The break in armor!
I darted forward with perfect understanding. There was no hesitation, just a flawless and instant response, my blade pulsing with CUT as it lanced towards the opening Ravyn had made in the armor. I felt my body flow, the tip of my sword moving as if drawn by a string.
Morningstar's skill might have been enough to let him match her strength, to trap her wrists, to stop her crushing him, but she was two centuries in the suit. The scale of the experience she held was beyond reckoning. She had been through too many fights, been in too many situations. She was trapped, yes, blocked from striking down on him. So she retaliated.
In the fraction before my attack struck home, the vulnerable matter of her human body exposed by the crack in her armor, she pulled back. It was so fast. She swung back, Morningstar drawn like a leaf into a whirlpool, lifting him, swinging him. His body hit mine like a weapon, the force making my vision black, painting it with sparking lights. I crashed backward, my body flopping down the slope, towards the vegetation. Then Morningstar's form was airborne, shot like a rubber band. Even with my vision reeling, my body bouncing and jarring, I could spare a shudder for Morningstar. His form hit a tree like a bullet, not even pausing in its terrible flight, splashing through the thick trunk in an eruption of splinters. The sound of the tree cracking and falling was thunder. Another, another, the line of trees seemed to tremble and collapse on itself as he broke through one after another, each impact terrible and gut wrenching.
I stabbed the ground with my sword to arrest my fall. I stopped tumbling, came to a stop on my back. Though my head hummed and my ears rang, I was immediately rising.
Then a boot on my chest. For all the power of my suit, I was but a babe. She shoved me down with casual violence. I raised my sword but another impact, a kick or a slap, knocked it to the ground by my feet. Another swipe struck at me and I raised my relic bracer to deflect it. Somehow it did turn the attack away, a swipe that would have separated my head from my body. As the little shield pulsed to life and the power of those claws was turned away, I heard a crack and felt heat bloom beneath the skin of my suit. It had protected me for the last time.
Then my whole universe was her helmed face, filling my vision. I couldn't see the mad contortion of her expression but somehow I could feel the intensity of her gaze. Her body vibrated, panting with animal fury.
Her right hand rose, the shape of it truly contorted into a savage claw, the twisted shape of a beast, bladed fingers shining in the air. It was death. None of us could survive an undefended blow.
Then a voice. A man's voice. A voice I knew. "Julia, no."
Commanding, firm. Her body froze and her bladed hand did not descend. She turned, stiff, her attention consumed.
I could do nothing but turn my head as well.
There, not six feet from us, stood Joel Montagnion.
Her voice stuttered, wonder or fear or both emotions making her tremble, "Joel…"
I was confused. There wasn't time to process. I had fractions of thoughts. How was he here? But that was unimportant, nor answerable. Joel's resources were beyond naming. He had always known where I was, why wouldn't he be able to find us now? Why was he here? Again, I didn't have time to consider truly, though the question flashed past me.
His voice was more contained than I had ever heard. He was in command of himself. "Julia… Don't kill the boy."
She shuddered, unable to construct her words, "But… he… Thrax… BLOOD"
Joel stood, seemingly at ease, no weapon drawn. He could stand against a Griidlord with his fortune of relics, but to her he was paper waiting to be shredded. "Julia… Do you remember us speaking of this before? In the quiet moments, in the tension before a battle, the hollow calm after? In our own moments? I am so sorry to see that this has become of you, but you always told me, if it did, I shouldn't hesitate."
She was empire! She had fought for the Tower of the City of Angels. She had been his Arrow once!
She looked down at me, her hand twitching, then back to him, "But you… you're not…"
Joel smiled, so sadly. "I gave it up. I gave up the suit. Even still, damage was done. There are parts of me I can never get back…"
Her voice quavered with sadness, "I couldn't… could never…"
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Joel said, "Most of us can't. It was the hardest thing I ever did, to let it all go, to leave it. No drug or addiction could ever hold more power over a human. Do you remember telling me you would rather be dead than live with the madness?"
The shock of the scenario faded as the hammering of my heart brought me back to reality. He was only holding her, with his words rather than his arms, but this was no different than moments ago with Montagnion. She was an explosive, long forgotten and weeping with volatility. This was just a moment, an opportunity. Probably the last one.
