109 - peace part 1

Released from my slumber, I lifted my torso with my spine and arms. Looking around, the sky was a dewey orange, the light shifting through the foggy window.

It had been 5 days since the previous attack, the time was spent messing and playing around. In order to forget about the attack, Cress suggested playing more vigorously. As expected, she saw through my indecisiveness again. As my senior at a year above my age, she always the reliable big sister. I wonder what would have happened if she wasn't there right after I woke up. Isolation? The most likely outcome.

Frankly, my personality was horrible. Being wary, analysing the other's facial expressions like a hawk, seeking information that the others would regard as "common sense". A complete weirdo would be a reasonable assessment. It required someone reliable and outgoing like Cress to conveniently break my shell, forcing me out to socialise. A pillar of my existence... It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Cress that.

A thought crossed my mind. A resolution, a decision that I've finally decided was appropriate and suitable for myself. I think I've finally found the meaning of my life. Or maybe it was just this life. This life?... We're there other lives... Whatever it was, it no longer mattered. Requesting for Cress's attention, I readied my throat to make a declaration.

Her delicate expression and her grey hair settled as if to fit the mood. A serious atmosphere... No an elegant atmosphere permeated from Cress's body. Her posture, her expression, her sharp grey eyes staring through me, they all exuded this atmosphere. I had almost lost my self in her gaze before straightening myself.

"I think I've found it, my dream"

"And what is it?" (Cress) A smile was plastered over her cute little face, her large doll-like grey eyes had become a shade deeper. For some reason, it looked like she was crying. I want to be a respectful friend, so I shan't pursue it.

"I want to live my days, peacefully like this with y-". *BOOOom*

The ground gave way to a thin beam of energy that struck through the ceiling. The force of the beam striking the floor and ceiling, generating a large ear blasting sound. The people in the vicinity lost their hearing temporarily, all gazes on me had disappeared as well. Cress was looking in a different direction. Following her sight, there were multiple individuals in cloaks walking towards us.

Struck dumbfounded, my eyelids parted further from my eyeballs. Burning the sight into my irises, shock had subsided into a rage. Strange individuals in cloaks no longer surprised me, it was the one at the furthermost front. Anna, the caretaker was a cultist.

Her swaying brown hair lifted into the wind that was flowing through the hole in the ceiling. It felt like time had stopped as she took her steps, closer and closer. It was clear that we were her target. Cress had already stood up, her right arm blocking my front. This... This.. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. This.this.this.this person..... Seething rage had already consumed my conscious. Blood can only be replayed with blood. I readied my kitchen knife, preparing to charge when-

Lifting her palm up, Anna's cold lifeless expression finally broke into a smile. The individuals at the back lifted their arms out of their cloaks. Revealing strange weapons, they had a grip and a horizontal tube on the handle.

"Magic rifles... This guys were more armed than we thought..." (Cress)

It seemed that it was some sort of magic weaponry. Isn't that the end?

"Demon attack!" (Anna)

Dark eerie balls of energy rose from the hole in the ground. Dark lightning shot out from said orbs, indiscriminately destroying everything. Pulling Cress back, we rolled quite a few metres away before seeing our original position seething with soot. Unlike us, Anna and the others were struck by the dark lightning. They had walked next to the hole, thinking that the attack wouldn't affect them. Some of their body parts were still laying on the ground, some parts maintaining a fire, and the rest turned into Ash.

"Dark lightning... High level magic. This is at least a greater demon. Its level ranges from 251-500. We have to run! " (Cress)

A jet black cloud swirls out of the ground, concentrating on one area before light shone on it and reflected into our irises.

***(Cress)

" Too late. You are preyyyyy. "(Demon)

" Bloody can only be repayed with blood. My time for repayment comes in an eternity, so offer yourself as my fodder." (Lilith)

"Lilith what are yo-" (Cress)

"HAHAAAHAA! You? A mere child will take me as fodder? My level is 354. Yours is 1. Or are you too scared to see the difference?" (Demon)

"Lilith, he's right. Anna and the cultist had probably sacrificed some kids before we got here to summon that demon. It usually doesn't have a lot of strength when it's first summoned, furthermore it sent those high level attacks tiring himself out. We have to run for our lives, and now is the chance! "(Cress)

" A fight is not limited by numbers. A fight is not limited by power. What stands at the top of this world order... Even further beyond the peak of magic... Is skills. It seems that I've passed out... I am not the owner of this body... Yet I am. I cannot access my own memories, as if I was just borned. Yet I have the basic knowledge of combat.

I cannot understand the present context, but you are threatening my life, yes? No matter, I happened to have one useful skill at my disposal. "(Lilith)

Raising her hand, Lilith... No... That thing called out with her chilly voice. It was just like Lilith's, but it had a tone filled with coldness to it. It was Lilith's voice which was familiar after 2 weeks of living together, yet it had somehow felt more eerie than the demon's chalkboard scratching, screeching yet deep voice. A voice filled with loneliness, it was somehow worse off than the first time Lilith woke up in the orphanage.

" [Demonic energy] Flow into thy enemy, desecrate, destroy, leave nothing behind." (Lilith/?)

With Lilith's body at it's centre, a strange black lightning like energy flowed out. Unlike the previous attack by the demon, the energy was completely controlled and seemed to be of an incomparable magnitude.

Glowing purple, the greater demon activated all it's buffs and prepared for an attack. "Energy of that magnitude... You said it yourself, power matters not. Have you anticipated Agility?

[High demon constitution] [Cry of the dead] [Dark lightning aid] [Will of the night-tier 2] [High Dark lightning-tier 3]

[High magic amplification-tier 3]" (Demon)

Swirling balls of darkness levitated around the demon. Light sparks of black lightning occasionally leaking out, as if it wasn't able to contain all that energy in the form of a ball. No... It was exactly that the demon couldn't contain the energy properly, his skills boosted himself beyond his own limit, so he wasn't used to holding this much energy.

Vanishing at a speed too high for the eye to see, nothing happened... Lilith(?) 's dense energy had also disappeared.

"[Demonic energy] is an SS-rank skill, of course it would beat you no matter how many inferior skills you stacked up. [Demonic energy] was another form of mana, the dense energy like magic was a mere byproduct, the actual energy cannot be seen without detection skills. It was a form of mana that didn't need to be converted into magic or skill to kill. You simply walked into my trap and disintegrated before you could reach me. How troublesome, I couldn't see your movements. "(Lilith/?)

With that, Lilith(?) collapsed onto the ground and awoke with no recollection of what had happened.