Without Eliana’s anti-magic shield to keep them out of the fight the court wizards managed to absorb most of Zelaeryn’s enraged river of demon fire, though at a great personal cost as three of them were immediately consumed. Before the demon could close in on the king the elite palace guards rushed between them, shields at the ready.

“I will end you,” Zelaeryn growled, though it was plain to see the strain was beginning to wear on her.

“You served me well back in the day,” the king sneered at her. “I should give you a boon for all of your help. Here!” he kicked Eliana’s severed head toward her with a smirk. “Something to remember her by.”

Zelaeryn screamed again, rushing forward, her massive blade exploding as her scream of anguish erupted from her throat. The first wave of troops disintegrated into ash as the fire raced through them. By then the court mages had reacted and a barrier sprung to life, holding by a thread as Zelaeryn’s demon fire tore into it. The first guard to reach her lifted his sword high and brought it down, tearing into her back.

She flung him off like one would a fly. More and more came, the barrier keeping them safe from the demon’s powerful blade. Soon she was engulfed in guards, her magic forgotten she stepped back a pace, then another, struggling to keep the surging mass of metal-clad royal guards from her. Her blade flashed and sizzled in the air, tearing into the crowd, but she was being slowly and surely pushed back, blood, both her own and that of the guards coating her body and the ground.

Lysabel ducked under a guard’s blade and brought her own up under his chin before moving quickly to the next. She danced and weaved like a ballerina, dodging, blocking, and counterattacking gracefully. Her movements were the definition of economical with no wasted steps or unnecessary swings of her blade. She finished off another guard when the first magical bolt struck her shoulder, she staggered and the guard in front of her slammed his sword through her shoulder. She screamed in pain but managed to bring the guard down quickly before staggering back, her left arm useless.

Sayuri tore one guard apart with her massive claws before crushing another in her powerful jaws. Initially the guards failed to breach her defenses but soon the mages joined the fight, their magic slamming into her. She screamed in pain and challenge, her fur dyed red from blood and scorched by magic.

Alarice took down yet another guard, her arrow embedding itself between his eyes. She reached for another arrow but found her quiver empty. She smashed the bow across the face of an attacking guard before drawing her elegant longsword. Her superior skill and strength kept the guards at bay but she soon found herself pushed back toward the slowly retreating Sascha until the sisters stood back to back amid the swarm of steel and magic fire.

Carrisyn may not have felt the pain of her wounds, but the many cuts had weakened her considerably. She called on her already over-taxed magic to burn guard after guard to a cinder. She struggled for a moment to get to her feet before sinking back to the ground in exhaustion, her body unable to muster the strength to stand. She pressed her back against the column she sat against and continued to battle as well as she was able from the ground.

“I need your help,” I begged Meri. I staggered to my feet unsteadily. I stared around me as the guards closed in and sighed. To say things were not going well was probably the understatement of the century. We were being pushed back on all fronts and the numbers of guards seemed nearly endless. We had, in short, lost.

“It’s too dangerous, dear,” Meri whispered back. “Your body is too ravaged from the wounds the magical link between you and the sorceress gave you. Those aren’t merely physical wounds. If I were to grant you my power, you would not survive.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve died, and I can’t let it end like this,” I returned desperately. “If I don’t do something it’s all gone.”

“Kill them!” The king ordered, strolling back toward his raised throne. “All of them.”

“We can’t let him get away with this!” I pleaded again. “This is your best and possibly last chance to get revenge for everything he took from you and my only chance to keep from losing everything I have and ever will! I promise I’ll survive!”

“You won’t,” Meri sighed sadly.

“I promise I’ll survive!” I lied emphatically.

 “Very well,” Meri finally sighed in my head. “You don’t understand what you’re asking, but I’ll do what you want.”

I felt the magic flood my ravaged body and was hoping I wasn’t leaking magic all over the place. The very notion of that sort of thing both fascinated and repulsed me. I chose, wisely in my opinion, to not dwell too much on the thoughts because…ew. Gross. All I had to do was keep myself together long enough to do as much damage as I could and then, well, die, if Meri was to be believed.  

I blinked out of existence for a moment before appearing in the middle of the court mages. Emerald tendrils exploded all around me, wrapping and strangling the suddenly confused and frightened mages. One turned toward me to cast a spell but before he could even react a dagger found his throat and he dropped to his knees and pitched over. From my position staring at my body I found this exceedingly odd as I hadn’t used my daggers, but I had little time to dwell on this as I blinked out of existence once more, appearing above the fray. I saw the king stare up at me in surprise as I hovered for a moment before slamming earthward, the stone cracking as the magic raced through the battlefield.

