[Edited] Ch. 59 - A Mazurka with a Master

I don't normally work on weekends so as to keep from being overwhelmed by mental fatigue, but I have a sort of deadline coming up. I need to have the first editing pass done by tomorrow so my editor can start on the line edit section. And this MFer literally took all day. 

So... much... reworking.

But hopefully the end result was worth the effort.

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I screamed in agony as the rod began to cook my hand, but I did not let go. I had experienced worse. Was currently experiencing worse.

Soil was flying out the end of that cubit-length of wood like a pressure washer and taking every atom of that created matter out of my hide in the form of Life Energy. Normally, that would not have been such a terrible thing. I wielded Life on a daily basis, and at worst, a single spell would only ever knock the wind out of me.

But this? Every muscle in my body was burning like I had been dipped in a vat of acid. I could not breathe fast enough. My lungs were on fire. The back of my mouth was bile. Exhaustion crawled like a fungus through every inch of me.

It took a will of iron to force myself not to drop that wand, not to immediately stop the spell I had already paid so dearly just to cast. And I would have within seconds were it not for the constant source of Life streaming in to supplant what was lost.

However, I had succeeded. I had Spoken. Two insignificant, little Words. But Words with intent. Words of Power. Words that had been obeyed. Everywhere the soil touched… became solid. Smooth. Hardened. A continuous slab of terracotta.

Slowly, the wind began to dwindle as the great rent Xhinn had torn through the glass filled. And when the clay I put in its place dried, strange patterns and designs began to etch themselves into the empty expanse, each crevice and bump glazed with seemingly random yet beautiful colors. It was like the room simply could not bear to be other than a delight to the senses.

“A Dirt Palace,” Arx breathed in wonder as the spell completed and the dome solidified.

I slumped wearily, the wand dropping from my now-insensate fingers, and I lost track of it as it rolled somewhere unseen under the table.

“Be what he said, aye,” Jax agreed, but she did not seem too concerned with that. Her excitement over my triumph had extinguished the moment she saw what it cost me. “Master, yer crying blood! Tell me that spell ain’t blinded ye? And just look at yer hands!”

“I’ll be… alright, Jax,” I wheezed, though my voice carried an ominous crackle to undermine my words… and I seemed to be having some trouble keeping myself from shaking.

Watcher’s eye, that sucked! If it took all that just to cast a real spell, I could not see myself attempting it very often—if ever again. No, sir. I would be sticking with the goddess-assisted version, thank you very much! How in the unholy balls does Mia enjoy that so much? I must be missing something…

“Just let me… catch my breath. I’ll be fine… once I heal… myself.” Assuming I can string enough Words together to actually get my healing spell off, anyway.

A crack of thunder racing across the sky provided an unnecessary reminder of the continuing battle between the titans above our heads. Thanks to my improvised magic, we could not see it anymore, but the war was far from over.

I still could not fathom why a couple of goddesses would have any interest in me—Xhinn’s explanation not-withstanding—however now that I had revealed a situational-at-best ability to Speak, I doubted that interest could have waned. And from the steadily intensifying sounds picking up overhead, my intuition was spot-on.

They appeared done with banter and taunting. All that remained was combat. To the victor the spoils… or bragging rights. Either way, staying underfoot while they battled it out was not going to be in our best interest.

“Put me down, Jax,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” a voice replied.

We turned as one to discover Xyn standing imposingly in front of the exit, the tip of her tail falling away from its grip around the door handle. The once-pristine stained glass had shattered and the remaining frames of the double doors had been warped beyond recognition. They had clearly not been engineered to withstand a decompression event—and given what laid beyond this room, that kind of design choice seemed… a tad cavalier. Regardless, it appeared Xyn had been using the door to prevent herself from being sucked away.

Strangely, she had not suffered at all for having been so close to the glass shattering around her. Her bare skin remained as softly pristine as ever.

“If it ain’t the skelped arse herself.” Jax tutted irritably as we came to our feet. “And here I thought ye’d done us the favor of getting fucked.”

“Shocking as it may sound,” she returned, “I wasn’t in the mood.”

I sighed then quickly directed my abused Life reserves toward a healing spell. I had a feeling I was going to need to freshen up for this. “Can I assume you mean to finish what your Lady started?”

“You may assume whatever you wish,” she said as a thin, black blade manifested out of her palm and slowly extended almost to the floor. “You will not be leaving this room.”

Our conversation was briefly interrupted by something that sounded like a chorus of screaming banshees shooting past off to my left which were silenced by an equally deafening series of explosions.

