“Well, that didn't work either,” said a nurse, sighing as she gazed down upon an unconscious pale girl with a wolf's tail and ears. The ears would flick every once in a while, but the girl was as good as out cold.
“Shoot,” said the nurse's assistant, shaking his head at their method's failure. “We must try something else, hunny! We have the respect of the Everest Clan at stake!”
“I know, dear,” the nurse replied, her head lowering. “But it seems that no matter what I do, I fail. Maybe she's beyond saving…”
“Of course she's not!” a man's voice called out from between them. The person behind the voice appeared out of thin air. The priest clad in armor gave the two a salute.
“She just won't be affected by your ordinary remedies; what you need is a Void Exorcist, and you got one right here.”
The nurse nodded and looked back at the girl in the hospital bed with eyes narrowed in determination. She brushed the girl's hair out of her face, revealing her right eye which had black tattoo-like markings around it.
“Good, then please do what you must in order to bring her back to a full recovery. She has to attend a meeting with her clan that involves the likes of the world's elites.”
One look at the girl's markings around her right eye and the Priest let out an arrogant scoff, shaking his head with a smirk.
Simple demon possession, huh? What a joke, he thought. I may not be as good as Mother Mary when it comes to exorcisms, but I can handle this just as well.
“Don’t mind if I do, Eliane! Watch my exorcism work like a charm, as always!”
The Priest walked over to the girl, his armor rustling with each step. Lifting his hand over her, a bright light enveloped it and beamed down on her. After a few moments, the Priest halted his actions and stared down at disbelief.
“Why isn't it disappearing…” he huffed, scratching his head at the failed attempt. “Screw this, I'm going straight for the source!”
He reached out a hand over the girl's affected eye, but before it could make contact, his gloved hand was grabbed by her in a grip that made him groan. Eliane and her assistant watched on, their brows raised as they watched the event unfold.
The Priest attempted to force his hand to the eye, but the grip of the unconscious girl was powerful enough to keep his hand stationary.
With her eyes still closed, the girl sat up and got out of the bed while still grabbing the Priest's hand.
“Your mettle…shall not trump my vessel…” a deep voice emerged from the girl, her body now exuding a dank, dark aura. She then turned her head up at the Priest and opened her eyes. Her left eye was a grayish blue, but her right eye was pitch black with a reddish tint. The girl then began to chant in the same low, booming voice, making the Priest tremble in his boots.
Oh hell no, this is the chant that Tiffany's followers do! Fuck this shit, I'm out!
The Priest leaped out of the window and ran for what he knew, not bothering to look behind himself. Turning around the corner of the hospital, he saw the girl sitting atop a garbage can, her right eye now covered by her hair again.
“Heya~” you said, giving him a smug grin as you waved at him. Despite it being only a few seconds, you were fully dressed again. You had your gradient sunset colored jacket on, your black sneakers, and of course, your obligatory pair of black leggings. With your free hand, you fixed your crooked leather choker and adjusted your gold bracelet.
“The hell did you get here?! And what happened to your voice all of a sudden?”
“Whaddya mean? I sound like any ordinary girl. Now shoo, I've got some Ephemerals to see!”
“You're affiliated with those cretins?! Disclose their whereabouts right now!”
You smirked and rested your chin on your open palm before replying, “Over my cold, almost dead hands…”
“Then, Ms. Everest, I shall seize you and turn you in immediately!”
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“And how do you plan on doing that, big boy~?”
“You dare underestimate a priest who can turn…invisible?!” he said as he struck a ‘menacing’ pose.
“Hold up, did you say INVINCIBLE or invisible? ‘Cause I'll bail out now.”
The Priest blinked. “The latter,”
You grinned and crossed your arms. “Well in that case, you're already dead.” you continued, swinging your right hand to the left.
The Priest rose a brow. “Wait, wha–”
Before he knew it, a large block of ice slid across the ground and slammed into the Priest, the ice block then crashing into the wall of a building across the street.
Welp, that was taken care of, you thought with a cheeky grin, hopping off of the garbage can and turning your head to your friend, Louise of the Ace Operatives.
“Classic Echo, right there,” Louise said.
For a member of the Ace Ops, she looks like a plain girl that could blend in with the crowd. With her purple and white jacket with a blue shirt underneath, a silver necklace with a blue pendant, and blue sandals, you could mistake her for some plain old chick with a humble life. At least she also wears black leggings, that's what you call good taste.
“Now let's take off before we miss that meeting in Snowclover,” Louise continued, beckoning you with her finger.
“Ain't gotta tell me twice,” you replied, heading east with your companion.
★
“Finally, we can leave that silly mountain behind,” Trixie sighed, looking back to see Mount Horn becoming smaller and smaller with each step she took.
“Hah, ‘silly mountain’, you say?” Ahina replied, giving her a snarky grin. “You say that as if you totally didn't complain about all the sharp edges and fight a huge Depraved at the summit.”
Trixie scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes. “Oh, gimme a break! The lizard thingy was one thing, but those damn razor-sharp rocks were actual hell.”
“Pfft, they're freaking rocks, you big baby!”
“I'm not a baby! You're a gem sprite, so of course you felt comfortable in your natural habitat.”
“Okay, fair enough. However, while the bones of a gem sprite are made of gemstone, we're ironically the curviest on average of all the races. There's a reason our bodies are widely considered “the big thing” when it comes to our race in the eyes of everyone else, which is both a blessing and a curse...moreso the latter because pervs and creeps.”
