“You’re in no condition to go anywhere,” Calisto said, crossing her arms and blocking my path. “Don’t be foolish.”
“I’m still going,” I said, shuffling toward the door. “I can make it to one of the tunnels.”
“In your condition? You won’t make it past the wards surrounding the Keep. This is madness.”
“Madness is sitting here waiting for the Unholy to come and crush me,” I said. “I’m not a big fan of being pulped to death.”
“I can see you’ve made up your mind,” Calisto said lightly. “Very well. You want to access the tunnels? I will gladly have Ursa lead you to them.”
“Excellent,” I said with a nod. “Let me just get my—”
“If you can defeat me.”
“Excuse me?” I asked. “Weren’t you listening to your own words? I have some insane power inside of me now. Power I don’t entirely understand, much less have control over.”
“I’ll take my chances,” she said. “With all that power within, it should be a simple task for you to overcome my defenses and defeat me…decisively.”
Calisto placed her hands together and slowly separated them, materializing a sword of brilliant energy. Blue light coruscated around the blade, which glowed white.
“I’m not going to fight you,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“In your current state, you could barely hurt my feelings, much less pose an actual physical threat,” Calisto said before stepping into a defensive stance. “Now either fight me or get back to bed.”
“I’m not getting back in that bed,” I answered, getting angry now. “I need to go find Cade and deal with the Order, not be a patient laying in bed.”
“I agree,” Calisto said. “Right after you can prove to me that you can defend yourself. I just informed you there may be a Greater Behemoth out there waiting for you, and your first reaction is to run outside? Are you in a hurry to die?”
“If I stay, everyone in the Keep is in danger,” I said. “I don’t….I can’t be responsible for all these lives. This is why I need to get away.”
“Get away? In your present condition, you couldn’t get away from a Dreadwolf pup if it stood against you.”
“That doesn’t change anything,” I said, letting the anger rise. “I’m the reason they’re in danger.”
“You’re operating with an overinflated sense of importance,” Calisto said, shutting me down. “Everyone in this Keep is here by choice. In case you weren’t aware, they all know the Keep is in the center of the Park, which is populated by the Unholy.”
“But the Unholy will attack—”
“There was a valid reason that Emiko, your mother, placed this Keep in the Park and not at the edge of the Park, or some other safer location.”
“She was insane?”
“Some thought that, yes,” Calisto said. “What Hunter in her right mind would locate a base of operations in the middle of the Unholy? Emiko understood something most in the Order don’t—balance and deterrence.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Placing the Keep in the Park is a death sentence for any Hunter.”
“Normally, yes,” Calisto said. “But Emiko was a class-one Hunter and the Jade Demon. She was at the top of the food chain. She also understood that the Order would eventually see her and the other class-ones as a threat to be eliminated.”
It took a few moments, but it dawned on me.
“By placing the Keep in the Park, she used the buffer of the Unholy to remain safe,” I said. “What about the Unholy?”
“The Unholy understand power,” Calisto answered. “If you go out now and demonstrate weakness, they will kill you. If you manage to harness the power of the Jade Demon—”
“Balance and deterrence,” I finished. “She showed them that taking her on would be too much to risk, and they left her alone? You call that being sane? Because I call that taking an unnecessary risk.”
“She weighed her options,” Calisto said. “She could either prove to the Unholy she was too much trouble to confront and live in relative peace, or face the constant threat of the Order, once they realized the power she possessed.”
“Not much of a choice,” I said. “I can’t believe she chose the Keep.”
“It turned out to be the better of two evils,” Calisto answered. “Ultimately, it didn’t matter. The Order would never accept her, especially after she turned.”
“What did they do?”
“They presented her as a threat,” Calisto said, looking away. “Called her a security risk. Informed Regional that her loyalties were compromised and that now she was part Unholy.”
“How did she take that?”
“Not well. Their position forced her to make her choice and select the Keep as a home.”
“The Order must have loved that.”
“Let’s just say they were not amused,” Calisto said. “She was blacklisted for a long time before she proved their fears groundless.”
“And the Unholy? They were okay with her moving into the Park?”
“Mostly,” Calisto said with a nod. “Every so often she would need to go out and prove herself to some clueless Unholy. It didn’t happen often.”
“Is that what this is? A test? You want me to prove myself?”
Calisto nodded.
“Do that, and I will escort you out myself. If you’re trying to bluff me, it won’t work. I will bounce you off the floor and back into the bed as many times as it takes. Until you prove you can manage the power you have.”
“I don’t bluff.”
Calisto shifted into her fighting stance, holding her sword low.
“Excellent. Talk less, draw your weapon and show me.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
The power of the Jade Demon coursed through my body. It intermingled with Perdition. I focused and held onto it, barely. It was like trying to grab a wave. Power rushed over and through me. I wrestled with it and mentally grabbed hold.
“Let’s do this.”
SEVEN
I focused on Perdition.
It felt like trying to grasp liquid mercury…with tweezers. Calisto just stood there observing me as I tried to get a grip on the power that coursed through me. Her sword illuminated the area around her with brilliant white light, taunting my inability to form my sword.
