Chapter XIII

  “Princess Ilirianna. I was wondering where you ran off to. Glad to see you’re alive, but it seems I’ll have to cut into this little reunion. We need to talk. Once this uprising is quelled, I want you up in my office. Until then, get the healing you need, then report down to the lower Rings. The Company headquarters are under attack by Keskivaara’s insurrectionists.”

  Recalling the haughty and disrespectful means with which Lord Cartigan ordered her to meet with him, a part of Ilirianna wondered if she should even bother. Her thoughts were already in disarray with all that happened to her that night, from her botched meeting with Keskivaara at the Jester’s Nirvana to the revelation about her true heritage, and then her subsequent inability to prevent him and Vesh from escaping. While so mentally damaged that she could hardly think, she was faced with the deaths of Viiro, Acostav, and Eko, as well as the treachery of the Noctis siblings, with her having to personally fight Nigreos—a battle she lost solely because her blood wasn’t Iiji. Finally, Abigail’s permanent departure to Omaruo was fresh in her mind, and she was well aware that she would be suffering from the young woman’s absence for some time.

  So, the last thing I really need right now is to get lectured by Cartigan, she thought furiously, her rage just barely contained as she approached the door to his office on an upper level of Castle Saientia, absently noting the lack of security and wondering if Cartigan had his numbers so spread out that he couldn’t even spare some for himself. Either that or he’s confident enough in his own magical abilities to not need them.

  While the rebellion was still taking place in the lower Rings, it had been suppressed enough to allow her time to finally have this discussion, especially now that Ryokumo, Album, and Rennigan were recovered and able to handle things in her absence. Of course, she would have preferred the mindless reprieve of battle over what was certainly to be a very political conversation, but even if she was the Princess of Ijiria in name only, she had already come to the conclusion that she would keep up the facade for as long as she was able, and thus it was her duty to handle the Lord of Stellareid. That was why she bit back her anger and knocked on the door, only to step inside upon hearing the sharp call from within.

  This was clearly not his typical office, for it was rather cramped, with a rectangular desk taking up much of the back-right side of the room. On the left-hand wall was a small window, allowing meager rays of moonlight to illuminate the otherwise dim environment, and it was at this window that the Lord was standing, his back angled towards her as he gazed down at the ruins of the Fifth Ring. At this point, all of the fires had long since been extinguished, so the Ring would only be filled with the charred remains of what was once a thriving, rich, and beautiful place. Now, it was nothing more than a shell of its former self, and the snowfall that had begun the previous night was slowly covering it all beneath a blanket of white. What must Lord Cartigan be thinking as he stared at the wreckage of his prized domain? What was going through his mind?

  Certainly not any self-reflection, she internally asserted. No, I’m sure he’s mentally calculating how much of the blame everybody around him deserves to receive. In fact, I’m almost certain that’s why I’m here right now… But I’ll be damned if I let this piece of fucking garbage walk all over me.

  Eganno Cartigan was not deserving of her respect, so she had no interest in any pretenses.

  “What do you want?” she demanded, making sure there was an edge to her lowered voice. “I would prefer my time to not be wasted, so if you have something to say, then say it.”

  She could see the man’s body tense up, as if barely containing his own rage. Cartigan pulled his eyes away from the window before turning them towards her, his brow furrowed into a glare that he had no business directing at his Princess. She glared right back at him, daring him to speak his mind, and that was exactly what he did.

  “Bold of you to speak to me in such a way after everything you’ve done,” he spat venomously, his voice trembling. “You should be groveling at my feet, begging me for forgiveness, yet you would stand there like a disobedient toddler? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  Ilirianna smiled darkly, taking a threatening step towards him as she growled, “Your Princess and future Queen, that’s who.”

