....
Ivery and Luther were led to their shared bedroom by the maids. The room was large and grand, but not as large as what they were used to in their palaces. The room was practically covered in gold, and the massive canopy bed had luxurious red curtains draped on each side.
"Not bad.." Luther walked around the room with a straight face, showing that he was not impressed but also not disappointed
"So we're waiting here until something happens?" Luther turned to ask Ivery
"Well, there's no point in checking where this group was supposedly last seen, the people in that area either won't recall, won't know where they were headed, or if it was even them at all." Ivery responded
"But what we do know is that the marquess is a target." Ivery stated
"That's true.." Luther agreed
"Let's rest for now, then." Luther walked to the bed and sat down
"Just rest?" Ivery raised an eyebrow and sat down on the bed next to him
"Yes." He nodded
"I have something to get, remember?" Luther asked her
"Something to get.." Ivery pondered on it
"Oh.." Ivery blushed when she realized
"I'll be back soon." Luther smiled
He leaned over and kissed her before disappearing into a cloud of black mist.
Ivery sighed and snapped her fingers.
A snow white cat appeared from a small cloud of golden mist and landed on her lap.
"Loki." Ivery smiled down at him
"What do you need now?" Loki asked as he licked his paw
"I just need you to be on alert while I take a short nap for a little while, wake me up if you notice anything abnormal or hear anything that sounds like a commotion." Ivery told him
"Alright." Loki nodded
Ivery's clothes slightly glowed and changed to her silk white nightgown, she laid down, and as she did the candles in the room went out.
...
"Iv-"
"Ive-!"
"Ivery! Wake up!" Loki hit Ivery with his paws
"Hm?" Ivery groaned
"What's wrong?" Ivery sat up and opened her eyes
"There's a panic happening outside!" Loki's ears twitched
"Of course there is..." Ivery sighed, she didn't think something would actually happen this fast
Ivery got up from the bed and opened the door. Immediately, she heard screams and pleads for help.
Ivery's eyes glowed, and she saw through the walls of the estate. The servants of the mansion were being attacked by....each other??
Ivery rushed downstairs and saw a brown haired maid swinging a knife at a male servant. Ivery waved her hand and sent the knife flying into the wall.
The maid turned her head around and looked at Ivery...without even moving her body, just like what an owl could do with its head. Ivery also noticed cracking sounds coming from her. When Ivery took a closer look, the woman's eyes were dull and lifeless, her skin was pale, and her lips were purple. She was dead..
"Purge." Ivery lifted her hand, and her eyes and hands glowed with a golden light
The light from Ivery shone brightly, and the dead maid screeched before collapsing on the floor.
Ivery put her hands together and cast a larger purge spell, and the golden light emitted from her in waves and spread across the entire estate.
All of the dead servants who were on a rampage all collapsed and stopped moving. Ivery also sensed that the marquess was still alive upstairs.
She then felt the source of this magic..
She knew this kind of magic all too well, it was black magic. Only black magic could control corpses and turn them into what she would call zombies...and it was, of course, paltry compared to what she felt from Luther's black magic, but this black magic user definitely wasn't weak.
There was only one black magic user among the rogue group of adventurers. Lily White..
Ivery teleported to where she felt the magic coming from the strongest. There she stood right in front of her, and she matched the description well. Short girl, dressed in black robes, with light blonde hair, and her dull black eyes looked straight at Ivery.
They were both standing on the roof of the mansion, several feet away from each other.
"How did you find me..?" Lily asked Ivery, showing no expression
"It's quite easy to find someone releasing their magic freely the way you are." Ivery said
"Easy? This is the first time that anyone has located me from my magic traces.." Lily sighed
"What's your goal?" Ivery asked her
"To kill, wasn't I being obvious?" Lily tilted her head
"So then what is the reason that you have to kill for?" Ivery elaborated further, she was clearly talking to someone devoid of any emotion
"I need a reason? Then, I'm here doing the job I was told to do.." Lily answered Ivery with no hesitation
"We're going to go in circles if you don't answer me straight. Why are you here doing this job?" Ivery felt annoyed by her simple responses that were hardly considered as proper answers
"Then why do you care what I do?" Lily asked
"I'm also here to do a job." Ivery answered
"Oh, are you another adventurer sent to stop us?" Lily inquired
"...."Ivery didn't answer, she didn't want to alert them that they were being targeted due to another bounty
"Well, it doesn't matter...you'll die here anyway." Lily raised her hand and summoned a long black wooden staff
"Consider yourself lucky, I have more questions you'll have to answer, so I'll hold back.." Ivery lightly smiled
Lily's staff had a black mist all around it and she then released black spores into the air, and they surrounded Ivery.
