Kalika, feeling relieved, leaned back as the cart bumped along the rocky road. Donovan exhaled and crossed his arms, finally relaxing after a tense fight. He chuckled to himself, then suddenly felt all his energy drain away.
"Thank Cassell, we made it!" he exhaled. "We actually made it." He smiled, and quick broke into a laugh. "Oh wow."
"Yeah. I didn't expect so many bounty hunters either. At least now, all that's left is to reach that exit."
Donovan nodded and leaned his head back, resting against the cart wall.
"If I remember correctly," Bjorn huffed, "the entrance I mentioned should be just beyond Karnal Village at the east wall. We should reach it by morning if I keep going through the night."
Donovan turned. "Are you sure about that, Bjorn? We could rest for the- Oh, right."
"What is it?"
"We don't have our camping supplies. The most I still have are some cooking utensils and a blanket..."
"My book is with you, too, right?"
"Erm. Let me see..." Donovan sifted through his bags and pulled out the journal, handing it to Kalika. "Um… And thank you..."
Kalika raised a brow. "For what?"
"For earlier. If you hadn't helped, we'd probably still have that demon on our tail."
"I don't need your thanks. I wasn't sure it would work. Since… I never really used magic without those crystals, so to know I don't need them..."
Donovan chuckled. "That feels pretty good, right?"
Kalika turned, hiding her lips that twitched into a smile. "I... guess..."
Donovan only chuckled softly at her.
"Since the trip's long, I'm going to read the rest of this stupid book!" Kalika declared.
"Alright. And I'll try to keep a lookout, just in case any of those bounty hunters or Gaz manages to catch up to us." Donovan said.
"You're worried about those demons?"
"O-of course! We can't take any chances. Not when we're so close to the end. Besides. I'm sure Bjorn will feel much more relieved once the end of our deals is finished." He joked.
"Heh. You're right in more ways than one, human." Bjorn laughed. "But if you do see anything Suspicious, only let me know."
Donovan nodded.
Kalika, her eyes glued to Donovan, a sense of admiration washed over her as she quietly smiled to herself. "We're almost there…"
********
"We've finally made it," Lillian gazed up at the cavern's endless ceiling of crystal mirrors. She beamed with uncontained joy.
Jala arrived with Lucius behind her.
"Our gracious driver is on his way back now," Lucius said. "Are you ready?"
"I've been waiting for this moment since we entered your homeland."
Lillian spread her wings from her back, both armed and ready to take off.
Lucius, casually, followed suit, also spreading his wings and then reaching out his hands to Jala, who nodded.
With a single beat of their wings, they took off, darting straight into the endless ceiling above. Each flap propelled them closer to their target.
Closer.
Higher.
They soared up the windless ceiling. Minutes later, they emerged and landed on the cracked, bloodstained grounds of what used to be an armory—no longer empty.
"Where is everyone?" Jala asked calmly.
"Strange... It looks like there was a fight here... Let's move," Lillian said.
The three pressed onward, climbing stairs, passing empty halls, and walking through silent corridors.
"There are no guards either," Lillian noted.
"Yeah, something must have gone down," Jala replied.
"I'll go look for Kalika now," Lillian said, breaking away from the group and heading into the dungeon.
"Fine, but don't be long. And Jala, stay with me."
"Of course."
********
Lillian strolled down the dungeon corridor, then stopped when she noticed scorch marks along the hall. The hall was blackened. She kept her feelings in check, recognizing the hallway leading to her father's burial chamber, then pressed on.
"The nerve! to think he'd desecrate my father's tomb," she muttered.
Quickening her steps, she moved closer to the prison, then to the prison hall. She broke in and jogged, her heart pounding with deep foreboding. She clung to the bars, whipping around to find only an empty cell.
"She must have caused some trouble," she said.
Moving on, she ran through the prison halls. Past the mess hall, away from the arena, and towards the prison's solitary confinement. But the hope she clung to fell again when she peeked inside an empty cell, with only discolored chunks remaining on the ground.
"Kalika?" Her breath caught. Her fingers. And her heart sank.
Her very being shook, unable to recognize everything she saw as real.
Turning back, she ran even faster through the halls, retracing her steps until realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She stopped dead in front of the arena and entered.
It was empty.
She turned and followed the path to the mess hall.
Empty.
"Where is everyone?" Her breathing shallowed, deeply unsettling realization kicked in. Her eyes darted around. "I need to get to Lucius quickly! Something's not right here!"
********
Lucius and Jala entered the empty castle halls. Signs of a battle lingered with blood-stained walls and weapons without their masters.
They pressed on. The stone black halls were silent. Their footsteps echoed. A deepening sense of unease rose.
"
"
"
Growing serious, Lucius hastened his steps, forcing Jala to follow. They sped past open rooms filled with just as much blood as the halls they walked. They soon entered the similarly vacant main hall and into the throne room, finding only wreckage and an empty chair.
Lucius stared in utter horror. His face paled, and sweat rolled down the side of his face.
"
Steps echoed in the hall behind.
Alert, they snapped their heads around, finding Lillian chasing after them. "Lucius!"
She stopped before the two, eyes frantic, filled with a dread rarely seen from her.
"Lucius!" She said, "The entire prison is gone! Everyone!"
Luius straightened at once and puffed his chest. "Lillian! Jala! Search the castle! All rooms! No exception! Once you've finished here, come meet me in the capital below!"
"W-wait! Lucius" Lillian reached her hands. She grabbed her arm, Eyes searching for answers. "You know what happened. Don't you?"
"I… I don't. It's just a hunch, and I hope it isn't true. Whatever you two do, don't let your Guards down for a second!"
Lucius pulled away, leaving the castle with wings abroad.
