The part of the forest that we were in looked like a barren wasteland after the magnitude of Zoel’s attack. The once viridescent landscape was now just a heap of blackish dirt and broken ground from where the trees and its roots were ripped off by the absorption force of the sphere. I was still in shock seeing how easily Lily managed to neutralise the sphere of destruction.

“L-Lily…” I stammered, staring up at her in awe. “How did you find me…?”

“We made a Blood Pact, did you not remember?” Lily said, her back turned towards me. “Anyways, I’ll tell you the full story later.”

“A Blood Pact?” Zoel’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “You entered into one with him?!”

Zoel glanced in my direction for a second, before her eyes darted to her surroundings, scanning hastily. The expression on her face had completely changed with the appearance of Lily. No longer calm and in control, she looked genuinely fearful.

“There’s no escape.” Lily said flatly. “You should stop wasting your time.”

Zoel glanced away from her surroundings and at Lily instead, clenching her teeth. Her wings fluttered for a brief second, and suddenly, she shot forward at an insane speed. It was way faster than the speed at which I saw her move in our fight.

She wasn’t charging for Lily though… she was charging at me!

From the look of her movement, Zoel was trying to swerve past Lily to get at me, and I flinched, bracing myself quickly.

In the middle of Zoel’s flight, dark lightning engulfed her, and she shot out an energy wave in the path that she was travelling. The wave unleashed at a faster rate than her flight, and at the same time, she used the force of the wave to change her flight path, bouncing upwards into the sky at supersonic speed.

The dark lightning left her body, following the wave as it bolted towards me, crackling fiercely like a cloud of storm.

“S-shit!”

I tightened my grip on the handle of my sword, preparing to block the wave of demonic energy.

But as the wave attempted to swerve past Lily, a loud ringing bang was heard, and the wave stopped dead in its tracks, disintegrating into the air. It was as though there was an invisible barrier surrounding Lily that extended towards me.

Zoel was already far up into the sky at this point, and it seemed that she had flown too far for us to catch her.

“S-she’s gone!” I said, pacing quickly next to Lily to get a better look at the sky. Zoel had attacked me in order to create a distraction for her to escape. I didn’t think she would actually run away like that, considering how strong Zoel was.

“No, she’s not.” Lily said calmly, but then her face twitched with annoyance, and she glanced sideways at me. “…Kei, can you not stand so close to me?... You smell… like blood…”

“Ah, sorry.” I took a few steps away from Lily, feeling confused. Shouldn’t she be focusing on catching the demon and not what I smelt like?

Lily sighed, then raised her petite hand up in front of her, her palm facing upwards. She let her hand hover in the air for a while, then suddenly, she snapped her hand shut, curling it into a fist, and swung it down.

At the same time, Zoel’s dotted figure in the sky came rushing downwards, quickly enlarging in my sight, much to my disbelief. Zoel crashed down into the ground in front of Lily, the ground exploding loudly on impact. It was like a meteorite had fallen down.

“W-what the hell—?!” I gapped, shocked by both what just happened and the sudden explosive force of Zoel’s collision.

Pieces of the ground dropped from the sky, but none of them hit Lily or me. A ring of dust now gathered in the area of Zoel’s landing, but Lily swept her hand across to her side, and the dust was blown aside, leaving a clear view.

There was a heap of blood where Zoel lied, her body curled up in pain. She was wincing, her eyes squeezed shut, and her shoulders shaking.

She opened her eyes slowly, looking up at Lily. Her eyes were still vividly blood red.

“Ugh…” Zoel picked herself up from the ground, staggering. “So, it’s true after all…”

Lily didn’t say anything. She just watched Zoel silently.

The wounds on Zoel’s body were beginning to heal, sealing themselves up like nothing had happened. My eyes widened, seeing this.

“H-hey, Lily…!” I tried to warn her.

“It’s okay.” Lily said, then in a quieter voice. “This is just going to be more fun.”

“Fun…?” I repeated, confused.

Even though, the wounds on Zoel’s body was now completely healed. Zoel didn’t look confident at all.

“T-to have that much power…” Zoel gazed at Lily with a strange expression, her face pale. “It shouldn’t be possible…”

Lily smiled playfully. “Wanna try it?”

