AO 5 Ch 41

Chapter 41

Roaring, Aurelia stepped between Carmilla and me. I filed away that roar to tease her about being a true maticore if we lived through this fight.

Aurelia’s axe blade exploded with fire as she matched Carmilla blow for blow in a mighty exchange.

I slid on the earth, getting out of the crazed former princess's reach, but as I moved, I felt something up above.

Cyam had lost the battle with the grand spell, and it came crashing down on me. The manticore claws I'd been about to prepare instead turned into a sheet of ice that I threw upwards to block the grand spell. This move required me to remain concentrated on the shield of ice's structure while also fixing it firmly in place both physically and in my mind to keep the grand spell from coming down and crushing us all.

Carmilla handily fought Aurelia, using her sword and shield as if she'd been born with them attached. She moved fast enough that my anchor was having difficulty, even with the occasional arrow from Zuri trying to stall Carmilla. Carmilla was still keeping up with both of them.

I was feeling the pressure as I held the grand spell at bay, and that was all I could focus on.

Suddenly, Carmilla sprayed death magic to the side in a sweeping scythe that caught Zuri. The attack was so large it covered an area that Zuri could not avoid. The curved wave of death magic, hit Zuri squarely in the chest before blowing past her. I knew that was enough.

Death magic was a death sentence.

Without Zuri's arrows, Carmilla quickly pushed Aurelia back into a corner. With a snap kick, she twisted Aurelia's knee around, only to backhand her with her shield and send the Virel sprawling.

"Maybe if you stop fighting, Ard, I'll go and I'll heal Zuri before I leave. I know how much you care for your anchors," Carmilla sneered.

I had no illusion that even if I did comply, she would do as she said. Not that it mattered, because as she approached me with a swagger in her step and a vicious smile on her lips, my anchors were all silently getting up behind her. Even the ones she thought she killed.

"It's over, Ard," Carmilla licked her lips. "I hope you know that I'm going to eat you. I'm going to tear your soul apart, and if you believe in an afterlife, I hope you know you'll never get there."

She lunged for me, only for a twisting spear of dark magic to punch through her from behind, before expanding like a grappling hook and snapping her down against the ground. In a moment of shock, Carmilla didn't react as my anchors all piled down upon her.

Maribelle, of course, went for the throat. Her two daggers were like a pair of serpent fangs, gushing death magic instead of venom as they pierced into Carmilla's neck. Maribelle was hacking and sawing away in a focused frenzy only Maribelle could perform. Though, she didn’t seem to be making much headway as Carmilla shielded herself with light.

Emlyn was there as well, lightning crackling off her sword as it buried itself in Carmilla's gut with rapid and precise thrusts while she cursed up a storm. She was trying to do as much damage as she could, and quickly. We all knew this needed to end fast.

Zuri had abandoned her bow and instead made a blade of light similar to Carmilla's. She joined the fray, going for the woman's ankles. Aurelia, on the other hand, looked disoriented from me stuffing her soul back in. It had been burning bright with my magic and I was sure I’d gotten the right one.

Eva held her to the side, beckoning for Uncle Valken to come help her. I couldn’t pump magic into her from afar like the others. I might have stuffed her soul back together, but she would bleed out again if she didn't receive aid. 

I flashed Eva a thumbs up, perfect ambush, all part of my master plan. Then I turned back to Carmilla.

She was staring at me with stunned eyes. There was no panic, no fear like I'd been expecting. Instead, she looked at me with contempt. Magic overflowed out of her, light exploding in every direction as her grand magic came crashing down in pieces, forcing everyone back.

Those blades of light hit the ground and shattered, each exploding and forcing even Maribelle to give up her hunt.

Carmilla sat up, as if she was being pulled up by a set of strings. She wiped blood from her lips. "I must admit, this is a surprise," she said. She cracked her neck as death magic still tried to eat away at her, but it didn't seem to bother her as much as it should. "You got me," she said, as if she had just been tagged in a child's game and not stabbed to what should have been her death. 

"I did not expect them to be back on their feet," she gazed over my anchors. "Though it seems Aurelia is somehow much worse off." She frowned, and I could tell Carmilla was trying to dissect the difference between my anchors. 

"What? You didn’t know, Miss Goddess,” I said sarcastically.

"Gods aren't omnipotent, are they? Otherwise, they would have come and killed me long before I reached this state." The wings made out of swords of light fanned out around Carmilla again. "As you see, I am the new age of gods, and I will cast down those false idols. If they knew everything, they would have already stopped my ascension!" 

