Lilia was bombarded with magic the moment she set foot onto the third floor. From ahead came a ball of dark, purple fire substantial enough to swallow her whole, and from the sides came a storm of glowing white feathers, whistling through the air. Immediately, she threw herself to the side, a flap of her wings carrying her away from danger.
The fireball detonated, and through the smoke cut the feathers, tracking Lilia as she soared through the air. She kicked off the wall, just narrowly dodging the projectiles, but from above came a burning cross of fire, striking her true The heat singed her armour and wings, but the armour protected her from the damage.
Then came more feathers, which she dodged in a display of skillful aerobatics, spinning and tumbling through the air. They relentlessly followed, driving her to a corner. Her sixth sense screamed. This was the first time she sensed danger in this dungeon.
Lilia snapped her wings to the sides, flat against the wind, stopping mid-air. The cascade of feathers swirled around her, clinking off her armour in search of gaps. It held strong for the time being, but mana from the lumirock would run out with time. She decided it was best to finish things as soon as possible.
For the first time Lilia seriously assessed the battlefield. Uneven plains of red and black obsidian as far as the eye could see, and in the centre, obsidian rose higher and higher until it reached the maw of a scorching volcano. Visualisation created a three-dimensional map in her head, helping her track the movement of every creature in range.
A weird one with dragon wings was flying in the air, its body filled to the brim with mana. Only black dragons had feathered wings, though this one had white feathers. Despite the colour, the characteristic majesty was unmistakable to Lilia. Furthermore, she found her vision snapping to the creature’s face. It was covered by a scarf, but something there unnerved her, more so than the wings.
In the corner of the floor a pile of charcoal-black ash stirred into the shape of a humanoid figure. Its silhouette was outlined by red aura, a product of her sixth-sense. It radiated danger. Lilia couldn’t understand how this dungeon had a creature that could threaten her. She decided the cultists must have performed a ritual or sacrificed a powerful creature to make the dungeon deadlier than it should have been.
Further back stood a small figure, a deformed black goblin reminiscent of an imp. It wielded a burnt staff, a magical circle shone beneath its feet, and a mirrored one floated above it. Most certainly a trap of some sort. Lilia recognised a mixture of human and demon magic within the creature.
Further beyond the volcano were four humanoid figures—two short and two tall. Lilia’s visualisation wasn’t strong enough to let her observe them in detail without sight.
Her mind made a snap decision on a plan. Before the humanoid could fully rise from the ash, she focused her aura, dodging more feathers and fire. She plummeted down, her soul weapon brandished in front, licks of aura brushing against her wings and giving them an edge to kill. It was her quickest soul technique - Crescent Sky. The pink light detached from her wings and formed ten crescent blades. Joining her blade, the crescents shot forwards toward the ashen silhouette. It made no move to dodge, opening its arms wide to embrace her, the ash on its head splitting into a mockery of a wide smile.
A second from now, she would impale the creature and it would collapse back into the pile of ash. She smirked, her victory reassured, but then she saw the vision of the ash enveloping her, corroding her armour and her soul. It was too late to change the outcome. Her momentum carried her forwards, her technique slicing and dicing the creature before her. Immediately after, she retreated, focusing her aura around her to reinforce her defences. There was nothing more she could do.
Just like she foresaw, the pile of ash sprouted multiple arms that grabbed her hands and wings, pulling her down into the boiling cloud of ash. The mass surrounded her, enveloping her in a perfect sphere. It was corroding everything, and as her soul fought with the ash, an overwhelming desire to destroy the world, to see it all burned and buried in ash overcame her.
It was hard, but she maintained her aura, her soul fighting a battle of obsession. Her butterfly wings closed around her, and her aura created a cocoon woven by the essence of her soul. There she lay, forgetting about the surrounding world for just a few moments. Every second, her mana and her soul joined together to nourish the cocoon. Her wounds from before closed, her fatigue melted away. It was Metamorphosis, her second technique.
Then, the cocoon burst, birthing a new and rejuvenated Lilia. The explosion blasted the ash to pieces, taking some of the saturated blackness away. The draconian wisely kept its distance. In that moment she noticed a humongous fireball floating above the goblin’s head, absorbing more and more mana every second.
She laughed, her voice reaching every corner of the floor. Seeing no sign of movement from the ash, she ignored the unceasing onslaught of feathers, channelling another technique. Her aura spread out throughout the floor, carrying with it pheromones. The light she shed was just an illusion to captivate the soul, to deceive the eyes. The infernal goblin’s eyes went dull.
With ease she dodged the lethargically thrown fireball, maintaining the dulling technique. Her wings began to change colour to black and white, but before she could finish the technique, she saw the winged creature break out of her charm and soar towards her. Faced with a choice, she trusted her impenetrable defences and focused on finalising the technique.
