The assassin charged at Rai. His sword appeared in his hand as he leaned back. Time seemed to slow as her blade crossed less than half an inch in front of his eyes. Her other sword crossed the opposite direction, aiming to split his stomach, but he managed to twist, and it scraped along his forcefield armor. Then her first blade came down in a diagonal, slicing the front of his left shoulder and down across his chest. He felt some sort of dark energy rip at his life force, filling him with a sense of absolute wrongness. He jumped back through the space where the portal had been moments before to evade an upward X-slash.
Accelerate, he thought, infusing himself with star energy. Time slowed down further as he lunged forward, striking in a rapid three-thrust combo. With startling speed, she deflected the first two strikes and dodged the third, leaning aside and letting it pass by her head, then unleashed a flurry of strikes at lightning speed. He dodged, parried, and deflected with forcefield, but one slash got through, slicing across his stomach. Another lurch of life leech assaulted him. Then she drove both swords into his chest so quickly that even his sixth battle sense didn’t react in time. The last thing he felt was the another life leech from either sword. Then everything went black.
“Rai!” Isa screamed as the assassin pulled her swords out and Rai hit the floor. “Damn you!”
Isa raged, entering Berserk Mode. She stepped forward, set her feet, and yelled, “Death Blow!” She swung with almighty force.
Five rings on the woman’s fingers shattered as the halberd struck her in the stomach, hurling her through the air. Five of the other assassins were split in half horizontally, falling to the floor. The woman hit the wall with a crack, falling and landing on her feet unsteadily. Her clothing was damaged, but she appeared uninjured.
“That’s an impressive swing,” the woman said. But you’ll have to do better than that!”
“Die! Golden Savage Rush!”
Isa charged. The woman tried to dodge, but found herself pinned to the wall by the halberd, which injected her with Corrosive Injection, followed by the halberd slamming against her (and injecting acid) twice more in rapid succession. Each hit destroyed a ring and caused another assassin to be pierced through and slain, and the acid was transferred to a different person with each blow, leading to three other rings shattering and rising – then cut off – screams as three more died, eaten from the inside by acid.
The woman’s eyes went wide and darted around the room, taking in the fact that only one of her subordinates remained.
“I’m a Champion!” she said. “If you kill me, you’re violating the deal!”
Isa froze, barely able to hold herself back.
The woman slashed her across the chest in that moment, both weapons cutting through scales and spraying blood… as well as leeching life energy.
“Damned assassin!” Isa released her halberd with her left hand and grabbed the woman by the neck, her claws refusing to penetrate flesh. She squeezed, and one of the final two rings cracked as the other assassin remaining gave a strangled cry, blood flowing from giant holes and acid from Corrosive claw eating away at him until the ring broke with his death. The woman managed to land two more desperate blows before claws suddenly pierced her neck. And acidic blood filled the holes.
Isa released her, dropped the halberd, and drove her right claws into the woman’s stomach, sending more acid from another Corrosive Claw there. The woman coughed, dropping her swords and fumbling at a small pouch. She pulled out a potion and drank it, stopping the bleeding and partially closing the wounds.
Isa backhanded her across the temples from both directions at the same time, knocking her out. The woman collapsed, and Isa kicked her hard in the head for good measure before turning back toward Rai and Mizeiya, the latter of whom was just finishing incarnating.
“Rai!” Isa said, rushing over to her fallen partner, her Berserk Mode fading. “You can’t be dead…” She held her hand over Rai’s mouth and dropped globule after globule of healing Blood Elixir – eight castings of the spell. While he still looked pale, his wounds completely healed over the course of the magical first aid.
“Urgh…”
Rai opened his eyes to see both Isa and Mizeiya looking down at him in concern.
“Life drain feels awful,” he said, “but my actual injuries are gone now. You should treat yourself, too, Isa.”
“…Right.”
“We were just reunited,” Mizeiya said. “I forbid you to die on me, Rai.”
Rai smiled. “Yes, beautiful.”