“Tsk.” Zoel clenched her teeth. “I can’t beat you…”

The smile on Lily's face dropped, now looking disappointed. “You haven’t even tried…”

“I can see the magical potency inside you. You’re reeking of it.”

“What about now?” Lily clicked her fingers, but I didn’t see anything happening.

Zoel’s face took on a surprised look though. “Y-you… you can even control your mana? To that extent?”

“It’s refreshing, right? It’s like facing a normal human.”

“…”

“Come on, you should be feeling much better now.”

Zoel didn’t respond, instead she took a slow step backwards.

“Are you really going to try to run again?” Lily sighed.

Zoel turned on her heels, and her wings gave one powerful flap, sending her flying into the air. A strong gust of wind blew into us, and I shielded my eyes from the dust storm that followed.

Lily swiped her hand again, and the dust storm was blown away. Zoel was trying to fly away like before.

“Zos Es Nilac.”

Lily enunciated each syllable, as she always did when she chanted a spell, her words seemingly to echo. Her eyes began glowing a mystical blue again, and the air around her grew lighter causing her hair to hover.

I gasped, seeing the blue ethereal swords from the other fight, appearing in the air above Lily, instantly shooting forward as they came into existence. This time they did not wait.

The swords hurled themselves at Zoel’s direction, travelling at a much faster rate than her flight.

Zoel turned around in the air, her face grimacing as she saw the swords. She chanted a spell of her own, and a transparent barrier surrounded her, encircling her figure in the sky.

The first sword slammed into the barrier, breaking it instantly, and Zoel’s eyes widened as she swung her body sharply, narrowly avoiding the sword by the skin of her teeth. The second sword followed, whizzing violently as it pierced into Zoel’s leg and she let out a blood curdling howl.

She was forced to quickly regain her focus as the third sword came, and Zoel flew downwards, trying to move in a pattern that the swords couldn’t follow. She flew at an insanely fast speed, but the swords were quicker, shooting past her as she mustered all of her strength to dodge their path.

Some of the swords were missing, and some of them were hitting, piercing through her wings and limbs and spraying blood everywhere. Zoel swung her demonic arm at a sword that she could not dodge, trying to deflect it, but it pierced her arm, almost going through to her head as it came out.

More and more swords were flying into her, most of them catching her wings since they were too large to move out of the way. Holes were now appearing in her wings, blood and dark feathers scattering into the air.

It was a hopeless sight to see. There was no way for Zoel to dodge them all, and she couldn’t even deflect them either. It was like watching someone fight an endless barrage of swords.

She tried to cast a spell, her human hand stretched out in front of her, but a sword shot forward, piercing itself straight through her palm, and she shrieked.

“L-Lily…” I glanced at Lily, but she was staring up into at Zoel’s figure in the sky coolly, her lapis lazuli eyes glowing vibrantly. She seemed to be concentrating, so I didn’t disturb her.

I turned my eyes back to the sky, and saw the inevitable outcome. Zoel’s figure fell from the sky, her wings failing to work, and her body torn violently. She seemed unconscious, her arms and legs flailing in the air unyieldingly.

She fell into the outskirt of the destroyed forest around us, into a section that was still unhindered. Her figure disappeared behind the trees, and I couldn’t follow where she went anymore.

Lily’s eyes now returned to its normal lapis lazuli colour, the glow fading.

“Come on, Kei.” Lily started walking ahead of me. “Let’s go.”

“Right…” I swallowed, nodding. I was still stunned by Lily’s show of power. She had completely defeated Zoel without so much as a sweat or a scratch on her body.

I took a step forward, sheathing my sword behind me, and felt my mind getting dizzy, my body swaying.

Lily turned to glance at me. “Ah, I forgot.”

I had forgotten too that I was worn out from my ‘fight’, if you can call it that, with Zoel. I was still covered in scratches, with dried blood all over me.

I kneeled down on the ground, feeling the fatigue settling in. Without the adrenaline pumping inside my body, I could feel all the pain and tiredness that I had not noticed before.

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“Lily, I can’t…” I breathed raggedly, staring at the ground. I wanted to just lie down and sleep.

Lily walked towards me, kneeling down so that we were at the same height… well sort of, she was still shorter than me. She reached out to me, her soft hand touching the side of my face. It was a gentle feeling, something that I didn’t know Lily was capable of.

