Chapter 367 - The Stifled Sword XI

  109833 - 3 - 4 - 8

  Dear Diary,

  Today Master took us out hunting and showed us what Vel’khanese dungeons are like. There was a lot of water and I learned how to swim! Lina can’t really swim yet even though she’s way stronger and faster than me. She doesn’t really like water in general. Master said that it was because she was a catgirl, but I don’t really see how that has to do with anything. Sometimes, I think he forgets that I’m a catgirl too.

  We’re going to leave Vel’irrin tomorrow so we can go to the capital.

  I don’t really want to go, but Ms. Olga said her real home is even better than the one we’re staying in right now, and the food is tastier in the capital too. I can’t wait! We’re going to have so much fun!

  Lia

  ___

  Ace slowly lowered his head as his mind caught up with the world around it. Blood dribbled from his lips and flowed from his chest. He struggled to keep his body together, but it refused to listen. He couldn’t feel his arms or legs. Nothing past his shoulders seemed to respond to his commands.

  The most he could manage was a bested grin.

  He should have known. All the signs were there, but in spite of his role, he was too foolish, too trusting to have seen them. The loss was his. And he was happy to accept it.

  The lizardman’s chest slid off his severed stump, bursting into a fountain of red.

  Sophia wasted no time. She leapt at the queen almost immediately, but she failed to reach her. Chloe threw herself between them and took on the role of a shield, while Matthias moved even further in front to catch the blow head-on. In a sense, he succeeded. His scythes had intercepted the fists before they could strike his master.

  But so too did the mantis fail. Because his body cked the durability to emerge unscathed.

  Both natural weapons cracked open. They broke right down the middle and shattered to bits. Having pierced his defences, the punch nded square on his abdomen and ripped his carapace apart.

  Cracks spread throughout his body, glowing a faint crimson before erupting from within. It was a deyed second strike, an arcane variant of a tool that Cire knew well.

  He fell where he stood.

  The same fate as the unlucky lizard.

  But not even his life sufficed to stop the kelpfin’s fist. The hand kept going. It looked like it would surely pierce the maid as well. But the mantis’ flesh slowed it just enough for Cire to enter the fray. She bashed her lizard into the sharkgirl’s fist, dispcing it before it could earn another kill.

  The traitor frowned. She locked eyes with Cire for a brief moment before leaping a few feet backwards and escaping the sweeping strike that followed.

  Both fighters lowered their hips and prepared to engage again, but Arciel stepped forward and stuck out her arm, prompting both of them to look her way. The shadow mage was still woozy; she clutched her head as she raised it, her eyes never once shifting to the kelpfin’s frame.

  “I didn’t realize it was her.” Panda broke the silence before the squid could speak. Sitting on the ground with his eyes gssy, his head hanging, and his throat filled with blood, he squeezed the words out as best as he could. It didn’t look like he was talking about anyone in particur, and no one in the room had the appropriate context. But he continued to speak regardless. “Ephesus got me good. Swindled even the clothes off my back.” He turned his eyes, shifting them towards the royals. “Don’t try it. She’s over nine-hundred.”

  And then, silence. There were no more words. His eyes returned to their forward position and his body fell still. Just like the lizard’s.

  “Thank you, Panda,” said Arciel, quietly. She took a deep breath before raising her eyes. “Expin yourself, Sophia Ray’esce. What is the meaning of this?”

  The kelpfin paused for a second before opening her mouth. “Request denied. I am not authorized to provide that information.”

  “She was the traitor,” said Cire.

  “Negative. I am not a traitor. I am one of your companions,” said Sophia.

  It was an obvious lie, but she wasn’t sweating, her heart rate was normal, and her breath held steady. Her speaking was calm, her eyes never wavered, and her statement remained direct. There were no obvious signs. Context was the only thing that allowed the lyrkress to identify the falsehood.

  The deception was so perfectly crafted that not even Cire Augustus could detect it.

  “The prime minister raised you as his own.” The queen’s voice cracked.

  “Affirmative. I was considered to be a substitute for his deceased child.”

  “Would you truly betray his trust so easily?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “And mine as well?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “We have been acquainted since the moment of my reawakening, Sophia Ray’esce. Must you ignore the bond we have fostered and twist this kni—”

  “Enough.” Cire pinched the squid’s cheeks and gave her a backwards tug. “You can ask your questions after I snap her neck.”

  “I cannot simpl—”

  “She’s trying to rile you up.”

  “I am aware. But I canno—” Arciel was cut short again as her hat was pulled down and made to cover her face. She was pushed away before she could fix it, thrust straight into Chloe’s arms. The maid hugged her tenderly, gently squeezing her shoulders as they continued to tremble.

