Combining the Fangs into my sword, I wreathed the white blade with Bloodfire and lunged forward.
Alisax reacted, but she was sluggish. The blood clinging to her body dulled her incredible speed and choked off all access to ardor.
I swung in a fiery arc. She barely avoided it and went for a counterattack. That's when I revealed the deadlier aspects of my latest code.
Each drop of blood falling from the scarlet storm turned into tiny Blood Grenades that exploded all around her.
Alisax violently stumbled back from the small yet deadly explosions, and a crimson mist enveloped her.
I burst in and jabbed, mirroring her skills.
Still, she managed to block my attack and even grabbed my blade before yanking me toward her.
The mist of blood blocked my vision as both of us became up close and personal with each other.
I stopped the explosions and turned the blood rain into tiny Blood Maidens. The tiny crimson ladies clung all over Alisax's body before erupting into tiny spikes that embedded into her body.
She was immobilized, but her grip on my sword remained.
"Sorry, my friend," I muttered.
A massive crimson blade of crystallized blood materialized above us and dropped, slicing clean through her forearm.
I pulled back the sword, and it split back into my daggers.
Slapping at the hilt, I embedded the left dagger into Alisax's foot, pinning her to the sand.
I ignited the blood clinging to Alisax. Bloodfire roared to life all over her body, engulfing her in flames of crimson and black.
Swiftly, I aimed my right dagger at her chest.
However, just as the green edge of the dagger even came close to her body by a centimeter, she shifted.
My blade passed by her side, and she immediately caught my arm in the crook of hers.
With the sound of shattering glass, my blood arm exploded into many crimson crystalline fragments.
Before I could react, her black dagger plunged into my chest.
It happened so quickly that it took a few seconds for me to register the pain and the frigid surface of the black blade in my body.
For a moment, I thought I heard Alisax scream in despair, as her dagger pierced the heart of her dear friend.
My body reacted by instinct.
Crimson tendrils of blood erupted off my back and skewered her with their crystalline tips..
My left arm twitched, and the dagger embedded in her foot flew into my grasp.
Without hesitation, I drove the dagger into her burning chest.
Her body, enveloped in Bloodfire, shuddered, her grip on her dagger loosened.
With a final and desperate burst of energy, my blood tendrils shoved her away, and we fell backwards.
I felt the impact spread through my body as I hit the black sand, the cold black dagger sticking out of my chest like a terrifying sapling.
My breathing quickened, and my body shook uncontrollably. Through my blurred vision, I saw her.
Lilith, with her glowing eyes and sadistic smile, gazed at me with a mad longing that made my skin crawl.
"That was a delightful display," she purred, climbing onto my body like a lover. Her pale, delicate fingers tightened around the handle of the dagger, pressing the blade deeper into my chest.
Her breath smelled of honeyed grapes as her face hovered over mine, and my agonized face was reflected in her insane, glowing eyes.
"But I don't want you to die."
With those words, she yanked out the dagger.
*******
Mordred gasped sharply as Lilith yanked out the dagger with a sickeningly wet sound.
Before he could utter a curse from his blood-slicked lips, she cupped his pale face in her hands and smiled.
Her fingers brushed over his cheeks with unnatural gentleness, ignoring the blood spurting from his chest and soaking her dress.
"Hush now, my love," she cooed gently.
Leaning forward, she kissed his forehead, her scarlet lips gently pressing against his skin.
From where her lips touched, tendrils of darkness bloomed like a flower and spread across his skin, snaking into his wounds and the cavity of his pierced heart.
Its thin tendrils healed his injuries and completely fixed his body in seconds.
Mordred convulsed as the darkness stitched his heart back together and jump-started it in one brutal surge.
He gasped again, this time raggedly as color returned to his face.
Slowly catching his breath, he looked at Lilith's pale face hovering over his.
"Get… off… me…, you… insane… wench," he rasped in a raw voice.
Lilith giggled. "Oh, I am insane for you, my love," she purred, dragging a bloodstained finger across her lips and slipping it into her mouth.
Before Modred could retort, she touched his forehead.
A wave of drowsiness crashed through him.
His eyelids drooped. Within seconds, his breath slowed, and he lay still.
