The Crimson Tale of Conquest

The cloudy night sky loomed over the City of Prosperty. Most of the citizens of the grand city were asleep in their homes. The Nobels district was no different than any other district, most if not all of the people here were asleep. The ones that are known to stay up late into the night working would normally be turning in around this time.

In the shadows across the street from a certain lone estate was a group twelve people hiding in the shadows. Two people in the group were standing next to each other at the for front. A blond woman with red eyes dressed in a red and gold pirate's outfit, the only thing missing to complete it was the hat. The one standing next to her was had Silver hair with deep crimson eyes. She wore a long black coat and was completely barefoot.

"You sure this is the place?" Cristina asked the Silver haired woman next to her.

"I'm sure. I'm picking up the Mana found on the boy here. Though it's faint." Lucilla answered.

It was dark outside; the sun had only set a little while ago. Lucilla was ready to storm the place, but Cristina still wasn't one hundred percent. She also didn't understand why Lucilla was suddenly very motivated to get things done, when before she was just going along with it because she had too. But so far Lucilla hasn't lied about anything, so it was something she wasn't telling her. If that the case, she wouldn't find out till it was too late.

Lucilla on her part really did smell traces of the mana found on the boy's corps. She made sure to refresh her memory of the scent before coming here, and she was thankful the scent was coming from the same place as Sara. 'Wait, thankful?' Lucilla was bewildered by her own feelings and couldn't figure out why she wished for Sara's safety. 'Whatever, I have a job to do, Sara or no Sara.'

"Let's move already." Lucilla urged the Vampire.

"Fine, fine. Just remember if ya mess up here you fail your test." Cristina said with a smile. "Don't come cryin' to me later."

After Lucilla gave her a nod of affirmation Cristina signaled to Ialiana. The Harpy spread her wings and took off into the night sky, her job was to keep a look out while everyone else headed inside. Despite claiming to be nothing more than a third party, Cristina seems to be in charge of this operation anyway. Lucilla couldn't help but wonder what her actual role in this was.

Seeing that the Harpy took position in the night sky Cristina had everyone follow her. It was a cloudy night, causing the shadows to be deeper and darker than normal. Cristina who had control over Dark magic manipulated those shadows to hide the entire group without breaking a sweat. As they circled around the wall that surrounded the estate to the back, the moon, that was behind a large cloud, revealed itself.

Now with more visibility caused by the silvery light of the moon Lucilla turned around to look at everyone that joined them. It was the same group from before, the only difference being that Adrian and Mora were not present. Apparently, they had other matters to attend to. Everyone was dressed in black with hoods covering their faces. No one was trying to disguise their true race though, just like Lucilla everyone was showing their natural selves. Even Maisy wasn't wrapped around the Silver haired woman like usual. The only exception was Judieth who was dressed like Sable Hook. The real Sable was doing a different Job that night.

"Alright, here seams good." Cristina said once they were at the back of the estate wall. "Viola if ya don't mind."

Viola the Dryad kept her hand clasp together near her chest, after Cristina spoke roots broke through the ground underneath them forming a platform. The platform lifted them up and over the wall before retreating underground again. Once on the other side they quickly made their way to the Manor not too far away. Before they made it to the building Cristina held her hand out, asking them to stop underneath the Shadow of a tree.

"Wait, Look." She whispered as she pointed. There were five Guards in the area, two next to the back door of the Manor and the other three patrolling around the grounds.

"Lucilla take care of the ones next to the door, I'll deal with the other three." Cristina said in a serious tone. She then closed her eyes and started focusing.

Lucilla gave the Vampire a quick glance before rushing over to the two Guards. Her gauntlet covered fist gleamed in the dim moon light. Using her Dark and wind magic Lucilla blinded and silenced the two men who started moving in a panic. Once she was next to one of them, she grabbed their face just as they pulled something from their pocket and slammed their head into the ground. Lifting her hand, one could see burns on the man's face, as the flesh and blood boiled from the heat from where Lucilla grabbed hold of him.

The other man managed to pull an item out of their pocket and dispelled the shadows covering his vision. What he saw in front of him threw him into a rage. His friend and partner could be seen laying on the ground, severely bleeding from the back of his head with burnt, peeling, and boiling skin all across his face. Standing over his friend was a Silver haired woman with a faint smirk on her face as she turned her piercing Crimson gaze his way. "!!!!!!!!!!!" He attempted to yell but the item he used only dispelled the de-buff caused by the Dark magic.

He readied his spear and sent a thrust in Lucilla direction. Lucilla managed to back away in time, but the man just perused her. Lucilla tried to get in close but was forced to retreat every time, for the man would just use that opening to aim for her vitals. Getting annoyed Lucilla once again used her magic to freeze the man at his feet, causing him to lose his balance and stumble. Using this opportunity Lucilla tossed two knives his way before trying to get in close.

