As soon as Blue, Phee and Elwin had spotted the winged form of the Incandestine Empress travelling across the city’s rooftops, Phee had leapt from Blue’s hang-glider-like form, spreading her own cloak and sailing through the freezing dawn sky on a path to intercept the regent.

Phee fell from the morning sky, landing with a slight thud and acrobatic roll. She drew her signature weapon: Veracity, an ornate golden rapier. A scattered cloud of objects fell from the sky about the Bloodstone, falling all over the surrounding area.

Lucina, who had been running across the rooftops, came to a sudden stop.

“Greetings, Empress,” Phee said, rather stiffly in contrast to her agile form.

“I do not have the time of day for you.” The Empress declared coldly, flicking the Bloodfire Blade like a whip.

The weapon’s pointed edge sailed towards Phee.

But miraculously, Phee parried the faster-than-sound strike aside with superhuman dexterity. The rest of the blade-whip trailed uselessly after the deflected tip. Somehow, Phee’s weapon had ignored the phasing properties of the Aegis-scorn technology imbuing Lucina’s weapon.

How? The question drifted through Lucina’s startled mind.

“Let us talk for a moment. I have waited too long for this opportunity.” Phee suggested.

The two swordswomen stared across the rooftop at each other, both weapons drawn, pointed at their foe.

To Lucina, Phee was a random assailant in a city of eccentricity and magic.

The bloodstone had been ten years old when she escaped with the other first-generation bloodstones, and her powers had yet to fully manifest at the time. With the disguise she wore, it was highly unlikely that Lucina knew who she was.

Unfortunately, Phee didn’t have Rolynd’s discipline. If she was as sensible and dedicated as he was, she may have chosen to hold her tongue and use her mysterious identity to her advantage. Indeed, it was a rare edge to have against Lucina, the most privileged human in the universe, who knew everything about everyone in her empire. To maximise the chances of winning this duel, it was best for Phee if Lucina knew nothing, and assumed that her adversary was some kind of magician, or even better, a simple fool.

But, there was a question burning in Phee’s mind. A question that she felt needed an answer. So, much like the impulsive Effie, Phee spoke.

“Why are you here?” she asked the Empress.

Lucina scoffed. “Need I really say it? All of Apolaphia must know why by now. The late Empress Catherine demands justice. Rolynd and his otherworldly allies must pay for their crimes!”

“You invaded this world and brought war and ruin upon it because of a simple misunderstanding. Catherine’s death was an accident.” Phee said, her tone steely-sharp. Kept in check.

“Four years… and the rebellious sour grapes can’t come up with a better lie. It is truly sad how foolish you must be to believe Rolynd’s lies.”

“It is the truth!” Phee implored her.

“Impossible!” Lucina snapped back, a rare show of indignity in her otherwise elegant speech. “With Catherine’s powers, nothing can be an accident. She was murdere, manipulated to give up her life, and Rolynd and his deluded puppets are to blame. Now stand aside. You have no hope of stopping me.”

But Phee held her ground, steadying her sword, bringing it into focus. “No... You are wrong.”

Lucina squinted slightly, twisting her head, re-evaluating Phee. Something about the way this girl speaks… “You are one of them, aren’t you? Chimaera S-11.”

Phee said nothing. Chimaera S-11 had been Phee’s codename; She lacked a title like the other Bloodstones, as she had escaped before her idiosyncratic power had been discovered.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I do not wish to kill you. I do not wish to kill any of you children. Rolynd is manipulating you all.”

“Liar!” Phee shouted in sudden, explosive anger so intense that Empress Lucina flinched. “You tried to kill Effie several times… You killed Carmen with one of your Chimaeras! HOW COULD YOU?!” Phee screamed. “She was a PACIFIST! She was a HEALER!”

“I am truly sorry for her loss. We were at war. Doctor Hagley-”

“SHUT UP! I don’t want to hear your piss-weak excuses! If you really cared about justice, Carmen would still be alive! Just admit it; you hate us. Hatred is all that guides you!”

Spittle flew from Phee’s mouth as she ranted at the most powerful woman in the universe, staining her mask with a spray of dark spots.

