In the middle of the newly formed crater, A large scorched skeleton could be seen.
It looked like a human's except that it was bigger with a few more stubs of missing limbs!
The dark mana within the place quickly formed and surged to the said skeleton before it began reforming the body then it raised its head with its mouth open wide.
*GGYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!*
A sharp shriek of pain soon followed when parts of the chest and throat were remade as the distinct voice that many knew of spoke out in anger and frustration.
"Damn you and your way of leaving nothing for anyone, JABAWOCK!!!"
The one that spoke was the lesser evil maiden of anguish!
The healing process was slow for her flesh even more so for her missing bones as now Andariel was forced to crawl like a worm while one of her newly formed eyes looked around for the shortest route to use for her escape from here.
She was familiar with how he did things, and this wasn't the first time that Jabawock roasted her body, but the strange thing was while she ABSOLUTELY hated his guts the methods the first LOM AKA lord of monsters employed were something that she liked, while it did damage her it suffering and anguish brought by his methods also made her grow even stronger each time.
The only downside was that she too suffered each time it happened!
Right now, not only was she weakened but also low on mana.
Andariel had to leave as soon as possible before any of the surviving rogues take this chance or even their reinforcements arrive to finish her off!
But just as soon as she was about to begin her escape, a young feminine chuckle laced with insanity and rage tickled her ears subtly as the sound of metal being dragged across the ground could be heard behind her.
Andariel knew who it was, while she did had some doubts about her current control over the approaching person, the lesser evil still wanted to try her luck.
"Silvia! hurry up and help me get- ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!"
While Andariel attempted to command her 'slave' for a brief moment the metal grinding against the ground had stopped before a broken shortsword plunged into the eye that tried to look towards the person she was talking to.
the pained wails of Andariel echoed out loudly but at the same time, it seemed to speed up the healing process of the demoness!
But Silvia didn't care and quickly removed the blade with a chunk of the eye still attached, before plunging her blade into the gap of the cervical spine of her victim.
This rogue had served Andariel for years now, ever since she was a child and was to be the priestess before Akara.
Naivety and curiosity were something that demons always exploited, especially those that were under a lot of pressure, a simple wish of no longer being under pressure of the sisterhood, no longer having to follow their rules, Silvia's momentary selfishness led to the demise of thousands of her sisters and the destruction of their home.
Even worse of it all, she could no longer stay in a single body as her being 'consumes' the life-force of whatever she inhabited!
Right now, the body she was using seemed to have aged at least 15 years, fully naked showing her large assets that bounced freely with every movement she made, as some frays of cloth dangled from her straps and belts making the sight quite arousing, well, for a few seconds before it began to shrivel up.
This was the price she paid to be free from her responsibilities and regulations to forever seek a new body every time it gets damaged to a certain extent.
This was the 7th body she had to steal and claim.
The broken blade easily slipped through between the gaps of the spinal column, causing the demoness to convulse for a second before falling limp.
with a twist of the blade, Andariel's head got severed from her body, it was obvious what Silvia wanted to do, the fallen rogue wanted to claim the Lesser evil's body for herself, which oddly enough brought an unnerving grin to form on the reconstructed face!
Silvia couldn't help but ask with an annoyed tone.
"What's so funny, demon?"
But while she said this, Silvia still reached out to the body to finish what she wanted to do while it was weird that her victim was smiling despite what she was about to do the rogue was desperate and had little time to think of whatever petty tricks she might've gotten caught in, however, the demoness ignored the question, and simply waited, once the rogue's hand touched the headless body, Andariel laughed.
She released a boisterous cackle!
It was then that the hand of Silvia, gotten wrapped by these black spiky tendrils that easily punctured through her skin and quickly traveled upward towards her core!
The Fallen rogue's eyes widened before she attempted to cut off her own arm with the broken and dull blade!
Silvia cried out in terror as whatever was happening certainly not a good thing if it continued this way.
With how dull the blade was, the girl's efforts were useless!
her body was becoming that of Andariel's, however, she would not have any control over it.
"Nothing much, just that you have one more job to do~"
the demoness spoke in such a disturbingly teasing manner one could get goosebumps should they hear it themselves.
Andariel already choose a way on how to survive this ordeal, with one of the steps nearing its completion now, she just had to wait and see if one of her brothers will be the one to revive her or if she'll get lucky enough to join the ranks of the LOM again who knows.
But right now, her body double is about to begin its work~
*AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!*
--------
Trisha and the other rogues that were lucky enough to be shielded by the crumbling carcass of Berhald crawled out of rocks, debris, and burnt corpses of their sisters.
They numbered at least 11 from the original several hundred that hoped to reclaim their home.
Cassandra was one of the fallen as only half of her burnt head remained from the blast thanks to trying to save as many of the younger generation as possible.
"Are we all that's left?"
This was asked by the youngest of their group.
For them, that was a question that was difficult to answer honestly.
Which led to a gloomy atmosphere hover over the survivors, as some began to weep, some groaned in pain from the injuries they sustained, and some were starting to go insane.