Mizeiya glanced down at her nude form. “I need clothes, but…” She looked around the room at the carnage. “This is…”
There was a flash of light, and the Chancellor appeared. She glanced around, quickly taking in the current situation.
“I will have to investigate how they got in here,” she said to herself. A pained expression flitted across her face as she looked at the dead ritualist. “It would have been a perfectly-staged attack if the timing had been early enough to prevent you from returning.”
“It nearly was,” Isa said, standing. “We barely made it through, only to be immediately ambushed. That woman is skilled; she nearly killed Rai. Granted, Rai wasn’t using magic, but… something was off about her. And those weapons aren’t normal either, they inflict a weak form of Life Drain with each hit. I’m worried that Eternity might be utilizing star energy somehow. Also, she had these rings that allowed her to force others to take damage for her. I never touched the others; they died when I fought her. That’s not a normal magic item, right?”
“Definitely not. If you’re right that Eternity is using star energy… things could become much more dangerous for us. Why did you leave her alive?”
“Because she said she’s a Champion, which means if either Rai or I kill her, Eternity will go after Rai’s family.”
“I see. I’ll need to make it clear that we have her here at the Tower and that she’s no longer your responsibility. We should study her to see if she’s been affected by star energy while she’s here, as well as studying her weapons.”
“And the shattered rings,” Rai said. “If we can repair them with magic—”
“Not possible unless we know how they work, which defeats the purpose, since that would be why we’d repair them. Now.”
The Chancellor turned to face Rai and Mizeiya. “This young woman must be Mizeiya Swiftblade.”
“I am… who are you?”
The Chancellor smiled. “I am the Chancellor of the Magic Tower of the Isle of Heaven’s Reach.”
Mizeiya’s eyes widened. “Rai’s dad’s boss? The most powerful woman on the continent?”
“I suppose, with Isa’s progress, that depends on how you define ‘powerful.’ But yes, that’s correct.”
“Sorry for my state of undress. I was just resurrected. I haven’t had a chance to find clothes yet.”
“Not to worry. We have plenty at the ready for you. Rai. I’ll handle organizing the cleanup here, as well as imprisoning the surviving assassin. You three head to your chambers and rest. I’ll send Master Gideon to check on you regarding the life drain.”
“Thanks,” Rai replied, standing with a little help from Mizeiya. “By the way, how did you know we were under attack?”
“I had a scrying sensor magic item – difficult to make – set up in this room connected to a visual display in my office. I happened to return to the office in time to see the aftermath and immediately teleported here. If I’d been in my office earlier, perhaps I could have prevented this.”
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“Or gotten yourself killed,” Isa said. “You’re no more invincible than we are, and if you’d come in alone…”
“That is… an unfortunately good point. I suppose I should be glad this ended with only one life lost on our side. I must find out how they got inside…”
Rai put away his sword and Isa retrieved and stowed her halberd.
“Hands on me. Teleportation.”
With a jerk, the world shifted, and the three were standing in the bedchamber that Rai and Isa had shared while staying at the Isle of Heaven’s Reach.
“Whoa. Isn’t teleportation really high-level magic?” Mizeiya said.
“By today’s standards, yes,” Rai said. “It’s fifth circle.”
“I remember that you awoke as a mage while I was dying. Right? I didn’t imagine that?”
“No, that’s right. It’s been seven long years, and I’ve made a lot of progress. I’m a sixth circle mage and a sixth tier swordsman.”
“Sixth?! Wait, so… I’m super weak compared to you, aren’t I? That feels unfair, since I’m the one who taught you the sword in the first place. Okay… so… First things first, I need clothes. Then you can fill me in on what happened in the last… what was it, seven years?”
“Seven years,” Rai confirmed. “So, the clothes for you are in that dresser over there. You can pick out whatever you want.”
Mizeiya walked over and opened a drawer. “Um… these are all really high-quality. Like, maybe not as ornate as a noble would wear, but like… this is a silk shirt, for example. Am I just borrowing these from the Tower?”
