Hera's reflexes were starting to become very well-tuned. She wasn't someone who was in constant fights and would be risking her life every single day, but she spent enough time having to fight against things that pushed her back to warrant training. That's why she did various training drills with her court, improving her senses and reactions to incoming attacks. If there were any doubts, all that hard work just paid off. As soon as the dagger sank into her gut, she triggered her armor to block the attack. The spectral wasp wings couldn't pull the blade from inside her, but it could hold it in place, stopping Kadhan from sinking it deeper into her body.
That move surprised the witch doctor, who was struggling to pull his weapon back or keep going with his stabbing. Hera waited a moment, still with wide eyes, processing this betrayal before she clenched her fist and punched Kadhan square in the jaw. That gave her enough of an opening to kick the man back, sending him tumbling toward one of the trees.
The Empress quickly got to her feet, already using the best healing spell she had. Daskka followed right after, appearing in her silver mist form while at the same time healing her mum.
Hera pulled the dagger out. Luckily the blade only went halfway before it was stopped by her armor, but there was still a solid 7 centimeters of metal covered in blood. She dismissed Edge, even if he was far away, and recalled him on her hand, the same hand she used to press on her wound. Because of the distance between the knife and her, that small move cost almost 1 million mana, but she still had enough. Unfortunately, she couldn't do it with another of her weapons, not to mention that Fang and Claw were nowhere to be seen. Still, she quickly activated an elemental strength spell covering Edge with regeneration mana so her own wounds would start closing rapidly, thanks to the stacked healing.
"Why the fuck are you doing this? I thought you were a good guy!" Hera yelled while trying to get up. The mist was numbing her pain, and she could feel the itchy sensation of her body quickly closing the wound, but it would still take some time before the healing was done, even more time for the cut not to open as she fought.
"Good?" Kadhan chuckled as he rubbed his head and stood up, "I am. Criminal, but good."
"Then why are you doing this? What is the point?!" Hera yelled again, coughing some blood, showing that some of it ended up on her stomach and her gut was rejecting it. She never realized that, but the worst part of throwing up blood wasn't the taste itself but the burning sensation that covered her throat. The smell was a very close second place. The mix of bile and blood did not make for a pleasant aroma.
"The Kingdom was my life. My reward? The Vanguard. The king drank poison. I failed to help. The third Prince says I gave poison. Used me to steal the crown. Only after torture. Years. Then sent away," Kadhan started walking closer to Hera, but also to the side and vanished from behind a tree to the right, only for him to appear far back, coming from the right, "Fire. Soot. Blood. My wish is... The Kingdom buried," the forest echoed as if multiple voices were saying the same thing at the same time. That wasn't unusual when talking with the Witch Doctor, but this time, the voices were coming from everywhere, not just from the man's mouth. Kadhan chuckled when Hera looked around and continued, "I'll dance. Above the ziggurat. While the little ones swarm."
"And what do I have to do with all of this?" Hera was trying to stall for time. The longer she managed to keep Kadhan talking, the more she would heal and the closer her court would be. However, she noticed that there was something wrong. Even with the healing, she could still feel some burning inside, and that wasn't only on the wound. It wasn't poison, she already knew well enough how those things worked, and it seemed like her Naga Poison could overpower most venoms.
"You are good. Too good. Too nice. If I ask, would you let others die?" Kadhan vanished from behind a tree, only for another him to appear again in a completely different place. "If I tell. Would you help kill Grilat?"
As he spoke, another voice crept into her mind, 'A hex is consuming you. I can remove it; I can heal. All you have to do, is asssskkkk.'
"Why do you need to kill him? What does that have to do with anything?" Hera yelled, trying to show she was both angry and to see if her voice could reach anyone else.
"Grilat. A stubborn one. Would refuse to help. Would refuse vengeance. We couldn't accept. Reynara would. We could show her anger. We could turn her. To us."
While Kadhan was busy talking, Hera focused on the threat at hand, 'Do it. Take the hex out.'
'Yessssssss.' The curse said with glee, almost chuckling. In a moment, the burning sensation was gone.
Kadhan vanished behind a tree again, but this time, instead of appearing somewhere else, three Kadhans appeared from the trees. Hera already had a suspicion that all of them were the moss bodies he could use, and this confirmed it.
"You didn't even ask me about it and decided I wouldn't help. I don't care about the people in the Kingdom."
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"Liar," Kadhan smiled. Suddenly, a dagger appeared at her side, aimed at her head.
Hera didn't look at the dagger, but Armory knew what was going on. The tiara was on the ground, a few meters ahead of Hera, pretending it couldn't move, but she saw everything happening. She noticed the arm reaching out from behind the tree and told the Empress exactly when and how to dodge. She stepped to the side, moving to a part of this area where none of Kadhan's bodies were around so far.
"See. Liar."
"Fuck you. Why would not wanting to die make me a liar?" Hera asked.
"Sacrifices. Not all will survive."
"And I'm the first?" Hera scoffed.
"No. Grilat first. Then you. Then the brat prince and his children."
