Skye's Arrival

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Mors au-“ Koan begins, his eyes locked on me.

“Morte,” I yell, cutting him off and finishing the sentence. Rafi screams out in agony while his body dissolves.

We lock eyes and glare at one another. Koan is the first to speak. “You do know that I will be vanquishing him eventually?”

I touch the handle on my sword. “I believe Koan is the one that claimed that right.”

He smirks, before flashing me a feral smile. “I never could fool you.”

“Where is he Adam,” I demand, ready to slash through his throat.

Adam laughs while surprised yelling and battle cries begin breaking out. “How did you know it was me?”

Koan would never have let me beat him to the punch. “Call it a survivors instinct,” I spit. “Now tell me.”

Adam cocks his head, stalling. “Did you create the pearl blade?”

“No,” I answer confidently; not technically lying. I created a different blade, with a decently different name.

“Where is Dawn,” he asks, seeming satisfied by my answer.

“Don’t know,” I say, tensing a little. “Why are you stalling?”

Adam’s grin widens. “You know how you’re so smart?”

“Adam,” I warn, still refusing to take my eyes off him.

“I just wanted to make it clear to you that Koan is smarter,” Adam says, shifting to ready himself. “Now come with me, Skye.”

“I’d rather bathe myself in acid,” I answer darkly, listening to everything; convinced Koan is still somewhere near me. “Now are we going to fight, or are you still going to keep attempting to distract me?”

“I’m only stalling for one reason,” Adam smirks. “Where is your counterpart?”

“Probably ripping off someone’s head.”

A feral smile pops on his face. “Good,” he answers, spreading his arm out and shaping it into a sword. “Now we’re less likely to be distracted.”

“Let me guess, Koan is in position,” I respond; still not pulling my blade. I know for a fact that I will only have one chance to kill Koan with Adam still alive. That chance will be zero if he knows I have successfully replicated the Pearl Blade.

Adam starts circling me, trying to force me into a position. I’m not dumb enough to follow him, so I stay where I am, watching him out of the corner of my eye.

He has stopped on my right side, waiting a moment for me to turn to face him, When that doesn’t happen, he takes a heavy breath. “Now Skye, if you’re not going to play along, you’re going to take all the fun out of it.”

“You’re trying to distract me for a reason Adam. I know it’s for Koan.” I tell him, confident in my assessment. “With how you’re acting, I know he’s close, and he has a plan.”

He makes a mocking gasp while I hear something exploding behind me, “No! What makes you say that?”

Another explosion sounds, making the ground vibrate. What are they doing out there? I’d be more concerned if I wasn’t facing something more lethal at the moment. “You’re starting to piss me off,” I warn him, letting go of my blade. I have no intention of using it on Adam. There is bigger game that interests me.

Adam takes three steps toward me. “Good.” He grins, “Now do you want to tell me what that sword on your hip is?”

I point to the scabbard. “This thing? It was a gift from Dawn. She said I needed it.”

Adam doesn’t pay much attention to where I’m pointing, he’s just listening for a lie in my voice. He takes another step closer. “That was awfully nice of her. It’ll be such a shame that we have to kill her. Right after Koan has you under control. I’m pleased, and concerned, to see your marks have healed.”

“Concerned huh?” I ask him, aware he snuck in another step. Just a little closer, you cocky bastard.

“I take it that means you’ve regained your strength,” Adam explains. “You won’t be as easy to defeat as you once have.”

Another explosion sounds, this time much closer. Before I can blink, I see Adam lunge toward me. I put my hand out to stop him, just before I’m tackled from my other side. I catch Adam on my way down. He falls with me, me landing on top while his sword limb rests between us; having injured us both. I lock eyes with him as I speak my word; knowing I have to conserve my strength for Koan. “Morte,” I sneer, watching him fade under me before I’m flipped around.

I grunt when I land on my back; Adam disappearing from under me. I know instantly who it is when I feel a hand on my mouth. Koan is straddling me, pinning one arm with his leg, and the other with his hand. His eyes are maddened, and his face holds scruff. For once he’s not picture-perfect; which is slightly worrisome.

“You are mine!” Koan snarls, his eyes beginning to change. Uh-oh. “Not Rafiale’s. You belong to me, Skye.”

“How delusional are you?” I demand from him; my words muffled by his hand. I’m getting tired of his insanity.

For the first time in his life, he slaps me; releasing my mouth and leaving a sharp sting behind. “You belong to me. Say it.”

“How far did you go into the deep end?” I ask him. “Koan, it was just a spell. Rafi is my true intended.”

“It was never a spell,” Koan insists. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you. Do you know when that was?”

“No…” I say carefully. I’ve learned a lot of things in my life. One thing is to allow the jackass that’s trying to kill me to stall with their grand reveal. It gives me a longer time to think.

Anger sparks behind his demonic eyes. He’s getting ready to bled me. “Do you remember a battle you were in centuries ago? When some Purgatory Demons escaped, and were trying to take over the Demon Realm?”

“Yes,” I answer, wondering where he is going with this. I don’t remember seeing him there. Many high-class demons were vanquished by my hand that day.

