Bunny Girl Evolution [A Monster Evolution LitRPG]

94 – Rose Dethorned

The journey to the VVIP booth wasn’t long, but to Elise, it felt like it took years. She had no way to sense how much divine aether she had left, but she knew that freeing Lily had been costly, and that freeing Maia’s sister wouldn’t be any cheaper. Every second spent traveling was a second the divine aether spent dispersing.

With the help of Lily, they were able to bypass all the checkpoints and guards. Their haste drew some odd and suspicious glances, but with so much other chaos happening around, no one was decisive enough to try to stop them.

Elise pushed her movement speed to its absolute limit, using {Dash} as many times as she could the moment it came off cooldown, all the while cursing her own lack of Agility. It was the highest of her physical stats, but that wasn’t saying much at all. Maia and Lily both had to occasionally stop and wait for her so she didn’t get left behind.

In addition to the worries about {Rune of Fate} fading out, she was also worried about whether Kaia was even alive. Lily was having memory issues that Elise didn’t doubt were related to being freed, but she still remembered that “Rose” was being used as a decoy. That combined with the fact that she was up in the VVIP booth where the main targets of Operation Blood would be did not bode well. There was a very decent chance that she had already been slain by members of Ostra who believed that she was the mastermind behind the Blood Syndicate.

She could tell Maia was having similar thoughts with how stressed and jittery she appeared. She was faster than either Elise or Lily, and she was constantly rushing ahead, only to be forced to wait for Lily as she encountered a barrier or set of guards. She never voiced her frustration, but Elise could see the desperation in her eyes whenever she turned around.

When they arrived at the booth, they were greeted by a scene of carnage that momentarily froze Elise in her tracks. She had known what the goal of Operation Blood was, and knew exactly what would have been happening in the room before they arrived, but she still failed to fully prepare herself.

There were nearly a hundred corpses strewn about the room in various states of disrepair. There was hardly anywhere to stand, with stray limbs and bodies covering nearly every inch of the space. Even worse was the odd lack of blood. Much of the blood from the wounds seemed to have vanished, leaving the grisly details of the victims’ innards on display.

Most of the bodies on the ground were human, but she could see a few demons mixed in, and as she glanced around, she locked eyes with a changeling on the ground. His solid purple eyes lit up when he saw her, and his lips curled up in a light smile, then the strength left his body. He was impaled by the swords of three of the four remaining living people, who all looked in surprise and extreme confusion at Elise’s group.

No one, however, was more confused than the fourth survivor. A quick glance made it obvious that she was the reason the room was oddly lacking in blood, as it flowed into her like she was a vacuum, but Elise’s eyes were drawn to her face. Aside from the two long fangs barely visible in her slightly agape mouth, she looked identical to Maia.

“Kaia!” said Maia, running forward to meet her sister.

Kaia, however, did not respond in kind. Instead, she swung her sword forward, as though trying to behead her doppelganger.

“Stay back!” she said, taking a step back herself.

Even with her limited training in the sword from Penelope, she knew that the strike she had just thrown was beyond sloppy. It was wide and unsteady, and even Elise could see her arm trembling. Despite that, the power that the strike contained was very real, and Maia was not ready for it. Elise’s heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest as she watched Maia nearly get killed, only to be saved by a sudden jet of water summoned by Lily that redirected the sword.

Maia’s eyes widened and she stopped moving forward, then she turned back.

“Elise!” she shouted.

Elise hesitated for a split second, then stepped forward, activating {Charm} and {Fey Bargaining}

“Kaia!” she said. “I can free you. All you need to do is agree to help us.”

“It’s true!” said Lily. “She already helped me.”

Kaia frantically glanced around the room. She didn’t seem to fully understand what they were saying. She kept looking at her twin, then at the doorway behind Elise, as if looking for a way to escape. Elise started panicking as well until her mind settled on a new tactic. She put as much focus as she could into {Suggest}, and thought of the most calming memory she could.

