The Necromancer and the Priestess (20)

Yin Mei blessed Leon, and the two walked through the dark misty forest. She was shining like a golden light bulb, filling the area with light and driving away the darkness. It wasn't as completely dark, as during the time in the shrine, but it was difficult to see more than ten feet in front of them. Yin Mei lit up several balls of light, which bounced and floated around them.

Yin Mei could sense it. She could sense that the demons... were coming.

As for whose side Leon would choose, she was truly curious. Rosella as well. Yin Mei knew that Rosella had placed her on an oddly high pedestal, and she also had that complicated relationship with Kai, so she was a little curious if Rosella would side with the church, or with her.

But, that was a question for later.

The current question was to find El.

After they had walked a significant distance, Leon couldn't help but speak out. "Where are we going? At this rate, we'll reach the demon bridge. If the demon's army is there..." He trailed off. Although he trusted in both his own and Celes's ability (they were both high class mages after all), it was probably asking a bit too much of them to fend off an entire army of demons.

"It's fine," Yin Mei said, though she herself was wondering just how she would fare against demons. From what she knew, all demons were born with high mana capacity and stronger physical abilities then humans. That being said, they had a lower reproductions rate, and thus a lower population in comparison. It was a classic setting.

Considering this, perhaps there would be those among the demons that could rival Celes's magic prowess. After all, among the demons, El already rivaled Celes in magic power and affinity. Yin Mei didn't know how strong El was among the demons, but she felt that he could be considered a fairly elite demon, considering that he was significant enough of a personage to be sealed under the church.

Leon didn't really think it was fine, but he also couldn't let Yin Mei go alone. He continuously tried persuading her, but she wouldn't have it. In the end, they had quickly reached the city ruins where the demon bridge was located.

At the very border of the ruins, Yin Mei had already extinguished most of her lights, and even the faint shimmer around their bodies could no longer be seen. Though they were still protected from the miasma, Yin Mei had made the barrier around them practically invisible by manipulating the light it gave off.

For some reason, the city was the only place that seemed fairly clear of miasma - to the point where it was much easier to see in comparison to the rest of the forest. Was this what they mean by being in the eye of the storm? Yin Mei didn't know if that phrase could be applied in this case.

They hid behind a tree, looking down at the demons who were setting up camp. Indeed, the demon army had already passed through the bridge. Looking up, there were still even more demons pouring through. Yin Mei wondered just how many resources the demon world staked on this every time the bridge opened. She didn't know the reason why the demons kept on insisting on invading the human world, and nor was she interested.

She was here for El, and El alone.

"These numbers... and here I thought they say that demons have lesser numbers than humans? There are way too many of them," Leon said. This army rivaled the number of their own army. And considering that the average strength of demons was higher, they were in a lot of trouble. It would be a massacre. "We'll have to report this," he murmured.

"Not yet," Yin Mei said, holding out an arm to block Leon from activating a teleport spell.

"What else is there to see? If we stay too long, we might get caught," Leon hissed back, but Yin Mei wasn't listening, her eyes trained on the army camp.

"No, no, no," She muttered to herself, still not seeing the person she wanted to see.

"Celestina!" Leon whispered loudly, grabbing her wrist.

"Dammit!" She cursed, but still let Leon pull her away.

They came quite a ways from the ruins before stopping. "From here, they probably won't be able to sense it if we teleported." Leon said, pulling out a piece of parchment.

Yin Mei clicked her tongue, kicking a nearby tree in frustration. "Dammit! If we took out their magic observers, then we wouldn't have to worry about getting caught," Yin Mei said. Magic observers. This was a common used tool. It was used by armies and cities in order to catch and record any suspicious mana fluctuations. It was to prevent surprise magic attacks, or spying by another party.

"Take out whose magic observers?" A voice spoke out, and the two of them froze in place.

From the shadows, appeared someone that Yin Mei had been wanting to see. That stupidly beautiful face... was really...!

Yin Mei, after regaining her senses, ran up to him. And proceeded to slap him. Leon and El both had wide eyes, shocked at this development. El's hand covered the cheek that Yin Mei had slapped. Actually, it didn't hurt at all... after all, El had the body of a demon, while Yin Mei was a weak human girl - as long as she didn't enhance her body with magic, which she hadn't done.

El looked up, to Yin Mei's almost crying expression. He immediately began panicking. He hadn't seen Celes cry since she was ten, when she had been taken to become the high priestess. He wasn't good with her crying. He didn't know how to comfort her.

"It's okay," he finally managed out, hugging her gently.

"What okay? How dare you leave me, you bastard!" Yin Mei said, struggling, but unable to break free from El's grasp.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's all my fault." He outright admitted. But, there was no way he could bring Celes, a human, to the demon world, right? And if he had stayed here, the injuries that Azazel, that he, had sustained several thousand years ago would have significantly worsened and permanently weaken him unless he returned to the demon world.

