Mngh. Fuck. My entire body hurts. I can't even open my eyes. I don't know how anyone could do what I did without fainting afterwards. Where am I? I can feel that I'm on a very comfortable bed.
"Raziel?" Lily? I force my lids open to see the familiar face. "Are you well?"
"Sore as fuck. But I'll live." I sit straight. My body is screaming to stop, but there's no time for rest. "Where are we?"
"Still in the castle. Pen is in the kitchen making dinner for us."
"What's up with her? Acting all friendly and pulling that shit on me."
She casts her gaze down. "I knew I should've been by your side. When we heard that wail from the hall, I thought the worst happened."
"I told you I'd be fine. I think she suspects us." I stand to grab my belongings. Luckily, the book and my bow is still here.
"If she does, then this is one hell of a way to conquer your enemies." Lily ponders. What could she be scheming? There is no way she hasn't heard of our reasons for being here. Is she toying with us, before stabbing our backs? "Hey…" she seems to want to say something, but doesn't know if she should. Then shakes her head. "We should get ready. Pen is expecting us for dinner." She helps me get up and I put on my shirt and cloak that miraculously survived the encounter.
I check the necklace. It's halfway. Means it only has energy for today. "Whatever needs to be done, it has to be quick." I let her know. She nods and we head to go eat. I'll take advantage of the hospitality cause I'm fucking starving.
We arrive at a large room with windows looking out at the corrupted sky. An empty giant table is set in the middle. The Demon Lord appears with an apron, carrying two large silver platters. The fellas back home will never believe what I am witnessing.
"You both came just in time." She smiles while setting the platters on the table. "Take a seat. Let's enjoy the moment!" She takes off the lids, revealing a big roasted chicken, rice and beans. The scent invades my nostrils, causing my mouth to water. "Hahaha! Look at you. Staring like a hungry dog." She continues mocking me.
"This looks absolutely delicious, Pen!" Lily says. Trying to change the subject.
The Demon Lord turns her attention towards her. Showing off her toothy grin. "Oh love~! I appreciate it. I made this myself." She serves us a plate. I stare at the dish. Yes. I am hungry and I want to dig in, but I'm not sure if this is a trap. She could've poisoned it. "What's wrong?" I look at her. She's intensely staring at me. She smiles. "Don't worry. I wouldn't do something as cowardly as poisoning the food." Somehow, those words are not comforting me one bit.
"MMMM~! This chicken tastes good!" Lily says while munching on the food.
"At least someone is enjoying themselves." The Demon Lord smirks. Never breaking her gaze on me.
I take a bite out of the chicken. "Holy shit. This is actually good." I keep eating without hesitation.
"I have business to attend to." The Demon Lord stands. "Eat to your heart's content. Meet me at the throne room when you're both done." She leaves.
"I think she's onto us." I whisper to Lily.
"...I believe you're right, but we have to not let her know our true purpose. As far as she knows, she thinks I'm going back to her." She says.
We finished our meal. Don't want the food to encumber us. We head towards where she asked us to meet. Lily opens the door and we step inside. It's a giant room. Nothing much here but the red carpet leading to the throne where the Demon Lord is sitting with legs crossed. We stand in the middle of the room.
"Do you know what I do to my greatest adversaries? I give them the grandest hospitality, before our battle. I like to have a fair fight, after all." She smirks. I knew it. "What's with that look, dear? Did you believe I didn't know you both came here to reclaim my throne? I will grant you the gift of witnessing one of my great abilities." She stands and in a blink of an eye, she splits into two monsters. One of them being that dragon I fought earlier!
"Surprised? Our Lord can split herself to keep those in check without anyone knowing." The Succubus one says dryly.
"And with our ability, Meet Me Halfway, we can teleport to each other's location." The dragon adds.
"I guess I should've seen it coming. None of you are ever present at the same time. That's why I would find it weird she was never around when you dumbasses were constantly harassing me." Lily says. Unfazed by the reveal. She cracks her knuckles.
They both fuse back together. The Demon Lord steps down. "I bet you're both wondering, why would I bother burning all the Monsterpedia, if I have no weakness?" She stands a couple feet away from us. I pull out my bow. "It's simple. I'm creating a new history of monsters."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask.
