Chapter 205 – Divine Roast

Lilyth

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

‘Is this because of the transformation?’ I asked.

‘No,’ Persephone denied. ‘It is because you were dead. When I was reviving you, I was told by the Dread Queen that this would happen.’

‘You spoke with Ere?’

‘Yes. I was returning one of her servants to life. That gained her attention. She said the two of us were square as far as my sins went and offered me a spot in the Tenebral Order, so I hope you guys aren’t tired of me.’

‘Together till the end,’ we said in unison.

‘Together till the end,’ ‘Phone, now officially one of us, agreed.

‘But that still doesn’t explain why you think I can cast fire spells now.’

‘Check your Traits,’ I heard Ere say.

I opened the table again, and it took me a few read-throughs, but then I saw it. Or rather didn't see it. My [Arcane Scarring] was gone.

‘But I thought that was not curable…’

‘Do you seriously think that the Goddess of Death cannot fix a dead soul?’ Ere laughed warmly. ‘It was not curable while you were alive, but you died. Anyway, you can retrain most of the lost stuff, AND you kept my powers, so you are not defenceless. Anyway, go stop the Sanguine. The clock is ticking.’

Good point.

A quick check revealed that, in full Succubus mode, I did indeed grow a tail. It was one-and-a-half metres long and ended with a lame heart-tip. I wish I could have had a cool arrow-tip like Aki had or Persephone's pincer-tip. Can't have it all apparently. I also didn't grow wings of fire. This was something I had to learn. And hey, now I knew how to set people on fire.

I went with Persephone back to the keep to put Dainyir’s body in a safe place, we would give him a proper funeral in Mer-Cas later, and to tell Ireela and Asha to start evacuating the place, but they were already on it.

As I understood, due to the dimensional meld, the city was lost no matter what we did, and all we could do was to limit the damage. We had only a few hours until the city became completely uninhabitable for normal mortals.

When we returned we found Deirdee standing over one of the charred corpses, staring wistfully at it. I wanted to go over to her, but Aki stopped me.

‘Don’t. It was Zvirvil.’

‘Fuuuck. Really? How did he find her?’

‘The Blood,’ Caei said. ‘It must have pointed her out. Apparently, that monster taunted her moments before Zvirvil attacked her.’

‘The more I learn about that thing, the more I hate it…’

‘I can take his body back for a proper burial too,’ we heard Persephone offer to the former assassin. ‘Least I could do for a sister-in-arms.’

‘I’d like that, yes,’ Deirdee agreed.

Caeileera

‘Caei, I’ve been wondering,’ Lilyth asked, ‘how is it that every Sanguine that we meet seems to know you?’

‘That’s because there is never more than a few hundred of them alive at any given time,’ the bluntness of Persephone's answer made me wince, but I was grateful for it, nevertheless, as it spared me from having to deliver the next bit of unwelcome news. ‘Meaning that, like it or not, we just wiped out a significant chunk of the Badlands’ population.’

‘I was happier not knowing that, I think,’ Sav grimaced. ‘The Sanguine may be complete cunts, but I don’t want to be complicit in their total extermination.’

‘You and me both, Sav,’ Aki agreed, sounding nauseated.

As such, as we resumed our journey, I couldn't help but wonder whether Laachersain or any of my other “siblings” were among the Sanguine we just killed. We could have gone through all the kill notifications, but there was just no time for it and, frankly, I didn't want to dwell on it.’

The encounter also made me really understand why Yachiro and Malika chose to go the “put Lilyth in charge as a puppet and pray for the best” route. I mean, at the cost of “only” two of our own we killed more than four hundred of both Lower and High Sanguine. That included assassins, monsters and mages. Something that Wilhum didn't have.

Honestly, the worst part of the whole mess, other than Lilyth and Dain dying, was the fact that the Blood was in my head and kept harassing me. Deirdee was going through the same thing.

‘Why won’t this fucker just shut up?’ Persephone groaned after a while. ‘Or at least deliver the same set of threats to both of you…’

Oh. Right. She can listen in on those.

Our friends threw us concerned looks so we explained the situation to them.

They weren't happy.

‘Yo, bitch!’ Lilyth shouted into the air. ‘Threatening people without acting on it is a beta cuck move, so either put up or shut the fuck up.’

I had no idea what Lilyth just said, but it worked.

Merciful silence.

‘You know you probably made yourself into a target?’ Deirdee asked.

‘So you are saying that killing three of its vicars, seventy other Sanguine AND not even giving it the common courtesy of dying when I was killed didn't already make me into one? Boy, it would take a special type of cunt to let all that slide only to throw a hissy fit over some insults. Like I would hate to serve such a deity.’

Is she…

‘She does have a point,’ Persephone laughed. ‘The Blood That Devours? More like The Blood That Bitches!’

‘Yeah!’ Sav agreed. ‘I mean… It takes a special kind of impotence to invade the mortal world only to lose your invading army to a group of eight people. What… it had a fifty-to-one advantage and still got its ass handed back to him? And now it just harasses women on the street like a complete creep? What the fuck?’

‘I don’t think you would last long in the Yamaoka Clan with such an attitude,’ Ren joined in on the fun. ‘I mean we had standards. I have no idea how the fuck other gods tolerate the big bad Blood getting schooled by an upstart deity and her friends. No wonder it opposed my ascension. It was afraid of humiliation!

‘I mean… other gods we met at least had the courage to meet us face-to-face,’ Aki added. ‘Not the Blood That Cowers!’

There was no response.

At least if we die we will do it with our heads held up high.

Laachersain

‘KILL THEM,’ the Blood screeched.

