Heretic Spellblade

by K D Robertson

  Seraph leaped over the heads of the soldiers. Her jade glittered again, and she fanned out her tonfas. Two waves of magic blasted into the enemy line. Dust poured off the enemy’s bodies, and they stumbled and tripped. They stopped, then looked down at themselves in shock.

  Every piece of armor and weaponry on the Empire soldiers had vanished. Reduced to dust. Before they could retreat, the Federation soldiers were upon them. Blood flowed.

  Fire washed over the Federation soldiers a moment later, and their resistance was snuffed out instantly. They began to fall back from the gate. Even with Seraph standing right there, the soldiers were unwilling to die in the face of a magical inferno.

  Seraph stood alone, facing Leopold and his subordinates. Oddly enough, she saw no sign of the infamous Nathan. She looked around to be certain.

  Where was he? She had confirmed his presence outside the fortress earlier. His beastkin Champion was missing as well. Seraph had somehow lost sight of the other Champion that had been here. Was she the beastkin? Had she retreated the moment that Seraph had appeared?

  If Nathan wasn’t here, then where was he? He must be up to something.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. If Seraph defeated Leopold and the other fighters here before Nathan pulled off his plan, she won. There was nothing he could do to stop her in that case. A Bastion this far from his binding stone had no chance of defeating a duogem Champion.

  In fact, she wondered if even two Bastions had a chance against a duogem Champion, this far from their binding stones.

  Leopold interrupted her thoughts by throwing a punch at her from across the clearing. Sensing the power behind that punch, Seraph guarded herself with both of her tonfas. A massive wave of force slammed into her and threatened to knock her off her feet.

  The fight was on.

  Seraph ducked and weaved to avoid the hail of sorcery and magical power that poured down on her. Spikes of earth exploded from the ground. Balls of lava and jets of flames scorched the earth. Balls of prismatic light burst against the buildings and nearly blinded her.

  Her Champion enhancement focused purely on speed. This allowed her to dodge almost any attack, be it in a sword swing, an arrow, or a fireball. A more balanced Champion would have allocated some of her enhancement to strength, particularly given none of Seraph’s gems enhanced her physical attributes. A pure speed enhancement for an ability focused Champion was extremely rare.

  In fact, Seraph had never encountered a speed-focused Champion that didn’t use physical enhancement gems in her entire career as a Champion. She knew she was unique. To some, that was a detriment.

  Here, though, Seraph proved the depth of her power and ability. None of her opponents touched her. At least, not substantially enough to cause lasting harm.

  Growing frustrated, Leopold charged her and tried to bury his battle axe in her head. She met it head-on with one of her tonfas. Her gems glowed. Leopold’s eyes widened.

  He tried to pull back, but it was too late. Seraph’s wave of energy blasted out and into his battle axe. His raw power resisted her—his strength as a Bastion pushing back at her, but it wasn’t enough.

  For a moment she thought that she would destroy his weapon. Then he really fought back with his power. They had a brief battle of wills.

  Realizing the cost of destroying his axe was too great, Seraph withdrew. Leopold raised his guard and held his position. His eyes followed her, but his body didn’t.

  Behind her, something moved. Seraph spun and unleashed a blast of energy. She only had a moment to see the shadowy figure burst into nothingness as her magic slammed into it and blew it apart. Her eyes widened.

  “Sunstorm!” Seraph shouted.

  She looked around wildly. Was she seeing things?

  That had to have been one of Sunstorm’s shadow decoys. It had only been for a second, but she would never mistake those shadow powers for anybody else.

  Again, she sensed something. She raised her guard and let Sunstorm come to her. When a blade slammed into her tonfas, she did her best to hold Sunstorm in place.

  Before the onyx Champion could retreat from the failed attack, Seraph said, “So you’re actually alive.”

  Mid-jump, Sunstorm faltered. She stared at Seraph in confusion. “You didn’t know?”

