The butterfly lady flinched, and her eyes flickered. She looked pensive, as if she was making a decision. Vale could almost see her brain work, weighing whether she should fight him or not. If it was going to be worth it.

She thought he was using an Artifact, and although she’s a weak Master Knight, she’s still a Master Knight, and she liked her chances of fighting him better than just retreating.

Vale did not fault her. Knights have incredible will; they have to if they want to walk the path they’re walking.

Her wings flared, and she took into the air with a wordless scream. A sword appeared in her hand.

But Vale didn’t look up at her. Instead, his flat gaze remained on her previous position on the ground. In his eyes, there were now two of them, one in the air and the other swiftly approaching him.

Again, she was using an illusion, but the Infernal Dominion suffered no illusion.

Not to waste time, Vale went all out in an instant. His aura bellowed outward like a furious flame, making the air around him distort in a haze.

The Butterfly Lady paused, but it was already too late. Vale’s punch caught her on the face, a powerful blow that threw her head back. Before the first grunt left her lips, he reinforced his hand with essence and then punched her in the gut.

She folded, her eyes going wide, and then they rolled back as she fell to the ground, blacking out. She came to seconds later, groaning, blood dripping from her mouth as he loomed over her.

"You’ve had enough, or should I continue?"

She shook her head.

"Good. You will lead me to Akatsuki. If you disobey, I’ll kill you. If you pull any trick, I’ll kill you. If you run, I’ll kill you."

She scrambled to her feet even though her body was still hunched in pain. She produced a potion from her spatial ring and drank it, then sneered. "Don’t you have anything more creative than threatening death?"

"Death is a mercy. I can manipulate your soul in a way that’ll make you wish for death. Although I’ve not had much practice working with souls, so I don’t know what might happen," he deadpanned.

She flinched and took a step back. "You....what are you?"

Vale blinked. He frowned, then answered truthfully. "I don’t know."

And he did not. He did not even think he’s human anymore.

She took a deep breath. "I am Isolde."

"I am Vale."

She waited, and when he did not provide any more information, she scowled and swallowed. "Well? Won’t you tell me more? How did you get here? How can’t you know the way back? Where are you from? Where are you going?"

Vale looked at her for a moment, and then he shook his head. "People like you are the worst. You hate me, you want to kill me for humiliating you, and yet you’re trying to play nice. You’re waiting for the chance to plug a knife in me, aren’t you?"

She froze again, then slowly her body moved as she struggled and flapped her wings. "You are stronger than me, why should I confront you head-on? Hypocrite that you are, you are only saying all of this because you are the stronger one. Get out of here with your bullshit."

Vale paused and did a brief reflection. Had he ever played nice with people he hated just to kill them? He had never been in such a situation. At the same time, he should not overly criticize people’s way of doing things.

Instead of replying to her words, he said, "Lead the way."

She looked at him and shook her head, then she jumped into the air, her wings flapping as she took off toward what he assumed to be south, her wings carrying her forward fast in just a few beats.

Vale looked at the speeding figure, and then he began to run after her, his body covered in essence, shooting forward like a beam of concentrated lightning.

She in the air and him on the ground, they went like that for a while until she slowed to a stop and looked down. "This isn’t working. We have a lot of ground to cover, and you’re wasting time by being slow. Flying is way faster than running!"

Vale frowned. "I can’t fly, I’m an Errant Knight."

She snorted. "Why are you still trying to keep it a secret? You have an artifact that can raise your power to that of a Master Knight, although I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of artifact that is. But you can fly! Come on, the sooner I finish this, the better."

Vale was baffled, and he didn’t hide it from his face as he looked at her. "Isolde, I truly can’t fly."

"But you have that artifact that can raise your powers to that of a Master Knight."

"Well....yes. But I still can’t fly."

She paused. "You’ve never used it to fly?"

"No."

"But it has magic power at the level of....wait, it’s not that you can’t fly, you just haven’t tried!"

"Ahhh...yes.....I can use it to fly?"

"Of course! What makes it possible for Master Knights to fly is the absurd amount of magic power we have compared to those below us. Although our bodies themselves can’t fly, we can power through various means to fly."

Vale blinked. Out of everything, he had never even stopped to think about the fact that he should be able to power himself in flight. But then again, in his defense, he had just gotten the power, gotten attacked by vampires, and almost gotten tricked by a butterfly.

"Why can’t our bodies fly?"

She shrugged. "Master Knights are still closer to mortals than anything else. Grandmasters can fly as surely as they can walk. They are far more than human than we are. The higher the rank, the farther they are from humans. Now are you going to fly or not?"

Vale thought about it. He had never thought to learn how Elemental Order Fire Knights learned how to fly. Do they surround themselves with fire and lift into the air? Most Knights create physical things and then fly through that.

He thought about it. The only physical aspect of his power is INFERNAL GATEWAYS & IMPRISONMENT.

’...maybe I can create a small prison and then use that to fly? With my advancement, I have far more control over the prison I can create....wait...wait...wait!’

Suddenly, Vale froze and his eyes lit up. He had just thought of something to solve his defense problem. "Isolde, I want you to attack me right now!"

"No problem!"

And then without hesitation, as if she had been waiting for the opportunity, she gestured. Instantly, small butterflies appeared around her, half a dozen colorful creatures with delicate, fragile wings.

She gestured.

And the butterflies rained down, each blazing with blue light.

It was the same attack she used earlier, but she made them invisible.

Vale was ready even without the hesitation from her side. Formations blazed in his mind, and he pumped power into them happily.

Just as the attack was about to hit, the space in front of him shimmered and flickered before a thin, flat box appeared, stretching upward taller than his height.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The attacks hit, exploding with force and rippling blue light. And although there was a small dent on the surface of the prison....shield, it didn’t break.

Vale smiled. His new powers made it possible to create the prison fast, and in any shape that he wanted, as long as it was still a box and could contain something, no matter how small.

As an afterthought, Vale gestured.

The ground flashed with heat and two long, thin chains appeared, then lurched at Isolde, wrapping around her legs. She shouted in surprise, jerking upright to break the chains, and she did break them!

Immediately, the air around her heated and darkened. A figure was born into existence. A huge figure with the head of a bull and the body of a hairy man. The Warden.

The Warden held a large club in his hand that he brought down on Isolde with a mighty slam.

She gritted her teeth and turned her back, using her wings as a shield to block the attack. The club connected with a loud clang and then bounced back, the Warden staggering.

But the force made the ground beneath them crack, trees flattening and bending.

Vale whistled as he made everything disappear. "Well, well. You are full of surprises, Isolde."

She gritted her teeth and glared. "What in the actual fucking demon is that!"

Vale shrugged. "Just a conjuring."

So many changes had been made to his powers. He could shape the prison as he wanted, and he could summon the Warden, as long as the conditions were met first, anywhere. No longer contained inside the prison.

Vale took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling that flowed through him.