The hand at my face grew warm, and I saw a strange light coming from her hand. Suddenly, I felt a pleasant feeling spreading from my face, going up to the tip of my scalp and down to the tip of my toes. It was that same feeling that I felt when Lily found my body after Balzard’s attack.

The pain and fatigue was gradually fading, and I slowly raised my head, surprised by the sensation. I found myself face-to-face with Lily, her eyes closed in concentration. My face reddened seeing her this close.

She was actually very cute. Especially, when she was quiet and not sprouting rude things.

Lily’s eyes opened again, and I quickly glanced away so that she didn’t catch me looking, feeling my heart racing.

“There.” Lily picked herself up from the ground, patting her cloak to get rid of the dust from kneeling down. “You should be feeling better now.”

“T-thanks, Lily…” I got up from the ground, staring down at my body, my hands raised. I felt normal again, no longer tired and in pain. It was exactly as she said. The scratches on my body had disappeared too, leaving only dried blood.

Lily flicked her hand at me, and the blood peeled off me, flying into the air behind me.

“Come on, we have to get the demon before someone else does.” Lily turned around, her cloak swaying with the motion of her turn.

“Yes!” I called out, quickly following Lily’s lead. My body was all healed up and I felt the energy back inside me.

----------------------------------------

“Are you sure this is where she landed?”

“Hey, don’t ask me, you’re the one that shot her down!”

“I… I don’t remember where she fell…”

“I thought you were watching her…”

I sighed, trudging through the labyrinth-like forest, every path of ours looking the same.

I was now leading the path due to Lily not knowing where she had shot Zoel down to.

“Can’t you just use your magic to find her or something?” I asked, calling out to Lily behind me.

“She’s unconscious and on the verge of death I think. I can’t feel her presence at all.”

“…”

“If she is still awake, I could probably find her from her demonic energy… that is, if she isn’t too badly injured...”

This was looking bad. We had no idea where we were walking, and it just felt like we were pacing around aimlessly, hoping for a miracle.

The sun was setting, leaving a blistering sear of orange across the sky. We had been searching for a while now and my patience was waning.

"Kei, you go that way." Lily said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

She pointed to the left side of the path.

I gave her a doubtful look. "Wouldn't we get lost if we split up?"

"No." Lily shook her head. "How did you think I found you when you were fighting Zoel?"

"Uh..." I tried to think back. "You said something... about the Blood Pact."

"Exactly." Lily was heading to the right path. Both paths were filled with heavy bushes, and towering trees, blocking the view ahead. "The Blood Pact allows us to sense where each other is. If you ever need me, put your blood on the sigil on your right arm. I'll come."

I watched her disappearing into the wilderness, then glanced down at my arm, raising it to pull down the sleeve.

The sigil was still there on the inside of my forearm. A faded ancient symbol.

I had almost forgotten about it.

Everytime I saw the sigil, it reminded me of the Blood Pact that I had made with Lily.

I pulled my sleeve back down, then sighed, heading to the left path that Lily had told me to take. I had my doubts about whether we would ever find Zoel again.

I pushed past the leafy branches of the trees, trudging past bushes, as I delved further and further ahead. The path was now declining downwards, and I had to be careful not to slip. The surface was uneven and filled with dead slippery leaves.

I also was trying to be quiet, in case I did bump into Zoel.

I held one hand onto the handle of my sword, that was shealthed at my back.

As the path eventually came to a flatter surface, I pushed past another bush, heading deeper into the forest.

The smell of blood was now thick in the air. I could almost taste iron on my tongue.

She... she had to be here!

I was tense now.

That smell seemed too strong to be an injured animal.

Should I call Lily over?

I thought about it, but decided to make sure first.

I kept walking through the path, eventually coming to a small clearing, surrounded by trees.

At the centre of the clearing...

Was Zoel.

She was covered in blood, lying motionlessly on the ground, her blond hair a scattered mess over her head. Her gothic-lolita attire was pretty tattered, much like the rest of her body which was covered in deep cuts. A massive gash could be clearly seen at the centre of her stomach, still leaking blood, her hands holding onto it.

There were dark feathers surrounding her, looking dead, but no signs of her wings. They had probably retracted back inside her back.

She looked completely like a human now, her demonic arm had returned back into its human shape.

My heart stopped, seeing her. I tightened my grip on the handle of my sword, thinking about what to do.

She didn't seem to be moving.

