WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 4

The world around her was dark. It was a darkness so penetrating that she couldn’t even see her own hands. Inky blackness spread across her vision, all encompassing and vile. This darkness, this blackness, it invaded her body and attempted to corrupt her.

But she didn’t panic.

“What is it you want?” a voice that was both her own and not her own echoed all around her.

“This princess wants power,” she said.

“Why?” the voice asked.

“This princess needs power to protect the people she loves,” she answered.

“Even if it means you will be reviled? Even if it means you will be hated? Even if everyone you thought loved you looks at you in disgust and loathing?”

“That would never happen.”

“I know what it is you feel. I know of the hope that beats within your breast. I was in your shoes. Long ago, I sought the power to protect the person I cherished the most, but when I acquired the power I longed for, the very person I did all this for cast me out. She called me a monster. Said I was no better than the beasts we were fighting. If you go down this route, the same thing will happen to you.”

“You’re wrong. Don’t assume that what happened to you will also happen to this princess, but even if it did happen, this princess doesn’t care. All she wants is to protect the people she loves. Nothing else matters.”

“Hmph. You have courage if nothing else. Very well. I shall grant unto you the power of your enemies. We shall see if history will repeat itself, or if the cycle will be broken. Be prepared. This is going to be painful.”

She was about to say that she didn’t care how painful it was, but before the words could even take shape, incredible pain wracked every part of her body as the blackness crawling over her skin suddenly invaded her. It seeped in through her pores, her mouth, her nose, and her ears. Every hole she had was being invaded by the darkness.

Lin’s last thoughts were of Darling. She wanted to see him again.

***

Fay sucked in a deep breath as she saw the true scope of the army that had come to invade them. She had assumed the Sekbeist forces were no more than maybe a hundred thousand—two-hundred at the most. Never in her worst nightmares could she have imagined the forces arrayed against them. Their small city was completely surrounded by a sea of enemies so vast their forces extended for several kilometers in every direction. There must have been millions. Maybe even tens of millions.

Just where… are they all coming from?

Had the Sekbeists forces always been this big? She couldn’t remember ever fighting an army this massive since they invaded.

To make matters worse, there were more of the giants who had been attacking them. Fay counted at least one thousand, but she suspected there even more than that. They stood amidst the army, goliaths overshadowing everything else. Lightning crackled along their bodies as if they were primed to attack. She assumed they had been waiting for the sandstorm to disappear before sending their main forces against them.

The moment the sandstorm dispersed completely, a horn sounded out. One horn was followed by two. That must have been a signal of some kind, for the massive army suddenly surged forward, converging upon the city like an army of cockroaches.

“Damn it!”

Fay wasn’t the type to swear, but she did right now. She wore loudly before popping a pill into her mouth and activating her Fire-Wind Body. The first thing she needed to do was take care of the fliers.

There were at least two thousand flying enemies. All of the mounts were Giant Horned Lightning Eagles. They were S-Rank Demon Beasts, incredibly powerful and supposedly very rare, but there were so many of them now. Fay could only conclude that they came from another realm.

Fay externalized her Spiritual Power to produce a flame. It started off small, but she soon began feeding it more Spiritual Power and began adding wind to the mixture.

Low wind speeds removed the products of combustion and replaced them with oxygen, so the vaporized fuel and oxygen could combine at a faster rate, thereby producing more heat density and warming up more fuel—in this case, Spiritual Power—to feed the fire.

This was a middle-level concept that she had learned after mastering both wind and fire and was related to the concept known as Combustion.

What started off as a small flame soon grew exponentially, until it was the size of a person, then the size of those giants down below.

The Sekbeist flying on their mounts didn’t fail to notice what was happening. They oriented toward her and moved to attack, but she ignored them as she continued feeding the fire both Spiritual Power and wind. Then she added a rotational force using the wind to guide the fire.

The large flame became a blazing tornado.

Fire tornadoes like this did not exist in nature, but when a person reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism with any element, they were able to bend nature to their will. They became a force of nature themselves.

