Chapter 86. Again? (A)

Everly tried to contain her eagerness as she ran speedily in the direction of the scream, but it was difficult for her to tamp down her enthusiasm for a fight. Her entire day thus far had been a disappointing waste of her precious time, but a little action would go a long way towards making her forget her boredom.

Sifting for clues in a ravaged castle didn't suit her personality at all. She much preferred bloodying her knuckles. Who wouldn't?

Wasn't she the self-proclaimed ruler of this world? At the very least, she'd certainly called dibs on her home continent. One couldn't make such an enormous claim without being willing to throw hands over it. And feet, heads and torsos. Really, whatever the situation called for. A willingness to kill was the least of what was required to set oneself at the top of the mountain, and Everly had been quick to embrace that essential truth. She felt no remorse for any lives lost in her campaign because she knew for a fact that resurrection was a thing that existed. Since there was literally life after death, what cause did she have to feel shame over her frequent use of murder to accomplish her goals? What's more, as a necromancer she didn't even have to wait for the cycle of rebirth to erase her misdeeds. She could just bring her victims back herself if she felt the situation called for it.

Of course, everything that Everly did was in the service of living out her dreams. From childhood in her previous life to the heights of power she now enjoyed in this new world, there was only one thing that Everly desired above all else: to be the ultimate villain. To be the one around whom the world spun, the center of attention and awe. Feared and hated, envied and worshiped. Wasn't that what all little girls dreamed of in their dark little hearts?

Her dreams were the chief reason that she couldn't overlook the existence of this blackened knight who decided to cross her. Everly did not tolerate competition from anyone. She'd worked too hard to share the stage with some random interloper.

Behind her, Dullahan struggled to match Everly's pace. "I thought I was supposed to play the part of your bodyguard, Everly. That's difficult to do when you're running ahead of me, you know," she said irritably.

"How's that my fault?" Everly replied. "You're the one choosing to wear all that gear."

"It's a sensible decision," Dullahan said defensively. "Being stabbed hurts."

"You're not wrong, but I never let it hold me back," Everly shot back.

"Yeah, well, you've never been stabbed fatally."

"Well, that's because I've got the skills to pay the bills."

Dullahan laughed at Everly's lack of humility. "It didn't hurt that Marcis came running to your rescue though, when Bev came to him begging for his help against Anne. That feels more like luck than anything else, if you ask me. Which no one ever does."

"Well, what can I say? Luck is just a skill that you don't have to refine," replied Everly.

"Does that mean that bad luck is something inherent to my nature? That I'll never know anything other than misfortune? That I'll always be like this?" Dullahan's voice became solemn as she considered the bleak possibilities.

"Maybe?" Everly shrugged. "At least you'll never be bored."

"Not all of us require as much stimulus as you, Everly," Dullahan said. "All three of us have turned out so differently from what you intended."

"Stop reminding me of past disappointments, Dullahan," Everly said with a mild edge to her voice.

"I don't mean to provoke you, Everly. The original idea seemed sound enough. Four of you to do four times the work. Who wouldn't indulge in such an ideal set up? I think the problem of our unexpected individuality stems from your own unique nature. You're a stubborn and unreasonable person, so in hindsight, it seems obvious that your duplicates would be as well."

"So, what you're saying is you turning out this way is my fault?"

"I think that's an issue that every parent must eventually face."

"Didn't we agree earlier that you should talk less?" Everly grumbled.

As the two of them continued to run, Everly quietly considered Dullahan's words. She didn't want to, but each of her duplicates had a tendency to make points during conversation that she found difficult to refute. They weren't her but they were different aspects of her. That meant that more often than not, they occasionally said things that were unexpectedly profound.

Was she really a disappointment to her own mother?

"Do you resent me for how I treat you?" Everly suddenly asked the other girl.

"Do you really want me to answer that question honestly?" asked Dullahan.

Everly thought about it for a moment. Then she said, "No."

"I don't resent you in the slightest," Dullahan said promptly. "You did the best you could."

Everly nodded, pleased by this act of vindication. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

"You gave us the world and all we had to do was obey," Dullahan continued.

"You know, when you put it that way, it really makes it seem like I was a great creator."

"The best gods create in their own image," Dullahan said in agreement.

"Why is Fenn being so difficult?" Everly suddenly asked her.

"Oh, she's grown to despise you and refuses to bear your yoke," Dullahan said casually.

"She refuses to bear my yoke?" Everly said, outraged. "I'm trying to set her up for life, not hitch her to a wagon filled with hay. Is that really how she feels about me?"

"I mean, yes?" Dullahan said, realizing she'd said too much but was too far along to turn back now. "You have to admit Everly, you've basically stolen her life from her."

"Uh, no? I'm protecting her from making bad decisions," Everly corrected her.

"By removing her ability to make decisions for herself? You've essentially turned her into a damsel in a tower."

"I'm saving her from her own stupidity!" Everly shouted after coming to an angry halt.

"Okay, all right," Dullahan said. "I'm not playing devil's advocate. I don't even like Fenn, do whatever the hell you want with her."

"Why don't any of you like her? You're all me. It doesn't make any sense that you're so cold to her."

"Why would I care about such an irrational twit?" asked Dullahan. "All the memories of her I inherited from you, irritate me. She was going to kill you over that stupid cousin of hers."

"Sarah was an utter wad," Everly conceded.

"The absolute worst," Dullahan agreed. "And yet Fenn still threatened to stick you with that holy sword for that monster's sake."

"Sarah was choking her out when I found them. I saved her damn life," Everly said indignantly.

