I had a gaping mouth with widened eyes and said softly "I'm fucked."
Nyx looked at me and asked with a confused look on her face "What do you mean your fucked, she just has a bigger chest than me and looks older."
I slowly looked at nyx. My jaw tight, the muscle in it jumping slightly and said with a dead look in my eyes "Her mana is in the ten thousands, she's over 300 years old and has immortality. Use your damn brain for once."
The town square was completely silent.
Nyx's face went blank and she slowly looked back at ariella and said with a awkward smile "Oh. We're both fucked."
My right hand clenched so hard that my nails dug into my palm and I rubbed my forehead with the other one and looked at benjamin and asked calmly "If I say retreat can you get everyone out alive."
Benjamin adjusted his monocle and said calmly "If she does not interfere. Yes master david."
"Unfortunately for you all. I do intend to interfere." Said ariella's nonchalant voice loudly through the floating bead.
I clicked my teeth loudly. My lip curling up with irritation and one eye twitching while I thought with a ugly look on my face "This immortal bitch can hear us from all the way over there. Wonderful."
Jarred had a terrified grin on his face while the black haired woman behind him kept the dagger by his neck and said shakily "Boss man, I don't wanna sound dramatic, but I think we're about to get violated by religion."
"You always sound dramatic." Said a muscular woman in armor while cracking her neck.
"And yet I'm still alive, broad." Said jarred loudly, his voice trembling slightly.
Ariella's light blue eyes slowly landed on me and nyx and she said through the floating bead "A child without a grimorie commanding filth. How curious."
A bulging vein appeared on my forehead and I asked with a kind closed eyed smile that looked just a little too stiff "Why are all strong women in this world so damn annoying."
"Because the weak always whine when faced with something greater than themselves." Said ariella calmly while lifting her hand slightly.
Suddenly.
Every weapon on the calvary side floated into the air.
The air in the square became heavy. My shoulders locked. My throat dried up and my fingers twitched at my sides before I screamed at the top of my lungs "RETREAT YOU CANNON FODDER BASTARDS."
*BOOOOOM*
"WEAPON MAGIC: RAIN OF HONOR." Said ariella nonchalantly. Her right hand rising upwards.
The sky darkened.
Thousands upon thousands of swords, spears, axes and arrows manifested above the entire square like a storm of metal.
"DOOR MAGIC: WORLD OF AVALON." Said benjamin calmly while slamming his grimorie shut.
*BOOOOM*
A giant silver door materialized in the middle of the square and instantly opened wide. A dark world full of endless silver pathways, floating doors and white fog appearing behind it and swallowing up a large chunk of my people instantly.
The rest of us jumped out of the way as the storm of weapons descended.
*BOOOOM* *BOOOOM* *BOOOOM*
The square exploded.
Buildings collapsed.
Horses screamed.
Stone, dust and blood flew into the sky.
I landed on one knee with gritted teeth, my jaw aching from how hard I was clenching it, mana skin wrapping around my body while two dices spun around me and nyx like shields.
Nyx landed next to me in a crouch and yelled "THIS ISN'T A WOMAN THIS IS A FUCKING DISASTER."
"No shit." I said while glaring through the smoke and dust, my breathing rougher than I wanted it to be.
A bloody figure suddenly rolled across the broken ground and slammed into a ruined wall.
It was jarred.
Jared coughed up blood and laughed shakily "GYAHAHA…my handsome face almost got ruined."
The black haired woman landed in front of him and said with disgust "How are you still talking."
"Because if I stop then I'll start screaming. I can't disappoint a beauty like yourself." Said jarred honestly.
A short ugly laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Then danger crawled up my spine so hard that my whole body stiffened.
"LEFT." I screamed.
Nyx immediately leaped back with me.
*SHIIING*
A giant silver spear pierced straight through the spot we had just been standing at and buried itself deep into the earth.
The dust parted. Ariella was no longer on her horse.
She was standing in the middle of the destroyed square with one hand on her hip and the other holding a silver spear. Her dragon armor was spotless despite everything around her being reduced to rubble.
My left eye twitched. Sweat poured down my forehead.
My fist clenched so hard it started shaking and I thought "How the fuck did she move that fast. No, seriously, how the fuck…"
Nyx's sharp nails came out and she asked with a serious look on her face "Can I at least kill the black haired one."
