Chapter 116

“NO!!” Beatrice screamed as she sprinted to Olivia and saw the sword burst through Olivia’s back.

“GWRAAAGH!!” Olivia let out a pained scream that barely sounded human. This scream coincided with a loud shockwave that blasted from Olivia in all directions and knocked everyone off their feet.

“Ugh...” Beatrice’s ears were ringing. She got completely disoriented for a moment, and it took her a couple of seconds to even realize she was on the floor and which side was up and down. But as she slowly regained her bearings, she saw two bodies lying one on top of the other with the handle of a sword sticking out of the back of the body on top.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Beatrice repeated over and over as she crawled, got up, stumbled, fell, and got up again to run to the motionless bodies. When Beatrice finally dropped next to the two bodies, she didn’t dare touch either of them to avoid moving the lodged sword and make the wound even worse. But when Beatrice looked at Olivia’s face that stuck out from under the pink-hared girl’s body light had already faded from her open eyes.

“No, no-no-no,” Beatrice did not want to accept this. She couldn’t. She brough her hand to Olivia’s nose. No breath. She pressed two fingers to the side of Olivia’s neck, just under the jaw. No pulse.

“You don’t get to do this!” Beatrice screamed at Olivia.

With no other options, Beatrice grabbed the handle of the sword and steadily pulled it out. She then got the other girl off Olivia and saw what she feared to see—a gaping wound that broke several ribs and went right through where Olivia’s heart was supposed to be.

I just need to heal the wound, Beatrice calmed herself and went through her System looking for some way to heal Olivia. The only thing she had at her disposal was her [Fast(er) Recovery (+1)] Skill.

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK!!” Beatrice cursed and went on to dig through her System to find some other healing Skill to acquire.

There it is! Abysmally weak when compared to her [Fast(er) Recovery (+1)], but that didn’t matter. Beatrice needed something.

Skill Name: Magic Heal

Rank: E

Type: Combat Craft / Active

Cost: 50 Stamina

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Description: Heals 1 target for 10% of their maximum Health.
Requires line of sight. Maximum cast range 2 feet.

Minimum Requirements:

Character level: 10

Skill Points in Combat Craft: 10

She used one of her available Skill Points to purchase the Skill in the System and instantly used it on Olivia.

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK!!” Beatrice went back to her System. She needed something stronger. But she found nothing that looked anything like a resurrection skill. Or an organ transplant skill. Or a soul retention skill. Or a corpse reanimation skill. Or a time rewind skill. Or a dimensional travel skill. Or a—

Dream Invasion!! Beatrice’s eyes dashed over sleeping, mind, and spirit, and she instantly acquired the Skill with the hopes of getting to Olivia’s mind.

Skill Name: Dream Invasion

Rank: B

Type: Eros Craft / Active

Cost: 100 Stamina

Cooldown: 4 hours

Description: Invade the dreams of a single sleeping target. The succubus has direct control over the target’s dreams. No bodily harm can be done but has the potential to break the target’s mind and spirit.

Requires line of sight. Maximum cast range 30 feet.

Minimum Requirements:

Character level: 10

Skill Points in Eros Craft: 12

This Skill cannot be used on a dead target.

“FUCK YOU!!!” Beatrice screamed, embraced Olivia’s body and broke down in tears.

While Beatrice cried over Olivia’s body, captains Flavna and Gamesh slowly walked over to the bodies.

“Any trace of the demon?” Flavna asked her partner.

Gamesh shook his head.

Flavna then stepped closer to Emily’s body and kicked it over to take a better look at her face.

“Same armor,” Flavna examined Emily head to toe, “Same height and physique. According to the guards she was no more insufferable than usual ... What about Lord Belmot?”

“Still the same fat face, if that’s what you’re asking,” Gamesh said, standing at the edge of the big blood puddle around Belmot’s body. “And also, very dead.”

Flavna then looked at Ember and said, “Stay right where you are and don’t try anything funny.”

“I would have but our former ninja pal ruined the mood for funny,” Ember replied and remained standing right where she was since she tried to drag Beatrice away.

“Alright, now,” Flavna raised her voice as she looked around at the countless other bodies of Purple Cape guards in varying state of undress, “Those of you who remain acting dead and are not on your feet within the next five seconds will no longer need to act.”

Nearly everyone flinched.

“How far has the inner guard fallen!?” captain Flavna roundhouse kicked one of the guards that just rose to his feed. “Pressing to the ground with your pants down while your lord and lady are assassinated!?”

Another guard raised his finger and said, “Actually, he was killed earlier, before we had sex with—BWEKH”

“Not only did you fail in your primary duty, but you also celebrated with an orgy!?” Flavna shouted after sending another guard tumbling. “I still remember when you had both a semblance of skill and dignity! What happened!?”

“I don’t know!” another guard cried. “It all happened so quickly! That assassin suddenly killed Lord Belmot, and the p-princess ordered us—GHUAKH~!”

“She was never a ‘princess’, you spineless simpletons!” Flavna corrected and then adjusted a few strands of her black hair from her face. “ ... Well?”

After three roundhouse kicks the other guards saw the emerging pattern and kept their mouths shut. They stood with their backs straight, arms at the sides, trying not to move while they stared at the cracks in the walls and the ceiling.

Ember watched this from a slight distance without making a sound. It did not escape Flavna’s notice how effortless it was for the freckled redhead to stay so still that one might have eventually forgotten she was even present. Beatrice still held Olivia’s body and didn’t seemingly notice or care for the dealings with the guards.

“Hah, so this is it?” Flavna asked and slowly walked along them. “You have fallen so low that you would rather stay silent than confess your incompetence?”

