Bjorn rolled backwards but landed upright. He stared down Yahui and the four Bane Knights she’d brought to help wail on him.

He was exhausted and worn, but he could still hold his own.

“Now this is hardly fair.”

Bjorn glanced to his right as Katla walked up beside him, her warriors in tow.

“Mm, yes, that’s somewhat the point of a five on one, Ascomanni.” Yahui mused, flourishing her straight sword.

“Katla?” Bjorn groaned, “Why are you-”

“Don’t give me that.” Katla scoffed, “Right now, Nikan is the enemy. And that’s all that matters.”

Bjorn nodded.

“Oh...Bjorn, is this the girl you told me about?” Yahui asked, a smirk growing on her face, “The one you tried to save, but failed so utterly that your entire village shunned you?”

Bjorn gritted his teeth.

No. No, I won’t let her control me. I won’t let the chains of fear, pride, and shame lock themselves around my neck once again.

“Yes, Yahui. Yes, she is.” Bjorn declared, “But you know what? I don’t give a damn that I failed. I don’t care that they shipped me off to that island and I don’t care if they still hate me!”

“You can say a lot of things, Stormtamer. That doesn’t make them true.” Yahui sneered.

“But it is true. I will not stop fighting to wallow in pity for myself.” Bjorn growled. Bjorn turned back to Yahui and readied his axe. “Katla. Let’s finish this. Let’s give our partnership the last hurrah it never had.”

Katla nodded, “I’m with you.”

Yahui Bonemerged with her Shedim, melding her form with a dark fox before her Banebending sword lit aflame.

“Look at you, Stormtamer. Crawling back to the very woman who stole your dignity from you. The people who kicked you out into the wild to die alone.” Yahui shook her head. “You could’ve joined me and found a place where you were respected. Loved.”

Bjorn scoffed in response, “You have my back, Katla?”

“Just this once.” she murmured.

Bjorn cast his shield away, a reminder of his envy and his insecurity. Instead, he drew his sword. A weapon of fools who tried to cut through armor. Or a weapon of great heroes who fought with the nobility and courage needed to wield a blade.

Yahui started things off with a flurry of swipes with her sword in the air, sending waves of orange and violet flames towards him and Katla. Katla pressed her back to him and swiveled themselves around so the fire made contact with only Katla’s shield.

Bjorn flipped over his partner and slammed both his weapons into the ground, sending a shock wave of electrical energy forward.

Yahui leapt off the ground and hovered in the air as Katla’s warriors clashed with Yahui’s Bane Knights. The princess dove towards Bjorn, but he let himself be spun around as Katla’s shield once again defended both of them. She shoved Yahui back and put her off balance with a thrust of her spear.

Bjorn grabbed Katla’s shoulder, vaulting himself over the shield and kicking Yahui in the abdomen. Despite her teetering balance, she recovered and swung at Bjorn with her blade.

Bjorn hooked the sword in the beard of his axe and cracked the pommel of his sword into her head, though he missed the strike that followed.

Yahui struck Bjorn with her claws, breaking through his chain mail. He grunted as burning pain seeped through the wounds, like they were on fire.

Katla defended him from receiving another wound.

Bjorn pushed himself up as Yahui had nearly thrown Katla to the ground and launched his axe at her. The weapon appeared to move in slow motion, arcs of lightning crackling between it and his hand.

Yahui screamed in pain as the axe sank into her shoulder. She collapsed, clutching the injured arm.

With her good hand, she forced Bjorn back with a wave of black flames.

Katla rushed in with her spear. Yahui grabbed the weapon and kicked Katla in the gut, forcing her to let go of the spear and stumble backwards.

“Paolao!” Yahui roared.

As the words came out of her mouth, bronze materialized from the ground around Katla, rising in a massive bronze pillar. Chains lashed out from it, wrapping around Katla’s arms and bound her to the pillar, which caused her to scream like hell as the pillar roasted her.

Bjorn channeled lightning through his sword and hit Yahui square in the chest with a bolt. Yahui gritted her teeth, biting back a scream as the energy wracked her body, killing her focus.

The pillar holding Katla faded away, dropping her to the ground.

Bjorn moved to hit Yahui again, but he stopped.

He glanced back at Katla. The attack burned away or melted her armor and the flesh on her back was terribly scarred.

Bjorn shook his head and turned back towards Yahui. He wouldn’t be held back by anyone anymore.

He lashed out with an arc of electricity and used it to yank his axe out of Yahui’s wound. She grunted in pain as the weapon returned to his hands.

Still, Yahui stood back up, burning the wound with her own powers to cauterize it.