“Surely you realize that isn’t an option,” I said once it was actually possible to hear again. “I’ve sealed the dome for now, but with the way those two are going at it, I doubt it’ll last us long.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “And?”

“And?!” I repeated incredulously, but Arx extended an arm in front of me.

“Save it, Dearest. She can only do as her mistress bids.”

Xyn regarded her a moment then held her blade up in something of a salute—one lilim in recognition of another—before sweeping it to one side. “Well?” the black-scaled beauty demanded imperiously. “Do we wait for the inevitable? Or do we go down in combat? I know which I would prefer.”

Jax immediately summoned her axe and began cockily twirling it in hand. “Then we’s agreed on one thing.”

“Be careful,” Mia whispered. “Xyn is not called the eldest for nothing.”

I nodded that I had heard. I had hoped the tiny shred of influence I had managed to implant within this creature would at least convince her to let us by, but it was not to be. Her loyalty was still too strong. And we simply did not have the luxury for caution.

Besides, we had her outnumbered three to one. Well… two and half.

“I’m sorry, Xyn. If you’re not going to move, we have no choice but to go through you.” I gave my Dolilim a significant look. “Take her.”

Jax snarled gleefully, thrilled to be set off her leash, and began cleaving great arcs through the air. Meanwhile, Arx skipped to one side and let an arrow fly.

A single flash of blackened steel arced through the air.

The next moment, Jax was staggering backward with a fresh line of blood blossoming across her cheek, and the arrow clattered to the wall before dissolving into particles of blue light.

Xyn had barely moved. Had I not seen the blur of her blade, I could almost have been persuaded the self-satisfied little grin she now sported had cost her more effort.

“Oh.” I should have seen this coming, but in fairness to myself, this particular archetype was not often portrayed by a naked supermodel. “That’s what you meant by eldest.”

Xyn cocked her head, not having heard Mia’s reminder. “What did you think I meant? That I had slept for the last two-thousand years?”

“On yer back, anyway!” Jax yelled. But instead of rushing forward, this time one of her shadow-clones ran ahead of her.

Xyn scarcely acknowledged it. She simply waited for the whistle of the real axe before deftly angling her thin rapier to guide it to one side then swiped through the construct with the claws of her other hand.

And again, Jax had to retreat with a fresh trio of cuts along her arm. Xyn had not shifted her feet in the slightest through the exchange.

“Not bad,” she cooed, casually licking some of the blood from her claws. Though, whether that was meant in recognition of the quality of Jax’s gambit or her blood, I could not say. “But I think it’s time you tasted the real thing.”

She tilted her blade toward Jax, fixing her with an intense stare. And waited. She looked like a taut bowstring, ready to fire at the slightest provocation.

Abruptly, something unseen thumped through the air above our heads with enough speed to rent the air in twain. The entire room shook with the resultant shockwave, and we staggered as dishes clattered to the floor.

In that moment of distraction, Xyn let herself fly. Her blade was a black blur as it swiped toward Jax, who frantically moved to parry before recognizing too late the feint for what it was. The second the redhead was off-balance, Xyn dodged left, drew a gash across Jax’s thigh, and took her ankles with a twirl of her reptilian tail. Before Jax had even hit the ground, Xyn was away and harrying Arx.

Blond hair and white flew wild as the two exchanged furious blows. With her scimitars gone, all Arx had to defend herself with were her dagger and claws. Her one advantage was sheer speed.

In every other respect, Xyn had her beat. Her every block was a masterclass in economy of motion, the she-dragon’s every thrust and riposte timed perfectly to destabilize her opponent. The reach of her saber alone would have been enough to keep Arx on a back foot, but it scarcely mattered—our foe could have performed as well with a toothpick.

Arx did not have a prayer against her without aid.

“Jax!” I yelled.

My First was only just getting back to her feet, but that did not prevent a cluster of shadowy duplicates from springing from her lithe body. An instant later, they rushed the pair. The mass of extra bodies did not achieve much beyond momentarily disrupting our foe’s line-of-sight, but that was enough for Arx to get some space. And as she stumbled backward, I could see she was now sporting a host of punctures and gashes.

Then Xyn simply jumped through the clones, this time coming at Jax in a fresh whirlwind of steel.

Shit!

In a flash, I rattled off the Words to Renewal of Consumption and threw the result toward Arx. With the pressure of the two deities battling it out to fuel my Life-giving chain, I did not need to worry about things like cost. Even after suffering the effects of that horrific spell, I was moments away from completely refilling my reserves and resuming my Wisdom-buffing mantra.

