∼ Day 48 ∼

By now, I realized just how serious a predicament I found myself in. Not only had dozens of servants and guards seen me wield magic, that I very much should've been incapable of, but also I couldn't simply silence every witness by killing them. I could probably manage to kill all the ones I currently had vision of, but I would only attract more staff seeing as the Mistress' castle was practically crawling with them.

Me suddenly being the only survivor of a party where dozens of authority figures and castle staff dead, all with the same injuries that all point to me, was not an option that promised anything even remotely positive for my fate. But then there was also the fact that Felendren and Morgath was here...

Even if I killed all the staff, I only had confidence in beating Felendren, whereas Morgath was another story. I might be able to defeat him using all my trump cards, but I would most definitely be at a disadvantage. Even if I won, I would undoubtedly on death's door as a result. I did now have Meala at my disposal, but with only our combined power versus all the castle staff and the two horrid champions, we stood no chance of defeating them all. Plus, the Mistress is still unaccounted for...

With all these revelations flashing through my mind in that one instant, one single and simple realization became apparent for me;

I had to escape - now...

A slight mental command was all that was needed to make the now puppet-like Meala suddenly disappear from her position on top of me and then reappear directly in front of the crowd of still stunned servants and guards. It was only a split second later, I mirrored her, and also appeared in front of them all.

Although the servants and guards were decently strong, they were all still just 3rd-tier orcs, so they didn't even last a handful of seconds under the onslaught of both Meala's and my deadly attacks. While our slaughter was swift and fast, it was all but silent, screams and the clatter of metal ringing out to bounce of the walls of the castle's hall.

Suddenly, just when the last orc fell, the boom of a wall being utterly demolished rang out, and a large cloud of dust and debris bellowed out to encompass a large section of the hall. From within the obscuring cloud, a hulking and imposing figure could be seen. Morgath had arrived.

Another presence caught my attention the very next moment and appeared next to Morgath. Although not as flashy, Felendren had emerged from an opposing chamber, moving with an uncanny speed even greater than that of my own.

I didn't waste time, and with a mental thought, numerous tendrils of my mind spread out in every direction. As they all disappeared out of the building, a host of orc guards suddenly stormed inside the hall. But instead of charging against me and Meala, they congregated around the two champions.

This had been one of my plans I wanted to use for my escape. Ever since I finished my fight with Rangore, I was immediately transported back to the castle barracks. From there, I began to hatch my operation of escape. At any opportunity that arose, I afflicted the stationed orc guards and promptly dominated their minds.

I had only managed to acquire fifteen puppets, and three of them were still stationed back at the barracks, only these twelve had been used to escort me over here. I still had mana leftover to reserve and I wanted to acquire more dominated monsters, however, with this untimely situation, I couldn't hold off anymore. But luckily, Meala had taken up most of the remaining mana just now, so it wasn't too bad.

The twelve guards surrounded the champions, but they didn't move to attack. I didn't want to defeat the two monsters, I only needed them to hold them off. Commanding them to defend, but block them should give me a few moments. While Morgath adopted an aggressive stance to begin an attack the dominated orc guards since he had to go through them to get to me, Felendren, with his insane speed simply flashed out of the encirclement and rushed towards us.

I had expected this and already commanded Meala to meet him head-on. Although Meala was quite far behind in speed compared to Felendren, she still had Blink and the fighting prowess to hold him at bay. My heart hammering in my chest, I rushed out of the hall.

I was only blinded for a few moments as the change of lighting caused my pupils to constrict, but when I could see again my eyes fervently gazed around for a certain greenskin that held the literal key to my escape. To my immense joy, it didn't take long before I spotted a conflicted-looking orc-guard who was seemingly indecisive as to whether to join the fighting inside or hold his position out here.

The reason why I knew that this orc was the one I was looking for, was due to his armor being somewhat more outfitted and of better quality than most of the other inner orc guards stationed directly in the heart of the Mistress' domain. This was the orc-guard quartermaster of the champion's barracks, and he had something I wanted.

Using Blink to flash over to the startled orc quartermaster, I use a handful of my own blood and practically smashed it into the orc's mouth after I had taken hold of his jaw and forcefully pried it open.

It only took a moment before the orc was marked as afflicted and I instantly used Blood Conversion, beginning to take over his feeble mind. With the fear and shock of what had just happened in those few seconds, the orc's mental defenses crumbled like sand. Instantly I turned around, showing my back to the now puppet-like orc.

After all the uses of Blood Conversion and the succinct capturing and controlling of other creatures' minds, I had begun to feel a great toll on both my mind and body. But I shook the exhaustion and stress from my mind as I had no time for worrying about that; I was running out of time.

I noticed that nine of the connections between the orc guards and me had dissipated, indicating they had died. Even Meala's connection had severely diminished, showing that she was only barely holding on by now. But the click of a metal luck being open suddenly sounded out, and I couldn't help but be filled with relief and anticipation.