  “I don’t recall you sending any messages to let me know that you’re actually alive,” Seraph said, her tone caught between amused and annoyed. “In fact, I specifically recall Theus telling me that you died. You’re one of the best-looking corpses I’ve seen, I must admit. Can’t say I understand why you’re trying to kill me, however.”

  “I understand my loyalties much better now,” Sunstorm said flatly.

  Seraph’s eyebrows shot up. She eyed her old subordinate. She couldn’t detect any lies in Sunstorm’s expression or her voice.

  Loyalties, Seraph thought. How long had it been since Seraph truly felt loyal to anybody?

  Around them, the battle stopped. Leopold and the two sorceresses stopped attacking. They seemed as interested in the conversation as the actual participants.

  It seemed that Seraph had underestimated her opponent once again. This Nathan was not only a highly capable commander but also very persuasive. Sunstorm had gone from desiring his head to present as a prize, to bowing her own head to him.

  “No wonder Theus was so terrified after the failed attack on Gharrick Pass. He told me that you died,” Seraph said, unable to hide her smirk. “In truth, he must have felt you convert to the Empire. Not only had he failed to invade the Empire, but he lost one of the Champions lent to him.”

  “You don’t seem too unhappy about this,” Sunstorm said, eyeing Seraph suspiciously.

  “That’s because I’m not,” Seraph said. “More than anything else, I feel all the better knowing you’re alive and have found your place in the world. If I’m going to go out in this battle, then at least it’s with less guilt.”

  “Guilt?” Sunstorm’s expression made it clear that she didn’t understand.

  Seraph shrugged. She felt no need to elaborate.

  For several long seconds, the two women eyed each other off.

  Several weeks ago, they had worked together. Sunstorm considered Seraph a woman she admired. Seraph considered Sunstorm to be her most valued and trustworthy subordinate. Both had considered the other to have a very bright future.

  In Seraph’s eyes, her future ended here. But at least she knew that Sunstorm’s hadn’t ended with her orders to attack Gharrick Pass. That was more than Seraph knew coming into this battle.

  Sunstorm vanished in a puff of shadow. That was the signal that everyone was waiting for. Flames, light, and blasts of power rained down on Seraph.

  With renewed vigor, she dodged every attack.

  Still no sign of Nathan. She refused to fall here until she saw him. She would fight the man who had recruited Sunstorm to his side. Seraph intended to die here, but she would not lay down and accept death.

  Eventually, the attack slowed. Gaping wounds showed on Seraph’s arms, legs, and even her torso. Her figure-hugging dress had been all but shredded. Despite that, Seraph had not slowed in the fight.

  Before their very eyes, those wounds disappeared. Her flesh stitched itself back together.

  “A regeneration ability,” Leopold said, his eyes full of wonder. “I have always wondered whether jades were capable of regeneration abilities. Now I have the answer. Something to take home with me to the Empire.”

  “Assuming you return to the Empire,” Seraph taunted.

  “You may be tough, but you have done little to prove that you can hurt us.” Leopold rolled his shoulders.

  He had a point, Seraph had to admit. Despite his age, the man had plenty of endurance.

  He and the Champions with him continued their assault without showing many signs of fatigue. Perhaps their plan was to whittle Seraph’s gem reserves down.

  A foolish plan. They didn’t know how efficient her gems were.

  More to the po
int, they were slowly but surely losing the battle.

  Seraph let out blast after blast from her gems at Leopold and the others. Their uniforms, their weapons, and even their clothes disintegrated. Only Leopold proved resistant to her attacks. The others had to fight in tatters.

  “What game are you playing?” Sunstorm accused.

  The assassin didn’t bother trying to cover herself up. The Champion enhancement gave her some measure of protection, but the raw power of a duogem Champion allowed Seraph to overwhelm Sunstorm’s protections.

  The result was something that Leopold likely enjoyed, but only if he looked at any of the nearby women. His focus was surprisingly intense, Seraph thought.

  She had heard that he was a lecherous old man. But it seemed that he kept his focus on his opponent during battle.

