Edward
I'm almost there. Dad... the man I killed managed to slow me down a little, but some aspects are simply better for speed than others. I am closing the gap on the remaining bard. The wind at my feet pushes me forward with all the urgency I can force into it. I need to give Lily a chance. The palace is in view now, and time is running out for both of us. The man ahead of me seems to glide through the air in a way I don't understand whereas I am jumping forward in quick bursts of speed.
When I am finally close enough that I think I will finally catch him, he seems to respond to my aura and pick up the pace as well. Worse, silver mana similar to Lily's steel forms in little bursts behind him, and I barely react to the shards of shrapnel before flying directly into it at full speed. I am forced to create a spell in front of me to redirect the razor-sharp metal. This works well enough at first, until we pass an intersection where one of the few people out on the streets has to duck out of the way of a weapon meant for me.
I wince at the mistake I nearly made. I can't hurt someone else while defending myself. I'd forgotten that people were starting to venture out of their homes again. I use a burst of wind to throw myself high into the air again, avoiding the attacks and giving myself time to form a shield of thick glass. It's a bit hard to hold as I sweat with exertion, but as I come back down the steel lodges in my shield instead of flying to the sides. The spider-web cracks that form with each impact gradually make it more difficult to see my target, but it holds.
It slows me down a bit, however, and I am forced to form more glass on the front at an angle, like a mountain rooftop. This helps cut the resistance and deflect the projectiles with fewer cracks. This protects me, but his lead is growing. I am just about to throw my shield to the side when a burst of flame shoots from behind the other man, colliding directly with my glass. It's hot enough to make the glass glow red and bend underneath it, but not enough to stop me. Lily taught me a trick for this, and I can do it with wind.
I can't crush this spell like my fath- like that other man's fire, but I can fill the same space with wind mana and move all the air in the area away from the flames, choking them. This isn't foolproof for magic, but so long as the flames aren't fed by mana constantly they will die. Wherever Lily is from, she seemed to learn a lot of strange concepts that our parents never taught us. Or maybe she learned this at the academy. In either case, it seems to work and the fire dissipates instantly. But as my vision was obscured, we have closed on the palace. It's right in front of us, and my opponent doesn't seem concerned with making it to the main entrance.
He is practically running up a pillar, headed straight for a window on the second floor. It's high, but I can make it with a leap. I jump in the air, create a pocket of high-pressure wind, and launch myself toward the window on a collision course with my enemy. His face is perfectly still as he launches fire and metal blades at me. I try to deflect some of it with wind, but defense can't be my only goal. No, I will soon be close enough to touch the bag on his back. In one hand I create a knife of glass while I keep my eyes on the bag. My defense isn't strong enough to protect me. This man's aura grows and wanes like my... like the other enemy, but it's so much stronger.
Hot metal cuts through my clothes and into my flesh as I get closer to my quarry, but I am able to keep it away from anywhere too dangerous. It sticks in my legs and forearms and cuts deep gashes along my ribcage, but I fail to take any fatal damage. And finally, we collide. I see him forming a long knife to stab me with and I form a barrier of glass between his arm and my throat. I can't hold it in place so it only buys me a moment. But in that moment, I cut deep into the burlap of the bag he stole from me. A moment later, we both crash through the massive stained-glass window.
We slide, tangled up together across a wide marble floor. Everything hurts. But the other man is still trying to kill me. I roll over onto my back and grip one of the cold black spikes that scattered from the ripped bag when we collided with the ground. As my opponent tries to stab at me, I kick up at him to redirect his knife, meanwhile countering his mana with my own. Until I manage to push a little mana into the spike and activate it.
Fire and wind disappear in an instant. The vibrance of the world dulls. The pain all over my body sharpens. My opponent staggers, having failed to entirely regain his feet before his mana disappears. I manage to land a kick on his face and knock him backward. I groan as I climb to my feet, fighting all the stinging pains and protests of my legs. I am about to move to stop my opponent when a voice interrupts us.
"What is this, Ansel?" A bored voice asks. I whip my head around to find two men. One is sitting on a small but elegant throne while the other is... chained to the side. The speaker toys with what looks like a letter opener while his prisoner, a one-armed man with nearly empty eyes, simply examines the cold floor he kneels on. The captive has a metal collar attached to a chain. The man I was chasing, Ansel, hurries to his feet and bows.
