Operation Divide et impera

Almost an hour had passed since the start of the match and thirty-five minutes since I summoned Femto.

Femto and Minerva were battling it out under the glaring early afternoon sun.

I was standing in the sun as well. Carefully making sure that no shade was touching me. But apart from that all I could do was watch them. And time was slowly but surely running out.

There was an opening. Femto pounced forward and racked Minerva over the face with her claws. However, this was a feint. The Dark Lord used the opportunity to retaliate and cut both of Femto’s hands clean off.

The Devil grunted in pain and jumped backwards while Minerva licked the blood off her face and sneered.. “That all you got?”

“Oh pleaaaaase!”, Femto jutted her stumps upwards, and just like that, two new claws manifested itself into existence. “Do you have any idea how many of these you would have to cut off to make a difference? Never try your hand at the stock market, Honey. Because you suck at trades.”

...

Looking at the match objectively, you would certainly have to give Femto the edge.

Since the two went into close quarter combat, the devil sustained her fair share of gruesome wounds and was even outright killed twice. But every time this happened, she simply restored herself within the fraction of a second. This practice was not infinite. Beatrice once liked a devil’s health to a king sized bucket of popped corn. “Killing” a devil may remove a few pieces out of the bucket but there was still an enormous amount left.

On the other hand, Minerva, Dark Lord or not, did not have the same luxury. While she could certainly grow herself more limps, these were created by shadow magic. It was no substitute for actual healing. The numerous wounds and cuts she received during the battle could only be patched up, not healed outright.

The devils current strategy was to **** just that. Since she had no reason to care for her physical well being, Femto simply launched herself into Minerva with suicidal zeal.

Because of this, going after me directly was out of the question. Attempting to do so would leave the Dark Lord too open for an attack from Femto.

So far Minerva managed to prevent herself from suffering any deep injuries, but it should be a maddening experience. To keep receiving wounds while your opponent heals everything instantly. To see your health slowly being whittled down while your foe appears the very definition of invincible.

And yet during all this the Dark Lord calmly kept her spirit up. No, more then that, there was an unwavering confidence on her face, displaying that, despite her current predicament, she was in fact the one cornering us.

She can’t be absolutely certain that Femto was on a time limit. If Minerva were to doubt her judgment for even a little, she might overcommit herself. Make some errors Femto could exploit. But that was simply not happening. Minerva calmly and methodically patched up every wound she received and fought back. Chipping away on Femto’s impossible large health pool, as if, slowly but surely, she would led us up the stairs towards the gallows.

02:05 P.M

One single ball of blood, red light emerged from the west and exploded in a beautiful crimson fountain above the city.

On it’s own it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Tonight, all over Rasheul fireworks would go off to celebrate the end of the tournament. A few of them would certainly be fired prematurely by the eager citizens.

However, I knew the significance of this.

At last.

Ojou-sama had given her signal.

I wasted no time.

Inhaling deeply I shouted loudly towards the two fighters.

“DARK LORD ITHERE! YOU’RE FREE! RESIST!”

Minerva did not react at first, she was too cunning to fall for what must appear as a last ditch bluff on our part.

A few seconds passed without any change.

Then Minerva started screaming.

Finally.

“Now!”, Femto shouted and we both charged the Dark Lord.

Minerva was clutching her head and grunted. Even so, she still tried and succeeded in blocking Femto’s slashes.

She was not so successful with me.

I drove my Hirara dirks deep into her left leg, targeting her nerve endings in the process.

Minerva screamed in pain as well as surprise as her voice took on a more guttural tone.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!”

The wound I gave her was a vicious one, under regular circumstances enough to cripple someone for life.

But that was not my true intent. It was to confirm that her Invincibility Field was down.

And that Dark Lord Ithere was making his move.

…

..

.

A few hours earlier. During the strategy meeting

I had trouble believing what Cassandra just told me. “Are you certain of this?”, I had to double check.

The huntress nodded, a sly grin on her face. “During the battle, Ojou will cancel the obedience spell that’s on Dark Lord Ithere.”

