It was all endless annoyance and frustration. Always another wall, always something she was unable to do.

Unable to break the seal binding her to this shitty troll body, unable to help or protect the one troll she’d found herself getting attached to.

Unable to make that bitch hold her word.

It had been a while since she heard anything from Nacre. At first the bitch tossed her scraps, empty promises to tide her over, and now there was nothing.

Nacre seemed to be disregarding Nerizo’s thinly veiled threats, spat at every meeting. She knew full well what Nerizo was capable of by this point, and yet made no indication of hauling ass on her promise to avoid the fate that was hurtling towards her.

Further confirmation in Nerizo’s mind that Nacre was just using her, keeping her chained like a dog following commands until she got sick of her. And then she could use her own little demon or political power to get rid of her.

Like hell.

—---------

Nerizo walked up to the Black Pearl lounge, tilting her head. Her senses were stronger than ever, and it wasn’t hard to tell there weren’t many staff here tonight. Allaik was still here, too.

That didn’t particularly matter. What did matter was that Nacre was here.

Nerizo took a deep breath, lifting her sword and aiming it like a batter about to swing. She exhaled, dark smoke rolling from between her teeth. 

There was no reason to keep playing at being someone’s dog. It was a distraction, a moment for her to breathe. That was all. 

The mage whose body she inhabited, normally curled up in her chest as though asleep, stirred. Nerizo felt the muscles of her limbs lock up, and then she grinned. The bitch was trying to stop her.

Her attempts were easy to shake. They hadn’t been, once- When Nerizo was first sealed, she was the one curled up, unable to control the body she had been shoved into. It took what was probably thousands of years, but eventually Nerizo slowly gained control. Now, the mage was weak.

The mage’s influence fell away as Nerizo took her first swing. A cutter of red energy arced outwards and slammed into the first floor, shattering the front. The lights of the building flickered. 

No going back now.

Nerizo’s grin widened. This felt surprisingly freeing, like when she shook off the chains she’d been tied down with thousands of years ago. She was eager to see Nacre’s dismay as she realized Nerizo had toppled everything she had built for herself.

She took a diagonal swing, reducing a corner of the first and second floors to rubble. A laugh bubbled in her throat and she leapt forward with another large swing, this time a blow that took a chunk out of several floors. Nerizo landed in the freshly carved pit of rubble, support beams and concrete shattered clear through.

The upper half of the building groaned and began to lean. Nerizo helped it along with another swing, and then as it toppled over her head, she took a breath and exhaled a torrent of hellfire across the collapsing building.

The flames gushed outwards, spreading like water and clinging to every available surface, threatening to reduce it all- Metal, concrete, and troll flesh alike- To nothing but ash.

She brought her weapon down to strike the floor- Crashing through several stories back down to the ground. As she did, flames blazed from her weapon, spreading through the lower half of the building that had not yet collapsed.

All around her was the smell of blood, fire, and ash, a sweetly familiar taste in her mouth. 

Nerizo kicked through the rubble. She had brought enough down on Nacre’s head, now. 

She pulled Allaik out first, by the scruff, scraped and bruised now worse than he was before but otherwise unharmed. Nerizo tossed him out of the way, and then bashed her way through the rubble until she neared Nacre.

The bitch was still buried, but smoke was rising from between the cracks. As Nerizo approached, it formed a spectral, many-limbed demon with a vaguely humanoid torso atop the lower body of a giant centipede. It lunged at Nerizo with a furious hiss, and she lashed out her hand, a whip of hellfire following her strike. 

The whip coiled around its throat, and Nerizo scoffed at the demon’s audacity. It knew exactly who she was.

The demon erupted into hellfire with little resistance, supernatural flames fueled by Nerizo’s wrath that could consume anything- Even smoke.

Leaving nothing behind but a few wisps, quickly whisked away by the wind, Nerizo kicked aside a piece of rubble and spotted Nacre’s broken and battered body.

Still alive. Nerizo grabbed her by the neck and lifted her- Only to be struck with a lance of fury as she saw a smug grin painted on Nacre’s bloodied face.

Nerizo squeezed, sinking her claws into Nacre’s throat. Blood gushed from the punctures, and neither of them had anything to say to the other.

Nerizo breathed hellfire into Nacre’s face and dropped her, letting her spend her last few moments in agony as she burned to ash.

Her delight had been stripped from her just by seeing Nacre’s face. It all felt like Nerizo had played into some ploy of Nacre’s, like the bitch had somehow won in the end.

Nerizo turned her frustration on what remained of the building. Allaik had fled, and between the majority of the building being destroyed or set on fire, there were few survivors. It took only a few minutes, leveling what was left and crushing or burning the survivors.

Ash kicked up by her sword drifted back down like snow, settling in fat flakes on Nerizo’s bare shoulders.

Heaving for breath, Nerizo exhaled smoke through her teeth again. She felt tired, and her anger still burned dull and aching in her chest like a glowing ember.

Her fury welled up again and with a wild howl, Nerizo kicked a piece of rubble into a nearby building before turning on her heel and storming away.