“You could’ve joined us.” Bjorn spat, “You could’ve helped fight for humanity. But what did you choose instead? Massacre! Tyranny! You chose weakness!”

“I chose my family!” Yahui snapped.

“Your family? Who are they to you?” Bjorn gestured to the giant battlefield around them. “Your father is a tyrant. Your brothers and sisters are puppets he controls, turning them into killers. Fighting with Nikan will not help them as people. It’s going to validate the slaughter and the rape!”

“Just because I fight for them doesn’t mean everything they do is okay!”

“Then why don’t you fight against it?”

Yahui clenched her fists. “Because my brother needs me! You think I enjoy watching him become a slave to my father’s whims? Do you know what it’s like to see someone so loving and good become a starving mongrel ready to rip apart anyone he sees on the promise of vanity hoping will make him happy? If I leave him behind, my father really will make him a puppet.”

Bjorn shook his head.

Yahui cast aside her sword and spoke through gritted teeth. “Enough words. I find myself parched for blood.”

Bjorn chanted the incantation for a Blademerge, calling down a bolt of lightning that struck him, turning both his weapons into magical versions of themselves.

Yahui unleashed a torrent of black fireballs at Bjorn. But he didn’t bother dodging. Rather, he charged in straight ahead as the balls of flame grazed him. He channeled lightning through both his weapons and leapt up.

Yahui moved out of the way as his weapons collided with the ground, creating an explosion of lightning.

He advanced toward her with a flurry of electrified chops, slices and thrusts that Yahui exerted herself dodge. She found an opening in his onslaught and sank her claw into his chest. She twisted the hand, setting off an explosion of black flames.

Bjorn slid to a stop a few feet away, never losing his balance. Pain wracked his body from the small smoldering hole in his chain mail, but he was far from defeated.

He roared like a bear and rushed forward, swinging his weapons upward to unleash an uppercut of lightning upon Yahui.

The princess evaded once again and Bjorn landed with a spin, sending two waves of energy at her with another swing of his weapons.

Yahui scrambled up the building behind her, then jumped across the street to get onto the roof of another building.

Bjorn followed her up, scaling the building as she landed on a roof two streets away.

The princess unleashed torrents of flames at him that forced him to dodge. He couldn’t get close like this.

Bjorn took a bola off his belt, moving his axe to the same hand as his blade. He ran around Yahui, keeping just ahead of her blasts of fire as he spun the bola ropes, getting closer and closer to her like a spiral.

Yahui tried to get the better of him by putting one of her attacks just ahead of where he was. Bjorn flipped over the flames and launched his bola.

The wooden spheres spun in the air before wrapping tightly around Yahui’s wrists. With a blast of energy, he shot himself towards her, landing just in front of her, axe to her throat.

Yahui’s breath was caught in her lungs. Bjorn pressed the metal of his weapon to her neck.

“I believe you don’t have to fight for your family. I believe you deserve the freedom to make that choice. So don’t make me slit your throat.” Bjorn said.

The princess sighed, “Good fight, Bjorn Stormtamer. I surrender.”

_________________________________________________________________

Taya narrowed her eyes as the skies above her darkened in seconds. Rain started to fall soon after, showing that this was certainly not one of Bjorn’s lightning storms. The winds blew against her fruitlessly as she refused to shield herself from the rain.

Thunder roared as flashes of lightning went off in the clouds.

From the veil of darkness over the sky, a single figure descended, riding on a cloud. The Dragon of the East.

Behind him, two serpentine Eastern dragons with green scales, deer antlers and six legs each descended in the Dragon’s wake.

There was a reason he was first in line for the Nikan throne. A reason he was at the helm of the Twelve.

Taya flipped her claymore into an underhanded grip before launching it like a spear at the dragon on her right. The sword punched through the creature’s skull, coming out the other side of its head just before it vanished with a dying screech.

She opened her hand and summoned a second claymore made from her Shedemic energy.

Zedong looked at where his dead dragon had been, but showed no shock on his face. He just turned back to Taya after acknowledging the missing beast. He shed a billowing crimson silk robe he’d been wearing over his armor, revealing a far more form-fitting suit of lamellar and plate armor.

Hidden under the robe had been a sword at his hip. Zedong drew the long, curved blade. It was almost long enough to be a polearm, much like Taya’s claymore.

“I have to admit, you really startled me with our last encounter.” Zedong sneered, “But the universe is now going to help me explain to you why despair and submission are your only options, four-legged snake. Nikan is the only future humanity has. I am the only future you have.”