  “Oh no, Ilirianna, not if I have anything to say about that.” Cartigan moved forward as well, leaving barely a few feet between the two. “You think your father will ever allow you near the throne after all you’ve done? You were ordered, time and time again, to stay away from Keskivaara—to not legitimize his rebellious, traitorous tendencies, yet you would openly voice support for his movement right in front of the Company buildings, then agree to meet with him in my Ring. King Markreas made his decision, and you ignored it. Where did that get us? Three Masters are dead if we’re counting poor Eko, as well as my own daughter! Ella’s dead because of you! And what happened to the Kosah-Rei, hmm? Gone! Escaped into the night, leaving us alone picking up the fucking pieces without a damn thing to show for it! We had Uma Miyon in our grasp and he got away, and it’s all because of you!”

  His face was bright red as he screamed at her, and all the while, Ilirianna kept her cool on the outside as she allowed him to say what he wanted to say. Internally, however, she was so angry that she was barely holding herself back from strangling him. She was exhausted beyond belief, mourning the dead and hating how powerless she was, so she could feel that she was on the cusp of going over the edge. In that moment, she hated Lord Cartigan almost as much as the Kosah-Rei.

  “You’re a worthless man,” she whispered.

  “Excuse me?!”

  “You’re a goddamn fool!” Practically howling those words, Ilirianna’s features contorted into a monstrous expression, her blue eyes almost certainly wild like an animal’s based on the brief flicker of fear that crossed the Lord’s face. “If I gained anything from my encounter with Keskivaara tonight, it’s that he desperately did not want it to come to this—that he was pressured by his allies and left without a choice! I tried to give him a choice, to show him that peace was still an option, but it was too damn late because you were far too obsessed with your precious Companies to give even a tiny shit about the people you’re supposed to be serving!”

  A sharp impact struck Ilirianna’s right cheek, causing her head to snap to the left as her eyes widened in shock.

  Cartigan had just slapped her.

  “The people I’m supposed to serve?” he hissed. “Ignorant little girl… That’s not how this works. The people bow to me. They serve me, and Keskivaara dared to try and demand otherwise. If I gave an inch, he’d have taken a mile… The travesty that took place last night would have been exponentially worse if he’d been treated like a legitimate movement!”

  Ilirianna slowly turned her head back so that she could look him in the eyes. “Is that so? You don’t take any responsibility for this?”

  “Of course not!” he snapped back. “I have done nothing wrong! And hear me now, Ilirianna, so long as I live, I will do everything in my power to make sure King Markreas shifts succession to your little sister. If a joke like you ever rose to power, I’d fear for the prosperity of this Empire. You’d turn every city into the wreckage Stellareid has become, all the while accusing everyone around you of being the problem when the real problem lies in you!”

  A laugh suddenly escaped her lips, causing Cartigan narrow his eyes. “You’re…so funny, My Lord…”

  “What did you say to me?”

  “I said you’re funny…” She clenched her left fist tightly, her mouth spreading into a smile as she stared him dead in the eyes, taking a few steps away from him as she did so. “And I hear what you’re saying. You’ll be a problem…so long as you live.”

  Her hand snapping towards the pommel of her right sword, Ilirianna yanked it from its sheath, and sliced open his throat in one, clean move. She didn’t stop to think about the repercussions of what murdering him might be. She honestly couldn’t have cared less. All she knew was that, at that moment, the Ijirian Empire would be far better off if Lord Eganno Cartigan was dead.

  So she killed him.

  Simple as that.

  His eyes went wide, his hands shooting towards his bright red throat, as if desperately wanting to stop the blood from seeping out of it, and she basked in the horror that entered his face. He truly must not have expected her to attack him, but she had been ready for any sort of counter he might have pulled. Yet there was nothing, and she realized that he was so full of himself that he thought he was invincible. He didn’t need guards because he could handle himself, right? He could insult the Princess to her face because she wouldn’t actually hurt him, right?

  Ilirianna stared him dead in the eyes as he fell backwards and collapsed onto the carpet, blood already leaking down his throat, and as the life left him, Ilirianna knew she would probably regret this impulsive act at some point.

  But right then, all she could think was it felt so wonderful to finally shut him up for good.

