14 The Vault of the Souls

The fact that someone was still alive after seeing all of them was a baffling fact for the group following Leilade. It was not in their nature to always slaughter everyone and leave no witnesses, except for Ymir, but in this case and in a hostile world, this caused nearly all of them to frown. And as always, the more talkative broke the silence after a few minutes of walk.

"Empress, without disrespecting you but … Is it really fine to let this human alive?"

The succubus had regained a bit of her former glory and her hair was beginning to regrow. For now, only a small amount of red hair was visible and for her injuries, they were not as grave as before. She still looked like the victim of an important accident, not like a broken corpse standing. On everyone, the injuries of that space travel were still important and that small batch of corpses was clearly not enough to heal everything.

"Without disrespecting blablabla! Don't mistake that thing for mercy it was just the only thing to do. Otherwise, I would have suffered a headache for nothing. Those humans are truly risible, but I guess we were all like that at one point. Anyway, take those."

The scathing voice of Leilade quickly extinguish all the thoughts of weakness inside the minds of her subordinates. For them it was a very good thing, none of them had the magical abilities to contact anyone beyond the atmosphere. And they were used to the character of their commander, so if she was to become soft, they would have a hard time dealing with it.

Soon, around everyone, a small blue ball was rotating in front of her head. Ymir and Kardel gritted their teeth at that sight, knowing what will happen. The moment those tiny balls entered their bodies, the intense pain came back, like when they first woke up. On the other hand, Davion and Meridiana just kneeled for a second. The rest of the group had to wait for the three armed demons and the duvodiad to stop crawling on the ground. This spell was the best way to transmit information between two beings, the only problem was that those without a huge proficiency in magic had to endure an indescribable pain.

Profiting of that short break, Leilade finally began to enter her soul, to seek everyone that managed to survive this ordeal. What appeared before she was the ruin of the citadel inside her mind, the one that she created and fortified during nearly nine hundred years. In front of the broken gate, she saw the soul of the Viscount, dressed in his bloodied and torn clothes. The same that he wore when they first encountered each other.

(Outlander, I really hope you have a lot to spare, the situation is dire. I didn't want to say that while you were leeching the life force of those humans, but we have a lot of casualties. Not counting all of those that didn't manage to reach you on Artosis, we only have less than a fifth of what we should have. The … guest is unconscious; I have no idea of the damage done to his spirit.)

The soul in front of her paused for a fraction of second before saying those last words. She knew far too well how important he was, but right now she couldn't even take care of herself.

(As for the rest, everyone is in deep slumber besides the grandmaster Agnil. He is squeaking like a pork that someone is roasting. He demands your presence immediately; shall I say that you are busy?)

"No, I will personally see who can be saved and who will be salvaged to save the other. As for the guest, keep an eye on him. He shouldn't die from something like that, I am even more certain that he could survive me dying."

(Outlander.)

The spirit of the Viscount bowed before his mistress who quickly reached the residence of master Agnil. Even before entering it, she could already hear the loud shouts of the noisy dwarf. Even if that citadel was part of her soul and she had total control on it, she still let those ghosts do as they pleased since they were normally reasonable. However, after everything that happened, maybe she needed to harshen the regulations. Following that trail of thoughts, a huge smile appeared on the manifestation of her spirit.

The moment the lively undead dwarf saw her, and especially her smile, he quickly shut up and bowed. For him, it was fine to complain because he felt that he lost half of his soul, but when the big boss was not here. All around him, fragments of his residence were laying on the ground, broken. Without this building sheltering him, the deadline before he began to leak his energy and he ceased to exist will appear, unless the Empress solved that issue. But her spiritual avatar reflected the state of her physical body, and that didn't appease the grandmaster.

"Agnil, let's be clear, I won't be able to fix this for a period of time. The duration is unknown, could be two days like a month. Others are even more hurt than you and not even reacting to the Viscount. So please, conserve your strength and try to find a more … intact house."

Without even waiting for an answer she was gone, letting the ghost ponder about what she said. The only thing he knew was the fact that they suffered a terrible assault and only a few of the souls survived. Looking at the empty and calm citadel, the broken and disfigured fortress, the very old dwarf sighted.

Leilade was less and less happy as she checked on every resident. The only light of hope was the fact that Lucio, the grand chief, creator of countless dishes more delicious than anything else, was not in a terrible state. His dishes were also better for recovery than devouring raw human as they did previously. But like the rest, he was in a deep coma, and only a large amount of energy could wake him up.

During all that time, the two poor creatures that were subjected to an intense pain finally managed to stand up. They joined their comrades that were observing the face of the little girl in front of her. Not even the difference in height and the dim light provided by the two moons prevented them from doing this. And their expression darkened after seeing the smile on the face of Leilade fading. The group waited for a few minutes before they saw the girl shaking her body.

"We will go in this direction, Kardel, scout for anything out of the ordinary and try to find a mountain. Normal formation."

"Yes, Empress."

The four held their reserves and diligently followed the instruction of Leilade. What they should know will be revealed in due time. Instead of a panther, it was a huge black bird with four wings that left the ground. The duvodiad had recovered enough of his strength to morph in something less like a human. Otherwise, the change of morphology would have irremediably destroyed his blood vessels and nerves.

Without any sounds, the rest followed the flying creature toward the location that Leilade pointed at. Right now, they were in a forest, but apparently, thanks to the memory of both the cultists and the soldiers, they will encounter a small mountain in a few days. There, the next part of the plan will begin and they will start their operations in the local region. Before they could have neglected the forces in the kingdom and be arrogant but not anymore.

It was true that individually, they should all be stronger than any being on that planet. But this was at their peak, not at the present condition. And they were all too familiar with the principle of cannon fodder thrown at a strong enemy. Countless experts and monsters were also hidden, that could cause grave injuries if not dealt swiftly. Just the kingdom of that princess, the same where they currently were, could probably kill them if their army were assembled right now.

For the moment, their only way of surviving was keeping a low-profile, hide in the masses and survive. A huge massacre could probably heal everything at the surface of their bodies, but not the internal problems and even less allow them to recover their full strength. And the drawback would be an instant retaliation, a never ending hunt. Since it was a subjective vision coming from someone else, they were unable to tell what was a belief, and what was a fact.

As for Leilade, her biggest worry was the fact that she still couldn't touch the flow of magic around her. Right after the incident, she still could understand that, but after nearly an hour, it was weird. She tried to cast a simple flame, but no matter how hard she tried, she always had to use her own reserves coming from the darkness inside her to successfully cast it. She hoped that the few insects and seeds will rapidly act and give her back her powers. Otherwise, she would have to sustain herself through the lifeforce of the living.