Part 13
Zenith dismissed the guard with her hands on her chin. This is going to set me back years. The duchess got up from her chair and kicked it towards a corner. God damn it! She was angry sure, but also pained, she was a mother too, not just a duchess. She walked down the corridor towards Evelyn's room and barged without knocking to see her going through Cyeen's diary.
"Swords and their general usages.
Swords are most useful in one on one fights. It is- skip this one too. Did she even write anything other than lesson notes?"
Evelyn was stressed as well. She hadn't seen her sister in what felt like weeks and her diary wasn't giving her any solid information on where she could be. She was stressed to the point of not seeing her mother enter her room. Zenith sat down next to her on the bed.
"Evelyn, I don't have good news but I didn't want to keep this from you. May I request an ear for you to listen to me?"
Evelyn looked up at her mother with worried eyes.
"Of course. Please tell me mother."
Zenith sighed deeply and handed Evelyn a piece of bloody cloth along with few strands of violet hair the guard found in the forest.
"I'm afraid we have every reason to think your sister has... passed away."
Evelyn's eyes welled up and her voice started cracking.
"N-no... She, she wouldn't leave me alone like that. She wouldn't right..?"
Zenith was trying her hardest to keep her own tears inside seeing the state of Evelyn.
"I can't confirm that but she most likely left us by now."
Evelyn's tears turned into anger tinged with sorrow. She pointed at Zenith.
"She left because hick because of you! You hick killed her! You killed my sister!"
She tucked herself into her bed and pulled the bed sheets over her head. She was not in the mood for anything right now as a few tears weren't enough to express her current feelings.
A thunder was heard in the background.
"YOU FUCKER!"
Jess lifted both of her arms up and tried summoning as many swords as she could materialize. A single short sword slowly glided towards the blonde monster. She happily let it graze her cheek before making a mocking face.
"That was all? Well my turn I guess!"
A dozen of hands flew towards Jess which she blocked the first half with her soul weapon. The second half sent her flying back towards Cyeen and Zoen, right into a tree.
"Ah, how boring. Why insult me then?"
Jess tried getting up but to no avail. All she could do was watch the girl with shaking hands. "My family, not my family again..." she mumbled. The blonde girl looked ready to finish off the trio before she received a message written on a blue rectangle.
"Oh well, I guess my quest is complete. See you later guys, lets play again sometime?"
Fragen used her navy blue arms to leave the cliffside and left the three of them all alone. Cyeen wasnt looking back towards the cliff. She was scared out of her mind. That was no sound of a shield breaking. Jess couldn't get up from underneath the tree. The demon woman started crying as she struck the ground. Zoen was barely conscious to know what was going on. They were all barely alive.
Twenty four graves. Not one with someone inside them. Jess had dug them all by herself. Twenty four different flowers. Zoen had gathered them all by himself. Twenty four gravestones. Cyeen had found them all by herself. Sun shined brighter than usual as if to mock the losses of the sibling.
She didn't care much for the pirates but knew it was important to respect the dead. The noble lady watched the siblings hold hands in front of all the graves, it was truly a heartbreaking sight to behold.
Zoen decorated the last one with yellow flowers and got up. He held his sisters hand once again and started speaking.
"Today, the blood of our comrades dye the ocean red, leaving us with a cruel goodbye. Tomorrow, we'll dye this very ocean with our own hands."
The siblings approached Cyeen with frowns nearly reaching the ground. Zoen pointed somewhere.
"Enidia is located there, a day of walking away."
Cyeen got up, ready to leave. It was clear she wasn't wanted here.
Go with them. Beg if you have to.
She turned back towards them.
"I'm coming with you."
Jess lashed out.
"You caused enough prolbems already! Jus leave us alone ya jinx!"
Cyeen lowered her head.
"I'm sorry. But that's precisely why I want to come with you. I want to pay you back for all the problems I caused you. I have connections and knowledge if you are going to be searching for that girl."
"Who do ya think yo-!"
Zoen quickly whispered into her ear. "Having a noble with us would open many doors for us." He stepped back and looked at Cyeen.
Jess sighed in defeat. She was really not in the mood.
"Don' be a dead weight."
Cyeen stood upright.
"Thank you."
There was no talking, only walking. The air felt tense enough to be cut by a knife. Jess was clenching her fists occasionally but other than that no one did anything other than walk. Cyeen couldn't understand Jess and Zoen's sorrow. Most people she knew hadn't kicked the bucket yet with the exception of Súko. Maybe that was the reason she still felt sad about her death. Cyeen shook her head and summoned her white book to take notes of new things she saw with a white pencil. Zoen had taken notice of that and turned his head towards her.
"You were a dual wielder? And I gotta say, that's such a weird weapon."
Cyeen looked up from the small book.
"That's not important right now. Who was that?"
Jess talked while still looking and walking forward.
"Thad waz what we call a 'player'. Dey say dey reincarnated from a place called Earth. All dhey do is wreck havoc on our world. The playerz sometimes also goes by dhe name 'hunters'. They are humanz capable of leveling up beyon' deir predetermined maximum power. After dey surpass a threat level of six dhey use the name 'hero player'."
Zoen interrupted her.
"Well I don't believe that they came from another dimension. They must be from Lianite like us. I think that lie was fabricated by hero players."