  ***

  As she spun through the air, Ilirianna’s thoughts briefly flashed back to the night she killed Cartigan, and despite having attempted to not think about it ever since it happened, Tali’s words back up in that common room had forced herself to once again acknowledge that she had already stained her hands with blood once before. Of course, it had been impulsive—an act born from experiencing one of the worst nights in recent history, but nevertheless, she knew she should not have done it. She wasn’t quite as pure as she wanted to think she was, but still, she had made her resolve to not do that again. As much as she wanted power, murdering Markreas and Toranei was not the way she wanted to go about claiming it, for if she did, then how was she any different from the Kosah-Rei? That was why she had steeled herself to arrest or kill Tali and Leiolai, and even though it was now obvious that the former of the two was going to once again get away, she still had a final opportunity to strike down the changeling, whether she was in her normal form or in a goddamn dragon’s.

  That was why she swiftly sent her mana into the air around her, using wind magic to slow her descent and make sure her feet were angled towards the ground before she mediated a slow and delicate landing out in the rocky plains roughly a quarter mile from the fortress. Her head snapped upwards to gaze upon the massive red and gold dragon hovering above the wreckage of the northern tower as it turned its eyes to gaze right at where the Princess had landed. She briefly wondered if Leiolai would simply take off into the sky as opposed to fighting someone she didn’t think she could beat, but instead, she flapped her giant wings and fell into a nosedive towards Ilirianna’s position.

  So it’s going to be a battle after all… I guess I can’t say I’m surprised… I could get back to that tower faster than Firrik can escape it, so she’s trying to stall me long enough for her precious Voice to flee, even though she has no guarantee to survive this herself… You’re such a loyal fucking dog, Sartella…

  With that, Ilirianna mentally ran through everything she knew about the dragons of the south so that she could concoct a viable strategy to bring Leiolai down.

  Her scales are red and gold, meaning she’s an Infernus Dragon—one whose magic is predominantly fire based. From what I remember, they can use blue fire with ease, but given that she’s still a human at her core, I can’t say for certain that Sartella will be able to do so. In addition, dragons are known for their impenetrable hide, so the defensive capabilities of this thing are going to be advanced, and that’s not taking into account that her biomagic can regrow lost limbs. If she’s just stalling for Firrik to escape, then she’ll flee the second she thinks she’s achieved that goal. On my own, I don’t think I could bring her down in time, but…

  Ilirianna’s eyes didn’t move from the descending dragon, but she had sensed three mana signatures suddenly begin approaching from the direction of Ankalla’s front courtyard, and while the petty part of her was annoyed by the fact that Nigreos and her mother were among them, sensing Ryokumo as well gave her the burst of confidence she so desperately needed.

  Besides, as much as I hate my mother, her firepower is exactly what I need right now!

  Therefore, reluctantly laying her trust in the hands of the oncoming reinforcements, Ilirianna snarled “PROTO!”, wind exploding under her feet as she blasted herself upwards, scattering rocks beneath her as her body hurtled towards the massive dragon that was Leiolai Sartella. At the same time, she infused her two blades with fire magic of her own, intending to use the destructive capabilities of her true father’s affinity to smash through Leiolai’s scales. An outside observer would think her crazy for putting herself midair right as the dragon’s fiery maw opened to send another wave of flames towards her, but Ilirianna could only grin in the face of the attack.

  Just before the ball of fire was unleashed against her, Ilirianna cast Proto, sending her careening to the right and narrowly avoiding the subsequent blast of fire. Now on the dragon’s left, she swiftly rattled off two different spells. Ropes of wind attached to the creature’s long neck from her left arm while another usage of Proto shot from her legs, the two spells working together to send her rapidly spinning toward the creature. Simultaneously, Ilirianna released the blade in her right hand, connecting it to her wrist with Condite. With little leverage midair, Ilirianna used the centrifugal force from her spin and the several-yard-long rope of wind to slam her flaming blade into the dragon’s neck. The power of her attack knocked Leiolai’s head sideways in an explosion of flame, sending her tumbling down into the rocky plains beneath them, her body slamming into it with an audible crash that sent dust and debris scattering into the air.

