The Prince's Fiance

Chapter Twentyfour

The deep growl shook everyone into their core. "We should hurry up and seal it." "Yes Sir. We will guard you during the process." The men nodded at each other and reached for their swords. But Lilith was cowering on the ground and far away from being ready. The combination of exhaustion, the disgusting stench and the bone shaking growl made her collapse. Akito kneeled down to help her up while the other men formed a protecting circle around them. Right to this moment a large swarm of flying devils entered through the rift. The black creatures had bony wings and claws which could pierce easily through someone's chest. The mage who saw the scene in the background let go of Akito's hand sunk onto her knees again. "Lilith-" He kneeled down again and grabbed her shoulders. "I-I can't-" "Get a grip! I need you now. The entire Kingdom needs you now." He was well aware that this wasn't a place to take a frail woman and if he had the choice, he'd take another mage to seal the rift. But the time was running and he had only her in reach.

The Knight who protected them started to fight off the swarm which had arrived and another deep growl echoed through the village. At this point the girl even sobbed and Akito became nervous. He tried his utmost best to calm her. "Sshh.. calm down.. Lilith please.. look at me." He lifted her chin and she looked half lidded and under tears back into his eyes. "There's no need to cry. You're a strong mage from the Lucifs Kingdom, aren't you? Those monsters couldn't even reach half of the strength you have." He wiped her tears away while speaking. "So you should show them what mages can do and kick their ass. Besides, I'm sure Jisoo would love to hear how you bravely fought for us." At the mentioning of her friend she couldn't help but let out a weak chuckle. "You're right.. she wouldn't be proud is she knew I was crying like a baby." "She will never know because you were the most brave one of us." Aktio stood up and offered her his hand again. Lilith took it and finally stood up. She cleaned off the remaining tears and took a glance up to the rift. There were still a lot flying monsters in the air. "Are you ready?" "Yes, I am."

The Prince pulled his sword and took the lead while Lilith dashed after him. He was fighting off monsters in their way which leaped down to them. The girl tried her best to not look right into the gruesome scene of death and focused on concentrating the mana into her hands. She couldn't come around to use her sparkling light flashes to defend herself from monsters who came too close. Her pure mana reacted toxic to the dark monsters and every touch with her light flashes would burn itself like an acid into their flesh. The way ahead of them finally cleared up so they could reach the rift. "Are you okay, my Lady?" The Duke who was still close up and protecting them called out. "Yes!"

Lilith reached into the pockets of her uniform and pulled out several mana stones which she had taken along. She drained every bit mana out of them at once and quickly the colorful crystals became grey. After filling her reserves, the stones dropped from her hands and she focused on the main part of her mission. Sealing the rift. In the ancient language she spoke the spell and a large gleaming symbol appeared around her on the floor. It was a spell she learned during her studies for summoning. Reversed the spell would cause the opposite and undo every summon. And this rift was nothing else then a summoned portal.

The air vibrated and another growl echoed through the sky. She was still in the middle of casting this difficult spell as a dragon forced it's way through the rift. It was the owner of the shaking roars. It screamed loudly into the air, almost making remaining buildings shatter with only his roar and everyone froze.

"Lilith!" Akito who stood further away called out to the mage who stood in right front of the dragon. She had stopped with her spell and the gleaming symbol started to slowly fade. "Get away from there!!" He hurried towards her to bring her into safety but the dragon swung his arm and flinged Akito away like a bug. He crashed into a wall and collapsed onto the ground. The crash was so rough that he spat blood and were struggling with consciousness. Lilith was still frozen in her tracks as she watched the scene right next to her. The dragon soon turned his attention to the girl and opened his mouth slowly. What she saw finally shook her out of the trance.

"Everyone dodge!" The dragon charged and then spit a blazing fire fountain. Thanks to the warning all Knights were able to jump out of the way of the fire spurt and Lilith herself teleported to a spot behind the dragon. She couldn't cast the spell as long as the dragon would cause a tumult. She had no choice but to find a way to restrain it. Her highest hope was that her magic would react corrosive to it too so she casted a light spear attack on it. The light spear pierced successfully through it and a screech was the respond to it, however the wished effect was missed.

"No- how do I defeat a dragon-" Tears of despair found the way back to her eyes as she watched the knight helplessly fighting and dodging the dragons attacks. Her glance went to Akito who was still on the ground. She rushed over to him while the dragon was distracted and began to heal him under tears. "W-what should we do?" "Ugh.. save your mana." "But.." "Tame the dragon." "How?" Akito sat up with a groan and leaned against the wall. "Don't ask me, you're the mage." Lilith pressed her lips together and thought about what to do. She rose up and walked closer to the dragon again.

On her way she started chanted a new spell and the ground below the dragon began to shine with a different kind symbol. It noticed that something was up and turned towards her. Right as it was about to swing it's claws towards her, she finished her spell and light ropes emerged from the ground. Withing seconds the dragon was tied to the ground. But it was fighting back with all it's strength which caused a few magical ropes to break. But Lilith only smirked knowlingly. New ropes emerged out of the ground and tied it immediately down again. The floor below the dragon became like a swallowing sandpit, just made of light ropes.

Again the mage reached into her pockets and drained mana of remaining crystals. She had to hurry because this spell drained a lot of her energy. Anew she began to cast the difficulty dissummoning spell. The previous light below her appeared once again and the success is finally taking in. The Knights were watching in relieve as the dimensional rift started to shone in the same light and became smaller. The dragon and every other remaining creature seemed to slowly fade as if being called back into their world. But to the same time the binding spell weakened and the dragon could pull more and more free of the lights grasp. Keeping two strong spells was too much for one person no matter how many additional mana she extracted from stones.

But Lilith didn't stopped casting. She wanted to finish this no matter how threatening the dragon roared. Finally the dragon pulled free of the light and aimed for the cause of it's distress. The rift wasn't fully closed so she squeezed her eyes shut and hurried her chants while the only partly fainted dragon rushed his claws to silence her. "Lilith!" Akito called out from his spot but he couldn't move. Knights were moving in to fight off the claw but it was no use. The thick claws stabbed right through a body and blood splattered onto the ground.

It became silent. The casting was finished and the rift closed with a small glittering light and left naught behind as if nothing had ever destroyed their dimensions. The claws who were stuck inside of the warm flesh just one moment ago disappeared into thin air like the rest of the monsters. Left behind was only a holed body which dropped to the ground and terrified faces watching.