"Are you going to kill the girl or is that my job?" asked Liliana, hopping up from the couch, approaching Lilia, the summoned weapons following her every movement.
"No, she might be useful with Lucian, and I'm curious about her. She didn't seem shocked that you were a horseman. She's seen a horseman before that, I'm sure of."
Ratella began to leave the room, kicking Sloth awake, beckoning him to move, and grasping Lilia's wrist, pulling her along. She made no protest against his action, remaining silent.
Liliana skipped behind them joyfully, excited to be out of bird form finally. The strain it puts on her body makes it a couple of hours transformation, not several days.
Blades circled her body as she moved, forming a defensive barrier against any unexpected attacks. Multiple other blades stuck out of the formation, ready to launch at a moment's notice.
The chess piece bounced between each hand, fidgeting and playing with it in between each movement.
Apart from the valley of blades and horns, no one would suspect the girl to be a Devil, let alone a Horseman.
The four of them began their walk towards the command room, where Lucian would undoubtedly be. The halls were mostly devoid of guards, except for a couple posted in important areas of the castle, such as the armory, general storage, and food storage.
A small patrol of guards was approaching the four, warily surveying the two devils trailing behind Ratella and Lilia. The sight of the Devil's horns made them lose all composure, fractally raising their blades in their direction, tightening their formation.
Liliana's valley of blades increased in speed with each twirl and rotation, preparing to gut the guards swiftly.
"What is this!? Devils in the castle? How!"
"Lilia! Ratella! Explain yourselves!"
The guards' bravery was quickly crumbling, their weapons shaking violently in their hands. Their eyes shook with terror at the unexpected situation.
"Where is Lucian Valentine?" asked Lilia, not a sliver of concern or fear in her gaze or voice after watching her friends be slaughtered.
Ratella hadn't said a word to the woman since killing Sarian and Samael; this was completely of her own volition, confusing the three.
"We can't tell you that with Devils following you," muttered a guard already looking defeated.
"You might live if you tell us. All Devils aren't complete monsters, give us some intel and you might be spared."
Ratella tried to sway the man's mind, reinforcing Lilia's question. One of the guards looked dead set on not giving them a sliver of intelligence, but the other was a different story. Anxiety and terror ran through his downward gaze. The man was most likely a new recruit paired with a veteran.
"Don't even open that mouth of yours if we have to die, so be it. Die a valiant soldier not -"
The veteran's declaration was interrupted when one of Liliana's blades lodged between his teeth, silencing the man's effect on the recruit.
"Can't have you polluting the boy's mind with your false valor. Please, boy, tell us where the virtue of Discipline is, or you'll end up like him. Is honor worth dying for?"
Liliana's sweet, charming voice reached his ears, swaying his opinion in their direction. Tears flooded down his face after watching his partner die before him.
"I really don't want to die, please don't kill me! I'll tell you, okay! Lucian Valentine is in the office adjacent to the command room, but I'm not sure if he's still there or if he's retired to his room!" exclaimed the recruit, falling to his knees, the smell of urine filling the hallway.
Liliana walked past the soldier, grazing his face with her fingertips, spreading dread down the man's nerves, his complexion growing sickly despite his lack of injuries.
She gave no words to the collapsed man, commanding one of her swords to end his misery, impaling the man's heart, sentencing him to a swift death for his compliance.
Her actions were cold, nothing like the expression on her face.
After a short walk, slaying whoever stood in their way, they reached the entrance of the command room. The only entrance to Lucian's office was within its confines.
The door was slightly pushed open already, the stench of death and decay emanating from the room causing Ratella to gag at the horrific smell, embodying only decay.
"What is that smell?" exclaimed Ratella, stepping back from the door, visibly repulsed by the scent.
"I think I'll stay out here. I'm absolutely not going in there. I doubt there will be anything to do anyway, by the smell, everything has already died."
Sloth slumped against the wall, watching the corridors, his eyes drifting open and shut while covering his nose, nestling himself into his clothes.
"Urrr, by the smell, I'm guessing Iris has interfered with my affairs for some reason."
Liliana's cheeks puffed out at her revelation, positioning one of her wings to block her nose. The smell made the woman's skin look sickly.
Ratella slowly opened the door, placing his two head wings to block his nose, guarding himself from the incoming nasal assault to come. The room was littered with corpses of Brightnight's upper echelon and command.
All of their bodies were practically decayed, revealing their insides and the bones shielding them. Oddly enough, their faces were all intact, wearing indifferent expressions, not a hint of pain or terror in their skin or eyes.
"They look like they've been dead for weeks, but that can't be right. I saw some of these men when we returned with Sloth."
Ratella walked around, scanning the faces, looking for any sign of Lucian's presence amongst the dead. He tapped some of the corpses, and as he did, a gooey crimson liquid oozed out of the wounds of the fallen.
Ratella bent down to inspect the liquid reaching his hand out to it.
"What are you, stupid or something!? Don't touch that unless you want to end up like these angels," barked Liliana, causing him to recoil his hand, walking off to avoid Liliana's growing anger at his foolishness.
"Do you know what it is?"