"But instead of thanking you, she started preaching from the high road as soon as she could. She's the sort of hero I despise, Everly. No nuance to her views at all, just the blandness of a black and white worldview."

"She would have done it, too," Everly fumed. "She would have killed me to save the life of that creepy freak. How was I the bad guy in that situation?"

"It's like Dark Helmet taught us. The forces of good are dumb," Dullahan said with conviction. "Honestly, I'd just cut ties with her. Who needs the hassle?"

Everly was silent for a moment. Then she shook her head. "No. No, I can't do that yet."

"Why not?" Dullahan wondered. "How hard could it possibly be?"

"Dullahan, it's not about things being difficult, okay? It's about being right. About being superior. Fenn needs to acknowledge me as her better. That's all there is to it. Until I hear those words, I can't quit myself of her."

"Well, that's psychotically wholesome in a single white female sort of way," Dullahan replied.

Everly smiled dreamily. "She can be perfect. I just need to carve away all those little imperfections holding her back. Patience is what's required."

"She could kill you," Dullahan said. "She could still be dangerous."

"Danger makes everything more exciting," Everly said with the genuine conviction of the genuinely mad. "Danger is what I live for!"

Dullahan had no response.

The search for the source of the scream turned into more of a chore than Everly expected it to be. No matter how many corridors they ran through or how many rooms they searched, they came across nothing. It seemed as though the fallen castle itself was determined to stymie any effort to prevent further loss of life within its darkened halls, which Everly thought sounded pretty cool as a potential pilot for a horror serial but was an extremely frustrating thing to experience firsthand. And just how large was this place anyway? There really was too much room to cover.

After a while, Everly stopped running, and began stomping around the place in an annoyed huff. Was this a trick being played on her? Was this an attempt to wear her down physically in an attempt to lay a trap? And if so, where was this trap and how could she properly spring it? This whole thing was getting boring and boring Everly was a mortal offense. In fact, soon it would be a capital crime.

People who committed crimes were criminals!

Instead of playing along any further with whatever this dull little scheme, Everly chose to stretch out her mind, filling the depths of the castle with the immensity of her power of spirit granted to her by her elemental servant, Eris.

With Eris currently hibernating alongside her sister, Titania, Everly had far less fine control over her mental abilities. With Eris at her side, she was capable of applying a delicate touch to those whose minds she interacted with; without Eris, it was more like wielding a baseball bat that could shatter someone's very personality like it was made out of fragile glass. Such clumsy destruction would ordinarily embarrass Everly, but at the moment, she wasn't in the mood to care. She felt that she'd been rightly provoked and whatever happened next was her opponent's fault.

More screams sounded throughout the keep, but this time the voices were male. Everly and Dullahan easily followed them to their source and were greeted by the sight of several men in filthy white clerical robes. Each of their bodies emanated an unclean aura of corrupted magic that Everly found familiar.

Everly had encountered someone dressed like these men earlier in her life, in the forest north of her hometown of Anders. A practitioner of a nasty breed of magic that originated with demonism. He'd been utterly humorless and more than a little disgusting. A low tier opponent who embodied the term unworthy.

Everly hadn't been very gentle when she disposed of the old bastard. He'd been a nasty one, making gross threats and had even resorted to turning into a massive man-eating spider when he couldn't get his way. He'd clearly been a tryhard.

What was truly annoying about that guy, however, was that as it turned out, he hadn't been the only one of his kind. His priestly order, the Ashen Brotherhood, was dedicated to the service of Acedia, one of the seven demon kings who ruled the massive continent to the south.

Ever since Everly had killed him, the Ashen priests had been bugging her left and right with their pathetic attempts to avenge their lord.

Pathetic was exactly the right word to describe their antics. They mostly consisted of appearing where they weren't wanted, summoning a bunch of lesser demons to harass her, and then screaming in terror when Everly smote them. Which was fun, but only in mild bursts.

"Jeez, did you guys follow me here?" she asked them disdainfully.

When the pain from their brief psychic contact faded enough for them to respond, one of them said, "Everly Skolder! What are you doing here?"

Everly didn't appreciate being questioned over where she chose to go by some random nobody, but she did like the energy he'd put into sounding dismayed. She enjoyed springing out of nowhere to annoy her foes.

"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" she crowed.

"You won't stop us this time!" the angry demon priest bellowed.

"Well, we'll see what happens next, now won't we?"

"Your interference ends now, heathen! Today, we avenge the murder of our master" shouted another one.

"Oh, you guys are still mad about that one, huh?" taunted Everly.

"Our wrath is endless! Our justice will find you!" shrieked the first one of them to speak. Then his body began to swell and expand, shredding his dirty robe until all of his foul clothing was ripped apart by his growing body. Soon, a massive spider towered over Everly, rising to its back legs with venom dripping from its fangs in a terrifying display of arachnid hostility.

"In Sssloth's name, I ssshall devour you!" he declared.

Then, Dullahan appeared as if out of nowhere and punched an armored fist through the abomination's skull; it made an oddly pleasing sucking sound when she removed it, like the noise a shoe makes when being pulled out of thick mud.

"Azery!" wept one of the stunned ashen priests.

"No, I'm Everly," Everly said chidingly. "And this is Dullahan. Dullahan, introduce yourself to these nice strangers, please."

Dullahan effortlessly hurled the corpse of the massive spider at the demon worshipers, scattering them on impact and crushing one of them to death outright.

"That counts as an introduction, right?" Everly asked them.

No one responded to her question.

Rude.