My hand drifted, so glacially, carefully, slowly, towards the hilt of my sword.
Despite the care, she perceived the movement and twitched, her blade hand blazing with terrible light, arcing down for me.
It was not even a tenth of a second, a blur of awful fury. Those gleaming deathly blades falling. The whirl of Joel's cloak, the flash of his sword. My hand darting, grasping. The sound of flesh rending, a pained gasp, an unforgettable gasp, a balloon of life deflating. My blade rising, flaring with its own light, my body testing my other arm, thrusting against the ground, my body convulsing with the snap of action. The form of Joel sinking away from me.
Then I was up, on my feet, off my feet, Julia's hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing my SHIELD so hard, futilely as she crushed my throat, my armor, my life.
Then the grip easing, her helm trembling, the helm folding back and the shock of her eyes looking at me. We both looked down and saw the pommel of the sword pressed against her armor, the blade vanished beyond, inside, doing its nasty work.
Her fingers slipped from my throat, blood dribbling from between her lips, eyes wide with disbelief, vacating life.
She fell to her knees and I was on my feet again.
Level 39 Level 40 New Skill: Door
I didn't have time to lament that once again I had gained a nonoffensive ability. I didn't have time to appreciate any of that nor the fact that Door would reveal itself to be more powerful in my hands than any offensive ability.
She was dead.
Joel didn't so much groan as shudder, but the sound drew me to him.
He was a wreck, his chest torn open. I couldn't process what I was seeing, but there was bones, blood and probably organs on display. I knelt by him. "Shit! Joel I—
A choking voice, drowning in blood, cut me off, his eyes wide and darting, straining against pain and inevitability. "No. No time."
Blood geysered from his mouth, I could barely hear the words. He poured them out in a panic, fighting time, fighting the unavoidable, "Morning rose… Mr. Answers… when he asks…"
Then the old Emperor simply stopped. I think he lived another second or two more, the blood pulsing from his mouth, his body still seeming to be driven by the beating of a heart, but his eyes died, his words ended. A moment later, all motion stopped and I was left staring.
It wasn't peace. It wasn't stillness. What remained carried that strange empty calm that follows existential violence, but it was not without interruption. Ravyn's breathing echoed through the clearing. She was on her knees, her hands pressed to her face, still unseeing. Lucius and Morningstar were both lost to sight.
Racquel lay on the ground, unmoving.
I forgot the bodies at my feet and was by her in a moment.
The damage was terrible. She breathed, but in ragged shallow breaths. So much blood.
"Racquel!" I heard myself bark, scream, making no secret of the emotion I felt.
"Ti… I'm sorry…"
"No! Stop! We can fix it!"
The helm folded back and her face was pale, so terribly pale. She shook her head, sadly. "There's no way… no time… it's too bad. I… Ti, I can't feel my fingers…" then she was silent. Her chest trembled on, but she wasn't conscious.
No! No, no, no. Not again. Not her. Not like this. I couldn't…
My mind raced, but there was nothing. It would be hours back to civilization, to a Tower, to Olaf and his Healing Hands. I stood up, hands on my head, trying to battle down the panic and despair.
"Door!" I heard the word explode from me with wild and uncontained glee.
Enki's voice, sorry kiddo. Really I am. She's one of my favorites too, as you can see, but she can't go through the door. You have to be conscious to pass through it. You can take, theoretically, someone with you, but they need to be aware or the fields will just… let's just say it's worse than bleeding out…
No! Fuck no! How could I get this gift now, and still have it be no use?
Suddenly, a thought, "Can I bring two others through?"
Enki said, I guess… flirting with disaster, but just about…
I flew. The scale of my desperation enough to make me pulse the Footfield, for a fraction of a second, risking entanglement with the trees. Then I was by Morningstar, lifting him, slapping him, a perfect line of shattered trees trailing between us and the clearing.
"Fuck, kid…" he mumbled, then jerked to life. "Shit. Rosegold?"
"Dead! There's no time! I need your Door!"
"My, what? Kid, you're not making sense."
I seized him by the shoulders and shook him, not caring who he was or how strong he was. "Now! Morningstar, we've got no time, none at all! Come with me now."
I reached for Door.
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