  While Ilirianna had not succeeded in breaking past the scales, the power of that attack had clearly rattled the changeling, but she still managed to right herself faster than Ilirianna could descend. Her talons digging into the cracked ground, Leiolai took to the air once again, soaring another few hundred yards away from Ankalla. Perhaps she wanted to escape Ilirianna’s range, or perhaps she was simply trying to distance herself from the three approaching combatants. Either way, she could not escape her current foe. Ilirianna cast Condite on her left blade as well, extending the ropes connecting both her weapons even further as she held them above her head by the hilts.

  “Augeir!”

  With all her strength and a burst of wind magic, she threw the emerald shortswords, both arcing in from either side. The ropes caught Leiolai by the legs and the weight of the blades caused them to quickly wrap around the limbs. Allowing the speed of the dragon to carry her, Ilirianna held on momentarily before casting Proto again, closing the distance. Before she reached the dragon, however, she dismissed Condite, cast Correio to summon the now-falling blades, and once more gripped her right weapon with Condite once she was under Leiolai’s right.

  More ropes of wind attached her left arm to the dragon’s stomach before her flaming sword shot up, arcing across the top joint of the dragon’s front leg. Just as the dragon was craning its neck to counter, the ropes around Ilirianna’s arm and another casting of Proto sent her flying up over the creature’s back. Spinning with the momentum, her right blade once again slammed into Leiolai’s neck. As she did so, she connected her other blade similarly to her right and swung it up, twisting her torso, and struck the dragon’s left wing. A sizable chunk of the wing was carved out, but it was not rendered unusable. Luckily, the Princess wasn’t done, sending Proto through her legs to wrench her body around to the right, slashing both weapons together toward the wing, aiming to sever it.

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  However, the changeling had desperately beat her wings and moved just far enough that all Ilirianna succeeded in was ripping through the middle of her target. It was not severed, but the dragon was unable to continue flying as it began to fall to the earth. Contorting midair to face up, the dragon’s maw glowed before another explosion was hurtled at Ilirianna. The reflexive Proto with both legs got her out of harm’s way at the cost of disorienting herself. Her hasty spell caused her to flip backwards several times before she was able to stabilize with wind magic, but by that time, her opponent had sufficiently repaired the damaged wing to soften its crash into the ground so that no major injuries were sustained.

  Ilirianna exhaled sharply as gravity kicked in, her own form beginning to descend towards the earth while the dragon was frantically trying to crawl to its feet, but by then, Toranei Iiji had already arrived, her thin emerald rapier in hand as she used wind magic to cross a dozen yards with each step before reaching Leiolai’s head. The changeling must not have sensed the Queen’s presence, for when she looked up, she failed to react to the fact that Toranei was right in front of her before that blade was jammed straight into Leiolai’s big red eye, blood squirting out of it and covering the woman who struck it. Naturally, Toranei didn’t stop there, for flames of her own burst from her hand, ran along the length of her sword, and went into the dragon’s eye as well, almost certainly searing through the entire orb.

  Leiolai roared in agony, convulsing so aggressively that the Queen was forced to Proto backwards, ripping her sword from the eye as she did just to make sure the wild swinging of her claws didn’t cleave her in half. The changeling bolted back into the sky just as Ilirianna made contact with the ground, her wings flapping desperately as she tried to put distance between herself and the Iijis below her.

  “Liri, what the hell is that thing?!” came a panicked voice from behind her, and before she could even answer, Ryokumo Caeli landed on the spot to her right, his attention completely taken by the creature in the sky. “Where did the Kosah-Rei get a fucking dragon?!”

