WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 35

“There’s more of them here!”

“Kill the human!”

“Get that Dweorg!”

“Damn it!” Dante swore. “How did they find us?!”

“Don’t… don’t ask me,” Sterk huffed.

Dante had found Sterk, thankfully exactly where he assumed the man would be, and they had gone off to undo the seal keeping Eryk and his wives locked away half a month early. It could potentially leave lasting harmful effects to their cultivating. However, if they didn’t have backup right now, then it wouldn’t matter anyway because everyone would be dead.

They’d been running through the forest. The sound of explosions, screams, and Spiritual Techniques echoing behind them. Dante hadn’t realized the isolation chamber was so far away, or maybe it just seemed far away because of how anxious he was to reach their destination quickly.

Not that it mattered anymore.

They’d been caught.

Dante gritted his teeth as he summoned his twin swords into his hands, holding them in a reverse grip. These were much different than the standard swords he used to wield. They were a little shorter and made out of refined mythril. The blades glowed in the darkness, illumination from the moon reflecting off them.

He summoned the lightning around his blades and swung them with reckless abandon. Two, four, eight, sixteen crescent-shaped blades of electric blue were launched from his weapons in rapid succession. The six Sekbeists charging at them from the front found themselves sliced into pieces. Their bodies split. Dante turned green, but neither he nor Sterk stopped running as they splashed through the bloody pools.

Because there were no paths to follow, Dante had long since lost track of where they were going. He couldn’t tell his left from his right anymore either. Everything was becoming a messy blur of moving figures and blood.

His mind kept replaying him that last vision of Hilda in Valence’s arms.

He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut.

“I have you now!” a Sekbeist shouted, leaping out from behind a tree. It was an Elite. His muscular body rippled as he swung the axe in his left hand, an overhand swing that would split a normal human from the crown of their head to their groin.

Dante blocked with axe with his left hand, flicked his wrist so the woman was diverted away from him, then spun around and impaled the creature through the back before quickly pulling his blade out. The action was smooth and only took an instant.

Which was good because there were many more Sekbeist coming.

Two more appeared on his left and right. They were trying to attack him with a pincer maneuver. Dante spun around in a circle, mindful of the Dweorg running alongside him, and launched a pair of lightning blades that traveled straight through the Sekbeists’ necks. As their heads fell from their shoulders, Dante sensed movement behind him and raised his right hand to block the attack. He rotated on the ball of his left foot, swung his other sword, and grimaced as blood splattered against his clothes.

His attack had sliced right through his opponent’s trachea.

“W-we’re almost there,” Sterk shouted at him.

“That’s all well and good… but it won’t matter much if we both die before you can undo the seal,” Dante huffed. He breathed in through his mouth and out his nose, coming to a decision. “You go on ahead. I’m going to play decoy and keep all the fuckers off you.”

“I’m not sure that’s a wise idea…” Sterk said.

“I don’t want to lead these monsters to Kari and the others,” Dante said firmly.

Six more Sekbeist appeared from behind a copse of trees. They raced across the ground. Dante once more sent lightning blades soaring and cut into them, but he only saw five bodies drop.

Instincts warned him of danger, and he moved quickly, leaping into the air as his own shadow tried to skewer him. The Sekbeist Shaman emerged from his shadow and after it disappeared and tried to merge back into another one. Dante wouldn’t let that happen. He thrust the sword in his right hand, producing a powerful arrow that flew forward, punched through the creature’s head, and slammed into the dirt.

The Sekbeist toppled over.

“Look, just get going already! I’ll cover you!” Dante shouted at Sterk.

“Fine. I get it. Try not te die on me!” Sterk shouted back as he took off running.

Dante wore a mirthless smile as he stomped on the ground and raised his blade high into the sky, producing a bolt of lightning that lit up the entire night sky. It was basically a signal letting every Sekbeist in the area know where he was.

“Try not to die, he says,” Dante mumbled to himself as several hundred Sekbeist seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Too late for that. I’m already dead.”

Before the horde of Sekbeist could reach him, Dante stomped on the ground once more, producing a chain of lightning that raced across the ground, leaping from small particles of metal found in the soil. The Sekbeist were struck and pitched forward. Most of them simply found their bodies locked up, but those in front also found their hearts stopped.

