“Aw, you didn’t tell me you brought a friend.” The Drow drawled as it pulled the bolt from its body and tossed it aside. “And a pretty one at that. My favorite.”

Leta scrunched her nose, slipping the empty crossbow back into its holster, “Ew, no. You look like a cheap Spirit Halloween version of a zombie vampire.”

Leta nearly lost her head as the creature was suddenly in front of her, pulling her crossbow up just in time as its blade took aim for her neck as the Drow attacked.

A spray of sparks reflected in its manic eyes, its partially grotesque face showing blood covered fangs as it gave an almost pleasurable his as it tried to come up with its other dagger to stab her in the face.

“Oh sh-” Leta ducked her head just in time for the blade to sail centimeters over her skull, taking some of her blonde hair with it.

Using the crossbow, she twisted the Drow’s arm and used it’s momentum to push away as Hayato dove around her, his sickle chain spinning as it darted for their enemy.

“Dammit.” Leta chastised herself for her missed shot before glaring at Drow.

Throwing a hand out, she focused on it’s chest and envisioned Magician’s Hand wrapping around the monster like she’d done with the Gremlin.

[Target’s weight exceeds 100 kilograms. Magician’s Hand has failed.]

“Fuck!” Leta spat, then gasped as the Drow pushed off the wall and darted for her as fast as a speeding bullet.

With a roll, Leta managed to duck out of the way, but not before the tip of its blade sliced across her shoulder pauldron in a flash of white sparks.

“Oh, its no fun when you roll away, beauty.” it cackled wildly before turning its head to the side to avoid Hayato’s sickle. With a frown, the Drow glared at Hayato. “You’ll have to wait if you want me attention, lovely.”

Leta used its momentary distraction to throw out a lightning bolt, tempering the charge so as to avoid accidentally hitting her companion.

The bolt took the Drow by complete surprise, it’s eyes widening just as the blast hit the creature low in the gut, sending it flying into the wall with a loud thud.

She could tell that the light from the bolt had burned its retinas, at least momentarily as it tilted its head and listened to the room before pulling hits head down and launching itself at Hayato who had been attempting to strike it while it was dazed.

“Dammit.” Leta grunted, sparks circling her arms as she waited for an opening that never seemed to come. With its vision compromised, the Drow committed to an extremely close quarters fight, grabbing Hayato or his sickle chain to pull him close. It looked more like they were grappling each other in a wrestling match instead of a melee fight with weapons.

She almost missed the Drow throw a dagger at her face as rolled over Hayato’s swing and just managed to pull her gauntlet up.

Her lightning covered forearm sent the projectile flying into a southern window, shattering the glass and lightening the room with indirect sunlight.

‘Wait a minute.’ Leta thought to herself, quickly looking from the shattered window to the small beam of light cutting across the room. ‘Light doesn’t hurt it, direct UV light will.’

Hand flying, she called forth the broken glass and held them in the air, sharp edges fanning in front of her.

“Hayato! Move!”

She had already sent the shards flying as the Assassin kicked away. Razor sharp shards of glass rained down like a volley of arrows, slicing through muscle and bone as they struck the Drow’s legs and primarily it’s right calf.

It shrieked in pain, its leg looking more like a porcupine as every twitch of movement caused searing pain. It’s leg now useless, it could only pull its daggers up to block Hayato’s shot, the pair locked in a stalemate of will.

“Cheap shot.” It hissed angrily, its crimson-stained teeth nearly as red as its bloodshot eyes. Then it’s disfigured face pulled into a crazed grin, “What luck to run into royalty here. And the Paradox Queen at that.”

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Hayato kept his focus on her, but she could feel that he’d taken an interest in the creature’s words.

‘It thinks I’m a Queen?’ Leta frowned down at the creature as if it were a rabid dog.

“What do you know of the Queen?” He asked sharply, trying to shoulder his way through the Drow’s guard but it held firm as if putting everything left in it to keeping alive.

“Hm.” Its satisfied purr rolled into a growl as it spoke. “The Infant Queen. Storm Witch. The Paradox Queen. The-Is-And-Wasn’t. Though my personal favorite is That—Fucking-Lightning-Bitch.”

Leta rolled her eyes, “Okay, if you’re just going to be mean, its time to go bye bye. Hayato, when I tell you to, get back.”

The Drow shouted just as she was raising her hand, “They’ve taken an interest in you!”

She paused as sparks still dancing over her raised fist. The Drow saw this and pressed on, still trying to push Hayato back. “You’re on the Nobility’s radar now, Beauty. It’s only a matter of time before they pay you a visit.”

