Zadione looks at everyone around her, slowly spinning in a circle. Her eyes stop on me when she finishes looking around. I’m afraid she’ll think I’m the weakest if I avert my gaze. The last thing I want is to be her victim. I stand my ground and stare her down. She smiles, pulling her cheeks as far as it can go. Her brows come low into her eyes. The face of a demon is enough to raise my heart rate and make my stomach turn. A golden sword poofs in her right hand in a cloud of white sparkling smoke. She flies straight at me. I conjure my sword to parry her blows before I can react; fortunately, Coreatha’s quick speed saves my life. Coreath’s entire arm is glowing yellow with Zadione’s blade on top of it.
“Almost,” Zadione says with a grimacing smile. “Coreatha, do you know what you’ve done?” Coreatha grips Zadione’s sword to push it away from me slowly. “You have broken Xanlos’s most valuable rule.”
“I’ve broken many,” Coreatha says, then shoves Zadione away. “I do not care anymore. You must be stopped now.”
“Okay,” she says nonchalantly. “Kill’em.” Her cultists begin to attack everyone. Mages on both sides cast all kinds of different magic. I witness streams of fire, projectile ice, a gust of air, and even earth-bending magic.
“Gods,” I gasp in horror. “Here we go again.”
Another battle is underway, and I’m stuck in the middle. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to fighting in mass. This experience is Ulrika’s expertise, not mine. The best I can do is stay close to a veteran of warfare.
Ulrika swings into action against a surprise attack from a cultist, coming from a crowd of fairies. None of her strikes break the cultist’s guard. He can’t seem to find an opening either. The visualization of him finding an opening puts me into action. I attack him, double-teaming with her to better our chances of winning.
The cultist evades and blocks everything we throw at him. It is not until she makes him break his guard by, blasting air into his eyes, that he has to cover them. I go for a sideways slash down his left shoulder for a killing blow. Somehow in the nick of time, he steps back to avoid my entire blade.
“Kaio, try conjuring it,” Ulrika suggests while continually pursuing the cultist. One idea comes to mind that might win this fight. I conjure a sequence I never use. It makes my sword spin in a circle at an incredible speed.
“Ulrika, step back!” I yell.
“Holy cow!” She screams, staring at my sword with wide open, bulging eyes.
She falls on her butt to let my sword pass over her. My sword goes through his stomach like a hot knife cutting butter and returns to my hand. Some of his blood splashes on my face once I catch my sword. His body separates into two when he falls forward.
“Gods,” I gasp. “That was brutal of me.”
“Don’t pay attention to what you did, Kaio,” Ulrika says, then slaps my arm. I can’t stop looking at what I did. “Hey! It’s going to get worse.”
“I know.” She steps in front of me to use her body to block my view of him.
“Do not break on me,” she through her teeth an inch from my face. “I need you to focus.” My gaze moves away from the body to her eyes. Her attention is only partially on me. Every other second she looks around to watch the fighting around her. But for me, I’m locked on her for some odd reason. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good,” I say, stepping behind her. A cultist off to my left kills two fairies in one swing. Another cultist slays a Paladin I don’t recognize near Rhyndac’s vicinity. She notices immediately and snaps the cultist’s neck with an invisible force. Their neck bends halfway to the right. “This is madness. Absolute madness!”
“That’s right!” Ivaran says before ramming into me. I tumble several feet down the road and bash into a wooden sign. It stops me from rolling on but knocks the breath out of me. I feel like I’m dying, gasping for air. “Come here, boy!” He sprints down the street with Ulrika hot on his tail. “My lord wants you dead!”
“What did I do to deserve that?” I try to verbalize. “Did I look at her the wrong way?”
“Kaio, run!” Ulrika screams. I stumble to force myself to my feet to stand my ground. She trips him before he can make it halfway to me.
“You bitch!” Ivaran says.
