Chương 28: Chapter 28: Progress?

Kalika opened her eyes. She was blinded by the sheer darkness that surrounded her. A void. A space of nothing. And yet despite this, within the blinding dark she can feel a strong sense of anger welling up around her.

Heavy rageful breathing coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. A burning sensation filled her entire body, she wanted to writhe in pain but found her body no longer existed.

She looked up to find her young self from all those years back. But she's in a prisoner's outfit with some white strands of hair littered in her blonde hair. She could see herself giving a cold and scornful look.

"Pathetic."

Kalika woke up from her bed panting heavily, beads of sweat coming down the side of her head. She took her time to gather her thoughts. She then found herself being ambushed from the side by a hug. Rhonda squeezed Kalika tightly in her embrace.

"R-Rhonda?"

Kalika didn't reciprocate the feeling, only letting Rhonda finish her hugging. Kalika forced a small smile, petting Rhonda on the head. Shortly after, Kalika became more serious.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was being in the arena…"

"From what we were told, they said that you fainted shortly after killing the warden." Tilus revealed himself from the outside of the prison cell.

"O-oh…"

Kalika becomes silent for a moment, trying to recall what happened. The last thing she could remember was wanting to know how many people she killed.

"That just leaves two more people that I have to kill…" It looked as though Kalika was lost.

"Y…yeah… Do you feel alright? You've been out for a few days now..." Tilus gave a look of concern.

Kalika Sighed. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"I've been out for a few days…? No wonder I feel so well rested."

Kalika stretched herself feeling much better. Tilus however continued to look at her, concerned, as Rhonda simply smiled on content.

"Well, if everything is good, now might be a good time to celebrate a little. How does that sound?" Tilus waved for her to follow. He waited patiently for her response as she thought about the suggestion.

"Y-yeah. Sure. That sounds good. Is there anything new?"

Tilus chuckled a little. "No, But How about I give you my share of the food?"

The thoughts of a second portion of meat porridge filled her mind. They thought it sounded great. realizing that she was drooling a little, she quickly wiped her mouth and averted her gaze with a slight blush.

"Y-yeah. I wouldn't mind that."

"Then it's settled." Tilus grinned a little and began his trek.

Realizing this, she quickly ventured off her bed to follow Tilus. She stopped just as quickly glancing back to find that Rhonda was staying behind waving with a smile.

"H-have a nice meal, miss Kalika." she cheered.

Kalika doesn't respond back, instead nodding her head in understanding and continuing the venture.

Back with Rhonda she seemed conflicted, she started fiddling with her fingers, looking into Kalika's cell. She pulled out the golden medallion with the insignia of the country's crest. A tear falls from her face.

She quickly wiped it away and returned the medallion back to her maid's uniform.

Rhonda turned to find that Rakon was standing right behind her. She jumped in surprise, falling to her butt.

Rakon barely paid any attention to her, watching as Kalika finished turning the corner. He then turned his attention to Rhonda handing over a blood blade dagger to her. She recognized it as Kel's dagger.

She instantly grabbed it hastily pulling it to herself. It was a reunion bittersweet to her as she examined the blade, feeling among the grooves of the hilt and blade.

"Consider this your parting gift… Now that our ten-year contract is over. You've done a very good job for a lousy maid…" Rakon shortly after took his leave. "It's a shame Kalika couldn't kill Ek much sooner… otherwise, Kel might still be alive…"

Rhonda starts to tremble. Tears becoming more evident.

"Then again. it's a shame you weren't there to see the spectacle. He went out in spectacular fashion."

Rhonda, with the dagger begun to tighten her grip, the dagger glowed affirming its new master. Suddenly, Rakon stopped at that very moment.

"By the way, don't get any funny ideas… You wouldn't want to make Kalika sad like last time."

Rhonda stayed silent as she continued to look at the dagger sitting on the floor. She clutched the dagger tightly. "N-no. I wouldn't…"

"Very good," Rakon said. He continued his departure leaving Rhonda to sulk alone in the prison corridor.

********

Deep in the chaotic battlefield of men versus demons, the battle is overwhelmingly in the favor of the humans. Lillian, overlooking the battle, calmly ordered for a retreat.

Lillian gracefully entered the sky, quickly finding arrows being shot at her. she dodged and weaved through the attacks, closing the distance between her and the majority of the human army.

In a single move she channeled forth a huge wall of fire allowing for the demon army to make its retreat. With her job done she reconvened with Jala and was also in retreat.

"Tired already?" Jala asked.

