Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Lily chases after Baron Roskiel. Just before landing on yet another one, he swivels about and cocks his arm back, holding the torn out streetlight like a javelin.
FWOOP!-Crash!…
Lily jumps to a building off to the side to evade the thrown lamppost. It zaps past her like a speeding train before slamming into a building in the distance, collapsing its roof, then most of the rest.
「Coward! Fleeing from a younger vampire!? Do you even have any dignity!?」
She shouts while Roskiel continues onward, leaping from one building to the next. She slowly closes the gap, and they cross the distance of nearly the entire city in seconds.
「Knowing how to maneuver yourself to win is not cowardice, Liliana!…」
He shouts back, and makes a large leap forward down to the streets.
「You rat! You slimy worm! You deserve death a thousand times over! You feckless degenerate! You'd dare call yourself a king!?」
Lily shouts a string of insults back, following him to the streets.
Thwack.
Her boots clatter noisily on the cobblestones as she makes no effort to be silent. The street they landed on is deep within the slums. The buildings are all rotten and poorly maintained, with the church of Mercia not too far away definitely being the most prominent, though not the worst sign of decay. The road is damaged, with chunks of cobblestones missing in large patches, likely ripped out by rioters of old.
Lily lifts her hateful scarlet gaze. At least ten greater fiends surround her at a standoff distance, with innumerable lesser fiends packed densely between them. She crosses her arms and taps her clawed finger on her torn, bloodied sleeves. Baron Roskiel is grinning with his arms spread, standing right in front of one of the demons towering over them both.
「…And this was your great plan? More lackeys? Does the demon lord know what coward and an idiot you are?」
She asks, unimpressed by the horde of demons.
「Lilia… I think you will find dealing with multiple fiends at once a little troublesome. I didn't get to my age by throwing caution to the wind…」
Baron Roskiel shrugs his shoulders, casually placing his hands behind his back.
「…Tear her apart.」
With a flick of his fingers, he turns his gaze up to the fiend standing behind him, and its amber eyes make contact with his. It nods its horned head, and the fiend's pale flat face turns to Lily.
「You've reached your age by pure luck. It had just ran out.」
She growls out with a scowl on her face, uncrossing her arms. The lesser fiends rush her, swarming Lily with no regard for cohesion or tactics.
She grabs one clawed hand reaching for her face by its wrist, breaks it with one violent motion, and swings the fiend around above her head like a flail.
Thudthumpthudthudthud!…
Though not particularly damaging, the fiends' charge is immediately disrupted as they pile up over each other, knocked back by the fiend's wildly swinging body.
SPLAT!
Lily whips the fiend-flail about, and hits the ground with it. The fiend flattens as blood erupts out of its body. Its pale skin turns red from the smears of its blood. Lily lets go of its wrist.
THUDcrack!…
A greater fiend steps on the pile of lesser ones, crushing them beneath its foot with no regard for them, as if they weren't even there. Lily waits and watches for it to make its move. She doesn't have to wait long, and the fiend swings its muscular arm back for a sweeping slash of its massive claws.
FWOOM-Crash!
Its claws rend thin air as Lily simply hops over them, but the demon's hand shatters the rotting remains of the building in its way. Wooden debris and destroyed furniture spills out onto the slums, as the building creaks and collapses into a cloud of dust. Some lesser fiends below are clobbered by the falling wooden roof tiles. The greater fiends watch her float up, including the one recovering from its missed attack, directly beneath her.
THUD!
Without a warning, Lily accelerates downward and stomps onto the fiend's horned head. Its entire body trails behind the motion, diving down into the ground as it falls limp. Its face makes a small crater on impact, and Lily hops off. The assault continues, and the flood of lesser fiends doesn't abate despite the casualties.
Fwishfwishfwishfwish!…
Lily jabs her claws at the fiends leaping at her. Blood sprays out in mid air, and dismembered limbs drop at her sides. Baron Roskiel watches on, growing increasingly frustrated and nervous.
She continues defending herself with ease for another five minutes, rapidly thinning the crowd of fiends. Most of the greater fiends have already fallen victim to Lily's weight manipulation attacks. She places her boot onto one of the limbless bodies as if it were a stair step, and climbs onto a dead pile. Though Lily's form is small, she now towers over Roskiel and the remaining fiends.
「…Are you going to run again, Roskiel? You pathetic worm. Go on and inform the demon lord that you have failed.」
Lily taunts the baron as a malicious grin appears on her blood-coated face. In fact, Lily's entire body is bloodied, from her golden hair and all the way to her boots.
