“I could feel Wylume’s last moments!” Serzax yelled, his voice echoing throughout the throne room. He slashed for Guy again. This time, Asteria’s Sword parried the strike. “I know the fear he felt in the seconds before you took his life!—”
Guy kicked Serzax in the gut, staggering him just long enough to perform a spinning left-to-right cut across the Nox Knight’s arm.
“Sorry, but is this supposed to make me all teary?” Guy said. “Your boy was a murdering bitch!”
Behind, Tempeste and Nijana had returned to the fight. Tempeste cast Lightning, summoning an indoor bolt to strike Serzax. It barely moved Serzax’s HP, though the spell forced him to spin and look at her, wincing. Serzax met Tempeste, blocked two of her strikes, ate three White Espada pokes from Nijana, repelled the fourth, then booted Nijana’s face before lunging again for Tempeste. Guy took advantage and carved slashes into Serzax’s back, right through his black cape—
Serzax pivoted and countered Guy with a hasty slice.
It knocked Guy up and down.
“Wylume had to do this!” Serzax continued, punched Tempeste to the floor with his free hand, then sauntered to Guy’s downed body. “My son was doing it for all of humanity, including you.”
Serzax brought his blade down. Guy rolled to the left—
Crack.
The Nocturnal Blade shattered the tile Guy had fallen on. Serzax tried again and missed. Guy had rolled to the side once more.
Crack.
Guy leaped to his feet and spat out a wad of blood. “I don’t recall asking Wylume or you for help.”
“You will.” Serzax pulled his sword from the broken tiles. “When the ancient ones come, having discovered there were survivors from Earth, you, and all humans, land-dweller and star-dweller alike, will beg for our help!”
Once again, Guy and Serzax’s weapons met in the battle, later joined by Tempeste’s lightning Spellsword Saber and Nijana’s White Espada.
They were still losing HP faster than Serzax. Without a proper healer and limited consumables, the three were going to lose. They refused to give up.
Serzax swung his blade, making a long and wide cleave, hitting both Guy and Tempeste so hard they flew like rag dolls and collided with the throne room’s support pillars. They fell to the tiles. It left Nijana alone to duel Serzax. Surprisingly, Nijana held her ground and relied on the speed Swift Carol gave her. But for all the evasion Nijana had, she couldn’t dodge Serzax’s magic. As she dove to push the White Espada into him, Serzax cast Dark Cloud and conjured a black haze of darkness around his body.
The Dark Cloud spell hit her for 150 HP. It was a reminder that Serzax hadn’t even used his true power. Serzax was using Mage as his subclass and it was now that he decided to cast spells. Serzax had just been toying with the three that whole time. Now, the next phase of the fight had begun, dealing with Serzax’s magic.
Guy jumped to his feet, then sidestepped to put Serzax’s fluttering black cape in front of him as he fought with Nijana. He slashed the tiles below, sending Shockwave Slash’s light elemental power toward Serzax in a straight line. The wave of blue and white light hit Serzax from behind, spewed a white mist into the air, and took off 15 percent of the Nox Knight’s HP.
Shockwave Slash inflicted Serzax with the Light Touch debuff, lowering his intelligence and reducing his magic attack. Serzax screamed in agonizing pain, his free hand touching his back where Shockwave Slash had hit.
“Ha!” Guy taunted. “Did your dead son’s memories teach you that?”
Serzax ignored the flurry of rapier strikes. “No . . .” he grumbled, and turned to Guy, scowling.
Tempeste’s blonde hair waved as she stood to cast Lightning and brought down a bolt onto Serzax. It inflicted more damage than before.
Intelligence affects magic attack and magic defense. If I keep the Light Touch debuff on Serzax, his spells will hurt us less, and Tempeste’s magic will do more damage.
Guy’s theory was proven right.
Tempeste was doing slightly more damage whenever she hit Serzax. Serzax rolled away from the next three Shockwave Slashes Guy sent. It cost Guy 112 of his limited MP. The Nox Knight sent his own Shockwave Slashes toward Guy, forcing him to dive and roll to escape, only to come up and see Serzax cast Dark Orb at Guy. Serzax’s intelligence down was their only saving grace, and he hoped Serzax would end up doing something stupid because of the lower intelligence.
Looks like Serzax’s getting desperate. He’s casting way more spells and not thinking things through. Now’s my chance. If he wants to chain cast magic, then I’ll give him a target to do it on.