At my current skill level, I estimated the effect to fall off at a rate of one attribute point every ten to fifteen seconds or so, but with well over seventy stacks remaining, we had several minutes before we needed to worry about deific pressure driving us back to our knees.

And that was the only reason I still carried a sliver of hope for this fight.

Xyn might well have been the Dread Pirate Roberts with a blade, but if she meant to win by bleeding us out, she had another thing coming.

And I had more than just heals to my name. Without so much as taking a second breath, the sequences for Fortunate Shadows and Efficacy in the Gloom began rattling from my lips.

However, my heart dropped when I realized Xyn was not about to tolerate some spellcaster doing whatever he pleased. The protective shadows had only just begun to coalesce when she flipped over one of Jax’s still-wild, horizontal swings and landed a brutal side kick straight to my diaphragm.

I bounced hard off the table and crumpled immediately in shock, my buffs accompanying me to the floor. You would think with 12 in Toughness and who-knew-however-much Wisdom to back it up, I might have been able to make a concentration check or two. But after a horse-kick like that? I felt like I had been shot by a gun! And once the wind had been forced from my lungs, my body simply shut down. No other tasks allowed but to regain it.

“Dearest!” Arx yelled in horror and began raining a fresh hail of arrows on my attacker.

Xyn favored her with a pitying look, casually swiping each from the air. But it did give Jax the opportunity to quickly interpose herself between me and the danger… and the very real possibility of one of Arx’s arrows going astray.

“Master,” she barked, “Ye left yer skill off!”

Oh, right. No wonder Xyn saw me so easily! Normally, Forgotten in Stillness concealed me from my enemies as long as I did not move, but I had allowed it to lapse during the ‘dinner’ party for the sake of diplomacy. Naturally, the decision had come back to bite me.

There’s got to be a way to automate some of this crap. Detect danger? All passives activate! Not a bad idea, actually…

Xyn slowly advanced on my Siren—either not noticing or not caring that every shot fired was accompanied by a slightly longer tone—at least until the arrows began to change course mid-air… and far more reliably that they ever had before. But then, suddenly being faced by a swarm of deadly curve-balls would wipe the smug from anyone’s face.

Arx had even taken a page from Xyn’s own book by randomizing her targets. Each arrow began at the same central line but was just as likely to veer toward a hand, foot, hip, or elbow, as it was something more vital, forcing Xyn’s blade into a constant defensive blur.

Not that it would appear that way from Arx’s point of view. Thanks to my little tweak to her ability, she now had the beginnings of some perceptive time distortion on her side—effectively slowing down the action between shots so that she could adjust its path. It would not be much yet—the distortion effect grew with her skill levels—but I could tell the difference it was having on her control. Even setting aside them finally behaving like they were supposed to, her arrows would often flash to blue and vanish—their fate predicted, dismissed, resummoned, and fired—before Xyn even had the chance to deflect them.

There was a reason ‘bullet time’ had become such a mainstay in video games, after all.

After a mere dozen or so attempts in half as many seconds, Arx finally managed to slip one arrow past the one-eyed lilim’s defense, and it sank into her thigh with a satisfying thud.

“Hmph.” Xyn ripped the arrow clear and smirked as the wound began closing of its own accord, leaving only a smear of blood behind as evidence. “Good. I was hoping you’d get at least one shot in. I wouldn’t want to be accused of bullying.”

“Yer ma’s flappin’ tits!” Jax roared. Now that we knew there would be little danger of friendly fire, she felt confident enough to rejoin the fray, intent on keeping Xyn from regaining her momentum. With a defiant snarl, she leapt through the air. Clones scattered every which way in a confusing maelstrom of shadow even as the rain of arrows continued unabated from the side. Jax raised her axe overhead, poised to cleave our foe clean in half…

…and was almost immediately swept from her feet—again—by Xyn’s tail. This time, sporting half a dozen fresh injuries.

The fuck just happened?! One second, the battle had been looking at least somewhat favorable, and the next, everything was in shambles. Either Xyn’s fighting style was guided by divine fiat, or she was so damned good, we might as well have been a bunch of misbehaving children in her eyes. Neither of which was particularly heartening.

Holy shit! I guess she can leave us bleeding out on the floor. Yes, I had a constant flow of Life streaming in, but my heals were not instantaneous. They were regeneration buffs. Unless I paid an exorbitant price for each, they could only heal so quickly. And without the ability to consistently hither, there was no way we could repeat our stunt with the barrel golem.