Lillian looked at Jala sternly. "No." She flew past the demon general.

A short time later they reconvened at a camp, far away from the battlefield. Jala and Lillian were talking privately within their room, where a map of the country laid in the center.

"I did advise that a straightforward assault wouldn't work," Jala said.

Lillian ignored Jala criticism, overlooking the map before them. "Do we have any words from Lucius?" she suddenly asked.

"Yes, in fact we just received news that both Ek and Kel are dead."

Lillian's interest immediately peeked. "Dead!?"

She pondered to herself for a little. "I guess that explains the bad feeling I was getting… But how did they die?"

"He didn't state how. Only that they're both dead." Jala reported.

Lillian stopped looking over the map, she picked up a decorative knife laying on it, looking at it with a lost fondness. "That's very unfortunate… Ek was the only one of you five to actually ever scold me. And his brother Kel was always trying to watch his back. Those brothers were definitely a funny pair."

Her voice was devoid of all emotions. No sadness, no joy, not even anger.

"Pardon?" Jala looked at Lillian curiously.

"I'm just reminiscing a little."

A silence grew between the two until Jala finally broke it.

"I heard from a guard once that Ek was friends with the girl Kalika. Is that true?" Jala asked.

Lillian took a moment before answering. "I thought that was the case at one point too. He always seemed to try to look after her… but I don't think she saw it the same way."

"I see...I'm sure whatever happened, they both fought bravely to the very end."

Lillian simply agreed to his statement.

"That's enough of them. Bring in the captains so we can go over our next plan of attack."

"It won't be the same as the last one, will it?"

"That depends, all you have to know for now is that the next few battles will be very important. And that's all I'll share for now…"

Jala glanced back at Lillian, uncertain. But he didn't question it. He followed the order's leaving to retrieve the captains, leaving Lillian alone in the tent.

"I hope she's faring well…" Memories of when Kalika almost killed Ek the first time resurfaced. she cringed a little. "No. She wouldn't do that…" She contemplated quietly.

"She was still timid back then. I doubt she'd do anything drastic. but still… The sooner I can kill him, the sooner this war will end… That Kyier man…"

In a swift move she plunged the knife into the map.

********

Kalika retrieved her spoonful of her celebratory meat porridge, staring at it. She suddenly didn't feel too hungry looking at it.

"Do you wanna talk?" Tilus asks.

"Huh? Oh… I-I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look too well. You've been pale since you've woken up."

Kalika drove her spoon back into the bowl. "I said I'm fine."

Kalika stared at the food in front of her. "I don't think I'm hungry…"

"Now you're not hungry?"

Kalika pushed the second bowl given back to Tilus. "I guess I just lost my appetite. that's all."

Tilus furrowed his brow. He took the bowl, not hesitating to eat it.

Kalika continued to stare at her food as Tilus ate his. "You know…" He gets another bite of his food. "It's not a good idea to keep thoughts and emotions bottled up. If there's something on your mind, just speak it. I'm not here to judge." He took another bite.

Kalika leaned onto the palm of her hand as she pondered to herself. She now watched as an argument was starting to unfold in the mess hall.

"Tilus… Do you think humans and demons can be friends?"

Tilus stopped for a moment, hearing her inquiry. He then took another bite and wiped his face with his hands. "I can't say that I know that answer myself. But from what I can tell, you never really seemed to care if someone was a demon or not. You'd give everyone the same face."

"Face? What face!??" Kalika became indignant, blushing embarrassed.

Seeing this Tilus cracked a smile. "The kind of face where you always look angry or annoyed."

"Excuse you! I don't always look angry!" she retorted.

"You should look in a mirror sometimes. If you could see yourself now, you'd might be surprised."

"Mirror…? I haven't used those in… I don't know how long it's been…" Kalika started playing with the handle of the spoon in her bowl.

"Perhaps that maid of yours could get one for you, you two seem to be close."

"Rhonda? She's just my maid, that's all… But I guess I could ask her. It probably wouldn't hurt…Hmm…"

Finally regaining her appetite Kalika finally picked up the spoon of the meat porridge, eating it. "Mmmm-"

Suddenly, a man fell onto their table, breaking it. Neither Tilus nor Kalika flinched as both of their bowls of food also fell on the man. She now looked at the unconscious man with mild annoyance.

"M…my food…"

"COME AND GET ME YOU DAHLIAN SCUM!!" A ginger haired man screamed.

Kalika watched as a ginger haired man fought against three other prisoners, now annoyed. "Oh… Who the heck is he?"

