Shukran! [Solo]

Althea once again found herself traversing the Desiertian sand, equipped with just as many clothes as usual.  Just like the last time she was in Diestro, however, she wasn’t wearing a school uniform of sorts.  Instead, the blonde dressed in a red and black sundress with a matching sun hat.  On other occasions, she’d worn a letterman jacket, a different set of sundress and hat, just about anything.  She hated to admit it, but Tethys’s tastes must’ve rubbed off on her in that regard.  Althea didn’t have any need to wear different clothes at all, she just chooses to do so in the same vein she chose to eat and sleep.  In the first place, she tended not to change her outfits much to fit in with the weather.  After all, she tended to just use magic to regulate her body temperature.

One might think this would be strenuous to some degree, but Althea was already doing something similar daily.  In fact, the magic-based action she did 24/7 was much more complicated than cooling herself down or heating herself up.  All she needed to do was apply her magic to her blood, which fit the conditions of “water”.  For there she could manipulate it as much as she wanted.  Actually, that kind of gave her an idea to mess with her magic.  The youth opened her palm, a pool of water forming once prompted by her slayer magic.  Before she had gone to see Tethys, she would’ve hesitated before trying anything new with her magic.  After all, the tricks Tethys taught were a surefire way to deal with damage while not jeopardizing her humanity.  But now that she relearned her old magic, there was no need for such caution.  Her magic signature was more stable than it had been in her entire life, so trying out new spells wouldn't be enough to throw her into a state as she had just been in.

But maybe, before she did that, the youth should focus on the task before her.  She wasn’t in Deistro for no reason, especially due to her intense dislike for the heat.  In fact, she was pretty sure she once swore off wearing light clothes in a desert after going on a very similar job.  Althea had no idea how often people disappeared in the sands of the desert, but apparently, it was very often.  After all, there were several different slaver groups scattered throughout, each with varying amounts of influence.  However, unlike the small-time kidnapping she’d busted in her earlier days as a mage, these were the big leagues.  A widespread operation that many important people were involved in.  Honestly, it had been a problem for a while, but no request really came in until a rich man’s nephew was kidnapped.  The slavers had probably expected the typical payment in exchange for freedom, but this time they’d get a wizard knocking on their door.  Well, she wouldn’t be knocking.  It was way easier to just get abducted again like she had last time.

The blonde grinned as she continued walking through the desert, her red and black-figure starkly contrasting her surroundings.  This was one of the few jobs she really paid attention to the details of, mostly due to the purpose the slaves fulfilled once captured.  They were entered into the Ring of Blood, a gladiatorial bloodbath that was enjoyed greatly by many VIPs in Diestro.  If there was one thing the water mage liked, it was a good old bout of combat.  And thus she was willing to walk around in the heat for hours, looking for any signs of magical power.  It shouldn’t be too hard to be picked up by slavers from her experience, especially with a large scale operation such as the Ring of Blood.  Althea could barely restrain herself as she thought about it, even though her objective was to shut the whole place down.  The only thing she really had to look out for were government officials, killing those guys would mess up relations between Deistro and Fiore.

Finally, her pickup arrived.  A group of ragged-looking men riding on camels was slowly making their way towards her.  “Oi, girly!”  A gruff voice echoed across the sands, prompting Althea to stop her walking.  The youth squinted as she gazed upwards at the man on top of the camel, angling her hat in attempts to guide the beams away from her eyes.  “You’re lost here, right?  Here, I’ll give you a ride on my camel.”  Ah, this was a common kidnapping tactic, right?  Well, even if she truly was lost, anyone in the middle of Diestro wouldn't have the privilege of double guessing a mysterious group's intentions.  However, the mage simply paused before nodding, sliding onto the camel along with the man.  Althea simply hoped that her sunhat obscured her grin to a satisfactory degree.


The eternity in the blaring sun finally passed, and the group of camels finally came to their destination.  Well, any passerby wouldn’t be able to tell seeing as the entire thing was covered in a cloaking shield.  So, even if you blasted the entire desert with magic, it was doubtful if the arena would be uncovered.  And the moment the group passed through the shield, the youth was treated to a grand sight.  Large, ornate buildings, lush plants, and of course a monstrous colosseum.  It seemed like it was made of the very bones of the victims forced to battle within, a bleached white structure that displayed great levels of artistry.  In fact, all the buildings bore the same color, yet the establishment gave more of the impression of a city than an institute.  The men on camels, however, didn’t take Althea directly to the Ring, and instead dropped her off at something akin to a checkpoint.

“Delivery!”  The man that had been riding with Althea slid off the camel, walking up to the door.  Not a moment later, it swung open, revealing yet another man.  But a feature of his that stood out was the ragged scar that went from his jawline to his chin.  However, no one seemed to blink at this, so Althea just stayed quiet and lowered her head.

The scarred man quickly looked over Althea, his eyes narrowed slightly as he inspected the youth.  “Hmm, where did you pick up this lady?  Someone like her shouldn’t just be hanging around the desert.”

“No one else was around her.”  The slaver said easily.