Guy tapped into his Spell Lancer’s bag of tricks, used Become One with the Elements and transformed into a light elemental spirit, his shining form reflecting off the tiles below. Guy’s body glowed so brightly everyone squinted their eyes, Serzax especially. Serzax directed all his spells at Guy, ignoring Tempeste and Nijana. Good. Guy prepared to unleash his divine might upon Serzax, starting with Elemental Rain to bring down bolts of light on him.
Nothing happened. Guy couldn’t cast the spell. Why the fuck not?! Guy sat at 96 MP. Elemental Rain cost 300 MP while on Paladin. Motherfucking, stupid fucking, game rules! Ah shit! Fuck! Well, whatever, I’m still a light spirit. My regular attacks should still nail him for a lot.
And they did. Guy attacked him as a man made of pure light, removing 4-7 percent of the Nox Knight’s HP. Serzax hit Guy for more when he cast Dark Orb, sending them flying at Guy. Serzax cast Dark Orb after Dark Orb. All of them missed Guy since he moved at the speed of light across the throne room. It forced Serzax to cast Dark. Dark hit the caster’s target so long as they maintained a line of sight with them. Despite flashing around, Serzax was able to bring down Guy’s HP with that. Every two seconds, a pillar of dark energy blasted Guy in his light spirit form. The spell hurt a lot. As a light spirit, Guy was extremely weak to dark magic, more so than usual.
A dazzling spectacle of light and dark magic brightened, then darkened the throne room. Both forces took extreme HP loss. Guy would have used Siphon HP if he had that sigil set up. But he didn’t, so he had to endure the pain and increased damage he sustained from the barrage of dark magic, knowing Serzax was experiencing the same pain. Meanwhile, Tempeste and Nijana continued to wail on Serzax and unleash AP skill after AP skill uncontested. Serzax focused on casting spells on Guy.
That’s right, you want me. You know I’m way more vulnerable to dark magic as a light spirit. Waste all your MP on me and leave the girls alone!—
Guy was running low on MP, and it was ticking away with each second he remained as a spirit.
Okay, let’s hope this was worth it!
His body’s luster faded, and soon after, Guy returned to normal, his body blazing from the flames and pain of dark magic, and examined Serzax’s HP.
Serzax (Nox Knight) | HP: 47%
He hoped the luminance assault was enough because it came at a cost, Guy had to fight with 301 HP. Nijana’s White Espada healed Guy for another 97, meaning he had to avoid taking damage for another twenty-five seconds unless Tempeste had more potions to spare. Probably not since she had to drink a few to raise her MP. He clenched Asteria’s Sword again and struck Serzax as fast as he could to carry out an all-or-nothing push. Serzax never cast any more spells. He likely wasted all his MP on Guy, like how Guy wasted all his to bait Serzax. This was it—the advantage they needed.
All it did was delay the inevitable.
Tempeste ran out of MP potions, so Nijana ran out of MP, so Guy ran out of HP.
Guy | HP: 268/1341
He was below 25 percent. Serzax sacrificed his defense and used his blade of darkness to carve grisly wounds into Guy, sending his blood to the floor. Tempeste’s Spellsword Saber did nothing to peel Serzax off Guy, and Nijana’s songs only kept the failing Paladin standing longer. What Guy needed was an HP hypospray or a healing spell. He was in too much pain to fight. Just lifting Asteria’s Sword took more effort than it should.
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Tempeste gasped as she stood back, wincing as Serzax’s savage cuts destroyed Guy. “Guy, run!” she pleaded—
Storm Slash tossed Tempeste onto Nijana, and the two crashed to the floor.
Serzax returned to Guy. “There shall be none of that!”
The Nocturnal Blade slashed Guy’s arm and cut through the flesh and bone in one stroke.
“Argh!” Guy roared.
Guy’s sword arm hit the glass tiles, taking Asteria’s Sword down with it. The severed arm and shoulder oozed blood everywhere like a red fountain. He stepped away from Serzax, using his remaining hand to hold the bloody stump. Guy yelled loud enough to shake the windows. It wasn’t a scream of pain, but a cry of anger. Guy was fucking pissed off that he lost the advantage so fast.
Serzax kicked Guy’s arm aside. “I believe that was the limb you took from my son before you did this . . .”
