Chapter 2: Battle of Gods II P1

As he exited the room, Nishky turned right and headed towards the stairs. Even though he was walking inside one of the basement floors, it was well decorated with paintings of vivid landscapes, flowerpots with fragrant blossoms, and the wall itself was black adorned with floral patterns and golden carvings. The pictures on the walls seemed to align perfectly with the designs around them.

There was a red carpet on the ground with golden edges that covered the whole path and the whole passage was illuminated by decorated and luxurious mana lamps similar to other parts of the castle.

Going up the round staircase, he reached the hidden door leading to Annabella's room which was on the fourth floor. From there, he walked all the way to the entrance of the mansion.

On the way, he saw less people walking around. Most of the time the building was full of maids and butlers moving here and there doing their jobs but today just a few soldiers were remaining there patrolling the building in its last few hours.

{It seems like the air itself is frozen.}

Nishky thought as a squad of four soldiers passed in front of him.

{Not that I was here for a long time but the difference is quite obvious for even me to notice. Here usually was brighter and the atmosphere around the mansion was way warmer than what it is now.}

At the entrance hall, the ceiling was made so high that was out of sight. To see it one had to lie on the ground. Seven chandeliers were attached to the ceiling, with the largest one in the middle and hanging way up. The other six chandeliers were placed around the room and hung low, around five meters above the ground. Despite their placement, the chandeliers didn't obstruct the view from the top of the stairs or anywhere else and they did not cast any shadows inside the room.

All of the chandeliers were made stunningly beautiful. It didn't matter if someone had already seen them thousands of times. Every time, their jaw would open wide from its elegancy and greatness.

Nishky stepped out of the building to the front garden. The garden was vast with many types of plants and trees. It was a cool place in the heat of the summer, not that it ever gets hot in the mountains but even in cold, the place had a strange calm and cool air around it.

There are a few buildings in the first district. Most housed the mansion's workers but there were also military buildings in the district. There are three barracks, two training grounds, and a huge dining hall for soldiers with a stable for horses.

Nishky stopped midway and looked back at the mansion. It was huge and even though it was made from black stones, it was beautiful in that scenery.

{I can't believe they want to destroy the whole castle. A harder thing to believe than that is they want to do it with the mana suppliers. I don't even know what they are.} Nishky stopped on his track looking at the mansion.

{How they can manage the water? Especially the hot water and air conditioner with many other features like the mansion in the sky and our previous worlds.} He turned and started walking.

{Annabella's… no, the Demons are way ahead of all of the nations in magic tech and magic understanding.} He sighed. {I can't believe it came down to this. Our friendships… Our Creations…}

[How bad it can get, huh?] Nishky murmured. [Really bad.] He replied to himself with a bitter tone.

[All thanks to this cursed world.]

In front of the mansion's entrance was a huge square for carriages. It was connected to a wide-tiled road that went through both of the districts and was connected to the bridge outside. Basically, it went through the middle of the districts cutting the garden and the districts in half.

After walking through the second district housing area, Nishky reached the first gate. Soldiers were all stationed and ready for battle. The gate was still open so he passed the gate without any problems. But on the way, he was confronted with the cold and hateful gazes of the soldiers.

Well, he was a traitor in their eyes. A God who betrayed their Goddess many centuries ago.

Nishky held his head down and moved on.

From the second district, he could hear the sound of explosions more clearly.

{She said they've already captured the bridge. That means Ian isn't leading the vanguard. If he was, they'd been already inside the commoners' district.}

Fireballs flew towards the sky. They were headed towards the castle.

{Whew... look at them! Those are the big ones.} Nishky thought.

But he was relaxed. He knew they couldn't get past through Annabella's barrier.

As he thought all of the fireballs stopped midway in the air, above the walls and vanished. A thin purple ray of light shined in the collision areas and scattered in the air around the castle in semicircle-shaped waves.

.....

Leading the way, Kolton was walking in a dark and tight place. Behind him, Sasha was walking while controlling the wind magic that carried Annabella.

They didn't have any lights but they could see in the dark as it was the middle of the sunny day with the sun shining high above. They were demons after all. Though Sasha didn't have the dark vision that demons had, she could see fine with a self-made spell of light enhancement magic on her eyes.

[Do you know where are we headed, my lady?]

Sasha didn't reply.

[At least you can guess some places, my lady.]

[If I were you, I would keep my mouth shut.] Sasha said annoyed.

This time, without saying anything, Kolton barely nodded.

{The nerves of that man! He annoys me like hell.}

The passage continued and they walked for another fifteen minutes. The passage's slope was decreasing as they moved forward unlike behind them which was sharper.