  Having gotten rid of the troubled monarch, Cire turned to face the newfound foe with Boris raised and ready. She refrained from raising the army in Porcius’ corpse. Projectiles would do no good against a barehanded fighter, and their allies were hardly any better. Sophia only gnced at them occasionally, checking to ensure that the fox’s aura was never restored.

  Cire was the first to move. She slowly walked towards her target and swung her weapon from halfway across the room. The lizard’s torso extended. Increasing in length ten times, he made a beeline for her side.

  Sophia jumped over him. She rotated her body in midair and pnted her feet on the ceiling, only to find the lizard turned exactly ninety degrees. He perfectly followed her trajectory without any pse in speed. It was the sort of impossible movement typically reserved for a skill and limited to a specific set of motions. That was how it worked in the cottontails’ case. But Cire cared little for physics—a fact of which they were both aware.

  The kelpfin bounced into motion. She shot across the ceiling with a cottontail’s momentum and threw a magically infused punch on her way back down to the floor.

  Cire evaded it without so much as sparing a gnce, but the ground beneath them wasn’t quite as swift. It cracked as the bare fist made contact, a web-like pattern spreading across the tiles. The fissures pulsed a bright red before bursting with pure mana. The magical bst ripped right through the floor and cracked open the castle’s barrier, fizzling out just before it hit the ground.

  Sophia allowed the lyrkress no time to recover. Her fist still pnted on the ground, she twirled her legs to deliver a powerful, sweeping kick. But Cire dodged it again. Ducking beneath the sharkgirl’s bded feet, she drove Boris towards her gut. He transformed into a bde at the moment of impact and ran her all the way through, but Sophia didn’t even flinch.

  She was technically a warrior type. And as would any such Cadrian soldier, she quickly regenerated her flesh. The effect was even more powerful than that of the previous Pollux. Her wound was closing in spite of the bde still buried within it.

  Neither fighter waited for the restoration to complete. Sophia moved forward; she advanced past the lyrkress’ spear, burying the weapon deeper into her body as she swung her fists at her opponent’s armour. Cire turned Boris into a sword and sawed through the kelpfin’s flesh. She aimed downwards, at her head, so she could stop her regeneration.

  For a second, it looked like they both went all in. But perhaps knowing that her strike would not connect, Sophia gave up halfway. She ripped her body to the side, allowing her foe to remove a rib whilst taking up a better position.

  Cire twisted the weapon on its way out and transformed it into a massive mace. She took far more flesh and bone than Sophia had anticipated, but the traitor’s wounds were healed by the time her body was righted.

  Fpping her wings, the qiligon gave chase, but the fish drew an arc in the air with her hand and produced a magical bde that forced a dodge. It was the same attack that had sin the lizardman in a single blow. Like a beam spell, the arcane-exclusive attack was of a contractual nature, its invocation requiring a minute in combat since its st use. With most high-level duels sting but a few seconds, its value was scarce, but its raw power could not be simply denied. The missed bde murdered the ship’s crew, carved through the barrier, and exposed the night sky beyond.

  The weaponless battlemage followed the attack with a charge, but Cire magically grabbed her foot as soon as she tried to raise it. Whereas most others would have crashed into the ground, the Cadrian spy carried on undisturbed. She caught herself with her hands and used the forward momentum to deliver a somersault kick.

  It nded right on target. The unread attack broke through Cire’s armour and struck her in the middle of the chest. Both fighters took damage. Cire’s shard tore through the traitor’s foot and left a trail of ice within it, but the trade still fell in the enemy’s favour.

  The physical damage dealt was practically negligible. Cire’s bones were rattled and her flesh was bruised, but everything remained exactly where it was. The magic that invaded her body was far more painful. It entered through the point of contact, eating and burning her flesh as it intruded upon her ruined circuits. The pain she felt each day was amplified a hundredfold. Her breath ran ragged and her legs threatened to tremble. Even though she had mitigated the damage by absorbing much of the mana.

  The tactic would have worked against any other type of battlemage. The magical attack that Sophia had unched, however, was not delicate enough for it to be belled a spell. It was nothing but a torrent of raw power, power that Cire was certain the shark had not possessed before.

  A second attack followed before the caldriess could recover. Sophia bounced off the ceiling and transitioned into a downward smash. Her fists were on track to nail the lyrkress’ skull, but a st-minute vector pulled her arms off course and steered her into a counter.

  It was the elf god’s technique, just performed with magic in pce of the usual, primitive means. All barbarism was left to her lizard, which she delivered in the shape of an elephant sword.