The blue energy that raced up and down her blade would occasionally make contact with the stone floor, leaving small scorch marks which reminded me Calisto was no slouch. She held real power. Earth-shattering power.
“Do you plan on drawing your weapon?” Calisto asked while narrowing her eyes. “Or are you suffering gastrointestinal distress? I can’t tell which, but from the expression on your face, I’m leaning toward the latter.”
“You’re not helping,” I said. “The sword feels completely different now.”
“It should,” Calisto said. “It’s not the same sword you’re accustomed to. By adding the Jade Demon to it, and you, Fuma changed it and—”
“And me,” I finished. “Adding the Jade Demon means he changed me.”
“Yes,” she said after a short pause. “I’d like to think for the better. The Jade Demon, like your sword, is a tool. Its nature depends on who wields it.”
“Was that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked. “My sword is called Perdition, also defined as eternal damnation or utter loss—a dark blade. My birthright is named the Jade Demon, not the Jade Teddy Bear.”
“Your point?”
“That both my sword and birthright have a leaning toward darkness. Let’s not sugarcoat it, or try to call it what it isn’t. I’m meant to be dark, to wield darkness.”
“Wield it, yes,” Calisto answered. “To be it? That’s entirely your choice. Your mother was the best Hunter in the ranks of the Order. She was hard and dangerous, but she wasn’t dark. In any case, it doesn’t seem like you’re in danger of wielding any imminent darkness.”
“What are you talk
ing about?”
“At the rate you’re going, you’re not going to wield anything but a headache,” Calisto said. “If you are going to do this, can we speed the process up? I’m not getting any younger.”
“You’re about as funny as Gan,” I said as I tried focusing on my blade. “This isn’t as easy as I make it look.”
“I’m certain,” Calisto said with a nod. “I’m sure you could explain the difficulty to the Greater Behemoth outside that wants to rip your arms off. You could share how hard it is to manifest your sword as it beats you to death.”
“You’re not making this any easier.”
“Oh? Easier is what you seek?” Calisto mocked. “Should I come back later? When would it be convenient?”
“You’re worse than Gan,” I said through clenched teeth as I felt the sweat form on my brow. “I can do this.”
“Why don’t you make your way back to bed before you hurt yourself?” Calisto asked. “It’s evident you can’t do this. If I were an enemy, you would be dead several times over at this point.”
“I can…do this.”
“No, Sepia, you can’t…not yet,” Calisto answered almost gently. “If you continue, you will do real harm to your body. You’re not ready…You need more time.”
“We…don’t have…more time.”
Pain and liquid warmth flooded my right arm. I looked down to see if I had burst a vessel and was currently bleeding out. Silver-green liquid raced around my arm, coalescing at my hand.
“Sepia…” Calisto started. “It’s too soon.”
“You said it yourself; I have the Unholy, powerful Unholy coming for me,” I managed through clenched teeth as I flexed my arm, contracting every muscle. “Time…time is not a luxury I can afford.”
Another sharp stab of pain raced through my body, stealing my breath in the process. I looked at Calisto, who was staring at me in mild shock.
“You’re not supposed to be able to do that,” Calisto said, looking at my arm. “You’re not ready. Your body is not ready.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that in my life?”
My ink flared with heat as a subtle green glow covered me. The anchors on my wrists were covered in more of the same silver-green liquid. I raised an arm, expecting to fight the heaviness, and nearly smacked myself in the face when I realized it was gone.
The weight that had pulled on my body moments earlier was gone. The anchors were still around my wrists, but I barely felt them. I focused harder and more pain embraced me. I wiped the sweat away from my lips and my hand came away bloody.
That can’t be good.
“Sepia, you need to stop this…now,” Calisto said, clearly concerned. “Your eyes…You’re bleeding. Mercy, you need to see this, now!”
“No!” I yelled, holding up a hand. “I can…I need to do this…please.”
“I’m not going to let you kill yourself just so you can prove how dangerous you are to me,” Calisto said quickly, absorbing her sword. “This has gone on long enough. When Mercy gets here, she will deal with whatever damage you’ve caused to yourself.”
“Not proving it…not for you,” I managed as the pain whipsawed through my body. “This…this is for me.”
The pain subsided long enough for me to catch my breath. I refocused my thoughts and grabbed hold of the energy within. It felt like dipping my brain in a vat of electrified water. A jolt seized me and Perdition formed in my hand…only it wasn’t the Perdition I remembered.
“Your sword,” Calisto said as Mercy silently appeared behind her, but remained outside the room. “That’s Perdition?”
“The power is too much for her body to contain,” Mercy said. “You need to stop this.”
“No, I need to control this,” I said. “Hunters are dying and the Unholy are coming. I need to stop them.”
“The Order—” Mercy began.
“Will die trying,” I said. “I need to do this. This is what I’m meant to do.”
The sword had transformed from the last time I held it. Glowing green wards and symbols ran down the length of the blade, and black wispy smoke wafted from its surface as it vibrated gently in my hand.
