RD 5 Ch 33

With Bloodrage Ascension active, I swung back at Princess Almeria in her draconic form, my Bloodiron Blade growing to be nearly as large as I was. That meant it was nearly sixteen feet long, certainly enough to cleave the princess’s new form in half.

She twisted her long, serpentine body out of the way as her tail and the spines that ran along its ridge slapped into my blade and pushed it off course. The princess in that form wasn’t taller than me, but she had far more bulk as she moved on four powerful legs. Her scales shone a blue that was bright here, but would be nearly invisible in the depths of the oceans.

Not that I was going to let that discourage me. My muscles strained as I spun and brought the massive blade back around. If nothing else, I could use strength and endurance to overpower her. She was a little faster than me and a touch stronger, even in our two enlarged forms.

It wasn’t certain how long her ability would last, but it couldn’t be forever. Meanwhile, mine fed off the quantity of blood on the battlefield, and right now I wasn’t going to run out any time soon. In the worst case, I could call on Simone and the Mul Branova to come sacrifice their health and bolster me further.

The draconic Almeria and I traded a rapid series of blows. My blade chased after her long form while she twisted and writhed, bringing claws and spines to bear no matter which angle I approached from.

Then her tail kept trying to sneak around behind me only for her to let loose a high pressure blast of water from her mouth. It was a move she’d clearly practiced to finish more than a few fights.

Yet, after getting hit by it once, I adapted while her own bag of tricks remained shallow. That didn’t help just how damn evasive her long serpentine form was on top of the defence with those hard scales.

The two of us became more like a woodchipper than a duel, focused solely on each other, trying to gain an advantage and rip the other apart. Collateral battles mixed into our path, becoming bloody fodder for my Bloodrage Ascension. I had no problem letting my attacks slip past her and crush her forces, spilling blood on the ground only to soak it up.

“How dare you, coward!” she roared as she dodged a Sanguine Slash that tore through half a dozen of her soldiers who’d ducked behind her for safety.

“I’m fairly certain it’s your responsibility to protect them, not mine,” I said, charging again even as she twisted and tried to latch onto me with draconic claws. They pricked into my arms, punching rough, bloody holes, even as I wrapped a bicep around her throat, squeezing, flexing, trying to drive the air from her lungs.

She let out a frustrated roar; her tail lashed and the spines slashed at my hip and legs.

Immortal body kicked in and healed those wounds nearly as fast as she could make them. I held tight, squeezing harder in hopes I could choke her out and end the struggle.

She rolled with me, our large forms crushing fighters that couldn’t get out of the way. And she struggled, but seemed to have a fundamental lack of experience in wrestling. Then again, that wasn’t something they usually taught princesses.

In many ways she was too naive to be out here on the battlefield. Though I quickly learned I’d misunderstood the princess’s naivety.

When she twisted, her eyes locked on Simone, perhaps because Simone was important to me, or perhaps because she was in the process of casting another heal on me.

“Kill her!” the princess shouted, stretching her tail out in an attempt to sweep Simone off her feet. It whipped out at its full length, the spines on the end heading straight for the love of my life.

Not that I’d ever let that happen in a million years. I twisted my grip on Almeria, activated Sanguine Locking, and jerked her away.

Her tail brushed so close to Simone that the veil nearly flew off her head from the breeze. But it was the look of abject horror on Simone’s face more than anything else that drove me to change my plans.

Almeria scoffed, barely wheezing the next words as I tried to crush her with renewed effort. “My people will get her, or I will,” the princess promised.

I shifted my grip, nearly losing her, as a new Bloodblade began to form in my hand. Stretching out from where it hovered near her chest, the blade’s tip grew and punched into her draconic scales. Though they put up a good fight, the scales cracked and collapsed as my ability’s rank fought against her defenses.

“I came here to capture you, not kill you,” I said, pushing the blade harder. “But if you’re going to try and kill her, then you’re not worth the risk.” My blood ran hot at the idea of trying to save the princess costing me Simone.

That was an entirely unacceptable trade. Instead it would be far better for me to just end the princess and deal with her people outside the trial.