The fire tornado soon gained a life of its own, swirling around with a sucking force so strong that not even the Giant Horned Lightning Eagles could avoid being sucked into it. They squawked. They flapped their wings. They did everything they possibly could to escape, but all the enemies nearby were soon sucked into the tornado and burned to cinders.

Fay watched the tornado for a moment.

Then she created another one.

Two became four.

Four became eight.

Fay only stopped creating fire tornadoes after creating sixteen. All of them were floating high in the sky, far above the city, controlled by nothing but her will and understanding of the elements. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched the tornadoes do their work, quickly killing the flying enemies before they could attack her allies on the ground. She waited until she could no longer spot a single Demon Beast before reaching out with her hand as if to grasp something. She closed her hand into a fist, and the tornadoes that had been blazing with power and heat disappeared, leaving behind numerous heat waves.

With these enemies taken care of, Fay popped another alchemy pill into her mouth, oriented herself toward the ground, and disappeared within a Flash Step.

***

Raul gritted his teeth hard as the wind pushed against his face. His enemy was right in front of him. One of those massive giants. They had charged in immediately after the sandstorm disappeared, throwing out lightning like confetti at a parade. Many of his comrades had been vaporized. Of course, many of his enemies had also been vaporized by the lightning attacks. It seemed these people did not have much regard for the life of their grunts.

Thrusting out his swords as he flew, Raul channeled his Spiritual Power into his weapons, turning blade into flaming swords of pure white. He compressed each flame to a fine point. Finer. Finer. The finer and sharper the point, the better his chances of punching through that lightning armor.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Releasing a battlecry, Raul rammed into the Lightning Giant. His swords sparked and sizzled. There was a moment’s resistance before both blades punched a whole straight through the lightning armor, then sank into the hard flesh of his foe. There was no blood. The moment his swords were buried to the hilt inside of the Lightning Giant, Raul released it all in a powerful explosion.

The Lightning Giant’s body swelled up like a balloon. It didn’t explode, however, showing just how durable its skin was. Flames jetted from its mouth, nose, and ears. Its eyes boiled and melted before fire shot from the now empty sockets.

With a grunt, Raul ripped his swords free and leapt onto the ground. He looked up as the giant fell onto its back with a crash so loud it rattled his bones.

That was one down.

Just a thousand more to go.

Hidden within the shadows of the giant corpse, Raul looked around to see how the battle was going elsewhere. Pandemonium was raining. It was chaos no matter where he looked as humans, Lamia, and Sekbeist slaughtered each other with reckless abandon. Screams of agony mixed with warcries, the clash of weapons, and the echo of power as Spiritual Techniques destroyed entire swaths of enemies.

Within this chaotic maelstrom were several individuals who stood out.

Queen Medusa and King Menes were fighting side by side.

The queen of all Lamia slammed into her enemies with her ten meter long tail. The two swords in her hands were but glimmers of light as she severed heads, lopped off arms, and split bodies down the middle. Darkness and sand spikes burst from the ground and skewered Sekbeist further out, preventing them from reaching the city.

Beside her, King Menes fought with a single khopesh that was much bigger than the standard ones by at least half a meter. Yet he swung it with such ease. Every swing was a killing blow. There was so much power behind his attacks that the bodies he hit were actually ripped in half. A few Sekbeists were coming at him and his ally from the west, but he stomped on the ground and produced a spark that traveled across the sand and detonated with enough force to launch every enemy in a twenty meter radius off their feet.

A little ways off were Qawuin and Zane. Neither one had the same power as King Menes and Queen Medusa, but they were more than able to hold their own as they stood back to back, fighting with traditional khopesh. Both of them were fire-affinity Spiritualists, and so bright crescent flames swept from their blades and overwhelmed their enemies.

It took a bit of searching, but Raul eventually found Aliya, who had somehow managed to hook up with Uncle Earland. The two of them were… actually, weren’t they making their way over to him? They were slowly fighting through hordes of Sekbeist to reach his location.

