I have to stop him before he does something he’d regret. Lithran now cradling Elinore spoke under his breath that none of us caught. Thinking on my toes I took a small step forward towards him feeling his bloodlust and killing intent. It was overwhelming everything around us. Until now I had shut away most of my emotions letting them slip here and there. Knowing there wasn’t much I could do for my former student and old friend I placed my metallic left hand on his left shoulder. He looked up at me with blood dripping from his eyes from the excessive use of his own mana.
Turning on my emotions in full, I knelt before him and Elinore. Keeping hold of red death in my right hand I smiled like I used to as Artura, it was hard to pull with the facial construction of this body, but it worked enough to stop him from using too much mana. He still had enough mana to bar the door shut. This would also protect his wife from harm but any more than this act and he’d die. Still kneeling to him, I looked down at Elinore who was hardly awake at this point due to her weakened state. Upon me placing my free hand on her chest just above her mana core, guards flooded the house, and some jumped onto the balcony beside Talia who began to wave her rapier around.
“Hera?” Angrow stared at Talia who jumped upon the balcony still holding her sword and an elf’s head in her hand. It wasn’t a surprise that Angrow would think Talia was Hera as they looked alike and were the same person with just some personality differences. She didn’t answer him just looked over everyone before turning to Syvil and Kyte who had their backs against the barred entrance.
“Her core is damaged. It's leaking too much… she’ll die.” A nervous laugh left Syvil’s mouth. Mana slammed against my very being along with everyone else, I could feel Lithran’s killing intent far more than before. Now he didn’t want to just kill Syvil, he wanted to torture him to the point even the wood elves would feel their king’s pain.
“Lithran. You should take Elinore home. I'll deal with Syvil.” I spoke softly in a motherly voice, one he was familiar with. He paused for a second looking at me as I removed the metallic black spiked crown which was aptly named ‘the crown of black thorns’ from my head, which I found I could limit also hide my mana. “No matter what… never look back whether be in life or death, a queen will always need her unbreakable knight.” In my hesitation, I repeated the last words that I had ever spoken to the elves long ago when I lived as Marin. Words only heard by Elinore's bloodline. Lithran nodded in recognition and stood up carrying the barely conscience Elinore who groaned in pain from her leaking core.
“Kyte. Angrow. You are under arrest and to be imprisoned indefinitely in the citadel’s high court prison until the queen is fully healed. Don’t expect fair treatment. You’re a disease that plagues our lands.” Lithran paused pulling his mana back towards him. The roots and veins that blocked the entrance dissolved into thin particles of acidic liquid burning the green carpet below our feet. Offering no resistance Angrow unlike Kyte went willingly probably knowing his elven life was nearly ending from old age so it wouldn’t make a difference. Kyte on the other hand shoved and struggled under the knight's grip.
“Artoria. Take Kyte and if she tries anything you can use lethal force.” I didn’t like that I had already ordered Artoria around like she was a knight but maybe it was just on instinct.
“By your command Your Majesty Rias Pendragon. Queen of a thousand spears.” Artoria spoke with valour caressing every word like it was a ploy from a vampire. Smiling I turned to Syvil who watched me, his anger boiling over like it was about to burst. Before I could harm him, a hand small, tender yet strong gripped my own which held red death firm in its grip. Syvil’s anger seemed to boil even more as he was ignored, not a great attribute to have as a king of the entire sub-race. Turning away from Syvil I faced Talia who didn’t speak a word, she just placed a pendant in my hand.
A black hammer on a thin black chain. Though it has many meanings depending on the culture, it has a different meaning to me and Talia. As it was the first gift I was given by Hera and the thing she held close to her heart when she was on her deathbed. Looking up from the hammer that was being placed around my neck I stared into Talia’s seemingly hollow eyes, that have seen more death than even gods have. After a few moments of silence between us, she spoke in the tongue of the astral clocktower.
“Don’t die. Come back to me alive… don’t let him leave here alive. Oh, I love you.” I could’ve replied before Talia pulled me close by my collar and kissed me very affectionately. I closed my eyes feeling the warmth of her lips and by the time I reopened them, she was jumping off the balcony behind Lithran and Artoria. Still feeling Syvil’s boiling anger and rage I turned back to him seeing him twitch in anticipation. Wasting no time, he shot spell after spell of wind and earth tearing at the grey-toned rocks, furniture was torn into two. Splinters of wood flying past my face even some splinters cutting my face. Syvil was being reckless and all I had to do was wait.