“Eh, if that’s the case then I guess it’s fine.  If she comes from a really profitable family, you’ll be getting a pretty big commission when they buy her back.  But I’m sure all the crazy rich guys who pay to watch the Ring will be all over a young lady being reduced to mincemeat.”  The scarred man said dismissively, returning back to his workplace.  But with that interaction, Althea had a fairly good grasp on what this lot’s priorities were.  Simply put, it wasn’t really their job to concern themselves with where Althea had come from.  After all, he was probably more of a monitor than an actual security guard if he hadn’t detected any magic from Althea.  Instead, it was probably just a formality to go through before entering the bloodbath.  And from what the man had said, her client’s nephew probably wasn’t in much danger.  In fact, the guy probably knew about this whole thing beforehand.  But from the looks of things, the ransom might just be so high it was better to just pay Althea to go break the kid out.

Either way, it seemed that she had entered the area without much issue.  But the fact this place hadn’t bee torn apart by the Magic Council probably meant she’d be facing a bare minimum of obstacles.

“Ara?  What do we have here, boys?”  Suddenly, a feminine yet lethargic voice sounded through the sands.  The slavers visibly stiffened before even turning to see who it belonged to.  However, standing right behind the camels was a young beauty with long black hair.  She had almost feverish red eyes and wore a disorderly kimono despite the face she was in the desert.  Additionally, her legs, and even her feet, were left bare.  Seriously, she looked more out of place with her pale complexion than even Althea.  None of the riders had even noticed her approach, but now that they did they were frozen still.  “Hmm, might this be another dog of Fiore?”  The woman mused, walking closer to the camel the blonde was riding while letting out some magic power.

The blonde chose not to react, staying completely still on the camel.  After all, she might as well ride this charade as long as possible, right?  The fact she could barely detect the woman before she made her presence known meant she was a being of substantial power.  Honestly, she kind of wanted to enjoy herself in the Ring of Blood for a while, but she would also be satisfied with fighting one strong person.

“I-I greet you, Mistress Inspector!”  The man who had already unmounted his mount hastily did a full ninety-degree bow.

The bewitching woman seemed slightly surprised, “Hmm?  Mistress?  Since when did you start saying that?”

The slaver didn’t dare to raise his head.  “The… The last time you executed one of the slavers, it was because he had been too casual… You told us all to refer to you as Mistress.”

“Ahaha!  Did I?”  The woman’s eyes turned into crescents as she let out an almost musical laugh.  “Well, forget about that.  Just refer to me as you always have.”

“Yes… Inspector Finley.”  He said tensely, finally receding from his bow.

“And how about the rest of you?  Not going to greet me?”

“We greet you, Inspector Finley!”  The rest of the slavers quickly said in unison.  Honestly,, they resembled soldiers more than slavers as they straightened their backs before the beauty.

The Inspector lifted her hand to her mouth as she giggled, her eyes traveling across the slavers and landing on Althea.  “So, how about you?  What business have you come to the Ring of Blood for?”  The blonde didn’t move for a moment, but eventually, she let out a sigh.

“Man, I’ve been caught already?”  She slid off the camel, her sunhat still covering her eyes.  “I knew I wasn’t very good at sneaking into places, but I never thought I’d be stopped at the entrance.”

The slavers’ eyes widened, the one that had been riding with the young girl stepping forward.  “In-Inspector Finley!  I didn’t know that she was-”

However, the woman didn’t tear her eyes away from Althea.  “Mmm, could you shut up for a moment?”  She said simply, her light tone still present despite the harsh words.  However, in an instant, the man’s head had already fallen to the ground, his limp corpse the following suit.  Finley gazed down as her bloody fingers in shock, “Whoops!  I killed another one!”  She murmured, “Well, you guys should take this as a lesson too-”  She giggled, interrupting her own speech.  “Ah, who am I kidding?  I killed him ‘cause I wanted to.  Well, I wanted an appetizer before I went onto the main course.”  Her fervent red eyes sparkled as she licked the blood off her fingers.

Althea couldn’t help but smile, tipping her sunhat to further obscure her face.  This Inspector person seemed to be just as excited for their fight as she did, and it was always great when both parties enjoyed themselves in something.  She doubted that the woman was even human, but the details didn’t bother the slayer in the slightest.  She was here for business, and it was just an added bonus if she ended up enjoying herself.  “Hey, slavers, I’m really thankful for you guys bringing me here, so I don’t mind if you quickly run away.  After all, I’m going to be ripping this whole place apart.”

“Hehe…”  Finley struggled to suppress her laughter, “Do you really expect to make it out of this exchange alive?  There is a reason why none of the other puppies left this place alive.”  The Inspector turned her eyes towards the slavers, her gaze frigid.  “If you move one inch, I’ll kill you where you stand.  Okay~~?”  Her voice momentarily became steel-like before returning once more to her playful tone.  The slavers’ eyes were full of fear, some quivering as they were faced with the coldness of Finley’s threat.  The blonde once more sighed, turning towards her opponent.

“Okay then, let’s get started.”