Her time in this world had been anything but calm, and even the brief breaks that she had gotten between crises weren’t truly calm, as there had always been something to stress over. So, she went further back to the time before she was reincarnated. One night in particular came to mind almost immediately.

On Earth, her relationship with her adoptive parents had been anything but harmonious. They were neglectful and uncaring, focusing their attention all on their biological children. Elise had never gotten any recognition for her successes, and was scolded greatly for her failures. Growing up, she had identified a lot with a certain bespectacled wizard due to their similar situation. Unfortunately, there was no acceptance letter to a magic school to save her from her childhood.

For years, she was forced to endure, working hard to not get punished while keeping her head down so as not to interfere with her cousins. Then, in her senior year of high school, salvation finally arrived. After countless hours of work to maintain her GPA, and even more spent on various extracurricular activities, she had earned a full ride scholarship to a good university

That day had been the happiest day of her life, but the calmest came a few months later when her first semester of college drew near. She moved into her dorm on the first day possible, bringing everything she owned, which wasn’t much. As soon as she was settled in, she promptly blocked her aunt and uncle on every device, locked the door and closed the blinds, laid down on her bed, and for the first time she could remember, she finally relaxed.

As soon as she recalled that night, she knew it was the perfect memory for the scenario. On top of the pure calm and relaxation she felt, there was also a hint of freedom. The freedom of no longer being under the control of people who didn’t have her best interests at heart. The freedom of finally being able to choose her own fate. The freedom that hopefully Kaia was about to experience.

When the {Suggest} hit, there was a visible change in Kaia’s demeanor. Her arms stopped trembling, and for a moment, the panic in her eyes was replaced with joyful serenity. That didn’t last long, and her mood soon turned more normal, but it was clear Elise’s {Suggest} had worked.

“Please,” said Elise. “Just agree to help, and you’ll be free.”

Kaia hesitated for just a moment, and everyone in the room held their breath. Then she nodded.

The second she nodded, Elise felt the cold grip on her heart, followed by the disappearance of the divine aether. She felt {Rune of Fate} deactivate, and the gold glow of her wings vanished, replaced by the usual soft silver.

At the same time, Kaia doubled over. She had opened her mouth to say something, probably voicing her affirmation, but all that came out was blood. At first, Elise was not concerned, since Lily had done the same thing. However, Kaia did not get back up. Instead, she fell to her knees, vomiting more blood as her face turned as white as a sheet.

In Freddy’s office at the Ostra headquarters, three people sat. The first was the owner of the office himself, Freddy. He was sitting at his desk, leaning forward with his hands clasped and elbows on the table. His usual smile was gone, replaced by a serious expression.

The second was Rayna, laying down on one of the couches, swirling a wine glass in one hand while making mana doodles with her finger in the air above her. After a few seconds, she finished her artwork, a white rabbit with fiery red eyes. She looked at her handiwork and smiled, then tilted her head back until it was upside down hanging off the edge of the couch so she could look at Freddy.

“Worried about your pet?” she asked.

“This is no time for joking around, Rayna,” he said sternly.

“Why not?”

Freddy fixed her with an angry glare.

“Don’t test my patience,” he said. “You’ve already made this mission far harder than it needed to be with your 'Lady' nonsense.”

“And much more interesting,” she replied. “You just wanted a boring, regular old criminal organization to take out for publicity. Sure, it would have worked, but isn’t it better now? A ruthless slave trader group run by powerful vampires vanquished by a group of benevolent and altruistic monsters, proving that not only do they care for the greater good, but they are also willing to go against their own kind if necessary. That’s way better, isn’t it, Fi?”

“Yes,” replied the room’s third occupant without looking up.

Firona was sitting on the couch opposite Rayna, poring over an array of papers covered in ever-changing words. Occasionally, she would summon a quill from thin air and write a quick response before returning to mere observation.

“See?” said Rayna.

“But it also made it incredibly difficult to get the narrative right,” continued Firona. “Even then, we’ve somewhat failed. At least a quarter of our members are suspicious of you right now. I’m sure a good portion of them are more or less spot-on with their guesses of what’s happening. The end results will be good, but we will need to run damage control for decades to keep your level of involvement under wraps.”

