Heretic Spellblade 7 - Ch2

Chapter 2

Artemis’s body transformed into a blur, only visible thanks to her gleaming amethysts as she shot down the hallway. Ciana knocked the knights aside and raised her greatsword to cover the hallway. The single alexandrite in her chest burned with light.

The two beastkin collided before Nathan even had the chance to prepare a spell. Just as in the portal beneath Soreaux, Artemis’s scimitar stopped dead inches away from Ciana’s sword. The blade lowered ever so slightly while the catgirl’s muscles strained and sweat poured from her body.

But she leaped back only a split second later.

“You can only use the same trick against me so many times,” she spat.

Her body blurred again. She ducked low, only for Ciana to shift her stance. Despite the vast difference in speed, the unicorn’s sword managed to cut Artemis off. Once again, Ciana’s impenetrable barrier stopped the Messenger dead.

Ciana’s trigem ability granted her one of the most powerful defensive abilities Nathan had ever seen. She could summon a barrier that bent space and prevented attacks and spells from penetrating it, forcing them to traverse an infinitely large expanse to breach the barrier. While the barrier appeared to be quite small compared to Ciana’s duogem barrier, which could protect an entire army, nothing could breach it to Nathan’s knowledge.

Not that Artemis stopped trying. Her speed meant she almost left afterimages as she tried to get past Ciana, and the knights quivered in fear and awe at the battle of two legendary beings.

While Nathan often forgot these days, Ciana’s name effectively stood among the ranks of myth to the average person. Children aspiring to be Champions would be learning her name and deeds, just as he had previous trigems.

Artemis gave up after multiple attempts to bypass the unicorn knight. The narrow hallway granted Ciana a natural advantage as a defender, especially with her massive greatsword. Even with a speed disadvantage this large, she easily kept up with the Messenger.

The alarms kept blaring. Footsteps echoed off the walls as dozens of knights and Champions rushed to their location, as well as to guard stations and important rooms across the palace. Aleich itself would be up in arms.

“You’re easily the most annoying Ciana I’ve had to deal with,” Artemis said.

“And you’re the most annoying Fei,” Sunstorm said, appearing behind her.

The Messenger’s eyes lidded in annoyance, and she ducked. To no avail. Sunstorm’s twin onyxes flared and she bisected Artemis. Not one to see the aftermath, Sunstorm vanished in a puff of darkness.

“That fucking hurts, you know,” Artemis said, physically pushing her body back together as the two halves began to fall to either side.

A strange power reknitted her flesh, and Sunstorm’s attack might as well never have happened.

“Now, this is all pointless, so if you’d all just get out of my way—” Artemis tried to say.

Nathan released the spatial spell he’d been casting and carved a line across the ground in front of her. Nothing happened, but she glared at it.

“Really? A teleportation spell that triggers if I cross the line? How dumb are you? Here I thought you were the smart Nathan with the big dick.” She sneered at him and placed a hand on one hip. “In fact, I’m going to show you how pathetic this is. I can run fast enough to trigger that and be back here and in your face within a few seconds.”

Ciana and Sunstorm looked at each other.

“Prove it,” Sunstorm said.

Artemis narrowed her eyes. Then she shot toward them, only to reappear at the far side of the hallway, still barreling toward them. If anything, she seemed to grow faster.

Then she hit the teleportation line and bounced back to the end of the hallway. A roar escaped her and she tried again, and again.

“Wow, she really is Fei. Tits for brains,” Sunstorm drawled. “I was actually beginning to think she might be different.”

With a furious scream, Artemis spiraled into the air immediately before the teleportation line. Her amethysts exploded with light and her sword spun around her, turning her into a drill flying toward them. Chunks of stone, wood, and marble flew everywhere as she churned up the palace itself.

Although her action looked every part a tantrum, it worked. When the ground beneath the teleportation line crumbled to Artemis’s power, it vanished. The catgirl landed in front of Ciana, green eyes blazing with fury and face red with embarrassment. Ciana hadn’t budged an inch, save to smirk. Her greatsword remained raised to block another attack.

