3 Chapter 17: She Arrives Bathed in Flame

---Judieth POV---

Today was the deadline for meeting with those that lived in the Enchanted Forest. The various Fay, monsters, and magical beast coming here to the lost country seeking refuge were expecting us. To be precise they are expecting Lucilla, Sara, and to a certain extent even Cristina. The rest of us are just extra in their eyes.

This small army of intelligent creatures will also be less than enthused to see us. It was Sara's job - and Lucilla's as her representative - to make sure they protected their home. While the intelligent monsters and the magical beast might hold respect for a Fay contract, they don't hold it to such a high standard to hold a permanent grudge, so talking them down shouldn't be too difficult. The same can't be said about the Fay.

A contract is everything to them. The various Fay in the forest could easily turn hostile for the mistakes Sara's family has done, which caused them to flee their home. Lucilla's inability to stop a hostile force could also be seen as a failure to uphold the contract on Sara's behalf. If we aren't careful, we may very well have a fight on our hands today.

"Gods, where are you." I mumbled feeling anxious as I watched the land below, tucking a loose strand of hair from my face.

Lucilla said she'll be here today, but she hasn't been seen all morning. Her presence is needed, otherwise it'll seem as if we aren't taking any of this seriously. We were currently on Cristina's air ship steadily making our way to the meeting point and as we got closer, the more my head hurt.

"Uhg." I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as I feel my headache worsen from stress.

No longer finding the scenery calming, I turned away from it and observed the deck. My gaze landed on a very large silverish white Arachne Queen, her regal form intimidating everyone nearby, keeping them from approaching. Anastasia was friendly enough, but she seems to have a soft spot for Lucilla, so it was hard to approach her without the monster woman nearby.

The Arachne Queen insisted on joining us, mentioning that she needed to meet all those that wish to enter her domain. While I do believe that's true for the most part, I have a feeling she also wanted to check in on Lucilla. I'm not sure what she thinks of Lucilla, but I believe she just enjoys her company as someone she can freely speak with.

I then turned my head to look at the bow of the ship, where I find a pink colored Demon brooding. Yuki hasn't been acting normal ever since she learned about Ella's death. The negative emotions she usually kept hidden was on display for all to see. Her bloodlust, which was now radiating off of her petite form was almost sickeningly thick. Especially for Sara.

Without any real targets to vent her anger onto, Yuki had decided to blame Sara for everything. She also blamed the Hero, but she wasn't stupid and knew she couldn't hurt him, so the poor girl was being unfairly treated. Sara hasn't had a proper sleep all week. This was another problem we needed Lucilla to come and fix.

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We eventually arrived at our destination, an open grass plane just outside the eastern forest edge. A place that was perfectly clear of any floating pieces of earth that seem to cover the landscape. Standing less than fifty yards away from our current position was the magical creatures from the forest. Ogre's, Centaur's, Pixies, Fairies, Goblins, Trolls, Kobolds, Unicorns, Nymphs, Dragons and many more creatures could be seen.

Standing at the front of them all acting as representatives were an Ogre, a Fairy, a Centaur, and a Minotaur. On our side we had Sara, Christina, Yuki and Anastasia standing in front of the ship acting as the representatives. I was there too, but I positioned myself in front of Yuki, so she was in reality slightly behind. She had no real authority here and was just waiting for Lucilla to show.

Our two sides stared at each other in silence for a few minutes, the tension in the air was palpable. It felt as if even the slightest of movements could have us breaking out into a massive fight. It doesn't help that there were more of them here than when we were fighting Prosperty thanks to the fact both combatants and non-combatants were present this time.

"Where is Lu-" Just as the Fairy used wind magic to amplify her voice to speak a large pillar of pale blue flame erupted from the ground between us.

It reached into the sky far above as if to pierce it. The heat of the flaming collum washed over us, causing our eyes to sting and our breaths to quicken. My lungs burned as scorching hot air entered through my airways. Just as suddenly as it appeared the pillar of flame quickly receded back towards the ground, leaving a circular patch of scorched earth behind. Taking its place in the sky however was a silver haired woman with two large black wings on her back. Her deep crimsoned eyes glared down at us as almost as if she could see right through our souls. I shivered when her eyes landed on me for only a second, the anger hidden behind her emotionless face, was burning bright just behind those crimson gems. In her hands was a large black scythe its amethyst-colored edge gleaming as it caught the sunlight.