Instead of attacking its wings gently enveloped her, and then the pain began. Her very life was drained away from her, bypassing the defences of both her armour and soul. The memory of her first murder resurfaced. She was only nine at the time, killed a man in cold blood. Sin after sin, her memories came back, the pain worsening with each subsequent one.
Only her sheer will and years of adventuring prepared her for the titanic effort it took to help her maintain the technique. Her aura had shrunk considerably, her soul was exhausted, and her mana depleted. Still, her wings flapped. Exactly once did they flap as Wings of Destiny took effect. Out of all her skills, this one was most esoteric, and even Lilia herself didn’t truly understand it.
The pain faded, her traumatic memories no longer coming up against her will. Her body was like the sun, illuminating the surroundings with a deep shade of violet. The creature of ash was nowhere to be seen, and the winged creature was flying over to the other four. Now that she flew high up, she could see they were two goblins, a human, and a hooded figure completely covered by a cloak.
Lilia’s violet light burned away the unenchanted cloth. She hovered mid-air, forgetting all about the battle, about everything else. There stood her little sister, yelling in pain as the light began to melt her being. She was much scrawnier than before and covered in numerous scars. Her white fur was half grey, and just like Lilia, patches of it were missing, and around her neck she had a simple metal collar.
The winged monster covered the four figures with its wings, sheltering them from the light. Lilia tried her best to stop her own technique, to do something, but no one could stop fate. The white wings sweltered, burning with a white flame. The feathers dropped to the ground one by one, exposing the skeletal structure beneath.
To the side, the infernal goblin and its wolf protector became puddles on the ground, even their bones liquefying. Ash swirled beneath Lilia, but she was too distracted by her sister to notice. Only her sixth sense saved her from certain death. Instinctively, she dodged to the right, narrowly avoiding something. Looking behind her, the air itself twisted, extinguishing the light from her technique and turning it to ash. The ash monster opened its palm once again and peered through its fingers, as if trying to catch the distant Lilia in his grasp.
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“Everybody stop! We’ve got your sister, and if you want her alive, you’ll do as we tell you!” the human bellowed, his voice trembling.
Lilia moved closer, and he cut into Lyla’s neck, just enough to make it bleed.
“Don’t come here! Leave me to die!” Lyla screamed, her voice strained. There was something off about the way she said it, but the tears spilling down her cheeks were real.
“Do you think I care? Ask her if our relationship means anything. She’s a worthless failure,” Lilia said, her voice carrying with the wind. She made no move, keeping an eye on the ash creature.
“Our demands are simple. You’ll leave and we’ll release your sister after you’ve made your report about not destroying this dungeon,” the pale human yelled, his body completely still.
Lilia decided he was a high-ranking cultist, at least B rank. She kept silent, looking over the battlefield. There was no way she was giving this dungeon a chance to contact its allies and bring reinforcements. She could see the magic circle enveloping the group, ash covering the markings. It was a trap, but she had no choice.
She concentrated her soul, a scentless odour spreading through the dungeon. She created powder on her wings and said, “I need to confirm it’s my sister.”
“You can look at her as long as you want, but any sign of you doing something suspicious and she’s dead!” the human yelled, his sword held in an iron grip.
It was a game of patience, and she was stronger than all of them combined. A tense minute passed before Lilia saw the human’s eyes unfocus, his grip relaxing. She waited another minute for the pheromones to spread before concentrating all of her aura on her wings.
In a single burst, she fell to the ground like a meteor, for a brief moment breaking the speed of sound. Her hand reached out to grab her little sister as the human began to crackle with electricity. He grinned, his eyes focusing on her, his grip steady once again. Instead of cutting Lyla’s throat, he jumped back, crushing three black crystals to powder.
Lilia secured her sister, numbed by her pheromones, and tried ascending to the ceiling, but an avalanche of ash crashed down before she could. She desperately dodged one attack, but she couldn’t avoid the chains even if she saw them. The ground split open, spitting out a mass of chains which wrapped around her in mere moments. She managed to envelop Lyla with her wings before the avalanche buried everything with ash.
Her armour was starting to crack, its magic running low. Her soul shuddered as her wings were exposed to the ash. The chains that wrapped her started burning with a black flame, consuming her life force. Despite the dire situation, she looked toward her sister and smiled. The sword in her hands began to dissipate, turning into a swarm of pink butterflies.
“Do you know why I hated you for so long? It’s because I’ve fought tooth and nail to prevent you from living in the same cage as me. I killed just so we could live the lives we wanted, but you were always too afraid to chase your dreams. That was my silly dream, my Ego.”
Lilia’s soul began to blaze brighter than ever before. It expanded, creating a space she could call her own. An explosion of uncountable butterflies scattered in every direction, surrounding her and her enemies in a perfect sphere, the pale human being the only one to escape before it closed off. No one else would be getting in or out without Lilia’s permission.
