-62-

image [https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

“Haaaah. I can’t believe he convinced you all to make me stay put.” I lamented loudly, “This is treason, I tell you!”

Under the firm instruction of Julius, my guard knights were not allowing me to delve further into the palace.

“I beg your forgiveness, Your Eminence, but Commander Adaemus’ orders are sound. Who knows what dangers lurk in the heart of Renaultian territory.”

“I know exactly what they are,” I huffed, “void-beasts, strange spellcasters, idiots with spears, idiots claiming to be heroes, posh idiots insulting my honor, idiots who…”

My list of Renaultian idiots continued on until Flik’s stoic expression waned.

“Go for Praetorian-One.” she said, answering a direct call to her communirune.

Flik’s conversational partner turned out to be Julius himself, calling in to tell us that the lower floors were secured and that we could make our way to their position freely.

“Oh, now he’s too chicken to call me directly, huh? Seems I’ve got another idiot to add to my list.”

I pushed myself up off the couch and started down the hall in a hurry, still fuming over being placed on the back-line by Julius.

His concerns were valid, and I knew he was doing what he thought was best, but it all seemed too mindful of traditional conventions—if this was a divisional exercise months ago, I’d understand his caution. But I can wield celestial magicks now.

If anything, his personality hadn’t changed much overall since the Renaultian and Maarin coup d'état.

I suppose I can let his behavior slide. I’m the one being overly sensitive about a non-issue.

We were following a mix of Hikita’s and Julius’ directions to navigate the massive palace halls.

The central building alone was larger than any manor owned by the Vanixian archnobility, even my family’s palace. Only High-Command, the academy grounds, and the Church’s cathedral would have beaten it in footprint.

Signs of battle were evident all over. Armored figures in blue were lying motionless along the walls next to the stacked corpses of void-beasts, cleared away by the handful of our soldiers tasked with securing the halls.

“Blegh,” Aeko retched behind us, “the smell is horrendous. Can’t we do something about these bodies?”

“It is.” I agreed, “And I would’ve preferred to burn this whole place down—I imagine Julius as well—but there are too many unknowns and we can’t risk Renault escaping.”

We moved on, doing our best to avoid spaces that had seen heavy combat.

The interior of the palace was maze-like in places, showing that either the Renaultian people had strange architectural preferences or Renault himself had been planning for a potential invasion of his home since the beginning.

“Take a right here.” Hikita said, pointing ahead.

We had winded our way through the confusing corridors and stepped into a large common area.

There was an elegant archway opposite us with a hallway that continued on out of sight. The entry was flanked by two large statues in a kneeling position, swords drawn high in salute above the foreboding passage.

“Past there is the grand hall.” Hikita took a few steps forward, then paused. She turned around, her blue eyes, burning with anger, were locked with mine, “At the very end is Sanctuary Hall, where Renault holds court and manages his retainers.”

I glanced around the large open room, noticing the scorch marks and rubble left from whatever scuffle occurred before we’d received Julius’ “all clear” signal.

“Final stretch then, is it? You holding up okay?” I wasn’t sure how to tactfully ask how she was handling the jumble of emotions she was probably dealing with.

Being enslaved and abused by a monster wasn’t something a seventeen-year-old girl should be dealing with to begin with… and here I am, leading her to seek revenge on that very monster.

Oh, I might be a terrible adult.

I felt a tug at my coat.

Akari had stepped in close, wearing a troubled expression.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?”

“Something doesn’t smell right.” She said in a quiet voice.

“Different from the rest of the palace?” I asked.

She considered it for a moment, “Similar, but worse. Hostile magicks. Like when we’re fighting.”

“Maybe they’re fighting up ahead…” I trailed off, willing a raid-party interface into view.

I scoured each member that had been added in under Julius and me, but there weren’t any displays that indicated our soldiers were in combat.

Weird. But trusting in Akari’s senses has never failed us before. Should’ve brought Beno with us, then I’d have two early warning sensors.

I lamented the absence of my one truly dependable attendant, but I already had one too many followers who should’ve been non-combatants with me.

“Flik,” I called out to my Guard Captain, “call Julius for updates on his and his squad’s statuses, just in case. We’ll continue forward with caution.”

I immediately regretted my decision.

