"Get out!”
Ayla’s feet were planted beside the throne, her arms folded tightly, and her face was set in a scowl. Despite the situation, she had the audacity to look annoyed at me.
"Lily, if you'd just let me explain —"
"I said to get out!”
"You always do this!" She threw her hands in the air. "Every single time! Things get hard and you just shut down. Can you just chill for once instead of freaking out on me?"
I laughed. "Oh, that’s so funny coming from you."
"I'm trying to HELP you!"
"I didn't ask for your help!" I ran towards the far corridor and shouted into the darkness. "SPITE! MALICE! Get in here!"
The instant response was two shadows emerging from the shadows: Spite, tiny and nimble, with his black fur standing on end and his eyes fixed on Ayla. Malice followed, larger and heavier, his claws clicking on the stone floor as he slid to a stop in front of me.
"Get her out," I instructed, indicating Ayla. "I want her gone. Drag her if you have to."
Spite hissed through bared teeth. They both ran towards Ayla. Ayla didn't flinch. She glanced at the two monsters that were approaching, and then back at me, and rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she said. "I'll leave. I'll go back to the capital and have breakfast with Victoria. She actually listens when I talk."
My heart started to race, and a wave of energy surged from my chest, flowing through my arms and into my fingers, which began to glow a dull but angry red.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me." She put her hands in her pockets and shrugged casually, as if she hadn't just dropped a grenade between us. "Victoria appreciates me. She thinks I'm brave and capable and worth her time. So I'll go talk to someone who doesn't scream at me for trying to help."
The blood in my fingertips crept up my arms to my wrists.
"You wouldn't dare," I said between clenched teeth.
"Wouldn't I?" She was walking backward towards the door now, her hands in her pockets and her shoulders loose. "She IS the queen. She smells nice, not bad on the eyes, and she's never once thrown a chair at my head. Low bar, but you'd be surprised how far basic decency goes."
[Morrígan casts: Hellfire Blast (Lvl ??)]
[Damage: 1,342,670 → Ayla (MISSED)]
A streak of black fire shot through the throne room, and Ayla disappeared. One moment she was there, the next the air rippled, and she reappeared ten feet to the left, with her hands still in her pockets.
[Ayla casts: Arcane Blink (Lvl 9)]
"Whoops. Too slow."
"HOLD STILL!"
"You want me to stand still so you can hit me? What's the fun in that?"
[Morrígan casts: Hellfire Blast ×2 (Lvl ??)]
[Damage: 1,342,670 → Ayla (MISSED)]
[Damage: 1,342,670 → Ayla (MISSED)]
She disappeared, then reappeared behind a pillar on the other side of the room, grinning, and I wanted to rip that grin off her face.
"Missed again!" she called from behind the stone. "Zero for three. Not great, babe."
"Don't call me BABE!"
[Morrígan casts: Hellfire Blast (Lvl ??)]
[Damage: 1,342,670 → Environment]
Stone shrapnel sprayed across the throne room and Spite yelped and dove behind a pillar. Ayla had already vanished, blinking to the opposite corner, without even a hard breath.
"YOUR MAJESTY!" Malice roared, his whole body puffed up to twice his size. "Let me at her! Say the word! I'll rip her arms off and beat her with them!"
"You know what your problem is, Lily?" Ayla called from across the room.
"Oh, you're psychoanalyzing me now?"
"You refuse to be bad at anything. That's why you're scared to try, because if you actually try and still can't do it, then you can't pretend the problem was that you didn't bother."
The room turned red. The glow from my hands had spread across my entire body, and the throne room was bathed in dark crimson light.
"Once second best, always second best, I guess." She rested against a pillar. "Some things don't change, even after you die."
[Ayla casts: Mana Bolt (Lvl 8)]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan]
A bolt struck me directly in the shoulder, and I was propelled backwards. It hurt, a sharp pain, not the dull thump I was accustomed to from low-level adventurers.
"Come on," she said, landing in a crouch. "Hit me back. For real."
"I AM hitting you for real!"
"No, you're throwing a tantrum." She fired again.
[Ayla casts: Mana Bolt (Lvl 8)]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan]
The second bolt hit me in the ribs and I staggered to the side. The anger was so thick in my throat that I could taste it. I raised both my hands and shot at her chest. There was nowhere for her to dodge.