‘No, I don’t think I will,’ Veersavil said while taking off his mask. ‘I didn't sign up to die fighting adventurers. Come, Laach. Time to go.’

Laachersain had to agree as he still couldn't believe he managed to escape the Carnage at the Crossroads with his life. He and Veersavil have been looking for a chance to get away ever since they ended up on this weird version of Dwynveia and that was probably the best chance the two of them had.

Lady Madness assured them that Lord Blood was not aware of the two of them being from another world, but there were no guarantees in the Badlands.

So it is now or never, Laachersain thought and also took off his mask. He then threw it against the ground, shattering it.

Veersavil’s soon followed.

‘What are you two doing?!’ Feddrist shouted. ‘This is treason!’

‘Go cry to Tirrleena about it,’ Umaheet spat while disposing of her mask. ‘I’m with them. It’s over. Do you think you will be able to go home once the Cabal’s plan is stopped? You will either be stuck here and die fighting the adventurers or the City Guard. No… I choose life. Three of my siblings died today, burned to death by the flying sorceress and I have seen my latest lover killed with the blood of his very own Lower ones. I will not be joining them.’

Feddrist wanted to protest but Raveen grabbed his head from behind and slit his throat.

‘Let’s go, guys.’

Ikreest

‘Move your asses!’ he shouted to his men. ‘They will be here any minute now!’

Not that the twenty men, a handful of Lower ones and some ramshackle barricades will do much to stop them.

Still, orders were orders and Ikreest was nothing if not a good soldier.

One of his scouts landed, and against all reason, he hoped the man had good news.

‘The surviving Serrated Blades report widespread defection and in-fighting among the ranks of soldiers in the field,’ Zanzuuk reported the definitively bad news. ‘The culprits mostly appear to either be the survivors of the Carnage at the Crossroads or people who had friends there.’

Surviving, eh? That's not a good word.

‘I assume the defectors have been dealt with?’

‘The Blades limited themselves to observation for now, citing something called “The Preservation of Knowledge Protocol”.’

That got Ikreest’s undivided attention.

‘What’s that?’

‘They described it as a directive they implement whenever there is a justified fear of there not being enough Blades left to pass on the knowledge to teach future generations.’

‘How many are left?’

‘Our men?’

‘No. The Blades.’

‘Four. They are returning to the Badlands as we speak.’

And just like that the mighty Serrated Blades have been almost completely wiped out in under fifteen minutes.

‘Send a word to surviving loyalists to return here. Then you can go, Zanzuuk.’

‘Sir?’

‘I will not hold you here fighting a lost fight. So… go if you want.’

‘What about you, Ik?’

‘I am staying here, Zan. Someone has to keep those boys and girls company in their last moments.’

‘Good luck then. Give them hell, Ik.’

Zanzuuk then did something Ikreest never expected him to do. He saluted.

‘Good luck, Zan,’ he saluted back.

The adventurers appeared ten minutes later. The first sign of their arrival was the flying figure with fiery wings appearing in the sky.

The sorceress.

‘Get ready, men!’ he shouted. ‘Let’s give them a fight people will be telling legends about!’

Five of his soldiers nocked arrows in their bows, took aim and let the arrows loose. Two of them reached the approaching sorceress but flew right through her.

Oh.

A pillar of fire erupted under one of the barricades incinerating the men hiding behind it.

At the same time arrows and magitek bolts began flying over their heads. He leaned from behind the crypt he was using for cover and saw six people running towards them on the street leading to the cemetery.

Shit.

‘Return fire!’ he shouted.

Two of his men shot true and one of the assailants was hit in the stomach and another in the leg.

When the third of the adventurers stopped to help the other two his heart rose.

Maybe we can win this!

His elation was short-lived as seconds later the archers screamed in agony and he saw that they were impaled on sharp stone spikes that erupted from the ground. He didn’t even have time to take the sight in before more spikes burst out of their sides, splattering the area with blood and viscera.

Ikreest looked towards the adventurers and saw green light coming from the place the wounded stopped.

They have healers.

It was really over. He still had men under his command and a lot of them looked terrified, so the decision was easy to make.

‘Permission to surrender granted.’

They dropped their weapons as one and started coming out in the open with raised hands.

Aki

Us ending up with nineteen prisoners was an unexpected, but welcome development. We were planning to give the Sanguine every chance to surrender, something that caused Deirdee and me to get shot, but I didn't actually think it would happen.

Before we took them prisoner, Caei gave the Sanguine one simple condition: the masks had to go. We would not be returning them to the Badlands and we couldn't have anyone around that actually maintained their symbol of allegiance to the Blood.

Their leader, a four-horned man named Ikreest, was the first to do it, probably to encourage others not to throw their lives away, and they eventually all followed.

‘Welcome among the free men,’ Caeileera said warmly to them.

Now what to do with them?

This time the answer came from Lilyth.

‘Nyx is telling me that the Children will happily take custody of our prisoners of war. They are currently setting up a portal in the realm of Shadow and lodgings are being arranged. I trust this is a satisfactory treatment, Commander?’

‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘More than I expected, in fact.’

‘We are not monsters,’ I said.

Let's ignore the fact we just killed a couple hundred people.

‘If I may then,’ he replied, ‘quite a few of our soldiers defected after the Carnage at the Crossroads…’

‘They will be offered the same treatment,’ I reassured him. ‘Persephone, could you please take Caei and rely this to Captain Asha?’

‘My pleasure,’ the sorceress said.

‘You were right,’ I took Caeileera’s hand into mine after our prisoners were gone. ‘Maybe there is hope for some of the Sanguine after all.’

‘Now let’s go murder the rest of them,’ Lilyth cheerfully added, and squeezed Caei’s other hand.