{Wow! This place's huge.} Sasha thought.

After getting out of that passage, they got to a huge room. Many other passages led to that room from different sides.

[This way, lady.]

[Hmph.]

They walked towards a huge black door. It was the size of the whole room. A twenty by fifteen or so huge black metal double-door with carvings of angels and demons dancing in the heavens with cups of wine in their hands. At least it resembled something like that.

[Who came up with this design!?] Sasha murmured.

Kolton put his hand on the door, and the carvings shone in dim purple light. Ground shook and the door started opening from the middle by moving into the walls they were attached to.

People all stared at the door. Being targeted by thousands of eyes, Sasha became a bit tormented.

[Lady, please head there, above the stairs.] Kolton pointed in front. [Sir Fred must be there.]

Without saying anything Sasha started walking with Annabella floating behind her but no one could see her.

{I can't let people see my sister in this state.}

Because of that, Sasha had casted illusion magic and with that hid her flouting sister. Not only that but after a few steps inside that huge room, she sent her above toward the blind spots close to the ceiling.

After recognizing her, people started to stand up and they bowed on the spot.

Looking in front, Sasha walked towards the stairs.

Up the stairs, a mage was sitting while holding her head. It seemed that she was in pain because of that, she didn't notice Sasha moving towards her.

Above the staircase, an old man walked forward. Seeing the old man's face tears gathered around her eyes and her pale cheeks and nose turned straight red.

The old man noticed the change and the urge to cry in that little girl. He smiled kindly and waited until she reached him. With open arms, he hugged her and walked her to the back of the second floor out of people's eyes.

[Head down and help with others.] He said to the soldiers standing there.

[[[[[Yes, sir.]]]]]

As the five soldiers left, Tears began to fall from Sasha's cheeks onto the ground.

She cried, but silently. In pain and frustration, but, silent.

.....

Meanwhile, Nishky took a deep breath and walked to the vast opening behind the gate. Soldiers were lined up before the gate with swords and spears while mages and archers were on the walls firing everything they got.

A man in full black plate armor walked towards Nishky. Six soldiers in black plate armor were following him. Those six had three red horizontal lines crossing their chest piece.

[Sir, why've you come? Shouldn't you be with Lady Annabella?] The man said

Nishky looked at the man. Short trimmed white and silver mixed hair with short white and silver mixed round mustache with barely open eyes. Were they even considered open!?

Nishky was in one of the villages outside the castle in the past two months after he joined Annabella. Even though Annabella wanted him to be inside the walls, the two available demon commanders, Kolton and Albert were against it.

Because of that, Nishky hadn't met most of the people in the castle including the man in front of him.

[What? Are you deaf or something?] A knight standing behind the man said.

Nishky could feel a deep bloodlust from him. Not only he but all the soldiers and all were pointed to Nishky himself.

[I apologize,] The man said. [I'm Albert, The queen's head butler.]

Nishky's knees almost gave up on him. The first demon that Annabella gave life to was standing in front of him and slightly bowing. He never had met him but only heard how fierce he was in battle from Ian and Yato.

{Did he introduce himself as a head butler!? Is he joking?} Nishky exclaimed to himself.

[Please pardon me.] Nishky bowed. [I did not recognize you.]

[Is that right for a God to bow to mere creation?]

The knights tried to say something but Albert raised his hand and stopped them.

Nishky raised his head. He didn't have anything to say.

[Moving on then. Shouldn't you sir be with Lady Annabella?]

Nishky shook his head. [I'm here to fight.] He replied.

[Like hell we let a traitor fight on the battlefield.] The same knight exclaimed. [Let's just kill him and get over it.] He continued as he reached for his sword.

[Stop that. Do you know who are you talking to?] Albert said without turning his head. His voice was deeper. It seemed like he was irritated.

The knight was Stunned in his place. A strong pressure was focused on him.

[I- apologize.] He said and moved back.

[Every being has a reason for what it does. Sir Nishky, what may be yours?] Albert's eyes widened waiting for the answer. Even though his eyes were a bit wider, it seemed like they were still shut.

[I…] Nishky stopped clenched his fists then looked into Albert's eyes.

[I want to atone for my mistake… I want to do everything I can to repay her for what she has done. I don't know how to say it but… for the sake of them both, I am ready to die.]

[People do anything for their loved ones. Men, women, logical beings or none. Though it's related to the mindset of the subject, instinctively, all beings are the same. it's just about what they think is good and bad, right and wrong, or pure and evil.] Albert

{I do believe in his words but some people who I know… They're simply excluded from beings… or barely included.}

[All right then.] Albert said. [Shall we discuss the situation?]