Chapter 129 Dance Slowly, Black Flower — You Remind Me of My Lover (Illustration)
Chapter 129 Dance Slowly, Black Flower — You Remind Me of My Lover
“My family… my house… my people. My past, my present, and my future—you took everything from me. Now, with nothing left to lose…”
In her trembling hands, she held several vials, each glowing with swirling, liquid.
Iryoku and Kalev recognized them instantly—Sigil’s demonic potions, the same kind they’d seen in his lab.
They remembered clearly: when they captured Laila, she’d been standing right beside Sigil’s experimental potion rack.
“Oi, oi—this wasn’t part of the plan…” Iryoku muttered.
With a crazed grin, Laila raised her arms high.
“All the citizens… the Death Tree line… all of you—the whole world must suffer for me!”
She hurled the vials into the crowd.
CRASH!
Glass shattered. Black liquid splashed across dozens of citizens and soldiers.
At first, silence—then the screaming began.
Smoke rose as the trance shattered and chaos erupted. The infected bodies began to swell, skin darkening to cracked gray. Hands twisted into claws. Faces warped into fanged, monstrous visages as black energy surged around them.
Some collapsed instantly. Others transformed fully, roaring as they tore into anyone nearby.
Blood sprayed across the plaza. The music had stopped—only screams and growls remained.
Laila lifted the last bottle—and drank it all.
Her body convulsed violently.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
Something glistened in her other hand—a piece of dark, reddish flesh.
“Let’s go all out with the performance,” she hissed, biting into it and swallowing it whole.
Dark energy writhed across her skin, veins pulsing with unholy light.
“Stop!”
A black chain, crackling with energy, shot through the air and impaled her chest.
“Stupid bitch!” Magnus roared, hurling more chains her way.
Iryoku didn’t hesitate—he lunged forward, twin daggers flashing.
But then Magnus’s chains erupted outward, exploding in all directions. The shockwave forced Iryoku to leap back as Magnus’s body began to twist—growing darker, rougher… inhuman.
“Arghhh—grrllwlwlw!” Magnus’s screams warped into guttural roars as the ground trembled beneath him.
Right in the heart of the city, his form swelled and distorted—muscles bulging, veins pulsing with light, skin hardening into a dark gray hide. The chains coiled around him like living serpents, hissing and snapping in madness.
“Fucking bullshit,” Iryoku spat. “It’s Lunara’s demonic transformation all over again!”
He turned just in time to see Vadia, still on the stage with the performers—her change complete. Half-demon, half-human, she snarled and lunged at Laila’s doppelganger.
The false Laila moved with haunting grace, twisting through the air and dodging effortlessly, gliding from the platform like a phantom.
Below them the citizens and knights were waking from the trance—confusion spreading like wildfire. Panic took hold as they watched their lords contort into abominations. Some were still mutating: claws and horns pushing through their skin.
The loyal warriors and executioners hesitated—weapons raised but frozen, unsure whether to fight or flee.
On the platform, the enslaved performers screamed and spilled into the crowd. Vadia snapped, catching one by the arm; her regrown limb morphed into a massive claw and she stabbed the girl, killing her. The others bolted into the chaos, cries echoing between burning walls.
“Attack them! They’re monsters!” some warrior shouted, rallying the troops.
Iryoku vanished from his spot and reappeared beside Kalev, who was struggling at the far side, trying to pry open one of the cocoons with Sigil’s frozen bistoury.
“This isn’t the time—carry them!” Iryoku barked, hauling up the cocoon holding Christina before sprinting away.
“Wait!” Kalev cried. She had two cocoons left to open. “I can’t lift both!” Her eyes shimmered as she watched Iryoku disappear into the smoke with Christina.
She turned back to the cocoon with Moto inside and kept cutting—bit by trembling bit. Energy crackled around the bistoury; sweat streamed down her face as the sounds of battle grew louder behind her.
“Please… please, I have to get them out,” she muttered, slicing through the membrane with shaking hands...
On top of a two-story building stood the deformed, naked form of Laila. The chain impaled through her chest began to pulse—then slowly got absorbed into her flesh.
“Grrwaall…” Magnus growled, his massive body trembling as he felt himself being pulled toward her.
His warriors surrounded him, weapons shaking.
“Idiots—it’s me! Your lord, Magnus!” His voice came deep and metallic, almost unrecognizable.
But fear had already taken them. The knights slashed at him, shouting incoherently.
Magnus roared, fury taking hold. He lashed out with his claws, tearing several of them apart in one brutal swipe.
“Leave my brother alone!” Vadia’s monstrous voice thundered as she landed beside him. One swing of her massive claw split two knights in half, blood splattering across the burning street.
Her monstrous face turned toward the ground—toward the headless corpse of her father.
Tears welled in her warped eyes. She bent down, lifted the body, and let out a guttural growl that shook the air.
“Grrrwaaaallll!”
Leaving the corpse behind, Vadia charged toward Laila’s monstrous body still perched atop the building. She leapt high, her claws slashing across Laila’s mutated torso, leaving a deep, smoking gash—
but the creature didn’t even flinch.
Magnus flung his other arm. More demonic chains exploded outward, dozens of them impaling Laila’s head and torso, coiling around her twitching body like steel serpents.
Then—
BOOM!
An explosion ripped through the plaza. Mages had begun firing spells—bolts of fire and light tore through the smoke, striking both Laila and the twisted siblings, Magnus and Vadia.
The three abominations howled as chaos consumed the city once more.