In a Panick the man tried to deflect the flying daggers and successfully parried them, but his stance was now completely open, and Lucilla stabbed the man in the throat with her fingers. The man spasmed before going limp, falling from her hand and into a heap on the ground. Lucilla just turned around not giving the body a second look, a scary looking smile still on her face.

When she turned around, she saw the three Guard slowly making their way over to Cristina and the others, Lucilla panicked. She started to rush over to their location before noticing something weird. 'They're moving... erratically.' Not only were they moving weirdly they all had the same abhorrent look of horror plastered over their faces.

Still making her way over to them, but much calmer now Lucilla noticed Cristina moving her hand and fingers in a weird, almost creepy looking way. "What are you doing?" she asked once she was close enough to be heard.

"Just watch." With a smile Cristina then did a raising motion with her hands which lifted the three Guards into the air, their eyes bloodshot. Then she parted her hands, like she was separating two objects, which caused the Guards to erupt into a fountain of blood. From that blood a small amount of it, from all three bodies, defied gravity and made their way to Cristina and was absorbed into her body.

"Using my own blood, I can control other bodies. Of course, if they are strong enough, they could break free, or if I don't have enough blood inside them in the first place." Cristina answered when she saw Lucilla's questioning look. "There is another restriction but I'm not about to tell you." She teased.

Now that everyone was dead, Cristina asked Mako and Timur to wait near the back door, acting as a relay between Ialiana and them, and as a second pair of eyes.

Lucilla and Aliaa both took the lead now, Lucilla sniffing and following the scent and pointed in the direction they needed to go. The cat woman acting as a scout of sorts. They continued their journey into the building, disposing of any guards that came their way. For the ordinary workers, they just knocked out the ones trying to flee and killed any that tried to fight them. Lucilla had no interest in killing the weak., but if you are willing to fight then you're ready for the consequences.

They made their way down a flight of stairs into the basement, and eventually a room full of wine and other alcohol. "Over there, the scent of the Mana is coming from there." Lucilla said pointing to a back wall with a large wine shelf. "Now that I'm closer the scent is much stronger."

Aliaa moved over to the shelf and inspected it, looking for some way to open a secrete passage. Eventually she found a small lever hidden behind a vintage bottle from the year 2493, which made it over 50 years old. She flipped the small switch while stuffing the bottle into the small bag she carried over her shoulder. The bottle looked much too large to fit, but to Lucilla's surprise it disappeared from view as it entered the bag completely. Evidently the cat woman carried a dimensional bag with her.

The lever revealed a hidden stairwell beside the wine shelf. The were unable to tell where it led for it forked to the left after twenty or so steps. The walls were made from some kind of metal and the stairs was made from stone tiles. Lighting the stairwell was light crystals that gave off white light, which Lucilla has only seen in labatories so far.

"Alright ya'll." Cristina said addressing everyone. "Let's get movin' then."

-- -- --

Once at the bottom of the stair they found themselves in a long and relatively wide passage. They walked down the hallway, passing several rooms along the way. One looked to be an office, another an operating room, and right next to that was a room full of scientific equipment that Lucilla couldn't understand. Cristina had Viola search the rooms for documents and anything else of interest, she borrowed Aliaa's dimensional bag to help carry everything.

At the end of the hall was a heavy iron door. It was slightly ajar, surprisingly enough, and when they pushed it open to enter, they found themselves on a raised platform overlooking a large chamber with rows of cylindrical pod looking things with glass doors that filled the room. In each of these pods Lucilla could see people strung up, connected to the weird device by several tube-like things protruding from their bodies. Lucilla sniffed the air and scrunched up her nose.

The mana she was tracking defiantly came from this room. The scent was so strong it was almost nauseating but there was also the smell of despair filling the room. The dark scent was prevalent to the point it was affecting her own mood, making her feel depressed. The people inside the chambers didn't look any better, with withered looking bodies, sunken eyes, and just looking sick in general. It was honestly a sickening sight to see.

'It's like I'm back at the lab with Dr. Vancer again.' Lucilla shuddered with that thought, glaring at the harsh whit lights hanging from the ceiling. Then the feeling of worry started to overwhelm her as she realized something. 'Sara is in one of these isn't she?!'

"Wow, this is disgusting huh?" Cristina said as she looked at the room before them giving a small, impressed whistle. "Sucks for these guys, but our mission aint to save them, unfortunately for them. So, le- Hey wait Lucilla!"

Lucilla took off running down the stairs next to them onto the floor below, searching each cylindrical chamber for Sara. She ran up and down row after row before coming to a halt to the right side of the large room. Inside the one of the pods located on the far-right wall was Sara. Unlike those closer to the entrance the people around here, including Sara, still looked normal, if not a little pale and sick looking.