Who wouldn't, when almost all of your sisters both younger and older had fallen within less than an hour nay less than ten minutes!
While they hadn't forgotten about what Kashya can do for their fallen sisters, something told them it wasn't going to be that easy and the sight of Jabawock chewing on a soul still lingered in their minds.
Trisha the officially highest-ranking survivor was about to order them to search for any more survivors and Walter being the priority.
*AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!*
The plan, their thoughts, and worries were interrupted by a heart-wrenching scream that sounded so inhuman that they braced themselves, ready to fight anything else they will have to fight since it was hard to picture anything scarier than the LOM that they faced!
"Prepare your bows and spread out we are going to kill our enemies from afar as we should always do!"
While it wasn't the perfect and the most sound order, it was still something to make them move and hopefully survive this upcoming ordeal.
What came stumbling towards them in a frenzy, was Andariel the maiden of anguish.
The eyes of the demoness bloodshot, froth formed on the corners of her lips as a line of drool dripped to the ground, unlike the dignified look the lesser demons showed, Andariel looked like a rabid beast hungry for flesh and blood!
The surviving rogues were stunned by this, but with the anger of losing their sisters and the suffering they had to endure, they managed to recollect themselves before beginning their attack!
Andariel tried to say something but all that they heard was something akin to drunken slurs and beastly grunts with a fist, then again, not that they would've listened anyways~
The battle was rather anti-climatic.
Not even an hour of this struggle of keeping their distance and bringing arrows did they finally manage to defeat this demon that was, now, weakened and unable to move.
Revenge was within their grasp, and it wasn't very often someone can slay a lesser evil, thus the rogues came up with the 'wise' idea to end this demoness together as 11 rogues drew their blades and approached the downed Andariel ominously.
How many years they had to live as vagabonds?
Unable to return to the place they called home?
How many sisters did they lose throughout this struggle?
Both from the demoness and the surrounding monsters during their escape?
tens?
Hundreds?
Thousands?
The lifelong grudge permeated into every single rogue as each older generation had to retell the tale to the new generation.
The downed demoness felt a cold shiver run down her spine as the heavy footsteps drew closer to her location!
She looked up to see 11 young rogues covered in various injuries with their blades drawn, Andariel attempted to say something yet again which only sounded like a mad and desperate growl in their ears while she tried to crawl away.
Then the weight of 11 feet held her in place, Andariel looked up one more time to see Trisha's wrathful gaze before she did something peculiar, the demoness stopped moving as if resigning to her fate.
But the Rogues weren't going to take any chances, Andariel's blood was now theirs to spill, so of course, they will relish it as much as possible.
The blades quickly struck in some of the most brutal ways possible, yet the demoness did not make a single sound, only making a peaceful smile as they made a bloody mess of her.
Trisha, in particular, wanted to end this fast and begin her search for Walter, thus she knelt down near Andariel grabbed her by the hair, to get a good look at the demon that made the sisterhood suffer so much, for so long before plunging her blade through the left temple into the brain.
the deed was done, Andariel twitched a few more times before Trisha heard something short circuit and render her unable to move as something very familiar slipped out of the closed fist.
"live strongly, Trie."
As the gift, Trisha had given to a particular person landed near her feet, one of the two knives that were a present meant for a particular rogue she had been searching for and the nickname that only her dearest sister knew about.
This made Trisha shudder before screaming out in confusion, frustration, and most importantly sadness!
The rogue's blade struck the head of the demoness repeatedly causing some blood to splatter.
There was no finesse in her strokes, just all of her bottled-up emotions before her blade finally snapped, and the rogue fell to her knees and bawled out the others joined her in this.
they didn't have to deal with any monsters thanks to the ability that Jabawock used, but it was eerily quiet before they resumed their search for any more surviving sisters and the target that they were originally here for.
Walter.
They had found him by the time Akara and the rest of the sisterhood had arrived, good news was everyone that died was up and at it~.
the Bad news, however, they all suffered from some spiritual injuries that made them only capable of using half of their strength, and unless this gets treated it will gradually worsen!
Walter was currently unconscious as they transported him back to the encampment, Trisha who had promised herself to him stayed close to him the whole time as she took care of him while the rest of the sisterhood other than Akara, Kashya, and Charsi held a grudge towards him, 'or should we say?' the other inhabitant within his body.
Jabawock is quite the asshole and his reputation and countless titles were erased thanks to time and history~.
With things cleared up and the caravan now able to travel back to its destination, Warriv was about to continue his travels before something truly had happened right in front of him thanks to the cry of surprise from Trisha everyone looked to see what happened.
A being that glowed with holy light, and had a pair of large wings flapped behind it the whole encampment stared at this in awe, before gasping in surprise!
the person that was radiating such soothing light was Walter himself as a voice that was laced with gentleness and purity reached their ears.
"Kind sir, could you escort us to Lut Gholein, our presence is needed there."
Warriv who was surprised like the rest couldn't help but ask as he blinked in disbelief.
"what, no, who are you?"
the being smiled kindly before replying in a slow manner for all to hear.
"I am one of the six former lords of monsters, the former archangel of kindness, Xacuel."