Lucina listened, but shook her head slowly, full of disappointment. “We all make mistakes. If you truly believe those words, then it is you who bears hatred in your heart. Justice is all I ever wanted. All I can offer my subjects as Regent. If I fail to right the wrong of Catherine’s death, what message does that send to the rest of humanity? I will have order. Humankind needs it to survive.”

Phee took one step forward.

“So you have chosen death. I will make it as painless as possible.” Lucina said, launching an attack.

This time, the Bloodfire Blade would wrap around Phee in such a way that it could not be parried, striking from two directions at once. Even if one side was parried, the trajectory of the weapon would be altered, putting another part of Phee’s body at risk. Such was the power of complete mastery over this weapon.

Phee knew that against a weapon like the Bloodfire Blade, it was best to get close, where the trajectory of the chain-like swings would be more predictable.

Phee disappeared into a column of light.

Lucina’s unavoidable attack missed. But before Lucina could even experience confusion, she felt a thud against her back, a sensation akin to being punched. The regent's eyes widened as she saw a long, thin, golden blade emerge from her chest, dripping with glistening red blood in the morning light.

“Die!!” Phee hissed through gritted teeth from behind her.

Searing pain blossomed, too intense to describe. A wordless gasp was let out from Lucina’s lips.

Lucina’s armour sprouted a forest of barbed, skewering metal thorns from her back. Phee yelped and teleported away before she sustained any serious harm, leaving Veracity hanging out of Lucina’s torso. Phee’s enchanted tunic had safely absorbed and redirected most of the damage.

Lucina’s morphic armour surged and shifted, pulling Phee’s rapier out of the Empress’ chest, sending it clattering to the floor.

Phee clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Tch!”

Had it not been for the fast-as-thought reaction of Lucina’s morphic armour, Phee would have twisted and slashed her way through Lucina’s upper body.

Lucina’s armour reformed yet again, spraying a high-tech healing mesh into Lucina’s wound. Painkillers were injected into her nervous system through her spine. Diagnostics were run, scanning for use of poisons. Had there been any, they would have been negated.

The Empress whirled around with a slight stumble of lingering pain, searching for the foe that had nearly taken her life. Lucina could not let that happen again. Her pale eyes were filled with an icy, indignant fury.

“How are you still alive?” The young Bloodstone asked in puzzlement.

Phee was certain that her attack was a killing blow, straight through the heart, but still, the Empress stood. A contradiction to Phee’s belief.

It must be the runes. Thought Phee. I should’ve gone for the head.

Lucina’s armour was covered in rudimentary runes. Phee hadn’t quite seen an arrangement like it before. Unfortunately, magic was Effie’s forte, so Phee was not sure what to make of it.

Now that her first strike had failed, Phee’s chances of winning this duel had fallen considerably. She doubted that she would be able to pull off the same teleportation trick again. Getting in close could prove challenging.

Lucina, in the meantime, was trying to process what had happened. She looked around, searching for clues, and noticed a dagger on the ground behind her where Phee had just been. Numerous strands of iridescent green thread hung from its pommel, forming a geometric pattern that Lucina recognised. A magic circle.

The Empress’ eyebrow twitched. She brought her blade to strike at the dagger Phee had placed. The Bloodfire Blade cut cleanly through the weapon and iridescent thread… but the wires paradoxically remained unbroken even as the metal of the dagger was cloven in two.

Lucina blinked, not believing her eyes, poking at a thread with the tip of her weapon. It bent and resisted tautly. It was no illusion. The Empress raised her hand once more in an attempt to dismantle Phee’s contraption. The Bloodstone’s ability to teleport with the daggers was too powerful to be left unattended.

Phee had been waiting for this very opportunity to strike. She drew a dagger from some unseen compartment in her tunic and threw it toward Lucina.

The ever-watchful Lucina reacted by redirecting her strike towards Phee’s attack. Phee took advantage of the distraction to run in close, ducking low and drawing Veracity back to her hand with telekinesis.

Lucina struck once more, the motion translating down the Bloodfire Blade’s already extended length. The tip of the whip-sword whipped around, changing direction and striking at Phee like a snake.

Veracity had yet to return to Phee’s hand, she had no weapon to defend herself with. She couldn’t even twist or bend her body out of the way; the blow was nearly impossible to react to.