"Oh, thank God." Lucilla said, thanking whichever Celestial that was listening. She quickly unlocked and pulled open the glass door, a hissing noise could be heard as the chamber was exposed to the air.

Sara who was looking down the entire time looked up when the chamber was opened. Her eye's widened in surprise when she saw her teacher standing in front of her. Tears filled her eyes as she felt the sudden hopeful feeling of being rescued. "... Teach... er." She said with effort.

"Hold on, this is going to hurt." The Silvered haired woman said as she eyed the tubes with her Crimson eyes. They were secured into Sara's flesh with a jagged looking tip. No matter how she looked at it, she knew that would tear through flesh as it's removed. Just as she took hold of one the others caught up with her.

"Woah, aint that the young Sara?" Cristina said shocked. "I see now." she seem to have come to a realization as she looked from Lucilla and the girl.

"Do you need help dear?" Morella asked. "Water magic can't heal on its own but it'll surely sooth any pain."

"I can use healing magic." The Red-haired doctor offered. "Just remember Dark magic healing a painful process so Morella if you could help me with the pain then we should be good."

Lucilla looked at them both before nodding. She stepped back from the younger girl so both Judieth and Morella could get close to her. They both looked at each other and nodded to inform the other they were ready. Judieth carefully pried the tube from the girl as a soft blue light enveloped the area.

"Auhg." While Sara did make a face of discomfort. It appeared Morella's magic was working in reducing any pain she would be feeling. The sight of Sara's wounds stitching itself together was still a disturbing sight to see. After a few minutes Sara was successfully untethered from the device. Lucilla very quickly unlatched the restraints holding Sara and place and caught the girl as she fell out of the pod.

Unable to stand the young girl threatened to collapse even with Lucilla holding her up. The older girl quickly got on the ground with Sara to let her gather a bit of her strength, but when she attempted to lay Sara down the girl embraced her instead and refused to let go. Not entirely sure what to do Lucilla herself just sat down on the floor with Sara wrapped around her torso.

The girl was shivering as she held onto her. With some hesitation and awkward movements Lucilla wrapped her arms around Sara, embracing her. It was the same kind of hug her own mother would give her when she was upset when she was younger. The moment she rapped herself around the younger girl, she began sobbing into her chest.

"He- he, left... it hurt... why... please." Sara rambled on in an incoherent mess as she cried.

"You're fine now." Lucilla said with her usual flatness. but to Yuki and Morella it sounded softer somehow. "Come, I'll get you home and you-" Lucilla was cut off as Sara clung onto her tighter and shook her head. 'I guess she doesn't want to go home.'

Anger once again flooded through her like water. "They call me a monster, and they do stuff like this?' She thought, thinking back on her mother's fate, and Dr. Vancer's lab. 'How am I worse than these people? I'm not a paragon of good or anything but my reputation is all thanks to some guy in the past that I have no relation to.' Lucilla was angry. How can these people claim to be better than her when stuff like this keep happening?

The angelic race was full of hypocrites. At this very moment in time Lucilla felt true disgust for mankind as a whole. She truly wished in that moment that everyone would drop dead, but her anger faded when she felt the girl in her arms shift slightly. The anger she felt was replaced by this hard to describe feeling she's had since she learned Sara went missing. It was buried under panic till now, but now that Sara was with her, this feeling was a lot clearer than before. What she did know was that she had to find a safe place to bring Sara.

Lucilla wasn't sure why Sara didn't want to go back home, but she wasn't going to argue. She'll figure out what to do with the girl once they leave the place. Eventually looking at her surroundings again, she noticed that Seth and Aliaa were missing. The only person that wasn't Lucilla's usual party with them was Cristina. Raising an eyebrow in question she looked at Blond Vampire.

"I sent the other two to search the rest of the room." She spoke. "They'll be fine, no need ta worry."

"I wasn't really worried." Lucilla said, getting up from the floor, holding Sara in a princess carry. The girl had fallen asleep, the little energy she had left to move leaving her body. "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"Well- "Just as Cristina was about to answer Seth and Aliaa returned.

"There's nothing else in this room other than these pod things and the kidnapped victims." Aliaa said as she approached Cristina.

"Then it's time to leave. Let's go ya'll, hopefully Viola found sum stuff in them rooms from before." Cristina responded. "If she needs help looking then we'll do that, after that we leave."

The group started making their way to the rooms entrance when a loud boom echoed throughout the room. A large cloud of dust could be seen coming from the entrance. Everyone paused in shock for a few seconds before running over to the entrance. Once there they witnessed Viola jumping from the dust cloud her vine-like hair carrying her through the air.

"Viola what's happening?" Cristina called out to the Dryad.