Dante leapt into the air and hung there. He swung his blade six more times to produce what looked like giant whips that slammed into the ground, tore chunks out of the earth, and fried several Sekbeists into charred corpses. When he landed back on the ground, he took several deep breaths.

More Sekbeist were coming.

Dante didn’t know how many enemies he slew or how long they kept coming. His mind had become numb. His heart was already dead. He killed and killed and killed. It was like his very purpose was nothing more than to kill all the enemies coming after Sterk. Would he even have a purpose after that.

While Dante had a lot of Spiritual Power still left in the tank, he must have gotten distracted. Pain lanced up his leg. He looked down and discovered one of the Sekbeist he thought he had killed still, left hand gripping his calf, other hand holding a blade that was currently impaled in his tendon.

Gnashing his teeth together, Dante lifted his leg, channeled lightning through it, and slammed it into the Sekbeist’s head. He ignored the gore on his boots. He was not wearing his armor. There had not been time to don it when Hilda had received the fatal stab wound, and so the attack had basically left him cripple, unable to move like he wanted.

He still didn’t give up.

Screaming, Dante wreathed his entire body in lightning, then transformed into lightning. If he was going to go down, he would go down taking as many of these monsters with him as he could.

More died by his blade. A mountain of corpses had piled up before him. Yet still he fought, until at last there were no more enemies coming near him.

Dante transformed back into a human. He gasped and fell to his knees. His hands became stained and wet on the bloodsoaked ground. The acrid scent of blood filled his nostrils, making him want to gag, and the pain from his wound distracted him further. While transforming into an element prevented him from suffering further injuries, it did not heal any injury dealt when he was still in a human form.

“Father!!”

At that moment, several people emerged from the treeline behind him. If Dante’s smile hadn’t been stolen from him, he would have done so at the sight of Kari, Eryk, Fay, Siv, Lin, and Tora.

“You six are a sight for sore eyes,” Dante said. He then waved them toward the city. “You should head that way. The barrier is broken. Sekbeist are swarming over the city. They’ll need help.”

“You’re the one who needs help right now.” Kari knelt before Dante and held out her hands, blue light seeping from her fingertips and flowing into him, healing the wounds he had suffered so rapidly even Dante was a little stunned. “Look at you. Why are you fighting without your armor? What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Dante said.

“This barrier was created and maintained by Fray.” Eryk looked at Dante and narrowed his eyes. “What happened to her?”

“She’s… not with us anymore,” Dante admitted, looking away.

“Oh… oh, no… not Lady Fray.” Siv placed a hand against her mouth as tears shone in her eyes.

Kari was also crying, but she bit her lip as she finished healing him. Then she stood up, grabbed his hand, and hauled him to his feet.

“Where’s Mother?” Kari asked. “I assume she is in the thick of things?” Dante said nothing. Kari paled. “D-dad… where is Mother?”

“I’m sorry, baby girl. I… It all happened so fast. We had no idea Garret was a sleeper agent, and I… by the nine realms, you don’t know how hard this is for me.”

“What are you talking about? What’s this about Garret? Where’s Mother?”

“Hilda is… she’s gone, Kari. She was stabbed in the back before all this even happened. I…”

“No. There’s no way. You must… not have seen correctly. Mother can’t be dead. You have to be lying. You must be.” Dante’s lip trembled with emotion that Kari couldn’t take. Her legs became like jelly as she fell backwards. She would have fallen if Eryk hadn’t stepped forward to catch her. “I… can’t believe it. Mother is… gone? I… I’ve lost her again? Please… tell me that isn’t the case? Tell me there’s something… something we can do?”

It wasn’t just Kari who was affected by Dante’s words. Fay had tears in her eyes as she stared compassionately at Kari, who looked like she was seconds from breaking down emotionally and mentally. Siv and Lin remained silent. Their hands were tightly clasped, knuckles white. Even Tora, who Dante knew was crass and crude, didn’t say a single word.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to let her remain dead,” Eryk said to Kari.

His words seemed to reassure Kari, but Dante could not help but frown at them. What did he mean by that?

Kari turned around and faced Eryk. “You can… bring her back? Does that mean you’ve mastered death?”

Eryk smiled, but didn’t say anything about that and instead began giving orders. “It looks like there’s a lot more going on than Dante’s told us, so here’s what we’re going to do. Kari and Fay, I want you two to head toward the city. Your priority is to protect the city from the Sekbeist, but you should use this chance to find Stelys and Feinrea. Make sure they are safe. Lin and Siv, I want you to find Chloe and bring her here. She’s probably in Vahn right now, so...”

