Lisia slowly raised her hand and wiped the blood flowing from Rant's trembling lower lip with her thumb. Then, she inserted two fingers of her other hand into Rant's mouth to prevent his convulsing jaw from biting his tongue.
"Phew... The person waiting for my cooking might complain about the portion being too small. I couldn't offer them meat blessed by the goddess, you see."
Lisia's eyes changed as she tightened her grip on Rant's heart, her fingernails digging into it from the hand embedded in his stomach.
Her cruel gaze overwhelmed the person she was looking at. Her small pupils, unwavering, stared at Rant, who was flinching in pain before her. It was the gaze of a predator, devoid of any trace of pity. A gaze that seemed to revel in swallowing fear and the will to live.
"Now... then."
Lisia's voice, suppressing a burst of joyful laughter, was accompanied by the rising corners of her mouth.
Boom!
Sensing a presence behind her, Lisia pushed Rant away and leaped back. In the spot where she had stood, a mace glowing with blue light struck the ground, leaving a deep crater.
"Diara!"
Lisia shouted the name of the owner of the magic-infused staff that had swung at her.
"Why... why are you doing this? What's the reason, Lisia?"
Diara, looking down at Rant collapsed on the ground, spoke. There was no chance to even attempt healing magic; Rant lay motionless, showing no signs of life.
"Well? Perhaps... because it was necessary?"
Lisia said, shaking off the sticky blood staining her hand toward the ground.
"But how did you follow me? No, rather than how... why did you follow me? I don't think I did anything to warrant such suspicion that you'd tail me late at night."
Lisia spoke in a soft, gentle tone, calming the hostility that had flared while dodging Diara's attack.
"Nia told me."
"Nia? ...Oh, you mean that little Droko. So? What did that Droko tell you?"
"Nia said there was a smell of blood on you, Lisia. I went with Nia to the place where we found an empty wagon and a pool of blood, and Nia said the smell there matched the one on you."
Hearing Diara's words, Lisia looked puzzled, gazing down at the blood on her fingertips.
"Hah. So you suspected me and followed me?"
"Lisia... Are you really the Lisia I knew? How... what changed you like this?"
Diara's hesitant voice spoke as she looked into Lisia's eyes.
"Changed? I've always been this way. I was just wearing the shell of the 'Knight of the Hidden Moon.'"
"That's... that's..."
Diara bit her lip to hold back tears, suppressing a trembling voice.
"Hmm. I didn't want you to see this side of me, Diara. If you hadn't, we could've spent a long time getting to know each other without any issues. I could've endured that much inconvenience."
"If that had happened, countless people would have died by your hand. Just like Rant today."
"Heh. Yes, probably."
Lisia said with a smile and a slight squint of her eyes.
"Aren't we talking too long? Shouldn't we start doing what we came here for before it gets too late?"
Crack!
Lisia extended her hand toward the ground, palm open, and a long sword made of white bone rose from the earth to a height perfect for grasping. Decorated with strange, small bones, with long bones forming the blade, Lisia's expression turned cold as she gripped the bone sword.
She spoke again to Diara, who stood silently holding her staff.
"But what gave you the confidence to come alone? Not bringing anyone else was a huge mistake, Diara. And the price for that mistake..."
Lisia paused, lowering the bone sword to touch the ground. She scratched the earth with it, lifted it, glanced at the handle, and continued speaking to Diara.
"...is that you won't leave here alive!"
As Lisia shouted at Diara, a magic circle appeared above her open palm. From the glowing circle, a sphere of water split into two, spinning in place as if chasing each other.
"It's been so long since I fought using magic! I wonder if I'm still as good as I used to be~?"
Her voice, feigning humility with a hint of arrogance, was directed at Diara. At the same time, the two cannonball-like water spheres stopped spinning in the air and shot toward their target with ferocious speed.
Boom! Crash!!
The water cannonballs exploded upon hitting the ground and the wall of the clearing, scattering broken rock fragments and clumps of earth with a splattering sound.
"You dodged? Well, it's only the beginning, so I suppose you'll put up some kind of fight."
