Happy Anniversary

Today, one of Chloe's siblings sent a challenge letter. Unexpectedly, that sibling is her older brother, and head of their house. I don't know why Celest allowed it to happen, but if Chloe's okay with it, I'll kill him like all the others.

"Cera! I have another challenge letter! I'll be back in 20 minutes!" I shouted at Cera, who was across the house.

"Pick up my documents on your way back!" Cera yelled back and it made me want to run to her and hug her for being so cute. She always goes along with my bad humor and plays along. Even though we can hear each other across the house if we normally talked thanks to our Alm enhancement, she always yells back, and it makes my heart flutter.

"Okay!" I put on my shoes and gestured at Viv, who was next to me.

I didn't want Cera to find out that I've been planning a surprise gift for our four-year anniversary. I'm taking Viv with me today as an excuse and making her pick up the blue diamond earrings I ordered in secret with Celest's help.

We made our way out of the house and halfway to the palace, we split up. Since the blue diamond earrings are being delivered in secret, she has to go pick it up at designated jewelry store that Celest uses. I headed toward the palace where the challenge fights are held. Celest doesn't usually attend, but she might be there today with Chloe, since it's her brother that I'll be killing today.

When I arrived at the back of the palace, right where I had fought Darlene, was a tall middle-aged man with light brown hair and a knight's uniform standing by himself.

"Are you Charles Estrada?" With my arms loosely supporting the back of my head, I calmly strode in front of him.

"So you're the annoying little bitch that has been disturbing my business." He glared at me and reached for the battle axe hanging on his back.

"Chloe chose the wrong faction to join. To trust a little girl to help her queen, I guess useless people never change. I heard she trained you, so you must be as weak as she is." He mockingly insulted me and Chloe while brandishing his axe in front of my face.

"I guess they didn't teach you manners when you were growing up. Unlike Chloe, you have no class." With my hands still behind my back, I summoned my scythe.

I swung my scythe upward and he smashed it down with enough force to entomb the entire sickle into the ground. He followed up with a kick and I jumped back, letting go of my scythe, but he anticipated my retreat and sent wind blades at me along with his punch. Even with my double attribute Alm enhancement and demonic assimilation, he was able cut me with his wind blades. I looked down at the small pricks he left on my arms and resummoned my scythe.

"I see. You can call your weapon at will and summon it whenever you want. It's a shame that we are on opposite factions. If you join queen Olivia's faction, I promise to let you live and only cut off one of your arms." He threw his axe at me and I dodged sideways, only to meet his fist with my face.

I groaned and felt my lips sink into my teeth, making them bleed. Before I could stabilize, he swung his axe at me and I used my scythe to divert the hit away, only to receive another hit to the face. The top of his shoe landed on my nose and sent me flying back.

"I'll make sure to mess up that face of yours before you die. What was the name of that pretty little wife of yours? Cera? I'll make sure she sees what I did to your face before I kill her as well." I smashed the ground and sent ice spikes into his body from below.

He smashed deflected them with his axe, but it was enough of a distraction for me to get in front of him.

"How dare you say my wife's name." I smashed my fingers into his mouth, piercing his teeth and part of his jaw with my fingers and grabbing his tongue with my ice clad grip.

"I'm going to cut off your tongue before I kill you." He let go of his axe and tried to smash me with his fists from either side, but I kicked one away and grabbed his incoming fist with my other hand.

I saw my bloody smile and vermillion glowing eyes with vaporous black mist engulfing them reflecting from his frightened blue eyes. I ignited my ice inside his mouth and shattered the bottom half of his jaw before I kicked him away from me. He put his shaking hands under his jaw, cupping his blood and falling teeth inside the makeshift hand bowl. I summoned my scythe again, but this time, the shaft had turned black and the hourglass at the hilt had snowflakes moving inside. The sickle became slightly longer and the nails on the back of the blade spread more wildly, but with serrated edges.

I smiled happily at my weapon. It felt like something inside me had finally been opened. I saw him rush at me with his axe in hand from my peripheral vision while I admired my scythe. His axe landed on my shoulder, slightly pushing my skin in.

"This is how you swing a weapon." I brushed off the axe with my body and smashed the back of my scythe into his shoulder, unable to scream, he painfully gurgled on his own blood as I scrapped his arm off his shoulder.

He stepped back to get away, leaving his arm on the floor along with a grimacing trail of blood, as if telling me to go to him. I slowly fiddled with my scythe, making it spin along my fingers, like Cera usually does with her pen. Thinking about how he threatened Cera, irked me so much that I could feel the Alm inside my body trembling with ire.

"This isn't enough. You haven't suffered enough." I javelined my scythe at him as he shot a massive gust toward me.

Taking advantage of the icy mist created by our attacks, I snuck up behind him.

"First, your ankles." I quickly crushed one of his ankles by kicking it from the side and forcing him to his knees.

"Now you can't talk or run away." I resummoned my scythe and cut off his other ankle.

He tried to crawl away, but I smashed his other shoulder into the ground with the back of my scythe and left it there.