As I stepped through the entryway, my mind was alight with intense pain and my DANGER SENSE began to ping nonstop.

My vision blurred, and I heard the surprised cries of my companions, then I felt the floor give out beneath my feet. I slipped into a dark whirling pool of void magick.

----------------------------------------

I tumbled hard onto a solid surface and bumped into something that gave way to my fall.

“Are you kidding me!?” I bemoaned loudly.

The blurry view of my surroundings cleared as the teleportation magick settled.

“What even was the point in making me sit around at the entrance for an hour… Can’t even properly check for magickal traps, this guy.”

I threw out a number of curses at Julius under my breath.

Then the surrounding air stirred. I scrambled to my feet, fumbling at the straps of my weapon—then a mess of pink hair crashed straight into me, knocking me back onto the ground.

Akari gripped onto me tightly with everything she had, I felt her magickally-illusioned invisible tail wrap around my leg.

“Ow!” I cried, “Akari, your fingers are digging into my arms a little too much!”

I gently pried the girl’s clawed hands away from me, gritting through the pain. My torn skin already knitting itself back together from my passive regenerative skill.

Akari looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks.

“I’m sorry!” she choked out between sobs, “It felt like you disappeared completely and I got scared.”

“It’s alright. I’m the one who should be sorry. You warned me something was wrong, but I went ahead anyway.”

Between calming Akari down and collecting myself, I had little time to take account of our new surrounding.

Trusting her assurances, Akari was confident I’d been teleported within the palace—Once I materialized through the portal, she sensed that I was still very close and warped herself to me with her AETHERSTEP ability she’d been practicing—The style of the room we were in looked identical to some we’d wandered through on our way to Julius. Only major differences were the intricate lock on the door and magickally-imbued metal bars on the outside of the windows.

“Is this Renault’s attempt at imprisoning me?” I wondered aloud.

We had no time to settle in before a set of normal doors along the back of the room swung open wildly. A red-haired man rushed through, brandishing what looked to be a coat hanger as a makeshift spear.

He looked panicked, flinching as he caught sight of us.

He retreated a few steps back into the room he came from and called out to us, “W-who are y-you? What—”

The man’s words caught harshly in a nervous stutter, but his scared expression faltered when he caught sight of Akari, “—what business d-do you have with me?”

Something about this guy seems way off.

Akari grabbed my hand, and I heard her words echo in my head, “I don’t like the scent of that man. It’s bad.”

What kind of bad? Is it like the smell from before?

I pressed my question back to her, moving my free hand slowly toward the hilt of my sword.

“Yes.”

Akari’s confirmation dispelled any thoughts I had of treating this person amicably. If he was responsible for separating me from my knights, then he was an enemy, without a doubt.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Out with it then. Drop the charade,” I raised my voice, “why’d you set this trap for me? What are you trying to gain?”

A race of emotions showed on the man’s face—if anything, he didn’t seem like the mastermind behind this. I wrote him off as a pawn, but remained mindful of Akari’s senses. He could still be dangerous, even if he was acting under someone’s orders.

I knew too little about my situation.

“A-Are you Airis?” he asked with fake hesitation.

I glared back at him.

“You know I am. Like I said, drop the act. I’m losing my patience.”

The man lowered his ‘weapon’, and pressed a hand against his chest, “It’s me, your Uncle Birka!”

Akari’s body twitched—to her, the use of ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ was for our close friends and trusted companions. I was sure the use of the term here was causing her quite a bit of confusion.

I gave the guy a more detailed once-over, and he did in-fact look strikingly similar to a relative who used to visit our family often. Though not really my uncle, he was related to my father in some way—a very distant branch family that traveled to Axio during the Apocalypse.

“Uncle” Birka carried neither the name Vanixi nor the prestige of an archnoble family. He was the second son of the old imperial County of Kavan, now a defunct mednoble house barely clinging to that status with their former history.

“I don’t recall us being very close, Birka Kavan.” I shrugged.

“Haha,” he false laughed, “Surely you’re joking around, we used to be close when you were younger—”

I drew my sword and leveled it at him, the glittering divine and chaotic flames roared to life.

“Enough.” I shouted.

I imbued my words with magick, amplifying the sound, in a similar way to how I enhanced my body.