  The tip of Boris’ bde gouged open the shark’s face. He bit into her skull and cracked it in half before erupting from the other side. Such an attack would surely have seen Porcius defeated. Her head was split down the middle with a visible tear in her face. But Sophia cared little for such minor inconveniences. She twisted her hips, guiding the bde deeper into her brain as she smmed Cire’s side with an open-palmed strike.

  Gritting her teeth, Cire pushed further into the fistfighter’s range. Grabbing the arcane caster, she assumed her true form and shoved her into the ground. Her magic took hold right after. A thick yer of true ice encased everything up to the base of the kelpfin’s jaw.

  The lyrkress backed away, her eyes trained on her enemy as she magically lifted her into the air, where she could easily be watched for any suspicious movements.

  “Talk,” said Cire. “Since when have you been working for Ephesus?” It had to have been since the revolution at least. There was no other reason for her to have hidden her strength for so long.

  “Negative. I cannot provide an answer to that question as I have never worked for Ephesus.”

  “Then who?”

  “My employ was transferred to Arciel Vel’khan at the time I joined the northern brigade. I have been working for her since.”

  Cire stared intently, but even with her true form’s even rger ears, she found it impossible to determine if the shark was telling the truth. Nothing about her changed in the slightest. She even returned a calm, tranquil gaze. Her eyes were devoid of malice, defiance, and hate. Not even Cire’s coldness was reflected within them. They were simply empty.

  It might have been easier to expose her lies if they knew more about her background, if they had something or other to leverage. But even if that were to be the case, Cire didn’t see much of a point in interrogation. She could have asked for Sylvia’s help if they were really desperate, but it wasn’t as if there was much to gain from picking the kelpfin’s brain.

  She knew how Cadrian assassins worked. Even if they were caught, even if they were threatened or tortured, they would never reveal the truth.

  Sophia was only worth as much as the experience she granted.

  And that was why she shifted to execution.

  She grabbed the shark’s face and started draining her health. She held the position for a full ten seconds, but Sophia never reacted. Her body never distorted and her soul refused to budge, no matter how hard the lyrkress yanked. It was like the attack had no effect.

  Somewhat annoyed, Cire summoned Boris into the air in front of her. She grabbed him between her teeth, turned him into a mace, and annihited her target’s skull. There was no doubt that Sophia’s head was gone. It was crushed to tiny bits by the thorny bludgeon.

  And yet, her log was silent.

  It continued to say nothing as the kelpfin’s face reformed from nothing, easily growing from the stump left in the unbreaking ice.

  Cire repeated the attack immediately. But the result was unchanged. Sophia didn’t care that her mind was broken. Her body restored itself regardless. It didn’t make sense. All centaurian, cottontail, and thoraen warriors suffered from the weakness, and the biology of a kelpfin was not different enough to disqualify it. But as she proved, by melting into a fleshy glob that worked its way out of the ice, Sophia was not a kelpfin.

  She quickly reconstructed her body. The supposed shark started by reverting to her previous form, but she rapidly shifted away from the inferior construction. Her skin took on the pale colour shared by most other Cadrians. Her body’s structure became human, with her gills and other shark-like features slowly fading away. But just as the others were about to confirm her humanity, in spite of her ck of genitals, she grew a pair of tendrils from the tip of her tailbone. The tentacles shot across the room and grabbed one of the centaurs that Chloe had previously sin. They separated its two halves and gouged half the flesh out of its horsier body part. She filled the gap herself, entering the horse’s frame and assuming control by attaching her spine to its own.

  The rest of her body changed to match. Her upper half enrged, scaling to the centaur’s proportions, while her arms extended to allow her to reach her rear. Her chest shrank to nothing, so she more closely resembled the sex of the person she possessed, and her features sharpened, growing more masculine as well.

  Though fascinated, Cire did not simply sit around and allow the enemy to complete her transformation. She struck the strange creature twice, once when she nearly became human, and again as she took over the dead horse. But both times, her attacks were ignored. Sophia had allowed the lizard to enter her body and rip at her flesh without seeing her process disrupted.

  She didn’t react until her body was fully formed, at which point she countered with a sudden punch, one much heavier and faster than any she had delivered before. A giant swing that arced into the lyrkress’ chin.

  Cire was sent flying, but she nulled her momentum quickly enough to evade the bde that followed. Again, the projectile exposed the great outdoors.

  Sophia followed with another strike of the fist, but Cire tilted the building and threw her off bance. She tried to lift the unsteady shark-horse in the meantime, but to no avail. The centaur’s armour neutered her vectors’ output.