  Still no sign of Nathan.

  Seraph grew frustrated. She wanted to end this, but Leopold prevented her from doing so. So many fatal blows had been stopped short by his power as a Bastion. Walls of earth shot from the ground. Or he leaped out from nowhere to block an otherwise fatal blow directed toward one of the sorceresses.

  Surely his binding stone must be running low on power, she thought. Then again, he had quite a few binding stones available to him. The issue in defeating him was overcoming his reserves. He couldn’t win through raw power, given how far away he was from his fortresses, but his endurance was second-to-none. Such was the power of an established Bastion.

  Seraph prepared herself to end the fight using whatever means she had. Eventually her gems would run dry, despite her efficiency. Whatever Nathan was planning surely must be close to fruition. She needed to end this now.

  As if her thoughts summoned the man, Seraph felt a very strange sensation run through her body. So did everyone else. They looked up to the sky.

  Then they looked down at the ground beneath them. Something churned deep underneath them. Something magical.

  “Is that the leyline?” Seraph thought aloud.

  Then it clicked. She spun and stared at the keep. A wave of power washed over her, and she realized her mistake.

  She had lost this battle before it started. Leaving the keep had been a critical error.

  The entire fortress thrummed with energy.

  The binding stone had been activated.

  Chapter 43

  It was no exaggeration to describe the binding stones as the greatest weapons in a nation’s arsenal. The Bastions stood as both the greatest defenders and the greatest warriors of each nation. Each binding stone enabled another Bastion to stand on the front line, and contributed a whole slew of new Champions to fight against the demons and enemies of their nation’s enemies.

  That meant a country needed to defend its binding stones. Bastions defended their activated binding stones using the power of the binding stone itself. They built a fortress, erected defenses, and amassed wealth to hire and maintain an army.

  But inactive binding stones could not be defended in this way.

  The simplest answer, one might imagine, was to simply activate every binding stone within a nation’s borders. But that came with problems of its own.

  Active binding stones drew demons to them. And an incompetent Bastion couldn’t hold off a demonic invasion.

  That meant active binding stones were also active threats to a nation’s security. Furthermore, Bastions typically used more than one binding stone. As the most competent Bastions grew in experience and power, they claimed more and more binding stones.

  By leaving inactive binding stones available for existing Bastions to claim in the future, a nation left room for their best Bastions to grow in power.

  Of course, an enemy could steal any unclaimed binding stones. To prevent this, nations placed powerful protective wards over their inactive binding stones. These wards were encoded with magical encryption that only Bastions from that nation knew how to decode.

  This prevented Bastions from enemy nations from sweeping in, stealing a binding stone, and quickly conquering vast amounts of territory. With these wards, it became safe to leave inactive binding stones lying around.

  Given time, sorcerers had the ability to decode wards. But that was the work of weeks, not hours or even days. Campaigns halted in order to capture binding stones. And in the time it took a nation to claim a new binding stone, a counterattack could be mounted.

  This limited the power of Bastions, which was the only thing that prevented them from completely dominating the world.

  Bastions were extremely powerful. They blunted offensives. They crushed entire armies when they went on the attack. The only thing that could stop a Bastion and his Champions was another Bastion and his Champions.

  But that power had a physical range. A Bastion’s power dwindled rapidly not long beyond the borders of his nation, once he moved beyond the reach of binding stones.

  Or so the theory had always been.

  Nathan wondered if what he was doing would have ramifications beyond this one battle.

  He deftly undid the wards that protected the binding stone beneath Fort Taubrum. Although he wasn’t as practiced at undoing Federation wards as he was at those from the Empire, he still knew how.

  Such was the power of coming from the future.

  For a normal Bastion, this was playing with fire. One misstep could destroy him. The wards were constructed in such a way that they would obliterate any intruders.

  But Nathan was not an intruder, as far as the wards were concerned. He wasn’t unraveling the wards like some common thief. He had the keys, magically speaking. Perhaps he fumbled the lock a few too many times, but he still appeared to be an authorized user.