"No. We are not splitting up." I said calmly, even though my voice came out tighter than I wanted while my mind started moving at absurd speeds.
"Dice magic, fate reading" I thought. My gaze shifting subtly.
A tiny transparent screen appeared.
[STATUS]
[Name: Ariella Tepes]
[Race: Dhampir]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 355]
[Titles: [5th leader of The Order of Saint Peter], [The First Abomination of Wallachia], [Stain of The Kingdom of Transylvania], [The Undying Dhampir], [The Blood Queen]]
[Strength: 2,222.5]
[Agility: 2,657.03]
[Vitality: 5,999.7]
[Mana: 10,889.9]
[Magic: Weapon]
[Bloodline Ability: Immortality]
[Skills: [Etiquette: Grandmaster], [Dancing: Master], [Intrigue: Grandmaster], [All Rounder Weapon Art: Grandmaster], [Mana Skin: Grandmaster], [Mana Meditation: Grandmaster], [5 Senses Art: Advanced], [Ki Art: Grandmaster]
[Spells: [Weapon magic: Hell Raise: Grandmaster], [Weapon magic: Warriors Pride: Grandmaster], [Weapon magic: Rain of Honor: Grandmaster], [Weapon creation magic: Blade Dominion: Grandmaster], [Weapon creation magic: The Coffin of Lost Legacy: Grandmaster]
I stared at the screen for a second too long.
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
A dry little laugh nearly came out of me and died in my throat.
"Immortality, absurd physical stats and enough mana to turn this shithole city inside out forty times over. Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful" I thought with twitching eyebrows and a building headache.
Benjamin stepped out of a silver door behind me and said calmly "Master david. Thirty four are safe inside avalon. Twelve are injured. Six are dead. Three are unaccounted for."
I dragged a hand down my face slowly and said honestly "That is somehow better than I expected."
Nyx looked at me like I had lost my mind and screamed "BETTER THAN YOU EXPECTED?"
"I expected more corpses." I said with a shrug that was way too stiff while making five dices appear between my fingers.
Ariella's cold eyes landed on me and she asked through the floating bead "Are you the one responsible for the slaughter at the church, child."
I smiled with my eyes closed, though the left corner of my mouth twitched and said "Define slaughter."
The town square was completely silent.
Nyx slapped her forehead and muttered "We're never getting out of this."
Ariella's face did not change in the slightest. She simply lifted her left hand.
The black haired woman by jarred pushed the dagger deeper into his neck.
"Last chance. Bow your head, surrender, and I may only kill half your followers." Said ariella nonchalantly.
Jarred's eyes widened and he shouted "Boss man, with all due respect, fuck that offer."
My fingers curled tighter around the dices until my knuckles whitened.
My heartbeat slammed against my ribs.
For one bad second I pictured hurling myself at ariella and biting her fucking throat out even though I knew it wouldn't work.
"Rejected." I said instantly.
Ariella stared at me for a moment and said "Then die."
"Wait." I said suddenly.
Ariella paused.
Nyx looked at me with horror and whispered "Do not sell me out you funky booty ass bastard."
I ignored her and rubbed my chin, not because I was calm but because I needed my hands doing something other than shaking and asked "You're here for this city, right. So why are you standing here flapping your gums at me instead of locking down the church, the merchant routes and the underground paths first. That's what a smart conqueror would do."
Ariella's eyes sharpened ever so slightly.
My breathing slowed just a little.
"I hit something. Good. Stare at me you old undead bitch. Keep staring" I thought while the left side of my lip curled.
Benjamin glanced at me from the corner of his eye and his remaining eye narrowed slightly.
Good. He understood. I was stalling.
Because from the direction of the ruined church, beneath all the smoke and broken stone, I could feel it.
Something old.
Something greedy.
Something calling to my soul.
Nyx slowly looked toward the ruined church too and her scarlet eyes widened slightly.
"So you feel it too. Good" I thought.
The grimories.
Ariella took one step forward and said nonchalantly "A rat does not question a lion about how it hunts."
"I do when the lion is facing the wrong damn direction while the real prize is behind her." I said with a kind closed eyed smile. My jaw still hard as stone.
For the first time.
Ariella turned her head.
Only slightly.
That was enough.
My fist clenched.
My teeth ground together.
"BENJAMIN. NOW." I screamed.