He licked his lips in pleasure then grunted at the pain ravaging his body, “A war’s coming. It’s only a matter of time. But you’re special, aren’t you? Why else would the Crowns and the Nobility be keeping an eye on your every move?”

Leta’s eyes flashed to Hayato, trying to get a sense of his reaction to the Drow’s words. After a moment, she ventured, “The Nobility are the ones running the Blessed?”

“Oh?” It purred, then groaned as Hayato attempted to push forward only for the Drow to lock its arms in place, “They haven’t educated you on us yet? What a pity. Throwing a child to a pack of hyenas.”

Leta scoffed at his analogy, “I think we need to wrap this up, Lieutenant Dan.”

“Hm. Do lets.” It snarled before tucking its ruined feet beneath itself and propelling all of its weight forward in a spray of hot blood, it’s wounded leg nearly bursting apart as the creature sacrificed its body for the kill.

Hayato’s footing faulted as the creature’s dropped its daggers to lock its claw tipped fingers around his wrists. It dragged him to the floor as its mouth closed around her companion’s shoulder just above his armor, his sharp fangs tearing through skin and flesh.

Hayato let out an involuntary cry of pain as the Drow bit Dow hard, its maddened eyes looking up to her as if in warning.

Leta’s hair was like a living thing as snapping arches of electricity danced between the strands, her blue eyes glowing in the darkness as battle rage consumed her as her body rose from the ground to hover inches above the carpet.

Snarling, her mind wrapped around the Drow’s discarded daggers, taking them in ghostly hands as she jabbed them up into the creature’s chest, piercing its lungs at an angle as she pushed with all her might.

The Drow may have been too heavy for her to telepathically lift, but it’s weapons were of little effort.

The force of her phantom-like attack dislodged the Drow’s hold on Hayato, but not before taking a serious chunk of muscle out of the Assassin’s shoulder as the creature was thrown back against the wall.

The Drow screamed and snarled, pinned to the dry wall as it tried to pull itself free, its body looking more like a bloody rag doll than anything remotely humanoid.

Its sharp eyes looked up to her, teeth bared as if in challenge only to pause as it beheld a being of storm and ruin.

Her eyes glowed so brightly they appeared more like two white-blue suns fixed into her skull, her clothes whipping around her body as arches of lighting twisted together around her head to form a circlet of energy.

Dawning realization that it had angered a being not of this world flickered over the Drow’s face for a brief moment before Leta waved her hand and set her storm loose upon the world.

The Drow had made a tactical error putting its den facing west.

With the force of a hurricane, Leta’s storm crashed through the room, blowing doors off their hinges and shattering every window on the second floor.

Bright sunlight from the world outside filled the space like an incoming flood, suffusing every surface with its warmth.

The Drow’s screech turned into agonizing, pain-filled screams, and it thrashed about wildly, the sunshine instantly charred its skin and large muscle flakes slid off its bones. Its hair burst into flames as it tried desperately to get free of the dagger’s pinning him to the wall but its arms had disintegrating into dust beneath its clothes.

Lithe arms turned to ash, and its face had melted until it was nothing more than a skeleton held together by the barest of sinew. Its eyes had turned to liquid in its skull and run down its white bone cheeks as its sharp teeth, which had torn into Hayato moments before, fell uselessly from its mouth.

What had once been a handsome, albeit arrogant and insane Drow was now a partial skeleton draped in charged clothes, a pain-filled moan the only hint that it was still clinging desperately to life.

A breath later and that too was gone, what was left of the skeleton rapidly turning to dust on the wind till all that remained was badly burned clothes hanging from daggers and a large scorch mark on the drywall.

Leta’s feet touched the ground as she drew the storm back into her, letting out a breath as she let the battle rage pass before running over to her companion.

“Oh, shit! Hayato!”

To his credit, the Assassin had managed to pull a first aid gauze from one of his various pockets and had pressed it to the deep wound while Leta had been handling the Drow.

He was in the process of jabbing one of the colored needles Leta recalled using on Bonnie at the last den by the time she was by his side.

“Holy crap! Are you okay.”

“Rhetorical questions are inefficient.” He groaned, pulling the gauze off to spray the would with a clear liquid that stopped the hole in his muscle from gushing any more blood.

She asked him, “What can I do to help?”

He shook his head, tapping a fresh gauze over the wound, “I do not need assistance. I just need a moment for the Healer’s concoctions to begin the process of speeding up my recovery.”

“Aaaaaah!”

They turned as a giant red-headed body flew up the stairs, one arm still holding an activated shield as his arms pinwheeled in the air before crashing into the adjacent wall.

Leta blinked, “Was that Allister?”

The floor beneath them shook rhythmically as if something large was stomping their way.

“Indeed,” Hayato sighed, “And I believe that is the ogre.”