Quinn was no worm; the strike reminds her of that. Her frame was solidly built, stout and trustworthy in its flexibility to get her out of any situations she’s having too much confidence in.

She can hear the silent alarm ringing through her left ear, having modified them for this exact reason. It sounds like the knell of death, but it doesn’t toll for her. She alters her body for this precise purpose, after all.

Taking a deep breath, Quinn steel her golden heart as she shields herself with her left arm for Ana’s next attack. The machinery inside of it stirs awake, absorbing the spell’s energy with hunger.

Swiftly, they came to life, lighting up the acid-etched rune in a sinister purple glow. Yet, her expression darkens as she stands up, her smile turns sharper and jagged, like that of a predator that has cornered her prey.

“It was unfortunate that it has come to this, Ana,” she mocks as she takes a roll towards her discarded armor to dodge another one of her attacks. “I hope you believe me when I say.” Finding the device inside and throwing it to the center of the room. “That this will pain me as much as it does you.”

It explodes in a multitude of colorful sparks, upholding an illusion of infinite for a moment before it settles, enchanting the whole chamber; trapping them together until the next hour.

Finally, Quinn changes, allowing the scar underneath her left eye to connect with the rest of the engraving on her left upper body, creating a cascade of effects that causes her prostheses to whirs wildly.

She twists the ceremonial dagger—something she meant to use to vow her life to the woman, officially binding them together by a thread of fate—into a more aggressive position: to kill and maim.

Ana has been kind enough to give her time, busying herself trying figuring out what malediction has befallen their beloved bedroom chamber. Recognizing this confusion as a chance to push her luck, Quinn’s body spring into action.

Her physique, well trained and tortured by the world are inches away from Ana before the woman finally notices her, barely managing to defend herself with a magical shield that fries from Quinn’s artificial suppressors. It shatters, certainly—but they’re still quite powerful and last for a fairly long period to make a difference.

What should have been a fatal strike to shoulder that disables one of her hands became a mere graze that draws blood and true terror to Ana’s eyes. A fear that was heightened when she can hear the banging on the door.

“Matriarch!” King’s scream, his voice familiar to Quinn’s ears. “Just hold on a little longer! We will get to you!” Trying his best to reassure Ana as they continue struggling to break down the spell by means mundane and magical to no avail.

Everyone knew the conclusion to the fight just a few minutes after it began. However, the only one accepting the defeat is Ana and Quinn at the moment, for everybody outside are correct in their hopes of Quinn’s demise if they manage to get in.

Which is why they won’t.

Quinn was in control, and Ana can do nothing except retreating from her. A venomous snake that has entrapped the moon and now shall swallow it whole, sinking its fangs deep into the celestial body and turning it into naught but rock and rubble.

Such a thought should please her, it’s a vindication of her effort, a proof that specializing in murdering spellcasters is the best choice she has made since the last time someone betrayed her.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Yet, it doesn’t.

Instead, she feels vile bile rises from her stomach as she coils and dashes forwards again, chasing Ana that tries her best to defend against Quinn’s constant attacks while sneaking in one or two offensives of her own.

The woman sometimes succeeded, obviously. Some of the assaults harm her, another wound her deeper and will leave a permanent scar, but none of them puts her slowed her down or even dazed her.

Quinn was relentless and unforgiving, only giving a breath to her opponent so she could mock her playfully. “Why don’t you try teleporting away, Matriarch?” Her smile is cruel and hurtful, edging her to do something she has already attempted and failed to do.

Ana never answers her taunts, straining herself to keep her consciousness as Quinn quite literally bleeds her dry. Go down. Quinn begs. Please, just give up. But the woman doesn’t listen, aching Quinn’s heart further as she continues.

Until finally, with Ana’s back against the wall, Quinn catch a hold of her shoulder to stop her from falling down and injure her head. In a tone pleading and desperate. “Why do you think you can win against me?” she asked.

She takes her moment to respond, leaning her head against Quinn’s chest as she stabilizes her breaths before she realizes what she’s doing and quickly pulls away, almost hitting her head against the wall if not for Quinn’s interception.

In her arms. “I’m not so arrogant as to believe myself your equal, Quinn,” she answers. Trailing her fingers along Quinn’s left shoulder with a tinge of wistfulness in her touch, as kind and warm as Quinn first remembers it.

Until it stops right above her heart, alarming Quinn to the woman’s true intention as she continues: “I simply have a job to do.” Forcing her hand to move until the dagger she holds are but a whisper away from slicing her neck, merely hovering there when she realizes that nothing happens to her heart.

“Then why don’t you do it, Ana? Why don’t you drive that divine stake through my heart and murder me like the beast you thought I am?”

“Why don’t you, Quinn?”

Their orbs burn with anger and hatred to cover the gentleness they’ve held so dearly for each other, both unwilling to budge and answers the other with a truth they’ve known since long before their fighting begun.

For an instant in the eternity of creation, there are only the two of them: bloodied, tired, and teary-eyed. Quinn has never seen Ana so weak and vulnerable, not even when she has given her literal heart to her; and Ana has never seen Quinn so afraid, not since the day she founds her on the bedside of her hospital bed.

If only they have another moment, they can reach out and—“Matriarch!” Nothing, because they’re enemies, because they no longer have another time to spend together, not after this.

When Quinn reaches out, it was to electrocute Ana, rendering her inert and unconscious. Carefully, she catches her body before it falls to the floor and lay her upon her own bed.

She still has enough time to dress and draw the teleportation circle, knowing full well her target destination has their own permanent circle that is always open to those that knew its code.

However, before anything else, she dresses herself quickly, strapping back all of her armors into place while ignoring the fresh wounds and magical burns she got from Ana. The woman was no match for her, certainly—but it doesn’t mean she’s incapable of hurting her, in more ways than one.

With Ana once again filling her mind, her focus naturally falls to the woman, lying limply on her bed, coloring it red. Something that Quinn shouldn’t care about, but she does.

The moment she finishes drawing the teleportation circle, she searches Ana’s chamber for clothing and a healer’s kit of some kind, easily finding both due to how frequently she visits her.

Attentively, she undresses her and begins tending to her wounds. Most of them are artificial, and Quinn sincerely couldn’t know whether or not it happens because Ana’s defenses are strong, or Quinn unintentionally went easy on her.

Though, if she’s pushed to guess, it’s a combination of both.

In her habit, underneath the light of the moon, Ana looks beatific and dazzling, stealing Quinn’s breaths away before she forcefully tears her eye elsewhere. Her spell will soon naturally disintegrate, and she has no desire to still be here to face the entire battlements, clerics, paladins, and King.

So, with Ana in hand, she walks to the center of the teleportation circle, waiting until her previous conjuration has completely gone before she activates it.

Only then, when the army finally manages to break through the door and windows with weapons unsheathed and ready, does she trigger them, covering her and Ana in a brilliant blue before they disappeared.