Hardening his resolve, Raul began moving toward them as well. A Sekbeist Elite appeared before him, weapon already swinging, but he leapt over the attack, twisted his body, and swung his sword. The Elite’s head fell to the desert sands. The body followed soon after. More Sekbeists attacked him, but each one met the same fate, until he eventually united with the pair.

“We finally found you!” Aliya shouted over the din of battle. “Stick with us from now on! This battle has become crazy!”

“Stay close. Three swords are better than one,” Uncle Earland added.

“Will do!” Raul agreed.

It was only after hooking up with Aliya and Uncle Earland that Raul realized how frightened he had been. He had been so busy and the fighting so chaotic that he didn’t have time to feel fear, but he really could have died out there. He might not even be killed by an enemy. A stray Spiritual Technique could have done him in. The very idea of dying petrified him.

Fortunately, Aliya and Uncle Earland were here now. Everything would be fine so long as he stuck with them.

The four of them waded into the enemy forces, fighting as a unit instead of individuals. One of them defended, one of them attacked in close, and the last kept opponents in the distance at bay with Spiritual Techniques. Raul had been trained extensively by these two. He knew their styles better than most, and so he was able to perfectly compliment them as they fought together.

A massive explosion went up in the distance. Raul shielded his eyes as he was struck by a wave of heat and light. Even after the light died down, it was still hard to see, but he could just make out the dome-shaped flames as they spread across the horizon, followed by a massive plume of smoke.

“Looks like Fay has joined the battle,” Earland said.

“We should leave her alone,” Aliya added. “We would only get in her way.”

Raul bit his lip, but he had to agree with them. His mom was powerful. Her attacks could wipe out entire legions of enemies, but by that very same token, they were indiscriminate.

Sweat stung Raul’s eyes as the battle continued. He swung his swords with elegance and precision, making sure each attack killed the enemy. Aliya was defending him against enemies on his flank. Her khopesh were covered in dark purple poison and she had raised a wall of sand on his right. Behind them, Earland was unleashing fire projectiles that exploded on contact.

Several giants appeared before them and closed in quick, but they were so busy fighting the Sekbeists that none of them were able to create a solid defense. Yet just as the nearest Lightning Giant threw a bolt of lightning, an even more powerful lightning bolt flew in from over their heads—except this lightning was pitch black. It also didn’t feel like the lightning element at all.

The two bolts fought against each other before the black lightning won out. It continued on, struck the Lightning Giant, and ate right through his armor and body, leaving behind a gaping hole.

“What in the nine realms was that?!” Aliya squawked.

Raul wanted to know that two, and so he turned his head in the direction the black lightning had come from.

He saw her in the distance. She was an incomparably beautiful Lamia with a modest chest covered in a dark top that showed both her cleavage and all of her taut stomach. A red sarong wrapped around her waist. A snake hairpin was affixed to her hair. She had predatory golden eyes, dark skin, and pointed features. While it had been over a year since he’d last seen her, Raul would recognize this person anywhere.

“Aunty Lin!” he exclaimed—only to stop when she turned to him. He sucked in a deep breath when he noticed something he hadn’t at first. Her irises still retained their golden color, but surrounding them was an inky blackness. They looked… evil.

A shiver traveled down his spine.

Aunty Lin smiled sadly as if she could sense his thoughts, and Raul almost kicked himself. Evil? This was his aunt! She was one of the people who had raised him since birth! How could he possible think of her like that?!

“Aunty Lin,” he began again. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad… you came out of your closed-door training.”

“This princess is also glad she came out when she did.” If Aunty Lin was bothered by the fear he displayed, she did not show it beyond the sad smile. She placed her hands on her hips, surveyed the area, and hugged. “It looks like she completed her training just in time. This princess did not expect the enemy to attack so soon or in such numbers.”

Aliya cautiously walked up to Aunty Lin. “Does that mean… you have done it? Have you reached a higher stage in your cultivation?”

