153 Guessing and getting it righ (1/2)
Even if she had broken the magic circle and destroyed many runes on it, she still hadn't harmed anyone. Even the two dwarves that were relatively close were unscathed, meaning that the soul could at least restrain herself. Seeking the opinion of his trusted friend, the king only saw him fully concentrated on the being called Leilade. ”Zärtar Kûrlam ô Jyzref.”
After he finished saying those words, he finally saw the shadows retreating and the appearance of the black soul. Blinking for a few seconds, he wondered if it had been a defect of the circle for him to see the soul completely white for a moment. The only things white were her eyes and her hair, nothing else. But right now, she seemed perturbed by something. ”Yes, I know what he said. But it was not directed to you, but me. You don't need to be bothered by it anymore. Was he called Akama?”
Seeing the face of the soul that was far too similar to the one of a lost small girl, the king felt a bit sorry for her. Since the beginning, she had not shown anything but her impassive face, far too serious for the age she supposedly had. However, right now, no one would be able to distinguish her from a real little girl. Searching in the book, he found the answer she was looking for. ”Yes, he said he was named Akama and was part of the ...”
”The Death Corps. I know that already.” A bit sulking, she knew now who could have the power to turn an entire country into a kingdom of the undead. But she also knew that killing him would have been too difficult, if not for those Heroes. If those gods hadn't interrupted them, neither Candaith would be reduced to a terrible state nor her most genius student would have been killed. That old man was someone she took care for many years, and all her efforts had been reduced to nothing.
This time, she could even feel that her other self was even more affected than her, and did not even attempt to seize control. Even if she had a heart of stone, she was still human in the end. And therefore, couldn't help but be attached to people she met every day for the last decades. Remembering the sentence pronounced by the king of the dwarves, she found it quite fitting too. ”Maybe you should forget this, for your own sake. For not hiding the truth from me, I can forgive you for defending yourselves. But the rest of the world will not share the same fate.”
Even as she was speaking, the Iron Beards and the king could all see something moving behind her. For the first time, the shadows began to group into one form, a terrifying monster that was staring at them. And it was not stopping from growing, beginning to be higher than the riflemen that were on the floors above. ”This is not in our nature and doesn't seem to be in yours either. Thousands of dwarves died, the humans we could call friends all turned into undead without souls. Our grudges will be cleansed by blood.”
Leaving his throne for the first time, the king grabbed his axe and did not seem to be threatened at all. Even as the commandant of the Iron Beards nearby was panicking a bit, not expecting him to be so reckless. Quickly, dozens of warriors formed a line in front of their king, ready to defend him. ”HAHAHAHA!” The loud laughter of Leilade did not appease the situation, as it was filled with anger and folly.
”I did not expect anything less from a dwarf. Killing all of you would be wasteful. Your souls are worthless and your bodies are not any different than absorbing stone. However, that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy hearing your screams of pain and terror, fair retribution for your participation in killing Akama.”
She began to float toward the king, only to see his bodyguards finally reacting. ”FIRE!” Bullets began to fly, as the deadly cannons released what was inside them. Instead of a regular projectile, they threw a river of fire toward her. But all of this did not even slow down the soul of the little girl as she kept laughing even more. ”By IronSkull's beard, what is this thing?” Even now, the king could only see the monster staring at him, high above the little human.
The dark hands that were part of it began to approach the ground and then launched the Iron Beards in front of it in the air. Soon, every warrior had been thrown away from the king, leaving only the commandant still standing. Grabbing his mithril axe, he dodged the massive dark hand and managed to cut one finger. Smiling at that sight, he regretted it when he saw the shadows that fell to the ground immediately rushing back to the monster. Only to notice the darkness that was approaching too fast. ”OH FUC ... ARGH!”
Losing his last support, the old dwarf was inwardly terrified. But on his face, only a mask of concentration could be seen. Even as the Grim Reaper was standing in front of him, he would not show anything. The moment Leilade was close enough, he violently slashed down with his weapon, only to see it pierce through her completely. The blue glint on his axe showed that it was just not a piece of metal. But, contrarily to what he expected, instead of even harming the soul, he saw it fused back the two halves in a matter of seconds.
”Can you feel it, the despair of being the only one to survive? Can you feel losing all hope against a foe you can't beat, that you can't afford to wake up? Can you feel the cold touch of death spreading in your body? Knowing your last instant had arriver, but still hoping for a miracle?” She was very close to the king, almost leaning on him. Her right hand was even playing with his beard, that was beginning to rot and spread to the dwarf. Approaching her mouth to his ear left ear, she murmured her last words. ”Do you know what to do?”
”Ye-Yes.” He was having a hard time even agreeing. At this very moment, he knew that even if they had refused her to enter inside the Iron Kingdom, it wouldn't have mattered. In fact, nothing they could have done would have mattered. Nothing they could ever do would matter. She was not something that belonged to this planet. Not something that should ever appear in this world.
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Stepping back, Leilade calmly returned to the magic circle and watched all the dwarves beginning to gather their spirits. Everyone had ashen faces, all shocked by what they experienced. Inwardly, they were rejoicing that they did not try to attack her earlier, as her anger seemed to be similar to a death sentence. Still sitting near the pillar he hit, the commandant of the Iron Beards felt powerless. Since when a monster had ever entered the capital and harmed their king like that? He felt his name would be associated with weakness for the rest of his life.
As he was ashamed of himself, he felt a foreign power surging inside him. However, barely after sensing it, he raised his head to see the living nightmare staring at him a few centimeters away from his face. Frozen on the ground, the surge in power did not stop and only grew bigger. Noticing the cruel face that was growing larger on the face of that little girl, he knew that she knew. And if she was still not speaking, he could easily guess what she wanted.
Not accepting anymore that foreign intrusion in his body, the commandant of the Iron Beards fought back as hard as he could. Pearls of sweat could be seen rolling down his forehead, as his entire body was shaking. At the same time, he could hear from very far away a voice telling him to stop fighting. It was nothing like the voice of the soul, but just to be sure, he still resisted. A minute after, he collapsed on the ground, happy to have not submitted to that monster.
However, like him, many were feeling that it was Leilade that harmed him. When in fact, she just wanted to see how the gods will react when someone dared to resist their powers. By now, she was certain that they had not given up killing her. In fact, they were actively targetting her, for good reasons. Without her, they would easily be able to dispatch the weakened Malakov and the clueless Ymir. ”It was the power of a god. But you can resist it. Or embrace it, who knows, maybe you will be strong enough to face me.”
Carelessly speaking, she knew that if her first sentence brought quickly hope to the dwarves, the last extinguished it as fast. The still pale face of the king was only looking at the ceiling with fear, worried that he would be chosen. After what she had done, none thought they could harm her, with or without the power of the gods. At the same time, it will be much easier in the future to control them if no Hero was present.
”By decree, I hereby order all the soldiers of the Iron Kingdom to resist with all their strength any intrusion of a foreign power in their bodies. Transmit this to all the armies.”