“You and your family have done nothing but spread the disease called Despair and feed countless lives to the abomination called Fate,” Taya announced. “Lay down your weapons and stop this rampage or I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Despair and fate are the natural course of the world. Your rebellion will end up giving you nothing, because you can do nothing.” Zedong growled, “I, on the other hand, possess the greatest powers of nature itself.”

Zedong raised his blade and cut downwards, sending a barely visible wave of air hurtling towards her.

Taya stepped aside as the wave sliced through the house she was standing on.

She picked up the carved off section of the building and flung it at the Dragon of the East.

Zedong’s remaining dragon opened its maw and shot out a bolt of lightning that demolished the section of building to rubble.

“Kill her.” Zedong commanded his dragon.

Taya crouched, channeling her power into her legs as the dragon slithered through the air. Just as the dragon opened its maw to charge its lightning breath, Taya shot herself forward, shattering the roof beneath her and flying into the dragon’s mouth.

She stuck her claymore into the side of its body, cutting it all the way down the length of its body. She burst out of its tail in a bloody mess and threw her sword at Zedong while she was still in the air.

The Dragon of the East knocked the weapon away like a toy.

Taya landed on another rooftop and summoned yet another sword.

I’m really hoping there aren’t any sort of limits to how many swords I can throw. She thought.

Go nuts, her Shedim replied, but you have other powers at your disposal.

Taya leapt off the building she was perched on and flew upwards towards the prince.

She charged towards Zedong until the prince swung his blade, unleashing a blade of air that didn’t cut her, but threw her into the ground twice as fast as she had leapt upwards.

She crashed through a building and multiple floors within it until the air blade vanished.

Zedong followed her and dropped through the hole she’d made in the ceiling.

Taya scrambled to her feet, picking up her claymore. Her armor repaired itself where it’d been pierced.

She glanced around her and realized they were in the middle of the senate building. The circular stage on the ground floor actually made for a good arena.

Zedong held his curved sword up rigidly as Taya sank into a low into a plow guard, blade coming up from her waist where she held the hilt.

She could sense the both of them radiating massive amounts of Shedemic energy. But Zedong’s aura was so much more intense than her own.

But Taya fought anyway.

Their swords created a shock wave of Shedemic power upon their clashing, shattering glass and roof tiles.

She went in with a flurry of powerful attacks. But the Dragon quickly broke the chain with a forceful parry and a blade of wind that sent her flying out the door and into the bloodstained street. She leapt up and landed on the roofs again.

The Dragon flew after her, tackling her in the air and flying both of them up before throwing her to the ground with the might of a god.

Taya slammed into the street, making a crater in the cobblestones. She rolled out of the way as the Dragon shot himself downwards, his sword impaling the ground where her head once was. If she was being honest, she wasn’t really sure if her Shedemic abilities were strong enough to stop whatever it was the Dragon had trapped in that blade of his.

Taya blocked a series of blows from him before he sent a wave of rain water at her from the side, pushing her off balance. He would’ve struck her throat if she hadn’t ducked.

They traded more blows, Taya’s mind completely occupied with a rushing whirlwind of thoughts about the battle. And she loved it. She relished in the challenge. Reveled in the unfavorable odds.

Until the Dragon’s blade punched right through her armor and through the edge of her thigh. Taya grunted, staggering backward. She wasn’t completely surprised, but still. The sheer amount of power needed to both pierce the armor and her flesh was far more immense than what she believed a simple steel blade could contain.

“Do you understand yet? Do you see how futile your struggle is?” the Dragon asked. “Why do you tread onwards for nothing, four-legged serpent? Why do you continue when it is inevitable you will fail to defeat us?”

Taya held steadfast, raising her sword into a guard as though nothing was wrong. And she laughed.

“What about those questions is humorous?” the Dragon growled. “Have you gone mad from just that drop of new power?”

“You see, I’ve asked myself those same questions, Dragon.” Taya said, “And the thing is, I’m just a stubborn idiot. My goal is not mere destruction or the death of your dynasty. No, my goals go far beyond that. I’m going to save the world.”

Dragon scoffed, “You are indeed, quite foolish. Your ideals will end in naught but death and suffering.”

“They likely will. But is that really so bad?”

The Dragon flinched at her words.

“I will never truly save the world.” Taya muttered, “But that’s alright with me. It is not by defeating you that I win, but the fight itself that fulfills me. I don’t know if your dynasty will crumble as it deserves. But I don’t give a damn, so long as people continue to fight against you! So long as we never stop the endless pursuit that is human life!”

Taya roared as she rushed at the Dragon.

Their blades clashed, the overwhelming power of her enemy’s Shedim being matched by her own willpower.

