Lyra stepped over the corpses, her expression colder than ice, yet her fury burning hotter than hellfire itself. She cast "Mage-Armor[1]" on herself, and a "Mana-Barrier[2]", and then also created a new spell, having learned from her previous mistake, called "Protected Mind[3]", which would ensure the previous mind-control mistake NEVER ever was repeated.
Lyra reached the stairs, which would take her up to the surface of the Keep. She could barely hold back her tears, while also shaking with anger. Her mind was a mess, and she could not determine if she wanted to roll on the floor and cry or scream and punch something in anger. She felt impure, dirty. She still remembered every sensation. How King Damien had kissed her, groped her body against her will. How Gustav had made her dance for him, even lick his disgusting, stinky feet. She still tasted it in her mouth, and she gagged, having to lean on the stone wall to keep herself upright. If she had anything in her stomach, it would have come up. Alas, she had already emptied her stomach just moments before.
She needed a bath, to clean herself. But not just any kind of bath, no no... a blood bath. Her expression darkened. She would make everyone pay for this. Every. Single. One. Everyone guilty by association. She'd wash away her pain and cleanse herself in a storm of blood. Naturally she was not of a sound mind right now, blinded by the rage and sorrow she felt, which was understandable given the circumstances. But she had enough awareness to do one thing. "Absorption Aura.[4]" she said, and felt the magic surround her, akin to an invisible mist.
Then, she proceeded up the stairs, slow and steady, her anger not subsiding. Right before she reached the top, she retrieved two Mana-gems from her inventory and consumed them, returning her to Maximum Mana. Then she came to a halt just behind the door which separated the dungeons from the rest of the Keep. Reinforced with thick iron and made from heavy oak, it stood in the way of freedom. With a single kick, she blasted the iron-reinforced door off its hinges and sent it flying across the room. The guards outside turned, but it was too late. She slammed the head of the first one into the wall, crushing his head and skull within the helmet as if it was an empty soda can.
The second guardsman reached for his sword desperately but Lyra was impossibly fast, and she was done holding back. With the wave of her hand and a "Earthern Spike[5]" later, and the man was impaled from a massive stone spear which had burst out from the ground itself and pierced his chest, straight through the metal armor.
Two notifications showed that she had slain two enemies, earned experienced, and absorbed stats. But Lyra did not pay it any attention just now. She left the bodies of the dead guards behind, and proceeded ahead. She did not know the way, but that didn't matter. She moved through the castle, and anytime she spotted anything that moved, she unleashed a "Fire-Storm[6]" in that direction, turning people who had been alive just a second ago into nothing but a charred, barely identifiable corpse.
Servants, soldiers, retainers, it did not matter. She was erasing this place. It took five minutes before someone managed to sound the alarm. The dinner lull had set in and no one had expected any kind of an attack, which is why the security had been relatively lax. When Lyra finally emerged from the keep and into the courtyard, she faced a group of 20-some armed soldiers waiting for her. She emerged from a burning keep, blood dripping from her hands, like a demon unleashed from the very depths of hell.
Amongst the crowd of opposing soldiers, she spotted the face of the guardsman who had greeted her at the gates. Yet she felt not an ounce of sympathy. He had led her into the maws of the beast, where his king had had his way with her body and mind. Everyone was guilty. Everyone must die. It was not the soldiers who charged at her. It was she who ran towards them. No spells either, just physicality, and brutality.
When the blood-haze began to fade from her, she stood surrounded by a mound of corpses, the cobblestone floor of the courtyard stained red with blood. She had punched hard enough to ram her entire arm through a soldier's chest. Torn arms from the shoulder sockets, kicked hard enough to send grown men flying many meters. She had not stopped her rampage until nobody moved anymore. A steady rain then began to fall, as she stood panting in the middle of the courtyard, chest heaving up and down, her otherwise fair visage covered entirely in blood, her skin dyed red.
She closed her eyes and looked up, and slowly, steadily... she felt her rage subside, even just a little. Everything was silently, except for the slow cackling of fire behind her as the keep interior was being ravaged from inside out by fire. Sure most of the walls were made of stone, but interior walls and roofs and most of the furniture were all wood.
As the rain fell on her face, the cool water droplets seemed to cool her temper. She opened her eyes and looked up, and felt as if the heavens themselves were crying. Weeping for her, perhaps. Or her many victims. Perhaps it was the Goddess herself, who cried out in sorrow. Divine intervention or not, but the rain slowly soothed her spirit, and the gentle rain began to wash away the blood from her skin. The "Absorption Aura" ended. Ten minutes had passed. She checked her status window, and the notifications.
