Chapter 889 Mother of all Devils
While Kisuke and Runeas were still having a standoff, Benihime silently pulled the stunned Riveria to the side. After the former sent a stream of energy to the latter to help her block the oppressive aura, Riveria was finally able to recall how to breathe and panted hard while holding her chest in pain.
Benihime patted her back and comforted her, "There, there... Take it easy. You're safe now."
Still confused about what was happening, Riveria returned her blurry sight back to the confrontation and the first thing she saw was Kisuke's monstrous form, "W-what... What... is going on?"
Benihime didn't say anything and just allowed her to stare at Kisuke, wanting to know what was going to be her initial reaction. Knowing her origin, Benihime didn't think she'd have a positive response to this.
"What... is he?", Riveria softly asked while trying to focus her mind.
Benihime got closer to her left ear and whispered, "You don't know? In your world, that's the very definition of a monster."
Riveria's expression instantly became darker as she calmed the rhythm of her breathing. Under the mask, a small smile formed on her mouth, however, her eyes didn't say the same as she gave her a stare full of disappointment. But that's until she felt the movement of Demonic Power on Riveria's arm and a Magic Blade instantly extended from her hand.
Benihime bent her back away to dodge the blade that cut the corner of her mask before jumping away to secure some space from the angry Elf, "My~ How rude of you to attack someone who'd just saved your life."
Riveria shook her head to shake away the dizziness she was feeling and stared back at the fox-masked woman, "I'm just returning the rudeness of you calling a friend of mine a monster. And if someone saved me, it would be Kisuke, who went in front of me."
The disappointment immediately left Benihime's eyes with a chuckle, "Well, I guess that's true." She then looked at Kisuke who was already looking in their direction and winked at him, "Ufufufu~ And now that I've brought this interesting thing, my job here is done." After saying that, Benihime disappeared with a very familiar Flash Step, instantly leaving the scene after bringing Kisuke some trouble.
But before her aura completely left, Benihime left a few words only for Riveria to hear, "Aren't you one lucky girl? For him to reveal some of the cards he had been keeping for an emergency just to protect you from a bit of danger."
Riveria's eyes went wide open and her mind went blank.
'She didn't know, but that didn't mean that she didn't have any ideas about what was inside the coffin. She'd brought this thing here knowing it might cause problems.. Hahhh... Just where did she inherit that fondness of messing with everyone?' Meanwhile, Kisuke didn't want to admit it himself.
'But even if that's the case, it's a good opportunity to meet an original Devil.' Kisuke returned his sights to the already restless 'young' Devil.
A few seconds more passed and then the oppressive aura Kisuke had been releasing finally receded, with him returning to his original form. But instead of talking to Runeas, Kisuke placed his right hand on his nape to grab something before throwing it toward Riveria.
As it traveled through the air, the thing he threw sparkled in a green light, and when it reached in front of the Elf, it stopped before forming a series of green hexagonal shields around her, "Stay there for now. But if things go south, those shields should be able to protect you for a good while."
But instead of being glad, Riveria only felt bad and frustrated, 'This helplessness... It's been a while... But as I expected, I still hate it.' She thought while looking at the hexagonal shields revolving around her. She recalled Benihime's words and got a bit embarrassed before sighing in frustration, 'I will have to apologize later. But the better thing to do is to work on myself so that I won't need any saving in the first place.'
After making sure that the 'Milln Escudo' was properly integrated on Riveria and changed its state into automatic activation, Kisuke turned back and raised his right hand, pouring out the unique energy that he'd finally decided to call Origin, since it's a mixture of everything he knew how to use, "Kurohitsugi."
The oppression momentarily returned and Runeas prepared to defend herself as she saw jet black walls rise up from the floor, covering both her, Kisuke, and the coffin, "What are you doing!?"
Runeas was about to bash through the forming walls but Kisuke stopped her by saying, "Making a private place to talk."
The claws and wings she'd brought out again were taken back and formed into a thin film of dense Demonic Power around her.
As soon as the black walls connected, they also extended to form a ceiling and a floor, completely sealing the two people and the coffin away from the world, "I understand that you would want to protect your mother, but why did you suddenly attack?" Kisuke started while stepping away from the coffin. At this point, Benihime's seal on it was already gone.
Runeas approached the coffin and answered, "Because I was half-asleep. The moment I felt my mother's presence and how someone unknown was beside her, I automatically assumed the worst." Opening the coffin, Runeas' beautiful face couldn't help but grimace, "...How awful."
Kisuke returned and took a peek and even he couldn't maintain a stoic expression, "I think it's a few more degrees than that. This is quite the distasteful torture."
With only a few strands of black hair hanging from her scalp, Lilith was a half-dried-up 'corpse' with her flesh gone from her lower stomach until her feet and her almost rotting organs hanging out. But despite all of this, she was still breathing and her was heart beating, albeit, very softly and slowly, "Whoever did this to her, did a great job in keeping her alive.", added Kisuke in a sarcastic tone.
Runeas gritted her teeth and gently touched Lilith's face, "Unforgivable..."
Kisuke stared at the shaking Runeas for a few moments before saying, "My companion grabbed her from the depths of the Realm of the Dead, but I doubt that it was Hades and his happy friends who did this considering the age of the spell placed on her."
"...Why are you so sure it wasn't them who did this?" asked Runeas with glowing lavender eyes.
Kisuke closed his eyes and answered, "Because they are using her to create more Devils that will work under them."
The moment she heard that Runeas' aura exploded outwards, cracking the jet-black walls just from the initial impact.
Kisuke sighed and patted her shoulder, "Calm down for now. The fact that they've only started doing this recently meant that they didn't have her that long. Though that doesn't really change the fact that they're doing something nasty." But while saying this, a certain individual entered his head, 'Kurotsuchi-san would have done it too, I guess?'
Runeas' aura abated but the intensity around her hasn't disappeared, "I'm going to destroy them."
"That sounds fun, but the issue here isn't them, but Lilith-san." Kisuke then looked towards Lilith and said, "I present you two choices. One, and the easier one of the two, is death. The other one... Well, I can see a way for restoration. It's not going to be easy or cheap, though."
Runeas looked at him in shock, "Restoration? You mean healing her!? You can do that!? Please-"
"Hold on." Kisuke interrupted her by putting his hand in front of her face, "I'm not asking you."
"Heh?"
"I told you, right? This is distasteful torture. What is torture if you can't feel it?"
While still confused, Runeas suddenly heard a woman's voice resounding in her head, [What's the price of restoration?]
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