Book 3. Chapter 27
“Darkness” Part 2
“What the hell are you talking about?” Kalysto questioned uncomprehendingly, “I am Kalysto!”
“No, you're not!”
Kalysto closed her eyes for a second as she inhaled harshly, only to open them again and look at the little girl about to throw a tantrum.
“If this is because of the accident in which I lost my memory when I was seven...” she started to say but was quickly interrupted.
“I told you it was an accident! It wasn't my fault!” She defended herself, while kicking the ground with one leg. Just like a little girl would do.
So it was. Kalysto realized. Suddenly feeling very curious.
“What happened?” Kalysto questioned, trying to keep the girl's attention diverted to something else as she began to regain control of the rest of her body. “What did you do?”
But her strategy backfired as her words seemed to anger Persephone, causing the mist that had been peacefully surrounding the field of flowers to gather and form a circle around its owner, at the same time a swirl of wind enveloped her and began to spread, attacking Kalysto.
“Shut up!” She shouted angrily as soon as the attack began. “You're not even my Kalysto! My Kalysto would never see me as if I were a monster! She would always take my side no matter what I did! You're nothing but a cheap and empty copy of her!” But contrary to Persephone's expectations, Kalysto was able to defend herself against her, summoning her own darkness, using it as a shield and creating her own swirl of darkness, countering hers.
That seemed to take her by surprise.
So Kalysto took advantage and approached her whirlpool.
“Absorb! Absorb! Absorb!” She counterattacked, stretching out her palm, taking the blow while absorbing Persephone's dark mana, letting her passive regeneration skill take care of healing any damage her stamina stat couldn't cover. “I don't give a shit about your spoiled brat tantrums, Persephone! Give me back my body, now!”
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 9,000 DMP!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 11,000 DMP!]
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 5,000 DMP!]
“Why would I do such a thing when I'm so close to getting her back?” She replied with a maniacal smile loaded with madness, while a couple of beads of sweat trickled down her forehead.
However, Persephone didn't seem to notice and instead only increased her terrifying smile, sending shivers of fear throughout Kalysto's mental body.
Persephone increased the power of her attack and jumped back, putting a good distance between them. Much of the black-haired girl's darkness followed her owner giving Kalysto a couple of seconds to think of a new plan to confront her and get out of there before the intruder did something again that would leave her forever trapped inside her own mind at the same time she dodged Persephone's last attack.
A quick glance around assured her that they were both completely alone within the small clearing and the surrounding forest. A dark mana tentacle lunged at her, but Kalysto was able to avoid it, as well as the other four that followed, managing to absorb two of them and causing Persephone to move a little further away from her again. Before Persephone attacked her a second time, Kalysto crouched down and placed her palms on the field of flowers.
“Absorb!” she shouted, absorbing all the memory they were in, watching with fascination as the flowers, grass and trees seemed to be swallowed by the palms of her hands, while Persephone's desperate screams pierced her ears as the beautiful landscape and the clear blue sky disappeared.
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“Noooooo!” shouted the black-haired as a new tentacle of dark mana crystallized and pierced the stomach of Kalysto who had been too focused on her task to dodge it. “Don't do it, don't take her away from me!” However, both her pleas and her last attack were in vain as Kalysto did not stop despite the pain, and everything turned white.
Then silence reigned.
****
As soon as Aegir finished negotiations with the Japanese, German and Russian hunter associations, he stowed the immense amount of food he had procured inside his shadow to then appear in the empty room inside Kalysto's Tokyo apartment, surprised that she had not yet put a protective barrier in place.
He had not wanted to spend two days on Earth, but before arriving at the meeting with the president of the Japanese hunters' association, Sakura informed him the German and Russian hunters' associations had heard about his deal with the Japanese association and wanted to participate. So he had to wait until the morning of the next day when the other two presidents arrived in the country. And another one more until the rest of the food arrived.
However the wait had been worth it, not only because he learned a little more about Kalysto and her world thanks to the black-haired woman, but also because he was able to make several online purchases, thus increasing the amount of food he could bring, that and learn a lot of culinary recipes thanks to several YouTube tutorials.
“How much stuff can you fit in there?” Sakura had asked him the night before when one of the domiciles he had ordered arrived and watched him spread his shadow as boxes of food disappeared inside, as did several sacks of potatoes.
“Much more than could fit in your small inventory,” he replied.
However when he returned to the room that Kalysto started using as a landing point when they teleported, all was silent. So the demon king spent seventy thousand MP as he recited the spell that would take him back to his kingdom.
But as soon as he appeared outside his palace, the pallor he saw on his younger sister's face told him that something was not right.
“What happened?” He demanded as he approached her, stepping through the barrier Kalysto had created, which protected them from the monsters.
“Aegir! Your future queen has disappeared!” announced his sister. The soft mockery he heard to his right made him realize they were not alone, next to the guards he had seen when he arrived was the Duke of Eash along with Khara next to the two guards he had overlooked in his eagerness to get to his sister.
“Anything to say Duke of Eash?”
“No my lord,” replied the older man, however the young woman next to him took it as an invitation.
“She probably ran away, it's more than obvious she doesn't want the position,” before she could continue and the older man at her side could scold her, a tentacle of darkness wrapped around Khara's neck, choking her as it lifted her into the air.
“I have tolerated enough nonsense from your niece Eash, if you do not discipline her properly I will take it as the duchy has decided to rebel against my rule and I will eliminate all of you for treason.”
All color drained from the face of the old man who hastened to kneel before the king despite his advanced age.
“I apologize, my lord. I will see to it that she is properly disciplined.”
After throwing the slender demon's body away as if it were a mere piece of paper, Aegir and his sister entered the palace, leaving them behind.
“What happened?”
“You know she went with Master Rozheinlo and a group of our warriors to fetch supplies from the kingdom of Zeer, the place was attacked. They all returned except her. I have already sent troops in search of her, but we have not been able to find her, nine days have already passed.”
Five days later, Aegir had not been able to locate Kalysto either, not even with the help of the Violet system. It was as if she had completely disappeared from Elinor, or from Earth.
****
Being attacked by Persephone took Kalysto by surprise, but what she saw in front of her when she finally regained control of her body, surprised her even more.
A low-cut black ceremonial gown decorated her body, along with a delicate black cape that degraded to red at the tips, fell over her shoulders.
On the same platform she was standing on, there was a throne and in front of it another woman who was finishing a speech. Tall, with hair and eyes as black as night, but something about her was familiar. Not only because she was wearing a ceremonial dress similar to the one she was wearing although her cloak seemed to be a bit more elaborate than hers.
There was something in her mind that seemed to find a certain familiarity in her presence.
A clear blue sky glowed on the horizon, behind the other woman Kalysto recognized the hobgoblin who had led the undead, but this time he held no black crystal in his hands, his gaze seemed enraptured on the woman who continued to give the speech, as if it was the most important moment of their lives.
Next to him was a young man she didn't recognize, however near where she was standing, as well as the rest of the six people on top of the dais, was the orc she had killed. And next to him the goblin Tsuki had told her about in the temple. But unlike Arkhas whose fear was evident in his bulging eyes, the orc who had almost killed her the day she signed a contract with the fairy queen was now undead.
And in front of them, an army of millions of monsters lay prostrate, waiting at the command of the priestess of Seth-Mainyu.