“Nope. Whatever you want from there is yours. Even if you decide you want all of it.”
“And the Tower is just… giving it to me?”
“Well, no. I’m paying the Tower for whatever you take and the rest gets distributed to the more important people in the Tower – some of the items are gender-neutral, though most are fitted for your size and proportions. The Tower bought them for me for you.”
“Rai?”
“Yes?”
“Are you important? I mean, obviously you’re important to me, but… are you an important person?”
“A little bit. I’m the one who proved the Tower Era existed by discovering ruins and leading an expedition together with the Tower. I’ve also worked together with the Tower to research and study artifacts. That’s why I’m on good terms with the Chancellor. But also, I’m rich. Splitting our money evenly, Isa and I each have over eight and a half thousand gold, plus wealth in items.”
“How in the world…?” Mizeiya gave Rai an incredulous look.
“Get dressed first; you’re going to want to sit down for this.”
Mizeiya complied.
“Yi-meep!”
Braveheart popped out from under one of the pillows excitedly. She rushed to the end of the bed and jumped into Rai’s chest, where he caught her.
“Were you asleep?”
Mizeiya, fully dressed in a green silk shirt and teal cotton leggings as well as socks and a pair of supple leather shoes, turned back around.
“What is that?! It’s adorable!”
“Mizeiya, say hello to my familiar, Braveheart. Braveheart, meet my girlfriend, Mizeiya, the one we were trying to resurrect. Mizeiya, Braveheart is still a juvenile, but she’s quite intelligent – smarter than a lot of people, I’d wager. She’s a carbuncle, a very rare magical beast.”
“So your name is Braveheart? Can I pet you, Braveheart?”
“She says yeah. Enthusiastically. She likes being pet.”
Mizeiya stroked Braveheart’s soft fur. “Oh, you’re so soft! Adorable and soft! Rai’s so lucky to have you as his friend.”
“Yi-meep!” Braveheart agreed. Rai chuckled.
Mizeiya looked up at Isa. “So, I guess you’re the other one that needs introduction.”
“I’m Isa Bloodscale, Rai’s partner. We’ve been working together for three years. Lots of life and death situations. I’m also sixth realm – sixth circle, sixth tier. I fight with a halberd.”
“How did you both become so powerful?”
“Talent, hardship, and opportunity,” Rai answered. “Now, it’s time to sit down and give you a brief summary of what’s happened these last seven years.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Gideon here to cure you of life drain,” a voice said from the other side.
Rai handed Braveheart to Mizeiya and opened the door. A beardless half-dwarf entered. “You and the saurian, yes? True Recovery.” Rai immediately felt better, all signs of the life drain eliminated. The man walked over to Isa and cast the spell a second time. “You should be good now.”
“Thank you,” Rai said.
Gideon looked at Mizeiya. “Is this the resurrected lass? What was it like, being dead?”
“The entities in the afterrealm kept trying to get me to let go of my attachments and were unhappy that I resisted. Most of the details are fuzzy, except for the last bit.”
“I see…”
Gideon left, mumbling thoughtfully to himself. Rai closed the door behind him.
“Okay, sit and talk time.” They all sat down on the beds. “I’ll start with the night you died…”
-x-
Rai’s “brief” explanation took many hours. They had arrived back in the mortal plane near midday, and the tale lasted well into the night – with a break for supper – before they went to sleep, Isa in one bed and Rai and Mizeiya (and Braveheart) in the other. The tale continued the next day and lasted the entire day. Mizeiya was shocked to find out that Rai and Isa had time traveled, but accepted it as the explanation for why she had been told that his plan to bring her back had been in the works for over seven thousand years. She also readily accepted that he planned to continue working as a field scholar studying the Tower Era and that he would still be working to achieve Isa’s goal.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to settle down, too,” he said. “With the ability to teleport vast distances, I can do both. With that in mind…”
Rai pulled out the matching bracelets he had bought for the two of them. “Mizeiya Swiftblade, will you marry me?”