“My destiny is the path I carve that shall never end!” Taya shouted as she slammed the pommel of her blade into the Dragon’s jaw, “I will challenge the unobtainable and make real the path to the imaginary! For both myself and those who look upon me!”

Taya was overpowering the Dragon.

“Bond with my will! Lead me into my glorious end. She who reaps my soul!” Taya roared with triumph.

The Dragon’s hand shot out and caught her throat, the force slamming the back of her neck into the stone walls of the building behind her. He threw her upwards, flying to where she would hit the peak of her arc, and slammed his blade into her limp form.

She crashed against the roof of the building, pain aching in her abdomen. But she stood yet again.

The Dragon landed across from her, sword ready.

Taya took up yet another stance.

Zedong unleashed a flurry of wind blades faster than she could barely see. But she raised her sword and weathered each of them. When they stopped, Taya stepped toward a charging Zedong and slammed her palm into the butt of his overhead sword and ran her blade through his leg.

She ripped it out and shoved him back as he reel and groaned in pain. She went in for another strike, but her blade collided with some kind of compressed air shield that the Dragon put up in front of himself.

Taya struck the compressed air again and cut through, her blade sinking into the Dragon’s shoulder.

The Dragon forced her away with a blast of wind. He forced himself up despite his wounds and shot a bolt of lightning from his sword that did little more than knock her off balance.

But it was enough to give him an opening to let his blade fall onto her temple. She crashed into the roof, but kept the blade from scalping her with a barely in-range block. The blade had grazed her head, though, proved by the fiery sensation of blood on her cheek and ear.

The Dragon tried to cleave her in twain again. Then again. And again. And again. The Dragon beat on her sword over and over again, as though he could try to chop the weapon in half.

“I will not be humiliated by a mere four legged serpent! Stay on the ground! Where you belong! Where you were born to be! Where fate put you!” Zedong screamed.

Taya staggered to her feet after a particularly forceful block.

“Your path leads to nothingness! And I will make it so!” The Dragon’s blade filled with electrical energy, but unlike Bjorn’s ability, tiny dark clouds swirled around it, “Monsoons of the south, typhoons of the east, come to thy master and obey the call of the dragon!”

Zedong raised his blade as wind, clouds, and lightning converged around it in greater capacity. It was becoming as tall as two men before the Dragon swung his weapon, unleashing the force of a great storm on Taya and likely everyone around her.

Clouds stole her vision as dark as night while wind threatened to push her off the roof and much further than that. Rain beat at her exposed face like a thousand punches to the jaw. Lightning sparked within the storm, being her only source of light.

Through the light, she saw his silhouette. Her enemy was still right in front of her. In the storm's eye.

Pursue the impossible. Whether you get there doesn’t matter. Just take the step.

Taya stepped forward, wobbling from the wind and nearly losing her footing. But she saved and plant herself for another step.

My will is yours. Take from me all the power I have to offer. Her Shedim. The very essence of the Queen of Phantoms flowed through her, not just Shedemic energy. This was it. The last step in their bond.

“Empress of Night,” she muttered, “And Caller of Crows, bind your soul to my own and let us become one in body, mind and spirit. For a mere moment, let me surpass the bonds of my humanity, so that I may preserve it. I will give of myself as you have and pursue our ultimate destiny: the one we decide for ourselves.”

She felt the essence soak into her spirit. The Phantom Queen’s individual presence faded.

Taya Sergeyev’s soul became that of an immortal. What few limits on her power remained vanished. The Phantom Queen of Crows no longer existed. Or rather, the title was now held by Taya. She was equal parts Shedim and human. The Queen of Crows had sacrificed itself so that Taya could fight on.

Her armored fingers gripped tightly around the hilt of her sword as she took the next step. She could see him through the clouds now. Or at least, she thought.

She drew her blade back and unleashed a scream of fury. A rage that challenged the deafening noise of the storm.

“Hear me, Gongsun! And tremble!” she roared, her Shedim’s voice echoing behind hers.

Taya powered her arms with every ounce of energy in her, even forsaking her Shedemic strength, which brought upon a whole new world of pain from the storm. A pain she reveled in.

But she struck with the power of all her persistence and the spirit of her Shedim. And she carved through flesh.

The clouds vanished from sight as the Dragon fell back, a bloody streak from his shoulder to his waist.

“Perhaps my dreams are impossible. Perhaps they are possible. Doesn’t much matter to me. I just know that I’m going to pursue them. No matter what.” Taya growled as she raised her sword up for a killing blow, “Glory lies beyond!”

Then coldness washed over her.

But it wasn’t the coldness of Shedemic power.

It was the coldness...the coldness...where had she felt this? Ah, yes.

The coldness of death’s grasp.