Chapter 11

Shiko approached me and timidly grabbed my hand.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Shiko is absorbing your demonic energy masuta. D-don’t worry, big sis Morgana told Shiko to be gentle.”

“W-what have you been telling this girl Morgana!?”

Shiko placed my hand on her head. The second my hand touched her head, I almost lost my balance. She was taking nearly everything I had left.

“S-Shiko, stop!”

“Eh? Sorry masuta! Shiko forgot to be gentle.”

“...”

Shiko then skipped toward Alessia and vanished.

“Teehee, she’s a playful child, isn’t she master?”

“Y-you stay away from her! Also, what does this mean for Shiko now Morgana? I mean, what is she?”

“Oh? Hmmm, well she’s still a weapon and familiar, but unlike before, she’s able to manifest and materialise in this form.”

“Wahahahaha, took you long enough to notice foolish boy, this dragon king’s aged eyes, could already see little Shiko’s true form.”

Before I could respond to the old dragon, Alessia’s body began to smoulder. She began to restlessly toss and turn. She let out an ear shattering scream and it was like she was in unbearable pain.

“W-what are you doing birdbrain!?”

“Kukuh, it is the only way, I must burn Tiamat’s demonic energy from my mistress entirely.”

“GUWAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

Alessia’s body was convulsing and she was sweating immensely. A few agonising moments passed and it finally looked like the birdbrain was done. Alessia was breathing heavily and was drenched in sweat, but she had a peaceful expression.

“Kukuh, it is done, I can feel my mistress’s demonic energy beginning to refill by itself. It seems that Tiamat has fallen asleep too.”

“Phew, she’s gonna need some water when she wakes up. Morgana, can you conjure water?”

“Nope, I can turn water into wine though!”

“...”

I started to think about searching for water when Alessia opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around and made eye contact with me. The second our eyes met, Shiko materialised between us.

“So I lost.”

“I-it was a good contest…”

Shiko ran to Alessia and embraced her.

“Thank you big sis, thank you for helping masuta give life to Shiko!”

“S-Shiko, d-don’t phrase it like that, you’ll cause a misunderstanding!”

“I see, so this is where all my demonic energy went. For you to withstand the destructive demonic energy of a Belith, is really something.”

Alessia began stroking Shiko’s head gently, much to Shiko's delight. Alessia then made eye contact with me again.

“Why did you help me?”

“W-well, I saw something reflected in your eyes during that fight. When we crossed blades it was obvious to me. We have the same enemy, having you as an ally would be very useful to both me and Seir.”

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“You’re mistaken, all I want is for the Belith House to be free from anyone’s control. If anything, we’ve now moved from one person’s chessboard to another’s. We are still just pawns…”

“You’re lying Alessia, I know what I saw. Throughout that fight, you weren’t fighting me, you were fighting the Bael House.”

For the first time since I’ve known her, Alessia was taken aback.

“The reason I could tell, is because I’ve seen the same reflection in Seir’s eyes countless times throughout this summit. Hrotti wasn’t aimed at me, it was aimed at the Bael House.”

“...”

“With your territory, I’m sure that we only need to defeat one more notable household and we will qualify as one of the top 4 Houses and make it to the semi-finals. Seir told me that when we reach that stage. We will be able to recruit willing fighters from the households and territories that we have taken.”

“So you’re going to force me to fight for you? I don’t see how different that is from what Bael has been doing. He forced us to relinquish our best fighters, he even…”

“No, whether you do so is entirely up to you. Normally, following our victory, Seir meets with the defeated house and discusses terms. I will do so in his place this time. You can help us fight the Bael House in the summit once we make it to the semis. Or, you can be a temporary subordinate of Prince Seir and then be handed your territory back once Seir is King. Either way, the choice is yours.”

Alessia stared at me. She returned to her usual expression and appeared to be giving my proposition some serious thought.

“How can I trust you? How do I know that you and your lord won’t just stab me in the back, like Lucifuge Bael did to my grandfather?”

“So that’s how it is, hah, you and Seir would get along pretty well.”