We needed a strategy. But first, I had to get Jax on her feet again. At a glance, most of her injuries were inconsequential blows to her arms and legs, though there were a few painful-looking holes in her abdomen.

Odd. Why not just kill her? As skilled as Xyn was, I had little doubt she could have ended Jax before either of us had so much as blinked. But then I recalled Jax’s passive defense ability. Its effect was fairly minor, but whenever a creature looked on Jax with the intent to harm her, it had the potential to produce a brief stun effect—really nothing more than a moment of hesitation. Given the state Jax was in, it was not working all that well, but none of her vitals had been hit either. It was a small blessing.

But one I would take.

As quick as I could, I reached forward, my regeneration spell already on my lips, but the sounds of Arx and Xyn re-colliding in a frenzy of claw and steel drew my eyes away. Sparks and curses flew in equal abandon as blade met blade and fresh blood spattered across flagstones. Arx would not last long at this rate. I had to get Jax up again. Anxious, my hand landed upon my groaning First’s wrist the moment my spell completed—but it refused to take. Instead, the Energy I had poured into it was consumed by her gauntlets.

My eyebrows knitted together, confused and disoriented by this turn of events. What did I just do? From what I had seen, her wrist-guards had simply given off a faint blue glow, then returned to normal. Weird. It ate the spell just like Arx’s self-repairing knife…

But when nothing else happened, I was forced to dismiss the matter in favor of recasting. I did not have the time to ponder such things. That heal had been intended for Jax, not whatever random, Life-hungry spell still laid embedded within her wrist-guards, and she was already getting to her feet again, eager for more punishment whether her body was or not.

“That all ye got?” Jax panted, shivering with the pleasure of my second heal finally washing over her. “Or can ye do more with that pig-sticker than just foreplay?”

Good! Keep her attention for a second. If I can just get these other buffs going…

“Ha!” Xyn crowed over her shoulder. “Then you’re ready for me to finish you off?”

The blonde quickly delivered a punishing chain of slashes to Arx’s legs, forcing her to the ground before cleanly slicing the backrest off one of the chairs… and kicking it straight for my head.

Jax instantly deflected it with her axe, but my flinch backward was still enough to jumble the cast.

Dammit! She’s never going to let me get the rest of these off. My skill may have rendered me functionally invisible, but that only worked as long as I did not move. And against an intelligent opponent, that was a problem. I needed to reposition—preferably while she was distracted.

On cue, an arrow blossomed within Xyn’s back, forcing an anguished cry from her lips and diverting her attention back to my downed companion. Unlike a real archer, Arx could fire from virtually any position, so a couple of leg wounds were no hamper to her offensive capability. And it afforded me the opportunity to scurry from my spot by the table to the nook by the door. There I froze and began the task of regaining Arx the use of her legs.

Xyn’s ear twitched at the sound of my voice, and she quickly cast about for me. However, Arx was not about to let up her onslaught unless forced. And Jax was not about to let our foe put an end to the archer.

With a defiant snarl, my First dashed forward, but this time she kept low, wary of her opponent’s skill. Shadows bobbed and weaved, presaging and obfuscating each of Jax’s swings. Blade and axe clashed. Jax flipped and whirled, leaving trails of smoke in her wake even as a constant barrage of arrows cut runnels through it.

Still, it was not enough. Time and again, she was forced backward. Flash after blue flash lit the room as Jax dismissed and resummoned her bulky weapon in a desperate effort to keep up with the far-more-experienced lilim’s speed.

But then, with a sigh of extreme relief, the shadows from my buffs finally began to darken the room, obscuring each of my allies’ attacks with the uncertainty of twilight… and imbuing them with pinpoint accuracy.

“Damn your eyes, Donum!” Xyn growled, becoming more and more frantic in her efforts to weave her singular blade into a bastion of total defense. “I should have guessed you would never stoop to fighting with honor!”

I just snorted. “Honor doesn’t mean much to the dead.”

Xyn cackled at that. “Cute. But then, death doesn’t mean much to me!”

With that, she swatted Jax’s weapon aside with her—to that point—bare wrist, somehow meeting the downward stroke with the sparks of metal on metal, then hammered the point of her rapier straight into Jax’s gut… the blade of which instantly broadened until it was nearly a full span at the guard. Then she lifted her now-enormous weapon overhead with my First’s still twitching body in tow while Arx’s arrows pinged worthlessly off her back.