Kalev hit the ground hard, the explosion’s shockwave hurling her back. She pushed herself up, coughing, her ears ringing.
Dust and fire filled the air.
“Where is it—where’s the bistoury!?” she muttered frantically, searching through the debris. Her hands trembled. Another explosion shook the ground nearby, and the screams of battle grew closer. Tears welled in her eyes.
She looked toward the cocoons, frozen, not knowing what to do.
Then—
a voice came from behind.
“Are you stupid? I told you to pick them up!”
Iryoku rode in from the smoke atop a massive lizard-like beast, its scales glimmering with ash and blood.
“Quickly—get them on!” he barked.
Together, they hoisted the cocoons onto the beast’s back. Kalev climbed behind him, clutching him tightly. As they prepared to speed off, their eyes fell on the center of the city.
There, an abomination of flesh loomed—three bodies burned, gashed, and dripping blood. The surrounding knights and mages froze, wary and unsure.
Something moved—almost invisible at first. Then it became clear: Laila’s doppelganger. Her ghostlike, translucent form surged forward, merging with the demonic body of the original Laila as if a spirit were returning home. Black, writhing energy surged outward, and tendrils shot from her form, impaling nearby warriors and monsters alike. Chaos seemed to gain a master, a dark conductor controlling the battlefield.
Suddenly, Laila’s grotesque body shuddered and deflated. Dark energy spiraled around her as she reshaped, slowly forming back into a woman—tall, slender, clad in a long black gown reinforced with armored plates. A metallic, spike-covered helmet obscured her eyes. Her skin was dark gray, yet unmistakably beautiful—a predatory, demonic beauty. Chitinous, scale-like ridges rose along her body like living armor. Sharp black claws extended from her fingers.
She lifted her hands. Fleshy chains shot outward, impaling Magnus, Vadia, and several nearby demonic monsters. Energy crackled and surged through the air. Suddenly, the impaled individuals began reverting to more humanoid forms, their bodies now covered in dark scales. They emerged as stylized demonic creatures.
Magnus’s body was fully black and muscular, spikes lining his shoulders and forearms, a white stripe marking where his eyes once were.
Vadia’s form became more feminine, armored with scale-like plates over her shoulders and legs. Her face was hidden by a black-scaled helmet, while her exposed chest and lower body echoed the aesthetic of Laila’s doppelganger.
Other transformed beings swelled and warped, forming a macabre ensemble of monstrous performers.
Finally, Laila opened her mouth wide.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” Her scream pierced the chaos—feminine, metallic, and terrifying, like a metal singer unleashing her ultimate performance.
The other creatures growled in unison, a symphony of destruction echoing across the plaza.
Iryoku’s eyes widened. Her aura and presence felt eerily familiar. He tightened his grip on the lizard’s reins and urged it to escape.
They sped through the burning streets as the city descended further into chaos. People ran, fought, and screamed; flames devoured homes, monstrous roars filled the chilling air—then, suddenly, snow began to fall, drifting softly over the hellish red sky.
They reached the outer city gates near the mountain prison. The gates stood open, and on the ground nearby lay another cocoon—Christina’s.
Iryoku leapt down, lifted it, and strapped it beside the others. He lingered for a moment, glancing back toward the mountain.
“Now go, puss! Head for the bridge! The kids from the cages already passed through here!”
A sharp cry echoed above as Orn descended, wings of wind sweeping the ash aside.
“Orn will help you—and my friends should be arriving soon. I’ll catch up.”
He turned toward the metallic prison gate and pulled it open just as Orn rose into the air.
“Wait!” Kalev shouted.
Iryoku turned his head slightly.
“Katherine,” she said softly. “That’s… my real name.”
He smiled faintly—just for a second—then dashed into the dark prison, vanishing from sight.
Katherine urged the lizard forward, racing through the outer gates and into the smoke-choked fields.
“Please… come back,” she whispered.
Iryoku moved at lightning speed, cutting down every guard or executioner that crossed his path.
His twin daggers gleamed—each strike precise, merciless—and his harpoon flashed, killing anything that moved.
He reached the prison chamber where the demihumans were kept.
There were fewer of them now. Those who remained sat slumped, heads bowed, eyes empty.
Iryoku broke the locks one by one.
“Alexander is dead,” he said flatly.
The captives lifted their heads—hesitant, unsure if they’d heard right.
“The death tree is dead. This place is about to collapse. If you want to live, run—now.”
He crouched, scooping up the child missing an arm, then hoisted another onto his back.
“Come on,” he ordered.
Some followed—small sparks of hope flickering in their eyes—but most stayed where they were, too broken to move.
He didn’t waste time. Leading the few who followed, he sprinted through the corridors, cutting down any soldiers who appeared. They reached the outer gate. Smoke rolled across the mountainside.
Iryoku handed the children to the adults. “Go. Head toward the bridge. This place is finished.”
They hesitated, but his glare was enough. They ran.
Iryoku turned back toward the prison. His heart pounded—not from exhaustion, but from something else.
He didn’t rush this time. His steps slowed, as if he feared what waited ahead.
He’d stopped believing a long time ago.
Hope, for him, was just another lie.
“After all… when you have hope, most of the time, it lets you down,” he muttered under his breath.
He walked deeper into Sigil’s laboratory.
The first room—filled with experiments and death—he passed without a glance.
Then came the second: a frozen chamber where the air bit like knives.
The potion racks stood bare. Every vial was gone.
He kept walking, slower now, until he reached the far end—where the demon’s remains lay entombed in frozen air.