"Apologies, Prince Kallon," he says. "I... have not quite recovered from my fights with the Mage of Mourning and the false King Godfrey. I was unable to shake this... boy. He isn't strong, however. I will dispatch him shortly."
Kallon raises his eyebrow. "Is that so? Isn't that one of these... riot spikes in his hand? How do you plan to kill him from over there without your mana?" He challenges. Ansel bows his head further.
"He is injured, my Prince. It will be no matter. I apologize for bringing this matter before you. It's... unsightly. I had intended to kill this rabble earlier, but I judged the risk that he acquired a spike and returned it to the Mage of Mourning was too high. I was also ordered to bring these directly to you. I acknowledge my failure in allowing this mess. It will be handled shortly, on my honor," Ansel insists. I look back and forth between them, a little flabbergasted at this conversation happening in front of me. The chained man catches my eye and pours desperate determination over me like a waterfall. That single look sends energy through my veins, begging me to act.
"I expected no better from you," Kallon dismisses, glaring at me and failing to make eye contact with Ansel. "Your failure now is more minor than your failure to properly monitor Godfrey. Or to stop that bitch before she killed my father. Yet you live. Failure is expected. I will handle this child." He puts down the letter opener and interlocks his fingers, leaning forward while maintaining eye contact with me. I decide in this moment that I don't want to talk to him. I begin to make my move but he flares his aura, nearly knocking his prisoner to the ground. It curves around a spherical area as it dissipates. I look down at my hand and groan. I am holding a smaller spike. Lily wanted spikes with varying ranges, which made sense before this moment.
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I glance at the other spikes on the ground but... "You'll never get to them before I kill you. I'm guessing solid projectiles won't disappear in your little spike's range, and you'll have to deactivate it to try another, won't you? How about we talk instead?" He suggests. I glare at him. Lily doesn't have time for this. But I don't have a good move here. "So you are Edward Endings, I presume? I hear your sister killed my father."
I gulp, open my mouth to answer, and Lily's voice booms outside, loud enough to make my bones ache.
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Lillith
My eyes fly open. There are four men looking down at me. Or there were, before all of them jump back and one of them shrieks in fear. The throbbing pain persists, but at least the hacking has ended. And... I don't know how, but my cancer has again receded. I don't understand it, but who am I to question it? At least I'm alive. I am down one arm. One leg. Oh fuck, he got my left foot too, didn't he? Why did he fucking leave?
Well. I'm glad he did. I have blood and a fresh scar on my gut too. Darian's bloodied sword is on the ground next to me. Ugh, I shouldn't have survived all that. What am I, a shonen hero? Well. I guess I did get my ass isekai'd somehow. Maybe it comes with the territory. Fuck, what am I even thinking about right now? Did these guys heal me? Did I get on good terms with the church somehow? I try to speak and a pained half-growl half muffled scream escapes instead.
"She... she's alive? Shit, she's alive!" One of them howls. You got the wrong girl, folks. Frankenstein's monster is my girlfriend, not me. I try to speak again, this time prepared to respond to the pain.
"You were literally the ones watching me sleep. Why are you acting creeped out?" I ask.
"Contact King Darian immediately," another orders. Fuck. These chuds are with him after all, huh? I want to move but the pain assaults me. Just as one of the priests is about to call their boss back to continue his casual torturing, I hear glass shattering. The area immediately fills with... green mist? Are these guys trying to get high right now? I mean, I get it, anxiety, but still. Now? The last thing I need is to get... Actually. Actually, you know fucking what? That actually sounds amazing. I take in a deep breath through my nose and let the mist out through my mouth. Two things happen.
While the pain doesn't dull, my focus shifts. Whenever I think about the pain, my mind drifts to something else. I also immediately recognize the batch of mist. It's Henry's. Stronger, safer, and more laced with poison from my blood than anything else on the streets. I smile. I can't get up on my own, but I have mana. It feels a bit like trying to pee while being watched, stubborn and resistant, but the mana comes and takes on the force aspect I have been using for so long. I feel it flicker and realize I need to get my artifacts back on soon. But first, I have to stop them from bringing Darian back before I am ready.