"Fireball!"
Diara, who had swiftly leaped to the side to avoid Lisia's magic, shot a red orb of flame from the tip of her staff, held with both hands, toward Lisia.
"You still love your fire magic, don't you, Diara!"
Lisia's face bore a smile as she faced the fireball hurtling toward her.
With a leisurely expression, she licked her red lips with her tongue, her full lips thinning into a smile. Then she extended her hand forward.
"A fireball can't pierce this water shield!"
From Lisia's outstretched hand, streams of water rose from the ground, and droplets gathered around her palm, forming a transparent water shield.
The shield, growing larger as it absorbed surrounding water droplets, curved to envelop Lisia.
The blazing fireball heading toward Lisia was swallowed by the water shield, creating white steam and disappearing from sight.
"Did you forget? Water magic that devours fire is my specialty."
Confirming the disappearance of Diara's fireball, Lisia spoke with a smirk, raising one corner of her mouth.
"I didn't forget. That's why I've been working to create fire that can't be swallowed."
"Heh, then your efforts fell short."
"It's not over yet! Scattered Flame!"
"I told you, fire magic won't work!"
As Lisia concentrated more magic into her water shield and stepped forward, expecting another spell from Diara, she saw only Diara, hunched over, barely holding herself up with her staff, looking at Lisia.
"What, did you fail to cast it?"
Lisia raised the hand holding the bone sword, pointing its tip at Diara with a mocking tone.
"It... wasn't a failure. Huff... Scattered Flame burns the enemy around the target!"
Diara, calming her ragged breathing, spoke to Lisia before charging forward again.
"What? What does that mean... Huh?!"
Hearing Diara's words, Lisia's eyes widened as she hurriedly looked around. What she saw were countless flames of varying sizes—small sparks and larger fireballs, though not as big as Diara's earlier fireball—converging on her from all directions.
"Argh!"
Lisia raised her arm holding the water shield to block them, but she couldn't fend off all the flames surrounding her.
Explosions large and small, along with the hissing of flames extinguished by water, echoed endlessly, creating thick steam that obscured Lisia's form.
A brief silence followed. As the white steam drifted toward the sky above the clearing and the cave, Diara, running forward, swung her magic-infused staff toward a faint black silhouette.
Crack!
The staff, swung toward the dark shape, hit something with a dull thud. Emerging from the smoke was a wall of ivory bones—thick leg bones, short wrist and ankle bones, round kneecaps, flat interconnected ribs, and blackened skulls with missing teeth and gaping holes.
As Diara prepared to channel more magic into her staff to strike the bone wall, Lisia's voice rang out.
"That hurt, Diara!"
Lisia's voice, filled with rage, accompanied her chilling glare and furrowed brow as she thrust her sword toward Diara's shoulder.
"Ugh!"
With a short groan, Diara dropped her staff from the sharp pain in her shoulder and leaped back to avoid Lisia's next strike.
"That was a new spell... Did you delay its activation?"
Lisia spoke to Diara, who was focusing mana in both hands to maintain distance and prepare a magical barrier.
Lowering the sword aimed at Diara, Lisia turned and walked toward Rant's body.
Even as she walked, Lisia's eyes never left Diara, and her right shoulder showed a tattered robe and wounds from the Scattered Flame.
Suppressing her rising anger, Lisia's wide eyes glared at Diara, who was keeping her distance and moving toward her fallen staff, with a murderous intensity that promised to close the gap in an instant if Diara made any hostile move.
"Wait and see. I'll show you something very interesting."
Stopping in front of Rant's body, lying in a pool of blood, Lisia smiled leisurely at Diara.
Crunch!
"What are you doing!"
Lisia pierced Rant's body with the tip of her bone sword. Seeing this, Diara shouted at her.
"Hehe! Diara, you're so impatient. It won't take long~."
Looking at the sticky blood on the sword's tip, Lisia's eyes gleamed with excitement, and she stuck out her red tongue, her expression seductive.
"Blood(血) Magic. You've heard of it, haven't you?"