"Looks like Davis Cathrendor and his goons found us." Her squinted eyes that normally looked closed were parted slightly, her dark green eyes stared sharply ahead. Her arms were on either side of her, no longer clasped together.

Viola looked in bad shape, clearly their opponents weren't weak. One of her arms was bleeding, green blood ran down the right limb. There was another cut on her forehead and the blood was getting into her left eye, making it hard for her to see. Her right foot was also missing, making clear she wouldn't be able to walk for a while.

"Tch, there's even more of them." A voice said from inside the cloud.

Stepping out from the cloud calmly was four individuals revealed themselves. Two men and two women, one of the women were significantly bigger than the others. One of the men was dressed in a neatly worn suit, but their hair was messy and long. The large woman had the same scent that Lucilla used to find the place. 'She's one of Sara's kidnappers' She thought.

The three people that looked to be Cathrendor's hired muscle were looked to be bruised and cut in some places. Their injuries were far less severe than Viola's though, they only had shallow cut, and the large women only had a small scratch on her cheek. Whoever these guys where they were either all extremely strong or just worked well together in a unit, covering for each other's weaknesses.

"Well, looky here. Look Ya'll Davis Cathrendor so graciously came to great us." She said mockingly in response to the man's complaint. "What type of guest would we be if we didn't greet him." With that Cristina drew her cutlass and charged towards Davis.

"Berta." The large woman responded to his command and stepped in front of the businessman. A large Halberd was in her hand, which shimmered with a pale light. Cristina and the woman named Berta clashed, ending a shockwave out, kicking up dust and blowing it away. A look of surprise flashed across Cristina's face.

"What the?" She said with disbelief. "Guess I'll have to take this a little more seriously." She dropped her accent as she backed off and took a proper stance.

Lucilla was watching this unfold, still holding Sara. There wasn't much she could do with the girl in her arms. What can I do?' She wondered. She looked at the other two people in the room and found them approaching. Not just approaching the smaller woman had sent a spell flying towards her direction. With her movement hampered by Sara Lucilla wouldn't be able to dodge completely out of the way. The multiple Ice daggers flying towards here would definitely hit Sara.

Lucilla pulled the girl closer to her body to shield her and was about to attempt to dodge out of the way. Just as she did Yuki had grabbed hold of her and used her own body to shield her as she moved them out of harm's way. Yuki and Lucilla had both attempted to put a wall of Stone and wind up respectively, but unfortunately, they formed too late, and a good portion of the ice daggers still got through.

"Aauuhhg!" Yuki cried out as multiple daggers hit her back.

"YUKI!" Lucilla yelled in panic as all three of them collapsed. She was hit by a few of the daggers herself, but they were all shallow cuts to her side. Ignoring the pain from both the fall and the cuts she set Sara down and rolled Yuki over on her stomach to check her back.

Yuki was heavily bleeding; her entire back was hit and if something wasn't done, she would die in a matter of minutes. The blades sticking out of her was ironically slowing the flow of blood, that also meant when removed she'll bleed out even faster. "You fucking fool, damn it!" Lucilla cursed. Currently Seth, Aliaa, Morella, Maisy, and Judieth were holding off the two attackers. Viola was off to the side tending her wounds. She needed only two of them currently though. "Sable, Maisy come here." She called.

Judieth and Maisy turned around and seeing the situation quickly made their way to Yuki. Already knowing what to do Maisy turned herself back into her undefined slime like self and covered Yuki's back, dissolving the ice daggers and keeping the bleeding to a minimum. Judieth worked on healing the girl with her Dark magic.

Seeing this Lucilla left Sara with them as well. She turned her attention back to the woman who cast the initial spell in the first place. Her and Yuki's walls were made from pure magic in their haste to construct them, so they quickly crumbled and dispersed the moment they stopped supplying it with Mana. That gave Lucilla a perfect view of the magic woman.

Anger weld up inside her as her vision turned red. A low growl escaped her lips as she crouched down and got on all fours. Like a predator stalking eyeing its prey, Lucilla carefully watched the woman. She had used magic, but she held a silver sword with a light blue tint that glowed with a pale silver light. Mithral. She'll have to be careful, a weapon like that could cut through her gauntlets like butter.

Her magic was just as dangerous, evident with the fact it managed to hit Yuki without much effort. Lucilla and everyone's clothes were enchanted to protect them. Attacks that would normally pierce or cut through fabric would instead be treated like a blunt object. Normally blunt damage would still cause a lot of harm, but that where the shock absorption enchantment came in, it dampened the effect of blunt damaged, making the cloths a surprisingly effective defense. It can't match up to real armor, but it was still good enough to keep you alive hunting monsters. The fact this womans magic cut through it like nothing was testament of potent magical abilities.

"I'll fucking kill you." She said with a calm rage her hands radiating heat. She then dashed towards her target, running on all fours, a feral look in her eyes.