Finley’s fingers began to deform, her fingernails elongating several inches longer than they should be.  Then, she quickly closed the distance between her and Althea.  The woman launched a flurry of stabs and slashes with her knife-like fingers, a wide grin plastered on her face.  However, Althea easily weaved and ducked between them, one hand still holding down the tip of her sunhat.  But she couldn’t win the fight just by dodging, so the mage soon aimed a punch at the Inspector’s gut.  The black-haired woman’s smile widened as it landed, her body flying into the pale blue sky.  Althea jumped into the air to follow, dishing out an axe kick that sent her opponent crashing into the sand below.  The slayer landed neatly next to the cloud of sand the impact had kicked up, her black sunhat still covering her face.  But it wasn’t over yet, a misshapen shadow of a human lifted itself out of the sand, and it made several unnatural movements as bones were cracked back into place.  Then, it got to its feet and dispersed the cloud of dust with a swing of their arm.

“Hehe, very good…”  Finley’s black hair and kimono were heavily disheveled, but her smile still persisted.  “But I can’t help but feel like you're still holding back, aren’t you?”  A dangerous glint emerged in her blood-red eyes.  “I just have to see how your strength measures up to mine, hope you don’t mind I kick up the difficulty a bit?”

Finley approached Althea at a speed that couldn’t be compared to before, the slayer only having time to raise her arms to put up a guard.  She didn’t react as the Inspector’s nails slashed through her forearm’s skin the first time, nor the many instances that followed.  Her eyes were glued to the woman’s movements, and when she had her chance the youth whipped around and dealt a blow to Finley’s neck.  Normally, someone’s head would be blown clean off their shoulders, but the Inspector’s neck was only broken.  Still, that should be a fatal blow, but the woman’s body still managed to make a leap backward.  As if it was the most natural movement in the world, the black-haired beauty adjusted her head, several nauseating cracks resounding through the desert as she healed the wound.

“Haha, I see there’s a gap between where I am and where you are.”  Finley mused, her crescent-like eyes full of glee.

“Well, I’m going to be killing you either way, so let’s not pad this out with chatting,”  Althea said, brushing the sand off her sundress.

“Not much for conversation, are you?  However, you are mistaken.  I’ll be the one walking out of this fight.”  The woman’s smile widened far enough that the blonde could clearly see her fangs.  “You see, I have a few pieces of walking produce I can use to bridge the gap.”

In an instant, the black-haired woman disappeared, but Althea quickly found her with magic sensory.  She must’ve used some sort of movement spell because the blonde couldn’t read the movement at all.  Typically, when an opponent teleported, you’d already know what they’d be doing just by reading their body language.  However, Finley actually widened the distance between her and Althea, hence the delayed reaction on her part.  The ribbon wearing youth sped off towards the location of the monstrous woman, finding her back by the camels.  But the sight she was treated to wasn’t at all within her expectations.  Then again, it was hard to have expectations at all with an unknown like her.

Blood seemed to be sucked right out of the slaver’s body, the red fluid emerging from every orifice of their body.  They didn’t even seem to have the energy to scream as their drained husks fell limply into the sand.  Finley stood there smiling as she reached out to place the floating orb of liquid into her mouth.  However, Althea’s running pace didn’t slacken in the slightest.  She was still fighting the Inspector, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to stand around and do nothing.  When she got close enough, she used her own instantaneous movement spell of her own rearing back her fist to deal with a magically enhanced blow.

Then, the impact came, a huge cloud of sand erupting from the ground.

Althea soon leaped out of the cloud, landing neatly as she faced it.  She knew that she had landed the blow she had meant to, but the Inspector’s magic signature was still there.  In fact, it was actually “swelling” and intensifying with every passing moment.  The blonde put her hand on ontop the black sunhat that still obscured her face, smiling despite the situation.  She hadn’t expected to find some bloodsucking creature when she accepted the job, was the inspector a vampire?  That would explain her unnatural hardiness and pale complexion, but weren’t those guys weak to sunlight?  Or maybe the movies Althea watched were incorrect in their depiction of the species?  Either way, she could never be unhappy at the prospect of a more interesting fight.

Soon, the cloud of sand disappeared, displaying Finley with her disordered hair and clothes.  However, a misty red aura was being emitted by her body that emitted the feeling of predacious bloodlust.  “Hehe, I sincerely died there for a moment.”  She giggled, walking towards the blonde slayer.  “Blood really does have a wonderful effect on vampires… well, I guess it’d be grand vampires specifically.”

“Okay, nice powerup or whatever, let’s continue the fight,”  Althea said impatiently, crossing her arms.

“Ara?  Powerup?  No, this is far better…”  Ethernano began to consolidate around the woman, the red mist intensifying, “I consumed enough blood to grant me access to whole new magic, or should I say curse?  It functions as both, and I doubt that someone like you would be able to survive more than a minute against it.”

Even though her opponent couldn’t see it, Althea’s eyebrows raised in surprise and slight suspicion.  What the heck did she mean by “someone like you”?  Was it an ability tailored to work against mages, because if that was the case it’d be ineffective towards Althea.  Either way, from the sound of it, it wouldn’t last too long.  So if it did cause her any inconvenience, she could simply stall for time.