"And now you are full-on villain mode. Why do you all insist on killing kids?" Hera rolled her eyes.
"Children are a seed. The sapling. But, the seed of weed still weed," Kadhan continued and approached Hera one more time.
He stopped trying to go for a sneaky approach and attacked her directly. Hera wasn't sure why he acted like that. They knew that she was stronger than him. Maybe the hex was supposed to be harming her, but even if that was the case, he should be able to tell that his magic was inactive. Hera wasn't feeling that burning sensation anymore. She moved her head to the side, dodging the attack, and grabbed the man by his arm, tossing him over her shoulder and twisting the arm she was still holding in hopes it would break. Instead, the arm was entirely removed from its socket and started to unravel, returning to moss in her hands. Seeing that this version was not the real Kadhan, Hera just stomped his head, hoping to thin his numbers. Daskka was already holding his legs together and about to bite the man's neck when the Empress' foot crushed its moss skull, making the rest of the body turn back into the fungi it was.
'The hex is gone. To trick the witch doctor I made a fake mark, one attuned to his magic. He won't know it's not working,' the curse added, already understanding her worry.
'Armory, Scythe, come here. Fuck trying to keep hidden,' Scythe was getting an aerial view of the area, and she quickly came back to Hera. She tried attacking one of Kadhan's bodies, but the cut was superficial. However, it helped show that the one on the left was made out of moss. Armory followed along right after the earrings, slamming the sharp edges on the exposed shoulder of one of the Kadhans that were in front of Hera. This time, it didn't reveal more moss but drew blood instead, revealing that this was his true body.
"More lies. Just items. Isn't what you said?" Kadhan's voice was colder and now seemed angry.
The two moss bodies jumped forward. At the same time, Hera felt a pair of hands grabbing her legs. Unfortunately for the witch doctor, his moss bodies were much weaker than the original. The difference wasn't as stark as the version the Empress used for training, but even his original form would struggle to hold her down. Instead of kicking it right away, Hera punched one of the bodies that were lunging at her while Daskka attacked the other one, slamming her solid mist body against him. The impact caused the body to slam against the tree at an odd angle. The result was him crashing into the trunk and having one of his legs bend in an unnatural way. The punch that Hera delivered removed the jaw of Kadhan's moss body, but it didn't change its path, making the version of the man fall on top of her. Despite that, she didn't flinch. The moss body was still moving, but the Empress just flung it to the side like it was a mannequin. She kicked the hands holding her down away and turned to the true witch doctor, who was now touching several parts of the trees and floor, creating a small army of moss bodies. All in different shapes and forms, resembling Kadhan himself. It would be very hard to kill them all without weapons, and neither Armory nor Scythe was able to find her daggers.
'Empress!' Frost's voice rang in her mind as the glaive finally arrived.
Without even looking away from her target, Hera reached out with her hand and grabbed the shaft of her blade, getting into a position to fight and clicking her heels to activate her boots. She didn't use them during the fight against the Night River since she needed to have more control over her movements, and gliding around could end up sending her to the traps. At the same time, she triggered an elemental strength spell on the court member that was now in her hands.
"Annoying. You force me," Kadhan said and took two small ceramic vials from his bag.
Hera sent out a couple of flaming fists, the spells that Bonnie was used to using, in hopes of breaking those vials, but the moss bodies stopped the magic, allowing the Witch Doctor to drink his concoction. Kadhan tossed the potions to the side, and some purple steam started to come out of him. Several tattoos glowed in a sickly yellow light, and his muscles started swelling. While that was going on, the Empress wasn't just waiting around. She quickly activated a Poison Elemental Storm and started thinning out the herd of moss bodies. Hera was keeping the glaive close to her body, and instead of going around the group, she dove straight in the middle of it, spinning around, allowing Frost to hit them with the blade and the end of the staff. Each impact was enough to maim those bodies, but not all fell with one hit. Just as Kadhan finished taking in the effects of the potion he just drank, Hera spun and let Frost slide through her hand, increasing his reach and cutting the Witch Doctor's leg. Because of the ice covering the blade, a part of his shin was frozen over with the first impact. Hera added a few poison needles to make sure Kadhan wouldn't move around without any issues. Daskka took that chance to continue clearing out the moss bodies, so her mum wouldn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back again.
Hera continued attacking, trying to deal as much damage as possible, but there was a part of her that was still holding back. Even if this was the past, and Kadhan was already destined to die, would she really be willing to kill him? A big part of her just wanted to stop and knock him out. Then drag him back to the Vanguard and figure out why he was doing all of this.
Kadhan roared as if he was a monster, his eyes glowing red and his body finally finishing that transformation. If his proportions looked like a monkey before, now that monkey discovered protein shakes. The Witch Doctor was more muscular than any man Hera ever saw before, and that included the people who would be a part of bodybuilding competitions. Having Frost, Armory, Scythe, and Daskka by her side, the Empress steeled herself. Knowing that even if she didn't want to kill him, it might not be up to her.