Her struggles escalated as her scales gave way, her blood spurted and my blade threatened her life. Perhaps she’d sensed she wasn’t at a dead end before, now she was. She fought with a sudden surge of strength, like a caged animal that knew if it didn’t put every last ounce and then some into escaping it would die.

She twisted enough that my blade didn’t pierce straight through her heart, and she freed her throat to shout, though rather than intelligible words, what came out was a low-pitched call, more like a horn blown over the mountains and heard for miles.

It didn’t take a genius to understand what that meant. Every one of her soldiers across Circe’s camp and the battlefield dropped what they were doing and rushed to her aid.

Circe and Winnie had held several of them off this entire time. Two of those soldiers rushed me with spears and, even while taking fatal blows from Winnie, managed to drive a spear into my calf, twisting the weapon with their final breaths and using an ability to explode as much of my flesh away as they could.

Her entire army became suicidal just to deal the slightest amount of damage to me.

My attention faltered; I lost my balance and the princess slipped away, clutching at her throat as several of her soldiers began casting healing toward her.

With a sudden influx of damage headed my way and the immediate danger to Simone, I knew I had to kill Princess Almeria as fast as possible to protect those I cared about in the Trial.

Rather than continue to defend, I left myself completely open to the wave of attacks coming at me, accepting them with open arms. It must have looked strange, particularly the way Almeria stared at me, dumbfounded, as mauls crushed my bones and blades and blasts scourged my flesh.

Even with Immortal Body, I was taking damage faster than I expected.

Then my health plummeted faster than I could ever hope to heal. But that was the point. I activated Last Stand as it dipped dangerously low, and an overwhelming surge of strength flowed through my entire body.

I wanted to end this quickly, and when it came down to it, I simply could. It only meant getting the conditions right.

The princess must have known something was wrong; she tried to backpedal and get away even as I surged forward, promising death with my gaze. I came at her hard and fast, swinging with five times the strength of my prior attacks, enough to knock her large draconic form back, even as its four clawed feet scrambled for purchase and tore the land up beneath them.

The princess batted at my sword, only for it to chip off three of the claws she’d put between us. “You had another lifesaving ability in your back pocket,” she growled in frustration, throwing out several items as she did.

They did little to stop Bloodrage Ascension or Last Stand as they exploded with a dozen effects. My stats still overwhelmed her, driving her back as sweeps of my blade carved away draconic scales and promised her a swift death in the very near future.

I didn’t have many words to spare, but it was only fair to let her know why she was about to die. “You dared to target Simone. I will make you regret that for the scant few moments you have left.”

I hit her with everything I had, like swinging for a home run, putting my entire body into the strike: twisting my hips, driving an overwhelming amount of power through my weapon to pierce her scales and end it in one final blow.

However, Almeria managed to escape death once again, dropping her draconic form and shrinking into a much smaller, less hostile shape. Her armor and clothing were shredded beyond recognition. Even as my blade came back around for another final blow, she knelt on the ground as the transformation fell away and dipped her head. “Please, Lord Bran. Stay true to your words and make me regret it for as long as I live. Though selfishly, I ask that you let me live long enough that the regret seeps deep into my bones. Hence forth, I surrender myself to you. ”

I paused, my blade hovering like a guillotine above her head, ready to strike down and sever it if nothing more than to prove a point for the cost of going after those I cared about. Blood pumped down my arms, hot with my rage. While a small part of me tried to scream that I’d won and it was time to stop.

While my emotions were still raw and at war with a piece of my logical brain, a system message popped up in the corner of my eye, distracting me for a moment, just as I saw the familiar reaction from the princess before me when she received her own system message and shouted “Yes!” before glancing at me, apology written on her features.

The white-haired princess, two small blue horns rising from her brow, gave me a guilty grinning smile. “Sorry for forcing this on you, but I do want to live.”

Then the system message refused to let me ignore it, popping up fully in my face:

[Congratulations. You’ve completed the Trial of Kings.]

AN - Okay, close to target of halfway through the book for the Trial. Though, I do think I need to go back and add in some out of the trial scenes, particularly in the beginning to make the tension of the trial a little more punchy to start. I think starting with the dream and memory loss might be a hard reentry for people who haven't recently read book 4.