“Yer arse and parsley!”, blurted a dumbfounded Fisti out. “That Dark Lord supposed to be a goner!”

“And that is why you are nothing more then a Punchy”, Beatrice, with a very haughty smirk, mocked. “Have none of you simpletons ever questioned why Minerva didn’t transform properly? Why, while she has some of Ithere’s power, her body remained human? Or why a mere human was even capable of subduing the will of a Dark Lord in the first place?”

Right. I remember that this was a riddle that deeply perplexed and frustrated Beatrice.

But now the ex-witch was positively beaming with smug pride. “It is astonishingly uncomplicated really. Minerva merely told the Dark Lord something along the lines of “Do not resist or perhaps do not initiate the transformation process.”

“What are you insinuating foolish child?”, my Queen hissed annoyed. “To devour a Blood Soul means to become a Dark Lord!”

“Oh, reaaaaaaaaally?”, Beatrice’s grin had now adopted a form so wide it looked painful. “Pray tell me, do you perchance happen to have a Dark Lord as acquaintance that can confirm the veracity of your assertion?”

Hebi-san did not.

“All we know about Dark Lord’s and how they come to be...”, Beatrice continued her lecture. “Is conjecture. They aren’t exactly the most talkative bunch so there are a lot of gaps that we have to fill with not so educated guesses.”

“W-wait, now hold yer tebasakis for just one minute there, Rice.” Fisti needed a bit to wrap her head about this whole thing. Can’t say I blame her. “So, yer saying he is...he is just sitting in her belly?”

“Precisely!”, Beatrice let out a loud, triumphant cackle, even more loudly then usual. “When a blood soul is ingested the absorption process starts. Both the host and the Dark Lord then fight over the body. That is the common accepted theory. But if it isn’t an automated process, it means that the Dark Lord must initiate it. And if he doesn’t, well...”

“The fiendish blood soul would remain in the stomach!”, Sanakia followed the trail of logic. “It might even be expelled out after a few days, together with a humans normally bodily waste!”

“Well yes…”, Beatrice made a face. “Thanks for the disgusting image, Sexy.”

“A temporary Dark Lord...”, Cassandra clicked her tongue. “That’s how the fucking cunt gets over the issue of having to obey the Demon King.”

The ex-witch nodded. “And that is the crux of my brilliant, ingenious Operation Divide et impera. You may genuflect and praise me now.”

“Good girl.” Aiju patted Beatrice’s head, which I don’t think was what she had in mind.

“But you said it yourself, this is all just conjecture”, I argued. “We have no idea if that Blood Soul was absorbed or not.”

“No, the flat chested little girls reasoning is non foolish”, my Queen admitted with a rather frustrated expression. “Dark Lords change form significantly upon turning. That revolting human however remained her form. We could not think of a single other explication for this.”

Of course! All I could do was prostate myself in front of My Queen and beg for forgiveness for my foolishness.

“Which brings us full circle”, Cassandra picked up the discussion. “Ojou, will cancel the spell, which will allow Ithere to start the absorption process, riding the continent from this fucking cunt.”

“Ah dinnae ken, even if that mad stuff is all belter…”, Fisti harumphed. “How can we trust this nyaff bandit?”

“The Punchy has a point”, Bea eyed Cassandra suspiciously. “I am asking again. Are you absolutely, positively sure that haughty mob boss will hold up her end of the bargain? If my beautiful, adroit Operation Divide et impera fails because of your screw up there will be hell to pay!”

“Will you two broken records ever shut up?”, Cassandra groaned. “Ojou will do her work. The spell of obedience on Ithere will be cancelled. Then we can tell him to resist the cunt. If it won’t work, it’s because Ithere isn’t in there anymore. That’s on you, brat.”

Meaning, our trump card was not only relying on one but two assumptions. Still, if this turns out to be true and Ithere would interfere in the middle of the fight. That would be a tremendous advantage. No not just an advantage, wouldn’t that outright spell my victory?