Lillian clenched her fists. She pushed the rising panic down and, with a calm sense of authority, stood. "You heard him, Jala. Leave no corner unchecked. I'll check the east. You're in the west."
Jala nodded and separated from Lillian.
He slammed doors open. Looked around, searching even the closets.
Room after room looked more unsettling than the last. Loose clothes, Blood stains. All of it, strewn throughout that corridor, finished with the last room she turned to ascend. But he stopped. A blood message scrawled on the wall of an incoherent warning.
He pushed past, entering the next floor, only for an unsettling chill to run down his spine.
His senses told him to run.
He stood, standing in front of the castle's library. A place Lillian herself fought hard to preserve. "This hall… The queen restricted this section of the castle even from the maids… I wonder…"
Ignoring his own instinct, he took both sides of the doors and pushed the library open. To his utter shock, a blonde-haired, white-horned woman sat with her back turned, reading a book.
Jala conjured his sword, pointing it at the intruder. "Who is she…"
"
A familiar Voice of Azar echoed in the room. The woman, sitting, turned, revealing a pasty white skin.
"I've been expecting you. And of course, you, King, and that saintess." The women stood, turning to face Jala and revealing Azar's face. She now had vivid green eyes, blonde hair, and white horns, all as she wore an etiquette dress, dyed in red and violet.
"A…Azar?"
"Mmm…. Sorry, she's long gone. That demoness fought long and hard, but like everyone else. Eventually, she finally gave in. Now… She is a part of me." She placed the book back down on the table. "I think we met briefly before… In that mountain village. I am God Cassell, humble servant, Enocht."
Jala's mouth twitched. Disbelief surged through a knot tightened in his chest.
Enocht continued, now approaching the stunned Jala. "From what God Cassell told me, you apparently gained a grudge for this entity. It's such a strange thing. A grudge. Would you care to explain what that's like? I'm quite interested in learning about such feelings. Even if it is from an abhorrent creation such as yourself."
A smirk played on Enocht's lips. "All these memories can only show me so much. But I want to know. I want to understand. Everything. Everything this world has to offer."
His blade arced.
And Enocht's head fell.
Her head melted away and rejoined her body. Eventually, regrowing her head. She gazed admirably at Jala, who somehow maintained his composure just by the staircase.
"I see…" she said. "Perhaps I should wait and find someone more willing to converse then. That is completely fine by me. If you won't converse, perhaps you'd be willing to show the strange magic of yours again."
Enoucht widened her smirk to a blushing, wide, manic smile. Her hands practically hugged her cheeks as she salivated at the sheer thought.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Jala swung.
Enocht caught it and squeezed, shattering his blade in an instant. "Oh, we don't need that." She snapped her fingers, and a wallet of stone shot behind Jala, blocking his escape. "It'd be a little inconvenient if you escaped. Perhaps I should claim you and observe those memories of yours."
Jala distanced himself, jumping back into the hall.
He focused blue flames in his hand and spewed them at the angel.
Unconcerned, Enocht took the attack, then closed the library door. "Such intense heat."
A large wall of water swirled from the angels' palms. "Impressive for such a mortal demon. But that's not what I'm looking for."
A torrent of water exploded. Ejecting Jala into the corridor wall.
The water whipped and spun into a disc. Enocht, strutter. Patiently watching as Jala shambles back to his feet, glaring at her. "I learned this little trick from a prison guard who watched some women cut the other to bits."
The disc zoomed in the air, nearly hitting Jala. She created a cube of earth and reshaped to a spear. "This, Azar seemed to be extremely proficient in. She'd often reinforce it with what you demons call blood magic. Something I can't seem to replicate… For now."
Blue fire engulfed Enocht. Jala strained a scowl, determined to burn the angel to ash.
Without warning, a gust of wind smothered his flames, shocking him.
"This little trick I just read from a book. Apparently, wind magic can erase the air." Enocht walked onwards, unscathed. "I assume the way you use that Ice magic has very similar principles. But I'm curious. Do you use water magic or fire magic? Or perhaps both…"
Jala clenched his teeth. His eyes darted from the halls to the windows. From the window, he saw a tower, a garden, and twin peak mountains.
His eyes flared. With his new mission, he darted deeper into the hall.
A cruel smirk flared on Enocht. "Where do you think you're going, little demon?" With spear ready, she crouched and, like a flash of lightning, stormed at Jala like a natural disaster.
Horrified, he glanced back. He jerked around, conjuring a newly formed blood blade, and blocked. The impacted hurled him back, smashing him into the stone wall. He coughed blood, and his vision hazed as Enocht's figure marched toward him.
Not giving in, he clenched the wall and, with all his strength, kicked to the right hall and conjured an instant wall of Ice.
Strained, he ran, leaving trails of wall after wall, each made of thick ice. He peered to the right, as if searching for something.
Soon, the sound of smashing and shattering filled the halls. His eyes narrowed to a circular space and stopped within.
Taking strained breathes he peered out the hall's instruction space window and aimed his hand,
In an instant, a ginormous crystal of ice shot through the castle wall. Finished, he kicked the ice out of the castle, letting it land outside with a loud thud.
The foundation itself shook as the last wall exploded open.
Unfazed, Enocht stepped through, almost admiring the room and the ceiling above. " Jala Grimaced. Determined, he formed an armor of Ice around him and reconjured his blood blade.
"Fascinating. Truly fascinating. Though I suppose the only way to get rid of that petulant weapon is to melt it down to a rocky sludge,"
"You talk too much," Jala said.
"Oh? Now you wish to speak?"
"Shut it! You deprived me of my vengeance. I've walked through desert, and rock, and waited for weeks!" he pointed his sword, the chilly wind blowing in. "If I can't kill her, then I'll take your head instead!"
"Oh?" A sly chuckle escaped her mouth. "What a funny thing for my next meal to say."