The people in the crowd grinned evilly with some sort of shared understanding, like I hadn't almost just screwed then over, turning their maniacal intents over to Finch Phillis.
"There's no getting out of this one. Isn't that right, Little Firea?"
We fist bumped and confused the surrounding parties, making them wonder what that was supposed to be.
"So true," Kaya nodded as Thérèse held her, not shocked at all. The loyal maid knew all along that the cord that I had snapped was a fake. As expected from a rank SS.
I had removed the real one the moment he walked back into camp, switching it out while Mr. Phillis was too distracted to notice.
The knights hauled him off, taking him out of the camp for a little...deadly private lesson. Someone sensible in the crowd called out not to kill him, they needed to interrogate him first! I called out not to kill him at all, that was way too easy of a death. I have many torture methods of the soul if you want to know!
Little Firea rolled her eyes, sighing at my over enthusiasm. "Don't you have a Demon to defeat?"
"But the good parts are only just starting..." I pouted.
"Go on, you sadist. You can take the good parts out on the Demon!"
"Aw~Fir~why are you always so strict~?" I hugged my counterpart and started twisting, her face buried in my ribboned breasts while she acted like she couldn't breathe.
It was at that moment that I finally "noticed" the rest of the people there, watching me. I smiled at them gracefully and stuck a hand out.
"Hello, sir. You are Firea's father, are you not? It's very nice to meet you!" I chirped with gaudy excitement. It was evident to anyone who cared that I wasn't taking any of this seriously.
Tentatively, he reached a hand out, which I grabbed firmly and shook up and down excitedly.
"And you, Thérèse! I hear you want to fight me!" I spun and looked at her, my hand going out to her as well.
She calmly shook my hand with a slight smile, and I suddenly felt an unending cold leaking out from her at this sudden distance. That's right, if you are a stranger to her then she doesn't treat you that well...should I let her in on my real identity? But wait, then she would wonder about who really took down the curse wraith since Knight was me...
I guess not then.
"Knight...Knight!" Firea snapped at me. Somewhere in the background, we heard it roar. Hey, was that Minotaur dead yet? I couldn't remember. "The Demon, remember! Your turn!" I snapped out of my thoughts and sighed.
"Okay then," I handed back my [Double] to her maid. "I'll deal with it."
Captain Renard, kneeling and shaking his head as if to regain his senses, had no clue what we were talking about.
"What are you talking about? Where are we? Who was that man they dragged off? Why are my knights naked? Who are you?!" He lost his cool while hearing this sudden flow of information.
"It's...a long story," my father looked over at the confused big man. "One I'm very obligated to inform you about."
"Also," I started while turning away, "tell your knights that I've got this. Enjoy your revenge to your heart's content!"
From there, I stepped off the air platform I'd made and flew to ten miles away, where the Demon was. From the platform you could see a lot, but even on the ground you could see the tall skyscraper that made the trees it crushed looked like dwarves.
I lowered the platform while I was at it, since I knew they didn't want to be stuck in the air. After putting a black, see through barrier up over the camp so that they wouldn't burn from touching that stuff, if it was flung their way, I stopped in front of the Demon. No one noticed it because they never looked behind them during the whole situation, but I gradually noticed it getting drawn in by the negative feelings I'd conjured from the large crowd.
I floated in front of it, wondering what the heck I should do. It was made of something akin to lava, yet reminded me of sewer sludge at the same time.
You don't just beat it down, since that wouldn't kill it. Did it have a heart of some sort? A core that I could destroy? That would likely flood the land with that stuff if the core was the magnet keeping it together. Also, I'd destroyed those rocks from before without knowing what they were for, so those likely destroyed any chance I may have had of sending it back the other way to wherever it came from.
What about purifying it? That could work, except I'd have to expend tons of mana to get that thing completely gone. Also, I didn't know any specific spells that would be used to destroy such a thing.
Oh whatever. I've watched enough anime to know what a magical purification looks like. I'll just wing it, as usual.
After making sure there were no people in the surroundings, I flew to the very top of the Demon and released a spell.
"[Cage of Light]."
Instantly, from the palms of my hands there flew down white, glowing bars that sunk into the ground far below and enclosed the Demon entirely. It was like I'd put it in a lobster cage, the crisscrossing of the little bars was so fine.
The Demon roared, having attempted to continue walking forward but being burned by the purity. There wasn't much leeway for it to move, maybe a few feet in either direction.
The cage was not what was supposed to get rid of it.
"[Holy Ground], [Purification], [Annihilate]."
