Junogloris and I leapt to opposite sides, and not a moment to soon. In less than a second, ten bullets embedded themselves in the tree behind me. I felt a searing pain in my ear as a sickening warmth dripped down the side of my cheek.

I looked up. Saw her smirking, her thumb resting lightly on her fingers, poised to snap.

I felt the telltale feeling of a spell being cast, that unmistakable sensation of shock as mana travelling through air briefly passed through you.

Time seemed to slow as I looked in the direction in which her spell travelled. Wood crackled as I saw the bullets embedded within glow bright green.

I moved to cover myself with my backpack, but it was too late. The explosion slammed into me, its destructive power sending me flying towards my adversary. I landed mere inches from her feet.

The world spun, the ringing in my ears wouldn’t stop. I tried to stand, but my legs merely screamed with agony, twin shards of wood digging further into my flesh the more I tried to scramble to my feet.

“Tsk, tsk tsk.” I looked up, and saw my enemy shaking her head. “And to think that I was looking forward to a good fight. Oh, well, can’t always have what we want, eh?” She aimed her gun at me, her finger mere inches away from the trigger.

There was a sound like thunder, and a great gust of wind and dirt as the earth gave way to an overwhelming force.

“Do not forget, you savage wench-” Junogloris said as he withdrew his fist from the crater where our enemy used to be, “-that you face me as well. And so long as I draw breath, you shall not lay another finger on her.”

I looked up, just in time to see our enemy land on her feet, doing a pirouette as if to mock us further.

“Well well well! Pardon me, Mr. Knight in Shining Armour!” She said, as she ejected a spent magazine from the bottom of her handgun’s grip, the black metal sinking into the pliant earth below.

“But words? Cheapest things in the world, ain’t it?” She said as she drew a new magazine from within her trench coat and idly twirled it in her hand. “I wonder… Can you fight me and protect her at the same time?”

She slammed the magazine into her gun, the harsh scraping of metal on metal serving as their starting bell.

Junogloris moved with blinding speed, easily covering the several metres of distance between them in one bound, and in less than a second, threw a punch that could shatter stone.

His fist was moving so quickly that no mere human could hope to see it, let alone dodge. And yet she did, effortlessly, weaving to the side, her face mere inches from Junogloris’s fist, and, with the momentum of her dodge, drives a fist crackling with energy directly into Junogloris’s side. She grinned wildly at the deafening sound of impact, and brought her gun to bear. But no sooner had she aimed it at me that Junogloris’s arm swung down at her head like an executioner’s axe. An axe which cut into nothing but air, as our adversary somersaulted backwards with effortless grace.

And so it continued; Junogloris pursued his enemy wherever she fled. The sound barrier was broken with every blow, every movement, yet the enemy was able to not only dodge, but attack at the same time. Wherever Junogloris struck, he was always a split second too late, the only victims of his wrath were the trees that surrounded their battlefield, which were felled by even a glancing blow from his fists.

Junogloris wielded strength which transcended human capability, no ordinary human could ever hope to live for more than a second if they faced him. Yet his opponent not only survived, she thrived. The fluidity of her movement, the flexibility in which she adapted to each odd angle that Junogloris came at by twisting her body, cartwheeling at one moment, ducking underneath an outstretch arm the next. Supple yet firm, always moving, but at the same time perfectly centred, an expression of absolute ecstasy never disappearing from her face.

I knew then that she was not a soldier, nor was she an assassin, not just. She was an artist, a virtuoso, one who has honed her art on countless battlefields and reached heights that few can even comprehend and fewer still can achieve, certainly no mere human, whose mortality curtails any from ever reaching the realm of the gods through skill alone.

And yet that was what she was, nothing more than a human, a human whose ability is undeniable.

It was a meeting between overwhelming strength and peerless technique. One a stormy sea, the other a captain masterfully sailing over even the most treacherous waves. And it didn’t take being the goddess of battle to realize that Junogloris was losing.

