255 Setting the stage

Ashley grabbed Evlin and pushed her out of the way as Dria attempted to stab the woman with her blades.

The two landed on the floor and watched as the dryad sliced the furniture into pieces.

"You guys sure do love your boring conversations..." Dria commented while smiling at them, "Do you know how long I've been waiting for Knucker to give me permission to trash you??"

Ashley glared at the plant woman, "You never change, do you?"

"You can't change perfection!"

Dria raised her arms and a barrage of vines appeared out of the ground and chased after the two ladies.

Evlin tried to dodge it but her body was still not back at full power and she ended up getting grabbed by the demon.

"Ugh!!" she cried while having her body lift up by Dria.

"Evlin!!" Ashley gasped. The red-haired woman tried to save her sister but Dria just slapped her away with one of her vines.

"Stay put, Ashy! I've been waiting a long time for this! Wait for your turn like a good girl!" Dria whispered while gazing at Evlin struggling to free herself.

"You!!" Evlin yelled, "It's always you!! It's always you popping up everywhere and making everything worse!!"

"Oh, stop it... You're making me blush! Hey, tell me, what messed up with you the most? Shooting Mia in the heart or watching her fade away while begging you to save her? Come on, be honest with me! Getting into that girl's head was my finest work and I wanna know every detail of how much that broke you up inside!!"

Dria pulled her arm back and her vine suddenly began to bring Evlin against a wall and crashing the woman into it.

"Guaahhh!!!"

"Oh, man!! I missed having my own body and bullying people around so much!!" Dria commented.

Evlin saw blood dripping from her head and falling into her eyes as she tried to pull her face out of the wall.

"You finally get a body and the first thing you do is rush to become a servant for another loser??" Evlin asked.

"Excuse me??"

"That's all you do, isn't it?? First, it was the Sloth demon, then North, and now Knucker... You are nothing but a dog looking for an owner to tell you what to do!"

Dria glared at Evlin and began to squeeze her vine in an attempt to crush her bones.

"A dog, am I?? Should I show you how hard my bite can be then??"

"Don't you have to ask permission from your boss first?" Evlin laughed.

"Oh, you little..."

Evlin noticed that Dria was distracted with anger and used this chance to apply her magic on her body.

Dryads are demons born from pieces of the channeling tree once they are bathed in too much cursed energy, which means Dria was basically one walking, talking, annoying, living staff.

She tried to gather as much magic power as she could and used her transformation ability to turn Dria's vine into a whip for herself.

Evlin grabbed her whip and latched it onto the demon plant's hand. She channeled her magic through the whip and blasted Dria with an explosion of raw energy directly into her face.

"Gaaahh!!!" Dria shrieked as Evlin's power pushed her body across the room.

"Ugh... So tired..." Evlin mumbled as she fell on her knees. Blasting raw magic was the simplest spell in her arsenal, but even that was taking a lot out of her right now.

She raised her face and noticed Knucker just sitting on his furniture and watching the show.

"My offer still stands by the way... One word and I can send you home right now!" he commented while resting his cheek on his fist.

Evlin glared at him, "Fat chance... You sealed your fate when you messed with me!"

"Oh, darling..." Knucker replied while more vines appeared right behind him, "You have no idea how much more I can still mess with you..."

Dria was back on her tentacles once again and charging at Evlin while screaming with anger.

Evlin tried to check if she still had any power left, but before she could, Ashley just grabbed her and began to run towards the exit with her sister in her arms.

"Let's get out of here!!" Ashley shouted.

"..." Evlin looked at her face for a moment, trying to find out what she was thinking right now, "Ash..."

Before Evlin could finish, Dria tried to pierce the two with her vines that now had blades at the end of its tips. Ashley saw the attack coming and ducked at the last moment, resulting in the door getting shredded.

"We will talk later!! Ok??" Ashley yelled.

"O- Ok..."

The two stood up and tried to dash out of the room with Dria still chasing after them.

"Get back here!!! Call me a dog one more time!!!"

Knucker just continued to watch the whole scene while a small glow appeared in his eyes.

"So this is the route we are taking... Interesting..." he whispered.

Part 2

Marcus and the rest of the group heard the sound of destruction coming closer and closer from the room Evlin and Ashley had moved to in order to talk to Knucker. They all gasped as they spotted the two running for their lives while Dria continued to rampage all over the castle.

"The dryad!!?? She was here!!??" Daren shouted.

"What!!?" Lilith whispered, "Marcus!!"

