1046 Chapter 1046 Lily and the Not-as-Great Escape
“If you surrender peacefully you will not be injured before being brought to trail,” said the lead maid with the sword.
“Counter offer,” said Lily, “Would you be willing to accept the fact that Meng has been replaced with an imposter and we worked mostly by accident because of true sight?” Lily wasn’t going to mention that it wasn’t her true sight, or that there was another person involved in this at all.
“While that sounds impossible, I’m sure the elders will be willing to hear you out,” said the maid with a toothed smile. Lily was getting the feeling that while they would ‘hear them out’ it was more so that they’d be able to laugh at the absurdity of the claim afterwards, not that they would take her seriously.
*Right… so can I get out of the room? Probably? I don’t feel all that intimidated by a bunch of servants that needed to get a sword to break through my rather pathetic barrier. Sure it was pretty good… but it was a first attempt that if done right would’ve been able to stop the blade as well. The fact that it took such a beating from just fists says more about the weakness of these guys then the strength of my barrier…
At the same time… it’s still going to take a good deal of mana to get through them all without killing anybody. Perhaps not a certainty, but Bing would be sad if we killed someone she knew and liked. I can’t exactly ask ‘Hey you friends with Bing’ before sending thousands of razor sharp pieces of paper in their general direction. I’d have to soften the edges massively and brute force it with a wave of paper to knock them out and away. Which… well last time I went too hard on that spell I passed out for hours afterwards. Really not ideal in this situation.*
“It’s true though,” said Lian, mostly just to buy time.
“Ah Lian, I recognise you. So that’s how you intruders managed to get this far. I suppose Bing will be disappointed by your betrayal,” said the maid.
“Look, Lian is only here because I forced her to be,” said Lily, hoping in the worst case scenario that Lian wouldn’t have to shoulder the label of traitor. Plus, on could argue that Kat and Lily did abduct her. If you squinted. And were missing an eye.
“She seems awfully comfortable right now, so I can’t say I really believe you,” said the maid.
.....
“Well, considering you haven’t believed anything I’ve said so far that doesn’t surprise me. Is part of your job being obstinate? Oh, sorry, I suppose I should introduce myself before throwing out insults. My name is Lily, what’s yours,” said Lily as she brought time to go through more escape options.
*The walls look surprisingly thick considering this is a hidden room. In addition to that, I can’t tell if there are more servants waiting for us there. My ears are good, but not quite that good. There is simply too many people milling around now. What about the back of the room? Hmmm… same problem I think.*
“I don’t need to introduce myself to a criminal,” hissed the maid.
“Well in that case I dub you Swordy,” said Lily without any shame, taking a page from Kat’s book. Might as well give them a dumb nickname to piss them off and order them better in her mind.
“I will not fall for you tricks, criminal. I will provide you no more information then what you currently has, which seems to be basically nothing,” said Swordy.
“Lian you know this girl?” asked Lily with a chuckle.
“Um… no… I don’t remember her name,” answered Lian honestly. Though, it was a little unfair. She was facing the back wall with her legs facing the maid so she had to guess Swordy’s real name based on just her voice and how she spoke. Sadly, there were too many female servants that liked to antagonise her, so it didn’t exactly narrow things down.
Lily on the other hand, COULD see Swordy, and her eye was spasming, her jaw was clenched, and her sword was being held in a death grip. Apparently what Lian said was much more inflammatory. *I’m surprised that Swordy took such offence. I mean, if you supposedly think so little of Lian that you’re not surprised she’d betray Bing then why would you take offence at her words?*
Lily looked at the ceiling and sighed, making the gesture really obvious in hopes to bate out an attack to dash around the servants… but as she stared up at the ceiling… she saw that it was wood. Slightly rotted, and poorly maintained wood. *THEY DIDN’T REINFORCE THE CEILING. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I KNOW HOW I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE.* Lily quickly schooled her face into the best mask of indifference she could manage. It seemed nobody here was thinking about the roof, and she wanted to keep it that was as long as possible.
“So, are you sure there isn’t anything I can say to change your mind? I mean, as a demon I can’t lie, so that should be worth something right?” said Lily. Which was, very much a lie. She was neither a demon, nor forced to lie… but it could work? Perhaps? She had demonic energy, and if they had the senses to pick up on that perhaps they’d just believe her.
Swordy narrowed her eyes and looked Lily over. “I don’t see any horns on you. Pretty sure you’re not a demon,”
*Welp. I didn’t practice this for nothing. It’s a massive pain to do though.* Lily focused on her forehead, and imagined her transformation. It was an unpleasant experience, both in the lead-up and in success. Lily felt it as her skin split and horns grew in, wincing as she felt her own body fighting against her. It wanted to either keep going, letting the rest of her body change, or retreat and return to human form. *Should’ve practiced this more.* “This enough proof?” asked Lily, trying to hide the effort this was taking.
Swordy looked genuinely surprised, but they returned to frowning not long afterwards. “Hmm… those are horns true… and I can sense… something about them. Yet, you could simply be a shapeshifter or an illusionist, and I know both are much more common then a demon,”
“True, but I have demonic energy!” insisted Lily, with a smile on her face that showed of her canines quite intentionally.
Swordy frowned at this, but then remembered the paper Lily had summoned. It had been filled, not with demonic energy… but with mana. “Liar! You are but a mage playing pretend! Now, enough talk, face my blades!”
“Fuck!” Lily hissed as Swordy blurred in front of her. Lily let go of the transformation on her head, and pushed it into her hands. Claws came much more naturally to her, and barely caused any discomfort despite the major changes to her hand’s musculature and nails. The sound of metal on metal rung out when Swordy’s sword connected with her gleaming nails.
Lily hissed, like the part feline she was, and slashed at Swordy’s face with her claws. Swordy leaned back and threw out the sword to try and cut Lily’s midsection. Lily, had been waiting for that though and jumped up on the sword instead. Swordy’s eyes went wide as Lily leapt off the weapon and slashed through the rotting wood in the ceiling. “See ya bitch!” said Lily as she cackled.
The ceiling was dark and musty, with cobwebs everywhere and enough droppings to cause her to gag from the smell now that it was registering properly to her mind. She could hear the servants scrambling down below, but she was already moving, ducking and weaving around the support beams as she ensured that Lian didn’t get smashed into anything by accident. That was when she heard a growl of effort and glanced behind her.
*Swordy is persistent.* Lily’s mental complaint was accurate. Swordy had jumped up into the roof as well, though her larger frame would make navigating her way through it much more complicated. *I could probably fight her here if I wasn’t carrying Lian… should I leave Lian somewhere and take Swordy out? Ehh… probably not. We’re just wasting time till Kat can come and get us. I shouldn’t risk taking fights I don’t need to.*
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