“Okay, hit me with your best shot.”

Althea rushed at Finley, enhancing each of her strikes with magic.  The woman put up no resistance as she was beaten, her joints in a perpetual cycle of breaking and reforming.  The red haze around Finley slowly began to darken, but Althea didn’t let up her attack.  Punch after punch, blow after blow, she felt as if she was doing damage, but the Inspector refused to fall.  It was probably just a case of needing to deal enough damage, but Finley was confident in her ability to the extent she chose to not even attempt dodging.  Then, when the mist became pitch black, it finally happened.

“Eh?”

Althea found that her fist had been caught by a black, shadow-like hand that emerged from Finley’s body.  The vampire’s smile widened as the shadow slowly separated itself from her body, its form was revealed to be that of a middle-aged man in robes.  But apparently, he wasn’t the end to the shadow-like beings.  One after another, various figures emerged from every inch of the Inspector’s body.  Althea was forced to retreat as they all moved to attack her in any way possible, their collective bloodlust all focused on Althea.

“Kuhu, haha!”  Finley laughed maniacally, her body smothered by the shadow beings that were still emerging from her.  “This is it, you’ll be dying soon!  I’ll clue you in, if these things seem familiar, then you’re not wrong.  These are all the beings you’ve killed, harnessed through the curse to enact their vengeance.”  Huh, now that she mentioned it, the group of ninjas next to her seemed to be familiar.  So were the several mages, animals, and even pirates.  “These souls have been driven mad by their animosity, don’t think you can esca-”  The vampire began to gag, her eyes widening in pain as yet another shadow emerged from her body.

“Huh, is that so?”  The blonde murmured, once again tilting her sunhat to further obscure her face.  This was what the woman meant by the ability to be effective against people like her.  Throughout her time working as a mage, and even before then, she had taken the lives of an innumerable amount of people.  Actually, she pitied Finley who had to squeeze every single one of them out of her body.  But Althea wasn’t able to deliberate much longer as a shadow wielding a cutlass ran at Althea, screaming in unadulterated anger.  “Oh, you’re that one guy from… sorry I don’t remember.”  The girl said apathetically, kicking the shadow so hard that her foot went right through his abdomen.

Even if the youth had killed many, the quality of most wasn’t that high.  So all she really needed to do was to cast a spell that hit a wide area and then kills Finley before more troubling opponents emerged.

“Hehe, don’t think it’ll be so easy…”  Finley’s body had long been consumed by a mass of shadows, but her voice was still audible.

A cold hand suddenly emerged from the ground and latched onto Althea’s ankles.  She simply ripped her leg away, but soon that hand was replaced by two, then four, multiplying at any given instant.  But still, something like that wouldn’t be able to slow her down.  In a burst of magical power, she evaporated every one of the limbs with ease.  Then, a spear of water formed in the blonde’s hands, her eyes trained on the spot in the black mass she detected the Inspector’s magic signature.  Then, it was sent flying, ripping through the layers of shadows and embedding itself in the vampire with a sickening squish.

“Oh, you're still not dead yet?”  Althea murmured to herself as she began walking towards Finley, “In that case I- urghk?!”  In an instant, a blade the color of the night had found itself directly to Althea’s heart.

“Kyaha, nice to see you again, my little dreamer!”  Althea could still remember that crazed laugh, but the fact that the person was here didn’t make any sense.

“This…”  The youth struggled to speak as she coughed up blood.  She should know that laugh, but that shouldn’t be able to exit the realm of dreams.  No, it couldn’t, yet why…?

“Kyahaha, I wanted to talk to you for a bit, so mind if you join me?”  The cold blade received from Althea’s body, the voice dripping with cruelty.  Then, without another word, its presence disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.  The blonde felt the life slowly ebb away, using all sorts of spells to try and heal the wound.  She was no match for the angel under normal conditions, but what kind of swords was that thing using?  Seriously, the only reason she was still alive was due to her perseverance.  The youth soon lost the ability to stand stability on her feet, falling to the sandy ground.  Then, the shadow hands she had previously been able to repel easily returned.  They grasped at her limbs, pulling and twisting with a weak force on their own, but as more and more manifested their collective strength dramatically increased.

Althea pursed her lips as one of her legs was bent to an unnatural position before her joints couldn’t bear it and her bone broke.  She had no power in her arms or legs, and her consciousness was fading by the minute.  However, she refused to die here.  The youth viciously bit the closest shadow hand, tearing out its pitch black flesh until it stopped moving.  She shifted her body in ways so that her neck couldn’t be grabbed.  All the youth had to do was last long enough that Finley’s ability stopped.  Whether that be a few more minutes or a few more days, she was willing to keep struggling until then.

Then, there was a sigh.  “Woah, you’re really stubborn, huh?  ...Well, I thought it’d be more fun to let you be killed by the souls of those you’ve cut down, but eh.  I don’t want that Inspector or whatever to notice me.”  It was the same voice from before, and Althea could see their raised black blade glinting in the sunlight.  What followed was darkness...