I should probably call Lily now.

...

But... there was a part of me that wanted to kill Zoel myself.

She was a demon after all... That meant she was the same being as the thing that had came to village on that night, destroying everything and killing everyone I ever knew or loved.

I clenched my teeth, feeling anger surfacing inside me.

I'll do it.

I'll kill Zoel myself.

I watched her carefully for a few more minutes, and once satisfied that she was unconscious, I slowly moved over, being extremely careful to make no noise at all.

I had hunted animals back at the village, so this wasn't something that was new to me.

Although, this time it was a demon.

Eventually, I stopped in front of Zoel's lying figure. Her head was still face down onto the ground, her blond hair messily sprawled over it.

I unsheathed the blade slowly, raising it up in the cold air above Zoel's head. I stared down at her coolly, taking a quiet breath.

This is for my village.

This is for Ali.

I raised the blade, holding the handle with both hands.

As I prepared myself to swing the blade down, Zoel's hand stretched out towards me, grabbing onto my ankle.

"...!"

Shit! She was still still awake!

I... I had to do it fast!

I swung the blade down.

But then I saw her face.

She was looking up at me with her burning red eyes, tears falling from them. Her face was cut and bruised, and wet blood was on her lips.

"P-please... don't kill me..." She whispered, her voice hoarse and weak.

I stopped the blade an inch away from her head.

What the fuck was I doing?

Just fucking kill her!!

The muscles in my arms were all tightly tensed. I was trying to force the blade down, but there was something in my mind, holding me back. The compassion I had before that night my family died. I thought it had died along with them, but it was still there, telling me to stop.

"I... I don't want do die..." More tears were falling down Zoel's cheeks, mixing with her blood, her face pleading. "Please..."

"I... I'm not going to let you live..." I breathed, my mind in chaos. "You're going to die."

Zoel broke down crying, her hand still clutching onto my ankle weakly. There was a blood stained handprint on my pants from her hold.

"P-please..." Zoel continued begging. "I... I'll do anything..."

My teeth clenched, my jaw locking. "There's nothing I want from you."

"Please... please... please..."

She kept repeating those words, her face now falling back down on the ground, her voice muffled by her hair.

"...!"

Fuck!

I was trying with all my strength to bring the sword down.

But, I couldn't do it.

Maybe it was because she wasn't fighting back against me, or maybe it was because she looked like a human.

Whatever it was, I couldn't find it in me to kill someone begging on the floor.

"You... you were about to kill me." I said, trying to reason with myself to kill her. "I'm just returning the favour."

"I... I'm sorry... please... don't kill me... I'm... sorry... please..."

"..."

This was too pathetic to witness. I needed her to fight me for me to find the resolve to kill her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

A voice sounded from next to me, and I turned to see Lily standing at the edge of the clearing, staring at me, dumbfounded.

"Lily..."

I didn't know what the hell I was doing either.

"Move aside, Kei." Lily started walking towards me, a cold blank look on her face. "I'll show you how it's done."

"...!"

I tried to move as she said, but Zoel's hand was still clutching onto my ankle. Even though her grip was weak, and I could had easily pulled away, I felt myself stuck there.

Lily's lapis lazuli eyes started glowing as she approached, her left hand at her side illuminating a strange blue light, intensifying by the second. There was an enormous killing intent coming from her.

"L-Lily, don't do this."

Lily stopped, the glow in her eyes fading, and so did the light in her hand.

"What?"

She asked, staring at me.

"..."

Did I really say that?

Was I really telling Lily to not kill a demon?

"I mean... she might have information about Balzard..."

I didn't know what the hell I was saying. I was just making up an excuse, feeling pathetic. My mind confused.

Lily stared at me for a few seconds, before shaking her head. “I don’t understand you, Kei… It’s obvious that you just want to save her.”

“..."

"Whatever." Lily started approaching again.

"But... that's what you said yesterday... right?" I glanced up at Lily. "About her having information..."

"Yeah, but today I changed my mind."

"...!"

Lily stopped in front of me and Zoel. "So are you going to move aside or not?"

"I..." I stared down at Zoel. She was now unconscious, there was so much blood coming out of her wounds that it was staining the grass where she laid, leaving them red.

Slowly, I walked away from Zoel, lifting my ankle out of her grasp. There was no resistance since she was unconscious, but there was a bloody handprint left on my pants. I stared down at it, thinking, as I walked to Lily's side.

