Chapter 97: Towers 2
Elania stared at the Sun Emperor, getting her first good view up close. He was encased in brilliant gold armor like his soldiers. His form resembled a chiseled statue, except in color.
Elania’s eyes flashed to the impaled Ember, whose wings flickered out.
Elania pulled out her dagger and rushed the Sun Emperor with a shout.
He reached out and waved a hand at her. Despite not being anywhere near hitting her, a solid blow struck her in the face, knocking her away in a daze.
By the time she recovered, Ember was falling to the ground, limp.
Elania shot toward her to try and catch her, only for the Sun Emperor to appear in front of her.
She swung at him reflexively, but he grabbed her wrist and crushed it. The snapping of bone jolted down her arm. Elania shrieked and kicked at him.
Ah. She had panicked and fucked up.
He raised his hand, golden light surrounding it to form a blade.
“Not even worth keeping in a harem,” he spat, starting to swing at her.
She struggled to pull away, but it was no use.
Before the slash could connect a green vine surrounded his hand and jerked him away. He didn’t release her, and she was tugged along too.
With quick thinking, Elania forced her bracer to turn into spikes to impale his hand. That got him to let go, but only so he could swing at her.
She ducked beneath it and morphed her bracer into her revolver, shooting him in the stomach with a normal bullet.
It thunked and flattened itself on his armor, doing absolutely nothing but add to her backward momentum as she unleashed the full cylinder.
He ignored the impacts and focused on Elysia, who had grown a giant tree vine out into the sky to them.
Thousands of small branches grew off the tree and began to fire in giant waves of spears at the Sun Emperor.
He raised his hand at the tree, summoning a golden wave that incinerated the projectiles and set everything on fire.
Elania floated backwards, gaining distance while her wrist healed, bones snapping back together with an agonizing crunch. She ignored the pain, opened her [Regalia]’s cylinder, and reached for a speed loader, her hands trembling as uncertainty gripped her. Which one should she choose?
Elysia waved her green staff, and the giant, growing tree vine launched toward the Sun Emperor, flames licking at its edges.
The Emperor raised his hand overhead, a massive orb of flame forming and compressing above him. The small, concentrated sphere flashed toward the tip of the vine reaching for him, and they collided in a plasma explosion.
Instead of disappearing, the vine exploded into a green gas cloud. Elania winced as the sudden, strong smell of rotten eggs assaulted her nose.
Realization dawned on her—the glowing green cloud was sulfuric acid. Or at least some magical version of it.
The cloth of the Sun Emperor’s outfit turned to rags, but he slapped his hands together, creating a massive wind turbulence that held the gas back. That was enough to buy him time to form a shimmering barrier that turned a brilliant white-hot, forcing Elania to shield her eyes from the blinding light.
Ice came to mind, and she grabbed the ice speed loader, slotting it into her revolver with a satisfying click.
The giant vine melted all the way back to the island, and Elysia rushed forward, her staff at the ready.
The Sun Emperor reached out, and a sword—a genuine blade, not a light weapon—materialized in his hand.
His parry nearly sliced Elysia in half as it flicked through her staff like it was a twig, but she didn’t falter. She attacked with the broken halves, dual-wielding the jagged remnants. Thorns grew on the splintered ends and shot out, stabbing at the man’s exposed flesh.
Elania took a deep breath, steeling herself. She shot forward.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Elysia’s thorny stick connected with the Sun Emperor’s helmet, the growth wrapping around his head like a crown of thorns. For a moment, it seemed like the tide had turned in their favor. But his body suddenly flared with an intense yellow heat, searing the growth off of him.
In a swift motion, he grabbed Elysia as she swung again, his hand gripping her arm tightly.
He head-butted her with a sickening crack and then he shook her like a ragdoll before finally plunging his sword through her chest.
Elania’s heart sank as she watched him toss Elysia’s limp body away.
Desperation surged as she raised her revolver and fired. The ice shock grew rapidly, encasing the Sun Emperor in a crystalline cone suspended in the air.
But he wasn’t frozen inside of it.
He raised his hand, his reflection hazy inside the ice.
A wave of panic washed over her. She fired again, emptying her cylinder, each shot shattering the ice and regrowing it instantly, shredding the air with thousands of ice shards.
The Sun Emperor ignored that, flashing through them and straight toward her, his ornate steel sword slicing through the air and barely missing her head as she ducked.
The air shimmered with heat from the blade’s passage.
She grabbed his ankle and squeezed with all her might, the metal of his armor shrieking and crumpling under her grip, but the flesh beneath resisted.
