*
Buried thoughts rise to the surface like sea foam, unable to reach the distant dream beyond the sky. Even so, why exist? Why strive at all? The answer has always lied in the question itself, to live is to live. The act of being brings meaning, not the other way around. Purpose isn't attributed to life because of some higher rationale, living itself brought purpose.
That's why... Regardless of the reason why Lastia is born, why she is this way, why she houses this soul... She will aim to live with her head held high. She untransforms, concealing her presence. To the senses of those demons, it's like the the target on their sonar vanished. Some crashed to a stop, causing ceaseless wreckage to the trees before beginning their sweeping search. She layed flat to the ground, so shrapnel from destroyed trees would be less likely to hit her.
It's like trying to survive grenades and landmines landing nearby. The shockwaves alone rocked the air above, causing a deep rumbling noise to permeate the forest, tearing away leaves and snapping trees in half. Her thoughts sharpen to a point as she whispered softly into the grass. "Transform."
A blast of light explodes in the midst of the demons, shooting a pillar of dark red into the sky. As if an ominous pillar of blood fell from the heavens, in spite of their demonic nature's they don't recognise such a phenomenon. As spiritual beings, their body being fully composed of magical particles made them especially weak to {Envy}'s assimilation.
One, two, three heads fell. Their bodies dissipate to ash, their skulls stuck to her great sword with horrific expressions despite lacking faces. Bulging filled eye sockets, stretched cheeks depicting slack jaws, their last moments remain solely of terror as their brain matter is absorbed into her great sword.
After 3 successful attempts, she landed at a ground not far away and pulled up her sword, deflecting a demon that attacked from afar. The projectile struck the flat of her great sword, sending her feet dragging through the ground as the momentum carried her.
Demons don't die. Their bodies are absorbed, their undead lives extinguished in all the senses of reality, but their folk lore remains. The possibility of revival will perpetually remain and plague humanity, as for their wills they will continue to exist in another dimension far removed from reality, some might call this hell though it was just an empty expanse in every direction.
Though that had nothing to do with her circumstances. The demons have already started rushing towards her location, she was surrounded deep in their midst. It was a rudimentary ploy, if she ran at them it might intimidate them instead, so she had them chase her instead. Preserving her momentum, her body vanished in the next step. At this point there were multiple demons in striking range, she can begin whittling their numbers one by one. With each kill, not only did her intelligence increased but her strength also grew.
She felt the information flow, the very sustenance of {Envy}'s foundation, it was all streaming in like a network. She ambushed the individual that was nearest to her, her great sword materialised smoothly into a comfortable grip, no doubt acclimatised over countless swings in her lifetime. This weapons had always been with her, it was like her lifelong partner, it bathed in blood when she did and it based in glory when she won. She drew the blade closer to her body, drastically shifting from a stance that pointed the sword behind her to the front, with one swift motion her arm trusted the tip forward.
Her body moved before thought could form, putting trust into the weapon over the outcome of her life. Silently, it slipped into the demon's chest before it could react, despite facing each other the demon's reaction speed couldn't keep up with her arms. Dark red veins spread across its body from the massive point of impalement, she could cleanly observe the other end of her sword poking behind the demon. The veins swelled all at once and exploded, leaving crumbling blocks of incongruous black matter, dissipating into the air.
It was assimilated. Recycled to be used as mystical resources, nourishing her being. Perhaps she was the true demon here, ravaging other entities and feeding off of them, not out of necessity but curiosity. Though believing so wouldn't be truthful, her instincts to survive led her here, it was the most efficient approach to getting stronger and to live longer as a result. The rest of the demons approached, their movements slowed marginally, just enough to be noticed. Enough to make her question if she imagined it.
Her legs took off at high speed, turning to the right and making a run for it. Perhaps the surviving demons were naturally more intelligent than those that perished, the ones near the edge of the pack pulled back while the center advanced to maintain a formation. Well, as crude of a formation as it is. They have advance spacial awareness at the level of intelligence beings, witnessing others of their species rushing to their deaths have made them rationale, this would only benefit her.
After a few steps, she reached the into breathing distance crowd. Approximately 3 blades thrashed into her neck, with 5 more approaching. They severed large swathes of area across the cross section, but as long as a few blood vessels remained intact it wouldn't really count as a decapitation for her. Though she could survive an actual decapitation a few times if it did happened.
They've shifted into a state of cooperation that would have been unprecedented before, they understood that they were no longer the dominant species of this planet.
"{Envy}, assimilate." (Lastia)
"{Contract}." (?)
"{Seal}." (?)
"{Prove}." (?)
Dark red light exploded out of Lastia, unfortunately it fizzled and didn't do anything. Was this the end? Of course not. As she chanted her skill, her palms had already snapped two of the blades lodged in her neck. Twisting her body, she dodged the remaining blades while pulling the last blade out of her body with swift movements, in that single motion she she thrusted her great sword into the demon that chanted {Prove}.
{Envy} absorbed {Seal}, preventing her magic from being disabled. {Contract} stops her skills from activating, {Prove} granted protection against high level mystics skills. So she physically bisected them apart with her great sword, shattering their protection spells. With less room for error, the approaching blades halted on their attempts to take her head, instead they aimed for the limbs. Two pierced her back, one on an arm and another on a leg.
With that, her body collapsed to the ground like a fallen doll. It layed there, bleeding out into a massive puddle by its side. The demons crowd around her body, observing the last vestiges of her life, burning faintly before it's snuffed out.