“I’ve always wanted to be free. For most of my life, I’ve been trapped in a cage, only able to look outside through iron bars, and when I finally broke out, I wanted to never be shackled again.”
Her armour began to merge with her skin, becoming a translucent layer of light. Her wings expanded, shimmering with every colour. A pattern like that of the furthest stars appeared on her wings. Her soul sword reformed in her hands, now nothing more than a vague projection of mist.
Lilia set her sister on the ground, covering her with a layer of shimmering butterflies. Then, she instantly appeared behind the feathered monster, free from the constraints of movement, her sword already swung. The mist went through his body, cutting him into a thousand pieces. His remains showered the ground in blood and gore. She looked for the ash creature, only to see him idly standing there, staring at her.
“Y-” he began to talk, but she teleported right next to him, her sword inside his body. “You think you’re the only one with an obsession here. Well, mine is stronger,” he said, her sword cutting through ash, desaturating it. It was grey now, becoming paler by the second.
Something hit her soul like a hammer, trying to desperately burrow its way in. The ground beneath her feet began to turn to ash, her soul was beginning to crumble, and a sense of impending doom encroached on her very being. Still, her obsession burned strong.
“Let’s see how long you can hold on. I can’t wait to taste your soul,” the humanoid laughed, arising from the ashes behind her.
Lilia shook her sword, setting her soul ablaze. The mist swirled around her, forming crescent after crescent swirling around her like a hurricane. The creature waved its hand as it retreated, surrounding itself with a storm of ash. The two faced off in a stalemate, both of them losing something important to them every second.
Presently, Lilia noticed something behind her. The same winged creature she had killed moments ago was now standing upright, its feathers completely black. A swirling haze surrounded it, faces twisting and snarling within it. Only then did she realise the creature was a strange feathered goblin with three eyes, one of them closed.
She easily dodged the swarm of feathers. Despite the feathers being quicker than before, she could move instantly. Her crescents switched targets, but the strange haze devoured them once they made contact.
“I won’t. I can’t. It’s going to devour me,” the goblin muttered to itself, at times screaming out in agony. A black storm formed around it, each of the feathers now whispering dark secrets.
Lilia had nowhere to dodge as the storm hit both her and the ash. She flew in the air, and for a moment she was free from physical injury. No matter how sharp the feathers were, they would never be able to hurt her as long as her soul held strong. She glanced back at her sister, making sure she was safe.
“Do it. We’ll both die if nothing changes. You don’t want that precious master of yours to die along with you, do you?” the now white ash human whispered to the winged goblin, placing his hand on its cheek.
Lilia’s sixth sense screamed at her as she once again became free from the constraints of movement, teleporting behind the winged goblin and piercing it with her sword. However, the white ash blocked it, crumbling into nothingness.
Then, the thing opened its third eye. It was pitch black. She became free of vision, plunging the world into darkness, but worse things would happen if she met its gaze. The eye madly looked around, crumbling and corrupting the butterflies as it absorbed them, stealing pieces of Lilia’s soul, twisting what the word freedom meant to her.
Still, she resisted. Despite the ash threatening to destroy her soul and the eye corrupting her, she fought on. That was until she saw her sister lying on the ground, no longer protected by her power. She blinked sluggishly and stared at the horrible thing before her.
“We have to go. I can’t protect you and fight these things,” Lilia said, changing the concept of freedom.
She teleported next to Lyla, grabbing her hand. Then, she teleported to the other side of the crumbling sphere, parting the butterflies. The two creatures inside the sphere would get out in a few seconds, but she would be gone by then.
“Hang on,” she said, taking to the air. Her sister was feeble and delirious, not uttering a single word.
They soared through the air as Lyla hugged her tightly. Then, she slit Lilia’s neck. Her soul dimmed, and she tumbled down like a torn kite, clutching at her throat. Lyla held on tight, stabbing over and over again until they both crashed to the ground. The obsidian dagger fell out of Lyla’s hand as she jumped to her feet and ran over to her sister, kneeling beside her.
In the last moments of her life, Lilia looked at her sister’s face. “Why?”
“I’m sorry!” Lyla yelled, holding her sister’s cold hand. “I had to do it! You would understand, right?” She didn’t know whether she was trying to explain it to her sister or herself. “It was you or me, and I’ve finally found a purpose! I have to live, I have to get revenge! The collar… it would kill me if I didn’t obey.”
Lyla shook her sister’s dead body, tears dripping down her cheeks. “It’s fine, right? Tell me!”
She continued talking to the body for hours, ignoring everything else in the world. And for Lyla, her sister was talking to her, nodding along, saying it was fine, for a brief look in Its eyes had cost something more than sanity. After all, no adventurer was sane, and no adventurer ever retired peacefully.