“Hmhmhm!” Aunty Lin thrust out her chest as she laughed. “Do you wish to see this princess’ new power? Watch this.”

Aunty Lin slithered past Raul and toward the outer edge of the battlefield. She stopped after passing what could be considered the line into enemy territory. No allies were present there. From this position, he could not see her face, but Raul imagined the woman with her eyes narrowed and a haughty expression on her face.

“Hmph. Foolish creatures. This princess is going to make you regret ever setting foot into her home. Now disappear!”

As if her words were the command, a wave of darkness burst from her body and swept forward like a tidal wave. It engulfed the Sekbeists traveling toward them. The entire area in front of Aunty Lin for at least ten kilometers became covered in vile black energy that reminded Raul… yes, it was exactly the kind of power he felt coming from the Sekbeists! Did that mean Aunty Lin had mastered the Void?!

The darkness soon disappeared, revealing that all the Sekbeist who had been overcome by her attack were gone. Completely gone. It was far different from being burned to ashes or cut to pieces. Those methods at least left evidence behind, but this was far different. It was as if the Sekbeists had never existed to begin with.

“Phew...” Aunty Lin breathed out as her shoulders slumped. “That… took a lot more out of this princess then she expected.”

Aunty Lin turned back around. Raul was relieved to see that her eyes were no longer black and instead contained the proper white color surrounding her irises.

“What… was that?” asked Aliya, voice stunned. “You just… there must have been at least a million Sekbeist marching toward us, and you just… how did you do that?!”

“By using the power the Sekbeist are so proud of against them,” Aunty Lin said, her tone serious. “Do not ask any more questions, Aliya. It will be better for everyone.”

Aliya looked like she still wanted to ask questions, but then she changed her mind and slowly nodded.

“Yeah. Okay. Maybe that is for the best.”

“It is,” Aunty Lin agreed. She smiled, then crossed her arms. “So can someone please tell this princess what is going on? What happened to the sandstorm?”

It only occurred to him now, but if Aunty Lin had just left closed-door training, then she obviously didn’t know what happened. She understood that the enemy was invading them. That was all though. She didn’t know how this situation had come about.

“I’ll be glad to—” Aliya began.

“Please let me explain the situation to her,” a voice said from above.

Everyone looked up as Mom flew over to them and landed on the ground. She and Aunty Lin eyed each other for a moment, and then both smiled at the same time as they closed the distance and hugged.

“Fay! It’s so good to see you!”

“You too, Lin. I missed you so much. This past year has been very boring without you.”

“That is because this princess is always the life of the party.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

The two held each other for a moment longer, two sister reunited, but they soon broke apart and Mom began explaining the situation to Aunty Lin as concisely as possible. They had time. Aunty Lin’s last attack had wiped out what appeared to be a fourth of the enemy army.

“So let me get this straight,” Aunty Lin began as Mom finished explaining the situation. “The Sekbeists found our home, attacked en masse to distract us, and sent people into the palace so they could kill the Spiritualists creating the sandstorm?”

“That about sums it up,” Mom said.

Aunty Lin scratched her head. “Were they always this smart? They have never used tactics like this in all the years we fought them, and I can’t see them changing tactics now.”

“You… bring up a very good point. This attack was a lot more cunning than anything I’ve seen from them in a long time. It reminds me of the plan Dunhere and his cohorts made all those years ago,” Mom agreed as she cupped a hand to her chin. Then she looked at Lin. “By the way, your Spiritual Power has become a lot stronger. And darker. Is this the result of your training?”

“This princess isn’t surprised you noticed that.” Lin sighed. “She will explain everything later. For now—”

“Now this is interesting,” a voice interrupted them. “I was pretty upset after being ordered to travel all this way to exterminate some mere vermin, but it appears there is one among you who has quite a bit of power. You there. How were you able to become intimate with the Void?”

