“Good,” Leafblade said. He looked aside from the devastation, eying Xanthe with vengeful eyes, and clenched his two-handed sword tightly. “Was hoping you recognized it, you fucking demon.” Leafblade cleaved for Xanthe while screaming. “You shadow angels are the murderers of the old God!”
“Anyone else?”
“Not that I can see,” Henrietta said, her face shifting about in the elven neighborhood. “If they are any civilians left, they are hiding or dead.”
Guy winced at what had become of his party. They had split up into two groups, one led by Rachael, Synaria, and Kam, who escorted the elven survivors to safety at the city’s gates. Guy, Henrietta, and Averyl remained ahead to dispatch lingering fae and dark elves and find the civilians. Though, come to think of it, there were fewer enemy forces in the streets, and Guy saw at least three parties comprised of Lumière’s army retake a few buildings. Something changed in the battle, something that benefited them.
The trio hurried up the hill where the castle sat and made last-second preparations to push past the doors. Averyl stopped and stared at the city. Her eyes opened wide in horror.
The chateau she had made her home was on fire, and it looked like dark elves were roaming around it.
“Oh, no, Marguerite!” Averyl cried out and spread her wings to prepare for flight. “Guy, please, we must help Marguerite!”
Henrietta narrowed her eyes. “The quest did say save as many civilians as possible . . .”
“Go with her, Henrietta,” Guy said. “I’m going for my sword.”
“Alone?” Henrietta asked, and gazed at him with concern. “At least take Rachael for support.”
“She’s still helping Kam and Synaria escort the last civilians out,” Guy said.
“Give her another minute, then,” Henrietta said.
Averyl panicked. “We might not have a minute!—”
The buzzing of fae wings echoed, making the three draw their weapons. Then lower them. Zuran landed ahead and looked at the three with a half grimace.
“Yo, y’all need to stop assuming I’m an imperial,” Zuran groaned. “First Xanthe, and now you three . . .”
“Zuran!” Guy said jubilantly. “Man, am I glad to see you here. Where’s Xanthe?”
“She went to fight Leafblade alone,” Zuran said.
Guy sighed. “Why?”
“Because she is Xanthe,” Zuran said in a dry tone. “She does what she wants and thinks her charisma will keep her free of the consequences.”
“Yeah, that’s so her,” Guy chuckled—
“Fuck,” Zuran interrupted as he looked at his Party screen.
“That was a big fuck, bro.”
“I am in a party with Xanthe, and her HP is falling,” Zuran said. “Leafblade must be winning.”
Guy shared the same disturbed face Zuran and Averyl had. “Shit . . .”
Three paths lay ahead of him. Help Xanthe, check on Nijana and Tempeste while recovering his sword, or help Averyl save Marguerite.
A woman’s scream echoed, and it came from one of the castle’s windows. It sounded a lot like Tempeste, like she cried out in pain.
Guy looked at his friends as they waited for him to select a course of action.
“Zuran, find Rachael, then get to Xanthe before she gets herself killed. Henrietta, go with Averyl and help her get Marguerite to safety.”
“And you, Guy?” Henrietta asked.
“I’m going into the castle.”
“Alone?”
He stopped ahead of its entrance, the ground below littered with dead light elves, dark elves, and fae. “Yes.”
Chapter Seventy-Three
Leafblade swung his sword and struck Xanthe across her frame, hurling her through the window of a torched house.
Crash.
She slammed side first into the smoldering wall, pushed up, and checked her HP.
Xanthe | HP: 501/829
She could not afford to make any more mistakes. Xanthe saw Leafblade enter the burning house and amble past a plume of smoke and heatwaves. He cradled his greatsword over his left pauldron as his torn wings leaked gore everywhere.
“Leafblade! There you are!”
The big fae stopped to address who had called him. Two imperials landed outside the dwelling, stilling their fluttering fairy wings. Xanthe narrowed her eyes to get a better glimpse of them. It was Emeraldal and Veronis. They approached Leafblade with faces and bodies covered in blood and soot.
“Leave me. I have this,” Leafblade said to the two. “Assist the dark elves.”
“The dark elves are betraying us!” Veronis bellowed.
Leafblade staggered. “What?!”