  Ilirianna let out a huff of frustration, sparing a quick glance at her silent mother, as well as the final arrival of Nigreos. All three of them were both watching the dragon while desperately waiting for an answer from her, but since the Princess couldn’t be fully honest about the circumstances surrounding her interaction with Tali and Leiolai, she was as vague as she could be.

  “That’s not a dragon!” she answered. “Sartella’s biomagic has gotten even more ridiculous, and now she can transform into something as massive and threatening as that!”

  Nigreos’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “That’s Sartella?!”

  “The one and only!” Ilirianna spat back. “Which means that eye you took out, Mother, is coming right back!”

  As if on cue, the second she said that, the dragon steadied itself dozens of yards above them, and when it turned to survey the four mages it was now facing, sure enough, it had both of its bright red eyes perfectly unharmed.

  Toranei scoffed with displeasure. “Very well then. We kill her and finally be done with this changeling nonsense. The four of us should be more than enough, so let’s send her to meet Captain Vesh!”

  Her mother’s words caused a burst of relief to flood Ilirianna, for while she had been able to extrapolate in regards to Rotana Vesh’s fate given that Ryokumo was now beside her and in one piece, it was still beyond amazing to have confirmation that he was dead.

  And since Firrik confirmed that Rennigan kills Tyrus and Kristoff is beaten by Nakoma and Koroha, then three of our seven targets are now eliminated! All the more reason to drag Sartella out of the sky and add her body to the pile!

  “Nigreos, Kumo!” Ilirianna began. “Under these conditions, neither of you will have the strength to breach her hide, so leave the damage to my mother and I! You two just need to do everything you can to distract her! Yank her around with Condite! Try to claw out her eyes with Coreas! Just throw anything you can at her to diminish her ability to defend against us! Understood?!”

  “Of course!”

  “Will do, Liri!”

  Nigreos and Ryokumo gave their affirmatives, so without any more words needing to be shared between them, Ilirianna and Toranei cast Proto, exploding into the sky while Leiolai began to build up another ball of fire in her throat. To her credit, the changeling still refused to flee despite now being outmatched four-to-one, which only furthered Ilirianna’s impression of her as a blind fool obeying Tali’s every command.

  All around her massive body, Ilirianna could sense Ryokumo’s mana creating as many ropes of wind as he could cast at once, though he was refraining from latching them onto her for the moment. More likely than not, he was trying to startle Leiolai more than he was trying to bind her, especially since anything done to her wings would remove her ability to stay airborne. Nevertheless, Leiolai had a job to do, so whether she was scared or not, she still let off a surge of flames from her mouth that was aimed at Ilirianna.

  Out in the open the way they were, she would not be able to use Condite to alter her course while in midair, so the only way she could dodge such a large attack was to send wind into her feet and let off another burst of Proto. The sudden shift in momentum tossed her straight up into the air, though it wasn’t quite strong enough to fully dodge the flames, for she could feel the heat on the soles of her feet, leaving her wondering if the bottom of her boots were now gone. Regardless, she was well in the clear since dragons had to build up their attacks. She and Toranei could move far faster than Leiolai could charge, so it was now guaranteed they would reach the dragon’s position before more fire breath could be unleashed.

  Which means the biggest threat now is her claws!

  As predicted, since her mother did not have to alter her trajectory, she reached Leiolai first, only for the dragon’s right limb to swipe outwards with an incredible speed for its size. The Queen didn’t try to dodge, telling Ilirianna that she erected a shield of wind to defend herself. At first, she was surprised, for she was pretty confident her mother had the ability to get out of the way, but she quickly understood what Toranei’s game was. The powerful attack slammed into the shield on Toranei’s left side, and the ropes of wind anchoring her left arm to Leiolai’s neck sent her flying around to land against the dragon’s back without needing to propel herself. The ropes snapped taut, allowing the Queen to sprint along Leiolai’s spine with naught but her own physical ability. Once she neared where the two massive wings were connected to the dragon’s torso, she slipped her thin blade under the scales. Flames flickered along the elegant hilt briefly before blue fire exploded down the blade’s length and passed Leiolai’s natural defense.

