CHAPTER 20: Reckoning at the Edge - Part 3

  She protected her ribs by bending her elbow. Ruin Fist landed and thundered. Her body bent slightly, but that was it.

  Elsja straightened her arm and clenched her fingers. She was not injured in the slightest. “Two-timer snitch. And I've been holding back for my brother's sake.”

  She manifested small rings of fire on the back of her hand. Each spun in place before sliding along her fingers towards him. In the air, they expanded to the size of round trays.

  Varne leapt, his body horizontal in the air. The first ring passed him, while the other three grazed Pale Thundercloud, leaving glowing marks. He landed with one hand stamping the grass.

  His eyes were trying to dismantle Elsja's defense when she slammed her staff into the ground. Sparks from her thumb ring traveled down, and the spot where he was half-knelt exploded without warning.

  Varne cursed. A moment's delay in evading with Blast Rush, and he would have been thrown into the air, helpless against the next attack.

  Boom! His footing exploded, and he dodged once more. This time, he did not stay still but rushing in a zig-zag pattern towards Elsja with explosions following him.

  Steel Fury raged as she came within range. He focused on landing attacks. Prana Armor would withstand her blows, while grit would overcome the pain.

  Yet again, she nullified the Steel Fury with her own dance. Varne found it hard to believe, but then he realized something.

  He controlled where Steel Fury struck through eye movements. Theoretically, if an enemy could read his eye movements, they could predict his sword movements. But it was just theory, whereas she was doing it.

  “Stop….” Ryse was crawling on the ground. Varne knew he was of no use for the moment.

  As Steel Fury began to wane, the staff strikes intensified. His entire body took turns being hit – body, arms, legs, and head. Pale Thundercloud cracked like an egg clenched too hard. Without Prana Armor, there would be no bone in his body left intact.

  He could not withstand it anymore and ended the fight by leaping back. Elsja kept pursuing him.

  She brought her middle finger tip to her thumb, encircling the staff's end. When she pulled it away, three rings of fire formed at that end. And without a pause, her other hand thrust the staff at his chest.

  He saw the staff's tip hit his chest but was powerless. The three fire rings collided, bursting into sparks, and exploding.

  He was thrown back, rolling and stopping only at the edge of the chasm. The gaping darkness prompted him to spring up and back away.

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  “You know what? According to the tea leaves, bad luck's hanging around me today,” Elsja remarked, taking a step closer. “I got the reading right but messed up the interpretation. You're the one with bad luck.”

  “Wench...” Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth and nose. His position now backed the hanging bridge. He pondered his next action. He had an important task to kill Margivaz. Besides, only cliffs face the tempest, right?

  Varne looked over his opponent's shoulder and shouted, “Ryse! Now!”

  His ruse worked. She turned only to see Ryse still sprawled in his original spot. Sparing no effort, he ran across the bridge. The half-rotten wooden planks creaked, and the bridge itself swayed like a pendulum.

  A red-orange glow forced him to look back. Elsja was spinning her right arm beside her body, creating a ring of fire. After spinning in place for a moment and setting the grass ablaze, the ring shot towards him, leaving a trail of fire along the bridge and burning its handrails.

  Unable to escape the attack, he faced it. Arcanzite coated his sword with lightning, and with both hands, he slashed at the fire ring. The blinding explosion severed the bridge. He was thrown, spinning.

  ***

  “Varn!” Ryse managed to stand, though his legs wobbled. From the edge of the chasm, he saw only the bridge hanging from both sides of the cliff, burning in the darkness and mist. “Sis, you didn't have to kill him!”

  “Told him that. He was dead set on taking me out. Besides, he's not even dead. See?”

  Emerging from the darkness of the chasm, Varne, biting his broken sword, climbed the remains of the hanging bridge on the opposite cliff.

  “I feel bad,” Elsja said. “I should've had more faith in you. You would never stab me in the back.”

  “But if I had the chance, I would.”

  “Why would you backstab your own sister?”

  “Because I don't want us to harm each other. If I could end it all with one move, it'd be for the best.”

  Varne stood across the chasm, looking at them for a while before disappearing.

  “Leave him be,” Elsja said. “I'm giving you Marfas as promised. Just a piece of advice, keep an eye out.”

  “Sis, help me deal with Mentor.”

  “Ryse, after I left, I got tangled up with the Cairdelis Federation – let's just say that. I got information on Isfan from them. My plan is to take out Isfan to stop Terzion from getting more powerful and hurting the resistance in Cairdelis.”

  “You're doing their heavy lifting on their orders?”

  “Not orders, more like a favor. They helped me in sneaking into the palace by thinning out the guards. At first, my plan was to have you locked up until it was done. But I just got word from Cairdelis that they've located someone who can shake things up in Terzion. I need to go back to secure them. Until we cross paths again.”

  He did not try to stop Elsja as she walked away. On her back waist hung a small bag for various divination tools. Her childhood habit had gotten worse.

  He checked Marfas' condition. As Elsja said, he was just asleep. He wanted to take him to Renfru as soon as possible, but his joints were twisted from the overuse of Somatic Drive. He chose to rest in the village near the bridge.

  Such a small village had no inn. Instead, he visited the village chief's house. The cover story that they were travelers, and Marfas was intoxicated, would have worked if the advisor had not woken up at the worst possible moment and started screaming for help.

  The villagers surrounded the chief's house. Ryse did not want to resort to violence and further complicate the situation. As luck would have it, the village chief was wise. After hearing his story, and with Marfas confirming its truth, the chief locked them in an unused barn while sending a messenger to Renfru palace.

  “My Lord, you know I'm trying to protect the king. Please resolve this. I need to go east.”

  “As you say, you are trying to protect His Majesty. Nevertheless, I am unable to decide anything before conducting a thorough investigation. Once everything is resolved, I shall personally issue you a pass.”

  Marfas' promise reassured him. He and Marfas lay back to back, though he knew Marfas did not sleep that night.