He was hungering. He had already eaten, but the cooked flesh of animals wasn't enough to sate him. Something inside him wanted Eldren to consume more. Not the consumption of the physical, but the consumption of the spiritual. His hunger was chewing at him from inside-out. Unpleasant memories was once again surfacing, followed by the words of the monster from within, the demon that told him that reprieve could only be found in destruction. His only solace was in the death of others. Tranquility could only be found in the silence brought by the deaths of everything around him. As he warped through the air, darkness constantly collapsing on him as he resummoned himself over and over again, accelerating through the air towards the Archipelago, Eldren gritted his death. Underneath his female body's skin, something was crawling, squirming, a malevolent force. They were both using each other, weren't they? The demon who knew that Eldren wasn't its true master, and the warlock who knew that the demon only helped him because what he planned to do was 'interesting'. The monster that had become, and the monster that always was. His power wasn't growing, but it was expanding. What was once a cloak had now become more of a mist, a shroud of the same miasma that surrounded Talze Utera. Against the pleasant sky, a storm of demons approached the Archipelago. The small, otherworldly creatures that once only peered through the surface of his cloak had now risen from it. They swarmed around their summoner, filling the air with the uncomfortable sound of giggles, screeches, and snorts. Cacophonic chaos was what Eldren had surrounded himself with, a storm in which his own monsters cannibalized each other while they waited for the order to attack, to lay waste on the next target. Soon, they would be trying to eat their fill once more. They could smell it, the scent of more food. The beat of living hearts. The pleasures of consumption, so close. In a final warp, that man in a girl's body took his first step onto the shores of Frelia, the sand crumbling under his feet. And then, his power expanded once more, the demonic aura rushing outwards. The day turned into night, a primal sense of fear falling over all civilians. They had not yet found themselves inside the artificial night, but they could feel like. The fear of the unknown. He raised one hand, and with that, the horde rushed outwards, freed from their chains. And then, they stopped. [b]“Morning. I'm catching up with one of my students here, so can you go leave this island?”[/b] A casual remark, spoken by a woman with frost-colored hair, a hue that seemed to glow in the demon's night. No, not just any woman. It was Mirelle Keep, former Knight-Commander of the Astopolian Army, Hero of the Talentless Strife, Mother of Sword Styles, Slayer of the World-Eater, and the Six-Winged Knight. He had fought under her before, seen how much of a monster she was in battle. And now that he was the same level of monstrous, he wanted to see how he would fare against her blade. Gathering his power and forcibly erasing the survival instincts of his summons, he chopped his hand down. Like a surging wave, the monsters churned and rushed at the woman, a torrent of claws, fangs, and muscle. [b]“That's pretty small. Wynn, you wouldn't happen to know this girl, would you?”[/b] With those words said, Mirelle disappeared after taking one step forward, reappearing in front of the man. Her clothes were suddenly shredded, hair gaining a divine vibrance, wings of blue light extending from her back. She smiled, and then, the horde behind her was scattered asunder, a thunderous roar blowing the monsters apart. Blood rained from the skies, evaporating as it touched her skin. The blue-haired woman was burning, a volcano of magical energy. [b]“Actually, I do know her, Master, but she wasn't quite this strong before.”[/b] Another voice sounded above him, and Eldren warped away the instant he heard it. Teleporting fifty meters above his past location, the man almost allowed himself to breath, before the distance was closed between him and Mirelle once more, followed by another thunderous clap as the sound barrier was broken. Glancing below, he caught a glimpse of the attack he had just evaded, and at that sight, instinctively recalled all the darkness that he had originally spread outwards, the cloak now becoming armor. It was not a crater that resulted from the downwards strike. It was a penetrating blow that created a fist-sized trench, a strike that would have invariably pierced his defenses, if he were not cautious. And then, he warped again, teleporting another fifty meters away, this time rightwards. Yet even though he had three hundred and sixty degrees of movement, Mirelle appeared in front of him. There was never time for him to cast a spell. No, it was more like...if he started to focus on a way to attack her, he'd be dead. That was the amount of pressure that he felt on his shoulders, fighting against her. It was...frightening. And then, the demon that squirmed inside him laughed, and, for a brief moment, interrupted its host's flow of mana. The next instant, the moment he didn't adjust his position relative to Mirelle's, he was blown apart. Eldren died, a hole where his midriff once was, his corpse skipping across the ocean for five hundred meters, before sinking. Another kick in the air sent Mirelle back to the island, a final thundering roar signalling the end of the one-sided affair. Her complexion, now, was pure red, in stark contrast with her hair. The scars on her back were vividly white, and with a deep sigh, she plopped onto the ground. [b]“That hard, Master?”[/b] Wynnara sat down beside her, nursing her bruised knuckles. [b]“I'd wager she could give Farnor a run for his money.”[/b] The former knight took another deep breath, before lying down on the cool sand. She veiled the worry in her eyes, and said, with a smile, [b]“Been some time since I had to go all-out like that.”[/b] Wynnara laughed with that, poking Mirelle's stomach. [b]“You do seem out of shape, dontcha,”[/b] she teased. Mirelle simply smiled with that, not answering. That girl was a witch, but there was something else about her that bothered the knight. If this was what East ACTUALLY wanted her to not interfere with...that witchmother had to answer some big questions. And under the sea, the demon woke its master up once more, its dark whispers stimulating the soul that was bound to Riley's body. Eldren awoke once more, and slowly, his magic began to reconstruct the body, regenerating lost flesh as a bubble of air was created around him, providing him with the oxygen necessary for him to survive underwater. Even now, he wasn't the strongest. But now, he knew his capabilities, as well as his limitations. So, though he had died and then was resuscitated, it was all worth it. He was now on a level that forced the Six-Winged Knight to use her full strength against him. --- They really didn't know anything about what they were planning to do, huh? Well, if nothing else, people who didn't know anything were rather helpful in their own gullible, naive, stupid ways. With a twirl of his fingers and a showman-esque flourish, the butler produced another card, a Seven of Clubs held between his index and middle finger. Flicking it into the air, he clenched his right hand before snapping it outwards and opening it, causing the card itself to grow, becoming not a map, but a picture of a mountain. Or, it appeared, more like half a mountain. One side had a steep, sheer face, while the other side was a much more merciful slope. Almost as if someone had sliced a mountain in half, and took one of the pieces away. [b]“I do happened to know where Vance is being held, my lady,”[/b] Lenz replied, the vampire ever courteous, yet with a biting undertone that made it almost sound like sarcasm. [b]“He's held on the mountain Hanzen, three kilometers east of Koestace, the capital of Astopol. That'll also be where reinforcements would come from if the original guards that were posted were annihilated. And just in case you wished to know, yes, I do also have the general location of Vance Warren's pit.” “That being said, Captain, I'm a butler, not a soldier or one of those silly Battle Butlers. I would appreciate it if you figured out the combat part of this operation by yourselves. Of course, I'm more than willing to engage in combat if it's your personal request, my lady.”[/b] --- For a month or so, Annette had lived her ideal, happy life. Aiv may have become busier with his job, but she had Neph now, and it was truly a joyous occassion. But, that morning, when she woke up to see what Neph wanted to eat for breakfast, the witch realized one thing. Her adopted daughter, the demon child of Musphelheim, was missing.