Nathan’s power pulsed around them as he drew on the palace to repair the damage Artemis had done. The stones regenerated. Decorations reassembled themselves. Statues saluted as their arms melted into existence. And fifty chains, each with links as thick as Nathan’s fists, shot out and wrapped around Artemis.

“Oh, have you been getting along with Nurevia more?” she said, completely unfazed by her restraints. “I wouldn’t mind something more exciting like this, after the first thousand years of riding you. But you still owe me that first thousand years.”

Her amethysts glowed and every chain exploded into pieces. Nathan should have figured such an attack would be ineffective. Artemis’s trigem ability allowed her to carve through barriers he powered with binding stones as though they were made of paper. Very little could hope to stop her.

“Nathan, plans? Other than letting her hiss at Ciana more?” Sunstorm asked, keeping her dual sword raised.

“I have a plan—” Artemis tried to say.

At that moment, the first team of knights arrived, led by the patrolling monogem Nathan had encountered earlier. The Messenger spun, a wicked grin on her face.

Only for walls to slam down between her and the arriving knights. Nathan would rather face Artemis alone than let more of his subordinates get slaughtered pointlessly.

A gash exploded in the newly formed wall, easily twenty-feet deep. Artemis clicked her tongue as she lowered her scimitar. She’d used her duogem ability, which let her cut through air in order to attack opponents at short range or scythe through a column of soldiers.

Naturally, she hadn’t been able to cut through that much magically reinforced stone back then. The fear on the faces of the knights beside Nathan showed, but they remained beside him.

Artemis tilted her head at an awkward angle as she glared at Ciana, who happily glared back.

“Last time I said I never had much against you, but that wasn’t quite true,” the Messenger said.

“Funny how you talk a lot more when you’re not in the position to just slaughter us, huh?” Sunstorm said.

“Funny how you talk so much shit when you can’t do anything, huh? You have that in common with your old self, I guess.”

Sunstorm’s knuckles whitened and she attempted to make Artemis’s head explode with her mind, but the Messenger lost interest. Ciana merely stood her ground. Every second they kept Artemis busy was one that allowed other Champions and Nathan’s own Messengers to get here.

The only reason Kadria and the Twins hadn’t arrived was because his wards prevented teleportation inside the palace.

“And?” Ciana asked, baiting Artemis to continue.

“You’re different to the Cianas I’m used to. The one I always knew was stoic and sorrowful. A woman utterly dedicated to Nathan, but one unwillingly to get as close to him as she desired. Distant from everybody else, utterly subservient to him, willing to do anything for the man who had pulled her from the ruins of the Empire.” Artemis’s gaze became distant—almost nostalgic—which was an odd look for the constantly furious Messenger.

“I’m still dedicated to him,” Ciana said. “More than you, apparently.”

Utter fury filled Artemis’s face and her sword snapped toward Ciana’s face, only to be stopped by her barrier again. The two stood there, abilities battling it out.

“That’s why I wanted to carve you apart.” Artemis leaned toward Ciana, stopping short of her sword so her face didn’t get caught in the invisible barrier of Ciana’s gem ability. “I was always above you in the pecking order, but only because you never claimed Nathan. But if you tried, you’d have him. The fox and muscle-bound moron were annoying, but you were the real threat. You can steal Nathan away at any moment.”

Any hint of a smirk on Ciana’s face vanished. “I’ll never do that. I love Nathan, but I love everyone around him as well.” Her horn shimmered with darkness.

“And there it is. What makes you different.” Artemis’s gaze landed squarely on Ciana’s horn, suggesting she could see its change in color. “The Cianas I carve apart are shells of the knight I knew. Either young horsies still drunk on love and cock, too stupid to truly protect Nathan, or shattered warriors with utterly blackened horns who have committed atrocities for him, but can’t be his shield anymore.”

Ciana blinked, but despite her confusion her barrier remained unwavering. Even Nathan had to admit he had no idea what Artemis was talking about.