Scales—each as black as the metal of her sword—flickered into existence along her flanks with each ignored strike, automatically appearing as needed to protect her from the onslaught. Which, I now realized, they could have done from the very beginning. What injuries she had sustained had only ever been to humor us. Perhaps to let us think we might have had a chance.

“Poor little thing,” she murmured, caressing Jax’s cheek… then tutted as her victim weakly attempted to snap at her. “If you could just remember to keep your anger in check, your defenses would have worked so much better. You’re a seductress. Not a berserker.”

Then, she spun, launching her weaponized bag of meat straight for me, and the pair of us crashed into the far wall.

“And what’s this I taste? Shock? Confusion? Oh! Perhaps you thought your skill could hide you… when your emotions betray your every step?” She threw her head back and laughed, then—only because she could—casually deflected yet another arrow almost without looking. “Delightful. Now be a dear and wait while I finish off this other annoyance.”

Turning, she began to stalk toward Arx, who was still valiantly attempting to sneak an arrow past Xyn’s seemingly impregnable defenses. She tried everywhere imaginable. The eyes. Straight through the mouth. Curving the arrow around to the base of her neck.

Some of these, Xyn swatted aside with her again rapier-thin blade. Others, she allowed to ping worthlessly off her scales. Then, mid-stroke, her blade would become as long and wide as a horse-cleaver and crash through a chair or sink into the flagstones, forcing Arx into constant retreat. But Xyn did not rush. With that much attack power, she only needed to succeed once.

“The arrows aren’t working!” I yelled.

“No shit?” Arx retorted as she ducked another stroke of the guillotine. “I don’t exactly have a lot of options here.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to do something!” I called, struggling to push the strongest regeneration spell I could into Jax’s flagging body.

Stay with me now…

“Enchant my arrow with your Sap!” Arx suggested, then leapt into the air in an effort to keep her kneecaps intact. “That’ll get through her armor!”

Xyn actually nodded in agreement. “True. If it hits me. Which it won’t.” Clang! Smash! “And if I allowed him to cast it. Which I definitely won’t.” Swoom! “Oh, excellent reflexes! Pity you’ve never learned to dodge properly.”

“Get bent, ‘stit-fucker!”

“Is than an offer?”

I clenched my teeth in frustration. Ideas… ideas… Then it hit me.

Quickly, I covered my mouth and whispered, “Mia! Tell Arx to sing!”

“Sing, my lord?” she replied instantly. “Sing what exactly?”

“I don’t know!” I hissed, still frantically pumping Life back into my downed lover. Jax was not quite dead… but she was not quite alive, either. “Just… some campfire song. It doesn’t matter. Arx is a Siren. She’ll know what to do.”

“Ah! Now, I see what you’re going for. Excellent idea. One moment…”

I waited with baited breath for my message to get through. As much effort as Arx was putting in to keep her head attached to her torso, it was difficult to tell when… or even if she was hearing anything besides the pounding of her own heart.

Come on… damn it!

Abruptly, she was forced to vault over the table to escape another furious series of blows. The table did not survive.

Xyn casually reached down to fling half of the ruined furnishing to one side in her pursuit, revealing Lynnria’s curled up form in the process. For a moment, she eyed the helpless girl, then turned to smirk at me. And slowly lifted her giant cleaver.

My eyes widened in horror. “Sing, Arx! Sing now!”

“Buh…” In a panic, Arx’s voice, previously dedicated solely to raining as many arrows as she possibly could into the lilim juggernaut’s impenetrable hide, warbled into a semblance of a song. Words came next… apparently the first thing that sprang into her mind.

“High on a hill came a floating moat turd.

Lady o’ the lady o’ the lay-dee, hoo!

Loud was the birth of the floating moat turd!

Lady o’ the lady o’ the loo!”

Xyn and I both turned to stare at her.

I had no idea what sort of reaction to expect from a weapon master like our opponent to a song like that. But for myself, it was a mixture of regret and cringing embarrassment. Partially, because the lyrics were all wrong—it’s goatherd!—yet they still kind of worked… in about the worst way possible. And partially because I had been the one to teach her that song.

Don’t judge. Musicals were not a thing on this world, and when a stupidly hot woman shows an interest in whatever random crap happens to be dribbling from your lips, you quickly find ways to keep it.

Regardless, to my absolute astonishment, Xyn’s weapon actually began to dip to one side, hopefully showing that at least some part of the entrancement effect had taken hold.

Wow. Seriously? Hold on… is she weak to…?

Arx glanced at me and waggled her knife significantly before easing forward.