They engage in sword combat. Ivaran uses his two swords in the same style she used when she had her brothers’ weapons. She sees everything that’s coming and applies her skills effortlessly. Nothing seems to surprise her. I can’t keep her eyes on her for too long. A cultist with a chained spike ball flail runs up to me from behind.
“Can I ever get a moment to breathe?” I say as I try to figure out a counterattack while avoiding getting hit by the spikes.
This is my first time seeing the flail in use, other than practicing with it under Thyrna’s supervision. The best situation to win this fight without getting hurt is to wait for a window to get closer.
“You really don’t know how to use that thing,” I taunt as I sidestep the cultist wild swings. One swing causes him to stumble to keep his balance. The flail nearly slides out of his hand. A chance presents itself when I see him go for an upward swing. The cultist swings and pulls his arms back to prepare for another downward strike. I drop the sword out of my hands, leaving it to hover on its own, and then stand close to my attacker. He goes for the obvious swing, but I grab his arms and toss him over my shoulder. My sword thrusts into his back, through the gut, before hitting the ground.
“So far, this is going terrible,” I say out loud in agony. I run to Ulrika’s aid, blindly calling my sword to my hand. Ivaran sees me coming, leaps away from her, then we engage in combat for a short time. She chimes in, but he suddenly leaps in the air and lands a far distance down the road from us. “What the hell?”
“Where are you going, coward!” Ulrika taunts. He casts a powerful force of magic our way. The sheer power rips up the stone from the streets. I attempt to counter it using the same magic, but it fails to negate a quarter of the power. It hits us hard. We fly back, skidding across the street and into another altercation with cultists. “Kaio, are you all right?!” She asks in the middle of the fighting.
“I’m...” I pause to find an opportune moment to say what’s going on with me without getting attacked. “I’m too weak!”
“You’re what?” I shove the cultist into a Hayden on accident to give me a moment to speak. They begin to fight it out away from me.
“I’ve nearly used up all of my mana!”
“Shit!” She says as she slays a cultist. “We need to find Haleema! She might have something to fix that.”
Now there’s a new challenge. Avoid Ivaran to find Haleema while fighting through a massive battle. Unfortunately, Ivaran will not give us any breathing room. He pursues us like he’s on a mission. Any cultist that jumps into the fight gets yelled at to stay away. The ones who don’t listen in time die by his hand for interfering.
I clutch Ulrika to my side and use my sword to fly down the road to gain distance from Ivaran and the fight. Ulrika commands some bystanders to evacuate the area just before he dashes at me. I catch him in a sword lock with my legs tethered to the ground. My back bends as he starts overpowering me with the strength of his whole body.
“Back off of him!” Ulrika screams. Ivaran backs off when Ulrika attempts to spear her electrified sword into his stomach. “Damnit!”
“Whoa,” Ivaran chuckles. “Why so flustered?”
“Because you’re trying to kill my husband!” After she calls me her husband, the lightning on her sword surges. It starts pouring off the tip as if it is water.
“Ah, drip lightning style. Someone taught you well in lightning manipulation.”
“They did.”
“Good.” Both of his swords start to drip lightning. “I hope they taught you how to deal with one who’s a master at it.”
“Kaio, get out of here.”
“No. I’m staying here,” I refuse.
“Let the idiot stay and witness your death by my hands,” Ivaran says, laughing. “This’ll only take a few seconds.”
“You fucking bastard!” Ulrika shouts before they attack each other. I’m no longer helpful to assist. They disappear in and out of flashes, only appearing for a moment before striking.
The lighting splashes everywhere, like someone throwing water out of a bucket. One droplet of purple lightning touches my pants, burning a hole in them.
“Fuck!” I grunt in pain from the electrocution. Ulrika calls out to me, asking if I’m okay. Her voice echoes as she continues flashing in and out. “I’m all right! Don’t worry about me!” I see her appear for a split second with her head turned to me while Ivaran is in mid-strike. An explosion of bright purple light sends her down the street behind me. Her sword skids along the sidewalk.
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“Ugh!” Ulrika groans.
