The sun rose on the city of Barton. The rays of the sun gradually began to seep through the cracks in the shutters of Brivaria’s inn room. Footsteps could be heard outside the door as guests of the Siren’s Alcove made their way downstairs for breakfast. A soft, fluffy tail began to rise and fall. It slapped at Brivaria’s legs until the angel opened her eyes.
The golden sunchaser was rolling onto her back to get a look at Brivaria. Trixie’s pink tongue lolled out and the winged girl laughed at the dog. She scritched Trixie’s belly and then sat up. Brivaria spread her arms and Trixie got onto her paws and walked into the hug. Giselle squeezed into the hug soon after and the morning ritual was complete.
“Words can’t express how jealous I am right now,” Nyx said from where she lay on her bed. She was awake but under the covers, staring at the angel who received morning hugs from both Trixie and Giselle. Brivaria laughed.
Normal morning things happened for all four girls and soon they were eating breakfast downstairs in the inn’s common room. The meal was short. There was nothing new to go over. No one had any grand revelations over the course of the night nor in the morning. Brivaria had failed to select her level 44 skill but she’d make sure to do that before the day of the hunt.
Speaking of the hunt, the team needed to go talk to Cordelia Westlake about their sudden appointment as her team of choice. At the party, Brivaria had felt reassured that even if they went with Westlake’s proposal that Giselle would be safe. That was paramount. With the looming specter of both the insect troublemakers and the monsters from the Between, that was no longer the case.
Kseniya felt pretty certain that the wasps would have overwhelmed the partygoers and killed everyone had their team not been present. Brivaria’s Luminous Desecration and Kseniya’s clouds of poison created entire stacks of dead wasps and forced the swarm to hurl themselves at the adventurers or risk losing too much health to enter the desecration field without dying instantly. It made killing the insects a tiring but manageable affair for as long as stamina and mana held out. Without their unique combination of skills, no one would have left that room alive.
Even if going with Baroness Westlake into the forest meant they were putting the whole team in danger, doing so could save lives. Nyx was on board with that. Kseniya was grudgingly on board with it. Giselle was happy to do whatever Brivaria suggested and the amount of trust the deer girl put into the angel was both heart-warming and frightening. Trixie, as always, put her head on Brivaria’s lap and the angel felt reassured. Brivaria would do her best to ensure they all got through things intact.
An hour later they were walking or slithering into the drawing room of the Westlake estate. The ostentatious manor was mostly unchanged since the last time they were here. The main difference was that Baroness Westlake was waiting for them when they arrived. Dressed in a turquoise gown with a string of pearls around her neck, the baroness was just as beautiful as she’d been the other night. There was a nearly empty cup of tea next to her. Brivaria wondered if the woman had been waiting for them or entertaining company before their arrival.
“Welcome to my home once again. Please make yourselves comfortable. I rather expected you to visit yesterday. Though, I heard you met with some unsettling events at the Decrune estate,” Cordelia began as they took their seats, choosing mostly the same places as before. Giselle sat next to Brivaria and Trixie chose to roll around on the plush carpet, enjoying herself greatly.
“Dang, news really does travel quickly,” Nyx commented quietly and Cordelia grinned. Brivaria coughed politely.
“Thank you for welcoming us, Baroness Westlake. We wanted to speak with you about the hunt and other things.” While Brivaria spoke, a maid walked over and exchanged Cordelia’s cup with a fresh brew of tea then promptly began serving the rest of her guests.
“Are you still intending to join me?” the noblewoman asked immediately. Her concerns were assuaged as the group nodded.
“Yes, we are but it will be significantly more dangerous than a simple picnic in the forest. We believe it’s likely that both the people who attacked the party the other night as well as another group will try to make a move on the day of the hunt. If you go out there then you will be in significant danger,” the angel explained.
“Oh. Is that all? I already knew that,” the baroness said with a laugh.
“You… did?” Nyx asked and the noblewoman nodded.
“Oh yes, throughout the decades there have been hunting accidents. The presence of adventuring teams isn’t just to hunt the hind but also to protect the noble. The tradition started after three nobles died under mysterious circumstances during the hunt. I suspect that’s even why Count Dancarlo elected to have mercenaries with skills for slaying people, rather than monsters, be his escort. He is not well-loved by the people of Barton, let alone Velk. I don’t know if Baron Sorenson has what it takes to make a play like that and with Felio selecting the Seasoned Steel as his team of choice, I don’t think he will be attempting any funny business personally.” Kseniya looked unconvinced about the Felio statement until the baroness’ final word. The lamia had made it clear in their team discussions how suspicious it was that the baron had slipped away just before the attack.
“Are you certain you still want us then?” Brivaria asked.
“More than certain. For one thing, I know you haven’t been bought off by any of the nobility to look the other way or worse. For another, your heroics at the party the other night are the reason I’m still here in the first place.” Cordelia inclined her head to Kseniya while she spoke.