The person who had spoken was floating several meters above them. He did not look like a human, Lamia, or any Sekbeist that Raul had ever seen. His body was shaped similar to a human’s, but his skin was dark gray, his hands only possessed four fingers, and horns sprouted from his head, shoulders, and elbows. Pinions flapped behind his back and a tail moved back and forth behind him. Red eyes surrounded by black glared down at them with an uncaring arrogance that said all of them were beneath him, that they were lower than dirt.

Fay’s eyes widened. “That’s a—”

“A Sekbeist Lord,” Lin finished with a hiss. “That explains why their tactics have become so much more refined.”

The Sekbeist Lord raised a non-existent eyebrow. “Oh? You know about the Sekbeist Lords, do you? That is quite surprising.”

“Hmph! This princess’s husband and sisters have fought against your kind before,” Lin said with a huff.

“Fought against… ah. You must be referring to Dunherr and his ilk. Ha! Those pathetic cretins could barely be considered Sekbeist Lords. Do not put me in the same level as them. That’s just running my good reputation through the mud,” the man said.

Lin stuck out her tongue. “This princess doesn’t care about your reputation. Who are you? How did you even get here? This princess did not think there were anymore Sekbeist Lords on Miðgarðr.”

“You are correct. There were no Sekbeist Lords on Miðgarðr… until recently,” the man floating above them smirked. “We decided it was high time to pay a visit to your pathetic realm. I came here because our leader sensed an incredible amount of the Void gathering here. He thought one of those blasted Overlords might be sealed here, but it seems he was mistaken. As to who I am… my name is Morden. I will be your executioner today. Dying is the least you can do for forcing me to come all this way.”

***

The sands shifted against Lin’s scales as she glared up at Morden. She knew nothing about this man, where he came from or what he was doing here, but she knew that she could not let him fight against anyone here.

“Fay,” she began to grab her sisters attention. “This princess is going to fight Morden alone. He is far too powerful for anyone who hasn’t mastered a concept to fight. Please take the others and help Momma and everyone else.”

Fay closed her eyes. Lin thought she could sense the conflict taking place within the redhead. She understood. Had Fay been the one telling her this, Lin was certain she would have adamantly refused.

“What you are trying to say is that I’ll simply be in the way when you fight?” Fay asked.

“…Yes.”

“Very well.” Fay’s shoulders slumped, but it was only for a moment before she straightened them, opened her eyes, and gave Lin a look. “But you must promise me that no matter what happens, you will not let yourself die. You have to keep the promise you made to me no matter what.”

When the Sekbeist invaded years ago, Fay and Lin relied on each other for comfort, support, and rivalry. They became like true sisters. When the Sekbeist push forced them to abandon their home, the two of them made a promise that they would survive and wait for the day Eryk, Kari, and Siv returned to them.

“This princess has not forgotten her promise,” Lin said. “She will keep it.”

“See to it that you do,” Fay said.

Fay did not remain there for long. Sweeping Raul, Aliya, and Earland up behind her, she took the trio away. Lin watched them go before turning back to the amused Morden.

“You seem awfully confident of yourself,” he said. “Do you really think you can defeat me on your own? Perhaps you should have asked that redheaded friend of yours to help you?”

Lin snorted. “Do you think this princess is an idiot? She is perfectly aware of the power you possess. Anyone who has not mastered a concept is just going to be a liability in this battle.”

Now it was Morden’s turn to snort. “Do you really think you’ve mastered the Concept of Negation? I’ll admit, you have a lot of power. If you truly mastered the Concept of Negation, I might actually have to put some effort into defeating you, but you’re just a novice who only learned to use the Void recently. Killing you will hardly require any effort.”

“This princess is going to make you regret those words,” Lin declared.

Because she had used so much Spiritual Power in her first attack, Lin gathered Spiritual Power from the sand to bolster her own, then converted all that power into void energy. Black flames encased her body. While she could not see it, she knew the whites of her eyes had turned pure black.

