
Annabelle's Bastion reached 1000 readers! I can't thank you guys enough for continuing to read Anna and Aria's journey!
Huge thank you to anyone who likes the chapters, follows the story, and rates! Seeing that makes me incredibly happy and eager to keep going!
I still feel like Annabelle's Bastion is only just beginning!
Anna wasn’t a coward.
But even she recognized when a situation was impossible for her to solve.
“What do we do?” she asked, certain that her anxiety was showing in her voice.
She and Aria stood by the elevator platform, staring downward at the bottom floor that would soon become a battlefield. It was entirely empty, save for the platform.
But disabling it was impossible—keeping it up was impossible. It was part of the mana flow in the Library of the Lost and would always return to the floor before it could be activated again.
“We can fl—”
“I will not run away!” Anna interrupted, glaring at Aria. How could she even suggest that? “How could I ever face Elyanthra again if we abandoned the Library while she’s gone?”
Especially considering Elyanthra would have been more than willing to take on the army alone. But she didn’t because she trusted them while she was off the planet.
The idea of Elyanthra returning to the library in utter ruins—her life’s work gone—hurt more than the idea of fighting the army.
“I won’t let you die for this, Annabelle,” Aria firmly said, meeting Anna’s glare with her natural calm, cold-to-most gaze. “A show of courage means nothing if you die.”
“I would rather die than fail those who rely on me,” Anna just as strongly said.
Elyanthra was the only reason she was there right now.
“I won’t let you,” Aria repeated.
There was nothing to argue about. Aria wasn’t as close to Elyanthra and Sorana as Anna was—she didn’t spend six months alone. For her, it was only natural she’d care more for Anna.
And Anna would not fault her for it.
“Then we better come up with a plan!” she said, turning her gaze back toward the first floor.
Aria’s gaze lingered for a bit longer, but she eventually followed suit.
“The gate,” she said.
“Gate?”
“The entrance to the Library is small—a horde can’t enter all at once.”
“Ooh!~”
She was right! In fact, their original idea was to use the first floor as a slaying ground due to its sheer empty width. The platform was a problem, but since the gate was so small…
“Our goal is only to buy time,” Aria warned. “We can instantly kill anything that enters the gate, but we cannot fight something like the Barbarian.”
“No way they send him out right away, right? It’s too risky!”
“If they know Elyanthra is gone, they might.”
That was a theory about why they advanced so quickly. It was the best time to attack if they could somehow detect that Elyanthra left Sorana. But it was too unlikely.
“That can’t be why,” Anna said. “If they could detect spatial disturbances, they’d have known about the expedition, my presence, and your arrival.”
“Ah—you’re right.”
“The sentient accursed probably won’t enter until later for that same reason.”
They couldn’t risk encountering Elyanthra at her full power. Anna hadn’t seen her fight, but she must have been ridiculously powerful.
And now that she was immune to the corruption… she was a monster to the monsters.
Well, there was still a chance, but it seemed too unlikely.
However, there was a more probable explanation for the early invasion she had been thinking of.
“Actually…” Anna sighed heavily. “I think it’s because of us.”
“Discovering us?”
“No—our resistance. Think about it; the first people ever to be entirely immune to what makes the cores a threat at all.”
Aria nodded as she considered it. “He could have gotten a suspicion from his attack not working.”
“Yeah, and it’s an existential threat for the corruption.”
The reason didn’t particularly matter, but it did mean they were probably going to be kill-on-sight. Letting Aria, Anna, and Elyanthra live at all was too dangerous.
But that realization only made the pit in Anna’s stomach grow.
“We’re targets,” Aria said, turning again to face Anna with her grim gaze. “I would not be surprised if their focus switched to us. Annabelle—”
“Not running.”
Logically, they should.
Logically.
They couldn’t fight an army!
But betraying someone like Elyanthra was worse than death.
“Please, Annabelle—”
“Stop suggesting it!” Anna said a little louder than she’d have liked. She lowered her voice. “Look, I know it’s illogical—it’s a damn army!” She gestured around the tree. “But this Library is all that remains of Sorana... its people’s history. This library is everything Elyanthra has worked for for so long. This library is where I met another person for the first time in six months! And even if we take my… emotions… out of it… the library is an extremely dangerous weapon that could directly result in billions of deaths.”