“If the results are good, then what’s the problem?” asked Rayna, shrugging. “Besides, we all know that’s not what Freddy’s worried about right now. He’s just worried about the rabbit.”

“That’s not what this is about,” said Freddy.

“She’s related to your divinity quest, isn’t she?” Rayna prodded.

“She’s not,” said Freddy.

“Riiight,” said Rayna with a wink. “Well, I think she’s related to mine, so-”

At that moment, she suddenly spasmed, dropping her glass and turning over to cough up a glob of blood. She coughed a few times, more blood sinking into the carpet, then straightened and started laughing. Freddy stood up at the sudden outburst, and even Firona looked up in surprise, though she looked back down at the papers once it was clear that Rayna was fine.

“What happened?” asked Freddy.

“Something very interesting,” said Rayna, still chuckling. “Your little pet really is something else.”

“She’s not a pet,” said Freddy. “What did she do?”

“She broke the connection between me and one of my Flowers.”

Firona's eyes widened. “Does that mean-?!”

“Relax,” said Rayna, waving him off. “I’m not incompetent. I had safeguards in place. The mission isn’t compromised.”

The demoness didn’t look completely convinced, but he didn’t press any further.

“It’s interesting though,” Rayna continued. “I didn’t know that was possible. Not without powerful bond-breaking skills. {Fey Bargaining} is more versatile than I realized.”

“It’s considered one of the most powerful skills in the world for a reason,” said Freddy. “Are you certain that it won’t cause any problems though?”

“Of course,” said Rayna indignantly. “You really think I would make thralls without any safeguards in place? She won’t remember anything important.”

Freddy relaxed slightly as he sat back down in his chair, and a moment later when Rayna coughed up blood once again he didn’t react.

“Another one?” he asked.

“Yep!” said Rayna with a wide smile. “I can’t wait to meet with her again.”

Freddy stared at her for a few more seconds, then sighed before turning to Firona.

“Status update on Operation Blood?”

“It is progressing as expected,” said Firona. “Some minor unexpected events, but overall, everything is on track. The Blood Syndicate will fall today. Casualties are within the expected range. The major humanoid forces have been informed, and the king of Jelor has even requested a meeting. They are already helping to handle the cleanup in the Jelor branch locations. I believe we will be able to form an alliance there without issue.”

“Excellent,” said Freddy, smiling for the first time. “Let them know I am willing to meet in three days, as we need some time to recover from the operation and mourn our losses.”

“Yes, sir,” said Firona, writing something on a piece of parchment that disappeared a moment later.

“Well, I’m going to head out again,” said Rayna, standing up.

“Where?” asked Freddy suspiciously.

“Out,” said Rayna with a smirk. “See ya!”

There was silence in the room after she exited, punctuated only by Firona shuffling papers around as new reports came in. Freddy stayed in his position with his hands clasped for a little while longer before slowly relaxing and leaning back in his chair. Then, he suddenly leaned forward again.

Firona looked up, confused. “Did something happen?”

“Impossible…” Freddy muttered.

“Sir?” asked Firona.

“It’s nothing,” he said, standing up. “I need to head out. Keep an eye on the operation. Don’t let anything get out of hand.”

“Yes-”

Before she could finish speaking, he had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of sulfuric smoke. Firona smiled as she inhaled the pleasant scent, then turned her attention back to the table in front of her.

In addition to the reports on the status of the operation, she had a few other shifting papers on the edges showing important news from different regions. Most of the time, they showed nothing of massive importance. Occasionally, she saw news of dead royals or bloody skirmishes between enemy kingdoms, but rarely was there anything that significantly affected her work. However, as she read through a status report on the captives freed from the Blood Syndicate, something in her periphery caught her eye.

The northern magic tower, home to one of the very few 9th tier humanoids, had made an announcement that was causing waves across the entire continent. A 9th tier dragon was on the move.