“Father!”  A beautiful young girl with long, black hair and violet eyes gracefully entered the empty shop.  Usually one wouldn’t appreciate someone causing such trouble in a place of business, but Finley was always an exception.  A radiant smile was on her face, the same one that caused many men to curry for her favor.  But there was, and always had been, only one person in her heart.

“Ah, Fin.  You’re done talking with your friends?”  The middle-aged shopkeeper said, brushing his fingers through his graying beard as he smiled.  One wouldn’t expect this, but he was actually the owner of the place, yet still occasionally worked in his own store.  He couldn’t bring himself to give up on interacting with all the friendly people in town, despite how successful he was.

“Yes, and tomorrow I’ll be going on my first outing with Cesear, thank you so much for consenting to our relationship.”

The shopkeeper laughed jovially, “Finley, I’ll do whatever if it makes you happy.  But if that boy ever treats you badly…”

Finley struggled to suppress a giggle.  “Father, Cesear is far too kind-hearted for that.  Even if you told him to mistreat me, it would be impossible for him to follow through.”

“Y-Yes, but still…!”

The black-haired woman gave her father a quick hug, “Don’t worry, I’ll always love you, Father.”

The shopkeeper was stunned silent for a moment, but soon his expression warmed as he placed his hand on Finley’s head.  “Ah, I’m sure your mother would’ve been so proud of you.”

“Aren’t you dissatisfied?”  An unfamiliar voice echoed through Finley’s bed chambers.  The girl whipped around, her purple eyes widening to see a dark figure sitting on her windowsill.  “You have such potential, yet it's going to be squandered.  Aren’t you dissatisfied, Finley?”

Finley was shocked silent, hugging her body as she backed away slowly from the cloaked individual.  They had a small stature and feminine, refined voice, yet it was unrealistic for someone to climb up a three-story building.  Unless that is if they were a mage.  “I-”

One moment the figure was by the window, but the next they were right in front of Finley’s face, close enough for the woman to see the sharp canines between their smiling lips.  “If you scream, I’ll kill you.”  They said it lightly, but the darkness in that smile clearly told Finley that she shouldn’t make light of the threat.

The black-haired woman could only tremble until she found the courage to finally speak, “I-I don’t know what you mean…”

“Oh, has your family deluded you into thinking something like that?”  The cloaked figure sighed, placing a pale hand on Finley’s stomach before shoving her to the ground.

“Wh-Wha-?”

“Shh, I’m going to be granting you a special little gift, okay?”  They finally drew back their hood enough for Finley to see their predacious crimson eyes.  “I can only do this so many times, so it isn’t up to you whether you live up to my expectations or not.”

Then, the stranger thrust their hand right through Finley’s chest, softly grasping at the woman’s heart.  The woman’s violet eyes widened as an intense pain spread through her body.  But before even a pained moan escaped Finley’s mouth, the stranger’s other hand was deep in her mouth, only allowing the smallest of muffled noises to escape.  However, the pain only lasted a short while before the pain slowly faded away.  It wasn’t that Finley had stopped the bleeding or anything, she just suddenly became incapable of feeling anything.

“Oh, that was quick.”  The stranger finally withdrew their hands from within Finley’s body, standing up from the floor.  They nonchalantly walked away from the woman, climbing onto the windowsill before offering one last speech, “You know where to find me.”  Then, they faded into the night.


Finley let out a gasp as she finally opened her eyes, her chest heaving as she rapidly inhaled and exhaled.  Someone had apparently moved her to her living quarters after the fight between her and the dog ended, but she could still feel aches from her bone-shattering attacks.  The vampire sat up on the slab of stone she called a bed, finding that her hair and kimono had both returned to their orderly appearance.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had that specific nightmare, but it was probably just an influence from the curse she used.

Still, the curse was rather grotesque, wasn’t it?  The vampire wasn’t even positive when exactly the dog had died, but the fact Finley was still alive spoke to the fact she had won.  Maybe there was a corpse left, but the likelihood was rather slim.  It was an ability that came at the cost of a bit of her soul, so there wasn’t an unlimited amount of times she could use it, that was fine.  It was a tad bit painful to have the very essence of your being split apart by magic, but the results were worth it.  Truly, the doggy had been rather strong this time around, they might’ve even been at the level of the vampire that turned Finley into a monster.  Actually, no, that’s unrealistic.  Even if that person had been a murderous human, they were still human, and couldn’t ever measure up to that demon.

The woman’s body was covered in an abnormal amount of sweat, and seeing as her body was incapable of feeling warmth it wasn’t because she was lying in the desert for hours.  Wait, she could remember, it was the night she killed her father and fiance, wasn’t it?  After that, she had no need for such dreams.

“That’s right, now I’m unhindered by those feelings.”  Finley got to her feet with a twisted smile.  “I can enjoy myself in the Ring, enjoy myself more, and keep on enjoying myself.  Ara, I wonder if I can keep feeling this way for an eternity?”  Her crimson eyes were full of unadulterated bloodlust as she continued to laugh, moving outside of her chambers to satisfy her desire for death.

