Chapter 13: Red mist and shadow hands
Drip
The sound of the liquid meeting the floor echoed. The man could feel his vision slowly returning to normal.
His body throbbed with pain when he tried to move around. His eyes squinted while trying to figure put the current situation.
'Where... am I...?'
He thought while looking straight at the darkness gracing upon him. There was not a shred of light to be seen.
His throat was dry, but taste of iron-like strong flavor still remained. It was his own blood, which he had gulped down unconsciously.
"Just... what..."
He said this as his legs came into his field of view. He slowly looked a bit to the left and right.
Kuh
He let out a sound, seeing his hands tied to a chair's arms. His legs were tied to the chair's legs. But that wasn't the only shocking thing.
'What is this red mist...?'
He tried to break free of the red mist, tying him down to the chair. He used as much strength as he could.
"It's no use."
Someone said this in response to the man's futule actions. The man could only see the person's feet because of how dark it was.
"Jaden Brimstone."
The person hiding in the darkness snickered. Jaden tried to squint his eyes to see the face of the person.
"You are weaker than her. As expected..."
Swish
A ball of light appeared in front of Jaden. The dark place he was in was brightened up by the lights of the candles.
"Nice to meet you..."
The person hiding in the darkness revealed themselves. Jaden had no idea who the person was.
With silver-ash-coloured hair shining, she smiled at him. She wore a black full dress with red borders on it's skirt.
"We meet again, dear customer."
Her voice changed to one that he had heard before. He looked at her while his right eye was closed.
"Why..."
As Jaden was going to ask the girl, she started laughing loudly. She laughed for a while and then stopped.
"Blame the lady you were roaming around with. She is the reason I chose to abduct and confine you."
Saying that, the girl moved her index finger from Jaden's throat to his chin. She glared into his eyes.
Jaden was about to speak, but the girl gave him no chance to do so. She put her hand tightly across his mouth.
"Ah. I didn't introduce myself. Right."
The girl looked at Jaden while holding his mouth with her palm. A smile appeared on her face. Jaden could feel a cold sensation all over his body.
"I am..."
The upper canines, which looked like those of humans, slowly grew a bit. Now they were identical to fangs.
"Lilith Rosario. I am quite infamous, you see."
Jaden's face turned pale. The being in front of him wasn't a human.
The red-coloured shadow of wings formed behind her as she introduced herself.
"People know me as the 'One who reigns over the night'. You must've heard about me."
He had heard about her. Not just that, but he had written a few things about her. He could feel the hair on his arms standing up straight on his skin; He was getting goosebumps.
'What is the queen of vampires doing in a place like this...?'
The person in front of him was none other than the vampire queen. She was also a member of the demon generals.
She wasn't the strongest, but she was strong enough to cause a massacre. What was her age, you ask?
"Boy. I may look young, but I'm quite old."
She said this as red spears made of blood rose in the air beside her. They pointed towards Jaden.
"Don't look at me with those eyes."
The spears flew towards Jaden, who was tied up in one place. He closed his eyes tightly.
Shink shink
Some sounds fell on his ears. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that the spears were on the ground. They slowly disappeared.
"Who-?!"
Lilith turned towards where something approached her. Someone grabbed her face and slammed her head into the ground.
Banggg
A person wearing black clothes was standing there. Jaden couldn't see his face or identify his gender.
'Who is it now?'
The person was covered in black from toes to head. But Jaden could tell one thing.
'Whoever it is... this person is strong.'
They had easily made the vampire queen kiss the ground. And the inhumane speed at which he did it was more than enough for Jaden to recognise his strength.
Maintaining his silence, the person walked towards Jaden. A black hand crept out of his shadow. It was pitch-black darkness.
Rip rip
It cut apart the red mist, tying Jaden down to the chair. Jaden tried to get up, but his vision wasn't that clear. He wobbled a bit.
He tried to regain his senses while holding his head lightly. His vision was hazy as he tried to look towards the person who had freed him.
"Who... are you...?"
