Chapter 25: Chapter 64 – Night Terrors

As we flew closer to the dreaded demon lord's castle, with Irapesha's crack soldiers tearing through the enemy ranks, I was beginning to wonder why we retreated from that position so quickly. If they held together, those giants wouldn't have stood a chance.

It only occurred to me when the castle's daunting towers casted a shadow over me. We weren't retreating per se. That was simply the term Irapesha had used. We were actually advancing! I should have known cowardice wasn't a thing in her book.

Powerful artillery bombardments were fired from the upper ramparts and exploded all around us, scattering many of the soldiers on the ground. Everyone remained determined to follow their commander straight to the gaping maws of death.

"Holy shit…" I gasped at the indiscriminate destruction left in their wake.

Even demons were caught in the blast, but more continued to pour out from portals, trenches, and the castle above.

"What demons lacked in strength, we made up for in great numbers," Ange explained, her face souring up at seeing her kin perish. "That is because the demon lord summoned them from other planes and shackled their wills to his. Additionally, we had in our arsenal powerful magic that met a fraction of Tarcosa himself. Combined, we laid waste to Weyera in retaliation."

The burning and fissuring ground from the magical attacks which reminded me of the hellish world we saved Irapesha from. So it was constant battles like these that destroyed their world.

"I hate seeing my once lush and verdant world fall to ruin a second time," she added.

I would, too.

The history of earth wasn't so colorful either, and we came dangerously close to this several times.

All of my tenants— save for Ines, of course— would probably give anything to have their old home back.

"Hang on tight!" Ange shouted.

A volley of bright spells snaked across the floor, decimating the forests in its entirety. We went into wild maneuvers, flying higher into the sky and dodging the debris flung up from the earth.

"God… I want to barf…" I looked down and lost the urge as a sense of dread filled me instead.

Before my eyes, the world had gone up in flames. The perpetrators, a group of robed demons standing on one of the floating towers, retreated inside and away from prying eyes.

"A-Ange… We have to go down and save them! There might be survivors!" I yelled in panic, my eyes scanning the devastation for signs of life.

"I'm sorry, Akira. There's no one left but us. Even if we wanted to, this is only a replaying of events through Irapesha's dreams. Everyone down there is already…" she hesitated to finish her sentence, but didn't need to for me to understand.

The ones left were those who could fly and the lucky ones lifted into the air by them.

I swallowed hard, wondering how they managed to come out of this alive. Then I recalled a very distinct memory corroborated by both Cresta and Irapesha. The entire unit was almost wiped out trying to save Cresta. Somehow, these few succeeded— at the cost of Irapesha.

The dragonewt commander bared her teeth for a moment and recomposed herself. Of course, she had to stay stoic in front of her unit, even when things looked grim.

"I led you all into this, and I shall finish it. We're not far from Cresta now, but it is too dangerous to enter with those sorcerers lurking about." Irapesha pulled out a fist-sized orb from her satchel and handed it to an elven mage. It began to glow in his hands, then levitated on its own. "High-King Tarcosa created this to guide us to Cresta. Find her, break her out, and destroy the orb to activate a teleportation spell enchanted within it."

"What about you, commander?" He regarded his superior tearfully, voice cracking and knowing full well what was going to happen next.

"Some among those sorcerers are the demon lord's own lieutenants. I'm going to cut them down in size and avenge our fallen. Go!" Irapesha urged us.

Everyone saluted and parted ways. Ange and I couldn't go with the search party, because that was the extent of Irapesha's memories with them.

"Let's see this through and help Irapesha together," I said to Ange. "But if things go awry, we should pull out."

"Of course. Although, that would be the first time you pull out with me." The succubus winked.

"Is now really the time for jokes?!"

We followed Irapesha into the depths of the castle, in the opposite direction of the group searching for Cresta and lagging behind so as not to be caught.

"You can put me down now. I can walk," I said, still in Ange's arms.

"But I like holding you. It's like cradling a baby." She smiled.

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I struggled until she put me down. We raced to catch up to Irapesha. However, it proved too difficult to stay hidden. We rounded a corner right into the dragonewt herself.

"I thought I told you to go with them!" Irapesha growled, echoing into the obsidian, torch-lit halls. "You should still have time to catch up to the others if you go now. What are you waiting for?

Both of us froze.

"Uh, sorry… er, Commander! We just couldn't… leave you behind…" I stammered.

"You should have stayed with the main group. After leading so many of you to your deaths, I don't deserve to be called your commander. Where I go now, there is no returning from." She sighed.

When Irapesha realized she wasn't going to get rid of us that easily, she relented in letting us come along. This was a suicide mission if I'd ever seen one. What followed next, should have allegedly killed her.

Ange and I soon saw why.

Upon entering a chamber at the end of the corridor, we came face to face with the same demon sorcerers from earlier. Twelve of them, to be exact. Some of them, by their pridefully arrogant countenance and way they dressed, were higher in rank than the others.

"I recognize them all by name," Ange whispered. "How Irapesha managed to survive is a miracle. She must have replayed this dream countless times. Dying and losing her sense of self at the very end. It must be what gives her those nightmares."

"It's probably going to hurt like all hell, but we can't exactly let her go at it by herself, right?" I responded with my mind made.

This might be a dream, but I had my balls and a gun.

"There is no cowardice in escaping to fight another day, you two. I will rest easier if you did," Irapesha said, courageously staring down the demons before her. When it became clear that we weren't going to retreat from her side, the dragonewt chuckled to herself. "Very well. Let us seek glory in this battle together."

As every sorcerers' hands set alight with magic, the three of us readied ourselves for a fight. Only to be interrupted by the sound of heavy bashing, like TNT demolition from above the chamber.

"I'm here, too!" Cresta yelled, falling down as the ceiling caved in.

The three of us stared in utter shock. Mine and Ange's mouth hung wide open.

"Cresta, your timing is a miracle as always!" I yelled.

"I'm a serendipitous kitty! I saw you knock right out from touching Ange's hand. I knew coming here would be dangerous for me. After all, so many bad memories are here… but I already let Pesha fight this alone once. She doesn't have to, not anymore." The assassin smiled at her friend.

"Thank the gods… You're okay… This isn't a trick, is it?" Irapesha inched forward, choking back tears and letting the metal slab of a sword fall to the ground.

"Do I really have to answer that? You know it's me, Pesha! Now, let's slaughter these guys like it should have gone down back then." Cresta smashed her fists together and pulled Irapesha to her feet.

I woke up later, leaning against Ange's shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"I am not sure. Only time will tell now. But it seems the two of them are having a pleasant dream this time around," she answered warmly.

Both of them were out like a light. Cresta was asleep on top of Irapesha, cuddled up in her one arm.

"Nyehehe… Pesha, so warm… Remmy should be here, too…" she mumbled quietly in her sleep.

It was still dark out and very early in the morning.

"Thanks for helping her. I must not have been easy overcoming your own fears," I said of Ange's initially violent encounter with Irapesha.

"It is like I told her. I only did it because she saved you. This is the least I can do." The succubus got to her feet and brushed the sand from her skirt. "I'm all sweaty now. What say we bathe together before going to bed? I expect you to last much longer than the previous nights to make up for your transgressions."

"Wait… Are you still miffed that I went into the dream world with you?" I asked, but received no answer other than a smirk before she exited the room.

Well. Now I have an angry succubus girlfriend problem on my hands. 

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