The soldiers pressing the attack suddenly found themselves lifted from their feet and hurled backward to smack sickeningly against the stone walls, their bodies torn and shattered. The mages screamed in agony and horror as the shields they attempted to summon to protect themselves were quickly enveloped by green fire and ripped through their bodies, burning them to a cinder.

I felt something in my body snap like a twig and knew I didn’t have long. My body was broken irreparably. I’d taken Ashvallen’s Ferrari and rammed it into a brick wall at 120 kilometers an hour. The elven fire raced through my body, turning my blood to ash as it went. Huh, I thought to myself idly. I guess Meri wasn’t lying. My body was in agony but, for some reason, I felt nothing at all. It was like my mind had completely disengaged itself as my body tore itself to shreds. It was, I had to admit, a particularly strange experience.

Still, however, the magic carried me onward. My daggers lanced out, catching two guards in the chest, and exploding them from the inside in an eruption of blood. I climbed to my feet and stalked through the dust toward Ancil Rhade, killing without mercy any guard foolish enough to stand in my way.

“You will pay for what you’ve done,” I declared as I reached the bottom of the dais the king’s throne sat on.

“Do you think your elven magic frightens me?” His lips drew upward in a smile as cold as stone. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“Yes, I do,” I responded evenly. “I’m dealing with a man child bitch who should play hide and go fuck himself.”

“You think because you have a little royal blood from a dead family flowing through your mongrel veins you can stand against me?”

“No,” I shook my head, my voice rising as I spoke until I was shouting. “I think it’s because my name is Minji Song. Not ‘mongrel’ or ‘rat’ or any fucking thing else. It’s because I’m sick of being cold and hungry and bloody and, honestly, I’m sick of this whole fucking world. But most of all it’s because I’m sick of you, you arrogant shitgoblin!”

I knew there was no way I could beat him strength to strength and could feel myself fading with each passing second. The magic raced through me, tearing me apart at the seams. I didn’t have long. I dodged the swing of his blade and tore into his armor with my daggers, the sparks and gouts of emerald fire brushing off the polished steel like a gnat. Oh, I thought in some alarm. This wasn’t good at all.

I dodged again, my body slowing down with each second that passed and weaved, daggers slashing at his legs. Once more the daggers brushed off harmlessly. I leapt and rolled as the king brought his sword down toward me. Somehow, I was back on my feet and dodging again, slashing haplessly against the impenetrable steel of the king’s armor. Well, I thought, this pretty much sucks.

I braced myself and blinked out of existence, reappearing right behind him. My magic reacted immediately, bursting into flame as the few remaining court mages tore into me with their spells. The king turned with a wicked smile, his hand closing around my neck like a vice, squeezing and lifting me off my feet.

“Now you die, rat,” Ancil Rhade hissed with a grin.

“You first,” I gasped, bringing both daggers down and into his eyes, sending all of the remaining magic I had coursing through the daggers into the king’s body. I felt the last remaining threads of life I still possessed beginning to unravel but with a force of will and, honestly, straight up desperation I redoubled my efforts.

The king screamed in agony, trying desperately to throw me aside, but I clung to the daggers buried in his face and continued to channel Meri’s magic through the blades. The King writhed in agony, trying desperately to dislodge me but still I held on. I screamed in agony and determination and my magic flared brighter than before, ripping Ancil Rhade apart. His armor collapsed to the ground around the pile of ash he had become, and I fell beside it.

“Well,” I thought with a sense of satisfaction, “I’m not dead yet. I win.”

“That you do, I suppose. You’ve done well, my dear,” Meri whispered sadly. I couldn’t see my body and, quite frankly, didn’t want to. In fact, I couldn’t see anything. Somehow my lungs still drew ragged, gasping breath but it wouldn’t be for long.

“My technique was sloppy, I think. Not to mention I was supposed to walk away from the explosion like the heroine of the story should, not lay on the ground like a dying fish,” I replied after a moment, my tenuous hold on my thoughts beginning to loosen. “I don’t feel I’ve done well at all

“You have,” Meri responded. “You’ve brought down a monster.”

“Monster, huh?” I thought. “Yeah. I guess so. I’m dying to know…was it good for you?”

“You’re a very strange girl,” Meri chuckled.

“Don’t tell anyone,” I whispered, fading quicker now. “It’s my secret skill.”

“Your secret is safe with me, my dear,” Meri assured me.

“Do you think I’ll heal through this?” I finally asked as my breath rattled in my chest.

“I…honestly don’t know,” Meri answered after a moment’s pause. “I know you’re capable of quite a lot, so I suppose it’s possible.”

“I hope so,” I whispered as the yawning chasm of eternity rose up before me. “I want to have sex again.”

“I hope so, too,” Meri’s voice was far away and tiny, a whisper in the dark. I closed my eyes and fell into the void.