"DOOR MAGIC: LINK OF WORLDS." Said benjamin calmly.
*BOOOOOM*
Three silver doors exploded into existence.
One beneath jarred.
One in front of me and nyx. And one above the ruined church in the distance.
Jarred dropped through his door with a scream.
I grabbed nyx by the back of her neck and leaped through ours.
Nyx yelled "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS GRABBING ME LIKE A STRAY CAT."
"BECAUSE YOU ACT LIKE ONE." I screamed back as we shot through a silver tunnel full of fog and floating doors.
Behind us, I heard ariella's voice for the first time lose even a little of that cold calmness.
"STOP THEM." Said ariella loudly with anger.
*SHIIIIING* *BOOOOM*
A rain of weapons tore through the tunnel behind us as benjamin coughed blood and forced the pathway to remain stable.
My eyes widened and shouted "BENJAMIN."
"Go master david. A servant's life is best spent opening the right door." Said benjamin with a calm smile as blood ran down from the corner of his mouth.
The tunnel spat me and nyx out high above the ruined church.
We crashed through broken stone, glass and dust and landed inside the ruined sanctuary with a violent roll.
*BOOOOM*
I slammed against the marble floor hard enough to make my teeth click and coughed while nyx rolled off me with a groan.
The air was thick with ancient mana. The ruined church glowing.
At the center of the broken sanctuary, above a black and gold pedestal cracked down the middle, two grimories floated in the air.
One was a dark magenta three leaf grimorie floated before me, gold lined and covered in weird black writing, blue gems fixed into the corners and a blue checkered spine running down the middle. On the cover was a board of dice faces laid out like fate itself had turned into a grimorie.
was a dark magenta three leaf grimorie with silver edges, white dice patterns laid across the cover and a chain of blue diamond shaped markings running down the side like a trail of fate.
The other was a silver and black grimorie with two glowing hands shaking each other on the on the left book cover and a big three leaf on the right book cover. Unfamiliar writing waved across each side of it.
Nyx slowly looked up and whispered with wide eyes "Dude…"
I stared in silence.
My chest rose and fell harder than it should have.
My fingers twitched at my sides. My heart pounded so hard it hurt.
And for one tiny second I started laughing under my breath.
Not because anything was funny. because if I didn't laugh I might start biting chunks out of the floor.
The three leaf dice grimorie slowly turned toward me.
Its pages fluttered on their own.
And from outside the ruined church, shaking the entire building with her monstrous mana, ariella's voice rang out coldly.
"You have nowhere left to run." Said ariella coldly.
I slowly stood up, blood on my face, jaw tight, one fist clenched so hard it shook at my side while a wide grin stretched across my mouth.
"Who said I was running." I asked while the dice grimorie flew straight into my outstretched hand.
The moment my fingers touched the cover.
*BOOOOOM*
Mana exploded out of my body like a storm.
The marble beneath my feet cracked.
My hair whipped wildly around my face.
The three leaf grimorie floated open in front of me. Its pages turning on their own at absurd speed as black, pink and silver mana swirled around my body like a vortex.
[NEW SPELL ACQUIRED]
[Dice magic: Loaded Fate]
[Dice magic: Critical Roll]
[Dice creation magic: World of Fortune]
I stared at the floating words for a split second and grinned so wide it hurt my face.
Nyx looked at me with a look somewhere between shock and excitement and said loudly "WHY THE HELL DO YOU LOOK HOTTER WHEN YOUR INSANE."
"I always look hot." I said automatically while my eyes locked on the church entrance.
The front of the ruined sanctuary exploded inward.
*BOOOOM*
Stone, dust and broken glass flew everywhere.
Ariella stepped through the smoke with her silver spear in hand and a dead knight dragged behind her by the ankle like trash.
Her eyes landed on my grimorie. Then on my face.
For the first time since this fight started.
She smiled.
It was small.
Cold.
Inhuman.
"How unfortunate. Now I have to kill you before you grow into something irritating." Said ariella nonchalantly while letting the corpse drop to the floor.
My grin widened.
My fist clenched around the hilt of my sword.
The dices around me started rotating faster.
And despite my whole body trembling from fear, excitement and the urge to do something deeply stupid, I asked with a ugly looking smile on my face "Can I test my new spells on this old bitch now."
Nyx's grin grew feral and said "Gladly."
…
THE END…