“L-Lady Ophelia struck down the assailant all on her own,” another guard spoke up with a trembling voice, avoiding looking at the captain. “She then ordered us to rape the assassin as punishment. I didn’t want to do it, but Lady Ophelia killed anyone who did not do as commanded—KHWEHK~!”

“Since you’re alive, you followed the commands of a deranged, spoiled brat!” Flavna further berated the guards. “Who—by the way—it turns out wasn’t even the real Lady Ophelia! But you all somehow missed that despite practically living with her!”

“But the assassin turned out to be a demon!” another guard argued. “She put a spell on us! We wouldn’t have done it if not for th-HKWEAKH!”

“Pigshit!” Flavna screamed. “If you were half the soldiers you once were, you would not have ended up with your pants down and dicks glistening with cum next to the corpse of your Lord!”

“We’re sorry for this inexcusable performance!” another guard dropped on one knee and bowed his head. “We’ve grown complacent and weak. I beg for your mercy and one more chance to prove myself!”

“Ugh,” Flavna looked down at the guard with disgust.

“We have failed you,” the other guard declared in unison, following suit and falling to one knee. “Allow us to prove ourselves once more!”

Even the guards who got roundhoused by Flavna pushed past the pain and got on one knee like the others, bowing their head as low as they could.

Flavna sighed and—after a moment of looking at the pathetic lot—said, “To start with, you’ll all be on double shifts down at the ground until all the rubble is shifted and usable material sorted for the masons. We’ll see if you still have the strength that separates you from an average citizen.”

“Thank you for this opportunity!!” all the guards said in near-perfect unison.

“Get to work at once!” Flavna commanded. “You might actually be useful to this city for once, if you hurry up.”

The guards did not need to be told twice. They sprinted past captain Flavna, and then past apathetic Ember, toward the quickest way down they knew, racing to be first to start the grueling work that awaited them. Even the roundhoused guards limped after the others.

“Not you,” Flavna grabbed the last guard that limped past her by his torn shirt. She then look at Gamesh and asked, “Do you mind?”

“Certainly not,” Gamesh said and walked over to her and the guard who now swallowed nervously.

As Gamesh walked he raised his left hand, grabbed the wrist with his right hand and silently chanted a spell that made his hand glow and strange symbols flow across the skin.

“C-Captain?” the guard shook in fear as he looked up at Gamesh.

“This won’t hurt a lot,” Gamesh said and put his glowing hand on the guards forehead.

“Ah-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~”

The guard’s eyes lit up like the sun as he screamed his heart out. But only a few seconds later the glow stopped, his scream ended and he fell lifelessly sideways on the floor.

“Poor fools,” Gamesh said while massaging his hand. “You weren’t wrong in your assessment. It seems that the Sovereign visibly altered that girl toward the end. Though I do not dare to guess how much of it was his direct control and how much was manipulation or other such thing. She certainly did not appear to be nearly as strong when they first arrived as she turned out to be later.”

“Was she the one who killed Lord Belmot then?”

“It could have been either her or Emily, her sister, apparently. But thinking rationally it did not even make sense for that Olivia girl to do it at that time. Had the guards been more observant they could have clued in on the imposter.”

Flavna then looked at Ember and asked, “Is it just me or do you bring death and destruction wherever you go?”

Ember listened to Flavna’s remark and answered, “From where I’m standing, wherever your glorious Purple Capes go death, torture, and rape follow.”

Flavna’s eye twitched and she asked, “Is everyone in your group suicidal?”

Ember shrugged, “Not really, but after what we’ve been through, could you blame us if we were?”

“Gamesh,” Flavna motioned the other captain closer and then asked quietly, “Did you get a reply?”

“Oh, yes,” Gamesh answered. “The Guild supposedly immediately dispatched its main combat force. As for the Palace ... I made contact with the Palace Guard. They said they would inform their commander, and that is all I heard from them.”

“What a joke,” Flavna shook her head. “As for you two—”

The sound of a thunderous eruption interrupted the captain. The sound came from outside, far below, in the city. But the damaged fortress was also affected. It trembled, and cracks further spread through the walls. More brickwork was dislodged and another part of the damaged outer wall cracked and collapsed down below. But as the trembling subsided, the fortress still stood.

“What now!?” Flavna ran up to the opening in the wall to take a look at what caused the earthquake. And it did not take more than a second to see the massive, multi-limbed creature crawl from beneath the fortress rubble. “That fucking abomination again!?”

Beatrice’s eyes snapped wide open when she heard that. She let go of Olivia’s bloody body, jumped up, and rushed to the opening. Without even a thought for fear of heights, Beatrice looked straight down and saw the thing that flashed in her mind when she heard the captain speak.

The tentacle demon shed the rubble off its body as it rose to its full form. From above, the demon’s giant, disc-like body, full of countless swellings and lumps of different sizes and colors looked like a plate painted in dark and sickly colors by a disturbed artist.

The demon did not waste time in finding new victims. While it used some tentacles to remove the biggest pieces of debris off its body, it used all its other tentacles to find grab new victims among those that just arrived to rescue possible survivors. The demon’s many moving, breathing protrusions already began to spread its vile purplish mist around it. And the first people that the demon captured it put straight into the thick of the purple mist and held them there like meat in marinade.

“PIECE OF SHIT!!” Beatrice screamed and jumped right out of the opening, with the demon’s body as her landing target.

“What are you—?” Flavna reached out to grab Beatrice, but she did not expect such a reckless action, and only caught air in her hand as she watched Beatrice fall presumably to her death hundreds of feet below.