「…I wouldn't speak so soon!」
Baron Roskiel exclaims as he swiftly pulls out a broken chair leg from behind his back, and throws it at Lily like a javelin.
Fwoom!
It sails past her as she leans out of the way a little. Her expression sours, and she glares at the baron.
「…That's it? You reek of desperation-」
「Xaxanaxu xananax!」
A shout in demonic language from behind pulls Lily's attention away. Her eyes widen when she notices two demons leaping at her with their claws extended. Dodging one would mean falling into the claws of the other. In a flash, Lily decides to do a little of both. She lurches forward to evade the attack directed at her neck from behind, prioritizing her limbs by their importance.
Swish!… Splash.
Lily briefly winces in both anger, and a little pain as one of the lesser fiends' claws carve through her arm, just below the shoulder. It's severed in an instant, and the demon wildly flies forward and lands in a pit of demon corpses, clutching onto Lily's severed arm. In the same motion, Lily grabs onto the second demon's neck, who only managed to shallowly slash her back, and whips it forward.
Thump!…
Its headless body lands right beside the other demon, bleeding profusely, while Lily is holding onto its crushed windpipe and everything neck-up in her hand. Angered, she throws its head horns-first at Roskiel. He steps out of the way with ease, but some of the flying blood splatters his face.
「That's it!? A distraction!? I must have underestimated how weak and pathetic you are if you thought that would be enough, Roskiel!…」
Lily shouts with her fangs bared, glaring at Roskiel, while her arm trickles blood. She appears to be more angered than troubled by the fact she's missing an arm.
「…And you… I don't need to speak your filthy language to get the message through. Return my arm, or I will make you wish that sunlight and fire were enough to kill you.」
Standing on top of a pile of dead demons, she points her clawed finger at the fiend still holding onto her severed arm in the bloody pit of corpses.
Fwap.
Though the demon certainly didn't understand Lily's words, it appears to be a little frightened by her demeanor and tone. It doesn't as much return the arm, as simply drops it amongst the corpses. Its face is twisted into something akin to nervousness, a far cry from their gleeful, toothy grins. It slowly begins to back away out of the pit. It climbs the bodies up, backwards, towards Roskiel, while the remaining two greater fiends and a sparse scattering of the lesser ones are watching, and occasionally glancing at the baron, perhaps for instructions.
…Boom…
A distant explosion sounds out elsewhere in the city.
「Nngghhh… What are you looking at!? I told you what to do! Tear her apart!」
First letting out a frustrated groan through his teeth, Roskiel shouts, pointing at Lily, who is casually descending down into the blood, gore, and filth-filled corpse pit that piled up on the streets. She picks up her arm, and presses her severed limb up to her arm, exactly where it was slashed. The fiends exchange confused looks between each other, before cautiously making their way towards her. After a few seconds, she lets go of her arm.
Now attached, Lily holds her hand of her previously-severed arm up, and clenches it into a fist a few times. Satisfied, she windmills her shoulder while rubbing the slash in her sleeve. With a nonchalant look of scorn, she walks over the corpses to face the remaining demons. Roskiel abruptly turns and jumps to a rooftop.
「Again!? I'm not going to let you get away, Roskiel! You should have known you'll have to face the consequences!」
Lily shouts as Roskiel leaps in the direction of the church. She spares the fiends a quick glance, leaps to a building's wall, then like a pinball, bounces off the nearest buildings, slashing her claws at the fiends too sluggish to respond to her sudden speed. She shoots past them as a black blur, slides across the ground in a low crouch, then leaps to a rooftop. The lesser fiends drop headless, while the greater fiend finds its throat slashed apart.
Thuddd!…
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It bleeds profusely and drops face-first into the pile of slain demons, growing it further…
…
Five minutes later, near the hole in the city's roof…
Baron Roskiel leaps building to building with his crimson eyes focused upward on the damaged segment of the overhead roof. He jumps at the city wall, and begins climbing upward, digging his claws into the stone with ease. He glances over his shoulder and sees Lily in pursuit, but also at a significant distance. He quickly resumes climbing, heading upwards towards the brightening sky.
「…Can't be helped. There's always another chance.」
Fwwwoooooooommmmmm…
He remarks as he climbs the top of the city's wall. Roskiel glances down through the hole, and sees more orange flashes at a street somewhere. One of the buildings is on fire, and he turns to leap off the wall. Just before jumping, he stops, and turns his eyes to the city again.
「Tsk…」
《…There won't be another chance. I can't show myself before the demon lord like this! My plan worked! It's flawless!…》
He clicks his tongue and bares his fangs in frustration, glaring down at the odd shape below surrounded by orange lights.