“Your magic is some of the most effective I’ve seen. I think even the silver rank adventurers were a little frightened by how lethal it was. That’s not even considering that scepter and its many weapons. I am also told that Nyx kicked Sir Gerard Bantal across a room and left a sizable dent in his armor. Maybe not something to brag about openly but still quite impressive.” Nyx blushed. She’d seen the man attack Brivaria and had lashed out. Thankfully nothing more significant had come of it.
“Finally,” Cordelia said looking to Brivaria and Giselle, “you two acquitted yourselves very well, I’m told. Dax doesn’t usually compliment adventurers but his opinion is that you are at or close to silver rank in fighting strength. Quite unusual for a copper rank team. Though not as unusual as the fact that you can turn into a demon. A surprising skill for a paladin.”
“It’s certainly not a skill that would be looked upon favorably by most. Paladin seems to go over better with people,” the angel said with a smile. She wasn’t embarrassed, exactly, but she was glad the few people that saw her in that form were doing so in the context of her helping save lives. The winged girl had a feeling that there would be more questions and problems had it been revealed under different circumstances.
“I imagine so. I would like to see it.” Cordelia looked at Brivaria expectantly and folded her hands in her lap.
“You would like to… see it?” Brivaria furrowed her brows in consternation, unsure she’d heard the noblewoman’s request correctly.
“Yes. Dax described it and I would like to see it. I would much prefer to see a demon here, in my own home, than in the woods. If it is frightening then I wish to take my fright here and now rather than at a time where it may cost someone their life.” Brivaria’s intuition told her that wasn’t entirely the truth and the way Cordelia was looking at her was peculiar in that the woman’s bearing held no fear whatsoever. Still, the reasoning was sensible so the angel looked to her companions.
“I would like to see it as well,” Nyx added, gaining a raised eyebrow from Baroness Westlake. Nyx balked. “What? The last couple weeks have given us all a lot of levels and we haven’t had much time to show off our new skills.”
Saying they’d all gained a lot of levels was probably overstating things but likely no one expected Giselle to be over level 40 considering she was newly registered to a copper rank team. Brivaria and Nyx had gained quite a few themselves. The angel was fuzzy on how fast Zlithians normally leveled but she was fairly certain that she and Nyx were leveling far faster than was normal. While Kseniya remained perpetually secretive of her level, Brivaria knew the sorceress was either very high level or had gained many levels from the wasp attack. All the copper and bronze rank adventurers who survived that party came away far closer to silver rank in level, if not experience.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” the winged girl said while looking to the baroness as she rose. “I don’t want anything being a surprise when we get into the forest.”
Brivaria moved to stand in the center of the room and willed Corrupt Shapeshifting and Alternative Form to change her. The black horns grew out and forward. Her beautiful, white, feathered wings shifted to black, bat-like wings. The blue eyes that sparkled with warmth were drowned in a sea of darkness to become solid blue orbs tinged with natural malevolence. Fingertips became claws that were deadly weapons even before skills honed them into truly lethal instruments. Finally, the black, spaded tail that she now always had slipped out from her trousers to make itself known.
Throughout the transformation, Cordelia watched in fascination and Nyx let out a soft “wow.” Some parts of the angel’s metamorphosis were entirely physical in nature such as the horns. They simply grew out as Brivaria’s hair turned from blonde to black. Some parts were magical such as the way the angelic wings morphed into demonic wings. Brivaria saw curiosity, surprise, and delight on the noblewoman’s face but abruptly her eyes were drawn elsewhere.
Standing behind Cordelia was Dax. The man had not been present when they’d entered the room or, at least, no one had noticed him. The wall behind Cordelia’s seat was decorated with a few bookshelves, a painting, and some small tables. Dax stood, entirely unmoving, between two of the tables. Brivaria’s demonic eyes and their natural prey sense spotted him instantly. Whatever skill he was using to hide his presence failed in the face of the unique racial feature. Cordelia’s laughter drew the angel back to the noblewoman.
“Dax, it seems you are detected. You may step out,” Cordelia said, all but bouncing in her seat. Dax obliged and took a step forward. Everyone in the room was surprised at his sudden appearance. Well, everyone but Trixie was surprised. The golden was too busy playing with Brivaria’s tail. She’d made the mistake of teasing it in front of the golden a couple times and now Trixie made a game out of trying to catch, lick, and nibble it.
“Good morning,” Dax said in his resonant voice while looking to Brivaria. He was calm and unphased by her appearance. That wasn’t especially surprising as he’d seen her in demon form, and fighting no less, inside the castle.
“Forgive me, I’ve heard many things about demons but none of them mentioned that they were particularly perceptive.” The noblewoman set aside her tea as she spoke and stood. She moved to stand in front of Brivaria and gave the angel-turned-demon a very close inspection.
Despite Dax’s presence, the angel had the sense that she could turn her head and drive a horn through Cordelia before Dax could stop her. There was the chance he had a bodyguard skill of some sort that could save the blonde girl but Brivaria’s horns, fangs, claws, and tail were all equally capable of killing. The noble was weak, seemingly defenseless, and standing far too close to Brivaria. It wasn’t that Brivaria even wanted to harm the other girl but simply that she knew she could. Even her fangs, arguably the weakest of her natural weapons, were capable of tearing Cordelia’s throat out with one swift lunge.
