AO 4 Ch 41

Chapter 41

Maribelle had said she could use both elements of the serpent sphere at once, but Emlyn was still shocked.

A mage-forged struck Emlyn and she was as hard as bluesteel, the blade only chipping off a small fleck of her kingdom blues before she struck with the speed and power of lightning. Only, it was more because she was still heavy from the earth magic.

She blew the mage-forged’s arm apart with the swing and then shattered his torso before sending him flying over the wall.

The power was intoxicating.

Ard’s magic flowed from his sphere into her and she stomped on the wall, creating a rift in the stone that tripped up another mage-forged as she stepped in and kicked his head hard enough for a wet crack and it to go limp.

More mage-forged were coming though.

It was like a hornets’ nest had been kicked, which was a completely fair comparison to a fortress.

“You’ll regret this.” A man stood up straight. Unfamiliar officer pins on his Avente uniform. He’d moved his Garrish pins over, and it was slightly comical. The only thing dampening the moment was the magic rolling off of him placing him as a true anchor, a rarity among Garrish troops.

Their mages preferred the absolute control that mage-forged provided. Not to mention they’d sent many of their anchors to their death in the early days of the war.

“Can’t say your group is putting up much of a fight.” Emlyn backhanded a mage-forged with a fistfull of earth magic that sent the imitation over the wall.

Garrish mages did so much just to mimic a fraction of an anchor’s power. Now she was a bonded anchor to Ard and she was even stronger. Using two magics at once, plus that rift in the stone had been a test to see if she could wield magic like a mage.

It wasn’t nearly as easy as Ard made it look, but the fount of magic between her and Ard just continued to provide more magic to make up for her lack of skill.

“These are just the troops to hold a fort. You can’t hold a fort with a single strong mage. However, that single mage can crush you.” The anchor drew a short sword and pointed it at Emlyn.

She twirled her bluesteel sword, curious what a fight between anchors would feel like now.

The anchor exploded forward, trying to get in close to make up for the difference in reach of their two weapons.

Emlyn let earth magic guard her arm as she smacked the flat of his blade and curled her fist around her longsword to punch him in the chest.

He was slippery though. Light magic swirling around him as his foot lightly touched the ground and he changed directions instantly.

Her fist and sword missed him completely as he swung around to her other side.

Emlyn’s head snapped forward, catching his blade on her forehead. Lightning and earth magic swirled through her, giving her speed and durability. There was the hard ping of metal on metal and she kneed him in the gut, giving herself space.

The anchor stared at his blade and then Emlyn’s head.

“I know. My mage says I have an incredibly thick skull. Don’t tell him how right he is.” She felt a small trickle of blood on her forehead. The hit had cut her, but not deep enough to change the outcome of this fight.

She lifted her sword and pointed it at the anchor before lightning jumped from it to strike him.

The light anchor shifted back to dodge, but the bolt chased him and stunned him for a brief moment.

Emlyn closed the gap and a dozen arrows came from the side forcing her to pause to protect herself. The pause allowed the light anchor to slip in with a powerful thrust to her chest.

The blade glowed as the light anchor put his everything into the hit, moving far too quickly for an earth anchor to dodge and with enough magic backing him to pierce her kingdom blues.

Luckily she wasn’t so simple.

Lightning coursed through her and she twisted out of the way. She was not as fast as a light anchor, but far faster than an earth anchor.

Her leather tore and she felt the slight sting of the blade, but nothing compared to what the Garrish anchor had expected.

He’d put enough force into the strike that he overextended when her body didn’t absorb the force.

Emlyn spun around lightning quick with earth magic coursing through her arm and dropped an elbow on his extended arms.

They shattered like twigs, the anchor crying out.

She finished her spin, a leg sweeping the light anchor’s feet out from under him and her blade scoring a deep gash along his shoulder as he tried to twist out of the way from losing his neck.

“Don’t think you get away like that.” Emlyn chased after him as he tried to throw himself from the wall, working to escape to be healed later.

The stone heeded her call and a lip lifted higher to stop him from falling off.

It was enough for Emlyn to catch him and shatter his skull, as well as the new section of the wall with a kick. “Good riddance.” She checked her chest. The cut was shallow, Ard would fix it in a moment. Tearing a strip of cloth from a fallen soldier, she tied the fabric over the cut on her forehead.

It bled like a bitch and the last thing she needed was it getting in her eyes at an inopportune moment.

Mage-forged continued to pour out of the fort, but the tide had shifted. They were now trying to climb the wall to get up to Ard.

A gout of fire tore from the top and knocked two off.

Emlyn wanted to rush to Ard’s aid, but she could do more down on the wall. Rather, she tried to feel him and his current state.

He was focused, but not worried.

Fine, he can play a little on his own more. She’d just have to test out using two magics at the same time more.

Emlyn spun her sword and walked along the wall for more Mage-forged who were drawing bows and aiming at the roof. Smiling, she shot forward like a cannonball, crashing into the line of mage-forged before lightning and bluesteel tore through them.

***

Maribelle had landed neatly onto one of the window ledges after giving Sir a show. She stepped down lightly, her two bluesteel knives with spiked finger guards in her hands.