“You vanquished Gustrava.”

A statement, not a question. “Yes.” Gustrava is one of the most powerful demons in history. He killed my predecessor, even though she had used the pearl blade on him. She wasn’t strong enough and killed herself as consequence. Only she failed to fully vanquish him, and he was sent to Purgatory.

“Do you remember where?”

“In the king’s chambers. Your father was unconscious and about to be killed by him.” Where is he going with this?

“What you failed to notice, was me. I was beaten to a pulp by him, and thrown against the wall like a broken toy. I watched you fight him and save my father and me. I’ve been in love with you since.”

Now that’s creepy. “That was fifty years before I met you.”

“That was the moment you became mine,” he growls. “My life became yours that day. You didn’t even look at me that day. You just checked on my father and then ran off. I was nothing to you. Nothing of consequence, other than just another weak demon. I spent over fifty years training myself, shaping myself, and doing everything I can to make you notice me. And it still wasn’t enough! Nothing I did was good enough for you. Even when I used that pathetic bitch Esmeralda to make you jealous, you still didn’t notice me. So I made you notice me.”

I honestly don’t know what to say about that. He’s truly gone off the deep end. “Koan, I had gone off to help clear out more of the Purgatory Demons. It was complete chaos.” I didn’t even know he was there. That day was chaotic. I was barely standing after that day. There wasn’t time to think. Just fight, vanquish, and then move on.

“Lies! I wasn’t good enough for you,” he snarls. “I’m never good enough for you, am I Skye? I’m some pathetic weakling that you can’t wait to leave.” He puts his hand back on my mouth. “Not after today. Today, you will forever be mine.”

Koan grabs my hair and yanks my head back; exposing my neck. He lets go of my other hand to lightly slice along my throat, drawing blood. “I figured out your trick Skye. Caelestem proferte sanguinem. Caelestis daemonis sanguinem linque. sangui- nem soli Caelestis ostende mihi.”

Well shit. I start trying to reach for my blade while he keeps chanting. He bites into his wrist, smearing his blood on my neck; while I try to fight him off me. “Efferte portas maiorum meoorum. Daemon. Caelestis. Mortalis. Purgatorium. Ego quattuor res. Aperi puncta in omne tempus.”

The ground begins quaking while he quickens his chant. I manage to buck my hip enough to shift him more on top of me; revealing the sword on my waist. I grab the handle and swing my legs up, locking onto his neck. He starts shouting his chant while the first door starts appearing. It’s black with a maroon-colored veil surrounding it. Purgatory.

I free my blade and shove it through his chest and heart in calculated movements. “Mors aufertur, interitus finitur aufer hanc vitam!” I yell, putting all I have into killing Koan.

He screams out in agony and tries to free himself. I force the blade to stay while the ground quakes, making it difficult for either one of us to move. Koan begins to glow red while his spell fails. Koan grabs my arm and locks his eyes with mine. “You’re not escaping me. You are mine.”

I watch in horror when the fading Purgatory door bursts with light, covering Koan’s disintegrating form. It pulls him towards the door, taking Koan with it while it vanishes. I gape at the now empty space. What just happened? Did I kill Koan; or did I simply send him back to Purgatory?

Without any more time to think about it, I stand with my sword and remove the cloth that Dawn had wrapped around it. I hold my head up high and take long strides to get to the battle, taking everything in and calculating my best plan for my attack. There are hundreds, so this isn’t going to be a small task. The Mystical Advisor had been busy while Koan was preoccupied with me.

When I reach the field, I throw my blade, plummeting it into the back of Morticia’s head. She’s standing over Gabrielle, ready to kill her. Morticia screams out and throws her hand out, revealing a strip of Gerrickson’s shirt wrapped around her palm. Well, that explains how they found us. Gerrickson must have left it behind in Floren.

When I reach her, I yank the sword out of her head and stab it into her heart. “Mors aufertur, interitus finitur aufer hanc vitam,” I say when she drops to her knees before me. When I pull my sword, I nod to the princess and move on to the next demon.

Most of the demons standing are low class. This means that all I have to do is give them a fatal wound with my blade, and that’ll be enough to vanquish them. After I have killed my sixth one, I see Dawn actively ripping one’s head off with her teeth. I nod to her when we make eye contact. She moves towards me and then we start working together.

I hear Gerrickson cry out in pain, making Dawn and I immediately run to him. We find him covered in blood with Heathe standing over him. Both look pretty gory if I’m being honest. I throw my blade, going through Heathe’s chest, incapacitating him.

I look at Dawn, “Are you hungry?”

She laughs darkly while we walk to step in front of Gerrickson. “No thank you,” she answers while looking at Heathe; who looks terrified at this moment. Not of me, but of Dawn. “I don’t put diseased things inside my body.”

“Fair,” I shrug and speak the words to seal his death. “Mors aufertur, interitus finitur aufer hanc vitam.”

The moment Heathe has been vanquished everything around us bursts out with a bright white light. Dawn and I shield our eyes, watching streams of Celestial Soldiers and Demon Soldiers flood the field, destroying every remaining lower-class demon.