“Oooh. Now there’s a scary look,” Morden said with a sneer. “I’ve existed for over five thousand years and battled against true monsters. Don’t think I’ll be intimidated by a little girl like you.”

No black flames erupted from around Morden, but Lin sensed some kind of energy rushing from him. A ripple seemed to spread out from his body. Lin did not know what this strange attack was, but she had no intention of letting it touch her. She threw out her arm and sent a bolt of black lightning racing forward. It slammed into the ripple and canceled it out.

“Impressive. It seems you already understand the Concept of Negation enough to launch attacks, but that is still not enough,” a voice said from behind her.

Lin’s eyes widened as she tried to merge with the ground, but she soon realized that she could not because she was channeling void energy. She spun around, crossed her arms, and encased them in armor composed of the void just as something slammed into her. The attack did not hurt, but she was lifted off her feet. Lin did not let this disrupt her composure and launched another black lightning bolt.

It missed as the man disappeared.

That’s just like the Flash Step! No! It’s even faster!

“Your attacks are so slow,” Morden said, this time from above.

Lin looked up and crossed her arms just in time to receive Morden’s heel drop. She grunted in pain as the attack shattered the bones in both forearms, but she shunted aside the pain and latched onto Morden’s tail before his attack could send her flying. Her enemy’s eyes went wide. She grinned and channeled the void through his tail.

“GRRRAAAAAAA!!!”

A pained and angry roar erupted from Morden’s throat. He snarled at her and slammed his heel into her face, breaking her nose and sending her crashing into the sands before. A crater formed around Lin. She stood up and swung her arms forward. A black whip appeared in each hand and attacked Morden, who unleashed a series of punches and kicks to knock her weapons away.

And then something else happened.

Morden flew backward, held out both hands, and began channeling massive quantities of Spiritual Power. Lin didn’t know what was happening, but a ball of black and white energy appeared in front of his hands. It looked like a Yin-Yang sphere. She might not understand what this attack was, but she could sense the incredible amounts of both life and death coming from that sphere. There was enough power packed into it to destroy this entire city.

She could not let that thing hit the city.

Morden unleashed his attack, which flew toward her at speeds that broke the sound barrier. Lin stared at the offending projectile without blinking. She channeled void energy into her hand. As it became engulfed in blackness so complete appendage vanished, she reared it back, counted down, and thrust it forward.

Her punch slammed into the projectile. Morden must have packed a lot of Spiritual Power into his attack because the projectile did not disappear upon touching her void fist. It pushed against her, making Lin slide along the ground as she vied for dominance. Gritting her teeth, she released strangled hissing noises as she pushed the attack back.

“Ngngngngng!!! Do not. Expect. Something. Like this. To defeat. THIS PRINCESS!”

With a roar, Lin released even more void energy into her fist and destroyed the projectile, which bulged from the opposite end before exploding. Lin was breathing heavily by this point. She summoned an alchemy pill and popped it into her mouth. Since she was using the void, she could not use the elements, which meant she couldn’t absorb Spiritual Power from the earth. It was vexing. However, Morden had been right when he said she had not mastered the Concept of Negation.

“Impressive,” a voice said from behind her again.

Lin was already moving. She dropped to the ground, placed her hands on the sand, and struck out with her tail. She had expected to feel the satisfying crunch of her tail breaking someone’s face. Instead she felt nothing. Morden was already gone.

“You have a lot of Spiritual Power, top notch reflexes, and a keen battle sense,” Morden continued talking casually like he was discussing the weather. “Even among the Drakvar, you would be a top notch warrior, never mind the Lamia. I guess that would make you the strongest Lamia alive.”

Lin scowled as she stood back up. “Do not mock this princess.”

Morden’s smile was as arrogant and mocking as it had been when he first appeared. “I will mock you as much as I want. That is my right as someone stronger than you.”

“You won’t be saying that when this princess breaks in your face,” Lin said.

“Feel free to try and break my face in. I guarantee the only thing you will find from your attempt is suffering and pain,” Morden declared before attacking her again.