She looks at her hand. "I have seen the future. One where monsters reign without the reliance of humans as their source of reproduction." She pats her crotch. "You've seen it. Monsters with extraordinary abilities. All because I've awakened their true potential. You feel it too, Lily. That gift you've yet used. Just to defy me to the very end."
Lily becomes furious. "Like I would use something from a despicable person such as yourself!" She spits her face.
The Demon Lord calmy wipes it off. "Such hatred." She smirks. "You know, when you left me, I was depressed. I had to get over it somehow. Which is why I annihilated the Lilim race."
Lily has a horrified expression. "You're bluffing!" She says. Her body is shaking.
"I'm not a monster, dear. I tried to have sex with them, but none of them satisfied. And what's the point of keeping trash around?" I shoot an arrow at her. She grabs it. "It matters not how fast you sh-" the bomb I earlier attached goes off.
"It doesn't matter. A person's worth is dictated by themselves and their actions. During my travels, I've met people and monsters with goals no different than one another. I've also met humans who are more demons than the monsters I fought. If anything, you're the most worthless of them all!" I say with venom.
The smoke clears. The only thing that took damage was her cloak. She giggles. "How funny. A mere human, not even chosen by their Chief, is lecturing me." She removes her cloak. "This will be interesting. Do not disappoint me."
Funny Valentine Theme - Friedrich Habetler
Lily dashes at her with supreme speed and punches her chest. Any other being would have flown past through the wall, but the Demon Lord holds her ground. Only being dragged away by some inches. She touches her breastplate, having now a dent.
She gives a devilish grin. "Impressive." Now it's her turn to run and throw a fast punch. Lily sidestep, but the force of the punch releases a strong gust of wind. I almost lose balance from it and I'm nowhere near her. Seeing Lily take the same stance as Adonai makes me flash an image of him in her place. "That pose looks familiar." She turns to look at me and something hits her mind. "I see." The Demon Lord removes her breastplate, showing off her bare chest. She points at the scar between her breasts. "This is the only mark that someone gave me years ago. A redhead Chosen fought me in the same way." She cackles. "And to witness my love train in the same technique! This will indeed be a glorious battle!"
I am completely speechless. Seeing two powerful beings fighting with such energy…But I know Lily has her limits. She may have trained what takes a human decades to achieve, the Demon Lord has been fighting her whole life. I must do something! I must careful my aim to not hit her, but they're moving faster than a fucking deer! I take a deep breath. Everyone has a pattern. Lily hits the Lord's face, but she grabs Lily's arm. NOW! I shoot. I expect her to dodge backwards and shoot a second one to where she will dodge. As I expected, she dodge backwards and the second one lands on her left shoulder.
"Urgh!" She grunts in pain. She growls at me and charges towards me. I release a smoke bomb, enveloping my surroundings. She uses her wings to clear the smoke. "Huh?" Heh. She is confused, as I'm not there. Instead of hiding, I used the concealment to run up the wall and jump to be above her. I shoot. By the time she notices me, the arrow is about to hit her chest, but she grabs it before it goes any deeper. Lily takes this opportunity to punch her back repeatedly.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" she repeatedly shouts. With the final punch sending her flying towards the throne.
I was going to land, but Lily catches me in her arms. "You know I was going to be fine." I say, as she helps me stand.
"I know, but I don't want you exerting yourself too much." She smiles.
"Hehehe!" The Demon Lord stands and removes the arrow from her shoulder. "You two make a cute duo. I'll admit, I underestimated both of you. Seems I have to become serious!" She spreads her wings and her eyes glow. "Black Eyed Peas: Dirty Bit."
Lily panics. "Shoot the glass!" She commands. I do as I say and shatter the glass completely. She grabs me and flies towards the outside. We land near Crime Dancer. "That's the ability where she kills anyone in a second. We have to get out of here and re-" she stops. We notice our surroundings.
We are now in a strange place where there's a bunch of brick buildings. There are monsters walking around, with no human insight. There's metal machinery moving faster than a horse on what seems to be a black path. The Demon Lord breaks through a building made out of glass. With no time to wonder what the fuck is going on, we jump on to the horse and ride away we swerve around these metal machinery coming towards us! I look behind to see she has already split in two and they're catching up.
"WATCH OUT!" Lily shouts. A metal machine is coming at us! It tries to stop and I make Crime Dancer jump over it. Both of them are on our flank, smirking. Not liking what they're planning, I pull the reins hard to make her stop, which causes us to fall. They fuse back together in front of us. The monsters in the way had their body parts disappeared and are bleeding on the ground.
