Apparently she thought we were working for the inquisition. Did she see us through the invisibility, or was she simply alerted by us opening the door? The three of us did not move and just stared at her. She did not look directly at anyone. We were probably still unseen. Should we just run? Hm. I had an idea. Masterful Illusion. A 7th circle spell that allowed me to craft and attach an illusion to something. By pushing it to the 8th circle I was able to select two targets.

The spell did not only allow for visuals to be created, but also sound and smell could be added. And it was very hard to dispel or see through. That was the main reason for its high level. I was hoping that Beira would pierce our invisibility but not the illusion. My plan was to make myself and Lucy more demonic. We would stay close to our animal forms but I would alter the fur, the eyes and add a smell of sulphur. I also gave us horns. I was quite pleased with the result.

Our fur looked less soft, it was now a mixture of red and orange with some black streaks. Our eyes were glowing red and we had black horns. I even added a bit of black smoke swirling around us. Not enough to totally obscure us, just to make us a little bit blurry. My work finished just in time. Beira unleashed her own magic and our invisibility was dispelled. My illusion remained though. Beira looked shocked, her guards tensed.

Lilastheria mostly looked confused when she saw our transformation. Lucy stared at her own paw. I think she might have felt the magic through my bond. She did not resist when I attached the illusion to her. But she seemed curious about her new looks. For an outside observer it might have looked like she was simply bored.

“Demons…” Beira said. “And I recognize that slut. You are the succubus the inquisition stole from me. Where are your masters hiding? It was foolish of them to send you.”

The problem we had was that neither Lucy nor myself wanted to show our ability to speak. That left Lilastheria to talk. And we did not have a plan for what she would say. I really should have looked into a telepathic connection.

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“Uh… I haven no idea what you are talking about.” Lilastheria said.

Beira snorted. “I know Elias is back in town. And he is desperate. What are your orders? Looking for dirt on me? Does he want to claim I sabotaged his efforts? No matter. I will just bind you and have my answers. I don’t know what attack dogs you brought with you but they won't stop me.”

It sounded like it was time for a retreat. We could kill Beira here but I did not want to go that far. Maybe her lab would take a beating though. Pretending to be a demonic beast meant I could not just throw my normal magic around. But maybe a fire breath would look natural? Elemental Breath was only a 3rd tier spell. You damaged everything in a cone and you could choose the element. Her guards should be strong enough to survive that.

I concentrated on the spell, then I felt the fire form in my throat. I exhaled and bathed the area in front of me in flames. Beira was standing close to her guards so I hit all of them. Metal armour is not a very good defence against heat. Unless magic is involved. The guards stepped in front of Beira and their armour seemed to absorb the heat to some extent. Afterwards they charged. One came for me and the other one attacked Lucy.

They were fast, compared to a normal human in plate armour. They were still rather slow compared to me. I easily just danced around the person trying to hit me with his polearm. Then I hit him in the back with my paw. I did not use any claws, even though I was curious how they would fare against the plate. My opponent flew through two tables and crashed into a wall. Ouch. He was still moving though, although he seemed a bit dazed.

I looked towards Lucy, who was sitting on the guard that came for her. Somehow he had been disarmed and was lying on his back. I could not see his expression because of the helmet but I assumed that person was terrified as Lucy stared at him.

Beira’s face was a mixture of shock and determination. Apparently she did not think that her guards would be overpowered that easily. Did we go too far? Should we have pretended to be weaker?

Of course Beira herself was a powerful wizard. She answered with some sort of ice spell. A white sphere was launched from her hands then flew to the centre of the room and exploded. The temperature dropped significantly and shards of ice flew everywhere. I only took some minor damage, my fur and hide offered a lot of protection. Lucy seemed fine as well but the guard she was sitting on had several dents in his armour. Lilastheria cried out in pain. Maybe it was time to send her home. Dismissing a bound demon was relatively simple and soon Lilastheria dissolved into smoke. Now it was time for Lucy and myself to get out of here.