LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 102: She was toying with us
Daena groaned as she pushed herself off the cracked stone floor, her entire body screaming in protest. The Dark Sovereign's parting laughter still echoed faintly, a mocking reminder of their utter humiliation.
Nyssara lay a few feet away, flat on her back, staring at the jagged ceiling of the Abyssal Rift. "Well," she said, her voice dripping with dry sarcasm, "that went exactly as planned."
"Oh, shut up," Daena snapped, limping over to her companion. She grabbed Nyssara by the arm and yanked her up, ignoring her own pain. "If I wanted commentary, I'd have brought Ananara."
Nyssara snorted, brushing the dust off her starry cloak. "Don't kid yourself. That pineapple would've mocked us into oblivion before we even got here."
"Good," Daena growled. "Because I don't think I can handle more mocking after that." She gestured vaguely toward the now-empty chamber where they had faced the Sovereign.
"'Pathetic,' she called us," Nyssara muttered, her lilac eyes narrowing. "As if we didn't hold our own for at least thirty seconds."
Daena let out a bitter laugh. "Thirty seconds? Generous. Try ten."
The two demons leaned against the wall for a moment, catching their breath. The oppressive energy of the Rift was still present, but it felt less suffocating now that the Sovereign had retreated into the seal's depths.
"She was toying with us," Daena admitted reluctantly. Her tail flicked in irritation, knocking over a stray rock. "Even with the seal holding her back, she made us look like novices."
Nyssara crossed her arms, her expression thoughtful. "That's not the worst part."
Daena raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do tell. What is the worst part, Nyssara? The fact that we nearly died? Or that she declared my granddaughter is her daughter?"
"Both valid points," Nyssara replied, a smirk tugging at her lips. "But I was thinking about her power. The seal's barely holding. If she gets loose—"
"She won't," Daena cut in, her tone sharp.
"And you're so sure of that because…?"
"Because I refuse to let it happen," Daena said firmly. "I'll throw her back into the void myself if I have to."
Nyssara tilted her head, her silver hair shimmering faintly in the dim light. "Bold of you, considering you just got thrown around like a rag doll."
Daena growled, rolling her shoulders. "Bold is all I've got right now. Unless you have a better plan?"
Nyssara opened her mouth to respond, but a sudden rumbling interrupted her. The ground beneath them shook violently, cracks spiderwebbing across the floor.
"Tell me that's not her breaking free," Nyssara said, her voice edged with concern.
Daena's eyes flicked to the far end of the chamber where the chains that held the Sovereign shimmered faintly. "No," she said, her voice low. "That's not her. But it's something."
The two queens exchanged a glance, their weariness forgotten as adrenaline surged through their veins once more.
"Backup plan?" Nyssara suggested.
"Don't die," Daena replied.
The chamber's shadows began to writhe, coalescing into strange, menacing forms. Their glowing eyes gleamed in the darkness as guttural growls filled the air.
"Ah," Nyssara said, drawing a dagger from her belt. "Demonspawn guardians. Of course she has those. Why wouldn't she?"
Daena summoned her magic, her fists igniting with darkfire. "Wouldn't be a proper visit to the Abyssal Rift without some cannon fodder."
The first of the shadow creatures lunged, and the queens sprang into action.
The fight was brutal and chaotic. Daena's darkfire burned through the creatures with a hiss, while Nyssara's blades carved through their twisting forms. For every one they destroyed, two more seemed to rise from the shadows, their snarling faces indistinct but filled with malice.
"Tell me again why we thought this was a good idea?" Nyssara shouted over the cacophony.
"I don't remember!" Daena yelled back, flinging a blast of darkfire at a particularly large demonspawn. "Probably your idea!"
"Oh, sure, blame me!"
"Who else am I going to blame? The Sovereign?"
"Actually, yes, that would make more sense!"
The two worked in tandem, their movements honed by centuries of battle. Nyssara's strikes were precise and methodical, while Daena's attacks were wild and unrelenting. The floor became slick with ichor as the shadow creatures fell, their forms disintegrating into puddles of dark energy.
"Any sign of them letting up?" Nyssara asked, panting slightly.
Daena glanced around, her sharp eyes scanning the battlefield. "Not yet. But they're not very smart. If we—"
A shadow creature tackled her from the side, knocking her to the ground. Its claws raked across her armor, but she responded with a blast of darkfire that obliterated it instantly.
Nyssara smirked. "You were saying?"
"Shut up."
After what felt like an eternity, the last of the shadow creatures dissolved into nothingness. Daena leaned against a jagged pillar, her breathing heavy.
"I hate this place," she muttered.
Nyssara sheathed her blades, her expression grim. "The feeling's mutual."
They both turned their gaze toward the far end of the chamber, where the chains holding the Sovereign glimmered faintly.
"She knows we're still here," Daena said quietly.
"Of course she does," Nyssara replied. "She's probably laughing her molten ass off."
Daena smirked despite herself. "Let her laugh. She won't win."
"Bold words," a familiar, taunting voice echoed from the darkness.
Both queens tensed, their eyes darting around the chamber.
The Sovereign's laughter rang out, low and mocking. "You survived my pets. Impressive. For ants."
"Keep talking, Sovereign," Daena growled, her fists igniting once more. "We're not afraid of you."
"Oh, you should be," the voice replied, dripping with malice. "But it's adorable that you're not."
Before Daena or Nyssara could respond, the ground beneath them shuddered violently. Shadows surged around their feet like living tendrils, coiling upward.
"Wait—" Daena started, her voice sharp with alarm.
The world tilted. Darkness enveloped them completely, squeezing them with a crushing pressure. It lasted only a moment before they were spat out into blinding light, the transition so jarring that both queens stumbled.
When Daena's vision cleared, her first instinct was to curse. "Oh, for the love of the Abyss, where are we now?"
Nyssara squinted against the harsh sunlight, her lavender skin glistening with sweat almost immediately. "A better question: why does it feel like we've just been dropped in the middle of someone's worst nightmare?"
The landscape stretched endlessly in every direction a vast desert of crimson sand that shimmered ominously under a burning white sky. The air was thick, almost syrupy, with a suffocating heat that made even standing still a chore. Jagged obsidian spikes jutted out from the ground at random intervals, like the broken teeth of some long-dead beast.
But it wasn't the heat or the eerie silence that made Daena tense. It was the movement.
In the distance, the sands shifted unnaturally. Bulky shadows rose and fell, circling like predators scenting new prey. As her eyes adjusted, Daena made out twisted forms emerging from the dunes hulking beasts with scales that glimmered like glass, their multiple eyes glowing an eerie yellow.
"Monsters," Nyssara said flatly, drawing her blades.
Daena clenched her fists, darkfire flickering to life around her hands. "Of course. She couldn't just leave us to bake in the sun. No, she had to throw in an army of nightmare fuel."
Nyssara smirked, despite the sweat dripping down her temple. "Shall we?"
Daena cracked her knuckles. "Let's make her regret it."
The first of the beasts roared, shaking the ground, and charged