It felt alive, beckoning me.
“The Jade Demon has changed it,” Calisto said, looking at the sword. “The inscription has transformed.”
“Yes,” I said, looking at the sword in my hand with awe. It held a different inscription, which I read out loud. “The wielder of this blade commands the power of Jade Perdition, arbiter of balance and death. Forged to face them all, this blade is the final retribution.”
“That is the final blade,” Mercy said from the doorway, taking a step back. “How did—?”
“Questions later,” Calisto said, her voice low and dangerous. “Move back, Mercy. Sepia is about to show me she can manage the power of her sword…or die in the process.”
I took a few practice swings and felt the balance of the blade.
It was a perfect extension of my body.
I smiled and entered a fighting stance.
“Don’t hold back,” I said. “I wouldn’t want this to be unfair.”
Calisto returned my smile.
“I don’t intend on holding back,” she said, placing her hands together and slowly separating them as she materialized her sword. “None of your enemies will.”
“My enemies won’t live long enough to regret their choice.”
Calisto stepped forward and attacked.
EIGHT
The first thing I noticed were the small stones hovering around her.
She came in with her sword drawn and, surrounding her, small stones whirled in erratic orbits. They were perfect spheres, which only made me more wary—that, and the fact that these floating stone spheres seemed to be hovering around her in a protective manner.
I lunged forward with a thrust; Calisto parried my attack with ease. Several of her stones grazed my face as I shifted quickly to the side. Only my heightened reflexes made it possible to dodge them at all.
I glanced behind me and saw small holes in the stone wall.
“They’re called seekers,” Calisto said as she circled. “They serve one simple purpose.”
“Make me Swiss cheese?”
“Deter and defend,” Calisto answered, as she slid sideways.
“Deter and defend by punching holes into me?”
“I’d say that’s an effective deterrent,” Calisto replied. “Wouldn’t you?”
“I’d say it gives you a considerable advantage,” I said, letting my gaze go wide to maintain an awareness of the spherical orbits.
“Think of them as a lethal shield. One you must bypass to attack me.”
“The Unholy I face don’t walk around with shields of stones to protect them,” I said. “They’re usually focused on tearing me apart, not defending themselves.”
“You think you’ve met the most dangerous of the Unholy?” Calisto asked. “You have no idea.”
“Well, I’m not fighting with a stone shield,” I said. “So I’d say the odds are in your favor.”
“Only because you still don’t know how to use the power of the Jade Demon,” Calisto answered. “The defensive capabilities it possesses, that you now possess, are formidable.”
“Formidable enough to deal with a Greater Behemoth?”
“Your best course of action with one of those is evasion. Most of the Unholy at that level require extreme caution—that actually goes for all of the Unholy.”
“I’ve met enough of them to know that they are singular of thought when it comes to me,” I said. “It’s usually a variation on how to introduce me to pain and death.”
“True. The best block—”
“Is to not be there in the first place,” I finished. “Gan’s first lesson.”
“One worth remembering…always.”
I slid forward with a horizontal slash. Calisto intercepted my attack, stopping my slash midway with her sword and stepping close. The spheres sta
yed back as she ran her blade up the length of Perdition. The energy coming off her sword increased as she got closer.
At the last second, she drove a fist into my stomach and rotated around my body as the blue energy expanded around her blade. I staggered back as she struck my arm with the flat of her sword.
The crackling energy leapt from her blade and wrapped itself around my arm with painful intensity, causing me to stumble back.
“That was sloppy,” she said as she moved back, stepping into a defensive stance. “If I had been an Unholy…you just died.”
“Shit,” I said, putting more distance between us before rubbing my arm. My ink flushed hot to repair the damage from her sword. “Let me guess, your sword serves the same purpose as the stones?”
“No, actually,” Calisto said. “My sword—every sword, yours included—is designed with a duality of purpose.”
“Slice and dice?”
She narrowed her eyes at me and shook her head.
“Defend or destroy,” Calisto said, absorbing her sword again. “Your sword, even Perdition, can be a life-giving weapon or a tool of unimaginable destruction and death. That choice rests with you.”
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused as to why she had absorbed her sword. “Draw your weapon. Or die.”
“Bold words,” Calisto said, stepping back to her floating spheres. “Do you think you can even touch me in your state?”
“I’ll do more than touch you,” I growled under my breath. “I’ll show you what Perdition can do.”
I skip-stepped forward and changed direction at the last second with a feint to her side. I unleashed Perdition in a straight lunge designed to avoid her spheres while puncturing her midsection. With a slight shift, Calisto avoided the feint, allowing Perdition to slide harmlessly next to her to body.
Several of her spheres blasted me in the chest as she brought a hand down and stripped Perdition out of my grip. My sword fell to the ground and remained there as Calisto used her other hand in a punishing palm strike to my side, which launched me across the room and into the wall with a crunch.
Sepia Blue- Nameless: A Sepia Blue Novel- Book 4 Page 4