As he began to falter from the reckless spell casting on unlimited amounts of small mana waves, I attacked swinging red death wide imbued with a golden flame. The fire leaped from off my blade and covered every inch of the house behind us in a violent rapture of screams and crackling flesh. Bones cracked, raked, and shattered upon feeling the intense warmth of the divine flames. Syvil didn’t stop and attacked even more, more aggressive than before but less reckless which helped him and forced me back a few feet. I gritted my teeth, turning to the balcony I grabbed hold of its edge. Twisting my body over just in time to narrowly miss a wind blade coursing past my shoulder.
The wind blade just narrowly missed my arm and shoulder however from the excessive amount of mana it tore a patch of skin just below my neck making me lose my footing and hit the ground rolling onto the hard black stone beneath. Syvil stood above me on the balcony looking over the cave filled with elven silver knights taking those who served the three into custody. Just on the outskirts, I could see Lithran carrying Elinore with Kyte and Angrow following behind in front of Artoria and Talia. Syvil’s focus slipped giving me time to get up and launch a small amount of concentrated fire mana. Conjuring the fire into the shape of a burning dragon I sent it to the balcony, the flames roared just like a dragon hatchling. The echoing shriek of a hawk deformed by flames replicated the sound of a dragon’s roar that most people would be familiar with.
The conjured dragon-shaped flame clashed with the stone, creating a large amount of smoke as it exploded causing cracking in the surrounding area. Syvil just in time dodged out of the way, and the burning flames dissipated from the sudden gust of wind mana. Now both of us stood alone in the cave filled with flames and carbon smoke that would kill an ordinary human. We stared at each other, looking each other over with fury in our eyes for different reasons. Maybe his was revenge for the massacre of his people, whereas my fury was indescribable.
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“It's been a very long time since elves have seen golden flames and eyes of a pendragon burning from within the hollowness. Have you come to finish what you started five thousand years ago?” Syvil asked unsheathing the elven longsword of kings that appeared by his side, the sword that nearly shattered Red Death in two. I didn’t respond only resolving to sheathe the blade of red on my back beside my odachi that was now hanging by the back of my waist. Even though I had named the blade in my dream the shattering of it in the same dream made the name forfeit and I couldn’t use the same name twice.
Syvil after unsheathing his blade started to run towards me and all I did was hold the odachi’s firm tsuka. Just slightly unsheathing the blade I spoke its new and true name ‘Dalnim’s black moon’. Black and white lightning shot out from the blade's edge when I fully unsheathed it. Swinging it once with a wide arch ripped up the ground beneath myself and Syvil when our weapons ultimately clashed. Holding the tsuka with both hands I swung against the longsword with great strength. Syvil in response jumped back several feet to avoid the lightning wave that followed my blade's edge.
“You’re holding back with that much power? I can feel the lightning more than your mastery over the golden flames. The fire pales in comparison or are you hiding the true extent of that power?” I didn’t answer Syvil just deciding to take up a stance to balance my mana with the weight of my body along with the weight of the blade. “OH, come on then. Let's fight! Wolfsbane.” Syvil shouted in anticipation. He was enjoying this. I didn’t want to admit it but so was I. Lightning cracked bundling between my painted nails the tsuka grey wrap.
“Strength of a thousand souls, beasts in my head, and the woods I call home. Wind of crashing storms.”
“Reprieve of the dark moon, tides of my oncoming storm. Motivation of black lightning.”
“Wind’s eir!”
“Eclipse of the death Korps!”
We spoke in unison, shouting. Our mana clashed, eating away at one another like rats upon a plagued flesh. Our weapons clashed, sharp edges twanged and shrieked as metal caught against one another. With an opening, I threw my blade into the air making it spin. After several spins I pounced to it grabbing the tsuka, I twisted my body and the blade into a reserve grip. Slamming my feet onto the ground then shoved the blade into the earth making a concussive wave of black tendril lightning shatter much of the surrounding area.
“Ha. I should’ve known you’d pull something like that… siba wasn’t stupid and I guess sophra wasn’t either.” From the concussive blast, Syvil fell to his knees waiting to die, all I did in retaliation was place the odachi’s blade against the right side of his neck. I didn’t speak nor offer words of praise, I kept that far away from him. Looking at him waiting for him to continue to speak and he did with a bit of hesitation in his mind. “I bet you want to know right? About siba and sophra. Figured as much, and how they gave me the knowledge on how to hide the silver queen even exploit her people along with lying my way to the top.”
Pressing my blade further into his neck I spoke. “Why? Do all this just to get back at something or someone?” I looked him over seeming defeated but this to him was just a ploy to put my guard down so he could strike.
“WHY?! WHY DO YOU THINK?! I wanted my teachers to be proud of me. Show they cou-?”
“False hope. They will never care that’s what they have always been like… People like them don’t change. Just look at their friend who is just like them. monsters don’t change they just change shells.” I snarled back lifting my blade ready to take off Syvil's head. This seemed to be a mistake as a pulse of wind/air mana tore through my chest just scraping my mana core and missing my heart thankfully.