How many Nathans had this Messenger fought and killed? How many variations of him were there? Hadn’t Siv, the Twins, and Kadria told him that he didn’t matter in most worlds?

And why were these alternate versions of him committing atrocities?

“None of that matters.” Ciana squared her shoulders. “I don’t care what other Cianas have done or become. I’m me, and Nathan is Nathan. You’ll get to him over my broken and bleeding body.”

“I mean, I already carved off one arm, so what’s the rest of you,” Artemis said drily. “But you’re the anti-Ciana. Stoic, but not sorrowful. Nathan’s shadow, but also a trusted captain and part of a close-knit friend group. Somehow, he’s tempered you without breaking you or requiring the world to end.”

She finally leaped backward from her conflict with Ciana, dripping with sweat. Droplets splattered on Nathan as she shook out her hair, smelling far too much like the Jafeila he’d once known.

“That’s because he’s Nathan,” Ciana said.

Artemis giggled, then threw her head back and filled the hallway with raucous laughter. “No, it’s because he’s myNathan. The real one. The one capable of surviving the end of everything and understanding how to stop it from repeating. The one I’ve been hunting.” Her eyes bore into him with a dark hunger.

“For you to exist, the Nathan in your world is long dead,” Nathan said.

“Maybe. In truth, it doesn’t matter. Because I’m not looking for the Nathan who failed me.”

What the hell did that mean?

She gave him no time to process her words. With a spin of her scimitar, she turned the stonework beneath them into rubble.

Nathan nearly lost the spell he’d been holding onto for the past minute as he lost his footing. The knights tumbled backward, while Ciana awkwardly tried to block Artemis from advancing while the ground itself collapsed.

To no avail. Artemis shot into the air, now well above Ciana’s reach. A spatial slash shattered the Messenger’s blade, but she shifted in midair to avoid the worst of it. Cursing, Sunstorm shoved Nathan aside.

With a slash of her claws, Artemis turned Sunstorm into little more than leaves and a puff of darkness, churning up more of the stonework as she landed. The assassin reappeared behind Artemis, her single jade gem glowing as it rescued her from a mortal blow. But the Messenger ignored her. Her eyes sought Nathan.

She leaped at him, faster than he could possibly follow without time dilation. He struck blindly with his spell. A bolt of mental magic, striking at her mind.

Just as last time, she stumbled, becoming visible, her arms outstretched. Only a single amethyst glowed in her chest. Her face glowed bright red and her eyes filled with shock as he assaulted her mind with raw magic.

Yet, once again, the spell failed to act as a finishing blow. For all of Nathan’s raw power, he lacked the expertise or training in mental magic to use it as a truly powerful offensive weapon like the succubi. Artemis growled and reached for him.

“Nathan!” Ciana screamed, whirling with her greatsword raised. Too slow.

Then Artemis’s arms separated from her body in a burst of gore. Nathan barely realized by the time she jumped backward and flipped over Ciana.

“This would be a good time for a finishing blow, hag!” Maura shouted.

“A finishing blow requires it to kill. With her speed, I’ll only be able to use it once,” Tarako said. “I refuse to waste it.”

The Twins flew down the remaining side of the hallway, with Tarako dashing along below them. While the Twins wore their typical monochrome dresses, Tarako was clad in a white nightgown with a gold trim. The fox’s nine bronze tails bounced along behind her as she ran toward Nathan, an ornate short sword in one hand.

By the time Nathan looked back at Artemis, her arms had already mostly regrown.

She growled at the newcomers. “This is getting too crowded. And too noisy. I wanted this to be a more romantic reunion.”

Then Artemis threw back her head and screamed. The noise punched through Nathan’s skull as though a nail had been driven through it, and she’d only just gotten started. The knights collapsed to the ground, clutching their beastkin ears. Artemis’s scream rose in pitch until it became a wail unlike anything he’d heard.

His senses distorted and he struggled to focus. She’d done this during his first encounter with her, just as suddenly. Nathan pumped magic into his body this time in an effort to fight back.