"Not yet." I pierced the back of both his knees with my fingers, and slowly exploded my ice inside. Sending small bone debris outward, piercing his skin from the inside out.

With blood splashing all over my face and torso, I heard his heartbeat stop, but I hadn't had enough, so I pulled out my scythe, shredding his other arm into a dozen pieces. I cleaved him vertically from the head down, drenching my clothes with his remaining blood.

"That's still not enough." I kicked him hard enough for him to vault a few times and land face up.

I watched his body convulse on the ground before I started to chop his body into pieces, leaving a small huddle of meat on the tinted grass.

I had felt Viv's presence coming near me earlier, but I ignored that she was coming and continued to slice him up.

"My lady!" Viv was finally inside and I turned my head to see her worried face.

"Is it time to go home?" I saw that she was holding a small golden box, and walked past her, with my scythe still in hand.

"We can't go home like this! Noire will freak if she sees you covered in blood!" Viv quickly took out a few handkerchiefs from her pocket and started patting my face down.

I don't know why she had multiple handkerchiefs with her since they're pretty thick and somewhat uncomfortable to carry around.

"Why do you have so many handkerchiefs?" I asked her as she urgently wiped the blood off my eyes and forehead.

"Noire and I decided to carry around a few extra ones just incase you needed them." I'm grateful that I found Viv in that cave three years ago, she's always prepared for everything. She's the best bodyguard anyone could ever ask for.

"What's wrong with your lip? Oh my god!" Viv's scream made me flinch while she repeatedly dabbed the handkerchief on my lip and inspected me with care.

"Okay, don't panic! It'll be okay!" Watching Viv acting flustered with an exasperated look on her face made me smile.

"Calm down, let's go find the Celest first, she'll give me something to wear and somewhere to wash up." We walked into the palace to find Chloe waiting for us with a pink dress in hand and a new pair of shoes in the other.

"Thank you for bringing these, Chloe Estrada." To my surprise, Viv stepped in front of me and hung the dress on her left arm before grabbing the shoes and then carefully held the shoes with the same hand before kicking Chloe in the stomach.

Blue lightning sparked in every direction, causing the inside of the palace to crack and leaving a crater where Viv was standing and where Chloe landed. My senses were still heightened from earlier, so I was able to feel the electricity running through Chloe's body. I don't know what Viv did, but that wasn't a normal kick. Viv unsheathed her sword with her free hand and used the butt of the hilt to smack Stark in the nose, who had appeared behind her. I wasn't shocked to see Viv having the upper hand in a fight against Stark, Celest's strongest bodyguard because she has the blood the emperor running through her veins. Even if she hated him and everyone in her family, that's the power of an ex-candidate, someone meant to become an empress.

"Had I known that the person she was fighting today was your brother, I would have informed my liege and because of my carelessness, my lady was hurt. Chloe Estrada, tell me how you want me to kill you. I'll at least grant you the right to choose your death because of everything you've done for my lady and my liege." Viv dashed on top of Chloe before Stark could attack her again and put her foot on Chloe's throat.

Watching Viv mercilessly choke Chloe, brought me back to my senses. Viv is simply following Cera's orders. I released my demonic power and my scythe disappeared. I was tired, but not in pain. It seems like my body has finally adjusted to the demon scythe.

"Viv, please calm down, I'll explain everything to Cera, so let Chloe go." Viv looked back at me with a pensive look on her face.

Stark appeared above her and tried to attack Viv as she turned around, but she was faster. Blocking his fiery fist with the side of her blade and slashing into his chest with the momentum generated from their clashing attacks. Stark fully appeared and had a large bloody slash across his chest.

"Stand down or I'll kill you as well." Viv pointed her sword at Stark.

"How dare you cause a scene in the palace?!" Stark yelled out while generating two concentrated balls of fire in his hands.

Chloe no longer squirming underneath Viv's foot, passed out with blood coming out of her nose and mouth. I need to stop this before it gets out of hand.

The sound of two claps could be heard coming from outside the door. Celest walked in with two maids on either side. Stark and Viv both genuflected when they saw her, stopping them from fighting in the process.

"Take little Zara and her guard to a guest room." With Celest taking over the situation, Stark pulled away and disappeared. Viv came back to my side, and I simply watched as Celest picked up Chloe, who was passed out on the ground.

"Sorry about this, little Zara. I wasn't aware that her brother was the one who came to challenge you. They broke the rules of the challenge in hopes of killing you by deceiving you into fighting someone stronger, but it looks like you handled it well." Celest's angry Alm was making the rubble around the room shake.

I'm still not strong enough to beat her, the Alm surrounding her is undeniably visible. As far as I know, Celest is already stronger than the king.

"It was Chloe who delivered the letter and it was already opened when it arrived." Viv spoke up while looking at Celest without any fear in her eyes.

"She already knew that her brother was participating and still passed the letter to my lady before my liege, your highness, or I, could read it." Thinking about it, that's true.

"I see." Celest said nothing else, but she was clearly upset, I didn't want Chloe to be killed over this.