Birka flinched, dropping the wooden hanger to the ground.

“Ah, ah,” he stammered, “I’m sure you’re shaken by your sudden appearance here, but there is l-little to worry about. I found a passage in the bedroom, here behind me, and was planning to escape tonight! N-Now that you’re here though, we can g-go right away.”

He motioned for us to follow him into the room awkwardly.

Akari’s grip on my hand had tightened. I squeezed back in reassurance.

I silently cast OMNISIGHT on Birka and his surroundings, and caught sight of something interesting.

INSPECTION

TARGET

STATISTICS

VALUES

BIRKA KAVAN

HEALTH

STAMINA

MAGICKA

120 / 120

76 / 80

543 / 666

» TARGET IS MAINTAINING ACTIVE SPELLS:

» SEALING RUNE OF ANTI-MAGICK x8

SPELL

SCHOOL

DETAILS

SEALING RUNE OF ANTI-MAGICK

Void

Restrains the ability to channel magicka for any targeted creature trapped within its range.

Requires the caster to maintain a mid-level mental sigil.

» SPELL STATUS: ACTIVE

Above the doorway and in the wall corners adjacent to the bedroom were subtle runes drawn with magick.

Haah, this bastard.

“Hey.” My still-amplified voice startled him, “Are you trying to kidnap us right now?”

“W-What?” Birka recoiled, sounding genuinely surprised, “That’s… I wouldn't say that. However, you must come with me. Hurry.”

“Yeeeah, that sounds a lot like kidnapping.”

Birka continued to struggle with his words, repeating the same nonsense about following him over again.

It’s not like he’s cursed… what’s his deal?

“Look,” I started, “maybe you’ve been tricked by the Renaultians and that’s why you’re trying so hard to get us into that obviously suspicious room, but lemme tell you flat-out, We aren’t going in there with you.”

It didn’t matter how hard I tried to make my stance clear; he ignored my words and kept on. He wouldn’t answer any of my questions, either.

I was already in a poor mood after being force-teleported, but this back-and-forth was beginning to grind away at my sanity.

Akari confirmed what I had suspected—that the proximity of the anti-magick runes had disrupted her ability to teleport. So, we were stuck here until we figured out how to unseal the door behind us or blast our way out.

“Shut up and listen, Birka. Tell me what I wanna know or I’m going to start making holes through every wall in this room, got it? If you’re really a captive and trying to escape, I’m sure that sounds like a worst-case scenario right now.”

I positioned myself in front of Akari and brought my sword up toward Birka again and continued, “I didn’t have any intentions to harm you if you were innocent, but there are just too many things off about this whole thing. Who put you up to this, where are they, and why are you maintaining the runic formations for the spell above the door?”

After announcing that I knew about the magick he was channeling, Birka finally dropped the innocent captive guise.

“And why would I tell you anything?” he shouted, “You’ll probably kill me either way! You've massacred so many of us with your devil magick, I’d never trust your false words.”

Ah.

“Hah,” I laughed, “the farce is finally unraveling? Are you even Birka—no, don’t answer that. It wouldn’t make a difference either way. Akari, do it now.”

A great pressure wave of magicka rushed past me into the room behind Birka. The roaring of wind followed after and Birka was swept off his feet, sent sailing into our room.

As he slid across the floor, we circled around the room and blocked his exit path so he couldn’t retreat back into the anti-magick room.

Once the Akari’s wind spell died down, I engaged. Birka tried to struggle, but I had him pinned down in a moment.

“Now then, Uncle,” I hissed, “you really ought to tell me what I wanna know. We can resolve things quickly, or I can make your day a whole lot worse. Your choice, Reckoning!”

I quick cast CHAOS BOLT. With a flick of my hand, the jagged shard of blood-orange crystal formed above me, then shot down and impaled itself into his knee.

Birka screamed, and I placed a hand on the crystal, pushing it further into his leg until it passed completely through and shattered into pieces on the floor.

“Divine light, Heal.”

Iridescent light flowed down my hand, quickly sealing the wound.

I glared down at him, “In case you weren’t aware, I happen to be quite proficient in healing magicks. So, don’t worry, we can keep at it till my soldiers scour this whole damned palace and find me—”

A sudden loud clamor behind the locked door took me by surprise, and I retreated back to where Akari stood.