  Red and gold scales blasted out, and while the innate fire resistance of the Infernus Dragon likely minimized the damage, it seemed the nerves connecting her wings had been weakened as she tumbled through the air. Already unstable, Toranei’s explosive Proto further destabilized the massive creature and gave Ilirianna an opening as she approached.

  “Condite!” she breathed, wrapping ropes around both her arms and the dragon’s neck, pulling herself around the next swing of the claws and towards its underbelly. Using the rope, she gripped it with both hands and pushed into the momentum so that she could plant her feet against Leiolai’s chest. “Corsikei!”

  Four attacks happened one after the other, beginning with the shockwave that erupted from the soles of Ilirianna’s feet, blasting away what little of her boots remained and propelling her and the dragon in opposite directions, the former jolting up towards where Toranei was while the latter was sent tumbling back to the earth. Then, having previously set up this trap, Ryokumo’s dozens of wind ropes all snapped towards Leiolai, wrapping around her arms, legs, torso, and wings, thus preventing any effective dodges. As Ilirianna fell, she was able to witness the next attack, one set up by Ryokumo and Nigreos together. The Master of Darkness Protoed from the ground beside his friend, and as he did so, Ryokumo extended his right arm towards Nigreos, infusing his own magic around him to increase Proto's momentum. Nigreos burst upwards, Ryokumo’s magic formed, and with a shout, the wind mage telekinetically hurled him into the sky at a faster speed than Nigreos could have managed alone.

  It was while this attack was set up that Toranei’s fire-infused blade made contact with the dragon’s neck once more, exploding against it and smashing it towards the ground. Leiolai’s physical strength enabled her to snap the ropes binding her right as Toranei attacked, and having both repaired the damage done by Toranei and learned from her previous experiences, she frantically beat her wings to remain airborne, recovering from the fall about halfway towards the ground.

  Nigreos reached her as she did so, snarling “Devare!” as dark magic spread from his hands, the mass of black engulfing Leiolai’s head as the Master of Darkness spun around her and used a small burst of Proto to plant his feet on her back.

  Leiolai twisted and turned, the darkness assuredly ripping at her eyes and trying to claw its way into her brain and mouth. Nigreos’s plan was probably to get his darkness inside of her and tear apart her body from within, but the little spouts of fire that kept flickering from her maw would have destroyed any darkness that went in through there. The only reason her brain wasn’t being ravaged through her eye sockets must have been because Leiolai was trying to reform her eyes as fast as Nigreos destroyed them.

  When Ilirianna landed on the ground, Proto sent her back into the sky towards where Nigreos was standing atop the dragon while Toranei leaned into gravity and plummeted towards them from above. On the earth, Ryokumo continued his repeated castings of Condite, prioritizing her wings in the hope of knocking her down.

  While Nigreos was focused on Leiolai’s eyes and Ryokumo on immobilizing the creature, Ilirianna's blades swung out for the massive wings on either side of Nigreos. Nearing the dragon, she let out a burst of wind to violently spin, throwing her weapons connected to her forearms by Condite. The explosive force tore across her wings, but due to the size, the attack only momentarily destabilized her before ragged, leathery flesh knitted itself back together through biological magic, even while Nigreos continued to rip at the dragon’s face.

  Damn!

  Toranei descended toward Leiolai as she beat her wings to stabilize, but rather than let off another blast of fire, Toranei eyed Ilirianna. At least a dozen blades of wind materialized and shot at the dragon’s wings, shredding them enough to lose further altitude. Wind magic allowed her to softly land on the scaly back and her posture remained as dignified as always as she met her daughter’s eyes meaningfully and glanced at the ground.

  Grunting in approval, Ilirianna discarded her left blade while Toranei Protoed off Leiolai’s back and high into the sky, her mana rapidly building. Wordlessly, she looked to Ryokumo on the ground and jerked her head toward the beast above her. The wind mage smirked in understanding and began to prepare Condite a multitude of times while Ilirianna latched onto the dragon’s tail with her own casting and yanked herself up to its back.