Jess clicked her tongue.
"Just accept I'm right. They are nat lyin'."
"I see..." Said Cyeen as she wrote it down. She chose to believe Jess this time. If what she said was true it would mean these players were actual threats to the residents of Lianite.
Apologize. To Jess.
Why? Cyeen thought. The voice had been giving her confusing instructions for a while.
"Jess, allow me to apologize for tiring you out. You could have maybe put more of a fight if I hadn't."
Jess clicked her tongue again.
"Don't, I would have done the same, been there before. The reason I'm furious is because you made us take that route. If it wasn't for you they'd still be living."
Cyeen crossed her brows.
"I didn't force you to go that way?"
Jess just clenched her teeth and shut up. She wanted to pounce on this violet haired noble there and then but the demon was way too tired to start something. She preferred insulting her this time.
"Ya din't tire me out one bit by the ways. And your shiel', why 'avent yu adjusted it to be above yer clothin'? Are you that braindead?"
This was the first time Cyeen heard of that. I could make it protect my clothes too? She tried a few combinations of hand moves. Honestly she didn't even know what she was doing. Zoen tapped her on the shoulder.
"Imagine as if you're pouring more essence into it to make it bigger. The same process as weapon creating."
Cyeen followed Zoen's instructions but was met with utter failure. She decided on giving it a try later.
They had been walking this entire time without stopping once but were still nowhere close to any settlements. This state of constant walking lasted only eight hours as the trio got hungry and thirsty. They settled in a forest, sent Zoen out to hunt and bring water while Jess constructed them a small tent made out of sticks, leaves and dirt. The flint and steel she had on her came in handy to start a fire. Cyeen stared at the demon woman in awe. She was atleast ten times better at surviving out in the wild than her. Zoen soon returned with a few rabbits and a leather flask full of drinking water. They ate like wild animals that night, no words spoken. It felt like her usual dinners back home. Zoen cleared his throat.
"Looks like we'll be traveling for a while together, Cyeen, could you tell us a bit more about your strengths?"
"Oh of course. So first of all I'm-"
Her sentence was cut in half as Jess grabbed her arm and tossed her up on her feet. Cyeen was thrown approximately two meters away from where she sat down. With a quick adjustment she managed to regain her balance and saved herself from falling down.
"We had an unfished fight, Cyee Flame."
Cyeen stared her down.
"I don't want my clothes to suffer any more damage."
"I know, that'z why we wil figt like men. Han to han. No teleportin, must be a fayir fight."
Jess took a balanced stand meanwhile Cyeen held both arms out next to each other. Jess swiftly threw a right uppercut at Cyeen which she blocked by stepping back and using both arms. Jess didn't waste anytime, throwing a left hook. Cyeen couldn't separate her arms in time to block this one, getting hit directly. The impact of the punch caused her head to spin for a second. Jess followed it up with a sweep kick aiming to make her fall. The lady jumped back, barely dodging it. Taking advantage of Cyeen being airborne she threw an elbow strike at her face. The blow almost caused her to pass out therefore she wasn't ready for the barrage of jabs Jess threw right afterwards. Jess made her finishing move by attempting another sweep kick which landed, rendering Cyeen lost. Jess exhaled loudly.
"I feel a lot beter now dat I actualy bashed yar face in. You ar such a weak fighter. I donot think yur actually fit to throw andz around. You'd be beter off learnin' sum kicky moves. "
Cyeen looked up with bloodlust in her eye. She pointed at Jess, summoning five blasters around herself. Just right before she could fire them Jess kicked her hand and stepped on it.
"Coward."
The demon woman went back next to her brother. It took a while for Cyeen to recover from the blows even though her shield regenerated the blows she took. The noble went back towards the temporary base. She was quite butthurt about this. Any person that got beaten the senses out of them would feel that way. She quietly went back to eating her rabbit meat.
Cyeen waited until the two slept to practice expanding her shield. She didn't want to feel embarrassed even more by her failed attempts. First try, nothing happened. Second try, the shield shrank. Third try, it expanded a little more than the usual for a second. Fourth try, the shield extended horizontally. Cyeen picked up a rock and threw it at a random tree. To her horror, she heard a chuckle coming from behind that tree. A victorian violet colored beam of essence quickly blasted the tree. Cyeen looked at her hands for a second. Wait I didn't have to summon it directly in my hand? The chuckling hadn't stopped even when the tree was severely damaged by the blast. Jess emerged from behind it.
"HAHA!!! Wer yo even teached anythin' back in yo fanci mansion?!!"She was clearly enjoying this way too much. "My broter told me to teach ya a litle aboud combat. Bud oh mæn, this is hilarious!"
Under the moonlight Cyeen could clearly see the shape of Jess's muscles. They weren't extreme but definitely didn't match her strength level. Do demons have lower muscle percentage? And isn't she be supposed to be mourning? What's with all that laughing? Cyeen reached out her arm towards Jess trying to summon knives. Nothing came forward.
"Yu stupid Cyeen Flame? Ya are suppozed to assign it a hand sing."
"I'm pretty sure my hand in fact can't sign." Making fun of her accent was probably her only source of joy these days.
Jess cracked her neck.
"Oh it wil sing when I'm dones widh ya."