Right…We had a chance. I had no time to squander it. The spell was on my lips before she even got to the second verse. And then a second time. Come on Detonating Sap, you bastard! Don’t do this to me!

“Folks in a town that was quite remote heard,

‘Lady o’ the lady o’ the lay-dee, hoo!’

Lusty and clear was the moat turd’s birth heard,

‘Lady o’ the lady o’ the loo!’”

I winced, more than chagrined that such an innocent little song could be perverted into what amounted to an ode to constipation. But I did not let that deter me. And right as she entered the children’s chorus, my spell took hold. Instantly, the satisfying gleam of poison covered her knife.

“Lady o’ the lay-dee…”

She eased to just within reach.

“Lady o’ the lay-dee…”

Arx’s eyes flashed in triumph as she raised the dagger.

“Lady o’ the lay, o’ l—ah!”

Before she could finish the lyric, another sound like the world splitting apart rent the air above us, shaking the foundations at our feet.

In that instant of distraction, a thin stem of metal blossomed from the back of Arx’s neck.

“It was a good try,” Xyn acknowledged. Then, her blade morphed into a thin horizontal bar, and with a quick stroke, Arx’s head was separated from her body. “Sadly, concentration was never your strong suit, was it, my dear?”

For a moment, the air was still. Then, with a mournful whoof, Arx’s body erupted into a dim, blue flame.

Xyn watched it for some few seconds, almost seeming regretful, before turning to me again. “Well, that was almost entertaining…” she said with a sigh and shouldered her still-dripping weapon. “You had a good run, Donum. But it seems we’ve come to the end of this little charade… unless you have something else up your sleeve?”

I did not reply at first, choosing instead to hold perfectly still. I could see from her eyes that she was not quite focusing at me. From that, I could assume my emotions only revealed my approximate location. But then… with that huge sword, it would only take a few random swings. Hiding would never work.

All I had left was Jax… assuming I could get her upright again. I had at least managed to seal the horrific wound at her gut before she erupted into flames, but she was still out cold and prone at my feet. Have to find a way to stall…

“If you’ve been watching me for as long as you say you have, then I think we both have a pretty good idea as to what I can… and cannot do,” I said. Her eyes snapped to me the moment I began to speak. But she did not immediately attack. So I slowly rose from my crouch. “What would you recommend?”

“Recommend? For you? Against me?” For a moment, bright, tinkling laughter erupted from her throat. Then she cocked her hip and sighed. “Oh, I do so love your wit. You have no idea how much it pains me to have to kill you.”

Well, that answers one thing. She had said I would not be leaving this room. Alive had only been implied. “That makes two of us.”

“Undoubtedly. Now, let’s see…” She turned and began to pace side-to-side with a gloating swagger. “Any good with your fists?”

I blinked. Ahnbe’s heaving chebs… that’s some gall. She’s actually considering the question?

However, she began shaking her head almost as soon as I did. “No… you would not have focused so heavily on spell-casting if you had any confidence with that. And I’ve seen your spear-work.”

“Hey, now! I’ve taken out a few Gobs.”

She looked at my pityingly. “A child could kill a Gob. And most of them could as easily kill you. No, if I were in your position, I would certainly try to run. You have the door at your back, after all.”

We stared at one another a moment, neither moving. She was clearly baiting me, but it was just as clear I had no other options. Jax was down… and Lynnria?

Xyn followed my eyes to my unmoving third. “You hesitate over this one’s life? Foolishness. Even if I gave you a running start, there is scant hope you’d ever make it to the exit. Try to save her as well, and there would be none at all. Your only move is to abandon her as dead.”

“You don’t have to kill her,” I said, gritting my teeth. “She never did anything to offend you.”

“My task is to reclaim what was stolen,” Xyn countered. “Or did you think those fangs of hers appeared out of thin air? Besides, we already showed her the mercy of childhood. She rejected it the moment she chose to follow you. And now she will pay the price.”

With that, she turned and began stalking toward the girl.

“My back is turned, Donum,” she called tauntingly.

The fuck? I took a single step backward… but I could not force myself to go farther. It was too easy. Too heartless.

“What is this? Some kind of sick test?” I shouted.

“Test?” With a snarl, Xyn grabbed up Lynnria by the hair, exposing her neck. Her blade again morphed, but this time to retract until it was nothing but a dagger… which she slowly pressed to the young woman’s jugular. “We are the Dungeon, fool! We must play fair. This is your one opportunity. I suggest you take it.”