[Ayla casts: Frost Lance (Lvl 5)]
[Morrígan casts: Hellfire Blast (Lvl ??)]
[SPELL COLLISION]
[Frost Lance: NULLIFIED]
[Hellfire Blast: DEFLECTED — Reduced to shockwave]
[Shockwave: 83,400 → Ayla]
[Ayla's Mana Shield: BROKEN]
[Overflow: 1,400 → Ayla HP]
[Ayla HP: 2,817/4,217]
The shockwave threw us in opposite directions, the stone steps cracking where I landed.
"THAT'S IT!" Spite's fur was standing up straight with fury. "That's the LAST straw! Nobody touches our queen! Malice, we're going in!"
"GOING IN!" Malice confirmed, dropping to all fours.
"Both of you STAY," I snarled, pulling myself up from the floor. "She's MINE."
Ayla was lying on the floor, barely moving. She fumbled with her belt, pulled out a bottle of red liquid, bit off the cork, and gulped it down.
[Ayla uses: Healing Potion (Major)]
[HP Restored: 1,400]
[Ayla HP: 4,217/4,217]
[Status: Mana Shield — REGENERATING]
Her face was flooded with color again. She coughed, wiped her mouth, and sat up straight. Even with her bloody lips, she managed a smile. This made me want to murder her more than I've ever wanted to murder anyone.
"That's more like it," she said.
[Ayla casts: Mana Bolt ×3 (Lvl 8)]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan]
I raised my hands in the air.
A sphere of inky radiance enveloped me. The rays struck it and came to a halt, suspended in the velvety expanse like pinned insects in resin. The dome pulsed three times. Then the bolts reversed and rocketed back toward Ayla at double speed.
⌜ ABYSSAL BARRIER — UNLOCKED ⌝
Absorb all incoming damage for 4s. Reflect at 200% on expiration.
[Abyssal Barrier: REFLECTED — First Activation (Unstable)]
[Reflected: 42,800 → Ayla]
[Reflected: 42,800 → Ayla]
[Reflected: 42,800 → Ayla]
[Ayla's Mana Shield (Partial): BROKEN]
[Overflow: 3,400 → Ayla HP]
[Ayla HP: 817/4,217]
Two bolts hit her directly in the chest and stomach. The third one struck her knee as she attempted to teleport. Her shield cracked and burst, and she crumpled, dropping her staff. She fell heavily, rolled twice, and collided with the base of a pillar. For a second, she didn't move. Then she lifted her head. Blood was running from a cut above her eyebrow, and her left arm was hanging wrong. Her face was grinning, full of teeth from ear to ear.
"YES!" she exclaimed from the ground. "That's it!"
She reached for another vial from her waist, using her uninjured hand.
[Ayla uses: Healing Potion (Major)]
[HP Restored: 3,400]
[Ayla HP: 4,217/4,217]
[Status: Mana Shield — REGENERATING]
"You just used Abyssal Barrier." She was bouncing on her toes and radiating excitement. "Did you feel it? You've got instinct built in, it just needs a trigger!" She raised her staff once more. "Okay, so the barrier activates when you're in danger. That means the rest might work the same way. We just need to push the right —"
"We are not doing anything." I folded my arms across my chest.
"Oh, come on. You're seriously going to unlock the coolest defensive ability I've ever seen and then just stop?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"You know, for someone with unlimited magic power, you sure give up easy. No wonder you've been stuck up here. You're not trapped, Lily... you're just a quitter."
My fingertips flared red once more. "Say that again."
"You heard me." She held her staff above her head and aimed it at my face. "Quitter."
"I am NOT a quitter!"
"Prove it."
[Ayla casts: Mana Bolt (Lvl 8)]
[Damage: 42,800 → Morrígan (NEGATED)]
I panicked. Instead of avoiding it or creating another obstacle, my stomach suddenly twisted, like missing a step on a staircase. The world around me felt as thin as air. The bolt passed right through me, as if my body was made of smoke.
⌜ PHASE SHIFT — UNLOCKED ⌝
Become intangible for 2.5s. All incoming damage negated. Cannot attack during Phase.
I solidified. My hands were shaking, and the edges of my vision sparked. I looked down at my own body, which had just been transparent, and I didn't know whether to scream or vomit.