Jaden was barely staying conscious. He could feel his head splitting apart in pain making him struggle to speak.
The person stayed silent. Instead of him, the hands made from his shadow made their move.
[You don't need to know yet.]
Jaden read it while squinting his eyes. He could read somehow, but his head still hurt.
[It looks like my job's done here.]
He slowly looked towards the door nearby. Jaden recognised the place a bit now that he looked at it closely.
[She is here.]
As he read this, Jaden heard a sound. An oddly familiar voice called his name.
"Jaden!"
Aliana had arrived there. She called out to Jaden. As Jaden was about to walk towards the sound, the red mist caught him again.
"Where do you think you are going...?"
Lilith slowly stood up as blood trickled down her head. She received some damage from being hit by the person in black clothes.
"Sh**..."
Jaden tried to break free from it. It was of no use. He looked around for the person who hit Lilith a while ago. He had disappeared. Just like a shadow.
Bang
With a loud sound, a wall and flames came flying towards Lilith. She enveloped her body with her red mist and dodged it somehow.
"You dare to touch him?"
Aliana stood with flames surrounding her. But something was different this time.
'Were those flames... always this pretty?'
Jaden thought as he witnessed the petals of a rose made out of flames. It was Aliana's magic.
'Insane b*tch. She isn't even using a spell. This looks troublesome...'
Lilith could feel the killing intent that Aliana was letting out. But she wasn't scared.
-----------------------
Fwip
Cutting the mist off, Aliana held Jaden by her shoulders and let him sit on the floor.
"Why are you-"
Snap
Jaden couldn't continue what he was saying. Aliana pulled out the bracelet and put it on his wrist. The bracelet was the same one that Jaden had seen earlier. Tears of the Goddess.
"Alia-"
Aliana's glare made Jaden stop his words. He wanted to ask her a lot of things.
"Stay quietly here."
Swish
As Aliana was speaking, something came flying towards Jaden. Aliana quickly turned towards the red spears that came towards them.
Shink
Before the spears even reached them, they crashed into an invisible force and fell to the ground. The solidified blood went back to its liquid form.
"It will be over soon."
Aliana stood up and turned towards Lilith. She looked at her surroundings. It was the same place they had visited earlier. The store was where Lilith was hiding.
"You caused these injuries to him, right?"
Aliana asked Lilith. She was calmly walking towards Lilith.
"Yes. I did. What can you even do about it?"
Lilith held blood spears up behind her in the air. She was looking at Aliana as if she were her prey.
'It seems I touched a sensitive spot.'
Lilith had managed to get Aliana angry for the first time. She looked at her with an evil smile on her face.
"Is that so...?"
Aliana continued to walk towards her. Her piercing, cold gaze stuck on the person she deemed as her enemy.
"Don't expect my mercy from now on."
Aliana let out a fraction of her mana. Lilith felt pressure on her whole body making her drop to her knees.
'T-this is-!'
She barely held back the blood rising up to her throat. Her organs were writhing in pain.
"S-stop!"
Lilith threw the red spears towards her. Dust emerged from where Aliana was.
"Hahahaha- I warned you not to-"
Lilith was laughing. But at that very moment, her laughter came to a stop. Aliana was standing with not a single scartch on her.
Her lips that were loose a while ago, slowly extended outwards. The cold smile formed on her face made her voice seem even colder to Lilith.
"You think something this weak can hurt me...?"
Aliana put her hand on her cheek. She tilted her head and looked into Lilith's eyes with not shred of hesitation.
Lilith could tell that she really meant it. The death that she had never imagined, was approaching her.
"D-don't come-"
Lilith continued to rain down spears on Aliana. But nothing could stop her marching through the deadly rain.
Blood splattered on her clothes as Aliana . Jaden who was watching all this couldn't help but admire her magic.
'Her magic is really interesting...'
He was looking forward to what more magic spells Aliana was hiding. He was a generic fantasy novel author and a reader, after all.
"You brought this on yourself."