“We must retreat at once!” Emeraldal added. “This plan is not working as intended!”
“As soon as I finish with her,” Leafblade said and grinned at Xanthe lying on the floor.
Leafblade spun back to Veronis and Emeraldal again. He thought he won. He thought wrong. A smile crept up on Xanthe’s battle-soiled face. The duo had distracted Leafblade. So she opened her Inventory screen quick, scrolled through it, found the strength potion, pulled it out, and drank it.
Xanthe’s strength temporarily increased from 43 to 63. The astral circuits in her arms, hands, and legs willed her body to become stronger. It took minimal effort to push herself up and even less to pull out the twin axes from her inventory and double-checked their stats.
Marauder’s Axe [One handed Axe]
Rank: B
Attack: 20
Strength: +2 Critical Hit Rate: +1%
Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]
Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]
Asteriarite Slot: [EMPTY]
Requires: 66 Strength
66 strength . . . Asteria’s cunt! I am 3 points of strength away from equipping it! No! There must be another way, asteriarite perhaps?
Putting strength asteriarite in her weapons was out of the question since they already had them. Xanthe’s accessory, on the other hand.
Lumière Aspirant’s Gold Bracelets [Accessory]
Rank: C
Magic Defense: 10
Charisma: +2 HP: +20
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Charisma +3]
Asteriarite Slot: [Asteriarite: Charisma +3]
Requires: 66 Charisma
Fuck charisma, I need all the strength I could get right now!
She replaced the two charisma +3 asteriarite with strength +3, boosting Xanthe’s strength to 69, more than enough to equip the twin axes. After that, she slotted the Marauder’s Axes with strength +3 asteriarite and stood up. She was dual-wielding the Marauder’s Axes now, using their higher base attack. She could swing them with ease as long as the buff from the strength potion was in effect.
I wonder if I can change my sigil set up while they are talking—
Xanthe got the answer with an arrow to her chest.
I guess not . . .
She yanked the arrow from her chest. Xanthe had until the potion’s effect faded to end this. Emeraldal fired another arrow. It hit the wall as Xanthe swirled to escape from it, ran behind a fallen chair, and kicked it.
Her newfound strength sent the chair through the air and crashed into Emeraldal, sending the Ranger to the floor. Her bow went wide. Leafblade raced after Xanthe while Veronis idled and cast a spell. Xanthe hoped it was not Chastisement.
It was Chastisement. She ignored the feeling of her skin boiling, parried Leafblade’s cleave, sidestepped to the left, struck him once with both weapons, twice, three times, built AP, then looked at the Cleric. Veronis waved his scepter in preparation to use Starlight Recovery, no doubt. Just as she planned.
As Veronis stood still to heal Leafblade, Xanthe dashed to him with her Marauder’s Axes swinging. Veronis opened his eyes after healing Leafblade’s injuries just in time to see Xanthe strike his left wrist and put a red gash on it. She spun and knocked the side of Veronis’s face with the left Marauder’s Axe, twirled around and cut through his Cleric’s robe, performed a
feisty spin to get behind and cut off his wings.
She had 100 AP, considered using Sensual Tango, then realized it would be a waste. Clerics rarely gained AP. Instead, Xanthe opted for Brisk Strike, carved a grisly slash into Veronis’s back, jumped and twisted above to land in front, then whacked him in the face. His scepter lit up with light, so she brought the right Marauder’s Axe down on his wrist and chopped off his hand. Veronis screamed, so Xanthe silenced him with a cut across his lower jaw and removed it from his face, then booted his body to the floor.
The Marauder’s Axe did a lot more damage.
And so was Chastisement’s effect—
Leafblade pushed his blade through her chest, pulled it free, and cleaved the air, striking Xanthe down. She leaped to her feet, blocked the next attack—
Three arrows sank into her left hip. Emeraldal held a dramatic pose with her bow, having recovered it. It left Xanthe bleeding and her HP at 311. Emeraldal nocked the fourth arrow, pulled the string—
Crash.
The door to the burning house exploded, hurling Emeraldal to the wall. Zuran stood ahead of the door, having finished casting one of his fire spells. At his side stood Kam and Rachael, weapons ready to assist Xanthe.
Xanthe gave them a smile. “You three know how to make an entrance . . .”
