Clank. Evelynn planted her foot against the discarded petricite door and promptly walked over it, laying claim to the slab of metal. I'm in control now. She thought in absolute silence as she smiled and brandished her claws as she watched a squadron of guards hustle around a corner to block the end of the hallway.
"Stop right there!" one of the guards commanded. His voice was heavy, low, and filled with bravery.
Evelynn scoffed. He looked like an absolute idiot with that expression of bravado; she'll enjoy ripping his tongue out through his neck. So she did. She enveloped her body in a dark cloud of mana, hiding her presence from the guards until she was right up in their face. She smiled at them once she was in range and revelled in their look of utter terror written across their visage. Her smile usually elicits desire from men and women alike but right now, with her face shrouded in darkness with nothing but her haunting, empty, white eyes staring at them, a mouth filled with canine teeth like daggers, and a pair of sharp horns on her head, she knew they understood that they were nothing but prey.
The guards didn't get too much time to ponder their predicament in the end. Evelynn's claws dug into the neck of the guard who had commanded her to stop earlier and with a single, forceful yank, she tore out his throat and tongue in one, smooth motion. The other guards screamed in horror, stumbling back as the demon before them laughed, licked the tip of their deceased ally's tongue to taste his fresh blood, before tossing the lump of flesh aside as she stepped over the corpse she created.
An echoing screech pierced the air as Evelynn leaped up and slashed in a wide arc with her newly regenerated lashers. Daelys barely had enough time to register what had just transpired but the head that had rolled up to his foot snapped him out of his confusion. The empty, dead eyes of the decapitated man stared back at him and caused him to shudder. Whoever this "Evelynn" was, knew exactly what she was doing; an unskilled killer would not make cuts this clean and this quick.
The robust squadron of guards had been whittled down to just one, lonely, terrified man in a matter of seconds. Evelynn's demon shade faded away as she approached the lonely mage hunter. Her claws traced the outline of his lips and circled around his throat.
"N-no, please!"
Evelynn giggled, "No, please…" She cooed as she clasped her hands together in a sinful, mocking prayer. "Hm… Stay right there, love." In truth, she didn't need to say anything. The last guard couldn't move. His entire body was as stiff as a sword blade from fear, the only movement coming from him was the occasional, small shiver. He didn't even scream as black spikes, tipped with a magenta glow pierced through his armour and into his flesh. Blood gurgled in his throat as his life slipped away from him. The first spike through the heart was more than enough to kill him but Evelynn enjoyed the way his flesh squelched as she stabbed at it with her lashers. She laughed, the deranged sound bouncing off the cold walls of the prison hall as she straddled the dead man and reached for his eyes. "Oh, I want to rip those pretty eyes o-"
Daelys rushed forwards and grabbed Evelynn's shoulder. "Enough!" he growled and yanked her off. "They're dead! We need to get out of here before reinforcements come!"
"I'm not done yet. I want to paint this place red. I want them to suffer." Evelynn bit her lip as a moan escaped her. "Yes… It'll be so good."
Daelys narrowed his eyes and gripped her shoulders harder. "No. You're powerful but these mage hunters have numbers, tools, and a perfect understanding of the layout of this prison. We'll never make it out like this! You want freedom, don't you? Then come. I'm not as powerful as you, even if you don't die, I surely will… and you're going to need me to navigate the outside world to safety once we are free. They'll be after you now that they know who you are and what your mana is like."
Evelynn stared at him for a moment. She has never needed an… ally before but his words made sense. They made too much sense. Her fingers curled into her palm, forming fists but her silence indicated her defeat.
"This way." Daelys motioned as he snatched a set of keys off one of the bloody corpses with a grimace as crimson liquid stained his fingers. He rushed down one of the halls and turned a corner, hoping that it would lead to an exit. He was hopeful seeing as the winding, stone stairs led up. Daelys had noticed that the guards typically disappeared upwards the few times he was let out of his cell to move around a little more freely in his chains a little.
Evelynn let out a rumble of discontent as she pushed past Daelys, unimpressed by how he built up this prison as such a dangerous place yet she saw no guards at all now; she should've flayed those corpses before leaving. What a waste of good meat…
"Evelynn! Get down!" The succubus felt herself being knocked to the ground by Daelys. His body jerked twice as something hit him. She cursed quietly. She got lost in her thoughts and missed the soldiers crouching around the corner in the shadows.