Lily's eyes started glowing again, the palm of her left hand lighting up with that same mysterious blue light. She raised her hand up, pointing it down at Zoel's lying figure.

I remembered a time I was with Ali, hunting together.

We had came across a deer in a forest, and as I was pulling back the bow to show her how to hunt.

She pushed my hand, forcing me to miss my shot at the very last second.

"Why did you do that?" I shouted at Ali angrily. I glanced back over at the deer, watching it as it fleed. "Now we have nothing to eat for dinner!"

"K-Kei..." Ali winced, seeing me shout at her. "Don't do this... this is wrong..."

...

My eyes widened, and I was back by Lily's side.

"No..." I mumbled, then louder. "No...!" I grabbed onto Lily's arm, pushing her outstretched hand away from Zoel.

"Kei!" Lily staggered backwards from my push, surprised. The glow in her eyes and hand disappeared.

I stood between Lily and Zoel. "Let's... let's take her with us. I'll take responsibility. I'll kill her myself if she does anything."

"Y-you..." Lily was angry at me. "You can't touch me like that!"

"I... I'm sorry." I swallowed, trying to get my mind clear. "We shouldn't kill her, but. Not like this."

"..."

Lily stared into my face, and for a while, there was nothing but a deathly silence between us.

Suddenly, she sighed.

“Pick her up.” Lily said. “And, let’s go.”

“Lily…” I said, surprised and relieved. I felt all the tension in my body relaxing.

“You’re responsible for her.” Lily said, turning away. “I could had just forced your body to move under the terms of our Blood Pact.”

“Thank—”

“Hurry up and get her before I change my mind.”

I nodded shortly, then turned to where Zoel lied. The blood coming out of her body was soaking up the grass, staining them in a murky red. I quickly scuttled over, bending down to pick her up.

She was surprisingly light, and I pulled her onto my back, trying my best not to hurt her. She felt like a genuine human girl. I could hardly believe that Zoel was actually a demon when I saw her like this.

“Let’s go already.” Lily complained.

“Yes!” I called out after her, then pulled Zoel closer to my back. Her face fell down on my shoulder and I felt her messy long hair prickling the skin of my cheeks, but I paid it no mind.

As I started walking to catch up with Lily, I heard a faint whisper at the side of my face.

“Thank… you…”

I turned to look at Zoel.

Her face was very close to mine and her eyes were closed. She was breathing slowly, looking as though she was still in pain.

Bu-dump.

My heart jumped, seeing her face that close, and I quickly looked back ahead of me, trying to regain my focus. Come on, Kei. It’s not like you haven’t been this close to a girl before…

I thought back to the time with Lily on the bed… but we weren’t really touching each other when we slept together. On the other hand, Zoel was lying on my back, her face right next to me. I wasn’t used to this much contact. Her soft chest was pressing up against my back, and I quickly walked faster to catch up with Lily, trying to forget about it.

“H-hey, Lily!” I called, as I caught up, walking next to her.

“Hm…?” Lily was staring forward as she walked.

“Can’t you heal Zoel like you healed me?” I shifted Zoel on my back, trying to get her into a more comfortable position. “You healed me completely just moments ago!”

She glanced at me, then at my back to look at Zoel, then in front of her. “Your wounds were nothing like what she suffered. I’m not going to waste my energy to heal up some person I don’t even know.”

“But, you healed me up when my whole body was seared by Balzard.” I said, and her shoulders flinched. “I mean, that must mean you are capable of really strong healing magic, right? So, it should be no problem for you to heal Zoel.”

“Listen, that time when I healed you, it took a bunch of my energy, and several months of effort...” Lily said. “I even had to use Phoenix Tears because my magic by itself wasn’t enough. It was practically like trying to bring someone back from the dead.”

“But—”

“She’s going to be fine, okay, Kei.” Lily glanced at Zoel again, then back in front of her. “She’s a demon. They have powerful regenerative abilities. She’s probably just going to need to take longer to recover from the wounds I gave her.”

I nodded. “I don’t think I thanked you enough, Lily… for all that effort you put into saving me… and for just then as well…”

“It’s fine, just remember to wash my clothes when we get home.”

“…”

“And, you need to clean the castle. I think the yard outside needs some gardening.”