"It's probably one of Iris' toxins or diseases she's cooked up, so don't touch it. I've never seen this one before. It must be a new one."
Liliana slowly walked around the room towards the door at the end, inspecting their wounds and the liquid for a moment before growing bored and disgusted by their dire state.
Lilia swiftly walked past the corpses, paying them a single thought, opening the door to Lucian's office. She didn't have a single sense of alarm on her face. Her expression mirrors the corpses littered on the floor.
Liliana and Ratella followed her lead, the blades whirling around Liliana, some following her fingers as they danced in the air. He had noticed her tendency to fidget as a bird; he should have expected it to carry over into her true form.
Within the office sat a single man; atop his head sat a vulture-like creature, the same crimson liquid from earlier oozing from its beak.
The proud man was no longer; his form slowly withered away in the seat, his eyes were hollow, devoid of any emotion, reduced to a shallow husk. The once pure white wings lay limp on the floor, their colour dulled, a mossy green slowly corrupting their divinity.
Despite his sorry state, his chest still rose, although shallow and uneven; the virtue was still alive, shackled to the suffering. The disease infecting his body holds.
"Iris. Why do you meddle in my affairs? You could be preparing to assault Baron's Hold and continue the production of strengthening toxins to the higher sphere devils."
Liliana's voice was cold, laced with disdain for Iris' insubordination, and completely disregarded the war plaguing their lands.
Lilia's eyes shook at her father's condition and her earlier indifference to her friend's deaths in the face of her suffering father.
"What can I not aid my sister in the field of battle?"
"No, you cannot. Follow my orders or go home."
Liliana tilted the hundreds of blades circling her toward Iris, glimmering with murderous intent, reflecting their master's mental state.
"I heard you got a new toy from Lady Nuit, so I wanted to gaze upon him myself. Why can Olivia come take a look, but I can't?"
"I'm not a toy. Liliana and I are partners in this war against the Primordial Light."
"He's not a toy, and he's correct. We are partners in this war by Lady Nuit's command. She certainly wouldn't take you calling him a toy very kindly."
"Fine, I'm sorry I abandoned my duties, but I was jealous and wanted my own toy, so I took one from beneath your nose. I believe we are even now."
Iris' vulture form wiggled on Lucian's head, digging her talons into the man's skull, drawing a flood of crimson to paint her talons.
"I didn't even do anything, but you saved me a job, I suppose. Also, Olivia doesn't interfere with me, only surveys. You could learn a lot from her!"
Liliana's voice rose, growing blatantly annoyed at Iris's selfish behaviour. Her past actions replay within her mind, heightening her annoyance and anger towards her supposed sister.
"You, you've killed him, reduced him to husk, nothing like his previous self. That wasn't the deal we agreed to! The deal was to spy on the Horsemen of War and the Traitorous Seraphim; only then would you lift your plague from his body. Not furthering his condition, why!?" screamed out Lilia, the mental blocks she had placed came crashing down, reducing her to a state of fury and misery.
Despite her obvious misery and sorrow, not a single tear was shed from her eyes, only a growing expression of fury.
"It's not my fault you didn't ask more questions about my plagues. They can't be reversed, and the one infecting your father is incurable and an experimental version; even if I wanted to make a cure, it'd take me a couple of weeks. But don't worry, he will die completely painlessly. See, he can't even feel my talons digging around in his brain."
Iris' talons dug deeper into Lucian's brain, shattering the skull and producing more blood to flow out of the wound. Lilia's face twisted further into despair and misery, the woman's attempt to ease her worries doing nothing to calm the fury coating her heart.
"You! Used my father and me as experiments? You wicked whore!" shouted Lilia, drawing her blade, slashing wildly at the bird.
Ratella didn't wish for the girl's death, gripping her collar and dragging her to the floor, halting her assault. She struggled in his grasp, trying to slash her collar free from his grasp, but his hardened wings surrounded the nape of her neck, stopping her attempts.
"Lilia, I do not wish to kill you; you've been a valuable toy in my little quest of jealousy. Although I've already infected you with a toxin bound by words, its effects will appear if you speak of Ratella, Liliana, or me. Your father will soon succumb to the disease; you should save your anger and say your goodbyes."
The woman's words weren't cruel, seeing death as an inevitability, and the greatest feature someone could have was usefulness, valuing it above all else.
"Iris, I think it's time for you to take your leave. If you truly wish to keep the girl alive, I'll follow that wish, but if you keep poking her, you might have no other choice."
Iris nodded at Liliana's words, flapping her wings before hovering in the air, flying towards the open window behind Lucian.
"Wait, who even are you? You never said."
"Oh, how rude of me. I'm the Horsemen of Pestilence, Iris. Goodbye, Sir Evergarden. May we meet again?"
With her final words, the vulture flew out the window, disappearing into the night sky. With her departure, Lilia ran towards Lucian, looking into his eyes, slapping him lightly, trying to find any sign of recovery or life beyond shallow breaths.
She eventually collapsed on top of him, hugging him tightly, murmuring through a river of tears and muffled sniffles. The memories of their life together flashed through her mind. Although their interactions were brief, she still deeply cared for him and tried to appease him whenever possible.