Evelynn heaved Daelys off of her and saw the two arrows that had lodged deep into his shoulder, robbing his arm of movement as they kept sprinting. Had he not taken the shots for her, they might've skewered her neck or chest. The succubus found his actions utterly foolish but also felt a foreign sense of appreciation fill her. It was a selfish, "better him than me", type of gratitude but nonetheless, she was still thankful he helped her. The stairs opened into a corridor which quickly widened into a large, grand hall with marble pillars and statues of imposing, stoic Demacian guardians on either side. Daelys reached for the keys but a stray arrow from the pursuing guards knocked it out of his hand. The small, metal instrument bounced on the stone floor and skidded across its smooth surface. Evelynn and Daelys ducked behind one of the statues as a flurry of arrows began to rain down. Evelynn sent a thick cloud of wispy, black, shadow-like substance out with her mana to deter the guards' approach but she knew this would only delay them a little. Just enough to figure out a plan.
Daelys turned his eyes to the wall and exchanged a glance with Evelynn. The succubus noticed the fatigued expression in his face as well as his paleness. The mage grunted and yanked the arrows from his shoulder and threw them aside. By the irregular colour of the tinted arrow tips, Evelyn could guess that some form of drug had entered Daelys' system.
"Focus, our magic… we need to—" He broke off, pressing a hand to his head in an effort to fight the throbbing. "Break through here. Wall. Break the wall." Blue, crackling mana was already gathering in his palm and Evelynn gathered her black essence as well.
They placed their hands side by side and aimed at the wall from their shelter behind the guardian statue. There was a moment where time seemed to stop as their mana collapsed in on each other. The wispy, black, demon shade and the crackling, glowing blue mana blasted forth in a thunderous crack like a bolt of blinding lightning streaked with dark shadows.
Dust and debris flew everywhere as a section of the solid stone wall, reinforced with petricite of the Demacian mage prison wall crumbled to the pristine, stone ground of the grand hall. The guards hacked and coughed at the intrusive dust as it wafted into their lungs. Evelynn pulled the now half-conscious Daelys through the hole and enveloped them both in demon shade to mask their location. Evelynn looked at the man by her side as she dragged his stumbling form along. Maybe she should kill him right now. Maybe that'll make it easier. Or maybe she should cut his leg and leave him as bait for her escape. That would make it so much easier for her to get as far as possible. His words came back to her though. He was right. She needs him now for what he claims he knows about navigating the human world which she frankly only knew how to kill in. Evelynn slung his arm over hers as she hurried through the streets, trying to avoid getting too close to anyone and revealing their position. Unfortunately, the streets were not fully cleared yet at this hour of dusk, and every person they strayed too close to made her demon shade lose its full potency and reveal their location just for a moment. One moment here and there was all the mage hunters needed to keep pursuing them.
Eventually, the succubus found herself on the great, stone bridge connecting the north and south district of the great, Demacian city. She dragged Daelys along the stone in an effort to make it past the entrance to the southern district but the massive portcullis was slammed down, blocking off their access as the approaching mage hunters signalled to the gatekeepers to drop the thick, latticed, wooden barrier. The mage hunters drew their bows and fired blinding in Evelynn's direction, knowing that even though she and Daelys were invisible, there was nowhere for them to run now. They were going to die if she didn't do something. She could try and fight but with a half-conscious body leaning in her, that wasn't happening. Evelynn cursed her foul luck for being stuck in a situation where doing what she desired to—discarding him—would ultimately prove worse for her. She was stuck helping him and it was in this moment Evelynn decided to do the best job she could to get them both out of harm's way. The succubus inhaled deeply, the roaring waters below blocking out all other noise.
The flurry of arrows finally ceased and there was a deafening silence. The guards waited for the two corpses to appear on the ground, skewered with arrows but that never happened.
Then they heard a loud splash. The mage hunters looked over the edge of the bridge and watched in utter disbelief as the white currents of the raging river below quickly swallowed up the splash their invisible, escaped prisoners made. They fired several arrows in the fleeting splashes directions but it was in vain. They were gone.
"Report back to the commander. We lost them." Said this mage hunter's squadron leader in a cold and utterly shocked tone,