Realms of Magic: Demon Invasion

95. The Road to New Trier IV

Grandma, who has finished writing her notes, smiles faintly. She calls for an adjutant via bells. The adjutant receives her notes. Grandma leaves the room.

Will the war be over soon? I hope so. There has been nothing good about it.

For a while nothing else comes out of the gem except for the noises of chairs moved around and small grunts or sighs.

Then it all changes. "Will we win, Luke?" Lady Jessica asks, alongside sounds of pants falling down and shirts unbuttoned.

"Shush," Lord Luke says. "Don't think about it–not now."

"You're right," Lady Jessica whispers. Someone is pushed to bed–whether it is the husband or the wife I do not know. "Kiss me now, Luke."

"Not there, Luke," Lady Jessica says. "My other mouth."

"If only our men knew how naughty you are."

"I only show this side of me to you."

I have no intention of listening to what amounts to amateur pornography, so I deactivate the gem.

After a while, Grandma advances slowly on New Trier. As expected, we are attacked; near the plains, where their armored corps could easily smash us.

"Not good," Grandma murmurs as she scouts the surrounding area. "There are elements of Lady Clarisse and Lord Elliot's forces, as well as the vampire units. Both Lumiya and Edelweiss are here."

Grandma sends orders to her aides to call for Madam Fron's aid. Meanwhile, our men dig up trenches. Our snipers take up positions, our artillery fixed in place. To the west, a separate army under Prince Pierre covers our flanks. That very same night, the noises of artillery begin to appear.

Grandma is certainly a hardened general; she holds us Imperial Guards back at her headquarters, ready to be deployed at any front. The next day, Madam Fron arrives.

"Hoo ... vampires, huh?" Madam Fron says to herself as she inspects the battle map. "It'll be a good opportunity to kill Lumiya and Edelweiss."

"Don't be hasty," Grandma rebukes. 

"I know. I can't believe they tried to offer an alliance with us."

"It was rejected, right?" I hiss.

"Yeah," Madam Fron says. "If Irvine's civilian populace knows that we ally with Roenzia, they'll be angry–just like you, Vio."

"As we should be," I say.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Emotions could be rather fickle, couldn't they?" Madam Fron laughs dryly. "Good luck."

It is not until the third day of battle that Grandma sends Lita and I to our left wing. "I wonder what made Grandma unleash us," Lita says. "Must be someone powerful."

"I'll protect you, Lita," I say.

Lita lets out a small laugh. "It should be the opposite."

As we traverse the plains and dive into the chaotic battlefield, a giant snake appears out of nowhere. "Blood Vortex!" I squeal, crushing the snake with a torrent of blood.

"A snake," Lita says. "I think we both know who's behind this."

Dita Luxor appears. "She's eluded us for too many times," I declare. "It's time to kill her."

"Yes. Please do."

Now that she walks closer to us, we can see her deformed body; more specifically, her bulging belly and her empty eyes. "W-what happened to you?" I gasp.

"Lumiya ... she used me. Tried to breed me with animals ... horses ... dogs ... nothing worked, of course," Dita answers, her voice faint. "Kill me please. KILL ME!"

"I'll do it," Lita says, a large orb of energy on her hand. She hurls the orb, which explodes soon after. Yet Dita lunges backwards, narrowly avoiding the blast.

"Stay still, damn it!" I curse.

"I can't!" Dita cries. "I can't control my body anymore! I-I!"

Suddenly, Dita's mouth forcefully closes; her last organ under her control has just fallen. "Oh, give me a bloody break!" Lita screams as her orbs miss one by one.

"This has gone too far!" I say. "Blood Vortex!"

Dita stomps the ground, summoning a wall of snakes to fend off my spell. Lita dashes forward, her curved blade slashing the air as Dita agilely jumps. The snake girl opens her mouth, revealing a bunch of snakes that jolt out from her throat. With a swift slash, Lita cuts down those snakes.

"Blood Lightning!"

Dita weaves a sign, creating a giant green snake that absorbs the blast. The snake slithers towards us, but a powerful punch by Lita blows it to smithereens.

"Touch of Decay!" I lunge, grabbing hold of Dita's arm, but she merely cuts off the part that is infected by the curse. I withdraw back to Lita's position.

"Vio, we must end her suffering," Lita says.

"Buy time for me to prepare my spell, Lita," I say. "Her regeneration is stupidly high. We have to finish her in one shot."

"Okay," Lita says. "I'll handle it!"

As Lita dances around Dita's lunging serpents, I gather as much power as possible onto my hands.

Dita ... do you even deserve a quick death? After all you have done in Mirakarta?

"Blood Puppetry!" I control the flow of blood inside of Dita herself; normally this would have been impossible as her mana would instinctively fight back and shake off the spell. But Dita, locked in battle with Lita, is caught unaware.

"Arrkh!" Dita screams in pain as her blood vessels burst one by one. Her bones become deformed and protrude out of her skin.

"Finish her!"

Lita lands a powerful kick, blowing up Dita's torso. "Black Chupacabra!" I shriek. The black dog charges straight at Dita, annihilating her.

All that is left is her head. To our surprise, it is still moving and regenerating. "Stab my head ... thank you, Vio, Angelita. Please tell my father I'm sorry."

"A simple apology will not suffice for what you have done, Dita," I bark.

"I know, but what else can I do?" Dita asks. "Now, please, kill me."

I thrusted my sword downwards, piercing Dita's skull. She spasms for a few seconds, and then remains unmoving.

Dead.

"What a pitiful end," Lita comments. "She could've been much more."

"She deserves it," I say coldly.

"I wonder, Vio. What if I never turned? What if you never came to take me back? Perhaps we'll meet in the battlefield. You will only know me as another enemy. And then I'll kill you–or vice versa," Lita mutters. "Dita and I are the same. The only difference is that I realized my mistake faster."

I hug Lita from the back. "Don't say things like that," I say. "There's no use talking about what-ifs."

"Maybe."

"What philosophical garbage," a cold voice declares.

Edelweiss, the White Witch, arrives on the battlefield, clad in an armor of cloth.

"It's never too late to reverse a mistake, Edelweiss."

And Grandma, too, has arrived.