She rotated to deflect Leafblade’s sword with her twin axes. And this time Xanthe had the strength needed to push him back and into the corner. She resumed her quest for revenge.
Arrows had flown about. None of them had hit Xanthe as she and Leafblade fought. Emeraldal erupted in a rage, shooting at Zuran first, then at Rachael. The star-fae simply swatted three arrows aside with the flat of the Enseigne’s Divine Saber. Emeraldal strafed toward Veronis’s dead body, launching arrow after arrow. Xanthe peeked behind and saw why.
Kam stood above Veronis’s corpse, thrusting his lance into his chest to mutilate it. Kam was trying to permakill the imperial Cleric. And was oblivious to the Ranger’s Barrage skill that came his way. The faun screamed on the way to the floor. Emeraldal just laughed and rolled away, narrowly escaping from multiple Fireballs cast by Zuran. Emeraldal grabbed Veronis’s body and leaped out the window to run from Zuran’s Firestorm spell.
Zuran dashed outside in a rush, idled to cast Fire, burned Emeraldal’s wings and legs, and cast Ice to send a pillar of crystallized frost up at her. It didn’t freeze Emeraldal in place since she was still on fire. Zuran should have cast Ice first—
Zuran corkscrewed to the ground as a flurry of arrows impaled his chest and arms.
What happened next, Xanthe did not know. She was busy battling Leafblade, alone in the burning house. She assumed Rachael and Kam left to assist Zuran.
Chastisement’s effect had worn off, but not before it removed a lot of Xanthe’s HP, down to 183, and Rachael could not even bother to cast Regeneration on Xanthe. She was probably still angry for the hand job Xanthe gave Guy a while back. Leafblade had the advantage now and just needed to finish the Cleric’s job. Xanthe just needed to get AP once and had to do it before the strength potion faded, which she was certain was seconds away.
Xanthe cut into Leafblade, got AP, and used Sensual Tango without a second thought. She wiggled her hips as she moved around Leafblade quickly, cursing him with the dance’s effect.
Leafblade’s next attack filled Xanthe’s AP gauge. The anger that exploded on his face was priceless. He received no AP for the work. Xanthe did. Leafblade backed away, hesitating as he thought of his next move. He was fucked and knew it. That hesitation cost him a lot of HP as Xanthe swung the twin Marauder’s Axes, slicing red swathes across his frame, got AP again, hit him with the two-folded attack of Brisk Strike, and took his HP down to 21 percent—
Smash.
Leafblade smacked Xanthe away with his weapon. As she leaped up, she saw him limp over and raise his sword to strike her again. He didn’t care that each hit he delivered gave Xanthe AP, and Xanthe didn’t care to block his blows. She just took them, accepted the free AP, as well as the AP her twin strikes gave. Leafblade cut deep into her flesh, spraying the walls with a splash of red that dripped to the floor. Xanthe twirled and struck him twice to return the favor.
The two could barely stand up straight.
Xanthe’s HP sat at 61 and slowly dropped because of her extreme bleeding. Leafblade’s HP was at 14 percent and also lowered with each passing second. Xanthe and Leafblade limped to confront one another, leaving behind long red lines on the floor in their wake, and sluggishly swung their weapons—
And Xanthe’s hands became weak.
The strength potion’s effect faded. Xanthe could no longer hold the Marauder’s Axes and could not remember where her Aspirant’s Blades had fallen. She broke out laughing.
“So, this is how it ends . . .” she groaned, and coughed up blood.
Leafblade fell to one knee and used his giant sword to steady his balance as a small red pool expanded below him. Leafblade was bleeding worse than her. His HP was at 10 percent one second, then 7 the next, then 4.
He never stood to take a swing at her. Leafblade keeled over to the side and died when his HP fell to 0. His sword clanged to the floor at the same time. Xanthe laughed. She did it. She killed Leafblade.
She collapsed with a smiling face. Like Leafblade, a red puddle expanded from Xanthe’s body, taking the last of her HP with it.
Xanthe and Leafblade’s bodies lay next to each other in the burning house, and there was no healer in range to cast Resurrection on them. Or pull them away from the flames that may reduce their LP loss at a faster rate.
She was still smiling as her world turned black with a text message that read:
You died.