I heard the words. But when she looked back at me, I could instantly see the conflict behind her eyes. The moisture beginning to shine upon their surface.

“Run, Donum,” she whispered, so quiet it was almost a plea. “Run!”

I took another step back. The exit called to me. Just two flights of stairs and out the door… free and clear. My one opportunity. All at the cost of one innocent life. And a piece of my soul.

But it was a Faustian bargain. A wish from a monkey’s paw.

Nothing would be resolved. Whether Ahnbe won or lost the battle overhead, Xhinn would remain a goddess. Even in defeat, I was certain she could find ways to hound me. There would be some loophole she could exploit or third parties she could strike bargains with.

Appeasement was the only way. I had seen the conflict within Her eyes, just the same as I had within this shadow’s.

But more importantly, I had just seen a finger twitch at my feet.

“Put your knife away, Xyn,” I said softly. “This isn’t what you want.”

She tilted her head back. “And that would be?”

I took a breath. I was going to be taking one hell of a gamble with this. But if it worked…

“You’re a lilim, aren’t you? Isn’t it obvious?”

I took a deep breath… and simply let go.

Without the armor of my Will to hold it in check, the long minutes of Lust that had been building within me began to spew forth. It was a massive, inexorable thing. Like water from a flood gate. I throbbed with desire. And with the constant battle overhead… and my skill constantly transforming it… there could only be more. And more.

I focused every ounce of that want directly at her. It was pure, unadulterated Lust. Lust for her glorious body. Lust for her overwhelming prowess. I allowed myself to see what had been nakedly before me the whole time. The wanton temptation she represented. For one glorious… breathtaking moment, I wanted her with every cell of me…

…and then I slammed the door closed.

Xyn’s mouth gaped open in a barely repressed urge to lunge for me and everything that singular moment had represented. I could almost sense her hunger. She shook with it.

“You… bastard!” she wheezed. “I gave you a chance. You could have run. Instead, you choose to tempt me like this? Under their very eyes? Why?”

“What does that matter? I’m damned no matter which way I turn.”

Again, I hit her with a blast of my building Lust. And this time, I relaxed my control over my body as well. With as much Wisdom as I had stacked up, my willpower was like a cage of iron, so it took almost no effort to control my lower member.

Slowly, it lengthened. Then rose, pulsing. Harder. And harder.

“Come with me, Xyn,” I crooned softly. “Join with me. Be mine, and you can feast… on this… every single day. You have felt my touch. Just imagine what it would be like… coming from this… Our flesh joined as one… the burning, absolute pleasure…” Again, I shut it all down, forcing a wretched cry from Xyn’s throat. “Or kill me. And live in regret.”

She took a ragged breath. “Come with you? Feast on you? I can’t come with you. I’m not bound to you. I’m bound here! I cannot descend to the world below. I cannot go anywhere, you blasted… fiend! And even if I could, they would rip me to shreds. Stop with this… this torture.”

I nodded, understanding. If that were true, what I was doing to her right now would be a kind of torture. She was a lilim—a creature of temptation. Of allure. Her every atom was tuned toward coaxing out and extracting those tantalizing passions and feeding from them.

But living here, in the Dungeon? This was a place where people had to endure constant days and weeks under the threat of death. What could she dine on save terror and malice? I knew from her own mouth—and the many conversations I had had with my own lilim—that these would be meager rations. Fear, guilt, and anger had always been described to me as bitter or sour. Gritty. Vile.

Which was doubtlessly why they had taken steps to create something more palatable. Even if it was completely flavorless. Namely Coins.

None of that could compare to the bliss I represented. I was the Lilim’s Chosen—undoubtedly unique in carrying a piece of her own maker. I was the pinnacle of her need. I was Sex. Desire. Happiness. Lust. Comfort. The mana of the gods made manifest.

It was no wonder she was so conflicted.

And as for her goddess? We’ll just see about that…

I opened up a third time, blasting her openly with how very much I wanted to meet her lips. To suckle upon those luscious mounds. To take her to the floor and sink within her folds.

“Just once then?” I asked plaintively. “Just one time? One glorious romp before the end?”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest as though to defend herself against the temptation I represented. But it was a fruitless gesture. She had already shown her hand. Arx had died in the process, but I had seen her weakness. She was vulnerable. All I needed was for her to drop her guard. To take one, singular step away from Lynnria.

Shaking and gasping for air, Xyn teetered on the edge. She just needed a little push.

I shifted my hips, drawing her attention to the target of her desire. And ever so slowly, I began to crinkle my robe upward, showing just a bit of ankle.