“Actually, Vahn is also under attack,” Dante said suddenly.

“Change of plans then,” Eryk continued without pause. “Lin and Lin will travel to Vahn, hook up with Chloe, and push back the Sekbeist there. Tora.” Eryk turned to her and paced his hands on her shoulders. Tora blushed beet red under his touch and gaze. “I need you to travel to the top of Westfang Mountain and enter that temple. I’m sure Hriedmar and one of the Zehn Todesharr is there. Don’t fight him. If possible… kill Hriedmar before he can resurrect Tiamat.”

“I’ll do my best, but it might already be too late,” Tora said. It was one of the only times Dante had heard this woman say something without throwing at least one “fuck” somewhere in there. That just went to show him how serious this situation was.

“If it’s too late, then fine. Hang back and try to stall Tiamat until we can arrive,” Eryk said.

Tora didn’t say anything, but she did nod once to show she’d do what he asked.

“As for you.” Eryk finally turned to Dante, who gulped when he saw the fierce gleam in the other man’s vivid green eyes. “You are going to take me to see Hilda and Fray. Right now.”

***

Because I didn’t want to waste even a second of time—every second counted—I hauled Dante over my shoulder and took off into the sky. From higher up like this, I could see the village on fire. Humans were running through the streets, some fighting and some fleeing, and the Lightning Giants were wandering amidst them, taking out all the Sekbeist Warlords before they could pose a large problem to the humans.

I did not see Stelys or Feinrea.

“Where are Hilda and Fray?” I asked Dante, screaming to be heard over the roaring winds.

“That way!” Dante pointed toward Fray’s house. “That’s where they were the last time I saw them… though Valence said he was going to take them somewhere safe.”

I didn’t respond with words as I blasted over to Fray’s house, which now that I noticed had been destroyed. One of the walls had been blown outward, part of the roof was missing, and smoke was pouring out from the inside. There was also a corpse lying on the ground. I didn’t know who she was, but she was dressed in the armor of a Valkyrie.

Letting go of Dante the moment I set down, I knelt by the body and pressed a hand to her neck, but as expected, there was no pulse. It looked liker her neck had been snapped.

“Tell me what happened here,” I ordered Dante. “Start from the beginning.”

“The beginning. Right. Okay.”

Dante began explaining the events that preceded my wives and I being pulled from our closed-door training early, from how they had found Garret to how Garret had stabbed Hilda and then destroyed the barrier around Vahn. It sounded like the Sekbeist had created a plan to destroy both Vahn and this village at the same time. I wondered if they had even planned for my closed-door training. Had they known I wouldn’t be around and chose now to attack?

I shook my head, dispelled those thoughts, and focused on the task at hand.

“Anyway, I don’t know where Valence took the bodies,” Dante finished, then gave me an eye. “Can you really bring them back?”

“So long as they haven’t died within twenty-four hours,” I confirmed as I channeled my understanding of death and pushed Spiritual Power through my eyes. The world around me shifted into dull shades of gray and white. “A person’s spirit remains in this world for twenty-four hours before dissipating. Of course, this is just a general rule. The stronger a Spiritualist is, the longer they will remain here. Their Spiritual Power keeps them tethered to their body.”

This technique was a lot like Spiritual Perception, but I wasn’t looking at people’s Spiritual Auras with this and instead looking at their souls. I could see Dante’s soul. It was still inside of his body, overlaying his skin with a ghastly white sheen. There were several other souls wandering around, including the soul of the Valkyries’ corpse, though she had buried her face in her knees and looked to be crying over something.

“I… I did not know that,” Dante mumbled, shocked.

“I wouldn’t expect you to. You haven’t mastered death.” I blinked several times and focused on something in the distance, far from the battle taking place. “I found them. Follow me.”

“Right! Okay! I’ll just… follow right behind you, I guess,” Dante said.

Before leaving the clearing, I knelt beside the Valkyrie, healed her broken neck, then shoved her soul back inside of her body. She squawked indignantly, but I ignored that. As I stood up and began walking away, the woman jerked upright with a gasp, then began putting her hands all over her body like she couldn’t believe she was alive.

Dante certainly couldn’t.