“Thanks for the distraction!” Ivaran says as he descends to the ground. “Now, you’re dead!” He points his hand out to me like he’s about to grab something. A near-invisible stream comes out of his palm, heading straight for me. It narrowly touches my stomach. “What? You can see that?”
“Of course, I can!” I say, then throw four fire orbs at him.
“That won’t hurt me!” All four orbs get snuffed out by an invisible barrier. I try again with a stream of fire. It’s the same outcome. “Nothing you do will work on me!” He might be bluffing. There is no way he can absorb my power without needing to dispel it immediately. Unless his mana stock is huge. That or I’m too weak.
“Magic, maybe. But in swordsmanship? Not a chance,” I say to tease his ego.
“You’re dumb to think you can beat me.”
“You’re dumb enough not to try and see.”
“Kaio,” Ulrika moans in pain in a soft voice. “What are you doing?”
“Stay down,” I whisper so only she can hear. “Rest for a moment. I can handle him.”
“But—” Ivaran charges me while my attention is on her. “Kaio!” One of his swords narrowly misses entering my stomach. The blade pierces through the right side of my shirt and sticks out the back. The sword is sharp enough to cut through layers of fabric without much resistance. It cuts my side, but not enough to make me bleed profusely. “Kaioson!”
“Fuck,” I say, walking backward.
“Get back here!” Ivaran says. He uses both of his swords to attack me. Ulrika stumbles to pick herself up. I have a bad feeling she’ll want to jump into double-teaming if she sees me struggling or for any other reason.
“Ulrika! Stay away! This is my fight!”
“You jest?” Ulrika yells.
“No!” I say before surprising Ivaran with a blast to his gut after I duck under a swing. He skids back further up the street but loses his footing, falling on his ass. Now I have a few moments with her before he attacks. “Do not jump in this time.”
“Are you fucking mad?” She says through her teeth. “He will kill you.”
“I think I can beat him.”
“You think? You just went against your word to fight him with your sword!” My heart stops for a moment when I realize I did. She widens her eyes, tilts her head to the right, and nods slowly “Yeah!”
“Okay, I might need some help. My mana is almost gone.”
“Gods, what were you thinking?!”
“To live!”
Ivaran shoots fire from both of his hands. Ulrika dives out of the way, but I stand my ground. The fire can restore some of my mana if focus on funneling it. I cup the bottom of my palms together with my hands open horizontally.
“What are you doing?!” Ulrika says. I absorb the fire, consume most of its mana, and then send it back what is left of the fire. It does nothing but blow his hair out of his face.
“You lied to me,” Ivaran says, pointing his right sword at me. “I thought we would fight with our weapons.”
“My mistake. I forgot.”
“You forgot, yeah?” In a blink of an eye, he tethers Ulrika and binds my hands with the same magic. He lifts her high in the air between him and me. The force around her body tightens, causing her to scream in pain while straining.
“Ulrika!”
“You shouldn’t have lied to me,” he chuckles while slowly squeezing his hand.
“I can’t breathe. K-Kai... H-Help me,” Ulrika cries out. “Kai...o..son..”
“Stop it! Leave her alone.”
“Not a chance,” Ivaran says. The more he continues squeezing the life out of her, the more I begin to panic. I can see the veins in her neck, face, and hands bulge. Her face is turning redder with every second that passes.
“Ivaran! Stop! STOP!”
Ivaran chuckles maniacally. His sadistic smile leaves me in the horror of what is to come. I fear this will be the end of Ulrika and me. All I can do is hope Ulrika will forgive me for my stupid mistake of getting us into this situation once I see her in the heavens.
I failed you...
Something warm washes over me. My legs buckle to the point that I fall to my knees. It feels like everything around me slows down, including myself. The rocks falling from the sky are slower than usual. Ivaran looks frozen in time. He’s smiling with his mouth open and hair in the air. But, there is something unusual happening. The tethers are gone. I turn around the moment before she slams flat on her back.