I knew what I had to do. I took deep breaths, calmed myself as much as possible, grit my teeth. Gripped the wooden shards piercing my legs. And ripped them out.

Agony. Everything was agony. My vision clouded. Blood spurted from newly gaping holes. Can’t scream. Can’t distract Junogloris. My mind clouded over. Ringing in my ears. Felt my teeth crack under the strain. Had to focus. Cannot falter.

“Well love, much as I enjoy dancing with you, and trust me, I do–” I felt the desire oozing from those final two syllables. “-Boss doesn’t pay by the hour, the bloody cheapskate, so I’m afraid I’d have to cut this short.” My hair stood on end as I felt pour a large amount of mana into one burst. A brutal sound of impact, the sickening sound of splintering bone. I saw Junogloris brought to his knees, coughing blood and pieces of his now perforated lung.

“Cheers, love.” She pointed her gun at his head. “When you get to hell, tell the devil that she still owes me that beer.”

“Tell her yourself.”

The shards of bloodied wood flew towards their target, crackling with the energy that I imbued them with. I saw them make impact, hitting her square in the chest, or so I thought.

Mere moments later, she was spinning in mid-air, my wooden bullets moving past her, losing almost none of their momentum, their force only stopped when they split a distant tree in two.

I had to act quickly. My legs felt like they had become fire itself, but I ran forward nonetheless. As she finished her spin and began to land, I was already by Junogloris’s side.

“Hit the ground. Hard as you can.” I said through gritted teeth.

She was about to recover from her impromptu gymnastics, a second’s hesitation meant death. Junogloris, steel in his eyes, let loose a primal roar and, though I heard the painful creaking of bone rubbing against shattered bone, he drew upon his strength and slammed both fists straight down.

The wind howled and the earth screamed in anguish, the force of his blow felled every tree in sight. I was nearly blown away, had he not caught me in his arms. Our adversary was not so lucky, she had not regained her footing before Junogloris’s attack, and was sent flying.

However, the way her body moved elegantly even as she flew, riding the shockwave instead of being swept away, meant that this was far from the end of our battle.

“Regroup. Now!” I yelled, and Junogloris understood. He carried me across his shoulder and fled to the edge of what was now a clearing, and hid ourselves within the shadows of the forest.

“Milady, your wounds…” he said, glancing at the still bleeding holes in my legs, looking away as if the pain was his.

“I apologize. For all my strength, I could not-”

“Don’t, Junogloris. It’s not your fault.” I held out a hand, silencing whatever retort he might have had. “She was too far beyond you, old friend. No offence, but I doubt you could’ve beaten her even without me distracting you.”

“But I-”

“Misplaced blame solves nothing. The best thing we can do right now is work together. Trust me, neither of us are taking her on alone,” I gestured at our wounds, “especially as we are now.”

“Aw stop. You’re making me blush~!”

We both froze at the sound of her voice echoing throughout the woods. I quickly glanced at the clearing. Thankfully she was still there, nonchalantly twirling her gun. An emerald haze surrounded her head, concentrated mostly in her ears and mouth.

“Really love what you’d done to the place, too.” she said, letting out a whistle as she surveyed her surroundings. “Now we’ve got ourselves a right proper arena!” Her eyes lazily roamed the edge of the clearing, but I could see that her gaze was sharp.

“Now all I need is someone to share it with.” she said, “So why don’t you just come on out, eh? No use in delaying the inevitable, ain’t it?”

“Mistress Luna, I think it would be wise to-”

“And don’t even think about running away, love.” she said. “Or delaying until the moon rises.” She reached into her trench coat and pulled out a thin white crystal, and though the midday sun shone brightly upon us, it paled in comparison to the radiance that the crystal exuded. “I use this and BAM! Everything within a hundred kilometre radius is gone. Except for me.”

“You’re bluffing.” I said, even as the massive amounts of faith radiating from the crystal made me shiver.