Someone was scrambling to get ready in the room. Maribelle twirled over to the woman and slit her throat in a clean strike that made the officer clutch at it and sputter blood.

But Maribelle was already past them moving into the hall as death magic took hold and killed them.

The tower of the fortress was where the officers would claim rooms.

She skipped through the hall, ducking into the rooms silently as death magic poured off her knives and quickly claimed the lives of anyone she thought looked important.

“Sir!” A man ran down the hall and slowed to a stop when he saw Maribelle. “Assass~~!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, the word ended in a wet gurgle as she pulled her knife from his throat.

The walls twisted and tried to close in on Maribelle before she cartwheeled back out of the way.

“Get her.” A gruff female voice growled.

Mage-forged poured through as the walls corrected themselves.

The ground under Maribelle shifted slightly, turning into sand just as she kicked off and avoided the pit that the earth mage had made.

“Fast reactions and good sense.” The old mage grumbled, seeing Maribelle dodge. “You’d be very good material.”

Maribelle curtsied before twirling through the mage-forged, her blades working quickly, neatly tearing out throats with every twist.

Her own clothes were shredded by their attacks and she finished her twirl with three knives stuck in her torso.

Each of the knives pushed out as life magic flooded through her.

“Thank you. Sadly, I’m taken.” Maribelle bowed to the mage. “You’re also on the wrong side of this conflict.” She tilted her head with a smile and shot forward, suddenly getting serious.

Lightning tore at her hair and her clothes as she tried to close the distance.

Only for a wall of stone to slam into place and stop her from reaching the mage.

Maribelle stopped a few feet short and spun on her heel, kicking up her other leg and smashing through the wall.

Lightning ripped her off her feet the second the wall was crumbling and she was tossed down the hallway, rolling to a stop a dozen yards back.

“Nice try. There’s a reason that mages are in charge and not anchors.” The mage lifted her hand as black spots speckled her hand. “What?”

Maribelle kicked her feet up and flipped back to a standing position as the blacked char marks healed on her face and she gave the mage a beautiful smile. “You’ll find I’m a little more capable than your average anchor.” She flung inky death magic towards the mage.

The old mage was a fighter. Stones lifted up to catch the death magic even as surprise painted the woman’s face. “A mage? No, you took that lightning head on, even healing yourself at the same time that would be too much. I see that Garrish aren’t the only ones tinkering with what’s possible. Are you Avente’s own experiments?”

Maribelle tilted her head. “No. I’m simply better than you. My mage is a four-sphere and I’m his bonded anchor.”

The Garrish mage’s eyes went wide open. “Mage-forged to me! Karl! What’s the situation of the fort? A four sphere is here.”

More of the soldiers with lifeless eyes and enough strength to bend iron rushed forward.

Maribelle sighed but stood still as they rushed her.

Each one got a solid slash or stab into her.

More than a few weapons pinged off her collar.

She didn’t budge though, slitting throats, opening femoral arteries and crushing windpipes in quick succession as her own injuries healed over as mage-forged fell past her dead or quickly dying as death magic finished the job.

“Karl!” The mage left a small opening to watch Maribelle through.

She gave a light finger wave to the mage and continued to stride forward. “I should really thank you for being a wolf mage. If you were something a little more dangerous, I’d not be able to be so casual.”

Stone wrapped up around Maribelle’s legs, binding her in place.

“You are a freak of nature, but life anchors don’t have the strength to break that.” The mage was actively holding the shackles of earth.

“Lor, the fortress is under attack and Commander Colin hasn’t returned.” Her aid, likely Karl, looked at Maribelle with panic. “The yard is an absolute mess. An anchor killed Marshal Slate and is tearing through the archers.”

“Get Mark to deal with them.” Lor spat.

“He hasn’t shown himself and… his room was behind her.” Karl pointed shakily past Maribelle.

Maribelle only flashed a smile. “Oh dear. He may not be breathing then.” She pulled at the restraints, but she didn’t have the leverage to break such strong bindings.

“I can’t do anything other than restrain this one.” The mage, Lor, seemed to be doing everything she could to hold Maribelle. “Please finish her. We’ll have to make do without Colin. Worst case, we just destroy the fort and leave. It will end the same. The riders have already left to inform the King that the way is clear.”

Maribelle struck the stone with her bluesteel daggers, yet the mage moved the stone out of the way such that Maribelle stabbed herself to the bone before it wrapped the hilt in stone and forced her to leave the daggers in her thigh.

“Don’t think you can escape.” Lor’s stone twisted around her, climbing up her hips to hold her waist as well. “You are not the first anchor to fall to this.”

Maribelle felt the stone crush in on her. Meanwhile, she had to expend magic to toughen her body and heal the injuries that were slowly piling up on her. “Your magic is pitiful compared to my mage.”

“Doesn’t matter, it is enough.” Lor continued to twist the earth around her. “Karl, I have this. Go find her mage, apparently he’s a four sphere and needs to die. Throw all the mage-forged at him. Doesn’t matter how many die as long as the mage does.”

Maribelle screamed at the thought of them going after Sir and flexed against her stone bindings.