The restraints around my hands suddenly break with the same warmth that touched me. I immediately run over to her to check her vitals. Her eyes are closed, her face is still red, and she isn’t breathing. I check all her vital signs but find that everything shows me she isn’t alive.
“Hey!” I say, rubbing her cheek, hoping it’ll spring life back to her. “Ulrika? Wake up.” I try to activate her heart by applying gentle force pulses for a few seconds. “Don’t die!”
All I can think about while I’m frantically pressing her chest is my vow and the family she dreamed of us having. I scream for anyone to help, but no one comes.
“Ulrika,” I weep with no control. “Ulrika!”
Ivaran’s loud panting stops me from crying as I listen. He’s on his hands and knees, drooling from the mouth.
“What did she do to me?” Ivaran says, coughing between his words. “I can barely hold myself up!” I look around to see who he is talking about. There’s no one but the three of us.
“Did you weaken him, my love?” I say.
Ivaran struggles to balance on his feet. Seeing him physically weak riles my soul. I want to beat the living shit out of him. I’m beyond anger or vengeance. My soul seeks justice. Everything I’ll do to this man will be for her, no matter how bloody it gets. Vengence and its glory will be mine.
“Hey!” I scream. Ivaran tries to look at me by alternating between his eyes.
“What did that bitch do to me?” Ivaran says as he looks at Ulrika.
“Do not call my wife that!” I run up to him, swinging my sword to lob at any part of him. He deflects all my attacks, yet they’re wearing him down. Each blow makes him stagger and take steps to get away from me.
“Why are you suddenly strong?” My strength and speed overpower him. I manage to knock both swords out of his hands. His feeble health starts to show more when he tries to punch me several times. They’re sluggishly slow, and they have no force behind them. “What is happening to me?”
“The beginning of the end for you,” I say.
I plunge my sword deep into his stomach. His hands grab my wrists. He tries to push them away to bring the sword out, but I refuse to allow it to move an inch. I wail into him, punching his face until the pain in my knuckles forces me to stop.
I punch him hard in the mouth to finish my violent assault. The front parts of his white outfit are caked with his blood. After all that beating, he is somehow barely alive. Even with my sword piercing his body, his body hasn’t given up his spirit to be damned.
I pull out my dagger from my waist. His eyes fixate on it as I wave it around. When I point it at his throat, I find myself unable to keep my bloody hand from jittering. I have to hold up my wrist to settle it down.
“Unbelievable,” Ivaran says in a raspy after spitting out a mouth full of blood. “I have so much to do! I can’t die like this!”
“Whatever it is, it stops here and now.”
“Zadione,” he says after coughing up blood. “Where are you? Save me, my lord!” I turn around to see if she’ll come. All I see are people trying to violently kill each other. She’s nowhere to be found in that sea of shit. “Zadione!”
“She’s not coming.”
When I approach him, he forces himself out of my sword. He immediately falls on his has, clutching his open stomach. Some blood pours out while he vomits the rest of it. The sight of his state begins to disturb to somewhat disturb me. The joy of seeing him in this state and the absolute hate I have is beginning to wear off. I must kill him now before I decide to do something I’ll regret.
This is for you, my love.
I slit Ivaran’s throat open without any resistance then silence his gargles by unleashing the longest Acid Rain I can muster upon his corpse before blacking out.
----------------------------------------
“Kaioson, wake up,” a voice I don’t recognize says in a low, muffled voice. It takes me several attempts to force open my eyes. My vision is blurry. Someone is leaning over me, but I can’t tell who it is. The room is dimly lit by something orange behind me.
“What’s going on?” I slur every word. “Who are you? Where’s Ulrika?”
“You’re in a medical tent. We’re in Kromagia.”
“Kromagia?” I say as I sit up quickly. Stars start appearing in the room the more my head spins. I’m about to blackout again when someone’s soft hand cups the right side of my cheek.
“I got you.” My dizziness stops, my vision returns, and I can hear clearly. I still can’t see who’s next to me, but the silhouette of their long hair tells me what they are.