  Still, she got her to budge, throwing her further off bance and opening her up to a follow-up attack.

  Cire led with her tail. She covered it with a massive bde, forged from her runecloak, and drove it towards the former fish’s fnk. Sophia parried; she knocked it away with her fist and easily deflected the hoof that followed.

  She capitalized on both moments of contact by shooting magic through the lyrkress’ veins. The attacks were effective, but greedy. Because she had failed to see that it was an intentional trade.

  The giant serpent’s jaws dug into her back. Having quickly circled around the fake centaur, Cire drove her teeth through the armour in her horsier half. It shattered almost immediately, breaking into a thousand pieces like a panel of gss.

  No time was wasted. Cire shed out with a trio of forces and sent her foe flying through one of the openings she created herself. She gave chase right after, following her into the sky in which her body was suspended. There was nothing to give Sophia leverage. She was held in midair with the closest object—the castle’s wall, nearly a dozen meters away. The wings that adorned her centaurian body were likewise held still, forced in pce by the lyrkress’ authority.

  A storm of vectors struck her head-on. They grabbed at her flesh and pulled it away. The vectors didn’t rip cleanly—Sophia’s natural magic resistance was just high enough that they had some difficulty pulling her sinew apart. Even attacking from all directions, the spells were unable to outperform her regeneration. But that was hardly a surprise. Cire had known that the attack was unlikely to finish her. She was probing for weaknesses, parts that the fake centaur would have more difficulty healing.

  But there were none. Every limb and organ stolen was restored without pause.

  Her species, whatever it was, was not so easily sin.

  Recognizing that they were locked in stalemate, Sophia purged her stolen centaur parts and kicked them towards the lyrkress. Cire flung the carcass out of the way to reveal the arcane bolt behind it. The spell exploded as soon as it was revealed, flooding her vision with a wall of red. But even that was dispced, shifted seven meters up, out of her line of sight.

  The caldriess followed without dey, pumping her wings as she became a missile. While the Cadrian standard would have been to adjust her own trajectory, she opted to change her opponent’s instead.

  Sophia was pulled right into her path and forced to bear the weight of her talons as they plummeted to the ground. The supposed shark’s flesh scattered far and wide, but her body continued to heal and Cire continued to strike her.

  She pummeled and smashed with her talons, stomped with her hooves, bashed with her tail, and struck with her lizard.

  Nothing worked, not even after she threw a fistful of points in strength and pushed it past the hundred thousand threshold.

  Sophia healed more damage than she took, even though the Boris in her gut was draining her health all the while. She was even more durable than the god of trolls. He may have been a shadow, but his regeneration was his greatest strength and she clearly saw him outdone.

  The Cadrian assassin turned to mist as Cire’s frustration reached its peak, but Cire didn’t allow her to escape. She magically seized the individual particles and forced them back together, just so she could whale on her again.

  But it was still no use.

  At best, she could stop her from moving.

  At worst, she was wasting her time and losing a battle of endurance.

  There was no choice. She had to py the rest of her cards.

  Taking a deep breath, Cire reeled back her head and prepared to destroy her circuits. Her blood spilled as the magic gathered in her lungs. Her circuitry cracked as she prepared the attack. Bit by bit, it shattered. The colour drained from each of her extremities as her mana gathered in her throat.

  Even without unleashing the spell, it felt like she was being torn apart.

  Noticing the opening Sophia backed away and turned to mist again. She scattered her body to the winds and evenly spread her consciousness throughout their surroundings. She should have been untouchable, undetectable even. But she soon found every individual particle pulled back towards a single point in space.

  Her surroundings were unaffected. It was only the pieces of her body that were taken, dragged into the gravitational anomaly two feet from the qiligon’s maw.

  She panicked when Cire exhaled, desperately pushing herself away from the magic-rich air. She was unable to escape it. But at the same time, she was unaffected.

  At first, she thought that she was safe, that the spell had failed on account of her intangible form. Nothing happened, even three seconds after she suffered the attack. She was able to speed away unscathed until the magic triggered.

  Everything that the breath had touched was deleted, overwritten, and repced by a giant sb of ice whose existence sted all of two seconds. When the timer ticked down, the ice was rapidly dispersed, transformed into a powdery snow that further faded into nonexistence.

  Log Entry 853793You have leveled up. Your health and mana have been partially restored.

  Your titur css, Witch of the Seventh Tempest, has reached level 25.

  You have acquired 2000 ability points.

  She had clearly gained a fistful of experience.

  But somehow, even though Sophia had been erased, she was denied the kill.