Behind me, the sound of something that I had almost forgotten sounded out. The flapping of my wings. I stretched them out, feeling the obvious soreness in not having them used for multiple weeks. But soon, the buzz of my wings rapidly flapping could be hear, and I felt them catching on the air, beginning to take my body airborne.

Although I had to postpone any attempts of revenge towards the bitch of a Mistress and a certain sadistic gremlin, I had an expression of grim determination my face as my feet left the ground and I took to the air, towards my freedom.

Before I had even gotten a handful of meters into the air though, something that caused my heart to clench happened. In a instant, all the remaining connection to the guards and Meala, dissipated, seemingly all dying at the same time for some reason. When I felt Meala die, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness but I quickly shook it from my mind, increasing my efforts to get as far away as possible.

But my heart practically lept into my throat when I spotted the massive torrents of mana and the thick viscous shadows that suddenly coalesced from all the surroundings.

"WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING - BUG?!" - Mistress

The Mistress...

I didn't stop, I only fervently increased the speed at which I was ascending upwards. I desperately forced my body to go above and beyond what it should be able to do, and my wings strained to follow my commands.

But...

My efforts were futile...

Shooting towards me with breakneck speeds, the shadows quickly gained on me and immediately started enveloping me; darkness consuming my body little by little until my mind also succumbed.

*Slap!*

The sudden stinging pain on my cheek woke me up. Although the pain was nothing to me, it still managed to jolt my hazy mind awake. Opening my one still working eye, I saw the salacious figure of the demoness standing by my side. While her expression was indifferent and imperious, her eyes showed just how much hatred and animosity she was directing towards me.

Looking around, it appeared we were in the dungeons again where I had originally found myself back when I was captured. But this time, I was strapped to a cold stone table in a spacious room filled with all kinds of vials, beakers, and various worrying contraptions. It looked like some medieval mad doctor's laboratory.

"What made an insignificant insect like you think you'd be able to escape my grasp?" - Mistress

Although I was felt some dread at my seemingly hopeless situation, I wouldn't allow my face to show the slightest hint of fear or apprehension. Instead, my eyes focused into pinpricks and my gaze turned steely with an unfaltering will. Seeing my steadfast resolution, and refusal to answer her question, her face finally contorted into a disgusting visage of enmity; even a hint of lunacy in her eyes.

*Slap*

Another slap sounded out, this time much harder than the first.

"Answer me! - How did you manage to conjure your magic with my seal still in place! ANSWER!" - Mistress

But, I shook it off and returned my unfaltering gaze back to her. This only seemed to incense her even further, and a flurry of slaps began ringing out. Soon the slaps caused blood to spill from my mouth, but the conqueror's will in my eyes didn't abate even in the slightest.

Seeing that she had no effect on me what so ever, it looked like she was almost going to succumb to madness. She had lost all her usual cool and were now showing her true colors. She was nowhere near as indifferent and imperious as she liked to let on. The first time we met, I noticed the slight cracks in her demeanor, almost as if she had some uncontrollable insanity she was desperate to hide.

It also made sense when I thought about how the Mistress was rumored to almost never show her face in public, and how she hadn't even attended the party since she might not even be capable of being in the company of others for longer periods of time before her madness would show through her facade. Also seeing how she turned her servants into mindless puppets indifferent to her personality, made even more sense with this theory.

"T-those eyes, NO! stop-it stop-it stop IT!" - Mistress

By now she had turned completely manic, and even I was surprised at just how unhinged this woman truly was and how fast her whole personality just changed like that. I originally just thought she was some kind of monster that had a very sinister disposition behind her mask, but who would've thought it was simply mindless madness she was hiding all along.

Could it have something to do with her being a demon?

Before I could ponder any further, her manic fit suddenly calmed down a bit when shadowy tendrils emerged from her core and showed on her skin. To all suddenly converged and shot into her head, immediately calming down the insane woman.

But while she had calmed down, the obvious glint of madness was still readily apparent in her eyes as she looked directly into my eye with sinister intensity.

"That eye... I don't like it... luckily you don't need either of your eyes for your transformation. The process is quite... lengthy, so it shouldn't hurt if I had some fun while your body changes. Fufufu" - Mistress

When she mentioned 'transformation' my mind immediately went to both Felendren and Morgath. I wasn't sure if that was what they had undergone to become as they were, but everything seemed to point towards exactly that. However, while my heart clenched, my will still didn't waver at all and my gaze only turned firmer, causing the Mistress's madness to flare in her eyes.

Turning around to a table next to her, she rummaged around and then suddenly turned around again to reveal two instruments. The two tools were something that looked like pliers and a scalpel, and the maddening glint in her eyes told me exactly what she was going to use them for.