In a blink of an eye, we're back to the field outside the castle. "Did you see that? That is the future I'm fighting to achieve." The Demon Lord chuckles. "As you can see, there's no place for humans in my conquest! And I will greatly enjoy their extinction for the new history."
"Like hell that'll happen!" I throw a smoke bomb and use it to jump back on Crime Dancer to ride away. I'm sorry, Lily. But I'll distract her so you can have time to find more reinforcements. This is clearly a battle we can't win. As expected, she is flying above me. I pul-HUH!? Where's my bow!? Shit! I must've dropped it when I fell off! She spews fireballs and I make Crime Dancer dodge the attack. New plan then. I steer her towards the swamp. We enter the forest. She shouldn't be able to see us. There's a clearing up ahead. We keep ridin- "AAAAAAUGH!" A fireball hits my leg and her stomach, causing her to trip and dropping me to the ground. "Nnngh!" Oh no. My necklace broke! I can feel the mixture of pain and the influence coursing my body. The Demon Lord lands in front of me and lifts me up by the throat.
"Such an annoying human. I know you don't have enough time without your charm to protect you. But knowing your strong will, you may become an Incubus."
"Rrrgh!?" No! I don't want that! The vines shoot out from the ground and wrap around the Demon Lord. She tries to break free, but I pull out an arrow and impale both her hands together and hold it in place.
"Raziel!" Lily? I see her standing next to Crime Dancer with my bow in hand.
"You know, I was talking to her earlier about joining me in the conquest." The Demon Lord speaks. "She clearly has an attraction towards you. And while that slightly frustrates me, I can see why she chose you. You have a great potential, human. Why not join me? Together, we can create and see the new history in the making. I will even carry your babies. You've proven yourself for such honor." How can she say that so calmly?
"Accept the offer, Raziel! We can live together. Please." She starts tearing up. How can she say that knowing what she has done to her race? "Look! I don't care anymore! I just need you to live. We can fight another day! Just use a smoke bomb or something!"
"...You know. Maybe if things were different, I may have accepted the offer. I'm only human. But that would be betraying the people who have entrusted me to protect them. And unlike you, I'm fighting for the worth of everyone." I say. Images of the people in the village flash before my eyes. Lisa, Mona, Margaret…Adonai. "I will fight till the bitter end for that future." I'm feeling weak. I can barely hold it together.
"...I see. As I've stated before, I'm not a monster. I will grant you a peaceful death. You've fought long and hard for it." Huh? I blink and I see a still beating heart in her hand. Oh. It's mine. I barely notice falling to the ground. Darkness consumes my vision. The last thing I see is Lily's shocked expression…
"RAZIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!"
…
…Hm? For some reason, I feel warmth. I open my eyes and stand up. I'm in front of the village. How did I get here?
"Damn. You're here early." That voice! I look behind to see Adonai. "Sup man. Been awhile."
"A-Adonai?" I can't believe it. I rush at him and embrace him tightly. "It is you!" Tears are streaming through my cheeks.
"Woah-ho! You've gotten stronger! And old." He releases my embrace. "It's not just me though." He points behind me.
I turn. "Katie? Justin? Sedans?" All the previous soldiers are here! "Wait a minute. If you're all here, then that means…"
"Yup. You're dead." Adonai puts his hand on my shoulder. "Geez. One would think Heaven would look prettier than this! AGAGAGAGAGA!" It's so nice hearing that laugh again.
But something has been bothering me for a while. He says I'm dead but I just can't remember dying. I was running through the forest and then…a memory of Lily's face flashes before.
"Hey bro. You look like you have some unfinished business." Adonai says.
I think long and hard. "Yeah. A dear friend of mine is in trouble. I need to be by her side."
"Hmmm. You know if you leave, there's no coming back. And you may never rest in peace again. Is that worth it?"
I face Adonai, intensely staring at one another. "Yes."
His face softens. "All right." He smiles. "I'll miss you buddy."
"I'll miss you too." We hug again. "Tell Mona and Lisa I'm sorry."
He laughs. "They'd be more surprised that you actually stayed!" I share his laughter. I let him go and leave the village.
It's funny. I feel like I'm at the beginning of our journey again. Must I go back through this entire ordeal again…Of course I will. Because you need me. And I'll be there.