A kick connected with her helmet, sending her yawing through the air.
As she tumbled, Elania summoned two light spears and hurled them at him, but they flipped mid-flight and flew back at her instead. She raised her arms in a cross to block, bracing herself as the spears exploded against her wings.
That hurt, dazzling and dazing her as she struggled to correct her sudden corkscrew in the air.
As her vision cleared, a dozen more light spears hurtled towards her. She rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging the onslaught, but the shockwaves from their nearby explosions buffeted her.
When she recovered from the tumble, she found herself face-to-face with the Sun Emperor, accidentally slamming into his solid form. She lashed out with an uppercut, aiming for his jaw, but he caught her wrist in an iron grip.
Time seemed to freeze as they locked eyes, everything fading away into a yellow haze.
She was frozen.
He had captured her in his [Domain].
His helmet retracted, revealing a strikingly handsome face with piercing golden eyes and yellow-blonde hair.
He smirked at her, his voice dripping with condescension. “I misjudged you. At least you have courage. Perhaps I’ll add you after all.”
Elania tried to fight back, picturing her own [Domain] and pushing against his influence with all her might. All she managed was a feeble shiver.
The Sun Emperor clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “It’s impolite to keep your helmet on when I’ve removed mine.”
He reached out and touched the side of her head, somehow dismissing her [Regalia] with the gesture.
Her fist remained frozen in the air, her revolver gripped tightly in her other hand.
He pulled her arm up and examined the weapon. “A peculiar device, but your [Elemental Affinity] is far too basic to properly use it yet. Still, it’s quite novel for a fledgling.”
His eyes lit up as he stroked the side of Elania’s face, his touch sending a wave of revulsion through her. “I will add you to my collection.”
A frown creased his face, and he pulled back as he scrutinized her. His eyes narrowed. “Actually, tell me, are you mine?” he asked. “You’re almost pretty enough to be.”
Confusion clouded Elania’s mind. What was he talking about?
“It would make sense. I can’t imagine Arlois taking just any random demi-divine under her wing.” He frowned, his displeasure evident. “I don’t take daughters.”
Elania’s eyes flickered to her frozen uppercut, where her bracer of mana shards rested.
The Sun Emperor waved his hand dismissively. “Answer me. Are you my daughter?”
Elania met his gaze, defiance burning in her eyes. “If I was, the only thing I would say to you is ‘Get fucked, Dad.’”
She compressed all twenty-four of her mana shards at once.
The sudden surge of energy overwhelmed her [Mana Manipulation], crumpling it like tissue paper as the energy went supernova.
The explosion broke his [Domain] and hurled her away from him.
She folded her wings around herself, shielding her body from the searing energy that tore at her flesh. Despite the pain, a small sense of relief washed over her—she was no longer trapped in his grasp.
That only lasted for a second until the energy began to devour her flesh.
She shrieked as her body burned away. Desperately, she pumped [Divine Power] into [Regeneration].
Despite the guard of her wings, her flesh constantly regrew and vaporized. And [Demonic Aura] did nothing to stem the rush of [Power] washing over her.
She hurtled through the air for what felt like an eternity of pain when suddenly, arms caught her, and her flesh reformed. Her missing left arm began to re-knit. Painfully.
Elania cracked an eye open and looked up. A massive pillar of light jutted into the air, creating a hole in the sky.
It was mesmerizing. Stars, thousands of glittering stars, were visible where the atmosphere had been totally blown away.
“I got you,” a female voice said, and Elania realized Lyra was holding her.
Elania calmed her breathing and steadied herself in the air, her torn wings reforming with golden feathers.
She looked to where the blast had gone off.
The pillar didn’t just rise into the sky. The deep puncture wound into the earth bled lava and smoke from where it had dug downward into the ground.
A molten geyser of liquid rock poured hundreds of feet into the air.
Elania tried to speak but only coughed instead, the new flesh raw. She grabbed a healing potion and drank it. That soothed the pain and sped up the [Regeneration].
“Are you okay?” Lyra asked.
“Is the bastard dead?” Elania asked.
Lyra frowned. “No.”
Well then, she wasn’t ‘okay’ at all.
The woman let go of her and moved to the front.
The Sun Emperor dove and stopped in front of them at a safe distance.
His armor was shattered and slowly reforming, flesh seared and bloody in the gaps. His face was pulverized, an eyeball sliding back into its socket. The sight was grotesque and horrible as he rebuilt himself.
Outrage and hatred steamed off of him, aimed directly at her.
Elania tensed.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said flatly. He surged forward.
Lyra shoved her toward Contia. “Back to the city!”