Lilith hovered above him, her purple eyes gleaming with an insane love as they devoured the sight of his sleeping face.
Her scarlet lips, trembling with restraint, hovered over his, as if she might kiss him.
A moment had paused before she pulled away.
She sat up, her expression morphing into an odd mixture of sorrow and frustration. She had just looked into his mind.
"Iris Lefay," she murmured. "What a persistent girl."
Her quiet voice was filled with amusement and a cold bitterness.
She turned her gaze behind her.
Naberiax was beside Alisax, just as Lilith was beside Mordred.
The darkness that billowed out of Alisax's body had all but disappeared, exposing the raw devastation etched upon her being.
Bloodfire still licked the edges of her armor, twisted and torn into a mangled silhouette.
Her shadowy hood flickered weakly, like a dying candle in the wind, yet it remained, still veiling the deep darkness beneath it.
Lilith's eyes fell on the white dagger sticking out of the mangled armor, right where the daemon's heart should be.
"How is she?"
Naberiax shrugged. "She's unconscious, probably due to shock and the sheer mental trauma."
He effortlessly pulled out the white dagger, its poisonous green edges slick with black blood.
"She will live. I have done the necessary treatment. As a commander-level daemon, it would take more than cardiac destruction to kill her. Her recovery has already begun," he said, gesturing at the mangled armor beginning to reform, slowly twisting back into shape.
His fiery eyes flickered as he addressed Lilith. "As for mental trauma. That would be very, very difficult to repair."
He paused. "Of course, it doesn't matter since you have full control of her body."
"Hmm." Lilith hummed, tilting her head in thought.
Her gaze drifted across the arena, stopping at the pale white glow of eyes watching from the other side.
The black cloth that composed her body slithered like venomous snakes, restless and alive. Her luminous gaze locked onto Lilith.
An unspoken exchange between the two before the daemon turned around and left the arena.
"You should go talk to her, Naberiax," Lilith said absently, her voice lighter, though her eyes remained sharp. "It's been millennia since we last saw her."
"To be honest. I'd rather not." The Fallen Malakh's voice was filled with a rare unease and even rarer hesitation.
He sighed. "But if that is your desire, I will do so."
Darkness unfurled from his back, coalescing into his ruined, black wings. With a powerful gust of wind that scattered the black sand, he flew after the mysterious daemon.
Landing softly in the corridor, his boots tapping against the cold stone floor.
Naberiax gazed ahead.
She stood at the far end of the corridor, her back towards him.
"What is it?" Her distorted voice rang out. It was regal and commanding.
Hers was a voice filled with power and laced with a terrifying calmness.
She turned around. A wave of ancient and immense ardor hit Naberiax like an unstoppable tsunami.
Her gaze, twin points of white like neutron stars, drilled into him, a million invisible needles pressing against his very existence.
Despite this, Naberiax stood firm, fixing his fiery purple gaze onto the brilliant white of the mysterious daemon.
"Elariax…" he spoke her name.
"You vowed to keep her away from this place, Hebrael."
Her words stabbed through him like a flaming sword.
She used his old name. A name he discarded a long time ago. For her to say it…
A shiver ran down Naberiax's spine.
Elariax is livid.
She turned away. "Perhaps making you my successor was a mistake."
"You did not," Naberiax replied, his distorted voice absolute.
"Yes, I failed to keep my vow. But I will do whatever it takes to make things right. But please…" he held out a solemn hand. "Do not believe that you made a mistake."
Silence passed like a storm cloud between them. Then what seemed like a chuckle escaped Elariax.
"You haven't changed a bit, Hebrael."
She walked away with silent steps, the shadows blurring her form.
Naberiax called after her. "Don't you want to meet your sister?"
Her response was immediate. "I have no desire to meet Lilith's puppet."
With those words, she disappeared, swallowed by the shadows of the palace.
Naberiax stood alone in the corridor, silent and still.
"Hebrael…" Lilith's voice reached him like a breeze.
She gazed into the distance where Elariax had disappeared, her amethyst eyes glowing with something unreadable.
"I haven't heard that name in millennia," she said with soft amusement.
She patted his armored hand. "Please wait a little longer, my friend. We're close to the end."
Naberiax didn't answer. His gaze seemed to be somewhere far away, just like his thoughts.