Lin was forced completely on the defensive as she blocked and deflected all of his attacks. Matters were made worse by the amount of Spiritual Power she used up. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t mastered the Concept of Negation, or maybe this particular concept just consumed more Spiritual Power, but each time she used the void, nearly a quarter of her reserves were drained. This forced her to rely on alchemy pills to keep fighting.

“I wonder how many of those pills you have left? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? Not that it matters. You’re so weak that even if you use alchemy pills to keep your reserves of Spiritual Power maxed, you still won’t be able to defeat me,” Morden said as he launched a powerful sphere of void energy at her. It was much smaller than his other attacks, but that just meant there was more power packed into a smaller area.

Lin did not rely on her arms to block this time, but spun around and slammed her void-coated tail against the projectile. A loud kreening sound echoed around her. Lin flinched at the noise, winced as pain filled her body. It hurt. It hurt so much. But at the same time, she received the satisfaction of watching Morden’s attack get reflected back at him.

“Take that!” she shouted triumphantly.

Morden snorted as he reached out and caught his attack with a single hand.

Lin gawked at him before shouting in anger. “No fair! You must be cheating!”

“There is no such thing as cheating, little girl. If anything, reflecting my attack back at me is cheating.”

“Nu-uh. You’re clearly a cheater! This princess hates cheaters!”

“Like I care!”

Lin had already noticed how arrogant Morden was. While all of his attacks were powerful, he was clearly not putting any real effort into them. She felt a little insulted. At the same time, she planned to use his overconfidence against him. Big Sister had taught her a long time ago that the best way to defeat a more powerful opponent to use their inborn arrogance to turn the tables.

So that was what she was going to do.

As Morden launched more attacks, Lin began struggling to deflect them all. She couldn’t let even one of those attacks hit the ground. She knew that. He knew that. And that was why he was doing it. He was screwing with her. And yet as he continued to launch attacks and watch them get deflected, he heaved a sigh.

“This is getting boring. I think I’m just going to kill you now,” he declared.

“Bring it on!” Lin shouted in a challenging tone.

“Glady,” Morden declared darkly.

And then he appeared before her again. He was very fast. She didn’t understand the mechanics behind his speed, but she could sense that it wasn’t a speed technique like the Flash Step. It was something different. It was like he was using the Concept of Negation to “eat” the distance between them. That was the sense Lin got.

Their battle went from trading long-range attacks to close combat, and Morden proved himself every bit as talented at hand-to-hand as he was the Concept of Negation. His left fist slammed hard into Lin’s forearm. Before she could parry his arm to the side and counter, he pulled back, spun around, and snapped off a kick that would have knocked her for a loop had she not ducked. Each attack flowed into the next one like a seamless flow.

He still wasn’t using all of his strength.

He was still underestimating her.

Lin grimaced as the ground beneath her shifted and she stumbled forward—right into Morden’s waiting fist. He must have packed some void energy into that fist. An explosion of dark power erupted between them as she slid backward. Morden didn’t let up. He seemed to appear before her within a instant and launched a kick that struck her in the face. Lin spun around like a top, but it was an exaggerated motion that masked her surprise attack.

With sinuous movements, Lin continued her spin and used the motion to mask all the void energy she was gathering in her right hand. A tiny black ball of compressed power had appeared there. As she finished her spin, she slipped underneath his leg, shot forward like a snake lunging at her prey, and slammed the ball of compressed void energy into his face.

“What the—AAAAHHH!!”

Morden stumbled backward as he held his hand to the right side of his face. It was just the skin, but now his face looked like it had been eaten through with acid. The muscles of his cheekbone and around his eye socket were gone. Sadly, his eye was still there, and the way the black and red orb glared at her from between his fingers was more than a little unsettling.

“You… you fucking bitch! Gaaaah! Damn you!” Morden shrieked.

“Ha! That’s what you get for underestimating this princess!” Lin taunted. “Now come on! Let us see if this princess can’t destroy the other half of your face!”