But, he wasn't going to give excuses. He knew that Celes wouldn't accept his excuses.

"Azazel-" At this moment, Eve's voice rang out, and she stopped, seeing this seen of her ex-fiancee hugging some unknown human woman. Leon was immediately on guard, backing away several steps.

"Wha- what..." Eve had been wondering why Azazel had left the army, and so had followed him, but now she was seeing him with this human woman? What the hell?

What the hell?

"Azazel, get away from that piece of trash." Eve said coldly.

El released Yin Mei from his hug, but kept one hand on her waist. "What... did you just call her?" El's gaze was chillingly cold, as he stared at Eve with an almost murderous expression.

"!! I called her what she is." Eve growled. She instinctively knew that this girl was the reason that Azazel had changed so much. No, if Azazel was involved with a human girl, he would certainly be persecuted under the crime of treason. She had to get rid of that woman. "Hand her over."

Yin Mei clutched at El's cape, her arm wrapped around him as her eyes gazed at Eve from El's partial embrace. "Who is this slut?" Yin Mei said, and Eve turned red from anger.

El felt a little speechless. Was Celes always like this? He tried to recall, but after a moment's thought, felt that this was very familiar. Perhaps... Celes really had always been like this?

"It's no good El. This is all because you ran off, that now you have this fly stuck to you." Yin Mei said, pushing El away. "I'll have to... clean things up." She said, very, very coldly.

But El grabbed the hand that she had been raising up to cast a spell, shaking his head. "Don't get your hands dirty for that thing," he said, holding up the hand to his cheek.

Yin Mei felt touched, and the two gazed into each other's eyes.

The forgotten Leon and Eve who were being forced to eat this dog food: ...

Eve's shoulders shook from anger, and she rushed toward Yin Mei, reaching her hand out to claw at her. Leon raised up his wand, but El reacted faster, his foot elegantly raising itself up to cruelly kick Eve in the stomach, sending her flying before she hit a tree, collapsing on the ground and coughing up blood.

"..." Yin Mei didn't say anything, her eyes indifferent. Actually, if the way that El handled things weren't to her liking, then she would definitely come up with all sorts of ways to punish him later. Yin Mei recalled those days where she would refuse to cook for him for months on end, or force him to sleep on the sofa, or take her children to vacation abroad without him in a silent protest of anger.

Mm, it's a good thing that this sort of cold faced El who was cruelly inflicting harm onto Eve was just to her liking! It was unknown whether Yin Mei was just that weird, or that her eyes were blinded by love - or perhaps more accurately, El's sexy and beautiful figure and face.

"El! My father won't forgive you for this!" Eve said, clutching the place where she had been kicked as she glared at Yin Mei and El.

"Your father?" Yin Mei tilted her head, looking at El.

"The demon king," El answered, his expression unchanging. That senile old man, do something to him? He wanted to see him try!

On the other hand, Yin Mei's expression darkened. She knew that El wasn't the demon king, but hearing it made her even more upset. Someone else had the title of demon king? No! That title only belonged to her man! Her lips curled up into a sneer. She wanted to see what person dared take this title from El! She would make sure that El reclaimed his rightful place as demon king...

At this moment, the system let out a familiar ding.

"Main Mission: Help El ascend the demon throne."

Yin Mei's eyes lit up. See? Even the system agreed with her that El should be the demon king!

"The title of demon king... The only one who should have it is my El!" Yin Mei muttered, her eyes curled into crescent moon shapes as she released a powerful holy aura, crushing Eve to the ground with it. She walked up to the girl, who was shocked over how powerful this light affinity was. A human actually had such ability?

Yin Mei reached her hand out toward Eve's head, grasping it. "It's my first time doing this, so forgive me if it hurts a little." She smiled very sweetly, and Eve started screaming in pain as Yin Mei looked down at her.

Several moments passed, before Yin Mei let go, and Eve's head collapsed to the ground. She was unconscious.

Leon, seeing this, felt a slight fear. Perhaps it was because this Eve girl looked too much like a human. But, no. One couldn't feel pity for the demon race. She would have killed them if she had the chance. That's right. One must be ruthless in war.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he opened them again, his expression had returned to a pool of calm.

"Celestina, who is that?" He asked, looking to El. But he could tell. This was the infamous necromancer that had disappeared one year ago. But, how is it that he had now become a demon? Although the appearance was like that of a humans, he couldn't be deceived. From the clues of their conversation, he had picked up that this guy was on the same side as that silver haired girl.

El looked at Leon with a guarded expression, pulling Yin Mei toward him, placing her behind him protectively. He was like a cat, hissing with hackles raised toward Leon. Who was this frivolous looking pretty boy? What relation did this guy have with his Celes?

The three were silent for a moment, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.