Arthur's past. - part3

As the demon rambled, the woman, clueless about her predicament, was terrified. Her brown hair clung to her forehead, and her trembling blue irises betrayed her fear. As time passed in silence, her nervousness grew, weakening her legs. Before she fell, Cocabiel opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on her. After a few seconds, he spoke. - Human, how far is this place to the Amazon border at train speed? This shell seems capable of only that...

Cocabiel stared at the young woman for a moment, and as there was no reply, he started walking towards her. - Ah! Stay away, don't come any closer! - the woman walked backwards at almost the same pace as Cocabiel, and only stopped when she reached the edge of the wall of white flames. She was ready to run in circles around the edges to escape the demon that was walking towards her. However, as soon as she looked sideways, the space around her changed; if before the space she was in was similar to a prism, now it changed to a rectangle, and every time Cocabiel took a step towards the woman, the space became narrower, until it became a simple corridor.

Realizing that it was impossible to run from the demon, the woman simplifies lost all strength in her legs, and tears began to flow from her eyes as she watched Cocabiel slowly approach.

- Human, that's the third time I've asked. How long does it take from here to the Amazonian borders? - Cocabiel asked.

- Sob! - The weeping woman murmured. - Please... Please don't kill me... Eeek! ic! Don't kill me... Sob! Sob! - The terrified woman couldn't even look at the demon's face.

- Sigh! I was really going to let you go, killing you is pointless anyway, but since you didn't answer even after I asked you three times... - Cocabiel faced the sobbing woman with her head buried in her knees and smiled, this was the first time he had shown any real feeling in the body he had possessed. And the sight was disturbing; her face had no muscles, there was not even any flesh on her face. The skin just floated away, giving a large space for all the skull's teeth to appear. Still smiling, Cocabiel used his right hand to skin the index finger of his left hand. As soon as the skin was removed, a white flame covered his finger, spreading until it looked like a small snake. - Get all the information you can, don't leave anything behind. - Cocabiel whispered to the snake.

- Urgh! Ah! Aai! - The woman started screaming in pain and writhing after the snake entered her ear, but only a few seconds later her screams ceased. - Splop! - The sound of a hollow object was heard as the body fell to the ground, soon after the sound the body began to disappear as if it were decomposing into dust and all that remained was a snake made up of white flames that slithered up to Cocabiel's and stopped in him wounded shoulder, as soon as the snake reached the wound it used this opening and entered her body.

As soon as the snake entered his body, Cocabiel closed his eyes and kept them closed for a few moments. When he finally opened his eyes, he muttered to himself. - More than a day's journey with the detours... I don't think we'll make it to this possession... - Cocabiel placed his skeletal hand on his chin and closed his eyes for a few moments in contemplation. After a while, Cocabiel opened his eyes and complained as he looked at the wound on his shoulder. -Unfortunately, I've already manifested in this body, so I can't hide and go south from here... But if by some chance a distant territory were to suffer great devastation, that would help in the war, right? I hope so... - Cocabiel said to himself as he put the biggest smile on his skeletal face, which had only white skin and a few veins around it.

- All I must do is destroy as much as possible before this carcass can't take any more, aren't I a genius? Fuhuhu... - muttered Cocabiel as he laughed with satisfaction at the situation. - Even if I don't help directly in the war, that should be enough for that bastard not to bother me again. - Cocabiel commented as he looked at the walls of flames. He looked directly at the squadron, who were staring apprehensively into the flames as if they could see exactly what was happening on the other side.

Observing the giant rectangle made up of white flames was an emergency squad that had already arrived and taken up position even before the flame space was formed by Cocabiel, this squad made up of ten people was looking anxiously at the flames; they had attacked the demon and only their captain's arrow that hit it before the wall had shown any efficiency, other attacks didn't get closer than ten meters before disappearing and leaving only smoke where the attack had been, and after the flames appeared the situation became even more problematic, not even the squad captain's attacks could reach the flames.

- Are reinforcements on the way? We can't face a marquis alone. - The team captain asked without taking her eyes off the flames, although she wasn't very tall, everyone behind her felt as if this 1.69-meter person was a wall they could hide behind. After the initial attack, a woman with dark, wavy hair, green eyes and a little taller than their captain approached them, she who told them that she was a marquis, which made all nine members look at their captain who managed to wound him with expectation look.

- We've sent the message, the commander and general of the Clypeus family will be arriving with more platoons in 5 to 10 minutes. - A man who appeared to be 2 meters tall replied, while staring at his captain with a tense expression.

- All of you start evacuation, I'll try to hold him off for a few minutes. - As the girl spoke, her eyes, which had once been a light brown like green, turned purple, her hair, which had been brown, turned red with purple streaks, and then a strange energy permeated around her body, causing her clothes to flutter despite the calm flow of the wind in the place.

After exerting the maximum force permissible by her contract, she leaped from the top of the truck alongside her team and calmly approached the raging flames. - Loki, can you surpass a marquis? - A serene, monotone voice resonated in her mind after a brief pause. - I can. Merely emulating my brother's strength suffices, but... Truthfully, Clare, you won't prevail. I can only safeguard you due to our unique contract, but the individuals here... - Loki left his sentence unfinished, prompting Clare to smile helplessly. She was the prospective heir to the Leken family, yet she felt powerless at that moment.

Clare couldn't help but sigh and prepare to buy some time when suddenly a woman approached her, the same woman who had informed her that the demon inside the flames was a marquis.

- Your name is Beatriz, right? Thank you for letting us know that it was a nobleman from the drone, and for notifying us that it was a marquis as well. - Clare thanked her with a smile before returning her attention to the flames.

- You're welcome, I only did what I had to do anyway. - Beatrice, who answered with a smile; she looked tired, even her friendly smile couldn't hide it. Clare, looking at her, asked. - Are you sure you don't want to run away? When this demon attacks, I won't have the strength to protect anyone but myself. - Beatrice kept a smile on her face and looked in the direction of her car, then she said. - There's no point in running away now, I've forced a total union, if I stopped now, I'd need 30 minutes or more to be able to just walk... And being a marquis I very much doubt that you can hold this on your own and let me and my children crawl along without any problems... I'd rather gain time for my children. - Beatrice paused and smiled as she remembered her children's faces. - Even though I'm a single-skill user, I'm still considerably versatile and since I forced a full union, I think I can help. - Beatriz, who had been smiling until that moment, released all her strength at once, allowing the infinite energy of her soul to run through her body. Her green eyes turned blue, this blue had such a light and "faint" tone that it resembled white, and her hair turned platinum, in addition to which her skin turned white, a white like that of a person who had been frozen.

As soon as Beatrice released all the energy of her soul under her body, a sudden rush of hot air threw her back a few meters, forcing her to generate a wall of ice in front of her body to protect herself and stabilize herself; After stabilizing herself, Beatrice could see that everything near her previous position had been thrown tens of meters by the sudden rush of hot air, and the only thing still in place was the woman who had previously been by her side, Clare, she was surrounded by a purple mist at the moment, and right in front of this mist was the demon who seemed to be looking at her appraisingly; Cocabiel was now wearing a coat made of white flames that covered his entire body, which somewhat softened the grotesque image of a skeleton covered in skin.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."