“Maybe, maybe not. Question is, can you take that chance?” she said. I remained silent.

“Didn’t think so.” she said as she hid the crystal once again. She resumed her search, the green haze began to thicken around her eyes. So it would seem that though she could hear every word, she couldn’t pinpoint our location on sound alone.

“It’s not adding up…”

“You say something, mate?”

“Everything about you is off.” I said. “That hearing spell you’re using is one of the absolute basics, no master worth his salt would neglect teaching it to one of his apprentices. Yet you’ve cast it like an amateur, like someone reinventing the wheel from grainy photographs and missing several vital parts in the process.” I snapped off a branch and threw it to my side. It struck a tree far to the left. The leaves rustling was almost imperceptible, then ten sharp cracks echoed as she emptied her gun. She sped to the tree which she’d shot, only to realize that she’d been fooled. She unloaded her spent magazine, the black steel bar sinking into the soft soil.

“Parts such as emulating directional sound.” I said.

“You got me! I’m just some amateur sorcere-”

“I said that you cast like an amateur, but the strength of the enchantments on your bullets and vest say otherwise. Not to mention that the glamour you wore earlier was enough to fool even me, a goddess.”

“Yeesh mate, haven’t heard anyone call illusion magic ‘glamour’ in forever.” she said, even a she loaded another magazine into her gun. “In fact, I’m pretty sure the last person to say that to me was that fairy queen broad.”

The fairy queen?!

“That’s impossible. Morgana’s been dead for almost 200 years now.” I muttered. Junogloris’s eyes grew wide at this.

“She was all ‘remove your glamour, knave!’ and ‘what treachery is this?’ and then pssshh.” She put her gun to her head and mimed a grotesque mock execution. “Never even knew what hit her.”

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Cold sweat ran down my spine as the implications became clear.

“A self-taught magus skilled enough to fool and murder the strongest of the Fae, existing in a time where all the great mage guilds and their stock of grimoires have been destroyed, all the teachers who could’ve taught you long since hunted down by El’s inquisitors, an age where the art of magic has faded from human memory…” By the look of shock on Junogloris’s face, I could tell that he understood. This woman that we faced…

“Just how long have you been alive?!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. It’s not polite to ask a lady her age, you know.” she said, cheerfully clapping her hands all the while. “Never thought I’d meet anyone who’d figure it out, especially not one of you arrogant god types, what with you always looking down on us ‘mere humans’ and all. By the way-”

Ten staccato beats resounded, but this time I felt the impacts reverberate from the tree that we were hiding behind.

“Thanks for that tip about directional sound.” She said with a grin. Time slowed to a crawl as I saw her bring her fingers together, my life ended by one snap.

Junogloris moved, the earth quaked beneath as he firmly planted his feet.

Her fingers snapping were the only thing I could hear. The wood began to glow a blinding green.

His fist travelled so quickly it seemed to almost blur. A cone of wind surrounded his arm, the shockwaves threatened to bowl me over, the sound of his fist rending the air was like thunder. And thunder-

Wood splintered. Junogloris let loose a primal roar as his fist made contact.

-is always followed by lightning.

With one blow the tree became a thunderbolt, the embodiment of divine wrath hurled at all blasphemy. Our enemy’s eyes grew wide as the missile hurtled towards her, ready to explode.

She crouched low, mere moments before the tree hit her, her hair ruffled, grazed by bark.

She was a coiled spring, ready to pounce as soon as the tree was safely behind her. She began to speak, perhaps to mock us once more.

That was when she saw that Junogloris had already knocked a harpoon like arrow on his bow, and was drawing it with all his might.

The arrow loosed rent air and earth alike. Deep furrows were carved into the ground, dirt flew obscuring all sight, and whirlwinds followed in the wake of this arrow of destiny.

She leapt to the side, easily dodging, but as her gaze followed the arrow, her eyes widened with grim realization.

The arrow wasn’t aimed at her.

