Voyage Of The Villainess

"Iris..." a playful smile escaped Malaya\'s lips as she looked at Iris with gleaming eyes. "Why? Are you jealous?" She said as she held Kayden closer to her. 

\'This brat...\'

"Hoho!" Iris scoffed. "Look at this brat, I guess you become crazier the time when we don\'t see each other."

"Milady!" Dorris dashed towards Malaya, locking her in an embrace. 

Malaya almost dropped Kayden on the ground. "Give me a moment, Dorris." She gently pushed Dorris from her then carefully laid Kayden down to the ground.

Seeing that she was free from any obstacles, Dorris once again, hugged Malaya. She was like a lost child who found her mother after a long time.

"Everyone is so worried about you! Why do you have to disappear like that?!" Tears streamed down her face. 

This time a genuine smile escaped Malaya\'s lips.  She caressed Dorris\' hair. "I\'ve caused you trouble again. I apologize." Malaya winced when she felt a throbbing sensation on her left wrist. 

"Milady, are you alright?" Dorris drew away from the hug. She checked Malaya if there were any wounds or something wrong with her.

"Don\'t worry about me," Malaya answered. "I\'m just a bit tipsy flying like in the air." 

Her left wrist was still throbbing but it was not that painful enough for her to handle. She just shook it left and right.

Then Malaya remembered Kayden once again. She went towards him to check his condition. He was breathing hard and fast. There were sweats dripping on his forehead. 

"So he is back to his human form," Iris said. "But he doesn\'t look alright. What happened to him? No... What\'s happening here, Malaya?"

Malaya narrowed her gaze then glanced up to the sky. There was a huge cloud of smoke hovering in the air. "Did you bring any potions?" Instead of answering Iris, she extended her hand to Iris, expecting Iris to hand out the potions she asked.

Iris raised a brow, then turned to Dorris. "Dorris,"

"Here, Milady!" Dorris handed a bag towards Malaya.

"My bag..."

"The bag you have left. I brought it with us along with all your items in case that we found you." Iris said. "I can\'t believe, you survive long enough here without your talismans and even doing some grand show here."

"You bet." Malaya chuckled. She immediately scourged inside her bag.  "Found it." She brought out one small bottle containing a green potion. Malaya tried to pour it towards Kayden but the liquid just slipped out of his mouth since he was unconscious. Malaya narrowed her gaze. \'He will not be able to drink the potion just like this.\'

\'Don\'t tell me..." Malaya glanced at Kayden\'s lips. \'I need to do that so that he will be able to drink the potion?\' She gulped.

\'Kidding. What am I even thinking? I have taken too much advantage of him.\'  Malaya scourged again to her bag until she got a bottle containing white pills. She immediately get one and fed it to Kayden. \'Thank goodness I have my bag back with my precious items.\'

\'This pill should melt on his tongue.\'

Malaya wait for three minutes until Kayden\'s pained face started to calm down. Malaya checked his pulse. \'Ah. Thank goodness, his breathing has stabilized.\' Malaya released a deep sigh of relief.

"Sir Elred, can you carry him?"

"Of course, Lady Malaya." Elred nodded his head.

"Apologies for the trouble." 

"It\'s alright, Milady," Elred said. Then he carried Kayden with one support of his shoulders.

Malaya turned towards Iris and Dorris. "I\'ll explain the details on the way, let\'s go before anyone of those people spotted us." 

---⚓⚓⚓---

*Boom!* Another loud explosion occurred in the Village. 

"Milord, are you alright?" The demon asked.

"Edas," Oliver said as he walked out from the debris. The huge house they were just staying in right now was now in complete shambles due to the multiple explosions. "I can\'t activate my magic."

Edas, the demon, who had a dark barrier surrounding both he and Oliver raised his head. "Milord?"

His expression held confusion as he looked at Oliver.

Oliver tried to reactivate his magic but as he did that, more blood dripped from the wound in his left shoulder. "Good, really good." A sinister grin plastered on his face but his eyes were not smiling at all.

"Is that due to the dagger thrown out you?!" Edas said in fright then kneeled down. "I deserve to die, Milord! I failed to protect you! Please kill me!"