"I think he's a new guy. If I'm not mistaken, he arrived the same day that you had your match with the warden."

Kalika looked back at her food on top of the unconscious prisoner, and then back at the fight. She, Tilus and a few other prisoners, just watched as the Ginger haired man held himself against the other 5 prisoners that came his way.

Seeing this Kalika smiled. Entertained by the unfolding scenario.

This man before them was easily holding his own, and despite the scar on his face and body, he had a decent look to him, reminding her a little of the hero Jarred. With her eyes still fixed on the brawl Kalika started to converse once again. "Hey Tilus… How old do you think I am?"

Tilus looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you ask? Did someone catch your fancy?"

She gave a quick glare. "Just answer the question."

Tilus turned his attention back to the fight. "Hmm… If I had to guess I'd say maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven. But it's hard to tell since you've always looked the same since the day we met."

looking back at Kalika, he could see her tense up. She crossed her arms and continued to watch the fight's climactic end as the new inmate had won against twelve of the other inmates attacking him.

The man wobbled himself up, arms in the air. "I-IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOOOOT!!!" he yelled.

Shortly after, the man was whacked over the head with a club from one of the demon guards.

"Well… that's that…," Kalika said.

Tilus simply agreed with her. "He's very energetic for a newcomer, isn't he?"

Suddenly that same man fighting was thrusted upon Kalika and Tilus, landing between the two in an awkward position. Kalika looked up to find a short black haired demon woman flashing a wide smile. Kalika remembered her from the other day.

It looked as though some of the demon guards were trying to persuade her as she looked at Kalika. She ignored them instead heading straight to Kalika. She busted the tables in front of her and flung the chairs out the way, making the already chaotic mess hall even messier. Eventually she came face to face with Kalika, bending down to get uncomfortably close to her.

"Kalika." The woman started to chuckle to herself.

Seeing the woman smile before her felt unnerving. Despite her uncomfort, she didn't want to appear weak in front of this demon like before.

"Valam! Valam!" One of the guards called out. The guard tried to get between her and Kalika, He tried talking to her, but this only served to annoy the demon.

Valam quickly killed the guard with a single swipe clawed hands. She then grabbed Kalika by the neck, saying something in the demon language that Kalika still couldn't fully comprehend.

"Valam!" The demon woman with gray-hair showed up at the door. She glared at her companion. The two women then started to converse in their native language.

"<Daji I was just going to have fun with this girl.>"

"<Did you forget what Rakon will do if he finds out we messed with that girl? Come back. There will be other times. Now is not it.>" Daji retorted.

Valam immediately let Kalika go. "<Aww. You're no fun Daji>"

"<Don't look at me, I want to have fun with that immortal girl too.>" Daji glanced over to Kalika with a smirk. "<Personally, I'd like to see how many hot coals I can stuff down her gullet before dies.>"

Daji gave off an unpleasant chuckle. Kalika, still unable to understand, tried her best to maintain composure as she held her neck.

The last of the demon women showed up, the one with black long hair who looked very bored. Valam quickly took notice of her.."<Florin?>"

"<Here you are. Rakon's is looking for you two,>" Florin said. She glanced over and saw that Kalika was around. "<Ah. I see what happened now.>" Florin giggled.

"<Alright. Let's go then.>" Daji insisted. Daji pushed past Florin with Valam following close behind. Florin flashed a knowing smile before also following suit.

It wasn't long before the demon's guards started conversing among each other. Some of them looked very concerned and troubled. The other prisoners around however used the opportunity to leave the mess hall, not wanting to be involved in any further chaos.

Kalika herself let out a sigh of relief, just glad the whole ordeal was over quickly. "Thank goodness that's over."

"Yeah… That was a little… Intense…"

Both Kalika and Tilus felt a hand touch their shoulder. "Y-yeah! What the heck was that about??? I damn near pissed myself there for a moment…"

They both looked behind them to find the gingered hair man that was launched at them earlier. The man looked at Tilus and then Kalika.

He immediately jumped away, seeing Kalika.

"W-w-w-w-what the hell is a woman doing here!!!!????" The man started freaking out. Not long after he made a very strange face, bewildering both Kalika and Tilus.

Tilus cringed as he saw a puddle forming around the man. Kalika on the other hand stared blankly at the man before turning in for a laugh. She laughed uncontrollably at the man, absolutely amused.

"Really now..." Tilus looked on, disappointed in the man.

This man before them was Donovan mill. A strong ex-soldier of the Celestine Empire, now a prisoner of war that had an absolute fear of women.