“I-I don’t know what you mean.” I said, my heart quickly rising up to my throat.
“Your tricks never worked on me from the start.” She replied, snickering.
I knew it was foolish to deny it. She had already said my name. There was no sense continuing the ruse. As she looked at me, I let out a long sigh. Of course, as I watched her, I still had an eye on my girls. Even five to one. They were still doing well. They had defeated several Bandits, but whenever a Bandit was defeated, a new one jumped down.
“You brought us just where we wanted to be. You may be able to able to keep summoning Bandits, but you’ll have wasted more many than you gained.”
“It’s true…” She nodded, looking over the girls. “They are a lot more powerful than I expected. It was originally just my goal to kill them off and turn them into powerful dungeon Bandits, perhaps even Karmic Bandits that could lead as my lieutenants. However, you all exceeded my expectations. After swapping out my original 10th level boss for a Kraken, I knew that I had truly hit the jackpot.”
“What jackpot?” I sneered. “This doesn’t end in a way where you don’t lose.”
“Aren’t we getting a bit cocky?” She chuckled. “You’re in my room.”
“What about me?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be killing me?”
“Hmm? Should I? Aren’t you the weakest of all of them? Even though you managed to cure the miasmic curse from my dagger, killing you is still very simple if that is what I wanted.”
“Then, what do you want?”
“Heh…” She grinned. “I want your body.”
“Wh-what?” My face flushed slightly.
“I’ve had some interest in you from before. Since you’ve brought Salicia to me, I’ve been watching you. There are many secrets about your body that impress me.”
I didn’t know what to say. She really had seen everything. I had thought I had been playing her, but it turned out that she had been playing me. She hadn’t just been playing me, but it had started since before I even knew she existed. From the moment I met Salicia, she had been somewhere in the background. I had hoped that she simply wasn’t aware of the details of what Salicia had seen and done, but it turned out I was being ignorant and naïve.
“Why are you doing all of this? What is your goal?”
“To destroy Lord Aberis.” She sighed.
“You want the King? He’s harder to handle…”
“Did I say King Aberis?” She spat. “That fat old fool and his maid slut! If they did things right, I wouldn’t have needed to intervene! The Demon Lord Aberis is still alive!”
I took several steps back, my mouth falling open in shock.
“Wh-what? That can’t be!’
“The Demon Lord has a special skill, the ability to reincarnate. The first time he had done it, his father, the Demon King, had struck him down when he tried to destroy his father at the end of the First Demon War.”
“First Demon War! How long ago was that?”
“I was just a young sorceress at the time, working with the Bandit Hero. To gain power, I had betrayed the human race in the hopes of endearing myself to the Demon Prince. In recompense, he used me as an incubator! The Demon King had damaged his soul heavily. It took many years for him to regain all of his strength, but when he did, he possessed me, and eventually was reborn as a child between me and the Bandit Hero. He even forced me to send my husband to the grave. He tried to ensure my death too, but I managed to escape.
“After that, he began the war on Aberis. By the time I had recovered, the war was already over, and he had been struck down. However, he had found a new mother!”
“Why does this sound familiar?” I scrunched my eyebrows.
“I believe the woman Aberis’ soul now resides in is Xin, the Osterian Princess Hero!”