  Just as a lock wouldn’t seize up on somebody trying to enter their own home using their keys, Nathan didn’t need to worry about the wards exploding in his face.

  Fei watched Nathan in awe. Her tail swished behind her slowly, and her eyes glued themselves to his back. None of the lamps here were lit, presumably because no one came down here. The stone cellars were dusty, empty, and practically abandoned. The only thing they had found down here was the binding stone, glowing ominously in the dark.

  That suited Nathan fine. Seraph made no appearance, although he heard signs of battle in the distance. The constant rumbling sensation that ran through the keep reminded Nathan that he needed to hurry.

  After he deactivated the wards, Nathan reached out to the binding stone itself. He found it easier to tether himself to this one than the last one. Part of him suspected that it was due to his recent experience at Gharrick Pass.

  The other part felt that it was because Fei wasn’t standing on top of him and rubbing her tail against his legs constantly. Although he was used to beastkin looking over his shoulder and distracting him while he tried to do his work, it was still a distraction. Concentration came easier when he wasn’t actively pulling his mind away from the sensation of a woman clinging to him.

  He claimed the binding stone. A rush of heat blew through his mind. This binding stone hadn’t been used in decades, and it made its presence known. Unlike the one at Gharrick Pass, which had been abandoned for centuries, this one wasn’t dangerous. Nathan let the sensations wash over him.

  Plenty of power sat at his fingertips. The leylines extended for miles in every direction. The fort sprawled out around him, and he felt the damage that had been wrought to it from the battle against Seraph.

  “So that’s it?” Fei asked, her voice excited.

  “Hardly,” Nathan said. “We still have a battle to get to.”

  Fei rolled her eyes. “I know that. I meant that you claimed the binding stone. Now you can beat Seraph?”

  Nathan assumed so. How long had it been since he had tested his power against a duogem Champion? Normally, the amount of power he had to use from his binding stones was too high to waste fighting a Champion.

  But he lacked other options to defeat Seraph right now. Decades of unused magical power from the binding stone poured into Nathan, desiring to
be unleashed. Given Nathan already had a fort to defend this binding stone, he felt there was little harm in using this excess power to defeat Seraph.

  “I guess we’ll see,” Nathan said with a shrug.

  “You wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t certain.” Fei’s lips tugged upward. She pressed herself against Nathan’s side while rubbing one of her arms across his back.

  Nathan gently pushed her away from him. “We can do this later.” He pointed above him. “We have a battle to finish.”

  The two of them rushed through the empty hallways and up the stairwells. The keep remained empty. Nathan heard footsteps in the distance. Too many of them to be only one or two people. The soldiers were retreating, but not into the keep.

  Had Leopold already won?

  No, Nathan realized. Seraph’s raw power could still turn this around.

  He confirmed his suspicion when he got outside. A quick glance showed that none of the Empire soldiers had made their way into the fortress itself. Although the Federation had abandoned the courtyard, the Empire had made no progress in seizing Fort Taubrum.

  If Seraph successfully held off Leopold, then the battle was lost. Such was the power of a duogem Champion.

  Nathan and Fei reached the courtyard. Then both stopped, barely believing their eyes.

  “Am I interrupting something?” Nathan asked, mirth filling his voice.

  Both Sunstorm and Sen shot glares at him. Sen did her best to cover herself up. Sunstorm didn’t bother, as she was in close-quarters combat with Seraph.

  For whatever reason, Sunstorm, Sen, and Vera were all in a state of undress. They didn’t even carry weapons, save for Vera’s obsidian-tipped staff. Leopold was in better shape, although his armor displayed cracks.

  Nathan looked at the other woman in the courtyard. Seraph, he presumed. She held a striking beauty, and her silky black hair drew his eye. Oddly, he noticed that she seemed unharmed from the battle, although her clothes were in a similar state of disrepair as the other women in the battle.