"I know!!" the silver-haired lad replied. He then took Lilith's hand and fused with her, making the woman get her vision back and drenching her hair in a metallic color.

Lilith then used the power of the holy metal to make a sword for herself and dashed towards the demon plant.

Dria was a few steps away from stabbing Evlin and Ashley, but Lilith managed to be faster and sliced her vines with one swing of her blade.

"Guaaaahhh!!!" Dria screamed as she felt the power of blessed energy burning her body, "Who dares!!??"

Lilith raised her sword while pointing it at the demon, "You and I have a score to settle!!"

"Eh...? Ah! It's the bird-lady that betrayed the demon leader in the war of the south..."

"And you are the plant demon that tormented my friends and the man I love... I've been waiting for the chance to cut your head off!!" Lilith stated while assuming her battle stance.

"Oh, come on... You still mad about that? All I did was break his heart a little bit..." Dria commented while raising her arms and revealing a storm of vines appearing from below, "But if it's a fight you want, I'm more than happy to give you one!"

The vines chased after Lilith but the knight moved faster and slashed every single one of them that came closer to her in a matter of seconds.

"Wrong... Fight implies that you would have a winning chance..." Lilith whispered, "This will be an execution..."

Dria smirked, "We shall see..."

Evlin and Ashley took this moment to get as far away from Dria as possible and reunite with their friends. Before she could even begin to explain the situation, the king began to shout at them.

"What in blazes is going on?? You!! You brat!! What did you do??" he asked while glaring at Evlin.

Evlin rolled her eyes while feeling she had no patience to deal with him, "I was born... Apparently, that's all it takes for something like this to happen..."

"You insolent..."

Evlin just ignored him and turned to her team, "Knucker has officially declared himself as my enemy... And I just declared that I would take him down... Can I count on you guys to help me?"

"Do you even need to ask??" Gustav replied, "We will always be on your side!"

Evlin looked around and noticed that the rest of them were just nodding in silence. The mage just smiled in relief knowing that her friends were still there for her in a time of need.

"Thanks, guys! Now... We need to- Agh!!"

Evlin suddenly got herself pulled by one of Dria's vines and got her body raised again.

"Don't turn your back at me!!" the demon yelled, "I'm not done with you yet!!"

Evlin glared at her, "Yeah, well... I'm definitely done with you... You are not worth my time... Never was and never will! Lilith!!!"

And just as Evlin called, Lilith appeared in a flash and sliced the vine to release her friend.

"Kyaahh!!" Dria shrieked once again.

Lilith turned around to make sure Evlin was ok as she brought her to the ground, but the mage just gave a thumbs up and a weak smile, "She's all yours!"

"Good!" Lilith declared.

Dria noticed that Lilith was about to charge again and realized that she was in trouble.

She glared at Evlin again, "You and your annoying friends... If you are going to call yours, I'm going to call mine!!"

And just as she said that the entire castle began to shake. Rubble began to fall from the ceiling. The king nervously looked around while trying to make sense of the situation.

"What's happening...?? WHAT'S HAPPENING!!??? What did you do!!??" he yelled while aiming his staff at Evlin.

Evlin was just as lost as he was. She kept looking around as well as a massive explosion took place on the roof. Debris of the size of a dining table began to drop from above and shatter into pieces as it reached the floor.

"Protect the king!! We are under attack!!" one of the guards shouted as he and the rest of the knights rushed to circle the king of Greyart.

"Under attack...?" Evlin repeated.

She eyed the place the explosion took place once again and spotted a massive hand sticking out from the smoke. A red paw filled with scales and black claws of the size of a tree.

Evlin recognized that claw.

"Oh... No..."

The claw was pulled black and instead a large creature was revealed. A large reptilian being with red scales, orange eyes, and black horns.

The beast tried to enter the castle through the hole, but its body was so large that it just destroyed the roof even more.

"Dragon attack!!!!" the guards shouted all at once.

The red lizard continued to approach with its massive body until it landed right behind Dria who was just smirking with her arms crossed. The shockwave of its arrival made the whole place shake for a bit.

"I believe you guys have met my good friend, Wrath?" Dria asked while pointing at the red giant lizard behind her with her thumb.

Wrath heard its name being mentioned and in response released a huge roar across the room.

Knucker soon appeared as well and continued to stroll through the place with both arms behind his back until he was side by side with Dria and in front of Wrath as well.

He looked at Evlin while scratching the back of his head, "I think you should re-think my offer..."