We pushed forward through the endless white expanse of Glacius, each step sinking into snow that seemed determined to slow our progress. The cold didn't affect us as severely as it might mortals, but even succubi weren't immune to the bone-deep chill of Hell's frozen circle. My breath clouded before me as we trudged onward, the documents safely tucked away in Isabella's spatial ring.

"Do you think they'll follow us?" I asked, glancing back at our trail—three sets of footprints stretching back toward Frostheim, now barely visible on the horizon. "Or just wait for us at the Transition Zone?"

Isabella's expression remained grim as she scanned the pristine landscape around us. "Both, quite likely. They won't spread their forces too thin—that would be amateur. They'll cut off the obvious escape routes like transport gates while sending a tracking party after us."

"Another group will coordinate and try to flank us," she continued, her voice low and measured. "Especially after Aria's little alchemical display made it clear we're not easy targets."

Aria grinned despite our situation. "Did you see their faces when that arousal potion hit? Priceless."

"They'll prepare a better ambush next time," Isabella cautioned, ignoring Aria's comment. "More coordinated, less direct."

I surveyed our surroundings with growing unease. The landscape offered little cover—just occasional ice formations jutting from the snow like frozen waves. "Could they be surrounding us right now?"

"Possibly," Isabella admitted. "That's why we can't afford to stop."

I glanced upward at the obsidian ceiling studded with crystals that passed for Glacius's sky. "Why can't we fly? Wouldn't that be faster?"

"And make ourselves perfect targets?" Aria snorted. "Might as well paint bullseye on our backs."

Isabella nodded in agreement. "Flying makes us visible for miles in this terrain. One competent archer with ice bolts could take us down before we even spotted them."

I looked back at our tracks stretching behind us. "But we're leaving a trail even a blind demon could follow."

"Unless there's another convenient blizzard," Aria added hopefully, glancing at the still air around us.

Isabella sighed. "I've been using minor illusion spells to obscure our tracks, but it's not perfect. Anyone with tracking experience will still find us eventually."

"So our only weapon is speed," I concluded.

"Exactly." Isabella's crimson eyes narrowed as she gazed toward the distant rock formations that marked the entrance to the Transition Zone. "We need to reach the zone before they catch up to us."

We pushed forward with renewed urgency, the knowledge of pursuit adding speed to our steps. The wind picked up slightly, whipping loose snow across our path and stinging our faces with tiny ice crystals. I tried to calculate our chances based on distance and time, the mathematical part of my mind seeking comfort in numbers and probabilities.

"What are our odds?" I finally asked Isabella, who knew this terrain better than either of us.

She didn't sugarcoat her answer. "Slim, but not zero. If we maintain this pace without stopping, we might make it."

"Might?" Aria echoed.

"The Eastern Transition Zone is still at least ten hours away at our current speed," Isabella explained. "And that's assuming we don't encounter any natural obstacles or get delayed."

I bit my lip, considering our options. "Could we set a trap? Use Aria's remaining potions to slow down anyone following us?"

Isabella considered this briefly before shaking her head. "Too risky. We'd have to stop, and we don't know how close they are behind us. Besides, Aria's potions are our best defence if we're cornered."

"I've got three red, two green, and one purple left," Aria confirmed, patting her pouch. "Not enough to waste on maybes."

We fell silent after that, conserving our breath for the journey ahead. The landscape blurred into a monotonous white void, broken only by occasional ice formations and the distant, jagged horizon. Time seemed to stretch and contract as we pushed forward, each step bringing us closer to the relative safety of the Transition Zone.

"Look," Isabella suddenly whispered, pointing ahead. "We're getting closer."

In the distance, I could make out the massive dark opening in the ice plain that marked the entrance to the Eastern Transition Zone. Hope surged through me at the sight.

"We might actually make it," Aria breathed, a note of surprised relief in her voice.

"Don't celebrate yet," Isabella cautioned, her eyes still scanning our surroundings. "This is where I'd set up an ambush if I were them."

* * *

As if on cue, a spell erupted from nowhere.

"Look out!" I screamed, but it was too late. The magic surged directly at Isabella, who had no time to dodge.

A blinding flash erupted as the protective talisman I'd given her absorbed the spell's impact. Without it, she would have been skewered by an ice spike that rose violently from beneath her feet, its jagged point stopping mere inches from her chest before shattering into crystalline dust.

"Shit!" Isabella hissed, eyes wide with the realisation of how close she'd come to death.

