A woman clouded in darkness appeared from the shadow of Lust wearing a similar dress to Lust's although her arms and face weren't covered.
A series of black shadowy tattoos crawled up towards her neck glowing a faint violet humming in the darkness.
Two silvery horns were attached to her head below the ears, her wings of similar coloring with black streaks running through them.
"Do not underestimate me just because of a title."
Ratella nodded at the woman's warning, drawing his lance into an offensive position preparing to attack at a moment's notice. The teachings of Luna running through his mind.
Nyserra summoned the shadows circling them to her hands, morphing their form into a pair of daggers drawing into a low stance.
The darkness around him twisted and churned their forms twisting into scythes of darkness slashing downwards at Ratella from all angles.
"Aspect of Shadows, Piercing Wail." declared Nyserra, her eyes dimming into shadows the colour vanishing.
The shadows circling around his feet humming violently. Sensing danger, he leaped out of the way as he moved, a great spike reared out of the earth clouded in darkness. The scythes of darkness followed after slicing it to ribbons. He would have undoubtedly been cut to pieces if he stayed above the spike.
Nyserra waved her hand in the air, summoning many more weapons of darkness to overwhelm Ratella's defenses. He danced around the air avoiding all the summoned weapons blocking with his lance when necessary.
This fight was merely a training opportunity for Ratella to test his abilities against an opponent with overwhelming force.
The weapons of darkness soon grew finite before not a single one was left. Ratella took his opportunity thrusting at an alarming speed towards Nyserra's neck, his intention to end the fight by getting her to concede.
She wasn't as defenseless as he predicted; multiple spikes broke through the ground surrounding her blocking his path but he did not slow his approach, charging head into the mess of spikes.
His lance impacted with the spikes shattering them upon impact returning them to their normal state. The field of spikes all crumbled when touching his lance clearing a path to their master.
He stopped his lance's path of destruction just short of her neck drawing a small amount of blood to trickle down her neck.
Nyserra put her hands out in surrender, dropping the daggers of darkness, their forms bursting into miniature clouds of black. A sharp pain appeared on his own neck reaching out with his hand a golden liquid painted his fingertips.
"It seems you are still inexperienced in the field of battle. Hone your mind to your opponent's body and abilities, sensing their every movement."
Ratella distanced himself from the woman walking back towards the main gate slashing downwards with his lance creating a small rupture in the earth below without attacking it directly.
"I was not after your life if this was a death match, you would have been clutching your neck as the light escaped your body. Do not grow complacent over a small scratch in an unserious battle."
Ratella stretched his increasing fury at his mistake and the woman's attitude to the whole army inducing an anxiety and quiet fear to creep down their nerves.
Annoyance riddled his mind at the potentially costly mistake, he thrust his lance into a gap in the gate forcefully pushing it upwards prying it from the earth.
The legion of Devils followed behind him the frontline grasping the gate holding it open for the rest of the legion. They slowly piled into the castle splitting into teams to clear it off all angelic forces.
Ratella withdrew his lance after the Devils took hold of it forcing them further into the dirt below despite this they held strong. He flew to the top of the main keep surveying the Devils' movements and their actions.
He mainly wanted to reflect on his fight with Nyserra searching for the possibility to end it without killing her outright. His previous fights had always ended with death, his ability to stop time being the perfect tool to commit murder. The lack of intervention being a suitable environment to effortlessly kill his target but this approach didn't offer him any learning experiences.
The disappointment was boiling over in his mind, inducing an anger to flood into his brain. The feeling of bloodlust because of his unstable emotions overcoming him, an outlet for his feeling being needed to quell his devilish bloodlust.
The lance in his palm hummed with a fury mimicking his master's emotions. He answered the lance's call for bloodshed, throwing it down from the rooftop impacting with a few Devils in the courtyard reducing them to a red paste.
The shouts that followed the attack soon quieted after looking upon the weapon knowing there was no imminent danger judging the Devils' deaths as accidents due to misplaced equipment.
Ratella's position with the Devils was clear after his small outburst at the gate, no one would try to interfere with his actions. The primordial fear of the strong living deep within their minds.
He gazed into the stars looming above ahead tracing the surface of the moon and surrounding stars his bloodlust quelled considerably after venting his anger on a couple sorry souls.
"Could you not kill any more soldiers, please?" asked a familiar sweet voice, her footsteps growing closer with each second.
Turning he was met with a familiar short woman with a large set of pink yarn for hair twirling it within her fingers as he leaned against the railings.
"I'm sorry, a follower of Lust annoyed me after our battle."
"Yes, I heard about your battle against Nyserra from Lust although I didn't reply to her report."
"I'm not any good at ending conflict without killing someone. My abilities are suited to death, not friendly battles. In my search for a non violent outcome to the duel I dropped my guard allowing her to slice my neck. Leaving an easy battle at a stalemate."
Ratella's face hardened after recounting his failures to Liliana, his eyes gleaming with a tone of disappointment and sadness.
Liliana took Ratella's face within her hands, turning it towards her own locking eyes with the young man. Her beautiful features and the unique coloring of her eyes became apparent to him.
His cheeks grew scarlet being in close proximity to a beautiful woman lifting his sadness replacing it with anxiety and embarrassment.
"It doesn't matter if you can end a conflict with or without violence. As long as you don't lose your head it doesn't matter. Think nothing of your loss. You can always grow stronger so just keep your head forward and don't succumb to sadness over a silly duel."
Ratella touched the back of Liliana's hands, inducing a wide smile to grow on her face at his blatant embarrassment, a tinge of scarlet growing on her own.
"Thank you, if you would continue to travel with me I'd greatly appreciate it."
"Of course I will. I've grown quite fond of you this past week. I'll help you train if you'll accept my help."
"I would love to train with someone of your caliber."
Ratella's mood was lifted out of the darkness due to Liliana's caring acts, the beautiful woman being a boon to his motivation to keep fighting. The two took solace in each other's company, a new pact of everlasting friendship formed between the two.