Saying it aloud reaffirmed her decision and even gave her a little courage.
“Annabelle…” Aria whispered. However, she shook her head. “Fine, Annabelle… I will fight because you wish to fight.” A hand firmly grasped Anna’s shoulder, Aria’s eyes looking pleadingly into Anna’s. “But, please, if it appears lost, you must flee.”
Would she flee if it actually came to that? If the situation looked so dire that staying at all was a guaranteed death sentence… would she then flee?
She couldn’t say.
But Aria never looked like that.
“Fine.”
Aria’s grip tightened a little before she released it. She turned back toward the ground floor, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.
“Okay, Annabelle—we need to think of this clearly.”
Anna cleared her throat, returning her mind to the army that would be there within thirty minutes, assuming they followed a normal accursed pace.
“We still have one thing going for us,” she said. “They can’t risk destroying the library—the citadel. We won’t see any attacks too explosive or dangerous to the structure.”
It was, after all, a tree.
“Do you still have the golem heart from your prototype?”
“Y-yeah… why?”
It was her baby!
“I have… a plan.”
“Remember, the explosion caused by my mana is powerful! The only reason the labyrinth room didn’t just collapse is because it was a mana construct made by the core!”
And there was always a chance it exploded in her hand, instantly killing them both.
She also really, really didn’t want to use her only heart unless she really, really had to.
But, well… whatever it took to win—to buy time.
“It’s fine—let’s go.”
“Go?”
Aria materialized her ring and brought her hand over the crystal embedded into a wooden pedestal nearby. That was how they called the platform upward.
“Follow me and always be ready to activate your apex sigil,” she locked eyes with Anna. “Do not hesitate, Annabelle. At the first sign, do it.”
—-
The Library entrance portal was always in the same spot—at the front of the first floor.
Breaking through the defenses of the library to teleport an entire army in at once was impossible, or they would have done it already. So they had some way to open the gate.
And the gate was just barely large enough for two people to squeeze through.
With the location, size, and expected amount of accursed, putting up a resistance should be a relatively simple task.
Predictability was good.
“Done,” Anna said as she stepped off the platform. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need to retreat that far back.
But it was possible.
She walked to the front of the room, where Aria stood to begin their idea.
It was a grotesque idea, too.
“Are you ready?” Aria asked. She already had two massive, simple golden greatswords in her hands and a pair of small dark horns atop her head.
Her small claws were there, but those wouldn’t be much aid.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Anna said. “But this…”
Thinking about what was about to happen made her feel a little sick, but it was the easiest way of fighting.
Aria was going to become an accursed shredder with her swords. She would stand by the gate and cut before the accursed even had a chance of seeing anything.
Anna would be behind, stabbing the heads of anything else with her two swords. But that probably wouldn’t happen.
Aria’s enhancements stacked with Demonification made her swing that greatsword at lightning speeds.
They didn’t know how long that defense would last, but theoretically, it could not be overcome.
Until they ran out of mana, which would happen. The accursed would always win a battle of attrition.
Since Aria had to swing with high enhancements and Demonification running—because some accursed might have a barrier or Manaskin—her mana wouldn’t last too long.
But their goal was only to buy time.
Time.
“Any minute,” Aria darkly said.
Anna swallowed hard. “D-do you feel anything?”
“Not ye—” She suddenly stopped, her brows knitting. “Yes.”
It was time.
How were they going to do it?
What were they going to see?
What if the sentient accursed decided to enter first?
Anxious thoughts cycled through her head as her own heart beat like a drum in her ears.
She didn’t have to wait for that answer as the space where it would appear began to tremble.
The gate’s arrival began with a faint hum in the air through the deathly silent floor.
The area shimmered like heat waves as a white light began to form as a small dot.
But space itself seemed to be being ripped open, the gate slowly opening like it was being forcefully pulled apart.
Dull grey lines made the portal’s edge like millions of parasites crawling apart.
Corruption—the Taint.
It expanded to form the size and shape they had expected—a small portal, no bigger than a door, wide enough for two people to step through at a time, and just taller than Aria.
Once fully grown, it emitted a soft, hollow hum.