"Well, it's been a long time." Lucilla spoke, her voice low, but clear. She used her magic to carry her voice for everyone to hear. She glanced our way slightly before turning her attention back to the denizens of the forest.

Lucilla slowly lowered herself from the sky, radiating power. She was aiming to land between our two sides, but she was closer to us than them, and as her feet touched the ground, frost spread out below her, covering the grass in a thin white layer, barely noticeable to the casual observer. The Fairy, who was no bigger than six inches, flew towards her, the only reason she could even be seen was thanks to her body letting off a soft glow, drawing everyone's eye.

The Fairy, who was called themselves Azalea, looked like a tiny human with small, pointed ears and light green butterfly shaped wings. She had her light brown hair flowing down her back, and her light green eyes looked Lucilla up and down, taking her in. After inspecting her, Azalea spoke.

"You're late, but at least you showed." She said dryly.

"I see that you're upset." Lucilla responded, noticing the less than enthused greeting. Her eyes then narrowed as she continued speaking. "You blame me for our lost in the forest."

"... I do."

"I see. I do share most of the blame." Lucilla said, her voice wavering slightly when mentioning blame. Looking around I don't think anyone but me noticed. "I will make it up to you however, but first I need to know if you're still going to follow me."

Azalea eyes moved to look in our direction, or to be specific, Sara's. "You're still the girls representative?"

"Of course." Lucilla responded cooly, without an ounce of doubt in their voice. "I promise you I'll take back your forest. However, I'll need your help with something first."

"You expect us to help you when you failed to help us first?" The small Fairy scoffed.

Azalea was clearly upset, and she wasn't alone. Upon hearing Lucilla's words everyone behind the Fairy seem to become more hostile, ready to leave or lash out in anger. Lucilla however remained impassive. She wasn't one to change her facial expressions much before, but she seemed even more detached than before. I felt a chill run down my spine as I looked at her. Something was different and I wasn't sure what it was exactly.

"This will benefit you." Lucilla pressed, letting some of her Mana leak out. "I need the Hero dead, and I can't help you when he's actively hunting me."

"You've already proven you aren't strong enough to fight him once already." The Fairy shot back, not backing down from Lucilla's threat. "What makes you think you can do anything against him at all?"

"Your right. I was too weak to stand up against him last time." Lucilla responded, before she released a great deal of Mana with overwhelming force. "But I won't underestimate him again."

Despite deliberately directing her Mana towards those that came from the forest, those of us behind her still felt the suffocating amount of power coming from Lucilla. My eyes widen at her sudden growth in power, since the last time I saw her, I was much stronger. She could barely hold a candle to many power houses in this world, but now? She was up there. Still, I know some individuals who were stronger, but she'll at least put up a fight.

Looking over to her side she noticed that the others were also looking at her in wide eyed surprise. Especially Yuki, who looked less shocked and more excited, her pink and red eye's sparkling in admiration. It was the first time I've seen her in a good mood all week.

Azalea almost fell to the ground in shock. It wasn't just her, but everyone behind her had a physical reaction when Lucilla's power crashed into them. Since she was deliberately directing most of her Mana at them, a large portion of them fell to their knees or their equivalent for the non-bipedal ones. Even the young Dragons stepped back in shock. Even though they were barely older than two hundred making them weaker than their older counterparts, they were still Dragons. They were one of the strongest species in this world even when young.

The fact Lucilla made then recoil, even for a second before they composed themselves was impressive. Whether they were still feeling nervous or not only the dragons could answer. They wouldn't show fear if they could help it. Lucilla seemed to have noticed this as well since I saw her, for just a moment, give a satisfied smile. For once her evil looking smile matched her actions.