"No need to go that far." Oliver gestured for him to stand up. Edas stood up. However, he maintained his head lowered not looking at Oliver.

"it\'s not that dagger." Oliver raised his left hand to his chest and curled it into a fist. There was now a red ring with the head of a red dragon on his left thumb. He could feel something strange in the ring. It was like there he was inside a box made of steel, compressing his power to not come out. \'This ring...\' He narrowed his gaze.

Oliver pulled out a dagger from his hilt. He raised it high in the air. Then with one quick motion, he swung the dagger fully with great force towards his thumb, intending  to cut it completely. But a strange red light emerged from the ring and deflected the dagger.

*Clang!* The dagger flew out a meter away from him. And this was the time Edas finally glanced up to Oliver. But he immediately looked down once again seeing Oliver\'s expression.

"There is a strange piece that suddenly appears." Oliver ran his fingers to his lustrous green hair. "Is this your declaration of war, Lady Malaya?"

"Where is the witch?" Oliver\'s voice echoed. 

"Milord, you call?" The witch appeared right away with Oliver\'s call. Though, compared before, there were more burns on her hands and even some part of her clothes. 

"We will begin, the sacrifice much earlier." 

A sinister smile escaped the witch\'s lips. "As you wish, Milord."

Both of Oliver\'s golden eyes started to turn into the color of blood. "I greatly look forward to what you\'ll show me."

---⚓⚓⚓---

"We will be safe here for now," Elred said as soon as they entered one of the abandoned houses on the outskirts of the village.

"...you temporarily seal Oliver\'s magic with the ring your mother gave you. Hyun Jae and her two subordinates went outside the misty lands to set a ritual to cleanse the island." Iris raised her fourth finger. "Is that all you have in your plan?" She said looking intently at Malaya. 

"And do you really intend to defeat Oliver before he became the demon lord, Malaya?" Iris\' voice was serious. Very unusual to her sarcastic remarks.

"Yes, I\'ve already gotten this far," Malaya answered. "And I have the habit of finishing what I started"

"This is really something...Only someone like you can come up with anything like this..." Iris sighed.

"Iris, in every story, you are well aware that tragedy will never end due to the author\'s approach of prolonging the defeat of the main villain." Malaya looked intently at Iris. "And that\'s what I want to avoid."

Iris narrowed her gaze. She raised her right hand. And Malaya thought that Iris would flick her head. She instinctively shielded her forehead. But instead of a flick, she felt a light tap on her left cheek.

"Iris?" Malaya looked at her with a confused gaze. 

"Good, you\'re still alright enough to feel that," Iris said. "However to Dorris and Rein, even when you thought that was just a light tap and feel nothing at first. But if it accumulated so many times and continuously, that was how it became a painfully hard slap."

"Iris?"

"What I mean is, you keep putting yourself in troublesome situations. Both Dorris and Rein have already accumulated a lot of pain due to worrying sick about you, tsk."

"Just the two of them? You also..." Iris elbowed Elred. 

"Shut up. I\'m instilling our captain the words of my life experiences so that she would not cause more trouble in the future."

"Yeah, I get it sensei." Malaya just laughed hearing her words. "I won\'t be able to cause too much trouble since you are here now."

\'Sensei?\' Iris scoffed. "Just so you know, if I felt like there is something you still not telling me and something out of hand happened, Dorris will drag you back to the ship and we will leave this place immediately."

"Yes." Malaya chuckled even more. Even if Rein was not here, she felt like there was a second version of him now. "I don\'t do plans that would lead me to my death."

"Then I\'ll count on that," Iris said.

\'Being with them again, I felt somewhat more reassured and at ease.\' Malaya felt a tingling sensation inside her. \'How strange...\'

Another explosion resounded. 

"Now that you\'re all here, will you help me commence the second part of my plan?" Malaya extended her right hand to Iris.

"Yes, Milady!" Dorris saluted. "Whatever you wish to do, I\'ll help you!"

"It will be my honor to be at your assistance, Lady Malaya," Elred said.

Malaya glanced at Iris. Iris with one brow raised looked at Malaya. "I already told you my answer. So let\'s go now."