  From further along the creature's spine, Nigreos stood, rooted in place by ropes of shadow, similar to Condite. Sensing the mana building in her hand, he bolted forward and leaped off the dragon’s head, the ropes that had anchored him swinging him beneath Leiolai’s neck. Now that the Master of Darkness was safe while still being able to assault the changeling, Ilirianna thrust her left hand out and briefly nodded to Ryokumo. The dozens of ropes latched ensnared the changeling similarly to the attack she had broken free from earlier.

  This time, with Nigreos assaulting the dragon’s eyes, Ilirianna snarled, “Pruinara!”

  A wave of cold burst from her hand, rapidly covering the entangled creature in a layer of frost that she kept piling on. Leiolai’s strength would quickly render even this meaningless, yet all they needed was a moment during which she was immobilized.

  “Get clear!”

  Ilirianna’s shout to the Master of Darkness was urgent, and he immediately detached himself, falling away from the tied and half-frozen dragon. Using Proto and then Correio to retrieve her discarded weapon, Ilirianna looked up to where she could sense her mother’s mana building. It was difficult to see against the sky, but high above them were surging blue flames in the shape of a Phoenix.

  A beam of blue fire blasted from it and slammed into Leiolai’s back. The ice was easily melted, and the rapid heating of the cooled air sent out a shockwave that blew both Ilirianna and Nigreos away. Immobilized as she was, Leiolai could do nothing to resist the attack and hurtled towards the earth below, the rocky ground cratering from the force with which Toranei had hit her. While Ilirianna and Nigreos had been thrown, they still acted immediately. The former extended her mana to the rapidly approaching ground.

  “Vino!”

  Dozens of vines burst from the earth the second her mother’s flames dissipated and wrapped around the cracked body of Leiolai Sartella. With as much power as she could muster, Ilirianna tightened the grip her vines held and stopped the dragon’s sudden attempt at getting to its feet. She was closer and closer to the ground, but she focused her efforts on restraining the dragon for the moment, seeing Ryokumo quickly use wind magic to slow Nigreos’ fall. The very second the Master of Darkness was close enough he could handle the landing, both of Ryokumo’s hands extended toward Leiolai and tied even more ropes of wind around her, aiding Ilirianna’s efforts.

  With Ryokumo’s help, she was able to spare some focus on softening her landing, but she started almost too late. A sharp pain lanced through her legs and back as she fell to the rocky plains, but her control over her vines never ceased, and now that she didn’t have to slow her fall, she exerted even more force over the dragon. A dozen yards from the dragon’s head, Nigreos got to his feet and sprinted toward Leiolai then used Proto to return to where he had been on her back. Though he stumbled on the uneven surface created by the interwoven vines and ropes, the Master of Darkness did not wait to find his footing before resuming his assault on her eyes.

  Sitting up, Ilirianna extended a hand, reforming the vines that snapped under the strain of a dragon’s strength. If she and Ryokumo worked together to hold it, and Nigreos weakened the biological magic at Leiolai’s disposal, Ilirianna believed that should be more than enough to allow Toranei to end this once and for all. However, though it was difficult to see through the vines wrapped around the dragon’s maw, a red glow began to build. Ropes of wind and nature stretched and snapped as the changeling lowered her head to face the ground below.

  Fire surged under and around her, incinerating Ilirianna’s restraints and most of Ryokumo’s. What was left snapped as the dragon tore them apart and rounded on the Princess, allowing her to see the rows of fragmented teeth that had been shattered. Rather than waiting to build up her fire attack, Leiolai leaped at Ilirianna with her maw wide open, forcing the Princess to defend.

  “Carseka!”