Retracting her Mana enough for everyone to listen, but still make her strength known she began to speak again. "As you can see, I've grown more powerful... While I may not be on the same level as the Hero I'm not far off."

I watched as Lucilla's eyes swept across the denizens of the Fay Forest, each of them flinching when her gaze landed on them. An inexplicable feeling of pride well up in me watching Lucilla taking charge. It was like watching a niece finally grow up and become their own person.

She didn't need to look towards me to double check her actions anymore. This was her scene, her words without my input. I should probably be worried, but the direction she's headed is exactly what I had hoped to happen in the first place. Not wanting to ruin her growth I was more than happy to stay quiet.

"Because of this slight difference in power I require you help." Lucilla continued. "With your assistance we should be able to kill the Hero. We'll devise a plan with minimum risk towards yourselves."

"So far all you've done nothing but spout nonsense." A blue scaled young Dragon said stepping forward before anyone else could speak. "Just flaring your Mana a little does nothing to prove your strength, and why should we trust the words of a failure?"

Lucilla squinted her eyes at the young Dragon with mild annoyance. I don't think anyone on their side would be able to notice, but me, Yuki, Sara, and Maisy if she was watching could see it. Lucilla had little patience with those that annoyed her, the fact she was being so diplomatic without fuss for so long was already good enough. She didn't really resort to violence often, but she did tend to speak her mind.

"If you think I'm unfit to lead you are welcome to leave," she said before continuing, her voice turning slightly threatening, "or you can challenge me yourself to see whether or not I meet your standards. I heard you Dragon's respect strength."

"Gladly." The water Dragon said before a surge of Mana condensed in its throat.

Sensing the danger Azalea quickly flew away to a safe distance. Just like the young Dragon Lucilla moved her scythe in front of her and pointed it towards the young Dragon, a large amount of magical power could be felt converging into a single point in front of her. After what felt like several seconds, but probably less than two, both the young Dragon and the Lucilla released their attacks.

A water-based Dragon's breath collided with a powerful jet of water, cutting through the air with zero resistance. The two attacks collided. For a moment the two attacks looked evenly matched, the shear destructive power of both tearing up the land below. Then Lucilla's water jet pushed back against the young Dragons own attack.

Noticing this the Dragon briefly added more power into their attack, halting Lucilla's push back for a second, giving them enough time to move out of the way. The jet of water pierced the location the Dragons head was just located, before severing a tree further behind. The top of the tree fell to the ground below with a heavy crash that echoed across the clearing.

The young Dragon bared its teeth at Lucilla in frustration. Before it could react however, Lucilla had was already next to it, using the large scythe, not as a bladed weapon, but like a bat. She used the backside of the curved blade, swatting the Dragon away, causing them to fly backwards before crashing into the ground dazed.

"Do you give up?" Lucilla asked, having already moved to stand atop the young Dragon before any could notice, her blade hovering over its neck.

The young Dragon watched her carefully without answering. They silently glared at each other for several minutes. "I yield." The blue Dragon eventually said, their voice filled with resignation.

"That's the smart choice. You have very little combat experience. Even if you were the same strength as me, I would've won." Lucilla said hopping off the Dragon and walking back in our direction. "I've had several hundred years to come up with a plan to kill the Hero.... I do need to check the state of the world first before I commit to a single idea. However, I do want all of you to at least listen to me first before deciding to leave on your own."

She then turned back around, looking at Azalea as she continued to speak. "Come, this is no place for a discussion, we can talk on the ship."

With that Lucilla turned our way once again. She smiled briefly upon seeing us again as she walked past. Waving her hand to have us follow her, she boarded Cristina's ship. She didn't bother checking to see if anyone would follow her, she simply headed towards her direction. Fortunately for her, after only a brief pause, me and the rest of her trusted allies, plus Cristina followed. As for Azalea and her people? They also followed, but with a bit more obedience than before. Their body language conveying both respect and fear.

I couldn't help but smile helplessly. This was most likely a temporary measure as she tries to build actual trust. She did try coming into this a diplomatically as possible and only escalated when she deemed it necessary. With a bit more pep in my step I followed Lucilla into the belly of the ship.