Aria tightened her grip on her sword and raised it upward. “Step back!” she shouted.
Anna immediately complied, bringing her swords up and taking enough backward steps to allow Aria to swing without care.
There it was—but Aria was faster.
Before the first accursed could fully step through, Aria was already moving. Her greatsword slashed forward, meeting the creature mid-stride and splitting it cleanly in two.
The sight made a shiver crawl down Anna’s spine, but she bit her emotions back and prepared to strike.
Another emerged immediately, but it didn’t fare any better.
Aria’s sword struck with devastating precision, the blow sending its mangled body hurtling back through the portal.
Each swing was accompanied by a sharp sound of displaced air, her sword moving like a fan as she swiped back and forth with ferocious power.
Two would step through, only to die and get their bodies flung back through the gate.
It was a conveyor belt of death, and they wouldn’t stop.
Even as more accursed attempted to pile into the door, they would only fall to Aria’s power.
Aria’s blade hit something—a sharp sound that momentarily halted her blade before she forced it through. Manaskin
In that instance, Anna shot her blades forward to stab the heads of two more that squeezed through. It wasn’t much compared to Aria’s devastating swings, but it was enough to keep the area clear of any that tried breaking through.
Their bodies fell forward, falling into the library and into the pile of… blood and body parts.
Disgusting, but Anna kept her gaze forward and ignored it as best she could.
And their plan was working.
The portal’s steady stream of enemies proved no match for Aria’s unrelenting pace. Her enhanced speed made her blade a blur, cutting down the accursed before they could react. Each strike was final, bodies falling to the ground before any could even lift their claws.
Her enhancements were clearly raised a little after that Manaskin to avoid a similar issue, but they only needed a little time!
For a moment, it felt like they could hold their ground just long enough. The portal remained small, restricting the flow of enemies, and Aria’s overwhelming strength kept them from even crossing the threshold.
Anna almost allowed herself to believe they could manage until Elyanthra returned.
But god had other plans, and the portal began to change.
A low, ominous hum reverberated across the room, heavier than anything she’d felt before. The glow of the gate intensified, its grey edges rippling erratically as the once-stable shape began to twist and stretch unnaturally.
Her heart fell to her stomach.
How could they possibly do that?
“A-aria,” Anna called her voice tight with unease.
“I know!” she shouted, swinging her swords like a living storm. “Annabelle, get ready!”
The hum grew louder, accompanied by a pulse of energy that made the air tremble.
Slowly at first, then rapidly, the portal began to expand.
It stretched wider and taller, the narrow door-like shape morphing into a towering, gaping rift.
Soon, it would be larger than Aria’s greatsword.
They couldn’t stop it.
“We need to—” she stopped as the accursed again charged through the portal.
Accursed began pouring through in larger quantities, but Aria didn’t falter. Her sword struck with the same speed and precision, carving through every creature that stepped forward.
“Annabelle!” Aria exclaimed, her voice sharp as she performed a final swing. “We’re falling back!”
“Y-yeah!”
“Now!” Aria shouted again, her blade cleaving through a wave of accursed as if to emphasize her urgency.
Without hesitation, Anna pulled her sword back, her enhancements running at their peak as she sprinted toward the platform.
Aria was right beside her.
And behind, an army of accursed as the gate continued being forcefully expanded.
She activated the gem immediately.
The platform shuddered beneath her as it ascended long before any of the accursed could reach it.
They’d probably be able to activate it—their rings were always out, and just one had to touch it.
But they lost the first floor far too early.
“What…” Anna tried to control her heavy breaths. “What now?”
“Use the stone.”
“If that doesn’t work?”
A quick glare silenced any attempt Aria had at uttering the word flee.
“We fight using the platform’s rising and falling,” she said. “We need only to clear each ascending wave.”
It would still be a somewhat controlled assault.
The platform stopped at the first floor, the wood stretching to create the connecting bridge to the floor.
“Get ready, Annabelle.”
“Yeah.”
Hopefully, it worked… and hopefully Elyanthra was okay with what she was about to attempt.
She approached her golem and pulled on its chest.
IV One was a good experiment—it sucked to lose it before Gromak got there.
But Anna was the one who refused to consider fleeing.
So she would take the risks.
TFTC!