I pick myself up with force mana, literally carrying myself like some kind of mutilated ghost. I don't hesitate, I throw myself at each priest and just... slap them in the face. I have been sweating enough I don't have to worry much about producing more. None of them have the strength that Baldwin had, so the first quickly realizes his divine magic is failing him, and screams as the others flee. But I throw myself like a ragdoll at each, making sure to make contact at least once. None seem to be particularly powerful mages and each is quickly writhing on the ground. My poison is a slow and painful death with divine magic impeding its progress. So I create four steel pellets and propel them into each of the priests' heads, ending their suffering.
I pant, looking around for my arm, when I see Henry and Autumn hesitantly making their way inside. "Jesus Lil, are you alright? We thought you were dead! How aren't you dead? Can we help you?" Henry immediately asks as I sigh in relief. Then I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Jesus?" I ask. "Are you picking up my speech habits? How cute," I cough. He blushes.
"I heard it somewhere else," He grumbles.
"God, I hope that's a lie," I dismiss.
Again Autumn looks at us like we are insane. "Lillith... just tell us... what happened to you?" She begs.
"Ran into an asshole, that's all. Someone find my arm," I reply.
"Your arm? Lillith... I don't think we can fix... this..." Henry apologizes and I roll my eyes.
"The jewelry jackass. I need the artifacts for my cancer," I answer. He and Autumn jump into action at the realization.
"Right, shit, sorry, we are... a little off," Henry apologizes. He runs to the center of the room and picks up my arm. Then pauses, leans forward, and vomits.
"Fuck did you just vomit on me?" I ask. He looks up at me with a sickly pallor.
"What? No, I puked on... oh shit, I guess I did," he replies, before hurling again. Autumn goes to join him. She chokes back some vomit herself, but manages to start pulling the bracelet and rings off. She repeatedly has to look away but she does eventually get them all, wiping my brother's puke off the affected articles with her blouse.
Both of them, still looking sick, approach me to put them on my left hand. "Oh Collector, you can drop that now, Henry!" Autumn insists as Henry literally forgets to drop my arm.
"Shit, I'm sorry, I'm not used to this stuff!" Henry apologizes, literally throwing it back across the room. The two finally make it to me and begin sliding the artifacts in place.
"Wouldn't kill you to show a little respect. That was my good arm, you know," I complain. Again both have to choke back their bile. I am actually feeling pretty good. But, well, I am a little high. "Do you have your riot spikes?" I ask and they both nod. "Great, I need one. Either one. You keep one on you, just in case."
"You're not seriously going to try and fight still, are you?" Autumn asks in horror. I try to shrug but the act brings the pain to the forefront again, which elicits a muffled grunt from me before I can respond.
"I have to," I finally answer. "If I don't, he will kill... everyone. He's... He will kill everyone. I have to," I reply. They share a concerned look, but eventually, Henry pulls out a riot spike and hands it to me.
"Be careful," he says. "Promise you will be careful. Lil, you look like a butchered animal. If there was anything I could do, I'd fight in your stead. I have half a mind to try. If I didn't know how damn strong you are, I would. Shit, I don't even know how you plan to fight inside a riot sphere. You are literally carrying yourself with mana!"
"I'll figure something out," I reply. "I'm clever that way. Besides, I got a good hit in. The priests will have to work overtime to keep him alive with my poison running through him." He sighs as I take the spike. "Stay safe." With that, I launch myself from the building. I have to be careful, as I fly from the city. Not every anti-Lillith circle is horizontal and the vertical ones will kill me if I fly through them. But I am angry, and I can breathe in the grief in the air. I make it to the field with the giant wave of ice, which I sit down on top of. I gotta make the little prick angry enough to come here, where I can fight without worrying about collateral damage. Where I can actually have a damn spike prepared.
I start summoning steel mana, making an extremely rudimentary foot for my left leg as well as a crutch. Finally, I gather sound mana and shout, amplifying my voice across the city.
"You didn't finish the fucking job, Darian. Darian the false king. Darian the coward king. Darian the weak king, who had to beg a girl for help, and still failed. If you have the balls to fight me, a woman with one working limb and a fraction of your magic, well. I am waiting on the ice wall. If you are a king, come and fucking prove it."