Chapter Seventy-Four
The Siege of Lumière City – Quest Complete
Obtained: 3000 Experience Points
Guy has attained level 20!
Just as planned.
And if his knowledge of classes was correct, at level 20, all classes received an upgrade to their skills. He doubled checked his traits, and sure enough, Guy’s Spell Lancer had a new trait waiting for him.
Gae Bulg Boost
Enables use of rank C Spell Lancer abilities.
The potency of Elemental Rain was 600 as a level 20 Spell Lancer. Guy could damn near one-shot someone with it. Too bad the MP cost increased to 450 as well. Regardless, Guy’s plan was coming together. He loved it when a plan came together. The muddle potion worked. He suspected this because there was a gauntlet of fighting fae and dark elves in the palace’s foyer and hallways. Remy went nuts and ordered the dark elves to betray the fae too soon. Since everyone hated each other, Guy figured nobody would mind him killing his way to the throne room.
Nobody did.
He ran with the Svartálfar’s Halberd pointed forward, both hands on the handle, its tip aimed at the back of an imperial Berserker dueling with a dark elf Spell Lancer.
Imperial Trooper (Berserker) | HP: 31%
And his HP was nice and low too.
Guy speared the imperial so hard gore sprayed from the exiting hole in his chest and splashed the stunned face of the dark elf he’d been battling. Red droplets dripped from the dark elf’s nose and pointed ears. Guy yanked his Svartálfar’s Halberd from the kill, kicked down the body, and met the dark elf in combat, striking his chest five times in a quick succession of thrusts. Like the fae, the dark elf dropped dead and painted the glass floor with a new coat of red. Killing enemies at less than half HP never felt so great.
Guy pushed deeper into the castle by carefully hiding behind pillars and watching fae and dark elves fight. He’d jump whoever had the least amount of HP, spear their fucking brains across the walls, then turn around to sweep out the legs of their opponent. When they were down on the ground, Guy shoved his Svartálfar’s Halberd tip into their throats.
Farther up, a Mage tried to freeze Guy with ice spells. He took cover behind a pillar and used it to block the Mage’s line of sight. As the Mage pivoted to
target Guy, he used Become One with the Elements, turned to a light elemental spirit, and flashed behind the Mage in the blink of an eye. Being a light spirit enabled Guy usage of the spell Siphon HP, which he cast on the Mage, stealing some of their HP to transfer to Guy.
The Mage gripped their page-flipping tome to confront Guy, blasting his form with Ice spell after Ice spell. There was one problem, you couldn’t turn pure light into ice. Guy just shrugged, cast Siphon MP, draining the Mage’s mana pool, adding it to his, then used Siphon HP to restore his. The Mage freaked out and ran into two fae Rangers who shot him dead with their arrows.
The two Rangers aimed to target Guy, letting loose a volley of arrows. Guy countered with Elemental Rain, bringing forth white-hot beams of light to rain upon the Rangers so long as they stayed in the field. The two Rangers dashed to hide in front of pillars, one to the left, the other to the right, and didn’t see the star-human who flashed behind.
Guy’s MP ran out and he returned to normal, which was fine. He could use physical attacks again and speared one Ranger from the rear, skewered his body onto the Svartálfar’s Halberd, in which Guy hurled the Ranger back into the Elemental Rain. The Ranger got to his feet, then fell to his knees as the raining bolts of light melted his face and brought his HP to zero.
His partner fired more arrows. Guy quickly whirled the Svartálfar’s Halberd in a circular motion and created a disk-shaped blur ahead of him, deflecting each arrow. He backed the motherfucker into the corner then rammed him so hard and fast with the lance it looked like Guy was nailing the Ranger to the wall. He got 100 AP then finished him with Astral Swipe, releasing a beam of white-hot light so bright it vaporized the Ranger’s head right down to his jaw.
There was nothing else left alive to challenge Guy. He strode to the throne room grinning at how well his plan was working. Someone had shut the throne room’s door. Guy kicked it open with his boot and started waving the Svartálfar’s Halberd. No one noticed his epic action hero entrance. He felt so sad.
Tempeste had finished placing a soul crystal in her inventory while Remy held Asteria’s Sword up and struggled to do so with both hands.
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 56