Before any of us could react, similar attacks targeted Aria and me. I twisted instinctively, my body moving with reflexes I still wasn't fully accustomed to. Despite my manoeuvre, the edge of an ice spike grazed my side—just enough contact to shatter my own talisman in a burst of protective energy.

"We're surrounded," I whispered, scanning the pristine landscape. The vast whiteness that had seemed so empty now felt like a perfect trap, with enemies concealed in every shadow and drift.

Aria, Isabella and I strained our senses, looking for any movement or sound that might betray our attackers' positions. The silence was absolute—no footsteps crunching in snow, no breathing, not even the whisper of fabric against ice.

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Then another attack came without warning. Isabella barely twisted away from a barrage of ice shards that erupted from a seemingly solid wall of snow.

"Behind you!" I shouted to Aria, lunging forward with speed I didn't know I possessed. I pulled her aside just as razor-sharp icicles pierced the space where she'd been standing.

"Thanks," she gasped, her usual playfulness gone.

We were being bombarded from every conceivable direction—ground, sky, sides. There was no pattern, no rhythm we could anticipate. Each attack came from a different angle, each spell manifesting in a slightly different way. Ice spikes, frost bolts, snow blasts—the variety suggested multiple casters with different specialities.

"We need targets!" Isabella snarled, her hands glowing with retaliatory magic that had nowhere to go.

"They're trying to separate us," I realised as another spell forced me to dive away from my friends. "Stay close!"

We couldn't dodge forever. Our attackers remained perfectly hidden, invisible in the landscape they knew intimately. Each time we moved toward the Transition Zone's entrance, the attacks intensified, herding us like cattle.

"This way!" Isabella called, ducking under a horizontal sheet of ice that formed in the air and shattered into deadly projectiles.

We moved in desperate synchronicity, gradually inching toward the dark opening of the Transition Zone while avoiding the relentless magical assault. Isabella and I managed to maintain our footing thanks to our pureblood reflexes, but Aria struggled despite her considerable agility. Her movements, though impressive for a common succubus, lacked the instinctive precision that Isabella and I possessed.

"Stay between us!" I ordered Aria, deflecting a frost bolt with my wing before folding it back.

Isabella flanked Aria's other side, creating a protective formation. "Don't break rank!"

Minutes stretched into what felt like hours as we fought our way forward. Each step was a victory, each dodge a reprieve from death. But our stamina wasn't limitless, and I could see Aria's movements becoming fractionally slower with each evasion.

A particularly vicious barrage forced us to scatter momentarily. When we regrouped, I noticed a thin line of purple blood trickling down Aria's arm where an ice shard had caught her.

"I'm fine," she insisted before I could speak, but her eyes betrayed her pain.

That's when I remembered. The memory hit me with such force I nearly missed dodging another attack.

"The stone!" I gasped, reaching into my spatial ring with trembling fingers.

"What stone?" Isabella demanded, her attention split between my words and the constant threat of attack.

"My mother gave me an emergency recall stone before we went to Earth to face Cain," I explained, ducking under another ice blast. "I could use it to get us out of here."

Aria's eyes widened. "A recall stone? Those actually exist?"

"Apparently," I said, finally locating the small black stone in my ring's storage. It was warm to the touch, pulsing with dormant magic.

"Use it!" Aria urged. "Get yourself out at least!"

I shook my head violently. "I'm not leaving you two here to die!"

"We'll reform," Aria insisted, pushing me aside as another ice spike erupted where I'd been standing. "You know that."

"But reformation takes months!" I protested. "And your academic standing—"

"Fuck the academic standing!" Aria shouted with uncharacteristic seriousness. "Use the damn stone!"

Isabella's expression changed to shock as she processed what I'd said. "You have a recall stone? From your mother?" Her eyes narrowed with sudden understanding. "Lily, use it. Now."

"I won't abandon—"

"This isn't abandonment," Isabella cut me off, her voice commanding despite our desperate situation. "This is tactics. If you survive, you can relay what's happening. Besides…" Her voice dropped lower. "We really don't want your parents redefining how the Second Circle looks if something happens to you."

The implication hit me hard. If I died here, my parents—especially my mother—wouldn't rest until they'd exacted vengeance on everyone even remotely connected to the attack. The entire political landscape of Hell would shift.

Another volley of ice magic forced us to scatter. When we regrouped, Aria was bleeding from a new wound on her leg.

"Use it," she repeated, her voice weaker. "Please, Lily."