The door swung open slowly.

A man and woman entered together, walking confidently. Both of them were dressed in matching, overly elaborate, fancy clothing.

The man approached the center of the room, looked down at Birka, and scoffed. He then centered his attention on Akari and I.

When he spoke, his voice oozed condescension, “Seeing as how the both of you were caught up in the warp magick, it would seem the child you've been traveling with is indeed your illegitimate daughter.”

“My wha—”

“There is no use in denying it.” he crowed, running a hand through his slicked-back hair, “His Majesty's spell was specifically attuned to your family’s foul blood alone! Hah! Hahaha! This has turned out so much better than anticipated.”

Both of them let out ugly laughs.

“Now, you foul-bred demimonde,” the woman sneered, “drop that demonic sword of yours or we will be forced to capture you the difficult way. Who knows, we might even kill your daughter by accident.”

I stood there, blinking at them blankly.

Birka wouldn’t tell me anything, but here are these two morons babbling on and letting critical details loose.

“I don’t know who you two think you are,” I waved dismissively, “but it’s obvious you missed the part where we beat up your lackey.”

Birka was still lying on the floor, unmoving. I assumed he passed out from the pain of having his knee pierced.

The man spoke up right away, “You think I fear the likes of you? I am the head of the Great Noble House of Ryken, Mathieu Ryken!”

Mathieu Ryken puffed his chest out proudly.

His counterpart let out another ugly laugh, “Ha ha hah! You truly believe you are a threat to us? Some dirty woman like yourself? Hah!”

“Oh, Adelaide, my dear, the poor tramp has already fallen in our snare. You mustn’t be so harsh! Aha ha!”

The two Rykens continued to insult me, switching between imperial common and the Renaultian language.

I inspected their statuses and had to keep myself from laughing, as they were both nowhere near strong enough to display the levels of confidence they did.

“Haah,” I sighed, “at least Renault has the courtesy to summon eldritch horrors from beyond the veil to fight me. Akari, restrain the annoying lady, would you, kiddo? I’ve got some questions to ask the head of the o’ so great House of Ryken."

A blast of magicka instantly took the woman out of the fight, as she crumbled to the floor under Akari’s pressure.

“Unhand me this instant, you bestial woman!” the male Ryken protested as I relocated him by force to sit next to Birka.

Things continued to be unfortunate for Birka, as he stirred back to life as soon as I tossed Ryken to the floor.

“Oh, good,” I said, turning to Birka, “you’re finally awake. Ah, well, if you thought you were having a bad day, I've got terrible news. It's only gonna get worse. A lot worse.”

After a quick question-and-answer session with our willing participants, Akari and I bound them together using spare cord from the room’s drapery.

I learned some important information.

We were on the second floor of the southern wing—the complete opposite end of the palace than we’d intended to go.

These rooms were built to prevent a whole slew of magicks, even without Birka’s runes. But it seemed Akari and my chaotic- or Ki-based magicks bypassed the intrinsic properties of the building materials.

And lastly, and most annoyingly, the teleport magick that was attuned to my ‘blood’ was employed all over the palace.

I gave all three of the Renaultian scumbags a final whack with the pommel of my weapon, knocking them unconscious, and we left the room they had so gratefully left unlocked for us.

“Regal-One to Praetorian-One.” I opened a comms channel and called for Flik.

After an emotional and energy-draining back-and-forth with my Guard Captain, we confirmed a rendezvous point where Akari was confident she could warp us to with AETHERSTEP.

“Oh.” I caught myself before signing off the channel, “One last thing, Praetorian-One.”

“Anything for you, Your—Regal-One.”

“Call Assault-One and let him know he sucks at checking for traps. Allegedly, the whole palace is full of teleportation magick circles set specifically for me.”

I cut the channel and Akari began preparing to teleport us.

“That rat, Renault. Bastard gets on my nerves in the most unique ways, I swear. When I finally get a hold of his smug-looking face, I’m gonna pay him back for all the inconveniences!”

I continued cursing Renault under my breath while a glittering cloud of bubbly Aethermist formed around us.

Akari giggled as she squeezed me tightly, and I felt the world around us shift.