At best, he managed to remain aware of his surroundings. Sunstorm, the Twins, and Tarako joined the knights of the ground, practically catatonic. Only Ciana remained upright, her first diamond glowing like the sun as she put forth an earth-shattering effort to raise her greatsword and cleave apart Artemis. The veins in her body bulged with the attempt.

The Messenger stopped screaming. She ignored Ciana and rushed Nathan. All the power he summoned allowed him to take a step back, but Artemis just clicked her tongue and grabbed him with one arm.

“You’re not getting away. Not if I have to use that ability,” Artemis growled.

Her amethysts gleamed and she lashed out at the wall next to her. She dashed into the adjoining room before the dust cleared, beelining toward the window she must have known would be opposite them. Nathan began to regain his senses and tried to summon a spell, but needed more time.

Abruptly, they stopped in the room. Artemis’s eyes darted around every corner of their surroundings.

Because this was Fei’s room. Her underwear and spare uniforms lay strewn about the floor. The bed was unmade, even though Fei hadn’t slept in it for several nights as she was busy in Trafaumh—Fei hated letting servants into her room, so Nathan had to order them in every few weeks. Weapon racks with spare scimitars and other weapons covered the walls. A preserved demon’s head hung from the wall, a trophy from Fei’s first battle against demons.

Artemis’s eyes landed on a crude set of cloth dolls on a desk, sitting beside stacks of stationery. Fei had purchased the cloth dolls from a vendor in Gharrick Pass months ago, and they roughly matched the appearance of Nathan and his Champions, including many of those he left behind to guard various fortresses and portals. They were a popular item among his knights.

A roar from outside broke Artemis from her trance. She leaped over the bed.

Ciana stood in the hole Artemis had made and swung her greatsword down, both of her diamonds glowing. A glittering silver barrier of light burst forth. Too weak to stop Artemis from escaping, however. They’d learned that the Messenger could shatter almost any barrier with her power.

Except this barrier wasn’t being conjured across the window. Ciana couldn’t even do that, as she projected her barrier directly from her sword or shield.

Rather, the barrier shot out in a straight line from her sword. Directly through Artemis.

The catgirl Messenger barely croaked out a cry as she split in half. Unlike before, she couldn’t slap herself back together instantly. There was a barrier in the way, after all.

Nathan tumbled to the ground, then rolled to his feet. Artemis’s regeneration fired up, and the half of her body closest to him began to bubble and fleshy growths burst forth.

Dropping her barrier, Ciana rushed forward.

She didn’t even manage to cross the room before Artemis’s unholy abomination of a body shot to its feet. Or foot and fleshy growth that vaguely resembled a foot, as Artemis lacked two feet at the moment.

Even though half of Artemis’s body was actively regrowing itself like some sort of magical tumor, with pulsing pustules of blood and flesh reforming themselves into her organs, veins, and body parts, she somehow maintained motor control. As well as enough magical power to move at her usual speed.

Her amethysts had been split clean in half yet gleamed with their usual light. They regrew as well, although seemed to be formed of a strange inky substance.

“What the hell are you?” Nathan asked, pushing himself to his feet and summoning as much power as he could for a spatial barrier.

He wouldn’t have the time to cast a proper spell frame, so he’d need to throw together whatever he could and hope that he could hold Artemis off long enough for her banshee wail to wear off. Groans from outside suggested that might be another thirty seconds or so.

Which was an eternity given Artemis could murder everybody in that time and probably go for ten rounds with him.

“Stop. Getting. In. My. Way,” Artemis growled, her voice distorted and bestial, likely because her larynx hadn’t reformed.

She crouched on all fours before Ciana, like some beast that had crawled out of the forest or some horrible folktale used to scare children. Wary of the Messenger between her and Nathan, Ciana raised her guard and greatsword. Yet her eyes snapped toward him, as if more concerned for his safety.

That moment gave Artemis the opening she needed and her muscles visibly coiled. Nathan felt his heart hammer in his chest even as he reached for his magic. The sheer effort of pushing so hard to match Artemis’s insane speed caused a strange kaleidoscope effect to shimmer at the edge of his vision, and the prismatic light made it hard to focus on reality.