“Are you coming?” I asked Dante.

“What? Oh! Yes! I’m coming! W-wait up!”

The area where Valence had hidden Hilda’s and Fray’s bodies was the cavern that Feuer had taken as his own. Both women were wrapped in a blanket. Their faces were covered.

I went over to them, first Hilda and then Fray, and unwrapped the blankets and removed the cloths covering their faces. It looked like someone had closed their eyes. Something I noticed when people died was that their eyes did not close unless they closed them before they died, but considering the blood covering them both, that would not have been the case.

With my Spirit Vision—which was what I decided to call my ability to see the dead—I could see Hilda and Fray both looking at me. Their gazes were not malicious. They seemed curious to know what I was doing.

I closed my eyes and switched senses. Water flowed through my body and connected it to Fray’s. I sensed all the injuries she had incurred, the knife wound in her stomach and the poison that had killed her. The first thing I did was purify the poison. That was deadly and running rampant through her body. Then I healed the organs that had been undergoing necrosis thanks to the poison before, finally, I healed the knife wound.

I switched senses again.

Standing and turning to Fray, I surprised the spirit when I scooped her into my arms, carrying her like my bride to be as I turned back to the body. Her eyes widened. I think she realized what I was attempting. She opened her mouth and said something, but the dead could not be understood by the living. Even so, I understood her words just fine.

“Are you going to bring me back?” was her question.

“I am,” I said.

“Um, who are you talking to?” asked Dante. “And what are you doing?”

“Just watch,” I said to Dante.

While my actions with the Valkyrie had been indelicate, I was gentle as I placed Fray’s ghostly spirit body on top of her. Her spirit overlapped with her real body. The two merged back into one. I switched off Spirit Sense and waited for a moment.

Fray’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She blinked several times, then turned her head to gaze at me. Smiling, she reached out and cupped her hand to my cheek.

“I can’t believe… you have already mastered the Concepts of Life and Death to such a degree. You might be the first person in all nine realms who can do that,” she said.

“I bring you back to life, and those are your first words?” I said, raising an eyebrow as I grabbed her hand and pressed it to my cheek. “I’m sorry for not being there to help you when all this started.”

Fray shook her head. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.” She looked at Hilda’s body behind me. “You should heal Hilda. Quickly now. She was poisoned before me and will probably require more effort to bring back.”

“I know.”

I let go of Fray’s hand and moved away as the woman took a deep breath, then pushed herself into a sitting position. Dante, who’d been watching this whole thing, squealed in fright like he’d witnessed something terrifying.

“I can’t believe you’re really able to bring back the dead!” he shouted.

“Then don’t believe I can do it,” I said, shrugging. “Pretend they were never dead in the first place if that helps you accept what happened.”

“Er… I mean… it’s not like I really can’t believe it. I’m just surprised,” Dante mumbled.

But I was no longer paying attention to him. Under Hilda’s watchful eyes, I healed her body using the water element. Fray was right. There was an incredibly potent toxin destroying her body far more quickly than Fray’s, though I chalked this up to the difference in race. Hilda was a human. Fray was of the God Race. They might have looked identical, but they were far from it.

Still, I healed Hilda’s body, then lifted the woman into my arms before kneeling once more. Before I could place Hilda’s spirit back into her body, the woman reached out and caressed my cheek. Her ghostly hand was cold. It didn’t pass through my body, however, which had a layer of life and death energy over it to help me bring these two back.

I set Hilda’s spirit over her body and merged the two back into one. Dante gawked when Hilda’s chest rose as she took a deep breath. Her eyes opened and locked onto mine. The smile she wore was so soft that I felt my throat go dry. This was how a mother smiled at her son.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking.

“You’re welcome,” I said.

“Hilda!” Dante rushed to her side, knelt, and grabbed one of her hands in his, squeezing it tight. Tears were already springing to his eyes. “Hilda, that’s really you, right? This isn’t… an illusion, is it?”

“It’s no illusion,” Hilda said with a wan, tired smile. “Eryk really brought me back to life.”

“Oh… oh… I can’t… I’m so relieved. When you died… I didn’t want to live anymore. I… I…”

Dante tried but was unable to get the words he wanted to say out. I understood his feelings. The woman he loved, who had died right before his eyes, had been brought back to life. If our positions were reversed, I would be overcome with emotions as well.