"Please don't punish her. She must've had her reasons and I would have had to fight him anyway. He was working for Olivia, so please just treat this as any other challenge and let Chloe off the hook." Knowing Celest, if I don't say something now, she might kill Chloe.

"I won't kill her." One of the maids picked up Chloe and the other came to my side.

"Please follow me, Lady Zara, I will take you to a private room to get changed." Celest left before I could say anything else, and Viv still looked angry.

I didn't want my anniversary day to start like this. I sighed as we followed the maid to the guest room.

"My lip hurts. This wasn't how I wanted this day to go." I want to go home already.

We entered the guest room and Viv prepared the shower and ordered the maid to grab a few more things for me.

I stayed in a similar room with Cera when we Celest invited us to stay over at the castle. Thinking about her made me want to leave, so I showered as quickly as I could. When I got out, Viv had already prepared everything for me and was waiting by the door, with all my clothes in hand.

"Once you finish putting this on, we'll head out. I already got the documents my liege requested for you." Viv handed me my clothes and looked at the folder on the table.

"Thanks, Viv!" I had completely forgotten about the documents.

"You're a life saver!" I closed the door and got dressed.

I didn't like the dress, but I put up with it since I won't be wearing it for long. I got out and Viv sat me to dry and brush my hair before leaving.

"I hope Cera likes them." I was holding the golden box with Cera's present while sitting in the carriage Celest prepared for us.

"I'm sure she will." Viv sounded worried and distracted. Well, it's not like I don't understand how she feels.

I stayed quiet the rest of the ride trying to think up of a way to tell Cera what happened today without making her worried. Feeling the inside of my lip with my tongue, the stinging pain made me anxious. There's no way I can kiss Cera without her noticing. Thinking about how she would react made my anxiety spike. My chest started feeling heavy and before I realized, we were already home.

"Let's go inside, my lady." Viv helped me out of the carriage, and we walked inside, both absurdly anxious.

I'm not actually sure why I'm so nervous. But imagining Cera being worried or upset is making me feel uneasy. It's not like she's going to punish me for getting hurt, but I don't know what she's going to do because I got hurt. As soon as we walked into the house, Cera was waiting for us, with a similar golden box in hand. As soon as I saw her, my heart and mind trembled with disappointment. Now I know why I'm feeling anxious. It wasn't because I got hurt, or because I was worried about what Cera might do. It was because I wanted this day to be special, and the unexpected situation ruined it.

"What's wrong?" Cera's worried voice and languid eyes made me look away from her. I realized immediately that I had made a mistake. In the four years that we've been living together, I learned how much she hates it when I don't give her all my attention, because I also hate when she doesn't give me hers.

"Come here." My body reacted at the demanding tone of her voice before I could say anything. I knew I made a mistake by looking away from her and trying to avoid her. I walked up to her with my golden box still in hand and placed my face on her neck, silently pleading for her forgiveness.

"Viv, explain." Cera released her aura along with an angry wave of Alm, forcing Viv to her knees. She then started to softly threaten me with her slender fingers, tenderly rubbing the back of my neck. Even though she does this every night to help me go to sleep, her usual gentleness isn't there. I would normally try to pretend to deceive her by being playful and flirty, but my instincts were going off in my head.

"They ruined my clothes, he cut my lip, and he ruined my mood on our anniversary. After all the trouble I went through to get you a nice gift, they-" She cut me off before I could finish.

"Show me." Her hands covered my cheeks, both of her thumbs carefully inspecting my lips. I flopped and puckered my lower lip for her to see. When she saw the gash I had on the inside of my lip, her eyes opened wide and she carefully put her finger on them, sending a slight prickling pain through my lips.

"Does it hurt?" Her worried, melancholic voice made me feel fuzzy inside. This was the first time I had ever heard her voice like this. It was different from her usual lovely voice, it was filled with concern for me, a deep, loving anxiety for me.

"A little." I replied, sounding funny because she still held my lip in place, feeling completely charmed.

"Don't move, I'm going to make it go away." The next moment, I was taken back by the sheer amount of Alm she injected into my body and the roughness of her tongue.

With the underside of her tongue, she licked my wound and played with my tongue, causing me a bit of pain with each sweep. I let out an unintentional moan when she lightly bit on my lip, causing my legs to give out.

"I told you not to move." I could feel my face burning up, feeling her Alm inside my body along with a bit of pain followed by pleasure left me mindlessly captivated.

She holstered me to her body by putting one hand on my waist and the other on the back of my head, pushing my face into hers. Relentlessly sending vacillating waves of pleasure and pain until my body completely gave out. Limply falling into her arms, our lips parting, leaving a bloody trail of saliva between us and leaving me with bitter craving for more. Forgetting that Viv was behind me, I propped myself up and started sucking on her neck, urging her to continue by leaving small, reddish imperfections on her white, peach scented skin.

"You willfully naughty girl." She pressed my head against her neck as she picked me up, leading us to our room.

Before I realized we arrived, she threw me on the bed before crushing me between her soft body and the dull in comparison mattress. Putting her lips slightly away from mine, teasing me with her breathy cadence and enchanting words.

"Happy anniversary."