I held up a finger. "One second, I'm sure I can come up with a good one for that." I tapped my chin. 

"Stop your incessant chatter." With a wave of her hand, swords of light raced towards me.

Shadows leapt up and swallowed them. These were not my magic, but Eva's. Carmilla immediately realized the new player, her head snapping to the other mage. 

"Oh, a princess of Zenovia," she grinned, identifying Eva immediately. "That's why the Vel’Shae is here." She tapped her head. "It all makes sense now. I wonder if those old age Zenovian mages taste better than the Garrish ones." Carmilla licked her lips. 

While I had her busy talking, I was working through options in my mind, trying to figure out how to kill her. It made it hard to banter back and forth, but she didn’t deserve my wit anyway.

So far, my anchor's attacks had been relatively unsuccessful, as had been my magical attacks. The only thing that had taken her by surprise, or seemed to cause her any lasting damage, was the small bolt of soul lightning I hit her with at the beginning. 

My mind replayed that action, thinking about how slowly the wound had healed, only for me to narrow my eyes as I grew more sure by the second.

When I mixed the normal elements with soul magic, it became something greater. Earth magic was able to use metal, even bluesteel. Meanwhile, lightning magic transformed from the yellow lightning that crashes down from the heavens to a tighter, more powerful blue bolt that I was thinking of as soul lightning. That meant the other magics must have their own changes as well. 

To test my theory, I whipped my hand out. Ice spun out like manticore claws, but they weren't nearly the size I had expected. As a result, they ended up jagged and uneven. Pushing soul magic into the others concentrated the result. However, the ice itself had become almost silver as it shot towards Carmilla.

She tried to bat the hit aside with her sword, only for the blade of light to explode. A fragment of one of the claws tore through her arm, leaving a jagged cut that healed far slower than any of the wounds the anchors had dealt thus far.

Carmilla turned quickly to examine the wound, frowning before her wings twitched and she shot forward. 

Only for Maribelle to throw herself at the empowered mage with a frenzy, trying to stab and rake her eyes out, even if it cost her her life. 

Carmilla blinked and two blades of light flew off of her lashes, slicing through Maribelle's wrists as she knocked the woman aside, coming for me again.

This time, however, I had a spell ready. Fire exploded out of my hands. Rather than the orange-red that I would typically call fire, what came out instead burned a bright blue, so bright it was nearly white. It washed over Carmilla and burnt her wings of light off her back, sending her flying backwards. I had to admit, that image was incredibly satisfying.

The puff of fire that knocked her away had barely been the size of the carriage, yet it had been everything I'd been building up to that moment.

"Try again. I think there might be a smidge of hair left on your head for me to burn off," I taunted her. At this point, I didn't think she could get any more upset, but I did think she could make even more foolish mistakes. 

She screamed, pulled forward as if the sword of light in her hand was doing all the work.

It took only a moment before I realized that was true. Even when she had been fighting hand-to-hand with my anchors, I should have realized she didn't know how to fight with a sword. Carmilla had been trained as a mage and a ruler, never a fighter.

Instead, she was using her control of magic and her supernatural healing to make up for any damage she was doing to herself as she twisted her shield and sword around with poor form.

Without the light magic weapons and wings, she’d be just as slow as any mage. Or so I hoped.

"Eva, her weapons," I shouted before I met Carmilla’s sword with one made of silvery ice. The earth underneath me slid me to the side and away as I tossed it to Emlyn. "Your turn." Emlyn caught it, dropping her bluesteel sword and not missing a beat as she swung it to clash with Carmilla. Eva's tendrils of darkness stabbed and cracked at the woman's magical creations. 

"You think you figured this out," Carmilla screamed while I tossed an arrow made of ice to Zuri and a pair of daggers to Maribelle.

"Oh no, I haven't figured anything out. Honestly, I'm still making up most of this as I go." I told her. “My anchors are just that much better than you.”

Emlyn's sword cracked Carmilla's and brushed past, scoring deep on her shoulder. The former princess screamed and staggered back, only giving Eva’s dark magic the chance to ensnare her shield.

An arrow launched from Zuri's bow found that opportunity, the silver ice arrow piercing through her thigh and getting stuck in it. That's when I realized the real strength of this particular ice. A slow, creeping cold spread from where the arrow was stuck in her thigh, spreading and freezing her knee as she staggered. Emlyn was able to sweep in again, scoring several more deep wounds in her torso that left blossoms of frozen blood at the edges. 