Aliana raised her right hand in the air. Something flashed in her hand before gradually moving up towards the sky.
Snap
Snapping her fingers, she poured out some more of her mana. Lilith's instincts were screaming at her right now.
'I should run. I should run.'
But how could she run away when her body was petrified? The only thing she could do was stare at the huge magic circle that formed above Aliana.
She could feel countless spells bound into one single spell. That spell wasn't something anyone could just defend themselves against.
'Ah.'
She looked into Aliana's eyes. She had not realised just how grave a mistake she had made till then.
She remembered what happened when Aliana visited her store earlier. This should've happened before they reached the current point in time.
'She could've killed me that time itself...'
Lilith finally understood that she had crossed a line that shouldn't be crossed. Her face went pale while she bit her own lips, barely staying conscious.
'I have a trick or two left... I should be careful...'
Lilith was holding on as much as she could. The limits she had reached were meant to be broken for her to use a certain last option.
"Annihilation!"
Aliana's voice was taking over the silent atmosphere. The magic circle in the air disappeared while shattering into fragments, like a glass.
Fwoosh
There was an eerie silence, and Lilith could feel her body getting ripped apart. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
Bang
A huge sound was heard throughout the kingdom of Dragonaria. No one had any idea that the sound was from the spell that almost killed a demon general.
Jaden watched this with astonishment filling his eyes. He could see Aliana standing with her back turned towards him. Lilith was nowhere to be seen.
Snap
Aliana snapped her fingers, and the store returned to how it was. She spun towards Jaden and smiled.
"Amazing..."
Jaden had seen a battle of magic users for the first time in his life. He was surprised, excited, and bewildered by what he had witnessed.
"Don't be amazed with just this much."
She walked to Jaden as she spoke in a grumpy tone. Then it shifted to a confident one.
"You are going to see a lot of amazing things soon."
Aliana smiled as she lent Jaden a hand to get up from the floor. There was blood on his clothes which disappeared within a second. Jaden's wound had healed because of the bracelet's effect.
"Shall we get going now?"
Aliana said this as she pulled Jaden's hand. A sound fell upon Jaden's ears. Aliana didn't hear it.
Flap flap
'What was that just now?'
Jaden tried to look for the source of the sound. There was nothing there in that direction.
'My imagination?'
He thought as he continued walking with Aliana. He looked towards the sun that was setting down gradually.
The sound wasn't his imagination. Something was moving towards an alleyway nearby.
'T-that was close-!'
Lilith had escaped. To be specific, it was one of her abilities. She used her blood to make a clone right when Aliana used her magic.
Thanks to all of that, she survived but lost most of her powers. Now she was in the form of a bat.
'I need to find a human and drink his blood.'
She was looking for a human so that she could recover her strength. And finally, a human came into her view.
'A maid? At night? This is the best.'
Lilith flew fast towards the maid aiming her fangs at her skin. She was about to reach for her neck when...
Shink
Some sound vibrated in her ear. She could feel no killing intent from the maid. But something cut Lilith apart.
'Huh? What just... happened...'
Lilith could feel the last ounce of strength leaving her small body. The face of the maid came into her view. It wasn't clearly visible.
"Oh my. It seems that they let this bug escape. Don't worry. You won't die this easily."
Black hands began rising from her shadow. Lilith knew who that person making her feel uneasiness was.
Swish
Using her life force, Lilith restored some of her mana. She mustered up some of her strength and flew away.
Life force wasn't much important as compared to her life. If she managed to make it out of there unscathed, she could just restore the powers she lost.
The hands of shadow disappeared with a smile crawling up her lips. The maid was walking towards the bright light at the end of the path.
"Trash have their job too."
The maid said this walking out of the alleyway. Her face had become more clear now.
"Madam must be worried about me. I should take back something for young master as a gift since I'm on leave."
Rudia said this while smiling at herself. She was returning to the Brimstone residence.
-1 hour left for birthday banquet
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AbyssKun00
AbyssKun00 I hope you enjoy this- XD
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