Interlude - Struggle

Interlude - Struggle

Interlude - Struggle

Shapes jumped out of the dark and struck from all directions. Karya raised her spear and blocked an attack from the side, then heard her daughter scream. She turned and saw a sword piercing her shoulder. Vanessa swung her staff widely, but with precision. She hit someone and the sword was pulled out of her shoulder. They turned with practiced motions and stood back-to-back, ready for the enemyall the while Karya clawed at her power, trying to reach anything. The array that suppressed her felt unstable, if Karya had to guess it wasnt designed to suppress more than one person at a time. Having Vanessa and Karya here was straining it. The lingering flames of her previous attacks gave enough light that she saw her enemies. There were six of them, and all fully geared. This wasnt going to be enough, not without her power, she knew. She recognized only one, a person wearing a dark and elaborate armor, standing in the backgroundYirrel Annsi, the Warden Commander. They had wondered when she was going to show herself.

This was a room designed to kill, she knew that. Power nullifying and designed to give all the advantages to the captors. It was well done, though it pained her to admit. They hadnt known that Yirrel could do that. Not that it wouldve mattered if they had.

Someone attacked from her side, an arrow flew through the air and Karya activated her armors shield. It flared into existence, but weakly. There were more than silencing arrays in here. Something was stifling active powers too. Her shield cracked, but it gave her enough time to slap the arrow aside with her spear.

She heard a crack and felt the room shake, and knew that Vanessa had activated one of her rings that sent a quake across the ground. The arrays shook, some flared with color as Vanessa destroyed some. Five shapes jumped at them.

Karya moved, stabbing with her spear as two whips of water tried to attack her. Her power was suppressed, but her armor was still strong. She let the whips hit her and surprised the water caster. Her spear caught the robed figure across the shoulder. Someone got in close and low, and then several rapidly executed strikes with bare fists hit Karyas side, sending her stumbling to the side in pain. She felt pressure and knew that her armor had been dented. She swung her spear widely, and forced the cthul pugilist to back away. She heard a scream and turned around to see Vanessa stumbling back, blood soaking her robe from a cut over her chest.

Vanessa! Karya said and jumped in her direction. She stabbed with her spear over Vanessas shoulder as fast as possible with her physical strength. She connected with something, surprising her daughters assailant. She heard a curse, then felt pain in her back. She clawed at her power again, at anything that she could reach, but there was a wall in between her and her power. Two walls. One that blocked her power now, and one that had been in place for yearsthe conduit to her Ethereal powers. She couldnt reach any of them.

Powers hit her and her daughter, getting through her armor as she tried to shield Vanessa.

It was, easy to bring them to her. The Sects had not declared any formal declaration of war. Emaros was a territory that she enforced the laws in, they were criminals. Her skill had only been there to ensure that nothing could interfere. She watched as her fighters were taking the two down, cut them slowly to pieces. They had wrecked the room, but most of the strongest arrays were buried in the stone around the room. Still, they had to finish it soon, she could feel the arrays struggling. She hadnt intended to get the daughter too, but it was a welcome surprise, if a bit dangerous. The arrays were not designed for two such powerful people, they didnt have long. Her only target was the woman who glared at her even as she took wounds. Yirrel wasnt a fool enough to let the Butcher of Dawn remain active in the war. The moment she recognized her, she knew that she would be using this trap on her. It had been intended for the strongest of the enemy, and it was well spent on her.

Then, she felt the world tremble, and she looked in the womans eyes, she saw them ignite.

Karya was a Valkyrie, she could recognize an impending death. Vanessa was gravely injured, her hand missing the fingers with her quake ring.

Mother Vanessa said in a whisper. Karya saw fear in her daughters eyes, something that she hadnt seen since she had been just a child. Karya had recognized one of the array configurations, she shouldve known that her daughter would too. It was a soul killing array. If they died here, they would die a True Death.

|I Held The Abyss|

She covered her fighters and the red fire consumed everything. The room shook, and then rocks fell down. Burying them all beneath them.

Yirrel held her power over her people, keeping them safe. Then she used Wardens Law: To Guard And Safety. They were all warped and sent back to the closest Warden safe place, which was a guardhouse in Emaros. Her people fell to the ground, some steaming from the heat, but they had survived.

Yirrel walked out of the guardhouse and looked up at the sky. She saw the sects attacking and the Elder King and his people defending.

It was unfortunate that they hadnt been able to permanently kill Karya. The woman had proven that Yirrel had been right to use their card on her. She had destroyed their arrays, Yirrel reflected and wondered if perhaps she shouldve had some of the Hasturs minions on hand that could devour souls. They didnt have many soul-destroying arrays left, and losing this one was inconvenient. They had planned on using that room several times over the defense to remove other great threats. Now they didnt have another such array that they could use.

Most of the unenlightened had feared the truth, and so they had made sure to sabotage their own once they knew that the fall was inevitable. The Elder King had destroyed nearly all soul killing devices in his territories before he was shown the truth, not wanting them turned on him and his people by those who had already seen the truth. And many of his own people had killed themselves and triggered their own immortalities before the Hasturs Chosen could arrive. Even some mortals had made the choice to enter the afterlife before risking being made to see Hasturs vision. It was sad. They would never know.

It was disappointing that she didnt have any soul killing powers available to her personally, it wasnt in her build, nor did most other wardens have it. She had few people with things that could damage souls, but nothing that would be able to kill a soul at the peak of its power.

Still, Karya had killed herself and her daughter, and thus had removed two powerful pieces from the board, at least for a while. And that was enough.

Her fighters came out of the guardhouse, and she saw that Kanie Easra was pouring a potion over his eye, somehow even silenced and suppressed, Karya had managed to take the eye of one of the greatest blademasters in the world. It just affirmed Yirrels decision to use the trap on her, even though it would take them months, maybe years to build another, assuming they won the war.

Without a word Yirrel led them to the closest teleporter in the city and they used it. She saw the battle taking place all around them, on the walls and in the sky. Yirrel saw a wave of red and black molten Qi shaped like a dragons head coming down toward the Elder King, his honor guard trying to protect him. She raised her hand and summoned her power.

/Oath of the First Shield: Call The Gate of Grand Order/

Light fell from the sky, her great Gate came in between the attack and the Elder King, blocking the attack and absorbing it. Her gate was recognizable, it was an announcement of her arrival. She felt powers turn in her direction, observing her. She focused on her power, on her oath, and unleashed the attack she had just absorbed. The gate released it straight up, at one of the floating fortresses that had gotten too close. The molten Qi splashed over it and melted through it like it was nothing. The ball of melted stone covered with Qi fell to the ground and made the earth shake. There was silence for a moment and she let it seep in. The Sects shouldve never come to her lands.