As it struck the glowing tree that was still in midair, I finally understood. Junogloris fought her, saw first hand the nigh superhuman reflexes honed through centuries of battle. He knew as well as I did that a direct assault was useless, she would dodge and parry any attack, and use the brief amounts of recovery between strikes to let loose her own offensive. It was a fighting style born of necessity, as no matter how long she’d been fighting, she was still only human, and no human could meet attacks from beings like us head on. But her style, though near flawless in one on one combat, had a glaring weakness.

The tree exploded with the combined force of her spell and Junogloris’s arrow. She had yet to land on the ground, yet to recover. The blast consumed everything in a brilliant flash of emerald light. Junogloris shielded me as shards of white hot wood burst forth, the projectiles shattering upon the lion skin that he wore.

The recovery periods that our opponent exploited were in themselves her downfall. No amount of training or magical enhancement could truly eliminate the split second needed to reorient yourself after dodging. Bait a dodge and hit her during that one brief moment of vulnerability, and she was done.

I was about to congratulate Junogloris but as the of the explosion faded, I saw something truly unbelievable.

Her trench coat crackled with green energy. Ethereal emerald runes glowed dimly and faded from existence.

Her expression was one of utter glee, even as she flew like a bullet fired from a gun.

She’d survived, and had used the explosion to launch herself towards us.

“You crazy motherfu- eep!” Junogloris cut me off by hefting me on his shoulders. With one leap he was gone, mere seconds before our enemy landed where we once were.

She stood, expelling her spent magazine. Opposite her, we landed in the clearing, all forms of stealth rendered useless by her improved hearing spell. Our gazes met, her face like chiselled rock. Then a crack in her stony visage. And her stoic facade crumbled as her face split into a wide gleeful smile.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!”

For the first time since we’d started fighting, I heard no mockery in her voice. Yet, though her laughter was sincere, I felt nothing but tension within me.

“Brilliant! Utterly brilliant!” she said wiping away tears from her eyes. “Never thought I’d see the day that someone would be able to get a good hit in, much less break through my wards.” She drew another magazine from within her trench coat, twirled it in her hands.

“And I thought that this would be boring! Shows what I know, eh?” She savagely rammed the magazine into her gun. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a right proper fight. Please, both of you, show me more.”

And then everything clicked.

“Junogloris. Set me down.” I said, and he obeyed. I took a deep breath, ignored the pain in my legs, and spoke clearly.

“You there-”

“‘Sup?”

“You’re no assassin, aren’t you?” I said. She merely smiled at me, and gestured at me to continue.

“Three days.” I said. Junogloris looked at me quizzically but he remained silent. “I felt your eyes on me for three days. Junogloris only found me yesterday, and I was paralyzed for most of the first day I was here. You could have killed me anytime you wanted. Yet you chose not to. I now understand why.”

It was so obvious, I can’t believe it never occurred to me.

“An assassin would’ve ended me by now. A soldier wouldn’t take the time to talk. You’re something greater. You’re someone who, in a different place, in a different time, would’ve been one of my most favoured champions.”

“Fat chance of that.”

“Peerless warrior,” I said. “Would you honour us with your name?”

“Ha! All that for my name? Yeesh, you ancient types really need to get your head out of your ass.” she said, though from her blush she was clearly flattered. “Sucks that nobody remembers my original name though, me included. Just call me Tabitha, Tabby if you’re feeling lazy.”

“And might I be correct in assuming, Miss Tabitha, that you won’t attack us until we’re ready to fight?”

“I think that’s a given now, yeah.” she said. “To a point. I won’t wait around until the moon rises for starters.”

“Those terms are acceptable.” I closed my eyes drawing deep into my connection to the Domain of Battle.

“Stand, ye weary warriors, let your pain be your strength.” I began my proclamation, each word bristling with power. The agony in my legs disappeared, and I felt renewed. Tabitha whistled, impressed but not threatened.

Well you haven’t seen anything yet, you Brittanian bitch.

