The Devil's Blade

𝟹𝟼 || 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜: 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

It's her. The woman who kidnapped me and her shadow that lurked through the town. Leila. Her malevolant grin and her the demonic appearance in her face shows nothing of the woman she was before.

Without hesitation, Liam draws his sword, and the others follow suit, weapons at the ready. Leila stands there, seemingly enjoying the fear she stalls in everyone. The residents, crawl away in horror, huddling up in the corner now that they're exposed to the danger.

"I don't understand," Erik says, shaking his head in disbelief. "Just who the hell are you?" he demands, his voice firm and authoritive.

Leila is unfaced. Her eyes piercing, cold and empty.  "Didn't I tell you it wasn't over?"

"All this time, it was you? Since when?"  Erik asks, his voice wavering slightly as he takes a step forward. "What do you want?"

Leila's eyes flicker with amusement as she slowly tilts her head. "What do I want?" she repeats, almost as if she's genuinely pondering the question. "I want the same thing I've always wanted, Erik. I want what Valra wants. I want to see a new world." Her gaze drifts over to me, and a shiver runs down my spine. "And I want him."

Erik rushes up to her, pointing the end of his sword at her neck. "You are not going anywhere near him."

Leila's smile fades, replaced by a look of cold determination. "You can't protect him, Erik. Not from me. Not from what he's becoming. And not from Valra."

Erik eyes narrow. "Valra? What does Valra got to do with this?"

Leila push the tip of his sword down with her finger, leaning in closer, inches away from Erik's face. Her breath is cold as she speaks, "Valra has everything to do with this. You think I'm the mastermind here? Foolish. This is about power. Something that Mavis has lost years ago."

Erik's expression hardens, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword. "You think Mavis is weak?" Erik retorts, his voice laced with anger. "Mavis has protected these lands for centuries, long before Valra's madness took hold."

Leila's eyes flash with something akin to pity. "Protected? Is that what you call it? Mavis has been clinging to a dying world, unable to see that it's time for a new order. A world of inhumans. Valra understands that the only way forward is through power, through domination. And Alexander," she turns her gaze to me, "is the key to that future."

"He," she says, pointing an accusating finger at me. "He's the one who will either bring a new era or destroy everything we know. That's why Valra wants him. That's why I'm here."

"You're going to take him?" Erik says.

"You interrupted my plans back in Deamunt," Leila says shrugging. "Today, I'm not so patient."

A gun shot rings through the room, followed by a groan from Leila. Blood drips from her arm and she turns her furious eyes torwards the culprit's.

Jill, still holding her gun, steps forward and targets Leila. "Go ahead, try and take him. And I can promise you the next bullet, won't land in your arm."

Leila grits her teeth, pain flashing across her face as she clutches her wounded arm. But the anger burning in her eyes is far more intense than any physical hurt. She straightens, her breath coming in ragged gasps, but still manages a cold, calculated smirk.

"You think a bullet will stop me?" she hisses, her voice dripping with venom. "You will need a lot more than that."

Jill doesn't lower her gun, her aim steady, eyes locked on Leila. "Probably. But I'm willing to find out."

In sudden and unexpected movements, she vanishes, leaving only a faint trace of black smoke in the air. The members exchange wary glances, trying to locate her in the dimly lit lobby.

"Hurry! Let's get the residents out of here before she returns," Erik commands, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

We move cautiously through the lobby, guiding the residents out one by one while keeping an eye out for Leila. Once everyone is outside, we leave the inn as well, surrounding the residents in order to protect them. For a while, we stay like this, our senses on high alert, but she doesn't appear to return.

"Where did she go?" Zhena whispers, her voice trembling from both the cold and the fear.

Suddenly, a cold breeze passes by, carrying her shadow across the walls. We prepare ourselves for an unexpected attack but to our surprise she doesn't target us, instead she goes for the residents. She appears out of thin air, right in the center of the gathered residents. In swift movements, residents are attacked and brought down one by one.

"You can't escape darkness mortals," she says, as she wickedly slaughters the innocent people. "It's our life source."

Jill runs up to her, angry and panicking. "You're a monster!" she shouts, firing bullets at her. She forces Leila to move places again, travelling through the walls and the floor avoiding all sources of light.  

I rush up to Jill, putting a hand on my shoulder in order to calm her down. "Listen, she can move through darkness, if we somehow corner her into a place with a lot of light, it makes it easier for us to take her on." I tell everyone.

They all nod in agreement and we put our plan into immediate action.

"We'll try to protect the residents, you guys go!" Rachel says as she takes Liam to the massacre.

Leila continues her assault on the residents. Chaos intensifies, with screams of terror echoing through the night. Her laughter pierces through the air as she effortlessly evades Jill's gunfire.

Erik takes charge, running in front the group. "Stick to the plan! We need to lead her into a well-lit area!"

We move with purpose, trying to corner her, however she appears to be on to us. She moves rapidly through the darkness purposely avoiding direct confrontation. During all of this, the battle rages on as more residents fall victim to her attacks. Liam and Rachel doing the best they can to shield the residents from the attack. I suddenly remember the energy circlets that Simon gave us. I put my new idea into action and grab a energy circlet and throw it to Zhena. "Here! Use this," I say. Zhena puts the circlet on her wrists, black veins spread over her arms, connecting her daggers to her hands with a red glowing string. I can see the hesitation on her face, the uncertainty of how to use this new found power. However, the action comes naturally. She throws them at Leila's direction purposely missing her, embedding her dagger into the wall, the force of the blow hitting her. She falls onto the ground with a groan but vanishes almost immediately again.

Jill continues to pursue her, firing shots to keep her on the move. "Come on, you monster! Face us!"

While giving Rachel and Liam a hand in proctecting the residents, I suddenly come up with a plan. I seize the opportunity and rush forward, my eyes targeted on the lamposts. I use the energy circlet to activate my sword and plunge my sword into the ground inches away from the lamppost. All the lights in the street intensify as the force of my sword bursts to the ground. I groan from pain as my sword causes the electricity to flow through my body. I fight myself to hold on a little longer. 

The woman grabs her head as the blinding lights block her movements. Erik notices and seizes the opportunity. "Now!" he shouts, and the group lands an coordinated attack. Jill's bullet pierces her stomach while Zhena's dagger is stuck in her leg. She lets out a terrible scream as she falls to her knees. 

The attack was perfectly on time as the force on the lamppost became too much causing it to short and I shot backwards due to the force of the electric shock. I'm left trembling on the ground as my vision fails me. The trembles doesn't subside anytime soon, only worsen and it was already too late when I realised that the trembles were not caused by the short circuit. The black veins from the energy circlet spread all over my body, covering my chest and my neck. The trembles turn to seizing, and I feel myself slowly losing consciousness. I get one last glance at the energy circlet breaking off my wrists before I sink into the floor.