"YES!" Ayla pumped her fist. "Phase Shift! You just Phase Shifted!"
"OUR QUEEN!" Spite shrieked. "WOW! YOU ARE SO COOL!"
"THAT WAS THE GREATEST THING I'VE EVER WITNESSED! OUR QUEEN IS THE BEST! SHE'S BETTER THAN THE REST!" Malice said.
I was still looking at my hands. I had done that. That was me. I lifted my chin. "What's next?"
Ayla's grin broadened. "Try Void Step. Pick a spot in this room and will yourself there."
I looked at the far side of the throne room. Thirty feet of open stone separated me from the window. I thought about not going there and being there, and something in my chest twisted and caught.
I vanished, only to reappear at the window, one hand on the cold sill, my stomach lurching, the room still settling around me.
⌜ VOID STEP — UNLOCKED ⌝
Instant spatial relocation. Range: 50m. Cooldown: 8s.
"I did it." The words came out before I could stop them, sounding hurried and out of breath. "Ayla, I did it! I'm over here!"
"I can SEE you're over there!" She was laughing now. "You're doing it, Lily!"
"I just... I was THERE and now I'm HERE!" I looked at my hands, at the window, at the thirty feet of empty floor I'd skipped over as if it were nothing. "Oh my god. Can I do it again?"
"Hell yeah!"
I thought about being back on the throne and the world folded and I was there, standing on the throne, and the air snapped shut behind me.
[Morrígan casts: Void Step (Lvl ??)]
Spite was doing full laps around the throne now, a black blur of fur. "SHE'S OUR QUEEN, SHE'S OUR BOSS, MESS WITH HER AND YOU'RE AT A LOSS!"
"Okay, one more." Ayla was across the room now, her staff raised and her stance wide. "I'm coming at you for real this time. Trust your body. It knows what to do."
She surged. A full-speed dash through the throne room, her staff ablaze with brilliant light, faster than I had ever seen her move during our battles. She jumped, using both hands to wield the staff, and I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline throughout my body.
My hand shot forward. A wave of black energy erupted from my palm and caught Ayla mid-air. It slammed her backwards across the throne room and pinned her against the far wall, ten feet off the ground, arms spread, staff clattering to the floor below. The energy swirled and vibrated around her body, covering her body in darkness.
⌜ THRONE'S DOMINION — UNLOCKED ⌝
Sovereign hold. Immobilize target. Damage: 186,000/s. Cannot be resisted by targets below user level.
[Throne's Dominion: ACTIVE]
[Total Damage: 111,600 → Ayla]
[Ayla's Mana Shield: BROKEN]
[Overflow: 4,216 → Ayla HP]
[Ayla HP: 1/4,217]
For a brief moment, the throne room was hushed. Ayla, her body pinned against the wall and emitting sparks, was the only source of movement.
"Four for four," she wheezed.
My vision went white around the edges. The force powering Ayla waned, faltered, and ceased. She fell to the floor on her hands and knees, groaning. I tried to step forward, but my legs gave way. I went down hard, cracking my knees against stone, the world tilting sideways.
"QUEEN DOWN! QUEEN DOWN!" Spite shrieked, racing toward me.
"MY QUEEN?" Malice was right behind him, skidding to a halt next to me. "Your Darkness, speak to me! How many paws am I holding up?"
"I'm fine," I somehow managed, although my face was just inches above the ground.
Ayla, across the room, was struggling to maintain her balance against a pillar, panting heavily. She drained another healing potion
[HP Restored: 4,216]
[Ayla HP: 4,217/4,217]
I looked at her from the floor. "You did that on purpose," I panted.
She shrugged her shoulders and smiled, obviously smug.
"God, you're such a dick sometimes."
"Had to say what would make you stop thinking and start fighting." She wiped the blood off her face with the back of her hand. "Worked, didn't it?"
I lowered the final inch of my face onto the cold stone. It felt nice against my burning skin. My body felt drained, and I was too exhausted to be mad about any of it.
"SHE'S OUR QUEEN, SHE CAN FIGHT! SHE JUST LEARNED FOUR MOVES TONIGHT! GIMME AN M! GIMME AN O!"
"Spite," I muttered into the stone. "Please stop cheering."
"GIMME AN R!"
"No can do!" Malice said, settling down next to me. "He's been workshopping that one for the last ten minutes."