Chinami Nadakai
Reverio would quickly find that this pale girl was even more than meets the eye. Though his grip successfully clasped around her wrist, it did not slow her for a moment. It was like trying to halt an unstoppable object. For all his physical strength, her pace continued unhindered, either wrenching her from his grip or dragging him along if he persisted. Cloaked in the invisible Spirit projection only she could perceive, she gave off the impression of an untouchable juggernaut.
"Liliya" approached the humming barrier that lay over the Tome of the Trium Throne, her expression placid and unconcerned.
"Raise thine palm forth and emplace thine appendage afore the barrier. This One shalt handle the rest," the voice from within rumbled.
"Un..." was the girl's only outward whispery response, as her hand that may or may not still be clasped by Reverio slowly rose towards the barrier. Closer and closer it crept, until mere centimeters separated her from potential retaliation.
"Sufficient."Her movement stopped.
Unbeknownst to Liliya, hidden from all present eyes by the miniscule distance between her hand and the barrier, a razor-sharp edge of pitch black began to slide smoothly from her palm, from within her very soul and Spirit. Hungry green mist hissed forth, alongst what little was exposed of its length... as it made contact with the barrier.
Immediately, a howling shriek thundered through the air, as the area around Liliya was struck with a force that crackled with ozone, the floor scorched. Yet, the girl remained unphased, her small flinch hidden beneath the flash of light. The barrier began to glow violently, thrumming with a force that could be felt in one's bones, as spell matrixes began to flicker into visibility within and outside it. Old and defiant defenses whirred to life with holy purpose, to preserve all that was-
A harsh crack with an intone like a dolorous bell struck the air.All of a sudden, the barrier seemed to shudder, as putrid, black fissures began to spread out visibly from the area around Liliya's palm. Along the fissures, there spread in their wake a roiling green mist, bubbling and hissing like something was dissolving with chemical virulence. The air grew heavy, as two completing magical forces began to fill the area with their presence. One was holy, righteous and just, a monument of order layered with countless works for a right purpose... And swelling up from within the girl, billowing outward, there was only
H U N G E R. A bottomless pit of blackness, a black hole from which no magic could escape, seeking only to consume. For a moment, it almost seemed like a battle of equals...
But only for a moment.The barrier shuddered, spell matrices shaking and collapsing in sequence, one after the other with pops and cracks like shattering glass. The barrier's glow intensified and waned in desperate spurts, much like a flickering lightbulb, as the hungry mist consumed more and more of its form. Bolt after weakening bolt struck the girl, who remained unbothered throughout. Fire, acid, frost and even something that might have been a temporal effect came and went, as the mist hissing around the girl utterly nullified it all, swallowing everything mystical that dared to touch it. Three-quarters of the barrier's mass were submerged now, but it persisted defiantly.
Feebly, it struck, again and again, as it could, as it must. If it were possible for such an unliving thing as a mere spell to exude desperation, it did so here and now... but it was all for nought.
A low rumble rippled through the air, akin to a hum of satisfaction, as the black fissures and sickly-green mist slid down the remains of the barrier. Before the girl, all the remained was a gradually contracting done of mist, humming with energy and unceasing hunger, as it began to draw back towards her palm, collapsing, compressing and then... slipping away.
"It is finished," the demon chuckled lowly, a growl to its voice dripping with satisfaction.
"'Twas an excellent appetizer for what is to come..."The tip of the blade withdrew, and the girl's arm fell slack to her side. Before her, a large circle of scorched and boiled stone remained, hissing from the forces that had just been exerted not moments prior. The ground looked corroded and chewed away, and yet for all that had just happened... Her gaze trailed up to the pedestal, where the Tome of the Trium Throne sat resplendent... untouched... and now vulnerable.
Outwardly, her reaction to what had just happened was tepid. Inwardly though, she struggled to process the implications... That sort of power... What in the actual infernal
pits was this
thing living inside her? It was all she could do to swallow silently, as Liliya took two long strides forward, standing over the tome silently. Her brows pinched together, as she hesitated. She could take the book, but that ran the risk of it being tracked somehow. Or worse, stolen. The last thing she needed was to be caught red-handed with this. Besides...
Wasn't the goal to ensure Reverio succeeded and failed in the same breath? If she didn't take this... then someone else could use it. With the ward broken, shouldn't that provide some glimmer of a clue as to the intruder's intensions?
'No, I don't need this book. I just need what's inside it...'Unseen, her Spirit's arms reached for the pedestal, flipping open the Tome of the Trium Throne. Spectral eyes joined her own in burning the opening pages into her memory. A page was flipped... and then another... and another... and yet another. Soon enough, the pages were flashing by in flickers of movement, the flittering sound of parchment filling the air.
The thunk of the cover closing the tome once more sounded out.
Liliya allowed a small passive smirk to upturn her lips, as she flipped the book back over, leaving it laying right where it had been in the first place. Her thoughts felt heavy, churning with expanses of white and black, as she began mentally compartmentalizing what she'd just seen. She'd always been pretty good at memorization, and her Spirit's ability to subconsciously burn whatever it saw into her mind certainly helped no small amount. Some of it felt a little jumbled, but that's because the language it was written in was hardly completely modern. Thankfully, for someone with her background of "archeology", she was plenty familiar with outdated languages and linguistics, and this one was nothing radical. She ignored the inquisitive and approving hum of the demon inside her, as she turned back to meet Reverio's gaze.
Her expression was placid and impassive, yet exuded a certain smugness, as her crimson eyes trailed down to glance at the tome clutched in Reverio's own hands. Her voice came as a whispery monotone,
"Objective complete. Leave now?"