I almost wondered why Emlyn didn't finish her before Maribelle rose up behind Carmilla. I had never seen this face on my lovable maid, but I decided if I ever saw her looking at me like that, I was most likely never going to wake up again. Just like Carmilla. 

Maribelle's daggers pierced into her throat as she twisted and used her body weight to carve Carmilla's neck up as much as she could.

The self-proclaimed goddess gagged on her own frozen blood before she managed to grab Maribelle's hand, crushing it with her strength and opening her mouth wide. Carmilla twisted and pulled Maribelle over her shoulder. A pair of fangs launched towards Maribelle's neck in some primal instinct to strike there, only for them to break off on the collar that seemed to be nigh impervious. 

Maribelle chuckled. "Thank you, Missy," she shot a prayer to an actual goddess. Then Maribelle grabbed Carmilla's neck and threw her body to the side, twisting it as she flipped the false goddess onto her back. My anchors fell upon her, a pack of hyenas.

I was momentarily stunned with the savagery in which they all brutalized Carmilla, only to remember I had a way to make sure she stayed dead for good. I pulled Missy's pendant out from my shirt and rushed forward to thrust it into one of Carmilla's wounds. The second the necklace touched her blood, it glowed and pulsed as it sucked Carmilla's soul out. 

"Missy, can you get at anyone else with this?" I asked, wanting to know if we could reach King Martin.

I heard the goddess chuckle in my ear. I could almost feel her weight on me, though when I looked there was nothing there. 

"We can't get King Martin, but we can get something better," she sang, clearly happy.

Carmilla thrashed, still holding on only for Emlyn’s boot to stomp on her face and create a few more stab wounds to keep her down.

"Freya?" I asked, only to get a frown from Uncle Valken from across the battlefield as I spoke the name. 

"She put a bit of her power in this transformation. Just the tiniest speck of her power, but I'm better than her," Missy proclaimed. "And while she may not have been able to do anything with this little bit of power, I am more than happy to make it into a straw so that I can suck that fat-titted cow until she's a shriveled old hag."

"I get it, you hate her." I replied.

"I do. It also continues to get better. While there's only a speck of Freya's essence here, there's a shit ton of Hades’s mark.” She replied as Carmilla began to shrivel up below us and give up the fight.

“Who is Hades?” I asked.

“He's like the god of death and souls. I know you think that overlaps with me, but it doesn't quite line up that way, because I'm more of the transition into souls rather than the soul soul." Missy tried to explain.

I blinked. "What can you do with it, Missy?"

"Like Freya could get a line on attacking me, we can now go after Hades. If anyone is remotely related to the god of death, I can find them, I can track them, and you can murder them for me." She told me happily.

I patted my shoulder only to actually feel something even though I couldn't see anything. "I am not your attack dog, but I appreciate you thinking of me. So, if we have what we need to go after this Hades, do we go after him before Freya?" I asked. 

Somehow, even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was biting her lip before she shook her head. "No, King Martin is the greater problem to your kingdom and the people you care about. You should go after him first. And then we should take a trip to Zenovia and see just how much they really love their goddess." Missy cackled slightly. "Yes, that's it.”

“Down girl." I patted her head and walked up to my anchors. Life magic was already flooding through to my three bonded anchors. As I approached Aurelia, I put a hand on her and flooded her with life magic to make sure she was healed. 

"All right, look at me, Aurelia. To make sure I put the right soul on the right body, we're going to have to play a game." 

She frowned. "Ard.”

“Nope!” I held up a hand. “Now, let me think of a good question.” I tapped my foot.

Aurelia sighed. "Fine, but first can you give me my axe?" She pointed across the battlefield. "I would really feel better if I got my axe." 

I patted her on the head. "Nevermind! You're my mantikitten. All right. Let's get moving." 

I dusted off my hands as Aurelia rolled her eyes

"So thorough, Ard.” Emlyn rolled her eyes as she walked up.

"What? It's totally Aurelia. We may not be bonded, but I can tell Aurelia versus a fake Aurelia so easily." I smiled.

Maribelle turned to Emlyn. "These are the kind of times that then it turns out not to be Aurelia." 

"Joke about less serious things, Maribelle," Emlyn said, "I don't think we would leave anything to chance if we had concerns about souls being in wrong bodies. Would you, Ard?" Emlyn squinted at me.