“Why aren’t you red?” Cordelia asked, snapping Brivaria out of her suddenly dark contemplations.
“Um, what?” the angel asked with surprise.
“I heard demons were red. Or are you supposed to be one of those skimpy, desire demons who run around trying to get men to drop their pants?” Cordelia asked, causing Brivaria to blush which in turn caused the noble girl to snort with amusement. “Well you’re turning red now.”
“You’re not red because not all demons are red,” Akashic explained, appearing to lounge in a nearby chair with both legs over one of its arms while she laid against the other arm. “Most demons are whatever color they choose to be. Some castes or factions share a skin or hair color. Sex demons don’t all look like you do—merely the ones who are interested in seducing humans or human-adjacent species. They will take on the forms of whatever native species they choose as prey.”
Brivaria was relieved at Akashic’s explanation and relayed the words to Cordelia. The noble nodded and finally stepped back, apparently having found what she was looking for. She then turned to Dax.
“Dax, could you beat Brivaria in a fight?” Cordelia’s question instantly put everyone in the room on edge. Dax merely regarded Brivaria for a moment before answering.
“I possess a level advantage, attribute advantage, and skill advantage. Several of my skills are also focused on disabling human attackers. I believe I would win in a fight,” the well-armed man answered calmly. Nyx looked about ready to defend Brivaria’s honor but Dax was not done speaking. “However her skills are unorthodox and very diverse. I am not entirely confident in my victory and would not wish to test it.”
“Could she kill a silver rank adventurer?” Cordelia followed up, not missing a beat.
“Undoubtedly. As I have indicated previously, I believe she is individually the equal of any adventurer in the hunt. Where other teams would pull ahead is in team coordination. My impression is that Divine Blessing fights as five individual members rather than an organized force.” Dax finished speaking and, much to everyone’s surprise, Kseniya nodded.
“I concur with his assessment, mostly. Giselle is new and we have had little time to fight shoulder to shoulder. We lack the familiarity with one another’s skills that many teams have. For now, we must make up for it with individual strength. The rest will come in time,” the sorceress replied and Dax nodded.
“That’s good to hear,” Cordelia said as she moved to sit back down. “It may come down to something like that on the day of the hunt. It is tentatively set to be held in three days’ time. The intention is to give the ground time to dry after the recent rains but I have unpleasant news.”
“What sort of unpleasant news?” Nyx asked. Brivaria moved to sit back down next to Giselle. Trixie was still licking her tail and the angel-turned-demon had to restrain herself from giggling at the dog’s antics. She took Trixie’s head and gave the dog scritches even while she paid attention to the baroness.
“One of my sources spotted the so-called insect lords heading into the forest while the mercenaries on watch did nothing. I suspect they are in league with the mercenaries, if not the Count. This news has been relayed to the watch captain but I expect Count Dancarlo will refuse to allow anyone into the forest,” the noble explained.
“Wait, he’s going to refuse even if it threatens the hunt?” Brivaria asked.
“It’s the word of the witness versus the mercenaries. If something happens to the hind then the mercenaries stand to lose a great deal of money. Theoretically, they have no reason to lie,” Cordelia replied.
“Unless they take the hind and sell it themselves, maybe?” Kseniya asked.
“Possibly. If all of us died on the hunt then maybe Zenith declares her band will take the hind. At that point why bother with the strange insect lord charade?” Cordelia shook her head even as she spoke.
“And if she wanted everyone to die then she wouldn’t have saved Count Dancarlo at the party,” Brivaria added.
“Right. Regardless of the who or the why, it’s best to proceed as though they are in the forest and are going to come to harm us, possibly with mercenary support. I need to know your team is up to the task of driving them back.” The noblewoman looked around the room.
“We can beat them.” To everyone’s surprise, it was Giselle that spoke. Everyone turned to look at her and she shrank down a little bit. “I mean, they don’t seem that strong. I don’t think any of us would lose to them.” The more she spoke, the more nervous she became.
“We definitely can,” Nyx said while excitedly putting one fist into the open palm of her other hand. “If Kseniya and I aren’t stuck guarding a whole room of people then they’re done for.”
“Good, with that out of the way, I think you should see something.” The baroness set her tea cup down and gestured for the adventurers to follow her. Dax fell into step, walking behind his lady.
Brivaria remained in her demonic form, getting looks from both Kseniya and Nyx. It was weird to be walking around as a demon, in form only she told herself. It wasn’t uncomfortable though. The combination of her many natural weapons and resilient body gave her a bit more confidence, something she needed without her armor.
That confidence gradually shifted into unease as they walked further into the manor and began heading down. She steadily began to get the same feeling as she had at the Decrune estate. When Baroness Westlake stopped at a door that bore a heavy iron lock securing it from the outside, Brivaria was on full alert and her claws began to extend.