“May your strikes be swift, may your blows be sure. May all weapons break against you, may all spells falter.” Junogloris was standing now, all pain from the previous forgotten.

“The Goddess of War promises victory! The Mistress of Battle heralds your defeat! By my name of Luna Invicta, we shall be triumphant!” Faith cloaked us, permeating our bodies, giving us strength leagues beyond what we had before. With renewed conviction, I let loose my soul’s warcry.

“VICTORY OR DEATH!”

“NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!” she shouted. She ripped her trench coat off of her body, exposing arms whose chiselled muscles and faded scars told a history of relentless battle, and threw it in the space between us.

The fluttering fabric drifted in between us, floating as if in slow motion.

Then it landed.

The deafening thud was like a starting pistol. The cratered earth beneath the deceptively heavy coat an unspoken message. She was now taking us seriously.

We sped forward, meeting in the middle of our ersatz ring. Junogloris swung so quickly that not even I could see his fist move. Our enemy dodged, but as she charged magic to her fist, I was already there, swinging my laptop at her. I made contact, briefly, only to see her spin clockwise, redirecting most of the force of the blow, the same trick that she’d used to survive my wooden missiles.

As she spun, she drew her gun, began to point it at me, but Junogloris had already switched places with me, and he punched the ground, dirt obscuring our formation.

Bullets flew wildly, the few that managed to hit us stopped by my blessing. She was in midair, having been sent flying by Junogloris’s attack. I looked at Junogloris, and he understood.

As she began to land, I hopped unto Junogloris’s shoulder, and jumped after her, slashing at her with my laptop.

She didn’t have any time to recover, to counter my attack.

“Tsk.” She brought her gun up, and as I was about to take her head off, ejected the magazine directly in my face.

It was a moment’s distraction, not enough for her to load her gun and shoot me. She didn’t need to.

With her free hand, she withdrew the wickedly curved dagger from her belt, and slashed at me.

Blood splattered, but it wasn’t mine. Junogloris was there, shielding me with is body, and her dagger had sliced clean through every protection, from my blessing to his impenetrable lion skin.

“You… will not… touch her!” Junogloris withdrew one of his arrows, and slashed at her, ripping her bulletproof vest in half. She fell backwards, but then turned that fall into a somersault.

“This is the best fight I’ve had in ages! Literally ages!” she said, as she charged at us again, dagger in hand.

Junogloris’s arm lay limp, useless. Blood trickled steadily from his massive wound. He won’t last long, not even with my blessing. Taking her on myself was suicidal, blessing or no.

I didn’t want to do this. I had too little faith as it was, and it wasn’t even guaranteed to work. But I had to use my trump card.

“Warrior, your Goddess commands you to stop!”

“?!”

She stood stock still, muscles twitching, an expression of utter befuddlement on her face.

I fell to my knees, relieved.

“Thanks for acknowledging that you were a warrior, Tabitha.” I said, grinning. “Warriors just so happened to fall under my sphere of influence.”

It would never have worked if she did not think of herself as such, and even then it’s effects would have been diminished if she did not accept the label when I told her what she was. But she did.

I saw slight movement in her left arm. She was already beginning to break free. Despite myself I couldn’t help but begrudgingly admire her willpower. It took immense amounts of faith to issue a commandment upon an unwilling mortal, doubly so if said mortal wasn’t one of yours. Still, it should have held her for at least three minutes, instead of this. I had to act quickly.

I was about to stride forward, but what I saw made me pause. She was still smiling.

“So that’s what all that warrior nonsense was about, eh?” she said, even she struggled to speak due to my commandment, “Clever. But I didn’t survive this long by falling to just ‘clever’.” She grinned savagely, and her eyes began to glow a bright green.

I had to get to her, chop her head off before my commandment was broken. I moved forward-

-and immediately fell.

“What?”