“It’s okay, Dante. I am back now. Come here.”

With strength I didn’t think Hilda should have after just coming back to life, she pulled Dante to her chest. Her husband buried his face into her chest as his shoulders heaved, wracked with sobs, and I turned away to give the two some privacy.

Fray did not. She was staring right at them.

“Seeing them makes me remember my husband,” she said with a forlorn smile. She looked so lonely. “It is too bad you were not around when he was alive. Perhaps you could have saved him like you did us.”

“Maybe, but I don’t enjoy thinking about what ifs. If I was alive when your husband was around, the circumstances of my life would have been very different. Who knows what concept I would know,” I said.

“Right.” Fray heaved a deep sigh. “I suppose you are correct.” She placed her hands into her lap and looked at me. “Do you know what is going on? I am woefully un-knowledgeable about our current situation.”

Crossing my arms as I looked down at the woman, I said, “I only know what Dante told me. Vahn and the Misty Mountains are both under attack. Sekbeist are swarming over the village. I also believe Hriedmar and one of the Zehn Todesharr are inside the temple at the top of this mountain. It’s obvious they are after Tiamat.”

Fray’s lips became a thin line. “Then why have you not gone after them?”

“Because I deemed saving you and Hilda more important.” I stared back at her without backing down. “I was not about to let my family die. Besides, I sent Tora on ahead. She’ll stop Hriedmar if possible. That said, I imagine we came out of closed-door training too late.”

“I can’t fault you for your beliefs, and I am grateful to you, so I won’t say anything more.” Fray’s brow creased with worry as she bit her lower lip. “Still, I feel like we are always a step behind the Sekbeist.”

“That’s what happens when you are forced to fight defensively,” I said, shrugging.

“True,” Fray agreed.

The sound of footsteps echoed within the cavern, getting louder. I turned around to find at least two or three thousand people entering the cave. Leading them was Fray and Kari. Behind them was Stelys, Feinrea, and Valence, though Valence was soon rushing forward when he laid eyes on Hilda, wide awake and not dead.

“Hilda!”

He fell heavily onto his knees beside Dante, who made room for the man. Valence raised his hand, tentatively reached out, then retracted his hand as if he was afraid to touch her. Hilda sighed, grabbed his hand, and placed it against her cheek. That seemed to break his restraints.

“Hilda… is that… really you?” he asked.

“It’s really me,” Hilda confirmed.

“But… how? I saw you die. I was holding you when you died!”

“How?” Hilda’s eyes gleamed to match her smile. “You’d have to ask Eryk. He’s the one who brought me back to life.”

“Eryk did?” Valence turned to me.

I looked away, only to discover Valence was not the only one who heard her. A lot of the people standing in this cave heard what Hilda said and began muttering. Their whispered words of shock, awe, and maybe even fear drifted into my ears.

“I can’t believe he was able to bring someone back from the dead.”

“Is Eryk a god?”

“Well, he’s a member of the God Race, right? So I guess he is.”

“But… not even the gods can revive the dead, right?”

While I was trying not to feel embarrassed, Kari walked over to me, grabbed my flesh and blood hand, and squeezed it.

“Thank you, Eryk. Thank you for bringing back my mother.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kari leaned forward and closed her eyes like she was about to kiss me, but that was the moment when the entire earth decided to shake. My eyes widened as several massive chunks of stone were blasted from the ceiling. I threw a series of punches, unleashing bursts of wind that slammed into the stone and pulverized it, but that was not the end of our troubles.

“Everyone! Get outside now!” I shouted.

The people with us didn’t need much incentive. They streamed outside like a heard. Dante had already picked up Hilda and was moving. Valence was going to carry Fray, but I beat him to the punch. I couldn’t explain how I felt. For some reason the idea of someone other than me carrying my aunt made me feel itchy.

We exited the mountain, moved further away, and then turned around and looked up. I could not see the mountaintop from there. This mountain was simply too big. Westfang mountain was close in height to Mount Hymmellyn, which meant it rose above even the clouds and was probably touching the edge of the stratosphere.

Several roars suddenly went up. I turned to look at one of the dragons near us and was shocked to see the creature whimpering as it lowered its head onto the ground. This massive beast, with fangs like swords and claws like axes, with powerful muscles covered in hard leather, was whimpering like a submissive dog who feared being beaten by its owner. Even when I kicked the crap out of him, Meerand did not act like this.

