He who holds the horn. (9)
The air within the dining hall was suffocating, an unseen pressure bearing down on the chests of everyone present. The smell of blood hung thick in the air, it stung the nose like a cluster of small needles. There was an air of uncertainty hanging around the remaining knights, as well as Duchess Giselle.
Was Alice lying about the spell? Should they take the chance to attack to subdue her? Why were none of their safety precautions working even though they initially thought that they had gone overboard with them?
The duchess didn't give an order so the knights couldn't move, and the duchess couldn't move because she had no idea how to decipher the situation. There was a gnawing fear chewing on her insides, an anxiety that perhaps it was already too late to do anything. But naturally, Alice didn't care about any of their thoughts.
"Fen, Quetz, you should try this, the steak is actually surprisingly decent."
One hand still resting on the crimson blade formed from blood, Alice used her other hand to lift a piece of steak. For a moment, the subdued sound of dripping juices was all that could be heard as the meat dangled at the tip of her fork. She fed both Quetzalcoatl and Fenrir a piece, the two spirits hanging around leisurely at her side.
She painted a stark contrast to the others in the room, carefreely indulging in the meal while sharing it with the two spirits. Then again, the mere presence of those two spirits filled the people in the room with a certain measure of dread.
The chains on her ankles could seal any spirit up to the Calamity-grade, which was already a grade so rarely seen that it was almost overkill. But even so, the chain didn't work. Naturally, the hope everyone present had was that the shackles had simply failed and that was why she could summon them.
But they also had to consider the horrifying possibility that the shackles failed because they could not contain the spirits. But what was above the Calamity rank? Cataclysm, symbolic of the true dragons that roamed the world. And Deicide, the grade given only to those that could kill even the exalted gods.
They had to quickly scrub those thoughts from their minds, what will to resist would they have left if they even entertained the notion that they brought two Deicide-grade spirits into their own home?
"Say, Giselle, shouldn't it be time for dessert by now?"
Alice naturally paid no mind to the thoughts of those around her, twirling her fork now that she had finished all the food that was brought out. She had been unconscious for a week so she was naturally rather famished, she'd certainly eat her fill while she waited for Gabriel.
"A dinner's conclusion is naturally a delightful dessert. But Young Lady Alice, would it not be a tad difficult for the desserts to reach us with that thing in the way?"
Giselle gathered herself surprisingly quickly, showing a calm smile as she pointed at the wall of wind that Alice had used to seal the doors. But as if it had been naught but a dream, the wall of wind faded like a gentle breeze the moment Giselle pointed at it. All she was left with was Alice's small smile, as if telling her to hurry with the food.
"Ergamon, could you notify the chef that we are ready for the dessert to be brought out?"
The captain had lost his head to Fenrir so Giselle naturally had to address one of the other knights, who made it painfully obvious that he could not wait to slip out of the room.
"Fenrir, could you clean a little? It'd be a terrible shame if little Mara got scared when she comes back."
Alice made no attempt to stop the knight from leaving the room, simply once again twirling her fork in the air, acting in an almost languid manner. The black wolf acted on her orders, opening its maw so wide that it appeared to dislocate its lower jaw. It then drew in a long breath, the blood and corpses on the ground getting sucked up and crushed into a small ball in front of its maw, which was then naturally quickly swallowed.
But at the same time, another one of the knights that remained fell over. He collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, eyes glazed over without a trace of life in them.
The strange scene naturally made the eyebrows of the remaining people tick up, but Alice simply placed her hand on Fenrir's head and ruffled his fur a bit.
"Now now, Fen, have I not told you that you need to be a bit careful when there's other people around? Now you'll have to clean up him too."
She sounded as if she was scolding a little child, but the clear lack of concern in her voice made it exceedingly hard to take her serious. Naturally, as she dictated, the fresh corpse was sucked up, crushed to pulp, and then swallowed by Fenrir.
As for why he died… Well the main reason was probably that Fenrir got a bit too excited. Gravity was his main ability, but he was also an excellent devourer, capable of eating almost anything that he could sink his teeth into. Naturally, these teeth weren't entirely physical. That knight had just been so unlucky that Fenrir's teeth just so happened to sink into his soul, rendering it just another part of dinner.
It didn't take too long for the knight to return, bringing with him a maid and a handful of new knights to carry the several trays of desserts. The sweets were quickly spread across the table, Giselle maintaining her smile as she gestured at the food.
"Please, help yourself. I am partial to this peach tart and blood orange pudding, but I can assure you that our patissier is extraordinarily skilled."
She worked skilfully as she spoke, cutting out a piece of the tart while also scooping up some pudding onto her own plate, eating as if she didn't have a care in the world. Alice smiled at her for a moment before picking up the same desserts, as well as a few others.
"Did you know Giselle, I have a friend who is extraordinarily skilled with poisons. I try to learn from her when I can, but she easily outclasses me when it comes to knowledge on poisons. She truly shows the difference between someone who focuses on a singular aspect and those who spread their focus."
As she spoke, Alice raised the peach tart and took a bite of it, the soft and sweet, yet slightly acidic, taste spreading in her mouth. Giselle's own chewing slowed slightly as Alice spoke, the corners of her lips cramping momentarily.
"Thanks to her, I've gotten to learn so much about so many different poisons that I can detect quite a few of them just by smell or scent, or even just by instinct in some cases. I really owe her a lot."
Alice maintained her smile, finishing the tart and starting on the pudding. Giselle's smile cramped more and more as Alice talked, or perhaps it cramped because she was able to keep talking.
"Naturally, if we know how to detect them, then we also know how to counteract them. Even the poison you slipped into my tea, it only worked because I wanted it to. Isn't that interesting?"