He swung his sword in a quick horizontal motion, and Guy was powerless to do anything. The Nocturnal Blade sliced through Guy’s neck. Then after two beats, Guy’s head toppled off his neck and hit the floor, adding a second blood puddle. Guy’s headless corpse fell to its knees and crashed to the floor. The neck stump spilled gore across the once immaculate throne room tiles.
You died.
Chapter Seventy-Six
Guy | HP: 0/1341 | MP: 0/356 | AP: 50/100
Tempeste | HP: 532/990 | MP: 300/300 | AP: 40/100
Nijana | HP: 382/923 | MP: 2/190 | AP: 10/100
Tempeste screamed at the top of her lungs. “No!”
“Yes,” Serzax said and laughed. Then pivoted to deal with the two remaining party members, Tempeste and Nijana.
Guy was dead. Tempeste had to fill the void the star-dweller Paladin left. She had to become the shield and sword to end the evil human. Holding her blazing lightning Spellsword Saber, Tempeste accepted Serzax’s challenge and dashed to avenge Guy. Their blades met and pressed against each other, one composed of darkness, the other surging with lightning magic. Serzax pushed on his blade, slowly pushing Tempeste back. She ground her teeth and mustered what strength she could to heave back just as hard—
Serzax kicked her belly, made a spinning slash, and knocked Tempeste to the floor.
Behind, Nijana poked Serzax with the White Espada. Serzax spun to the fae with a backhanded slap. He smacked her so hard Nijana never got up. Tempeste pushed up and heard Serzax’s sabatons clank against the glass floor covered with crimson puddles.
“And you . . .” Serzax muttered to her.
Tempeste looked up to see him bringing his blade down upon her. She collected her weapon, sprinted to the left, and heard the sword cut the air, shattering a tile to pieces. As she readied herself for another round, Tempeste noticed something about Serzax. He was still suffering from the Light Touch debuff Guy had put on him. Tempeste’s magic spells, as weak as they were, should still be able to inflict extra damage to Serzax.
With her MP at 300 and an MP cost of 55, Tempeste could cast Lightning five times.
She made her last push.
Tempeste pointed the Spellsword Saber at Serzax, shut her eyes to focus, and cast Lightning. A bolt came down on the Nox Knight and staggered him for a bit. She cast the spell again, and another bolt brightened the throne room’s glass decor. Serzax still prevailed. Nijana pushed up and took notice of Tempeste casting spells. The fae Bard put Dianna’s Ocarina to her lips and played Encore.
Swift Carol III took hold of Tempeste.
It lowered her spell casting time. Tempeste maintained her distance, gathered her magical power to cast Lightning over and over, hitting Serzax with bolt after bolt. Her spells were nearly instant cast. She had 80 MP left, one more Lightning spell to cast, and no MP potions available. She could not waste the opportunity Guy sacrificed himself to give her—
It happened at last.
Serzax grunted and convulsed. Her last cast of Lightning stunned the Nox Knight, sending jolts through his joints, preventing him from holding his sword correctly. A smile graced Nijana’s face. The fae Bard resumed striking Serzax.
Now or never.
She raced to Serzax to join Nijana, slashing him up and down to build AP—50, 60, 70, 80, 90. She got ready for the last hit. 100 AP. Tempeste used Heavy Swing and cut a gouge through Serzax’s chest, spraying his blood everywhere.
Serzax (Nox Knight) | HP: 24%
And it still was not enough.
Serzax stopped twitching. He recovered from the stunning effect of the shock to laugh at Tempeste. “You should have switched your subclass when you had the chance!”
The Nocturnal Blade cut her down for critical damage.
Tempeste’s body flared with so much pain that she did not even remember how Serzax tossed her onto her father’s throne chair. Serzax stood ahead with blood pouring from the gash across his chest, turning it red. She would have finished the job if her weapon had not fallen to the ground. Tempeste reached out to the fae who could save her, the fae that could mend her wounds.
“Nijana . . .” Tempeste moaned.
Nijana shook her head. “I need more MP, sorry—”
Serzax drilled his fist across Nijana’s cheek. The blow sent her tumbling to the floor.