  Falling backward, Ilirianna placed a palm against the ground and a wall of rock shot between them. The immediate spiderweb of cracks that appeared was accompanied by the sound of Leiolai slamming into it, Ilirianna’s hasty defense barely holding. Not a moment later, she saw Leiolai dart to the side and leap back up into the air, narrowly avoiding a blast of blue fire from above. Toranei, who was about halfway to the ground from where she had cast Phoenixio, glared at the changeling as she took to the skies again, carrying Nigreos with her. Gritting her teeth, Ilirianna protoed off the ground and then the wall she’d made, finally shattering it as she used Correio on her swords.

  She doesn’t stand a chance! Even as a dragon, even with this sudden form she pulled out of her ass, Leiolai Sartella simply cannot stand her ground against such a group and win! It’s as simple as that, yet she continues to struggle, having no idea whether she’ll live or die, all because she wants to protect Tali Firrik. But why? Why put herself through this pain?! Why risk her life for a woman that openly declared she’s been deceiving her other allies—that she didn’t even try to keep them from being butchered by us?! Does Sartella really still respect Firrik enough to risk her life even after all of that?! Is she really this stupid, this brainwashed, or does she know something nobody else does?!

  When Ilirianna had put Leiolai on the spot, demanding to know what she thought of it all, her answer could hardly even be called an answer.

  “She can lie to me all she likes. It makes no difference. There’s nothing she can do about it, after all.”

  Internally scoffing at how little it made sense, Ilirianna soared upwards, past the screeching dragon, just as Toranei landed yet another impressive fire blast against its back. Meanwhile, Ryokumo pivoted his focus to her neck, spawning dozens of ropes around that one spot so that when Toranei’s explosion of fire sent the creature hurtling downwards once again, Ryokumo could use Condite to yank it the rest of the way. Leiolai’s screeching echoed across the plains, and at that point, the Princess half-expected others from within Ankalla to come rushing out to join in the fight, especially now that their battle had wound up back near the fortress.

  And that was exactly what happened.

  From the ruins of the northern tower’s common room, where Ilirianna had spoken to Tali, came a sudden flash of light so powerful that it momentarily blinded the airborne Princess. It flashed through the air, and right as the dragon was about to crash into the ground, it pierced its back, singing through its scales and flesh, splattering its insides across the rocks as Leiolai returned to the earth, Toranei and Nigreos not far behind her.

  Album! Ilirianna thought with excitement, her head snapping up to where the Master of Light stood amidst the common room’s rubble, her black eyes angled down towards where her target had fallen. Well timed, my friend.

  The Princess shared a smile with the Master of Light before she began mediating her descent with wind magic while Album cast Ilumine to flash towards the ground. Naturally, there was no confirmation whether or not Leiolai’s heart had been struck, so it was unclear whether the changeling was dead or not, but just as Ilirianna was turning back to gaze at it, her eyes went wide and her lips twisted into a frustrated sneer

  “NO!” she snarled, but it was no use.

  With impressive speed for such a dangerous type of magic, the dragon's body began to rapidly shrink as Leiolai changed her form. Flashes of orange and black exploded from Toranei and Nigreos respectively, both frantically trying to kill her before she could get away, but all their magic did was impair their vision so that when Leiolai shrank even smaller, they couldn’t see her. From her height, Ilirianna just barely made out the small form of the hummingbird bolting into the sky, so clenching her teeth, she shouted out, “CAERUINFERNUS!”

  Simultaneously releasing her right hand from a sword, she extended it towards the fleeing hummingbird, a blast of blue fire exploding from her hands so powerfully that her body was pushed backwards. She couldn’t tell whether the overwhelming attack struck home and defeated Leiolai, but by the time her feet made contact with the ground, she could no longer see the bird anywhere. If Caeruinfernus struck, there wouldn’t be anything left of the changeling to confirm her death, and at this distance, the bird was too small to confirm her survival. It was certainly possible she got her, but something in Ilirianna’s gut told her that Leiolai Sartella was alive, and had elluded her once again.

  Ilirianna clicked her tongue irritably.

  Damn you, Sartella… Damn you right to hell…