"Absolutely not. Anyway, Carmilla's dead. I feel like I just huffed mint again. And I think we need to get out of here." I looked around.

The Lord's Estate was an absolute ruin. There were dead guards strewn everywhere, either from Uncle Valken or from Carmilla's rampage. But what I knew was that there would most likely be people coming to check on it all soon.

And if we were here when that happened, well, I didn't want to continue fighting until we were all exhausted. I, for one,  was already hearing the call of my bed after my fight with Carmilla.

"What do we do now?" Eva asked, looking at me.

"Now? Get the fuck out of here. I don't want to be anywhere near this place. When tomorrow comes and those ladies we threw in the cells throw a fit, it’s going to be chaos.”

I paused. “I am happy to spend as long as it takes for Maribelle to pack my things. Lord Valken, you are free to do whatever you wish with your Spymaster. And then I say we travel separately, meeting up at the town we discussed before.”

We had a contingency in a situation where Uncle Valken could not meet up with us. Carmilla was a variable that then brought us all back together that wasn't supposed to initially exist.

“Understood," Uncle Valken said, already moving to grab Eva. "We're leaving," he said, pulling her away before she could argue. The two of them disappeared into the night.

"Are you mad about that?" Evelyn asked, pointing at their departing figures.

"And why should I be mad?” I asked.

“Shel was about to give you... a courting gift, and he just stole her away. He just stole your woman, Ard. How do you feel about that?" Emlyn teased.

"He did not steal my woman, Emlyn. He's like 500 years old. He's way too old for her.”

Zuri snorted. “You have a lot to learn about... Vel’Shae. They have to be just as bad as Life Anchors and Life Mages mixed together, right?"

I squinted at her. "This is too far. Also we all know he wouldn't. Both of you, stop screwing with me." I squinted at them, only for Emlyn to burst into laughter.

"Sorry, Ard. The opportunity was there and I’m exhausted," Emlyn shrugged, glancing at Aurelia. "I see... Gimpy, over there, is back on her feet. Are we ready to go?"

"You are not calling me Gimpy," Aurelia flashed her battleaxe. "Otherwise, we'll have a competition as to who deserves to be called Gimpy." Her eyes glanced menacingly at Emlyn’s legs.

Emlyn gave a nervous smile. "They didn't mean for the nickname to stick, but if you're so interested in a fight. I think you'll find it harder than the rankings at the Academy this time, Aurelia." Emlyn spun a silver ice sword. The two of them had an old rivalry in the rankings of unattached anchors.

I waved my hand to melt it away. "Don't point that at one of my anchors. Now, grab your weapon." I pointed to Zuri and Maribelle. "Get our stuff from the inn. We're getting out of here. Let Eva and Uncle Valken take the carriage."

Maribelle held her hand up. "I'll carry you.”

“Sure, I was gonna use Cyam, but... if you want to so badly, you can carry me while we ride in Cyam's carriage." I told her. Maribelle blinked, tilted her head to the side before nodding fiercely. Alright, I was going to lay in Maribelle’s arms while in the carriage. Worked for me. Her chest made her quite soft.

However we got there, I wanted to get to the inn and get out of this city. We could figure out things like stealing another carriage once we had gotten on the road for a few days.

My anchors burst into action. Emlyn scooped me up as Maribelle and Zuri shot off in the direction of the White Mare. Aurelia was doing her best to keep up.

“Not bad tonight, Ard.” Emlyn said.

"Aww, thank you, Emlyn. I know that probably almost hurt to say, but... thank you for that." She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I love you, you dolt. It doesn't hurt me at all to compliment you. Especially when it's well-earned. The silver ice was... new and highly effective.” Emlyn replied

“I know, wasn't it? Good thing I thought of that last minute. I noticed that magic mixed with soul magic did more lasting damage. So I decided, what happens if I mix... soul and ice.”

“Soul and ice." Emlyn repeated, squinting at me. "It took you this long to get there?”

“Oh stop. You can barely make a wall out of earth." I teased back.

She snorted before it shifted into a full belly laugh. "I needed that, Ard. After tonight... I needed that.”
 “We all need a good laugh." I agreed. Tonight had become more dangerous than we anticipated, and we were all likely thinking the same thing. If this is how powerful King Martin had made Carmilla. Then if he had truly finished his transformation just how strong would he be when we reached him?