“I shall deal with you later,” Serzax said to Nijana. He turned to Tempeste as she struggled to find the energy to sit up from her father’s throne. He pointed the tip of the Nocturnal Blade between her breasts. “Well, this is a fitting end for you.” Serzax plunged the blade into her chest slowly. Tempeste felt the blade cut past her ribcage, then pierce the flesh of her back as it poked out the other side. The blade’s tip hit the throne. “Tempeste L’Aignelet, Queen of the light elves. You will die in the same manner your father did. At the throne.”
He twisted the sword, further extending the damage to her insides. Tempeste wailed for a moment before she gritted her teeth, now stained red. She felt blood move into her throat, then coughed it up over her lips that were curled into a defiant grimace.
Tempeste grabbed the blade of his dark sword, clenched it tightly, and ignored its sharp edge, slicing into the flesh of her hands, then attempted to pull it from her chest. It would not budge. Serzax kept pushing and twisting the weapon into her, laughing.
She laughed right back. “And I hope you die the same way your son did!”
Serzax’s smirk faded. He pushed the sword deeper into her. Tempeste’s screams were heard throughout the castle.
“Your soul crystal will help speed up the creation of the Omega Knight’s primary weapon,” Serzax said. “So, do not worry, Tempeste. Your death will not be in vain.”
He pulled the Nocturnal Blade from her chest, brought it down again quickly, and stabbed Tempeste to death with a sadistic smile on his face, dripping with elven blood.
Tempeste’s vision turned black. Just as he stopped, Nijana stood up with the White Espada’s blade glowing with white light. Nijana’s fae racial trait had regenerated her MP enough to heal Tempeste with Asteria’s Judgment, just in time for Nijana to watch in horror as Tempeste died on the throne.
Nijana was seconds too late.
You died.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Guy | HP: 0/1341 | MP: 0/356 | AP: 50/100
Tempeste | HP: 0/990 | MP: 25/300 | AP: 0/100
Nijana | HP: 300/923 | MP: 25/190 | AP: 10/100
Nijana stopped moving. There was no life left in Tempeste’s gore-soaked face. Nijana ended up clenching her weapon’s hilt so hard her fist was red with rage. She could have saved Tempeste if she had just been a few seconds faster.
Serzax turned away from Tempeste. The elven Spellsword woman lay dead on her father’s throne, chest covered in blood, soaking it and the floor below. Serzax looked at Nijana next, grabbed the ends of his black cape, and used it to wipe his blade clean of Tempeste’s blood.
It was Nijana’s turn to face the deranged Nox Knight, and she wasn’t sure what to do. Tempeste sat dead on the throne, and to the side was Guy’s headless body and missing arm, gushin
g a river of red onto the floor. It was just Nijana, she had to end this and finish the work Guy and Tempeste gave their lives for.
Serzax’s HP was lower than ever now, low enough to bleed and feel the pain from cuts. She had MP to heal herself with Asteria’s Judgment, or in another twenty-five seconds, Starlight Recovery, provided Nijana changed her sigils beforehand.
Serzax held his Nocturnal Blade and came for Nijana. She pointed the White Espada at him and entered a fencing stance, one hand on the sword’s hilt, the other raised to the ceiling.
No. He’s too strong and a better swordsman. I need to keep my distance.
Nijana healed herself with Asteria’s Judgment, exchanged the White Espada for her Marauder’s Chakram, brought the throwing weapon to her lips, and kissed it for good luck.
Because she would need that to win.
She threw the Marauder’s Chakram at him, watched it cut through the air, and slice a red mark across his face, staggering Serzax. Nijana held her hand up and waited for the Marauder’s Chakram to return to it. Serzax stopped to touch where the chakram hit him, then examined his fingers coated red with his own blood. Nijana made him bleed.
“You know,” Serzax said as he re-gripped his sword. “I was really hoping you had just run off—”
Slice.
Nijana’s chakram shut him the fuck up. She caught the returning disk-shaped object again and flung it at him repeatedly, ambling backward to keep her distance, leaping to the side to escape from the fury of Serzax’s sword. She seized the weapon once more as it came back, then jumped away from a fourfold assault.
“You hoped I lived?” she asked and threw the chakram. “What about that poor girl Dianna?!”
He grinned as the Marauder’s Chakram returned to her raised hand.
“I have Dianna’s last memories,” Nijana said. “She fancied Guy and wanted to be a singer. Your son, Wylume, denied her that. But you don’t need me to tell you that. You have his memories.”
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 58