“I'll kill you and prove you wrong! They’ll be proud!”
“Ha! don’t you fucking think that’s a reach. Those emotionless bastards never care. I know as I've felt it… sophra. Siba. And their bitch friend. Don’t you get it?!” I shouted over the roaring flames beside us.
“Get what?!”
“If they can manipulate and break a queen even kill her lover, someone she deeply cared about whilst blaming it on another race altogether, what would they do when they see a naïve prince? Nationless. A wood elf who watched his entire kingdom burn cradling his father’s head like a lost puppy.” My anger spat out with every word I spoke, somehow Syvil didn’t care and just responded bluntly by shouting.
“So what? They aren’t emotionless bastards, and they are my family!”
“Monsters don’t fucking change!” The calm unquenchable storm of my anger fuelled the violent rush of lightning coursing against my blade as I swung connecting with Syvil’s who swung in return. “Syvil! To them, you are nothing more than a plaything with false hopes and dreams. If you think they aren’t monsters, then let me show you the monster they created.” I whispered swinging my blade with all my strength sending Syvil into the steps that reached all the way to the cave’s entrance.
He stared at me as I decided to no longer hold back so much, placing the crown back on my head. The runes on each spike lit up in a golden aura just like my eyes. Taking one step at a time I spoke about my time with sophra, siba, and chloral from us being best friends as kids to teens to us falling apart and then uniting. Then they used me to even break me, to the very end of my life holding Hera in my arms, tears began to stream from my eyes being instantly burnt by the golden flames on my left mechanical arm. Syvil just stared at me when I halted my movements placing the mechanical hand on my left eye.
“WE ARE THE SAME! DON’T YOU SEE THAT?!” I screamed no longer full of anger but sorrow and sadness. He looked in surprise no doubt realising that the myths, the legends were so different than the real thing.
“Demons don’t cry. Doesn’t matter though… neither does your story. I’m just surprised that you're so weak!” Syvil laughed waving his hand around like it was some prize to be used by them or maybe it was just me. No matter. ‘I’m gonna rip out his fucking heart.’ My thoughts ran wild, not wasting another second, I swung my odachi cleaving the cave into two revealing the sky above, which had grown dark and amassed by a red glint of cosmic horror. The beginning of a blood eclipse has begun.
Syvil now recognized that unleashing just a sliver of my full power had begun the process of the blood eclipse an event that wouldn’t end until my people were fully sealed, or I die. He began to run up the remains stairs of the cave not looking back, I followed suit. I didn’t run just walked knowing wherever he ran he would die a painful death. The crumbling cave resonated in my head the more I moved up the stairs towards the blood moon. Syvil kept running and running, slipping several times. His fear. Fear.
I could feel it. He doesn’t want to die yet he is going to whether it be painless or not. When I finally reached the entrance, he stood alone in a field with three active spells along with his sword ready to cleave me in two. I stood before him still holding my odachi coursing with lightning with the flames covering my entire left arm. From the look on his face, he really didn’t want to fight, with my emotions taking over I couldn’t care a single bit about how he felt.
The fire from the caves dissipated returning back into my core just like the black lightning. Me revealing my full power under the blood moon made him begin to fear my power not that I could use all of it as I still couldn’t remember my full life as Artura Pendragon or as Marin Kalos. I watched his movements closely from the twitching fingers, the rapid closing and opening of his eyes even the constant shiver down his back. Taking a look around I saw two figures in the distance looking out from the citadel Elinore in a wooden constructed wheelchair and Samantha.
“Ah. Let me tell you something Rias. Even if I fear and don’t want to die, you’ll die here with me!” he shouted sending every spell at me. I didn’t move and took the brunt of every attack, reaching out with my mechanical hand I summoned hundreds of spears even lances to pierce the earth. They stayed stationary as they were a symbol and a reminder to Syvil. The very weapons that gave me the name queen of a thousand spears, were all sent towards Syvil.
He raced towards me holding his sword tight. Just a few metres from me he jumped through the air swinging his blade frantically all attacks missing, when one was about to land, I made a wide arch with my own blade, shattering the wood elf king’s blade even cutting him deep into his chest. When the realisation of him not being able to win finally hit him he fell to the ground on his knees. I swung to take his head off alas before I could connect someone struck me from behind right through the chest.
Golden blood splattered on Syvil’s face from me coughing up so much. Was it the excessive amount of mana or the fact I couldn’t grasp it all no it was something being jammed through my chest. Placing a hand over the now thin slit through me I fell to my knees in turn. Slowly I saw a face I knew well.
“Sophra.” I spat falling on my back still holding my odachi. The world went blank but I knew I wasn’t dead.