A white blanket was thrown over the cage, like a magician would put over a dove cage. It prevented anything from getting out when the ground turned white, just as it had in front of my house. It started shining like someone put a large flashlight underneath a glass ground, the grass and trees turning white as well while the Demon screeched like never before.
It was deafening, honestly. I pushed more mana in so it would shut up and die already.
Slowly, slowly, I made the cage smaller and smaller, holier and purer. The blanket was more like a veil, so you could see inside as it melted away. In the end, the light dimmed and all that was left, on the pure white ground, was a gigantic black orb. I floated down to it and found that it was as tall as me, perfectly round. When I touched it, it shone. The surface was hard as a diamond at first, but then it turned as squishy as mochi and tried to suck me up.
I squealed unexpectedly, wondering what the heck was going on until it became as flexible as water. I tried to shrug it off, pulling in some places but unable to get it away from me.
But then, I realized it wasn't trying to kill me in revenge or something. It was forming itself around me...
Like armor.
"Oh, this is too cool," I commented to myself once the black orb had condensed itself down into some wicked armor on me, full body but not boring at all. It wasn't hazardous, with lots of pointy edges. It was very smooth and soft, but extremely tough. I learned this when I punched myself in the gut and didn't feel a thing.
Why I thought to punch myself in the gut, I don't know. It seemed like a good idea. Why I thought it was a good idea, you shouldn't ask either.
The other cool thing was that the rest of the orb turned into a shield, three swords, a helmet, and a wand. There were a few other things, but they were small as well. How that giant thing turned into these little things, I had no clue. I just knew I liked it.
All of it went into my storage, me grinning from ear to ear as I trudged on back to the encampment.
There, I found many stunned knights and a very shocked Firea.
"Why'd you overdo it?!" she whispered to me when I came to tell her I was done.
"Do you know how to correctly purify a Demon?" I inquired sassily.
"Well, not exactly...and you do?" Translation: I only know what you know.
"No. But either way, you shouldn't be talking!"
"Let me guess, you just winged it?"
"Obviously. It's not like I'm a priest or anything, I haven't learned anything like that."
Father was just looking at us helplessly as this conversation went on and on, one blaming the other or rolling their eyes. Not that he could see me doing it anyway.
"Whatever, I'm leaving. See you next time, and don't forget your promise!"
I turned and started walking the other way when someone called out to me. Jeez, I'd only walked about ten feet!
"Lady!" The boy from earlier and the squire with the now healed legs ran up to me. I turned on them with a word of scolding on my lips. "Thank you for everything!" They both ducked their heads.
...unexpected.
The words died on my lips.
"What?" They are thankful?
"We said, thank you for everything! We appreciate all you've done for us, and wish to repay you somehow!"
"Repay me?"
I was stupefied by this, for reasons unknown. Normally, I'd put on a cocky or teasing smile and say, "Of course you're thankful!" or something. But now, I had no idea how to react.
"Yes!"
"That's unnecessary."
It seemed as if their hopes came crashing down.
"But...we'd all feel bad! You've done so much for us, and even took care of that Demon! We have to repay you somehow!"
"Your enthusiasm reeks of suspicion."
"Just take it!" Firea huffed over Thérèse's shoulder as they walked away.
"Fine," I huffed as well. I turned back to the boys, both of which seemed to be fifteen years old. "In the future, if we ever cross paths again..." I was just rolling with it now, I had no idea what I was saying. "...say hello to me."
Since they were part of the Church, for sure we'd be enemies. It was only natural. I wouldn't ask anything that compromised them or their futures, like defend my name or something. That's just wrong.
"Eh?" The first boy was extremely confused.
"Did I hear that right?" The second was wiggling his ear.
"You heard me. Besides, I highly doubt I'll ever meet you again. If we do, I want a proper greeting. You failed to do so the first time, so you sure as hell better do it right the second. Besides, even that you may regret," I turned away and started off towards the forest.
"We'll not regret it!"
"See you again!"
"Please not," I mumbled to myself. "Goodbye," I called out, uninterested in how friendly and grateful they were.
For some reason they reminded me of naive army boys. They walk while thinking they are the shit, and then they get beaten down along the way. The have two options: crumble under the pressure, or grow into fine people.
"Wait, what's your name?!"
Really? They think of this now?
"Knight!" I answered. Since I couldn't take this type of bittersweet atmosphere anymore, I opened a portal and walked straight through it.
"Good riddance," I sighed, slouching against my bedroom door. My transformation fell away and all that was left was a very tired little girl. "Finally, some peace and quiet."
A little while later, I was able to merge with Kaya again and we went straight to bed.
Sadly, I would meet those boys again way too soon...a few years too soon. For my ego, at least.
And yet, no soon enough at all.
If only I'd-