She smiled, tears in her eyes. “I resisted going to the celestial planes for you. You traveled to the distant past and into the afterrealm for me. Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
Isa stood up as they embraced, both of them crying.
“I’ll see about staying in another room tonight,” she said. “Have a good night. Come on, Braveheart. You’re staying with me tonight.”
“Yi-meep?”
“I’ll explain it to you after we’re in the other room, okay?”
Braveheart hopped up and climbed on top of Isa’s head, and the saurian exited the room, shutting the door gently behind her.
Isa wandered around until she found someone.
“I am in need of another room, temporarily.”
“Uh… why?” the young man asked.
“Because Rai and his beloved need some… alone time.”
“Alone time? …Oh! Yes, I’ll help you find a room right away!”
-x-
“Most of the items used in the ritual were either consumed or are no longer in good condition, but these two are still intact – if anything, they seem to have been enhanced by the ritual,” the Chancellor told the group, holding out the Soul Pearl and Diamondheart.
“Those are huge!” Mizeiya exclaimed.
“They’re the key pieces of our shared treasure hoard,” Isa said. “Well, the only part that’s shared, actually, out of the money and gems and stuff. Well, that and the weird divine metal stuff.”
“Divine metal?” the Chancellor said curiously. Rai took out a finger-sized piece and handed it to her.
“You can have that one for the Tower,” he said. “We’ve got more. We met avatars of two gods; they used their powers to save Mizeiya from dying, and when they left, this was left behind like some kind of divine power residue or something.”
“Huh. I’ve never seen anything like this before. The way the colors shift… and it’s as light as silversteel, too. We’ll have to do some tests on it, but I bet it can be used in enchanting. The mana concentration is incredible. This might even surpass orichalcum.”
“Well, of course,” Isa said. “It’s divine in origin, after all. I plan on seeing if I can make a weapon out of it.”
“You already have the Dragon’s Halberd,” Rai pointed out.
“Not for me, obviously. For you.”
“But I have a… oh. I should probably give it back, shouldn’t I?”
“Exactly.”
Rai took out his sword and offered it to Mizeiya.
“Uh…”
“The blade is different, but… this is actually your sword, Mizeiya. We broke the blade and reforged it out of orichalcum. It’s a powerful weapon, and it’s rightfully yours. I was just borrowing it these last seven years.”
“You’re giving me a weapon made of orichalcum?!”
“It’s your sword. It’s called the Floral Blade.”
She took it and examined it. "Oh, because of the design.”
“I’ll have to edit the enchantments, though, to change the elemental output from fire and lightning to frost.”
The Chancellor looked at him as though he’d grown a second head.
“Did you just say ‘edit the enchantments’?” she said incredulously.
“Yeah, it’s something I learned to do at the Plentira Ruler’s Tower. It’s pretty high-level stuff; you’d have to be a Master to even start learning it. It’s pretty easy for me now, though.”
“That’s incredible! I’d classify that as Ancient Lost Knowledge, the kind of thing we’d consider a truly momentous discovery. Do you have any idea how useful such a skill would be?”
“Who do you take me for? Of course I do. And I intend to teach it to anyone with the ability to learn it – as an affiliate of the Magic Tower..”
The Chancellor’s eyes gleamed and she beamed. “Excellent!”
“For now, though… I’d like to get Mizeiya settled in at my family home and work with Isa and Braveheart to make a new sword for me out of the divine metal. After that… well… I guess it all depends, but since my family home is in Landsgrace, I might get involved with the war to make sure that the kingdom doesn’t lose to the republic.”
“The Magic Tower has mostly been staying out of that war to focus on the one with Eternity. If you do decide to participate, make sure you don’t let your guard down.”
“Right. Well… let’s go home, Mizeiya. Isa, I’m sure Sylvie’s waiting patiently to see you.”
Isa smiled and put a hand on Rai’s shoulder. “Then let’s get going.”
“Teleportation.”