448: Smoke and Fire
“COOOME OOOOUUUUUUUUUT!!!” Annie bellowed and swung her axe at a nearby cloud of thick smog.
The cloud split and swirled, unveiling that it hid nothing, undeserving of the demon princess’s ire.
“AAARGH!!” unsatisfied, Annie swung again and again. Her nails did not work, her axe did not work. No matter what she did, she could not find the fire mage that dared wound her. Not in the black fumes that continued to thicken as the fires that Annie helped spread raged on.
“FINE!” Annie screamed. And run up to the wall with her three remaining hostages. The three women in blue robes yet lived, coughing and gasping for air, choking on the very toxic air they breathed in. “If you will not come out, I will execute these three one by one!”
“NOOO! Please don’t! Anything but that!” Ember ran out of the black smog, her arm outstretched to the hostages and deep worry plastered across her face as she ran toward the hostages and Annie.
“HA!” Annie cheered and jumped at Ember, swinging her hamaxe, and cleaving Ember clean in two.
“Seriously?” Ember’s two cleaved halve asked before turning into flames and evaporating.
“WHAT!?” Annie screamed.
“Behind you,” Ember tapped Annie on the shoulder, only to be severed at the waist by a single swing. Only to burst into flames and evaporate.
Ember then appeared out of the black smoke a few feet from Annie and said, “This time you’ll get me for sure—”
Annie splattered Ember with the hammer side of her hamaxe, but instead of a fountain of blood Annie only saw tiny flames float out from beneath the flat surface of her weapon.
“Really, just how dumb are you?” Ember asked while taking a stroll behind Annie’s back. “Not only do you literally fan the flames for the benefit of a fire mage, but you even provide more cover for me to channel my spells?”
Another slice turned this Ember to flames as well.
“With the amount of fuel I have to work with thanks to you, these are freebies—”
Annie destroyed Ember again. But just as quickly she destroyed one fire clone, another Ember emerged from the smog that now surrounded Annie. Even the fires seemed to retreat to further obstruct Annie’s vision.
“The thing with my fire clones is—”
Another clone destroyed only for another Ember to appear no later than the last flame evaporated.
“—the less time I have to create them—”
“—the more pathetic they are.”
“And if my opponent is strong enough to warrant a powerful spell—”
“—hoping for minutes upon minutes of free distractions would be optimistic.”
“But if my opponent’s strength is matched only by their stupidity—”
“GRUAAAAARGH!!!” Annie slammed the latest clone with all her might, causing a small earthquake and destroying the floor.
“It’s impressive how slow you are—”
“I’M NOT SLOW!” Annie howled as she sliced the latest fire clone. “I’m faster than you! Faster than anyone here!”
“That’s not what the fire mage meant when she said ‘slow’,” a familiar monotone voice explained, though its feline bearer was not yet visible. “And if you were not ‘slow’ you would have understood the other meaning of that word. As you would have understood the implications brought with that word that was used by the increasingly confident fire mage in a belittling, mocking way as a last warning, last chance for you to avert your imminent, embarrassing defeat.”
“What the catkin said,” Ember chuckled as she once again appeared before Annie, before Annie cut her in half.
And as Annie’s hamaxe’s blade sliced Ember diagonally, Ember’s fire clone’s two parts floated next to Annie. But this time the fire clone did not evaporate instantly. Only the sliced edges sparked ablaze in pure white flames as Ember’s clone’s upper body slowly fell forward. And right Ember came face to face with Annie, she said, “Boom!”
“Ghh—” Annie grimaced, leaning away from Ember as white light engulfed her.
The next moment a giant blast engulfed a third of the entire massive hall. The shockwave that followed instantly blew away every single spot of dust or remaining flames, as well as blasting away every single piece of furniture or item unlucky enough to not be anchored in place. Countless benches and tables were crushed against stone of walls and pillars, shattered to pieces, while even more flammable materials were incinerated on the spot while the air was purified with scorching heat.
“Khhaaa~~” Annie’s charred body stood right where she was at the moment when Ember’s fire clone blew in her face. Her eyes were dead-white, black vapors flew from her mouth, her tongue was out, black as coal.
Ember stood a few feet from the cooked princess.
“To actually survive that… Impressive,” the fire mage said.
Annie did not answer. She was incapable of it. The ashen princess swayed a little forth, a little back before falling forward like a log, landing face-down at Ember’s feet.
“Hardly the brightest that one, Your Majesty,” Noel said, standing in the entrance to the cleansed living quarters of the High Priest and his followers.
The catkin stood behind a figure in a magnificent violet gown with long sleeves that fell to the ground. A figure that eclipsed him in every regard: height, stature, beauty, presence. The woman’s very aura seemed to enter the hall to assert her dominance before she even took single step herself.
“Unfortunately,” the woman said. “But a mother loves all her children equally.”