“That's…actually a really good point. How ironic indeed.”
A nearby bush rattled, alerting Trixie and the others as they all turned to it.
A sharp wind flew out from the top of the bush, and Trixie watched the wind travel until it reached Mount Horn, cutting a portion of the mountain clean off. Looking back at the bush, she saw a helmet, putting her on guard. The Knight in hiding then stood up, stepping towards the Alliance before removing her helmet, revealing a black-haired young woman with dark brown eyes, both features contrasting to her fair complexion.
“So you have defeated the Depraved I sent back at the mountain?” a woman's voice echoed through the armor, her hand on the hilt of her sheathed blade.
"Liesl, long time no see! Wait, YOU sent that fucker?" Svenja spat.
"Indeed," Liesl replied. "I've been alerted of a presence on the mountain, so I sent a Depraved to investigate and eliminate the threat."
Svenja's grip tightened on her sword, her piercing gaze boring into the Knight. "Something's…off about ‘cha."
Snatching her sword from its scabbard, Svenja narrowed her eyes, focusing her aura into them with the Pinpoint technique. A dark aura could be seen emanating from Liesl's body. "I knew it!" she spat.
Liesl narrowed her eyes, taking a step back, a darkness coming forth from her body.
Svenja unsheathed her sword without hesitation, her focus shifting from Liesl to the thick darkness that was now crawling towards them. "What in the fuck?" she cursed.
The darkness continues coming towards the two as Svenja readies for anything.
"It may be a spell that she is using, be careful!" Ahina warned.
Svenja acknowledges Ahina's warning with a single nod, but remains on guard, her focus remaining on both Liesl and the encroaching darkness. Her sword readies for action as she waits to see if Liesl will do anything more.
Liesl stares at Svenja for a moment, before chuckling as a detached arm of Darkness reaches out in an attempt to grasp at Svenja.
Svenja swiftly evades the grasping darkness, and raises her sword toward Liesl. "So ye're possessed by Depravity as well!" She yells, her hands clenched around her blade.
Liesl raises her own sword, its blade glowing with a demonic purple aura. "Indeed I am, and I can do worse than that, if you don't accept your fate." she warned, her body beginning to glow as the darkness spreads further.
“We don't have time for this!” Trixie said, glaring at the Knight standing in her way.
“You won't have time for ANYTHING if you're dead, you absolute bimbo of an Ephemeral,” Liesl called back, the darkness spreading to her entire body. Svenja felt a cold breeze as the darkness envelops Liesl. The Knight now stands there, the demonic aura around her body giving her a ‘devilish’ appearance. She glares at Svenja, keeping her raised sword steady as she waits for Svenja's next move.
“If you're going to protect those Ephemeral scum, then you can go down with them!” Liesl said, glaring at Svenja as she spoke.
“For fuck's sake, they weren't responsible for the theft of the bloody Phantom Rouge!”
“I could care less about the theft. They took my parents away from me in the blink of an eye, so I made a deal with the Darkness to get the power I need to destroy you and the rest of the Alliance if I must!”
“I didn't kill them,” Trixie confirmed with a frown.
“I don't give a damn which one of you did it, you're all going to burn in the deepest pits of Hell with Tiffany herself!”
Liesl turns her attention back to Svenja for a moment longer, before she begins to laugh. "Look at me closely, I'm sure you can tell that I'm not a normal Knight." She tells her, waving her blade around.
Svenja narrows her eyes, trying to see if there's something else to her appearance. The presence of the cold and demonic aura make things even harder to tell what's real and what's not. "Ye're right, ya ain't no Knight at all, ye're a devil!" She hissed.
"Precisely," Liesl replies with a smirk, her blade still remaining steady as the demonic energy envelops her entire body. "And I am not to be fooled around with, or else I'll show you and the rest of them just how much of a devil I really am.”
With a grim expression, she raises her blade and strikes toward Svenja. Svenja jumped to the side and threw a kick in return. Liesl parries the strike with her blade, a slight smile forming on her face as she remains unfazed by the attack. The demonic Knight keeps her blade steady, the energy surrounding her growing even stronger.
"Is that all you've got?" she asks, her voice echoing as the demonic energy continues to radiate from her body. “If the Alliance was this much of a joke earlier on, I would've wiped you all out long ago!”
Svenja grits her teeth, her own blade shaking a bit as she pushes back against the demonic energy. "Ya think I'm done?" she whispers through her teeth, her eyes narrowing even more as she charges forward toward Liesl.
The exchange of strikes and parries continue, the demonic Knight's presence still radiating and growing as the duo continue the engagement. Liesl remains in a steady and unfazed stance, matching blow for blow as she parries and counterattacks. She keeps this steady pace as she fights, using the increasing energy from the demonic energy to try and overpower Svenja. Svenja matches Liesl in both skill and determination, countering and matching each of her strikes as the two trade blows in a back-and-forth dance of swordplay.
With one more swing of her blade, Svenja leaped back to catch her breath. “Y'know what? I ain't gonna play wit'cha anymore,’’ she threatened as she used Increase. She levitated and focused as her aura blew the leaves of the trees in the distance, entering her Dragon Sovereign form. “Ye're already dead,” she taunted, staring down at the Knight as she flapped her wings of aura.
Liesl gave a mere smirk at this transformation, the Darkness around her body growing denser and colder. "Aww, you think you're the only one with something up your sleeve? Well let me show you just how wrong you really are..."