“What is… going on?” asked Fay.

“I’ve never seen the dragons act like this,” Stelys added.

“It is because they sense that Lady Tiamat has awakened,” Meerand rumbled as he came over to us, his steps slow and ponderous. “I can feel it as well, though I think my time with you has given me some immunity to her Spiritual Pressure.”

“So Lady Tiamat has woken up,” I said, closing my eyes.

“What should we do?” asked Kari.

Through the connection I had with my wives, I felt out Tora’s presence. She was up there. She was at the top of Westfang Mountain. I could sense her frustration, her fear, and her fierce determination.

“Tora is battling with Tiamat right now,” I said, opening my eyes. “So we’re going to do the only thing we can. We’re going to help her.”

***

Everything was happening so fast that Siv couldn’t help but feel disoriented, but even so, the moment Eryk gave her orders to travel back to Vahn and help the people there, she knew what she had to do.

She created a portal.

Chloe had once explained these portals to her. To create a portal like this, she had to imagine connecting the place she was currently standing with the place she wanted to go, and then fold space between this two places so they touched. It was very different from how Siv had been transporting people before. Her method was simpler, but it was a brute force method that wasted a lot of Spiritual Power, whereas this method was far more refined and saved Spiritual Power.

The portal looked like a simple oval with an image of Vahn on the other side, though right now Vahn looked like it was on fire.

“You’ve mastered the Concept of Space quite well,” Lin said. “This princess is very impressed.”

“Thank you,” said Siv.

“Now then, let’s hurry and help Chloe,” Lin continued.

“Hmm.”

Siv and Lin stepped through the portal and were in Vahn instantly. Sounds of combat immediately reached their ears; screams, explosions, and the clashing of weapons. Heat washed over Siv’s skin as something to her left exploded. She turned just in time to see a plume of fire rising into the sky as a massive fireball struck a horde of Sekbeists. The person who had launched the fireball was Zane. It didn’t look like the man had even noticed them as he leapt onto a building and raced off, searching for more opponents.

“Where do you think Chloe is?” asked Lin.

Siv tilted her head. Several Sekbeists appeared around a corner, but she swept out her hand and sent several wind blades at them. The wind blade sliced into their bodies. Each one of her attacks removed a limb.

“Chloe is probably fighting against the most powerful person here,” Siv said.

“Yeah. That sounds like Chloe.” Lin thumped her tail on the ground. Spikes shot out and impaled a dozen Sekbeist attempting to attack them from behind. “This princess can feel someone who has a very powerful grasp over the Concept of Negation that way.” She pointed toward the west. “That is probably where Chloe is.”

“Then we need to go that way,” Siv said with a nod. “Let’s save everyone we come across.”

Siv and Lin began moving through the war torn streets. Corpses were already strewn across the ground, some simply lying there and others mangled and twisted. Most of them were Sekbeist. But not all of them were. Siv saw a mother and her child lying together, their bodies torn apart, and she looked away to avoid letting herself get distracted.

As they traveled, a pair of Sekbeist Elites leapt off the roofs and tried to attack them. Siv smacked one of them away with her tail. Her attack not only threw him back over the building, but it broke all his ribs as well. Lin also used her tail, but she raised it above his head and slammed him into the ground, breaking all of his bones as she squashed him flat.

They were not the only ones fighting. A pair of Valkyries were battling with their backs to each other, swinging their swords in sweeping arcs that released powerful blades of death. The black death energy washed over their foes and killed Sekbeists in drove. Up on the roof, Menes—former King of the Endless Desert—fought side by side with Quwain. He fought with a Khopesh in each hand, swinging the slightly larger than average swords like they weighed less than a feather.

Chloe was located near Vhan’s western wall. Siv spotted her before Lin did. The woman was using short-range teleportation to avoid what looked like massive beams of black energy.

The wall in this section of the city had already been annihilated, and swarms of Sekbeist continued to pour in through the gap. Siv frowned as she found herself at a loss, but then Lin moved forward, thumped her tail against the ground, and created a wave of black negation energy that washed over the Sekbeists pouring in, eradicating them.

“Leave these small fry to this princess,” Lin said, turning to Siv. “The Concept of Negation’s greatest use is wide scale annihilation. Your powers will be more useful in combat against a single opponent.”

