I shielded my eyes. The white light faded to a soft glow from crystals dotting the cave. It wasn't a very large space but the ceilings were high. I thought I was here alone until I heard footsteps behind me. The hair on the back of my neck rose at the familiar smell and I turned to face Hendrickson. He looked just as shocked as I did to see him, sweaty and bare-chested with his own Ashen staff in hand.
"What are you doing in here?" I questioned, stepping to my left.
He looked back over his shoulder then at me. "I just came from the other chamber."
"That doesn't answer my question," I snapped. My emotions seethed inside me, begging me to give in. I prowled in an ever-closing arc towards him and he watched me cautiously.
The silence grew heavy and I licked my lips, bloodlust rising. Jenna had asked me to play nice and I had said I would.
There's no one else here, whispered a small voice in my mind. He shifted a foot back, angled his body and I heard the soft groan from his staff as he tightened his grip. My eyes flicked to where I'd started then back to him.
But she wasn't here right now.
Our staffs collided with an awful racket. Muscles straining, we grappled for a moment before I drew back and delivered a flurry of slashes. He deflected them, the look of shock on his face a delight to me, before I managed to slip one past his guard and into his side.
He hit the ground at a slide and with a roar, I slashed down towards him. He rolled out of the way in the nick of time. I wrenched the staff from where it'd lodged in the ground and glared at him. He scrambled back to his feet and reset his stance, a large red and purple welt already blossoming on his side. Determination burned in his eyes though, his breathing level.
As expected of a Grand Master Holy Knight.
I took a step towards him before sudden firelight flooded the cavern around us. It flashed a startling blue as it bounced between camouflage sconces on the walls. The last two sconces, the largest of the lot, brought to life the Red Demon growling on the edge of shadows.
I took one look at it and laughed, head canted back, at the utter absurdity. "Really! That's the best she can do?" I sneered at the Red Demon. "You're interrupting. Get lost if you want to live."
"Where would the fun be in that?" My skin prickled at the sound of the voice that haunted my nightmares coming from the Red Demon's mouth and I felt like the floor went out from beneath my feet.
The demon's face split into a grin that yawned wider and wider until the skin rolled back and over its fat, grotesque form.
The cave around us wavered before the battlefield of Liones opened up around us. My heart thundered in my chest as I heard the ghost of screams and power surging over this very field, my own terrified voice in my ears.
"We can't win."
"You should have stayed dead, stupid little fox," crowed the grey demon Hendrickson that had taken the place of the Red Demon.
He looked exactly the same.
A small part of me knew it wasn't real, it was an illusion to help us in our training. But it got drowned out by the emotions barrelling through me. My hand clenched tight to the stick, my breath coming in sharp pants.
No, no, no, this can't be real, this can't be!
The world tilted. I looked down at my hands and clothes, the stick gone, saw my tattered armour and the blood on my hands. Horror rolled through me. The never-ending nightmare, this was it.
"Estra, it's not real!" Nausea in my stomach at the sound of his voice.
"I'm real all right, as real as the day I was created in that cavern," the demon Hendrickson said in the same voice, sadistically pleased. "You would not imagine the glee I'm feeling at having another chance at killing you!"
"No! No! I didn't, I had no such feelings." Human Hendrickson grabbed me by the shoulders. "You have to listen to me." He let go and faced the demon Hendrickson. "I didn't!"
"Oh, but we did. And now, I can do it over and over and over again until I have you sobbing at my feet."
Sound faded to a buzz. I felt sick and dizzy and weak. I raised my head, my vision swimming, searching the battlefield around me. For what? I didn't really know. Until my eyes landed on it. Elizabeth holding Meliodas, wordlessly screaming towards me. My weary, wounded friends behind her. Behind me, for I was the only thing standing between them and the demon.
Warmth blossomed in my chest, growing mana tingling in my veins. I remembered. I remembered how I'd gotten here, why I was here relieving the worst imaginable time of my life.
I didn't hesitate to dive headfirst into the power and the fear disintegrated beneath the Greed in me. My armour dissolved back into my clothes from earlier, the stick in my hand again.
How could I have suddenly forgotten? I was not the same fox as before.
The sounds of the world whoosh back.
"If I could take it all back, I would! I would in a heartbeat!" the human Hendrickson cried, the agony cracking his voice. I beheld his eyes, the pain, the anguish, the desperation.
"Lies. My only regret was not killing you slowly the first time but now I can savour your pitiful cries and make you watch as I tear apart all who you love dear a second time."
Tears ran down my cheeks. The stick in my hand shattered into shards, my power covering my hands. My skin prickled with heat.
"I'll make you pay," I whispered in a voice thick with tears but flames danced from the corner of my mouth. "I'll make you pay for everything!" I screamed.
The ground beneath my feet cratered, flames rolling over my skin. I felt my hair catch fire, an inferno whipping about my head, and my clothes combusted into a shower of cinders. Nine massive tails sprouted from the base of my spine and the intensity of the fire increased tenfold. The ground began to bubble and blacken.
I was a wildfire, an infernal blaze wanting to scorch the world and rampage until nothing escaped my greed.
The demon Hendrickson laughed. "You think you stand a chance now?" he asked, as I crouched and the all mighty flames sank into my skin, veins of gold and amber zigzagging over my entire body, only to leave the tails at my back crackling away. "Nothing has changed. The outcome will be the same!"
