Taliyana never felt so much pain in her life. She heard her panicking mother up above her, and Reid finally got off of her. The man didn't take his time to assess the damage. He stood up and glared at the attacker from across the street.
It was a man in white robes, sporting a black version of this kingdom's emblem. He clicked his tongue from Reid's actions. "I can't believe you would protect it with your own body. That was a foolish thing to do, and now you both have been hit by arrows. That arrow pair was meant for the cat and her mom."
Taliyana's eyes blinked towards Reid's thigh, and she saw a similar arrow sticking out of his leg. Her heart sank, but before she could do or say anything, her mother grabbed onto her.
"Taliyana!" Malania looked down at her daughter horrified.
"You need to take her and get out of here. Get her to a healer. I will stall this guy."
The man drew another arrow and pulled his bowstring back. As soon as it went taut, he released it.
Taliyana watched it fly towards her. She couldn't do anything else but close her eyes and prey.
///
Marriage. The idea hung in the air like a towel hanging from a clothes line. It was something Elanore had heard before but nothing she'd ever seriously considered for herself. She looked at the marriage prospect in question, the prince wearing his royal attire. Then she looked back at her wyvern glaring at the king. Ella placed a hand on Naela's shoulder.
"With all due respect..."
"Your majesty!" A knight bursting into the dining room yelled. "The castle is under attack!"
The king slammed his hands on a table and stood. "What foolish person would do such a thing!"
Elanore didn't wait for the answer. After all, a large part of her was opportunistic, and she was glad for the break in atmosphere. She grabbed Naela's hand and slipped out of the throne room as the group started panicking. She'd heard the sound of voices calling her name, but they went ignored.
The moment she and Naela entered the hallway, knights were fighting the white-robed intruders. They already made it this far into the castle?
She recognized Tal from the guardsmen among their ranks. Though Elanore felt like this situation was odd. For one thing, the elf inside of the dining hall hadn't even noticed them. She should have heightened magic senses, shouldn't she?
At least Ella had a few excuses for not recognizing the fighting. She'd kept her mana sensing abilities to a minimum, and the king had sprung up a strange proposal. Elanore looked back at her maid who was looking to her for guidance. The vampire clicked her tongue and summoned a floating eyeball like she'd done in the forest to protect Naela in the first place.
The eye broke through a glass window and hovered in the air. Its mana spread out, and then Elanore started seeing sights all over the city. There were similar things happening in these places. Guards were fighting people in white robes, and civilians were running to safe houses.
She watched a few guards get cut down and some of the robed figures with them. Though, one sight in particular was gut wrenching. She saw a familiar cat girl on the ground with an arrow sticking out of her leg. Blood poured onto the street below her, and the man who did it readied another arrow.
For the first time since coming to this world, Ella felt genuine anger begin to bubble inside of her. Her purple eyes started glowing, and purple wisps of mana started radiating from her skin.
"Mistress! Your dress!"
Elanore didn't notice that her dress was melting in patches. She cast [Calm] on herself this time and she pointed towards the nearby fighting knights. "Help those people secure this castle and defeat the people in white robes. I will be right back."
Naela performed a quick curtsy before readying herself. "Understood, mistress."
Elanore climbed into the broken window and jumped. She pointed her staff in front of her, and a pink sphere formed in the air beneath her. When she touched it, the world shifted. She landed in a market district, but more importantly, she landed between an arrow and a little girl.
The arrow ripped through her dress at the abdomen, but it stopped when it touched her body. It bounced off and hit the ground beneath her.
"Witch," Taliyana's weak voice called out to her. The little girl had dark circles beneath her eyes, and her body was slowly changing color to black.
Poison?
The man nearby got between Elanore and Taliyana, protecting the little girl with his body.
"I'm on your side."
He looked back towards the mother and daughter, and Malania nodded weekly. "Can you help her? Please!"
Elanore smiled, showing off her pretty white fangs. "There is nothing in this world that I can't do. But first, I need to take care of a little pest." The vampire witch deflected another arrow, heading their way with manapie. With her free hand, she started casting telekinesis to remove the arrow. She heard a pained groan from the little girl, which was enough to restart her angry engine.
"Don't just ignore me!" The bowman yelled.
Elanore started her healing and curing spells with her free hand, and with her other hand she held Manapie up in the air. A swirling mist of purple magic coiled towards the tip, creating a warping of the atmosphere. Pebbles from the ground started to shake, and the nearby markets started to rumble. It was as if an earthquake was starting.
The target of the spell started to panic. "Hey! Vampire! Are you planning to destroy this entire city?"
"Destroy this entire city? No way. I will give you a taste of witch magic. I have been dying to use this for a while now. Don't confuse it for sorcery. It's much more brutal than that. [Divine Witch Magic – Hands of the Devouring Serpent]."
Before the man could move a purple circle formed beneath him. Snakes launched from the ground and wrapped around his legs, locking him in place. His eyes filled with panic and he reached for his bow, but before he could even pull the string back, more serpents launched from the abyss and coiled around his arms. He was completely locked in place.
Elanore looked back towards the healing little girl and softened her expression. "Close your eyes, please. Actually, all of you might want to do that."
Surprisingly, they all did as told, and the spell began its true brutality. Fear of snakes was something common among people, but none of them experienced the true terror of being devoured alive by a serpent.
The man started screaming as a larger purple circle opened up in front of him. The head of a massive serpent started crawling from the abyss and rose until it was at least 20 meters tall and as wide as the street beneath them. The snake was very much unlike Elanore. It was covered in black scales running down its body. The only similarity was when the snake finally opened its eyes. Glowing purple gems stared down at its prey.
"Please, no! I don't wanna die!" The man screamed. He winced from pain as the smaller snakes grabbing him started biting his arms and legs. They had rows of sharp and serrated teeth like a shark's. With each bite, his blood started to drip into the purple abyss beneath him. "Stop!"
But before he could utter another word, the serpent of devouring lunged forwards. It swallowed him whole, and with it, his shouts disappeared into the snake's stomach. The thing licked its lips with its slimy split tongue, and then it slowly started lowering itself back to where it came from. After a few seconds, it was gone completely. Along with the serpent hands from which it got its name.
Elanore expected that the spell would be brutal, but seeing it in real life was very different from seeing it in the game. Watching it induced a feeling of nausea in the part of her brain still clinging to modern humanity. She realized that this was the first time she'd ever killed a human, and that thought stuck with her as she turned to Taliyana and the other two.
"You can open your eyes now. It's all over."
Taliyana opened her eyes wide and looked at her healed leg. The girl's face looked better as well, and her body was no longer turning black. She leapt to her feet before her mother could stop her, and she ran towards Elanore, giving the witch a comforting hug.
Ella was stun locked by the actions, not expecting Taliyana to do this, and her mind that was thinking about becoming a killer eased. She reached her hand hesitantly towards the little girl's head and pat her.