Artemis moved faster than he could cast, despite everything. His veins burned. Her body turned into a smear of motion as she sprung toward Ciana. Ciana’s alexandrite began to glow as she belatedly realized her mistake.

But Artemis saw this coming. Her duogem skill activated first, shooting out from the Messenger’s arms as she leaped. It struck Ciana’s greatsword, pushing it down. Gashes appeared along her arms and hands and the unicorn knight’s diamond glowed as her durability enhancement protected her, but that didn’t stop Artemis from knocking her off-balance.

Ciana’s trigem barrier fired off an instant later in the wrong spot.

And Artemis plunged a hand right through her chest, and gore exploded everywhere. Ciana’s eyes faded as they locked with Nathan’s and her gems dimmed. Magic exploded from Nathan as he felt fury and despair mix.

Then he blinked. The kaleidoscope effect vanished and the world was exactly as it was an instant earlier.

Artemis remained crouched in front of Ciana, while his beloved unicorn knight was still alive. Her gems remained bright and active.

What the hell had that been?

He didn’t waste time pondering it. Instead, he acted.

Chains ripped from the walls and ceiling, restraining Artemis. Nathan teleported across the room with a thought, magic searing his blood. Both women’s head snapped toward him in shock.

Before Artemis could use her trigem ability and escape, he slammed her mind with the mightiest mental attack he could muster. Her pupils shrunk to almost nothing and her muscles turned into corded steel. With so much of her body still repairing itself, he could see her muscle fibers tighten.

Nathan raised his sword, channeling a spatial slash. The same sort he’d used when he first harmed Artemis, back at Prophet’s Hope. One full of anger and fury. He still didn’t fully understand how he cast it. Or how he was able to cast these ascended magic spells so quickly, without spell frames.

But he could. And did.

Despite his efforts, Artemis recovered just in time. Her amethysts shined and she shattered the chains. She shot to the side. His blade descended and she rolled away without an arm, leaving a trail of blood.

Nathan snapped out and grabbed her other arm. Magic pumped through his body, both from Ciana’s monogem ability, his binding stones, but also from as much raw magic he could muster.

With a scream, Artemis tried and failed to break free. He hit her with another mental attack, but with less success. Before he could raise his sword again, she leaped in the air, pivoting on his arm at an impossible angle, and roundhouse kicked him in the side of the chest.

His ribs shattered on impact and he tumbled across the room. But he refused to let go. Artemis screamed.

Unfortunately, upon spotting the bloody stump in his hand, Nathan realized the scream was because he’d ripped her arm off. Artemis stood next to Fei’s bed, teeth bared, and somehow just as threatening with only two legs and no arms.

By the time Artemis flipped over the bed to the far side of the room, she had one arm again. Notably, the one he’d severed with his spatial slash didn’t regrow.

Ciana finally crossed the room, raising her greatsword and summoning another barrier. Searing pain filled Nathan’s body and he felt as though he’d run several marathons in a row.

When he met Artemis’s gaze, he saw something he never expected.

Fear.

Mixed with the strange lust and hunger he always saw in the bizarre Messenger’s eyes was raw fear. He’d scared her.

“Maybe I don’t need to run off with you,” Artemis mumbled, biting her lip.

“You won’t have the chance,” Ciana snapped.

Artemis didn’t even glance at the unicorn knight. She nodded to herself for some reason.

“Is that what you were here for? To take me away? For what?” Nathan asked.

“Because you’re mine, as you should always have been. I’m Artemis, the huntress, and I exist to hunt you. Every Nathan. You’re the key to this cycle. Without you, nobody can unlock the door.” She screwed up her face. “Wait, no, that metaphor makes no sense. Fuck. I forgot how it was told. Uh, anyway, everybody goes to shit without you. Although it often goes to shit with you. Care to guess why I rarely see you with succubi?”