She finished the pudding and started on the other desserts, sharing a bit with Fenrir and Quetzalcoatl so that they weren't left out. Giselle swallow a heavy mouthful of tart, which now felt as dry as sand. But before she got the chance to open her mouth to even squeeze out a word, Alice acted first.
"And ah, I wasn't bluffing earlier."
"Devak." (Burst)
She uttered the spell, and the knights that had just entered the room along with the desserts all exploded as one. Their blood was forced out of their bodies, rupturing through flesh and skin as they tore bone, leaving behind mangled corpses. The resulting blood once again gathered by Alice, sinking into the blade that now rested against the side of her chair.
"I wonder, Giselle. How many people are you planning on killing today?"
Alice's hand moved to rest on the hilt of the blade again, her finger trailing across it as she gave it a few taps. She hadn't been bluffing, every single person in this estate, save for Giselle and a handful of others, were currently locked within her spell. With but a single thought this entire place could be drowned in blood. It would be oh-so easy. But too quick.
"I do hope you don't end up killing too many people while we wait, Giselle."
The duchess' expression twitched every time Alice spoke. But she had sufficiently grasped the hearts of everyone present so Giselle found it hard to even eek in a single word edgewise.
"After all, it is terribly sad when lives are just wasted like that."
Twisted, Giselle understood it now. Alice De Vritara was horribly twisted, a broken mess of a person that could not be thought of using common sense. In other words, she was a monster. And Giselle had brought that monster into the heart of her home.
"So, once we're done with this delightful dinner, could I possibly request that I get a tour of the mansion? I oh-so wish to take in the sights."
Giselle could do nothing but nod her head after a short moment that felt painfully long. For now, the one who was truly chained was her, not the other party.
Thus began Alice's tenure in the estate of Duchess Giselle, who naturally could do nothing but play along with everything that was demanded. Every step out of line was met with death, be it by the hands of the twin spirits or through a simple word by Alice.
At first, she hoped that she could solve it by handling it when Alice slept. The end-result? A bedroom soaked in blood, and a girl peacefully sleeping as if she didn't have a care in the world.
It was a nightmare.
But, as Giselle would soon learn, even when things seemed at their darkest, even when you thought you had reached rock bottom, there was always a way to fall further.
"I really do appreciate the art you've undoubtedly taken great pains to collect."
Alice stood in front of a large painting, carrying the little child Maraya in her arms as she spoke to the duchess. The picture in question was supposedly something the Giselle family had commission shortly after their founding, depicting the great war that had to take place to form this kingdom.
It was a grand battle scene filled with knights, soldiers, demons, and banners that waved in the wind. The clouds were parted as rays of light shone down, angelic feathers scattering across the sky as indistinct figures holding blaring horns shimmered above the army of the Kasarias Kingdom. It was a striking piece of art, one Alice had stopped by several times in the last four days.
Giselle chose to remain silent, Alice not bothered by the lack of response. She gazed at the painting for a bit more before her eyebrows rose slightly, the corners of her lips following soon after. She cast a sideways glance at Quetzalcoatl, who understood her intent and conjured up a bit of wind to block out the sound around the little child. As soon as the child became unable to hear anything beyond her immediate surroundings, Alice closed her eyes with her hand.
"You'll have to bear with this for a moment, Little Mara, its time for grown up things."
Giselle felt a shiver run down her spine as Alice spoke. Usually, if she was going to kill someone, she would send the little child away so that she didn't have to see it. Why suddenly change how she went about it?
"I like this painting, but its actually a bit wrong. According to the old scriptures, there's only a single angel that actually carries a horn, Gabriel. And when he blows his horn, it symbolizes the arrival of doomsday. So its funny that your family would use the image of angels blowing their horns to symbolize your victory, when it actually speaks of the apocalypse."
Alice spoke normally, but Giselle could detect the slight hum to her voice. She looked as if she was barely able to contain herself as she stood there.
"You know, Giselle, what you did was both smart and foolish."
Alice did not care one whit about Giselle's state of mind or confusion as she kept talking. Her gaze drifted towards the large window on the other end of the room, they could see a good bit of the estate from there, such as the surrounding annexes.
"Trying to use me to slow down Gabriel was very smart, I'm probably one of the very few people who can request things from him and have him change his actions. So, that one was smart of you."
Alice's smile grew wider as she spoke. She could feel it. And indeed, there it was.
One of the annexes, a smaller palace on the estate meant to hold important guests, ruptured. A gargantuan spike of ice rose from the ground and tore through it, splintering out into several smaller spikes until it resembled a tree. As for what used to be a building, it had become frozen fragments clinging to the ice.
"But taking me away like that? Very foolish, Giselle."
There was a loud sound as the earth beyond the window tore open, a crack spreading across it, it was as if something incredibly heavy had just landed there. Ah, Alice would have loved it if Giselle could see her own expression right now.
"You see, my husband has had a very unfortunate life, a very hard one. So he's gotten a little bit twisted by it, just a touch broken by its cruelty. But I must say, I've done a wonderful job of keeping him together, of slowly piecing together those cracks. He needs me, Giselle. Just as I need him more than anything, he needs me above all."
"But then you went and took me away, so what was he to do? He must naturally come and take me back. And now I'm not there to hold him together so he'll do whatever it takes to get me back. Whatever. It. Takes."
The window shattered after Alice spoke, the groaning and creaking of the earth outside the mansion finally reaching them. It sounded like an eerie and low howl, a subdued roar of crumbling earth and growing ice.
"I was a leash, Giselle. As long as we were by each other's side, we kept each other together. But you removed that leash, and now my angel has come, blowing that horn with all his might."