Silas blocked the swing of Thorn and parried a thrust from Janus, but Clarent cut around and slashed across his wrist. The armor held there but grew bright orange with heat. I pressed forward and he took a step back. He had greater strength, speed, and endurance but he was also only one man while I had the capacity to fight like three.

A spell shot towards me from one of the magi and my left hand went up holding Mab aloft the spell absorbed into its pages.

“You think your people might have learned from the last time,” I said. “Your magics no good on me.”

“That is why I was chosen to face you,” Silas said blurring forward.

I disappeared having foreseen his ability in use and slashed out. He blocked as I knew he would, and we slid into a rhythm. Block, parry, riposte step back reengage. Silas tried all manner of tricks on me, but it appeared he’d taught Guinevere all he knew and she in turn me. Despite his advantage in strength, speed and even skill didn’t do any good when I knew every move he’d make and could feel the pattern in his blade.

“You don’t seem up to the job,” I said. “Who was it who sent you, anyway? I thought you were one of the top dogs.”

“We have no singular leader,” Silas said parrying Janus and Clarent and letting Thorn slide off his breastplate. “We are governed by a triumvirate; I am but one of three.”

“Top three, huh,” I said blocking six of his attacks letting two glance of my armor on my wrists while the rest were deflected by Manica and pauldrons as I let them glance off me even if they did rattle my bones.

“What was the plan if you didn’t work out, or did you not consider it?” I asked as I slid inside his guard Clarent melting through his armor on his right wrist forcing him to drop his sword.

Silas jumped back his sword flying into his other hand as he looked down on the ruined enchanted vambrace. “We did have a backup plan, although I would prefer not to have revealed her.”

The hair along my entire body stood up. I teleported to the side just in time to avoid a meteor blasting me. My vassals were retreating back to the fortress as Ares organized them keeping our casualties to a minimum as they thought the giants and magi. Out of the smoke emerged a woman in robes a dark midnight blue trimmed with azure velvet she didn’t carry as a staff or wand, but I could tell she was a wizard just by looking at her.

Her eyes were a brilliant violet-blue, her skin a deathly pale and black hair flowed back behind her going down to her waist.

Errila the Immortal Enchantress, Abomination- humanoid/mana-vampire, Hierophant*, Rank: Error

A rage and longing swelled up in me as I looked at her coming not from me but from inside me.

Errila, Karnen growled his voice filled with violence and also grief, pain and something else.

“Deal with his lieutenants,” Errila said to Silas. “I’ve got this.”

She faced me, her hands glowing with mana. Each of us stood still for a moment like gunslingers’ moments before a draw.

She extended her hand a blast of raw mana blasted out. I bent and swayed under the blast, my own hand extending out and crimson lightning forking out towards her. Her hands spun in circles as blue domes of mana appeared around her blocking the lightning. The domes shattered as razor sharp shards of mana shot towards me. Mab sucked them in, and we stopped again for a moment circling each other.

“Your not what I expected from the Warlord,” Errila said.

“I get that a lot,” I said with a shrug.

“Your very cavalier about facing your death,” she said looking me over. “You did well against Sazu but I’m way outside your rank.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve faced an abomination way more powerful than me,” I said.

Her face scowled. “The system may have classified me as that, but I am far from an abomination, just because I’ve found an alternative to power and immortality does not make me any less human than anyone else.”

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“You and I are far from human,” I said.

“True enough,” she agreed and blurred forward.

It wasn’t an ability she was just way faster than me her attributes were all at a minimum two-hundred-and-fifty for her to have reached hierophant. Void Asura, Foresight and my teleportation let me stay just ahead of her but it was a losing fight as she got closer and closer to hitting me her hands blazing with azure light.

It didn’t help that Karnen’s emotions were roiling up inside me and getting tangled up with my own.

“Pull yourself together,” I snapped at him.

“Excuse me?” Errila asked as she chopped at my neck with her hand.

I slid back, I couldn’t block with body even my artifact armor. The armor might be fine but the kinetic force behind the strike would still shatter all the bones under it.

“Wasn’t talking to you,” I said.

“Then who were you talking to?” Errila asked looking around. “Oh that right your helmet give you telepathy with your vassals.”