53 people. That was how many she had killed in ten minutes. 5.3 people per minute. Almost 1 person every 10 seconds. She knew it was wrong to kill. She had never wanted to be a murderer. But right now, if she was honest with herself, she felt nothing. Perhaps she was still in shock from what had happened to her, but right now, she welcomed the silence in her heart. She looked at her status window.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Lyra Lunarsong
HP: 14860 MP: 22470
Level: 67 (534,000 / 2,300,000)
Race: High Elf
Age: 26
Stamina: 1255 + (231)
Strength: 1185 + (143)
Agility: 1130 + (121)
Spirit: 1068 + (96)
Intellect: 1674 + (204)
Job: Spirit-Mage (Apprentice, Novice and Intermediate level spells costs 50% less mana to cast. May communicate and form contracts with Spirits to use their powers as your own.)
Skill: Magic Creation (SSS) (The User may create spells with their own unique effects, the manacost is proportionate to the effect of the spell)
Available attribute points to spend: 175
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She had leveled up twice, and gotten some more solid stats. The recently acquired stats were displayed in brackets. She also had some 175 attribute points to spend, most from before, so she just funneled all of those into her Intellect, bringing her a final current status of:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Lyra Lunarsong
HP: 14860 MP: 24220
Level: 67 (534,000 / 2,300,000)
Race: High Elf
Age: 26
Stamina: 1486
Strength: 1328
Agility: 1251
Spirit: 1164
Intellect: 2053
Job: Spirit-Mage (Apprentice, Novice and Intermediate level spells costs 50% less mana to cast. May communicate and form contracts with Spirits to use their powers as your own.)
Skill: Magic Creation (SSS) (The User may create spells with their own unique effects, the manacost is proportionate to the effect of the spell)
Available attribute points to spend: 0
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Not bad, she thought to herself, before she finally started moving again. Having levelled up just earlier, all her stats were back to max again. The keep was destroyed, the soldiers nearby vanquished. But Luna was in danger. She'd have to save her friends, and get payback on the King, and the other three summoned heroes.
Slowly, she put one foot before the other, and made her way towards the gate, leaving the burning keep behind. As she opens the gates, now emerging into the city proper, she is met by a crowd of civilians. They have seen the smoke rising, flames bursting from the windows of the keep, and now here they are outside the gates, concerned. And she appears, wet and still covered from head to toe in blood, as the fire rages in the background. They are holding buckets of water and thick blankets, not weapons. They stare wide-eyed at Lyra, and she can hear the whispering across the crowd.
The Priest from earlier appears from within the crowd and takes a step forward, watching Lyra, as the rain platters all around them. Lyra does a quick head-count. Over 200 villagers here, mostly men, but a few women too. Then the Priest speaks:
"What is going on inside... and why... are you covered in blood?" he said, his voice faltering slightly. Just then, a light gust of wind pushed the gates slightly more ajar, and now everyone could look past Lyra, and witness for themselves, the remains of the massacre inside. Body parts strewn everywhere, and bodies, dismembered and brutalized, littering the courtyard. The crowd gasped and a few citizens ran away right then and there, but the others seemed less afraid and more angry, perhaps steeled by the presence of the Priest.
The Priest himself covered his mouth with a hand, then said lowly: "You are a demon..."
Lyra could not help but scoff. She took a step forward, and the crowd shuddered, a few more turning tail and dropping everything in their hands to run away. Then Lyra spoke:
-"If I am a demon, then it is you who made me what I am."
The Priest reached for a necklace, with a circular centerpiece, and began praying while making wild gestures towards Lyra. "Oh Goddess who art in Heaven, spare your loyal children and ward them from evil. Dispel this demon from the lands of the faithful-" but Lyra interrupted him.
-"Praying won't help you. I am the one your Goddess warned you about. The one you really, really should not have pissed off..."
The Priest stopped, and stared at Lyra. Then he spoke: "You... are Lyra? The 20th summoned being, the fallen hero?" Lyra took another step forward, then another. She answered him:
"Yes, yes, and no. I am no fallen anything. Never been a hero, nor sworn to darkness. I am and will always remain just me. And no one may define who I am, other than myself. I am the captain of my own ship. I decide who I am. Not you, not your church, not your king, not even your Goddess..."
The Priest looked at her, fearful, but not backing down as she approached. "I am not afraid of you, nor will you sway me away from the one true faith, demon. Spare me from your heresy!"
Lyra came to a stop, about half a meter from the Priest. Her hair wet, skin and clothes soaked in blood, but much of it was coming off, dripping down along her arms and hands. Lyra had no patience to deal with this now, as she had to get to Fort Luna. If she took a horse, she could get there in perhaps an hour or two. The army had likely already reached the Fortress though. Even if she rode there, how would she even get into the fort? Well, the solution was right in front of her. She just had to go above them. She looked at the Priest, and sighed loudly. Then, she spoke:
-"Do you all intend to stop me from leaving?" she said, her tone low, threatening.
