A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"Dear, dear, Erik," Lilith purred as she slowly stalked closer to his side of the battlefield, flanked by her own four companions. "You know, you really hurt my feelings the way you left last time."

Despite her calm tone, Erik could see the mad, all-consuming anger burning behind her eyes. 'I guess nearly two months of constant suffering will do that to a person,' Erik smirked in his thoughts as he moved towards them as well, flanked by Ankhur and Enkai.

He was, of course, decked out in armour, and his signature weapon rested on his left shoulder, held in place by his left wrist. "Don't worry, Master…" a determined Eira whispered through their link. "I won't let you down this time!"

Erik still hadn't gotten an answer out of her regarding her view of him, but he was in no hurry for that. His main reason for even asking that back then was to get her mind off her lapse in judgement. "I know, Eira," he told her warmly. "Let's do this together."

Warm feelings of relief and gratitude spilt over from their bond, and Erik smiled slightly. Whatever her feelings for him, she was a cute girl who just wanted him to trust her, and that alone endeared plenty to him.

Meanwhile, he answered Lilith's quip. "What can I say," Erik shrugged calmly, refusing to let her get to him. "I was simply dissatisfied with the service. I do hope the last few weeks haven't been too hard on you."

Lilith's fragile façade of calm nearly broke right there. Her eyes were practically spitting fire, as small tongues of shadowflame started licking across her body.

But she also regained her fake amicability just as quickly, her lips slowly curling upwards on her admittedly beautiful face. It was a terrifying smile. "It certainly was an interesting experience. I'd like to properly… thank… the woman responsible."

Licking her lips in sadistic expectation, she looked around, "I don't suppose she's here somewhere?"

Chuckling, Erik shook his head, his eyes shining maliciously. "No, my beloved wife doesn't have time to deal with every past lover of mine. I'll be taking the trash out myself today, like the attentive husband I am."

Instantly, Lilith lost her calm again. Panting with rage, she continued walking closer to them. The other third-rankers around them listened to their exchange uncomfortably. Neither Ankhur nor Enkai interfered because they knew their most precious resource was time.

As for the Humanitas Sangh Arcanists, they were clearly terrified of Lilith. Too afraid to interfere, they instead shot gazes of part wariness and part ridicule. On the one hand, they wondered who this intimidating werewolf was, that Lilith treated him almost like an equal. On the other, they wondered if he had a death wish.

Slowly, Lilith drew two long knives from her sides, her eyes spitting with rage. "You really think you can take me down, little Erik…?" she panted softly, fingers trembling with bloodlust. "It's a little annoying to see you reached the third rank, but I can tear apart recently broken-through trash like you for breakfast."

Shuddering with anticipation, Lilith turned to her four companions with a harsh gaze. "Kian, take the right beast, Azad, the left. Layla and Parisa, go deal with the army, we don't need you here."

The four third rankers quickly nodded, the latter two seeming relieved they wouldn't have to participate. Rather, they looked excited by the chance to slaughter some weaklings.

Layla and Parisa quickly left to follow Lilith's orders… but Erik decided to spoil their fun.

"Not so fast…" he growled before thrusting his right hand forward. On his fingertips was an almost instant-cast, icy-white magic circle. Magic pulsed, and a barrier of thundersnow formed to cover the eight of them in a several-meter-wide dome.

Naturally, this was his thundersnow shield, now adapted to keep things in rather than out. At the same time, Erik kept a very close eye on Lilith.

"She doesn't seem surprised," he cursed through his bond with Elora as he noticed the malicious curiosity on Lilith's face rather than the shocked expression they'd hoped for. Her four companions, on the other hand, looked like they'd seen a ghost.

"Yeah…" Elora answered in a strange tone. "The fact she knows about your ability to cast Arcanist spells isn't in and of itself proof about my suspicions, but it does make it more likely."

Before reaching the third rank, Erik had made some effort not to directly advertise his ability to cast Arcanist spells, either by disguising them as Runebound abilities or simply not using them.

There were still a fair number of people in Europe who knew, but not enough for it to become widespread knowledge, and barely anyone should know here in Africa. Outside of Naeku, only the original two third-rank hunters he encountered during their battle with Enkai should know, and they were dead now.

Technically, one of them survived long enough to tell Lilith about it, but she'd only seen a glimpse of it, and her attention was elsewhere at the time. Outside of her, there was a chance the hunters heard of it through spies who got lucky, but it was far from certain.

Much more likely, was that Elora's suspicion about their enemy was just confirmed. But they could try to be a little more certain.

"You don't seem as surprised as your companions," Erik told Lilith in a far calmer tone than his racing mind would suggest.

She turned to him and smiled maliciously. "Should I be…?" she smirked tauntingly. "The sooner you accept that we know everything, the sooner you can just accept your surrender."

"Right," Elora muttered in Erik's mind. "She could still be acting mysterious just to be a bitch, but more likely, she would have taunted you with being an idiot for assuming Abigail hadn't told her… which means she likely hadn't had the chance yet. Which means that, more likely, she's not willing to tell us how she knows."

"Yeah," Erik sighed back. "Which is another bad sign."

"Regardless," Lilith continued tauntingly. "Did you really think a flimsy barrier like this could hold up to me?" A flickering, dark magic circle appeared in front of a lazily outstretched hand. Devastating, destructive power gathered in an orb of dark shadowflames.

Then, almost like flicking a bean, she tossed it at Erik's barrier… where it exploded with enough power to wipe half the army outside.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far outside the barrier, in the middle of the enemy Arcanists, a relatively unremarkable soldier with a covered face had their gaze firmly locked on the third-ranked battlefield. "Interesting…" they whispered to themselves. "So very, very, interesting."