I looked between my two closest friends, their faces set with determination despite our desperate circumstances. With shaking hands, I raised the black stone.

"I'll come back for you," I promised, my voice breaking. "I swear it."

"We know," Isabella said with a grim smile.

I closed my eyes and channelled my magic into the stone. It grew hot in my palm, pulsing with increasing intensity. Light began to leak between my fingers, brilliant and blinding.

"Hang on!" I shouted to my friends as the magic built to a crescendo.

The stone shattered in my hand, releasing a pillar of light that engulfed me completely. The last thing I saw was Aria and Isabella standing back-to-back, facing the unseen enemies as the world around me dissolved into pure, radiant energy.

* * *

The light faded, but I remained exactly where I'd been standing. No teleportation. No escape. The recall stone had shattered uselessly in my palm, leaving only glittering dust that scattered in the frigid wind.

"What happened?" Aria gasped, her eyes wide with confusion. "You're still here!"

Isabella stared at my empty hand. "It didn't work?"

For a moment, even our attackers seemed stunned by the brilliant flash of light. The barrage of ice projectiles temporarily ceased, giving us a precious moment to gather our wits. I scanned our surroundings, desperate to understand what had gone wrong—and that's when I spotted him.

A demon stood in the distance, barely visible against the white landscape. His blue-grey skin almost perfectly matched the icy terrain, but the movement of his arms as he prepared another spell gave away his position.

"There!" I pointed. "On that ridge!"

Isabella whipped her head around. "I see him! But there must be more—"

The assassin raised his hands to continue his spell, but something changed in the atmosphere around us. The air suddenly felt heavy, charged with an immense pressure that descended upon us like an invisible weight. My ears popped painfully as the air pressure fluctuated wildly.

Then came the sounds—wet, fleshy popping noises that echoed across the frozen landscape. One particularly loud burst coincided with our spotted assassin literally exploding into a shower of gore. His body simply disintegrated, organs and blood scattering across the pristine snow before rapidly dissolving into dust as his essence began the long process of reformation.

More popping sounds followed, accompanied by distant screams cut horrifically short. Invisible attackers were being destroyed by some unseen force.

"What in the nine circles—" Aria began, but her words died as I felt someone embrace me from behind.

Warm arms wrapped around my shoulders, and a familiar scent of roses with the faintest hint of brimstone enveloped me. I knew immediately who it was.

"Mother?" I whispered.

"My darling girl," Lilith's voice purred in my ear. "Thank the void you remembered to use my gift."

I turned slowly in her embrace to face her. Lilith stood before me in her full royal regalia—a midnight black gown adorned with crimson accents that seemed to shift and move like living blood. Her crown of twisted obsidian horns gleamed in the dim light of Glacius, and her eyes burned with both relief and barely contained rage.

"I came as quickly as I could," she said, brushing a strand of hair from my face with surprising tenderness. "I didn't even change my attire from court."

I glanced down at the broken remains of the stone in my palm. "But it didn't work. I thought it was supposed to teleport me—"

"Forgive me for the deception, my dear," Lilith said, her smile apologetic yet somehow still predatory. "I wasn't certain you would use it if you knew its true purpose. You seemed so… reluctant to involve us in your matters regarding that mortal realm. The stone was never meant to transport you—it was a beacon for me, so I could intervene."

I heard twin thuds behind me and turned to see Aria and Isabella on their knees, heads bowed deeply. Their faces registered pure shock mixed with reverent terror.

"Your Majesty," they murmured in unison.

Lilith waved a dismissive hand. "Rise, both of you. There's no need to prostrate yourselves. You're my daughter's friends, after all."

The casual gesture was all I needed to confirm my suspicions that she knew Aria and Isabella were aware of my royal status.

My friends rose unsteadily to their feet, clearly uncomfortable in the presence of Hell's queen.

"Lady Lilith," Isabella managed, her normally composed voice trembling slightly. "We are honoured by your presence."

"Queen Lilith," Aria echoed, attempting a graceful curtsy that her injured leg made awkward.

My mother's smile widened, revealing teeth just slightly too sharp to be merely decorative. "Now then," she said pleasantly, as though we were meeting for afternoon tea rather than standing amidst the aftermath of an assassination attempt, "perhaps you can tell me what you three discovered that warranted an entire squad of assassins being sent to eliminate you?"

I took a deep breath, looking at my friends before turning back to my mother's expectant gaze.

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