“What are his reasons for wanting to go to war with the Bael House?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t go into Seir’s motivation for doing so, but…”

Alessia scoffed and showed a look of condescension. It seems she wasn’t going to trust me unless I gave her good reason to. I really wanted Alessia on our side, so I one sidedly decided to show my hand. I’m sure Seir would be against me doing this, but I was willing to take the risk, if it meant that we could get Alessia to join our cause.

I had a feeling that Alessia’s house was one of the houses that didn’t believe in the whole Damiens are dangerous thing. It was probably one of the reasons that Lucifuge wanted to keep the Belith House under close supervision.

“Alessia, I have something to show you. However, just in case you still don’t want to join our cause, I want you to swear on the Belith name that you won’t tell anyone about it.”

“Oh?”

“Do you agree?”

“Hmph, very well.”

I stopped sending what little demonic energy I had left to my eyes and removed my purple contact lenses. I blinked a few times and realised how comfortable I felt without these bloody things in. When my eyes finally readjusted, Alessia was showing a face layered with astonishment, she was lost for words.

She finally came back to her senses and looked toward Morgana, who shrugged her shoulders and made the “don’t look at me” pose.

“This is no illusion. I have revealed my true self to you. I am proof that Seir is not like the other’s in the Ars Goetia. I am not asking you to yield and pledge your loyalty to…”

“A Belith never yields.”

“Yes, yes, I know that all too well…”

“Fine, after being made aware of your personal circumstances, I don’t need to know what drives Prince Seir. You have my sword.”

“Wahahahahaha, all you need now foolish boy, is a bow and an axe.”

“W-what did I tell you about, actually, that one was pretty good…”

Alessia got up and walked toward me. She put one hand on her waist and extended the other towards me expectantly. Just when I was about to raise my hand to shake hers, she pulled away.

“There is one more thing we need to do before I become your subordinate.”

“What’s that?”

Alessia evoked both the birdbrain and the sleeping Tiamat.

“As per the result of our duel, I will hand over my familiars to you.”

“Oh, I never really planned on going through with that...haha…”

“What would you have done if I had defeated you then?”

“Haha...All’s well that ends well?”

“I’m regretting this already...”

“Hah, I don’t really get on with the birdbrain, I’m sure you know why. Also, Tiamat’s colours don’t really suit me. You’ll need both of them if you’re gonna be helping us anyway.”

“Hmph, do as you please.”

Alessia turned away from me. She began walking but stopped a few paces away. She turned her head slightly round while keeping her body facing forward.

“One more thing, who has custody of Shiko?”

“W-what!”

“She is made up of both of our demonic energies. You don’t expect me to just let you keep her do you?”

I hadn’t thought of that, Alessia was making a good point. I wasn’t going to just give Shiko over to her though. W-wait did she say “custody”? I was just about to respond when Shiko ran between the both of us and grabbed our hands. She smiled up at us and shook her head side to side.

“No, no, Shiko can go between masuta and big sis whenever Shiko wants. Shiko wants to play with both big sis and masuta!”

“I-is that so.”

“Hmph, very well.”

Shiko smiled and returned to Morgana and Bahamut, I guess Shiko wanted to play with me first.

Alessia gave the hint of a small smile after Shiko let go and evoked the birdbrain and got on to his back. She gave me one last nod before she burst into the air on the back of the Fenghuang.

I watched as she disappeared in the direction of the summit’s vicinity. The sky’s colours were illuminating her back as she slowly drifted further and further away. Just when she became a small speck in the sky, I realised something...

“H-heyyyyy, Alessia! Come back! I don’t have the demonic energy to fly back! Heyyyyyy!”

She was too far to hear me…

“Wahahahahaha, you really are a foolish boy.”

“Hehe, Shiko will go tell big sis…”

“*sigh* no, no, I’ll just…”

“Oh? Master, I can fly us back, I am a witch ykno…”

“Never again!”

“Teehee.”

I listened to the three of them ramble on and slowly made my way back to Seir and the others…