“My stone is tougher than your body.” Lor continued to make her stone grind Maribelle as it moved up Maribelle’s body.

It went as far to touch her breasts and Maribelle was furious someone else was touching her there.

“Die.” Maribelle spat death magic at the mage, only for the mage to block with a limb of stone.

The moment of distraction was enough for Maribelle to rip off a hunk of stone and fling it at the mage with her full strength.

Lor had a smug expression as the limb moved, only for her face to fall. The mage threw herself to the side when she saw what was coming.

It shattered the stone limb and sent sharp shards of stone skittering along the floor.

Maribelle kicked in her stone prison and cracks spread. While the mage wasn’t actively holding the stone she could work herself out of it.

Lor threw her hand forward trying to reinforce the stone, but Maribelle would have none of that, she’d managed what she needed and pulled one of her daggers out of her thigh, hurling it at the mage.

It blew right through the mage’s gut.

“Fucking life anchor monster.” Lor spat blood. “Don’t think you’re getting out of here that easily.” Lor threw her hands to the side and the walls around Maribelle caved outward, only for the ceiling to collapse on Maribelle.

Try as she might to block her face, a stone ceiling was a crushing force that brought Maribelle to her knees.

Lor coughed more blood. “Fuck you.” She looked down at the wound that had death magic slowly creeping at the edges. “I’ll bury you.”

The last thing Maribelle saw was stones falling, and then she blinked and opened her eyes in Soulgard. It seemed even her anchor’s resilience wasn’t enough for what had crashed down on her.

“Hmm.” Maribelle touched her neck and felt the collar, a sure sign that she was still connected to Sir. Sadly, she had failed. A single mage had managed to crush her.

She glanced off in the distance, hoping to see what Sir was doing. Yet she could only feel that he was caught up in fighting only when it calmed down did fear strike him.

***

Aurelia grinned as mage-forged rushed the roof and let fire magic surge into her new axe that hungered to test its edge.

She rushed into the mage-forged, the axe crashing into the first’s chest before fire exploded out of it in every direction.

Those behind the first were blown back giving Aurelia a chance to recover and swing again. The weapon was beautiful.

It was so perfectly balanced that she could have held it on her pinky finger. More so, the blade was heavy enough to add to her swings without being so bulky that she couldn’t react fast enough. It was perfect.

A sword came out of the flames and Aurelia blocked it with the shaft, overpowering the mage-forged and bloodying his nose with the gem studded end.

She’d have to wash the blade again later.

This axe deserved the best care she could offer.

An arrow came over the lip of the roof and nicked her cheek only for the gem to glow softly and her face to itch as it healed over.

Aurelia drew the axe high over her head, her red hair dancing as it lit up like a bonfire and she dropped it on the incoming mage-forged blowing them off the walls and cutting those who’d been too close.

She could really let loose. Taking advantage of the healing properly would take some adjustment, but she'd trained some as a life anchor and knew the concepts. Trading a deep cut for an arm just wasn’t something she was practiced to do.

“Make sure you keep your eyes on Ard too.” Zuri’s voice cut through the battle, the other anchor quickly firing off arrows of darkness into the night.

“Of course.” Aurelia smiled and glanced back at Ard who was focusing on dark magic, his eyes a little distant as if he were having an epiphany amidst the battle.

Actually, that might be exactly what was happening as dark magic twisted in the yard down below, taking out soldier after soldier.

Booms down below her in the fortress were likely Maribelle fighting an anchor or a mage.

Aurelia felt the roof shift under her feet and she kicked off a mage-forged before hurrying back to Ard’s side.

This wasn’t good.

Her premonition was correct. A moment later as the roof caved in under Ard.

She was there, snatching him by the waist and carrying him. A small blush dusted her cheeks as she looked at her mage again and she bit her lip looking at his handsome face.

He was still focused on his dark magic, actually in the midst of an epiphany. No matter, they’d never be separated.

She carried him to another roof as a good portion of the fortress collapsed in on itself and Ard woke with a start. “I got you.” She said, seeing that Zuri had Eva slung over a shoulder and landed next to her a second later.

“Did they just bring that down on Maribelle?” Eva asked.

Zuri tilted her head for a second. “Might have. Probably the only way they could stop her rampage. Sadly, that won’t really stop her. Not for good.”

A red headed young mage rushed out of the fort, coughing.

“We need to understand what they are doing.” Zuri lined up her bow. “Ard, can you heal him after I disable him?”

“Certainly.” Ard said, hanging in Aurelia’s arm. “Just gotta wrap things up.” He blinked still a little confused coming out of the epiphany forcefully.

“Most are dead.” Aurelia pointed out to where Emlyn and Uncle Valken had slaughtered their way around the wall and the yard.

“Remind me not to piss her off.” Ard was looking at Emlyn.

“What’s the point? You are going to do it anyway.” Aurelia tried to joke with him, slightly worried how it would land. These were the things that Emlyn did though.

He laughed. “Right, but she would appreciate me hesitating at least once. Get me down there and put me down gently? I’d like to appear dignified if we are going to get some answers from that mage.”