The Priest nodded, but the crowd of civilians looked more uncertain. But it was the Priest who spoke up: "Indeed. You will be brought to justice, or find death, by our hands." He then stared defiantly into Lyra's eyes. She looked towards the crowd, eyes sweeping over them. She was tired, she was angry, she was sad, everything at once. She could not be bothered caring anymore, her emotions all but shut down, indifferent to everything.
-"I will kill you." she said, her tone bothered, rather than threatening this time.
"Then we will face the Goddess in death, with a clean conscience." said the Priest. Another dozen or so villagers broke away from the crowd and ran, not willing to risk death. A few more tried, but were held back by their fellow citizens. Strength in numbers, or so they believed.
Lyra could have left it all there. She could have escaped, if she wanted too. But she didn't. These people called her a demon, said she was evil. She had her mind invaded today, her body violated, betrayed by her former classmates, even imprisoned. She had come here intending to stop a war, but she had been spat on in her face and defiled. And yet, here these people stand, having the nerve to call her a demon?! To say she is a heathen and heretic?! How dare they stand there and accuse her, judge her even, when it was they, their side, who had done all of this to her! They did not know, they did not care. Well, if they wanted a bloody demon, then she'd give them one, she thought as her expression darkened on her face.
Then, she stopped herself. Was this really who she was? A merciless killer who would slaughter unarmed civilians? Maybe it was the cooling effect of the rain. Maybe it was the grace of the Goddess. Maybe it was the terrified expressions plastered all over the faces of the people. Maybe it was to no ones credit but her own; but Lyra held back, and took back control again over her emotions. The guards and soldiers had been one thing. They were armed combatants, trying to stop her from escaping. But these were just ordinary people. They did not know what had happened to Lyra. All they could see, was a wild elf drenched in blood emerging from a burning keep, with only carnage left in her wake. In the end, this time, reason won, and the fury burning within her quieted down. It did not vanish entirely, but for now it was under control.
Nor did she have any time waste here. She had to get to Fort Luna as soon as she could, to save her friends, and to stop a war. She exhaled deeply, then raised a hand...
The Priest flinched, closing his eyes, expecting certain death. However, instead, he got a pat on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, bewildered, and found that the bloodied and drenched elven woman smiled at him. Then she spoke, loud enough for all to hear through the rain:
-"You are all fortunate that I am not actually a demon. In truth, I came here to stop a war, yet it was your King who imprisoned me, an envoy of the Revean Empire, and then decided to march to war. And now I go to stop him." Lyra said, before she lifted into the air, levitating as she rose higher and higher until she was suspended some five meters above the ground. She looked down on the citizenry, watching their stunned expressions. Even the Priest looked shaken.
The simple solution to her problem she had arrived at earlier, made manifest. Using her unique Magic Creation (SSS) skill, she just made the spell "Flight" which would allow her to defy gravity, as long as she could afford to spend about 300 mana a minute. Naturally, 300 mana a minute was pocket change to her. She looked down and offered the crowd a final word, before she'd part:
-"I am sorry that I am not devil you think I am. I am no hero, but neither am I an agent of evil. I am just me, free and untethered."
Right now, that could not be any more true, as she hovered in the air, unchained even from gravity itself. Then, she took off, surging in the direction of Luna, dashing through the rain-filled air in the dark of night, leaving the crowd of people behind, thankful to be alive. As she flew, however, the only thing on her mind were her friends back at Luna. She hoped she was not too late...
[1] Mage Armor: Costs 300 mana to cast. The user coats themselves in magic armor, increasing their armor value by an amount equal to their Intelligence stat for 1 hour.
[2] Mana-Barrier: A barrier of mana that will protect the caster using their own mana as a shield. Each point of dmg blocked will drain 2 points of mana. 200 dmg blocked will drain 400 mana.
[3] Protected Mind: Costs 1000 mana. The Caster protects their mind for 24 hours, ensuring they will not fall prey to any mental magics so long as their mana allows. If the enemy caster possesses more mana than the caster of this spell, they may overpower even this spell.
[4] Absorption Aura: cost 5000 mana to cast, and for 10 minutes the caster will absorb 10% of the stats from any creature killed while under this effect.
[5] Earthern Spike: Costs 400 mana. The caster summons a sharp spike from the nearby earth to strike their enemies. Deals 200 dmg + Spellpower.
[6] Fire-Storm: Costs 1000 mana. The Caster conjures a massive storm if incinerating heat, dealing 500 Fire-dmg + Spellpower in a cone in front of the caster.