I raised my eyes to him. "No, it won't. This will be where you die."
He didn't have time to dodge my punch. I smashed it into his chest with a fistful of fire. Bone cracked under pressure, skin splitting open and drowning my hands in his black blood. He flew backwards.
The rage, the need to slaughter the demon transcending any rational thought in mind. My flames burnt the fire from my skin.
I would not let this thing survive a moment longer.
He threw himself at me. His movements weren't hard to follow and I dodged his attacks, slipping around and past his defences to deliver a sharp uppercut to his jaw.
The air around my feet sizzled, sparks snapping to life. I growled and they brightened until they exploded from the ground upwards, sending him ricocheting into the ceiling. He hit the ground hard, struggling to his feet.
A wheeze rattled the loose ribs in the hole at his side where a blast must have caught him front on. His eyes narrowed when I prowled closer. Black flames coated his arms but he didn't make a move with them towards me. Instead his eyes went over my shoulder. We moved at the same time.
I pushed the human Hendrickson out of the way as the demon lunged. Flaming claws raked my side and enraged, I grabbed the hand while the claws were still buried in me. The demon had a split second to look stunned before I brought my hand down on his elbow.
He wrenched back as my flames cut clean. I threw aside the severed limb.
"Hellblaze!" An inferno of black flames descended upon us. I heard human Hendrickson's sharp intake of air, the scrambling of his body as he tried to put distance between him and it.
I flicked one hand over my shoulder and cast Cold Fire over him. The other I raised to the fire. Before I'd feared this show of power. Now, as I curled my fingers to claw the air, I only had the realisation that this was a battle I wouldn't lose.
The flames spiralled towards my hand and up over my arm, leaving a searing pain along my skin. My veins blackened as the fire seeped in, my hands turning inky black. Euphoria and adrenaline spiked my blood and I grinned at the demon Hendrickson.
The fire, dark and heavy, coalesced in my hand. "My turn," I hissed. I punched my fist into the ground and a torrent of fire exploded towards him.
His scream of pain as the tsunami hit him was music to my ears. Thick smoke filled the cavern, swirling gently about. He rose out of it, rabid fury twisting what little remained of his face.
He pointed at me and the Dark Snow sailed my way. I took a deep breath and time slowed like spilt honey. I dodged, moving past the slow-falling black until I was close enough.
Time reverted as I flipped over his head.
"What?!" He craned his head up. I saw my flames reflected in those soulless eyes.
I drew my hand back. Fire swirled into my palm. Sphere in hand, I brought it down on Hendrickson's head with a roar.
"Greed!"
The world reduced to fire. I heard screaming over my own battle cry, throat scorched raw, ash on my tongue. A concussive shockwave knocked me back and I rolled, driving my claws into the ground to slow me.
The dust lingered as I stood unfazed. The human Hendrickson coughed behind me, still encased in cold fire. I walked to the edge of the crater, the enormity of its radius unseen in the dust and ash cloud my attack left behind.
The demon Hendrickson lay face down, broken and bloodied in the centre of a crater turned to black stone. Molten fire ran in rivulets towards the demon. I looked around now that the thrum of Greed was beginning to abate. The scene around us wavered and we were returned to the Cave of Trials with the glowstones. But not before I'd witnessed the destruction I'd caused to Liones itself - a city on fire.
A mixture of glee and horror filled me. So this was true Greed. And the want singing in my veins was the most delicious feeling in the world.
I let the fire form slide off me. The loss of power caused me to stagger at the wash of fatigue and a hand reached towards me. I slapped it away and snarled at Hendrickson, the cold fire shroud gone from him.
"Don't fucking touch me." I pushed past him and towards Jenna who stood waiting a little ways off. I heard him trailing behind.
"If we keep lending you clothes, you're gonna have to start paying us," Jenna said with a snap of her fingers. A neat bundle landed in my arms. I realised now I was completely naked once again. "Hurry and dress, as there are some that are waiting for you." She gestured to Hendrickson. "You're done for now. Head on out." He obeyed and I was left with her as I dressed.
I slid on the undergarments and then the pants. The flowing shirt I tucked into my pants before I used the cord that was supposed to be in the shirt collar to plait my hair and tie it back.
"Sorry, I broke your stick," I rasped. When I coughed, a fine layer of ash coated my fingers.
She blinked at me and I thought I saw a flicker of surprise settle across her face before she shook her head. "That matters not. We can always make more. It does bode well for your future battles though that you're able to harness such power already. How do you feel?" she asked.
Now that the power was gone and Greed had settled, I was feverish and thirsty. I could drink an entire barrel of ale and I didn't think it would ever touch the thirst.
"Honestly, like shit." I coughed again, this one shaking my entire body. I spat out blackened phlegm and wrinkled my nose up at it.
"I mean about the fight."
I stared at her. She held my withering gaze. She knew what she'd been doing when she threw me in with that thing. On one hand I was grateful; on the other hand... I tapped out the urge to grab her by the throat.
"I'll have Theo see to you. You look quite unwell." she said, the crackling tension abating with her words. I wasn't about to return to the subject by my own volition.
I laughed, the sound more like leaves scratching on the side of the Boar Hat. "The fox did say I'd have troubles to begin with." And that was the last I remembered saying.