundredth of Lilia's age, she probably created something far worse.
But there was one thing she had always been curious about.
What could Lilia have accomplished if she didn't suddenly die because of Lyra?
'Maybe I can find the answer if I keep a close eye on him...'
And it wasn't like she had any choice but to surrender her freedom...
At least for now.
---
Words: 7,073
A/N:
I was reading some comments in the earlier chapters about how the clan trait wasn't all that good because there was no 'visible' progress in it, so I had Mc's Ancestor make an appearance and show what it could do in the right hands.
Also, Azrail discovers sadism.