Althea emerged from the black pool, getting to her feet as the ebony liquid receded from her body.  She quietly scanned her location, finding herself to be back in her dreamscape.  It was a realm where everything was coated in darkness.  There was no definite ground, no definite directions, and simply being there made Althea feel she was perpetually floating half a centimeter above the surface.  However, she wasn’t in the mood to ponder how exactly this place worked, quite the opposite actually.  The blonde had definitely just died, and the main culprit of that was present in this realm.

“Angel of Dreams.”

A figure emerged from above the slayer, stepping out of the liquidlike darkness with an emotionless expression.  It took the same form as it did the last time Althea had seen it, a beautiful teen with golden hair, crimson eyes, and blackened wings wearing a black and white battle dress.  “Nice to meet you like this again, Angel of-”

“I have a name.  Refer to me as Althea.”  The blonde replied coldly, her eyes narrowing.  At this point, the color of them had probably shifted from blue to red, but that wasn’t her main concern for the moment.

The fallen angel’s emotionless face twisted into a depraved smile at the drop of a hat.  “Oh really?  Why don’t we just refer to each other normally?  I don’t know your designation, but mine is □□□□□□.”

Althea frowned, her eyebrows furrowing.  The words the creature spoke didn’t pair well with the human mouth and ears.  “No.  Saying designations aloud like that harms your surroundings.  But stop stalling and tell me-”

“Kyahah, is that right?  What does it do?  Tear people apart?  Suck the life from the air?  Kyahah, maybe I’ll test it when I leave the dreamscape!”  The angel’s expression displayed childlike excitement, but its red eyes betrayed its crazed fervor.

“Angel, I want to know how you manifested yourself outside my dreamscape,”  Althea said coldly, ignoring the creature's manic behavior.

The Angel of Dreams had and should be confined to Althea’s dreamscape after the youth defeated it and bound it there.  She didn’t completely break down its existence to avoid any adverse effects, but that didn’t mean the creature should be able to act outside its jurisdiction.  In the first place, the angel’s domain was within dreamscapes, so it shouldn’t be able to leave at all.

“Hmm,”  The angel’s smile widened, “I dunno.”

Althea wasn’t one who frowned often, but today must be her record for amounts of times frowned within one conversation.  She was actually rather sick of having to deal with the mad angel, who had been stuck in her subconscious for weeks.  So, she launched a water droplet directly through its forehead, killing it immediately.  Well, technically the being wasn’t dead.  Unless the blonde went through a bunch of complicated procedures as she had been before, the blackened angel’s existence could never be extinguished.  The very fact it still persisted despite having blackened its wings displayed this fact clearly.  So, when the corpse of the Angel of Dreams manifested, it immediately dissipated and a new body was rebuilt.

“Okay, stop messing around and answer the question,”  Althea said, crossing her arms.  In her dreamscape, her power far surpassed that of the golden-haired monster, so they could be there forever if she was so pleased.

“Someone was trying to summon my soul, and I decided to answer.”  Despite how cold the youth behaved, the angel’s smile never faltered.  “I didn’t know I’d be fighting you though, what a happy coincidence, kyahah!”

“Really?”  The young girl pondered for a moment.  “I guess I technically killed you once, so that fills the requirement for that weird ability.  But that still doesn’t explain how it created a path for you to leave at all, maybe it’s a vampire superpower thing?”

“Kyahah, vampire?  Never heard of them!”  Its expression once again became devoid of emotion before a deranged grin emerged, “Could you perhaps be talking about that troublemaker Vantysn?”

The mage sighed, "How would I know? But sure, if you feel like it has something to do with another aetherial then yeah, probably.”  She replied.  To be honest, she half doubted herself when she saw the ability the Inspector used.  It felt like it was aether, yet it was interacting with ethernano, which was against its extremely "anti-everything" nature.

The angel once again executed its maniacal laugh, “Kyaha, I was reminded of that little kiddie when the summon came through, how fun!  Mhm, kyahaha!”  It struggled to restrain its bout of laughter.  “Delightful!  Delightful!  I want to taste a vampire’s nightmares!  Ahh, Althea, I beg of you~”  Its beautiful face was contorted by greed for their next midnight snack, but that was only natural.  It was an angel that couldn’t break free from its innate nature as “Angel of Dreams”.  If not for Althea having half-consumed the thing, it would’ve gone insane from not being able to terrorize people in their dreams.

“Hey, could you stop talking for a second?”  Althea said bluntly, frowning as she watched the angel behave like a maniac.  “I wanted to delay my body reforming and drop by my dreamscape anyways, but this is abnormal.  My soul ended up here without me doing anything.”