“Haleema,” I weep without control, thinking it is her in front of me. “Ivaran killed Ulrika. He killed my wife!”
“Kaioson,” a soft voice says to my right. I recognize it to be Haleema’s voice. She lights a candle to hand it to the woman who’s touching me.
“Coretha? Forgive me,” I say with my hands crossed over my bare chest. “Where... where is my shirt?”
“It’s all right, Kaioson,” Coretha says, then hugs me. “By the way, Ulrika is fine. She’s not dead.” She turns her body halfway to point to the corner of the room where Ulrika is floating over a bed. Two blue orbs rotate around her torso, with an icy-looking trail coming from behind it.
“Ulrika,” I whisper to not wake her up as I walk over to her. I can see her chest moving in and out. “She’s breathing?” Just to make sure my mind isn’t messing with me, I touch her neck to feel a pulse. It’s strong, but her skin is unnaturally cold. “Why is she so cold?” One of the blue orbs flies over her chest. The trail behind it lands and touches my hand, stinging with cold. “What is that?”
“They’re enhanced regenerative crystals,” Haleema answers. “Ulrika suffered several broken ribs and internal bleeding in her lungs.”
“Will she live through those injuries?”
“Yes,” Haleema says, looking at Coretha for a long moment. “We got to her just in time.” That glance doesn’t sit well with me. Are they hiding something?
“Why did you make that face?” I ask sternly, keeping my voice calm and monotone.
“The healing process will take a long time,” Coretha says. “I lost most of my... magic when I saved Ulrika from death.”
“Death,” I repeat. “So it was you? It wasn’t her?”
“It was,” she nods. “I dampened the core of Ivaran’s mana.” That explains some of the things I witnessed.
“Thank you, Coretha,” I say, bowing on my knees.
“Kaioson,” Coretha says when she gets on her knees next to me. “There’s something I need to tell you.”She interlocks her fingers before saying, “I’m human now. Just like Zadione.”
“What?” I blurt out quietly, not to disrupt Ulrika’s slumber. “You’re not an angel anymore?”
“I’ve lost most of my divinity.”
“Did Zadione do this?”
“I violated Xanlos’s intervention order.”
It saddens my soul to hear that Xanlos continues to be against intervention. We need more angels like Coretha who are willing to turn the tide of this unnecessary war.
I apologize to Coretha for her being kicked out from the heavens. She reassures that her actions are worth any punishment that might come down on her. Her boldness to not worry about her frightens yet amazes me. She’s one of us, which makes her vulnerable. But she’s been around longer than anyone I know, so her knowledge of Zadione can be a great help.
“So,” I say to focus my attention on Ulrika’s healing. “How long must be she be like this?”
“I don’t know,” Haleema says, standing next to Ulrika. “It could be days until everything inside her heals.”
“Can you speed up the process?”
“We can’t,” Coreatha says with her hands on my shoulder.
“I don’t want to see her like this,” I say, nearly shedding a tear.
“Give it time.”
I won’t go anywhere, my love. Rest easy. I shall not leave your side until I’m forced to.
----------------------------------------
As time goes on, Ulrika remains in a deep sleep as the orbs continue healing her. Weeks pass. The only signs I’m seeing from the healing are that her hair is rapidly growing. Her hair is long enough to touch her shoulders. It’s making her look more feminine like she said it would. The growth is coming too fast for me to naturally comprehend what it’s like to see in real-time how long it takes for her to grow hair. I know for a fact she’ll be upset seeing it long. She’ll probably want to cut back to the length it was before getting into this situation.
Five days pass, and my attention to Ulrika’s recovery wains a bit. I start looking into what’s happening worldwide since Zadione successfully overtook the fairy realm. Haleema and the Paladins are working double to save kingdoms all over the Inaubira continent while I stay secured in Kromagia’s walls and Ulrika’s proximity eagerly waiting for the moment her emerald eyes gaze at me.