“But But!”, Sanakia interjected. “A Dark Lord is still a Dark Lord! Even if this all works out, I ill see how this makes a difference for my Lord!”

Oh. I can’t believe I’m saying this but Sanakia has a point.

“Eh it will be fine. Probably”, Sylphid busied herself with cuddling Aiju, clearly not worried about this in the slightest. “Ithere struck me as an honorable sort of guy. We are saving his life after all so he should be in our debt. I wonder if I can get him to have sex with me as compensation. He he he.”

Please don’t attempt to guilt trip the Dark Lord.

“But I have to say…” Sylphid continued. “I’m surprised the little crime chick can just snap her finger and puff the spell out like that. Isn’t it supposed to be infallible?”

Beatrice cackled. “Infallible? My dear Sylphid, there is no such thing in magic! The casters who devised the spell are obviously capable of removing it. Especially if it happens at the same place the spell was originally cast.”

“So...this whole spiel about how absolutely perfect the spell is…”

“Yeah it’s all bullshit. Nothing more then marketing scheme, really”, Cassandra flat out admitted. “Well, it’s pretty powerful, don’t get me wrong. I doubt anyone not related with the tournament association is capable of removing it.”

“Oh and just to make sure”, Beatrice stated. “Don’t just stand there slack jawed while Minerva and Ithere are battling it out. When an enemy transforms is the perfect time to get some cheap hits in!”

…

..

.

It was blatant cheating.

Quite frankly, not a single thing I did in preparation of this match could be considered honorable.

But there are simply things worth more then honor.

We continued our **** on the weakened Dark Lord. Minerva was now in full defense mode, limping away from us as she has to fight a battle on three fronts.

Even so, we had to be careful not to kill her. As such, our attacks were somewhat muted in their effectiveness. The aim was to render the Dark Lord defenseless and then **** a surrender, regardless of who would emerge victorious.

“Insolent human!”, the distorted but clearly distinguishable male voice screeched. “You dare defy me? Surrender your body to your master!”

One of the Dark Lord’s arms angled itself unnaturally and attempted to drive itself into her own chest. Before that could happened however, Minerva simply cut her own arm off and howled.

“FUCK OFF! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUUUUUUUUUT!”

Now!

I jumped and got Minerva’s right leg. No longer able to support herself, the Dark Lord collapsed to the ground.

We got her!

Or so I thought because Femto just managed to yank me back before a shadow spear would have skewered my torso.

Despite everything that was going on.

Minerva still managed to barely retreat herself into the shade of the arena wall.

And now a huge mass of shadow spears sprung up all around her. Even in this state, Minerva could still kill me in an instant And now she definitely was no longer trying to avoid that.

“Stay out of the shadow!”

Femto rushed into the darkness, cutting shadow spears left and right until she arrived at Minerva’s body. Relentlessly she severed her remaining arms, creating fountains of gore in the process. The Shadow spears kept coming and tore into the devils body, ripped her to pieces but Femto ignored it and kept inflicting more and more wounds on her opponent.

Then, howling and screaming, Minerva engulfed herself once more in her black armor.

“Shit”, Femto cursed.

The devil attempted to cut it open but even as she tried the armor began to distort itself more and more.

Were this...spears? Axes? They moved too fast to really tell. A black stream of **** and carnage was protecting Minerva who’s body itself was completely encased in a dark, cocoon like form.

Femto still attempted to break trough the cocoon but it seemed hopeless. Minerva, or Ithere, was keeping us out so that the two could wage their battle in private.

Finally, Femto returned to my position. “No dice. I can’t break through this.”

“What should we do?”, I asked.

“Waiting”, Femto grimly stated. “And hope Ithere wins.”

And so we did.

It felt like an eternity. We watched the dark pillar for what would eventually emerge. All the while time was mercilessly ticking down.

Finally, the dark prison exploded outwards in a huge burst of black energy. Femto thankfully made sure to shield me.

With ten minutes left on Femto’s clock, a lean, slender figure separated itself from the darkness. There was only one question occupying my mind right now.