“Kyaha, that was me~”  The angel once again found a hole drilled through its head, another body soon forming.  “Mhmhya, hear me out for a second.”  The golden-haired angel, said while grinning.  “I did say I wanted to talk to you, right?  Well, you have to reform yourself is the perfect time to tell you; I want to be devoured by you.”  The angel’s crimson was alight with a brutal glee.  “If I can’t devour, I’d rather be devoured.  Right here right now.  At first, I was able to enjoy the sense of my existence slowly being scraped apart, but I wasn’t made to enjoy that, you know?  I can devour forever, but you have to switch things up when devouring me.  The same old sensation isn’t very enjoyable, so just hurry up and extinguish me.”

Silence permeated the pitch-black dreamscape, then Althea finally reacted.  Not with words, but a cold, condescending smile.  “Are you stupid or something?  Why would I do that if it’ll cause my Clarity to shift?  Who knows what kind of changes would occur and how long they’ll stick around?  You should’ve already probed my mind enough to know what I want from devouring you.”

“Kyaha!  You’re right, I expected this kind of response…”  The angel’s playful grin deformed into a malicious, gluttonous smile, and Althea’s dreamscape slowly began to mutate “That’s why I’m so glad I persevered and managed to grant you a bit of my authority!”

Althea’s eyes widened, her fists clenching.  One angel granting another angel their own authority was as much a suicidal move as it was an impossible one.  They’re made from their authority up, so it’d be like taking out the entire foundation of a building to add to another one.  The moment you take even a bit of your authority away, it should immediately make the rest of you fall away before you can do anything about it.

“Kyaha, don’t you realize that I can make an exception?  I simply made the distance between my soul and yours “zero” so the moment I broke apart my soul, yours would serve to support me.  My authority is over “dreams”, and my ambition was to be devoured.  Therefore, it’s only natural I could make the unrealistic into the truth.”

Althea’s eyes narrowed as she watched her dreamscape seem to almost waver, the darkness becoming blotched with lighter shades of black.  The nature of authorities did have that sort of effect on reality, and one had to really deliberate over the angel’s title to fully understand it.  The Angel of Dreams could mix fantasy with desires to create their own outcome, no matter how farfetched.  Althea had prevented it from using it during their fight by canceling it out with her own, but that was probably how the deranged angel managed to last by itself for so long.  Getting rid of the authority the Angel of Dreams had granted would only serve to extinguish both of them, and soon their two souls would converge into one.  There was nothing the slayer could really do in a situation like this, so…

“Okay, you win.  Man, it really sucks to know I lost to you twice in one day.”  The youth’s stoic, cold expression disappeared, her usual childish smile returning.  She already felt the distinction between her and the other angel fading away as the dreamscape became mixed, and it wasn’t like her personality should change too much.  After all, it was just an angel, so it’d just be contributing to a part of Althea that was already there.

“Kyahaha, I’m glad you don’t mind!  I wonder what kind of being we’ll end up being!”  The golden-haired monstrosity laughed, its crimson eyes sparkling with a whole new type of apprehension.  “But before I assimilate into you, could your designation?  I want to have my own reaction when I find out your true identity.”

Althea blinked a few times, her red eyes locked with the angel’s.  It must be a product of their souls had already mixed a bit, but the angel was displaying an interest in something other than its gluttony.  Conversely, the mage didn’t feel repulsed enough by it to refuse its offer.  The young girl grinned as she recognized that she was already changing, but wasn’t that natural?  In fact, the angels were the unnatural ones for never changing…

The dreamscape was blotched, the world seems like an ever-shifting mix of black, gray, and white watercolors.  Despite herself, the crimson eyed youth grinned, “The closest translation of my designation is Kuylrue, but it’s a bother to pronounce, so when people use that name they’ll just call me Ku.”

The Angel of Dreams seemed to be both amused and satisfied with this explanation, displaying a grin that was very similar to Althea’s own.  “Alright, nice to meet you, Ku.”


Althea felt her body begin to rebuild itself, particles of aether converging to create her body.  She was back at the same site of her death, the outskirts of the Ring of Blood.  Admittedly, she got a bit sidetracked, but she’d still have time to go in and destroy everything.  She looked over her body, finding that it hadn’t really changed in the slightest.  Her sun hat and dress had been replaced by a dark red cloak, but otherwise, nothing had changed.  But that was only because the Angel of Dreams had no real definite form. After all, her magic had evolved into a whole other level.  Well, not in a “power” sense, but in a way she didn’t understand yet.

The Fairy Tail mage attempted to manifest water in her cupped hands, but all she got was a murky black substance.  She shook the liquid off her hands as she gazed around, trying to figure out what exactly she’d be doing from hereon.  Well, she still had to destroy the Ring of Blood, so might as well just go along with her original plan of participating as a slave.  The girl grinned as she walked towards the place she detected the greatest quantity of magic signatures, finding it to be a large apartment complex that had the same bleached white color as the rest of the area.

“Oi, ladie, get out of the way.”  A gruff voice said, shoving aside the youth as he walked by.  “A noncompetitor like you has no place before these quarters.  Go bum about with the rest of your weakling friends.”

Althea didn’t seem bothered by the harsh insults, but apparently, this slave had mistaken her to be part of a noncompetitor, or whatever.  “Oh, so are you a competitor?”

