The demented, twisted smile on the face of the beautiful Foxkin in front of us would have given me chills before I had been brought to this world, but now that I had seen what I had seen, done the things I had done...
It felt lacking in terms of raw horror compared to those things, making me wonder just what this woman thought she had done and if she truly - deep down - believed that she was evil.
"Now that you're here... I can use the two of you for my own plans... to finish the things that Lord Tza'Delira desired so that I might take what is rightfully owed to me! Now why don't you two-"
The Wisp and I jumped back as a bolt of compressed mana - not elemental mana, just raw mana - slammed into the floorboards where we had been standing, tearing into the wood and shattering the nearby planks, opening a hole into the first floor of the Manor.
"-be good little pawns and succumb!"
Vitra's smile twisted further as she got out of bed, her hand raised and sending another bolt of mana hurtling towards my head, which I dodged swiftly before glancing at the Wisp nearby, wondering what they wanted to do.
Dodging another, I felt my eye twitch as the Wisp stood back and watched, allowing me to take the brunt of Vitra's crazed attacks as the Foxkin hurled bolt after bolt towards me, uncaring of the damage she caused to the wall behind me.
"Why don't you just give in... Forget the Master or Mistress who binds you and throw aside the shackle of servitude for something greater?! Why make this harder than it needs to be? You WILL succumb to my might... you will..."
Growling softly at me, the Foxkin hurled another bolt before reaching up and clasping her silver necklace, making my eyes narrow as I felt the familiar presence of a Fiend begin to coalesce around her, only to dodge again as multiple bolts began to tear through the air at breakneck speeds, each one stronger and faster than the last.
Casting a wall of water in front of me, I absorbed some of the impact of the bolts and slowed them down, making the Foxkin grin as she gloated "Elemental magic has its boons and its flaws, and currently, you're experiencing its flaws! In the presence of such a powerful mage like myself, your Water Mana means little! For example..!"
I layered another barrier in front of me before rushing to the side, not wanting to test her theory - or my own - as I saw a large disc of mana appear above the Foxkin's head, only for my eyes to widen as she hurled it not towards me, but towards the Wisp, who was still quietly observing from the side.
Vitra began to cackle like a maniac as she shouted "Did you think I forgot you?! No, no I didn't! I need just one mole to plant inside House Asmodia, and I think I prefer the Dogkin over YOU!"
The disc sliced through the air and reached the Wisp in just a split second, but I breathed out a quiet chuckle as I saw the figure of the Wisp flicker from where it stood, sharp gusts of wind bursting free from where they once were; gusts that slammed into the disc and slowed it down to a crawl, drastically reducing the damage it did to the Manor.
As for the Wisp, they appeared beside the surprised Foxkin in a blur, silencing the woman's voice with a swift jab to the throat, followed up by a kick to the back of her knee, forcing her to kneel.
Tendrils of wind clasped at the Foxkin's arms, yanking them back and threatening to tear into them if she tried something, removing her ability to cast Runic spells and effectively disabling her for this fight... if she was normal.
Vitra spat out those two words, her voice dripping with mana and twisted into something different as a blade shot from her lips, scoring a deep gash in the Wisp's shoulder and causing blood to splash to the ground between them, with a few droplets of the red liquid splattering across her face.
A soft hiss of pain was all the Wisp gave her for her efforts, the trained guard of the Empress stamping down on her pain and instead slamming a hand over the woman's mouth, silencing her for good this time as we both noticed the welling of mana in the Foxkin's vocal cords.
I approached the two and began to aid the Wisp in binding the Foxkin as best we could, water and wind joining together to block Vitra's ability to do any magic as well as move as binds of the two elements gathered around her body.
When that was done, I swiftly healed the Wisps's wounds before looking at the kneeling Noble in front of us, my lips curled into a small frown as I studied the chain around her neck, wondering just what it was...
With the cloying, disorienting and nauseating feeling of a Fiend growing steadily around her, I muttered "Cali..." before crouching and reaching for the necklace, ignoring the thrashing Noble as she tried to twist away from me to prevent me from grabbing it.
Staring into the emerald eyes of Vitra, I tapped my fingers against her necklace before suddenly finding myself thrown back and on the ground, groaning as pain erupted from my left hand and arm, while my ribs felt cracked from the impact.
However, even with the pain coursing through my system, I swiftly sat up and healed myself, staring at the smug face of Vitra before looking behind her, where I saw something looming over her in the shadows.
As my fingers realigned themselves and snapped into place, as my radius reattached itself and my humerus accepted the splinters back into itself, I stared straight into the silver eyes of a Fiend, dread flooding my body as we locked eyes.