“Sure, lets go with that,” I agreed trying to strike at her back with Clarent.

She easily spun about blocked the strike of my sword. Her dress burned were it touched but her skin hit Clarent and tattooed enchantments along her skin lit up and the blade went no farther. She struck forwards with her other hand hitting me palm first and sending me flying.

I righted myself midair and dodged her follow ups strike as I gasped for breath my lungs impaled by my shattered ribcage. Her hand came around again and I managed to only get clipped this time. I hit the side of the body of leviathan bouncing off its scales. Errila approached me calmly as I tried up push myself back to my feet.

“You must have an impressive collection of titles to still be alive and able to move,” she said. “If circumstances were different, I’d have you captured so we could learn to unlock those titles ourselves. But time doesn’t allow for that sadly. This has to be done Warlord, goodbye.”

“That’s pretty much word for word what you said to me,” a stern male voice said and Errila froze.

The specter of Karen stepped out of my body his form armored in black, white and silver void armor a silver fire wreathing his body.

“Karnen,” Errila said her voice barely a whisper. “how are you…you…you died.”

“An interesting way to say you killed me,” Karnen said. “So you were a member of the order? Is that why you got close to me, to take the spells and research my ancestors had collected? And what? Once it was done you couldn’t leave any witnesses?”

“Yes,” Errila said collecting herself somewhat. “You were just a mission.”

“We both know we were more than that,” Karnen said. “I loved you more than anything, but when you left me to die, well it turned to hatred so strong I couldn’t pass on. The worst thing is if you had asked… I would have gone with you.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Errila said collecting herself. “You may have found this host be must die, and with him you.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Karnen said. “I thought I would try and kill you when I saw you again but I’ve watched Mordred, he has a real chance to win this game of the gods, and I think he will create something new.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think,” Errila said her hands glowing with pure mana once again. “You can’t stop me.”

“Try me,” Karnen said.

She moved to slash down but froze her body surrounded in spectral light as Karnen held out his hand. I felt my Ethereal drain as she tried to break free from Karnen’s trap.

The spirit of vengeance inhabiting you has changed into a Guardian Spirit with the aid of your ethereal energy. You lose the bonus to your rage and instead gain an enhanced damage resistance and vitality.

I sucked in a breath as my body began pulling itself together even faster. Karnen’s apparition disappeared his audible voice once more only in my head.

If you attack her, she’ll break free, he said. So, I’d advice not doing that.

How did you do that? I asked him.

Just a spell, Karnen said. One that she showed me once in fact, but I cast it with Ethereal instead of mana you don’t understand just how much more powerful that energy type is.

I could feel my vassals under threat and the occasional extinguishing as one of them died and disappeared from my senses. Activating Storm-fall I blasted into the air and towards my army and the fortress. The giants and magi were outside its walls besieging my soldiers as they fought to hold the line. Magi teleported in behind my lines taking a few pot shots before disappearing again. I could see Jeriah and Tobias fighting alongside their brothers against Sazu.

Unlike me they had no protection against his magic, and he summoned silver clones to fight beside him his sword glowing with silver light. I flew over the army a howl escaping my throat as I unleashed Helheim’s Scream debuffing the giant’s and magi. A never-ending torrent of crimson lighting shot out from all six of my hands blanketing the field below me. I dropped down in front of Sazu blocking his sword strike with Mab the grimoire absorbing the spell augmenting his sword.

Another magi opened a portal behind me in attempt to sneak attack me. I rammed Mab through the portal, and it was absorbed disappearing and cutting the man in half before he’d even full stepped through his other half left somewhere out on the battlefield.

Sazu looked me over apprehensively. “How did you get away from Errila?” he asked warily.

“Lets just say she’s busy,” I said. “Besides you and I never finished what we started.”

Jeriah stepped forward but I waved him back.

“This is between me and him,” I said.

“Oddly courteous of you,” Sazu said saluting me with his sword.

“It is the honor due you,” I said with a shrug of one shoulder. “Think of it as thanks for your treatment of Guinevere.”

Sazu frowned. “What do you know of Guinevere?” he asked, his voice filled with a menace that hadn’t been there a moment before.

“I know Guinevere better than anyone,” I said.

“Then you are a threat to her,” Sazu said and took his sword in a two-handed grip.