With a gasp, she stumbled forward.

“Jax!” I yelled.

Immediately, an army of shadowy clones scattered in all directions, giving Jax just enough of a distraction to roll to her feet and hurl her weapon. Almost by instinct, Xyn’s own blade rose to deflect it, but as scattered as her mind had become, she had forgotten to shift it—it was still just a dagger. The weight of the axe simply pushed it aside and sank with a satisfying thud into the meat of her shoulder, and her arm fell limply to one side.

Xyn’s face contorted into a rictus of betrayal and agony. “You… liar!”

She took a sharp breath inward, and I could just see the precursor of something particularly ominous start to lick the edges of her mouth.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

“Master, no!” Jax screamed, and leapt in front of me just as a torrent of flame erupted from the enraged she-dragon’s maw.

It shot through the intervening space in a focused jet, from the center as white as the sun, yet at the edges, it flickered and curled just as blackly as her scales. And when it hit Jax’s crossed fists…

…she did not die.

She did not burn nor disintegrate. The flames did not wash over her. I did not even feel its heat. A nearly translucent dome of blue had spread out to cover us, concentrated right at the point of impact, but still faintly discernible as it swept over my head.

And then it was over. The shield flickered and died, spent of its Energy in the same moment Xyn’s breath ran out.

“Holy… shit,” I muttered under my breath. “That was close.”

“Aye,” Jax agreed, eying her gauntlets. “Wished I’d known they could do that sooner.”

“It won’t help you…” Xyn growled furiously, gasping for air. She would not be doing that again any time soon. “Even with one arm, I can still kill you both. You’re dead. Do you hear me? You’re both dead!”

I just smiled. Like I said. I had seen her weakness.

With a flick of my finger, I passed the entire bundle of Lust I had been building and turned to my First. “Jax, if you would?”

She grinned with dawning comprehension. “Aye. Try a taste o’ this, ye bloody weapon!”

With that, she hurled a ball of apparently nothing toward the unsuspecting lilim. Or nothing visible, anyway.

Xyn might well have been the greatest warrior to ever live. But she was still a warrior… with a warrior’s vulnerability. Conveniently enough, to the very worst skill in my arsenal.

Lust Transfer.

Mark II.

And Jax had just dumped an entire mountain’s worth of it onto her head.

Xyn began to scream from the agonizing need suddenly crawling through her skin, seeking purchase. Stimulation. Connection. I knew the feeling intimately. It had been inside me not a moment before, but with all the Wisdom I had been stacking onto myself—likely in the high 80s or 90s by this point—I had been able to ignore it. And now passed on, it had been magnified by my skill.

Her blade appeared and morphed crazily within her palm, and she began thrashing about with it uncontrollably, still trying to take us down despite her affliction. Random insults and nonsense spewed from her mouth. Promises of torturous pleasure. Begging. And other things best left unrepeated.

None of which left her in any condition to notice the shock of purple rising behind her.

“Dirt!”

The wad of soil slammed into the back of the anguished she-devil’s head like a cannon shot, and I unconsciously winced in sympathy, recalling the time I had received similar treatment. Xyn went to the ground in a heap, still mumbling promises of what was to come if she ever laid hands on me, and instantly began trying to climb to her feet once more.

Lynnria stalked forward. “Dirt!”

Xyn’s head ricocheted off the ground with the force of the blast. Even so, she did not quite go still. Her hands were still roving about her body, weakly trying to give herself the pleasure she so desperately craved.

“…how…?” she wheezed.

“Hmph.” Lynnria tilted her nose upward—conveniently ignoring the dried sick running down her shirt. “What? Never seen a ruse before? All I had to do was wait for the Wisdom to build, and I would be just as immune to the pressure as the rest of them. I didn’t even get inflicted with Lust. Donum’s skills only ever affect the willing, after all. Now be a good girl and go to sleep. It’s time for your Dirt nap!”

Xyn’s entire body jerked with the blast… and went still. Finally at peace. There were no cuts or abrasions nor any other signs of trauma on her body—beyond the visibly healing axe-wound, anyway. And she seemed to be missing a bit of hair along one side of her head. Her scales had protected against the rest. But scales could not protect against concussion. They never were much good against blunt damage.

Lynnria grinned cruelly and pressed the tip of her wand to the comatose woman’s forehead, intent on finishing her off, but I quickly jerked her hand away.

“No,” I said simply. “We’re taking her with us.”

For a moment, both of my surviving girls turned to stare at me like I had finally lost it.

“What?!”