316 Selfishness

-----Ilfa's POV

Seeing the humans attack Kaede was quite surprising. However, it didn't look like all of them were out to kill her, and instead only the ones with the white cloaks were out to kill. Thinking that it'd be problematic otherwise, I ordered everyone to only kill the humans with the white cloaks through telepathy. I was worried about the masked soldiers like the one that attacked Fabian, but it looks like they too have withdrawn from the battle.

Now I could just kill all of the humans and save the risk, but I felt like Kaede wasn't actually serious with our fight. She said she didn't want to kill me, so I do wonder how it would've turned out if she was serious about our fight. With that uncertainty, I chose to go along with Kaede's plan, although I find it funny that Kaede, who's clearly a vampire, is leading all of these humans.

Tarifa: "Want me to go in?"

Ilfa: "Not yet. I'd like everyone else to have their turn."

I've only had Tarifa act as a wall against the humans, deflecting spells and keeping everyone else alive, mainly due to me knowing how much damage she would do. And so, I've held her back and letting everyone else experience fighting against these humans. Most of them have never fought humans before, so this is an opportunity too good for them to pass up. But these white cloaks sure are annoying. Their front line consists of magic users, capable of blocking most of our attacks, even some of Sweyn's attacks, while the backline continuously casts massive AoE attacks that ends up killing most of the weaker races in but an instant. Our dragons and harpies aren't much good either. Sure they can fly over their frontline, but then they're met with quite strong wind magic, disrupting their mobility in the air, only to be shot down by arrows and stronger, precision magic. I have to hand it to these humans, they have a solid structure.

Tarifa: "Sister."

Ilfa: "...Fine. But only take out their frontline. Kill the ones that are erecting those barriers."

Tarifa: "Finally!~"

In an instant, she flies straight down to the battlefield as I continue to watch from up high. It didn't take long for her to make her explosive entrance, destroying their center-most barrier as I watch bodies explode in the distance. Seems like she's simply using her strength to deal with those humans, which I can relate. It feels so much better to actual feel it all yourself and not use magic at a distance. But she still has to be worried...

I watch as the humans create an open pit underneath her feet as she quickly falls through, and before she could fly up, the humans immediately created a tidal wave over the pit as it quickly filled the hole she was put into before they seal the top with earth magic.

Ilfa: "Fufu. How amusing."

Sure Tarifa can drown, but she's not stupid enough to follow along with their plans. Normally she wouldn't even fall like that and instead react quick enough to the pit. So to see her intentionally be trapped under there does make me wonder what she plans on doing.

Tarifa: "Ahhh~ Help! I can't believe I was trapped. Oh dear, whatever shall I do!?~"

And with her overly sarcastic tone, I end up smiling as I continue watching to see what will happen.

Ilfa: "Do it."

And after a few moments, I notice the earth begin to shake underneath the army of white cloaks. And in a flash, the ground underneath them caved in, sinking them all into one monstrous pit that Tarifa made underground. It didn't take long for everyone else to take advantage of the humans disruption as they all funneled into the massive pit that's now filled with humans. Some of them remained at the top of the pit, taking advantage of the high ground as they rained arrows, boulders and magic onto the humans.

Ilfa: "Alright, get out of there."

Tarifa: "Hehe. Got it."

Ilfa: "Sweyn. You too."

Sweyn: "Understood."

She eventually returned to my side as we both watch our forces destroy the humans. I had Sweyn remain back as well to let the weaker ones have their fun. I guess I should thank the humans, with this, my people will grow stronger. Also, the rest of the humans who are with Kaede look to be frightened after witnessing the massacre of their comrades. But as long as they don't attack, I won't harm them. Hopefully this'll prove to be useful, showing them that they're not to mess with us again.

-----Kaede's POV

Neri: "This is..."

Kaede: "Perfect."

In contrast to Neri's shaky tone, I find this situation to be perfect. To think that Ilfa would bundle up all those Leris soldiers into one big pit for me. Although I'm not sure if Ilfa caught that a couple groups of Leris soldiers did manage to flee, but even so, with this many humans, this should solve my problem.

Kaede: "Neri. Come with me, I need to talk with Ilfa."

Neri: "Huh? Uhm... Sure."

With me using my wings and Neri using her wind magic in order to make platforms, we both soon meet back up with Ilfa, but there seems to be someone else that is with her. They both have the same appearance, only this person has black hair with a much weaker aura. But something doesn't feel too right. Her aura is weaker, but it feels shockingly similar to Ilfa.

Mai: "That's what I was talking about. That demon there is the clone."

Ah~ Okay, yeah that makes sense.

Ilfa: "Kaede. Enjoying the show?"

Kaede: "Very much so."

Ilfa: "Oh, and this here is my sister, Tarifa."

Kaede: "Nice to meet you."

Tarifa: "..."

Unlike the pleasant atmosphere coming from Ilfa, her sister on the other hand almost looks like she wants to kill me, but I doubt Ilfa would let that happen.

Ilfa: "They should be done soon."

Kaede: "That's good."

Ilfa: "So? Did you need something?"

Seems like she's already clued into what my intention for coming up here is. I guess I can just be honest. We're both monsters after all.

Kaede: "Yes. If it's okay with you. I'd like to harvest the human blood from that human army."

Tarifa: "You can't be serious."

Ilfa: "Calm down."

At last, Tarifa finally talks, but she's clearly not happy with my request. Luckily Ilfa seems to have taken charge.

Ilfa: "I'm aware vampires need blood in order to survive. So as a token of our newly formed, friendship, you may harvest their blood."

I notice her emphasize the word "friendship" there. honestly, I didn't think we were friends or that we even formed one. But if it means I can solve the blood problem I have, then I'd gladly be friends with this demon. It wasn't like I was going to make an enemy out of her anyways, so a friendship might be the best outcome out of all this.

Kaede: "Thank you very much."

Ilfa: "But leave their flesh. My people will need to feed as well."

Kaede: "Of course."

I don't know if she read my mind, but we both stretched out hands out at the same time as we naturally shook hands. With me being this close, I could easily kill her, but I'll save that as just an intrusive thought. We both smile before we all watch from a distance, watching the humans all turn to mush from the army of monsters.

Thousands of soldiers... Yeah, that'll be enough blood to last for a lifetime. Ah, but I guess vampires are ageless, so I guess we'd still need more blood at some point. But at least with this much blood, we'll have enough for the foreseeable future... Although I think I'll need more bottles...

Neri: "I can't believe we're actually doing this."

Kaede: "Hmm? You mean working with them?"

Neri: "Yeah... I didn't expect you to pull this on us."

Kaede: "Don't worry. I'll sort all of this out."

This is all my fault at the end of the day. I know that if I just killed Ilfa, and taken over Inasdale with everyone, everything will end right then and there. I'd have rescued Fabian, captured a dark elf, and even have Inasdale back in our hands. But with this, not only is Fabian now a grey area, but also the Leris kingdom might not take too kindly to what I did here. And as a representative of Yarene, I fear that I've damaged the relationship between the two kingdoms. However, at least I do have Rina coming along with me, and not out of force like I originally planned, but instead, she's willingly coming with me. I imagine this is a much better outcome in regards to my mother. That's not even considering the amount of human blood I'll be collecting after this battle is over. After looking at it like this, I guess all the positives out of this outcome all benefits me... Oh well. What's wrong with being a little selfish, hehe.