The harsh man scoffed, flexing his pectoral muscles.  “Don’t you see this?  You should b able to tell I’ve been participated in the Ring of Blood just by looking at me.  That’s why we get a roof over our heads while you lot starve in the sun.”

“Ah, really, I guess I came to the right place then.”  The blonde said, stepping into the apartments before the gruff man could say anything else about it.  As she did, the boisterous main hall immediately fell silent, the gazes of the slaves being a mix of contempt and pity.

After she had experienced only a few, Althea had already earned herself the nickname of “Crimson Valkyrie” in the Ring of Blood.  Apparently, the rich guys who paid to watch the stuff enjoyed her handiwork, and everyone hoped that they wouldn’t be the next one she was paired up with.  That led to the rest of the slaves avoiding her when it came to their free time in the apartment complex, Althea occupying a corner of the room by herself.

“Excuse me.”

Nevermind, apparently there was willing to talk to her.  Althea turned around to see a young woman with tanned skin, smooth hair, and vivid blue eyes.  From the looks of her high-class Deistran clothes, she seemed to be a high ranked fighter in the Ring of Blood, but her dainty appearance didn’t suggest that at all.  Many people quickly got over the shock of seeing Althea approached when they identified the woman, nervously returning to whatever they were doing beforehand.

“Ms. Crimson Valkyrie, I’m not going to beat around the bush.”  The tanned woman said, her eyes serious as she lowered her voice.  “You’ve fought the Inspector, haven’t you?”

Althea pondered for a moment before nodding, “You mean Finley, right?  Yeah, we’ve fought before.”

The woman’s eyes widened for a moment, seemingly surprised over how easily Althea admitted to the fact.  To be fair, she was a bit of a vague, antisocial person at times, but if someone asked why would the blonde bother lying about it?  “Alright then, could you please tell me the details?  I think that we could possibly have similar… interests.”

The blonde-haired youth raised an eyebrow but eventually nodded.  “Alright, let’s talk in private.”  She said, whipping around to leave the common area and enter one of the living chambers.

“Oh, do you already have a quarter of your own?”  The tanned woman said as she stepped into the dimly lit room.

“Nope,”  Althea said, her eyes landing on a pair of slaves playing cards in the quarter of the room.  “You guys.  Scram.”  The other slaves, after seeing the cold, uncaring look in her eyes, quickly packed up their game and left the room hurriedly.

“Hahh, I guess that’s one way of doing things.”  The tanned woman sighed as she took a seat on one of the beds in the room.  “I suppose you may be wondering about how exactly I knew about your little scuffle with the Inspector…”

“Oh, right.  Yeah, how’d you know about that?”  Althea said, crossing her arms.  Even Finley only had mild suspicions about the mage’s identity, and it was odd someone she had never met before and had never seen the fight figured things up.

“Well, I can’t tell you.  Instead, I want to ask why you ended up fighting.”

“Oh, so you don’t know that much?  Well, I’m here to-”

“Destroy the Ring of Blood.”  The tanned woman said, nodding meaningfully.  The blonde frowned, her brows furrowing as she was interrupted.  Seriously, what was the point of asking if you already knew the answer and didn’t want to hear it anyway?  “You will be pleased to know that we both have the same objective, Crimson Valkyrie.”

“Oh, so do you want an alliance?”

“Yes, you are correct.”  The woman brushed her navy hair behind her ear.  “I can assure you, I am a very useful person to be collaborating with.”

Althea closed her eyes for the moment, she could sense that the woman had a magic of some kind but it was kinda unnatural.  Anyways, it seemed as if she knew her way around the Ring, and a bit of help wouldn’t prevent her from enjoying her matches.  Either way, it wasn’t as if she was opposed to allying with anyone, if they ended up giving her problems, she’d just kill her.  “Okay.”  The mage said, grinning, “You may continue referring to me as Crimson Valkyrie, but how about you?”

The woman smiled, her gaze resembling a seasoned chess player looking at one of their pieces.  But honestly, Althea didn’t mind manipulative types like her, she could easily understand their line of thought so in a sense it made them far more predictable.  “I’m Anna.  I won’t ask you about what country you're affiliated with, so don’t ask about mine.”

“Oh, I’d never”  Althea said, “Look forward to working with you or whatever.”

Anna thought for a moment before speaking, “You don’t seem like it during your matches, but your a rather straightforward person, aren’t you?  Well, I guess I might as well tell you I’m making my move during your match tomorrow.  I’ll give you a window of time, and during that time I need you to engage the Inspector in battle.”  The navy haired woman seemed troubled as she contemplated, “I personally don’t have enough power to deal with that vampire on my own.  According to my information, she should only be a Silver Bishop, yet her power rivals high ranked rooks.  Additionally, any bishop should be too high ranked to be in charge of the Ring of Blood, yet why…?”

Althea remained silent as Anna talked to herself, instead of moving to leave the living chamber.  It was pretty nifty to learn the whole vampire thing wasn’t a secret, and a lot of other complicated things were going on in the background.  However, it really didn’t concern her until she received a request to do something about it.  As she emerged from the room, a dark smile emerged from under the mask of indifference.