Nathan didn’t care to think about what that meant. Especially because he was struggling to follow her words.

She gave him no time to keep up. “It doesn’t matter. You’ve shot way past the Nathan’s I’ve dealt with, and I’ve seen a bunch. Even some that are already balls deep in Charlotte.” She clenched her fists. “Maybe…”

“If you want to work together—”

“There is no together. I’m a Messenger. Granted immortality and godlike power in exchange of eternal servitude to some being I barely understand, all so I can claim the one thing I wanted.” Her eyes locked with his, and he saw the one thing he expected to see in the eyes of somebody who looked identical to Jafeila.

Love.

“But if you’re this strong, I’ll give you one piece of advice. Charlotte’s not your real problem. Bauer is. So am I. If you let us succeed, then you lose. Everything else is just part of the game board.” Artemis took a step backward, toward the window.

Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “I know you’re working with Charlotte. If you think you can trick me into ignoring her—”

A dark laugh escaped Artemis and she shot him a wicked grin. “Oh, no. I may meet with her occasionally, but you’re forgetting who I truly work for. Feel free to do all the wicked things to her that you wish, now that you know what she’s truly like, Nathan. I hate her just as much as you do.”

“Then why ignore her?”

“Because she’s a pawn. So are you. You’re good at chess. You always beat me and Narime when we played, and pissed the fox off so much for doing it that she banned the game. You have a chance to be promoted to a queen, but you need to clear the way. Charlotte has no chance. At best, you’ll capture her. At worst…” Artemis shrugged and a cruel smile crossed her face.

The noises outside the hallway rose in intensity, and Tarako appeared in the hole leading into the room. From the expression on her face, Nathan suspected she’d been listening in.

Spotting the newcomer, Artemis spun and vaporized the window with a blast.

A company of knights stood on the opposite side, with Seraph in their midst. They remained still. Seraph raised a hand to ensure nobody made a rash move.

“Also, keep a close eye on the divine sites,” Artemis added as she placed a foot on the windowsill. “You know, like this one. But I’m sure you’ll work it out. We’ll meet again. Hopefully with more sex and less unicorns.”

The Messenger traded glares with Ciana before vanishing in a blur of motion.

He cleaned up the window after she left, helped his Champions give out orders to the knights, and turned off the alarms. After a quick meeting with Alice to check on her and let her know the cause for the trouble. As planned, she’d been pulled into his mental fortress by Reine.

Unfortunately, he still had far too much to puzzle out. Gareth said that Otto was a traitor. Artemis had shown up, tried to kill his Champions and abduct him, then told him that Charlotte was a pawn rather than a real threat. Her final warning simply reminded him of the ongoing duel between Fyre and Charlotte. Making sense of the problem was difficult.

He decided to deal with the problem in the morning and get some sleep. For some reason there was a strange portrait on the wall of his bedroom that appeared to be from Kurai and was roughly man-sized. Somehow hadn’t finished hanging it, as it stood flat against the floor and wall. Had this been what Tarako and the Twins had been arguing about? The picture felt magical, but he was too tired to puzzle it out.

His muscles ached, so he showered with Ciana and kept his promise to cuddle. No sex.

After what he’d seen happen to her earlier, he really wanted to cuddle with her. Holding Ciana close brought him great relief. The sight of her being killed by Artemis had been far too real. Almost as if it had truly happened or had been a vision of the future.

Come morning, Nathan called his most trusted companions together. There was a meeting with Alice and the archdukes later that day about Falmir, but he needed to puzzle out Gareth’s warning and what Artemis had said.

With so much at risk, he refused to be unprepared.

- - - - -

Commentary: Sorry for the Ciana death fakeout, although it has plot purpose.

I actually didn't intend for Artemis to take up this much time, but I couldn't exactly have her show up and not do much. The start of the book had problems and she helps solve them and give the book momentum, while setting up the fact the series won't end with this book.

Next chapter will probably be catching up on what exactly is going on, as well as what Nathan needs to do. Hopefully there's some stuff for you to chew on coming out of this chapter.