“I will leave this to you then. Be careful.”

“This princess is always careful.”

Siv flapped her wings and ascended into the air, traveling in a straight line toward Chloe and the Sekbeist Lord she was battling. He was a very large and muscular Sekbeist, with a broad chest, wide shoulders, and arms that visibly flexed when he attacked. Siv didn’t know who this Sekbeist was, but she was not about to let the fear she felt stop her.

She would never do that again.

Using the same short-range teleportation that Chloe had been using, Siv appeared directly above the Sekbeist Lord, her body already rotating as she extended a foot. Her intention was to slam her heel into the Sekbeist Lord’s head. He must have sensed her, however, because he swerved out of the way, dodging her attack. This did not stop Siv. She continued her spin and lashed out with her tail, spatial distortions tearing into the space before her.

The Sekbeist Lord waved his hand. The distortions vanished.

“Siv!” Chloe shouted as she appeared at her side. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in closed-door training.”

“I was,” Siv acknowledged, eyes not leaving the Sekbeist Lord. “The Misty Mountain Range was attacked. Sterk pulled us out of our training early.”

Chloe bit her lip. “The Misty Mountain Range? But… Lady Fray’s barrier…”

“The barrier is gone,” Siv said.

“What?!”

“It sounds like Gorrick’s plan worked,” said the Sekbeist Lord. He snorted. “That man was always a manipulate little prick, but I can’t deny how effective his strategies are.”

“I’d love to ask about what happened, but we obviously don’t have time for that.” Chloe spun the sword grasped firmly in her left hand and pointed it at the Sekbeist Lord. “Help me defeat Leblos please. We can talk after this is all over.”

“Mmm.”

“Fighting both of you at the same time might be a bit too much for me,” Leblos admitted. “Fortunately, I don’t actually need to fight anymore. If the barrier around the Misty Mountain Range is gone, then my task here is complete.”

Space began warping around Leblos. Siv realized he was trying to teleport away at the same time that Chloe did, and neither of them were okay letting this man live to fight another day.

“You’re not getting away!” Chloe shouted as she thrust out her hand. Spatial distortions flew from her palm, struck the warping space around Leblos, and caused the world to revert back to normal.

“Bitch!” Leblos spat. “Fine! I’ll just kill you before I leave!”

“I won’t let that happen,” Siv said behind Leblos.

The Sekbeist Lord’s eyes widened as he spun around to block her attack, but Siv had already teleported below him. She wrapped her tail around his leg, swung him around, and threw him toward the ground.

Leblos tried gain control over his impromptu flight. He never got the chance when Chloe appeared immediately underneath him and sliced into his body with her sword. She did not manage to cut his body in half as had been her intention, but she did remove his left arm when he raised it to block her attack.

Chloe was kicked away as Leblos grabbed his severed limb, then disappeared via short-range teleportation. Siv appeared in that space a moment later. She clicked her tongue and retracted her food as she stared at the space where Leblos hung, glaring down at her and Chloe.

The two of them did not wait for him to recover and attacked at the same time, combining their understanding of space to launch an attack that was sure to rip Leblos apart.

“It seems you are having trouble,” a voice said seconds before their spatial technique she and Chloe launched was struck by an even more powerful negation technique. Their own technique was canceled out.

Standing in front of Leblos was another person. He was skinnier than Leblos, who looked like a huling brute, but was no less muscular or intimidating. His face had a more reptilian quality than most of the Sekbeist Lords Siv had seen so far. He had two slits for nostrils, wide eyes with reptile-like pupils, and scales traveling down his arms and legs.

“Hurry up and get us out of here,” he said to Leblos. “Our task is done.”

“I’m hurrying. I’m hurrying,” Leblos said.

He created another portal like the last time, and while Siv and Chloe both sent a technique to stop him, they were unsuccessful when the other Sekbeist Lord released a powerful wave of negation energy that destroyed their technique instantly.

“There is no need for you two to rush to your deaths,” the Sekbeit Lord said. “We will fight again.”

“See you later, Valkyrie,” Leblos said with a wave as he disappeared into the portal.

“They got away,” Siv murmured.

“They did, but this is fine too.” Chloe released a tired sigh. “We still have to deal with the Sekbeist army, so lets do that first.” Her eyes hardened as she turned to stare at Siv. “Afterward, you can tell me what happened in the Misty Mountain Range.”