《…Should I really abandon my plan this soon? If the humans find out… They'll never allow this to happen again. How many more millennia will I have to wait!?…》
Roskiel thinks, staring into the city…
…
Some time ago, somewhere in the east…
「…You will capture Murusburg, and repel the first counterattack. It doesn't matter if the situation is untenable after that… That's not the point…」
The lightly tilted violet eyes narrow as the disinterested female voice speaks from the throne.
「My lord?…」
Baron Roskiel says in a confused tone with his brows furrowed, raising his head a little, but not daring to look at its source.
「…Simply put, I want you to terrorize them. If you manage to hold the city… Well, that would be a rather pleasant surprise, and I would look favorably upon you as a general.」
The voice explains in a nonchalant, carefree tone.
「…The city is not necessary?… If I hold it, will I get to keep it to myself?」
The baron asks, lowering his head back down.
「Of course. To the victor go the spoils… But my wish is to let the humans know two things… One, their precious cities won't shelter them from me…」
The eyes from the throne nod as the voice continues explaining.
「…Two, I can strike them anywhere, at any time, at my pleasure. No place and nobody is outside my reach. Humans have gotten quite cocky… I want to shatter their illusions.」
The voice adds, prolonging a blink for emphasis, presumably shrugging.
「It will be done, my lord… It will be my joy to serve you.」
Roskiel nods, lowering his head further.
「Remember, I am not ordering you to slaughter them. I want them to live in fear. At the same time, offer them an escape from this fear. Their rulers are powerless, so offer them me.」
The woman's voice states in a stern tone, and the tilted eyes straighten out, staring at Roskiel with a look of superiority in them.
「As you command…」
The baron nods, keeping his clawed hand on his shoulder.
「Now go. My fiends are already waiting for you outside. Do not waste them.」
The voice says, and the violet eyes tilt slightly to the side again. Roskiel nods, stands up, and heads for the exit…
…
Ffwoop.
Lily leaps onto the wall, joining Roskiel.
「Roskiel… Were you fleeing, or did you want a change of the scenery?」
She asks in a mocking tone, glaring at Baron Roskiel while the distant sky has an orange hue of the sun to it.
「Heh… You know, Liliana… I gave it some thought. Perhaps you were right about some things…」
Roskiel remarks, shrugging with one hand while the other moves behind his back.
「About you being a coward and an idiot?」
She says in a sardonic tone, tilting her blood-layered golden head. The baron's mask of nonchalance nearly breaks, but he manages to keep it on.
「…About me abandoning my efforts too quickly. You see, if I left the city before it was truly over, I indeed would be unable to show my face to the demon lord.」
He replies, shrugging his shoulders as his hand drifts behind his back to join the other one.
「It already is over. Most of your greater fiends are dead, and the remainder can be easily dealt with by the humans. All that's left is the issue between us.」
Lily scoffs, glaring at the baron as she crosses her arms.
「Ah, Lilia… I heard about your lamps. Are you not worried that they'll turn them against you?」
Roskiel dismisses her words with a wave of his hand, and changes the subject, smirking.
「If they'd try, they wouldn't live to regret it… Where is this demon lord? In the east, correct? How did you find him?」
With a similar amount of disregard, Lily scoffs and changes the subject.
「Ah-ah-ah… Information has value, Liliana. Did you really think I'd share something so valuable with you?… Call off your dogs, and I might.」
The baron wags his finger, smirking. He then lowers his hand, and his smirk turns into a serious expression as he glares at Lily. She scoffs once more, shaking her blood-covered head.
「Were you not listening?… I told you that what happens in the kingdom is none of my concern. Amusing, that you think I'm their leader, but I'm not…」
In turn, a snide smirk appears on Lily's blood-spattered face. She tilts her head with her brows gently raised in apparent glee.
「…This is simply the consequences of your own actions. I'm just the oldest one trailing behind you, and that's to my knowledge. Did you really think the Redwing queen would allow this?」
She asks with a disdainful grin, baring her fangs at Roskiel.
「…Then we have nothing left to discuss.」
He replies with a serious expression on his blood-drizzled face, pulling his hands out from behind his back, and shifting his stance.
「No, there was nothing to discuss to begin with, Roskiel. It's simply unbecoming of a proper lady to turn down a conversation. The sun is rising, you won't run far.」
Lily's grin slowly shifts to a look of pure hatred as she uncrosses her arms and splays her fingers at her sides.
Atop the city's walls, the baron's cape and Lily's bloodstained twintails flutter in the gentle early morning wind…