Strength left my legs and I was forced to my knees. Unbearable pressure forced me lower, it felt as if the very atmosphere was attempting to crush me. I fought against it, but the same pressure that bore upon me also seeped into my body, leaching whatever strength I still had. I heard a crash, and saw that Junogloris had also succumbed to whatever this was.

“How…?” I lost feeling in my arms, and fell to the ground. It was then that I saw it. The once black metal bar that was now glowing a sickly green.

I mustered the last of my energy. Looked to the places where she’d been.

South.

East.

West.

And finally North directly in front of me.

Each cardinal direction had a faintly glowing pinprick of light. A spent magazine. One which she enchanted beforehand.

She played us like fools.

“Ah, much better.” I felt my grip on her disappear. She strode towards me. She flipped me on my back, and sat on top of me. The cold steel of her dagger dug into my throat with each breath.

“This usually the part where you beg for mercy.” she said “But warrior types aren’t usually the ones to do that, right?” She chuckled softly at her own joke. I closed my eyes. Drew upon the last of my strength.

And spat in her face.

“Cute.” she said, completely deadpan as she wiped my spit with her free hand. I glared at her, putting as much venom into my gaze as I can muster.

“You’ll never take my pride from me, you mercenary bitch. Do your worst.”

“Riiiighhtt.” she said, thoroughly unimpressed. I felt her press the dagger harder, the searing pain telling me that she’d drawn blood.

I closed my eyes, averting them from her face. Thought back to my most precious sister. Let my last thoughts be of you. Of both of you.

“Hmm.”

A tender wetness flowing down my cheek. The fact that I could still feel meant that I was still alive. Why wasn’t I dead yet?

“Oh, what the hell.” she said. I felt her loosen her grip on her dagger.

“Luna Invicta. Before you die, tell me something. Why even do this? This entire dead god business?”

“Huh? Why-”

“Just answer the question.”

“She did it for glory, you barbarian wench. Something your craven self could never hope to comprehend.”

“Hmm, you see, I thought that. But then, what kind of glory hound starts crying when she’s about to die?”

I opened my eyes, and could see her coolly sizing me up, her analytical gaze seemed to bore into my very soul.

“So again, why?”

“Because I-” I wanted to reclaim my place. I wanted to overthrow El. I wanted revenge.

I tried to muster the flame of hatred within me, only to feel nothing. A vast chasm within me that my fury hid, but never filled.

No. That was wrong. With my life hanging by a thread, I couldn’t lie to myself any longer.

“I’m sick. I’m sick of being powerless.” I said. “I don’t want to fade away. I just want to-”

I just wanted to be me again.

“Hmm. And how many people are you willing to sacrifice for your ambition?” she leaned in closer to me, eyes never leaving mine.

I couldn’t talk. I didn’t know the answer.

“How many people were on that plane, Luna Invicta? How many did you kill?”

The pressure on my throat was back. Instinct told me to choose my words carefully, to be diplomatic. But deep down, I knew that any falsehood would be worthless.

“I didn’t want them to die.” I said. “When the Messenger blew herself up, I tried to minimize the casualties. I tried to make it so that the least amount of people would be caught in the blast.”

“And why did you do that?”

“I…”

The smell of carnage. Spilled blood stained the air with the sickening smell of iron. The stench of my comrades final indignity. Burning flesh.

“Because nobody deserves to die, not like that. Not because of me.”

“I seem to recall the gods of your pantheon commanding mortals to die in their wars. Punishing humans for the pettiest things imaginable. Playing with our lives like we were nothing more than toys for your amusement.”

And it was true. I couldn’t meet her eyes. But what I said still stands.

“All right. I guess that’s all I’ll get from you.” She drew her dagger back, the silver blade like that of a guillotine. I closed my eyes, and waited for the end.

And waited.

And waited.

I opened my eyes again, dumbfounded. I saw her smiling.

She snapped her fingers, and the pressure disappeared. I felt strength return to my body.

I looked up, and saw her outstretched hand, an offering of peace.

“On your feet, Luna Invicta. You and I have work to do.”