"Breathe and you'll die, touch them and you'll die, try to use magic and you'll die...they react to magic and disperse into smaller particles." Lily stated
"Is that so?" Ivery looked at the floating black masses around her
"It will be almost painless, don't worry." Lily creepily smiled
For the first time, this was the most expressive she'd been so far.
Ivery snapped her fingers, and all of the spores around her dispersed.
"...." Lily didn't look surprised, rather, she went back to showing no expression at all
"You're no regular adventurer...are you..?" Lily narrowed her eyes at Ivery
"Is it my turn now?" Ivery's hands glowed, and she pointed at the ground, and instantly Lily was sent flying sideways with intense speed and crashed into the ground below
*BOOM*
A cloud of debris covered the area where Lily crashed.
Ivery flew down to the ground and stood still as the air cleared.
She saw Lily get up from the ground, and once the dust and debris cleared up. Lily stood in front of her with a visibly broken neck, and her arm was contorted.
Her neck snapped back into place, and her arm cracked back into its normal position. Ivery concluded that she was similar to the woman they met in that cave on their journey to find Ridgefall..
For her to heal a fatal injury and restore her body, the black magic inside of her is keeping her alive, which means she's an upper level black magic user. If Luther were with her, he would be able to tell how much black magic she held in her...but she didn't want to rely on him for everything.
But how could she put down and capture someone who can't die or be injured? Maybe her prowess core..?
Ivery summoned Excalibur, and in a flash, she swung at Lily, who dodged but was still slashed on her arm by Ivery's sword. Ivery didn't give Lily time to recover and thrust her sword forward, aiming for her chest.
Lily slightly smiled and was stabbed in the chest by Ivery, and spat up black a black substance. Ivery released her golden energy into Excalibur and spread it throughout Lily's prowess core. Lily screamed in pain and fell on the ground. She reached out for Ivery, and her hand turned black and extended into a black long, sharp spike and pierced Ivery through her shoulder.
Ivery ignored the pain and continued to pierce her with her sword.
Ivery grabbed the spike with her free hand that was stabbed into her shoulder and easily crushed it. She tore out the remaining piece, and her wound quickly healed.
But then, to Ivery's surprise, thin black strands that resembled webs spread from Lily's wound in her chest and traveled up Excalibur and covered it. Ivery couldn't pull Excalibur out due to this.
..
"I go to get one thing, and this is what I come back to?" A voice said behind Ivery
She turned her head, and Luther stood behind her with a grin.
"You're back." She smiled
"Yes, now what's going on?" Luther saw Lily lying on the ground, staring straight at them both with Ivery's sword in her chest
"This is Lily White from that rogue Justicar group." Ivery pointed to her
"I see, she indeed has a lot of black magic." Luther observed her
"So much that she's currently trying to absorb your sword so that she can gain immunity to your magic...clever." Luther walked over to Lily
Lily's eyes widened when she felt him approach her...she's never felt black magic like this, never this intense and massive...
"Absorb my sword?" Ivery had a worried expression
"Can't let her do that." Luther grabbed Excalibur by the handle and easily tore it out of Lily's body, ripping the black webs that covered it
Lily quickly sat up, and the wound in her chest healed. She quickly teleported back several feet away from Luther instinctively.
"What are you??" Lily asked Luther, wearing a fearful expression
"...." Luther didn't answer
"Are we killing her or capturing her?" Luther asked Ivery
"Capturing her." Ivery said
"If that's what you want." Luther's eyes turned black, and he finally looked Lily in the eyes
She immediately began sweating profusely. She had never once feared anyone in her life...
But this man...he was far too dangerous, that even she who had her emotions consumed long ago, could now feel again...
.
.
.