Deep in the Heart of Battle

'What is Emira doing here?' 

Shouldn't a queen be safe behind the walls of her kingdom? Or at least removed from the battle and giving orders. 

Yet here she was, furiously taking down as many of the Nightmare Creatures as her sword and flames could reach. 

Now the concentrated frenzy of activity made more sense. The humans were protecting their sovereign while the abominations did everything possible to obliterate her. 

But why was she out here at all? Noble would have to find out later. Right now, all that mattered was the battle. Leaping from Kosi's back, Noble dug her Ruby Tear deep into the skull of one of the deformed geodes. The blade met only slight resistance as it cleaved the stone monster. Silvery blood poured out on the ground mixed with dust. 

"You protect the queen, and I will get to Counsel," she told the Symncus. "Can you do that?" 

Kosi tilted his head with a quizzical look before nodding. He sunk his teeth deep into a beetle, squishing its carapace and shaking its innards onto the battlefield. 

Noble winced at the sickening squelch.

"Go!" She ordered before he could get another oversized bug in his mouth.

The monster's body was larger than the woman's abdomen, but somehow Kosi was able to release his jaw enough to stuff the hard shell inside. 

'Another reason I don't want to get on his bad side,' Noble shivered slightly. 

The golden Symncus looked at her once more before bounding away. He left a path of destruction in his wake as he raced toward the queen. 

Pressing her lips together, Noble began to cut her way toward Counsel. Now that she was on the ground, her progress slowed to a crawl.

Had she made the right choice in splitting up? 

She and Kosi made a fearsome team, but as a Transcendent Demon, he was far more powerful than she was. 

So, sending the Symncus to protect the queen was risky. Not only was she possibly protecting someone who was trying to kill her, but it would alert the queen that both of Noble's protectors were out in the field. 

Of course, Noble was out fighting as well. Which meant she was breaking Emira's command. That was unlikely to end well. The professor shook off the unhelpful thoughts.

'I already made my choice. All that matters now is killing. Ignore the rest.'

Distraction meant death. And Noble would very much like to avoid that outcome.

Thankfully the attacking force was not terribly powerful, only numerous. That made the trek forward slow but not overwhelming. 

At this lower height, Noble's sword saw far more action. The Spell overlapped itself as it announced each kill.

[You have slain...]

[You have slain...] 

[You have received...] 

Trying to ignore the voice, Noble continued to force her way forward. When she finally got a good look at Counsel. Her eyes opened wide. 

The man was clad in his armor from the day before, but the pristine metal was covered in blood from countless nightmare creatures. A cut across his forehead was already beginning to heal.

How long had Counsel been out here? Hadn't the apprentice said that the creatures were only spotted a short while ago? 

But then Noble spotted the large carcass beside him. Counsel had slain a creature so large that she had initially mistaken it for a small hill. How had he even managed such a feat?

'No wonder he looks exhausted.' 

Noble stabbed and slashed her way forward, but she wasn't quite fast enough. From above, another batch of creatures was being dropped like a horrid toy ball. It would land squarely on Counsel's head if he did not move. 

"Watch out!" Noble screamed. 

"Brenna?" Counsel looked at her instead of up. His face contorted in confusion. "What are you doing out here?" 

Noble had no time to answer. She lifted her free hand and pumped her essence into her Ability. The falling ball went wide, bouncing off the side of the mountainous slain monster and rolling into the broken field. 

Counsel didn't seem to notice how close he came to being crushed. He ran full force toward Noble and shielded her with his body. He called the other soldiers nearby to form a protective wall. 

"It isn't safe out here!" 

'I could have told you the same thing...' The woman inhaled sharply. 

"I am aware. I am here to help." Noble pressed her sword between two of the soldiers and hit a beetle in its mouth. "You look like you could use it. Now all of you get back to fighting and don't babysit me!" 

Stunned, Counsel nodded to the soldiers. As quickly as they had assembled, the group melted into the fray once more. 

"Thank you," Noble was glad she didn't have to argue with the man.

"You can thank me by not getting hurt." Counsel's expression turned fierce as he cut off three legs of a crag beetle. "And you can explain why you thought we would sit on babies later. Watch out!" 

Bleeding from the loss of legs, the beetle flipped on its back as a strange antennae uncurled from its torso like a scorpion's tail. Noble stared at the delicate antennae, but Counsel pushed her out of the way and protected her with his body. 

A dark green liquid shot out from the end of the tube, caking the back of Counsel's armor. 

"Oh no!" 

Counsel turned and stabbed the beetle's belly, severing the unorthodox tail and letting the rest of the poison spill out on the white flesh. The beetle grew still.

Counsel wrung out the liquid clinging to his hair. "Don't worry. It's just a mild irritant to the skin. Just don't let it get in your body. It can melt your insides." 

Noble marveled at how unconcerned Counsel was with the prospect of melting from the inside out. He had already turned and was fending off another creature, giving no thought to the acid dripping from his curly locks. 

But Noble was. As soon as she leaned forward to skewer the persistent Geode, she got a whiff of the insidious liquid. She gasped. 

'It smells like the wine!' 

Counsel guessed her thoughts as his emotions faltered. "Now you know why I suspected poison. It's a rather distinctive odor." 

Noble blinked a few times. Someone had somehow extracted the poison from one of these monsters and put it in her drink? 

'They must want someone dead pretty badly to go to that trouble…' 

Was it her or the Queen?

If it was the former, she would thwart them in that quest, right after finishing off the grunts before her.

There were so many of them. But other than the one massive beast that Counsel killed, most were rather tame compared to what they could be.

'I do not see the big deal. How has a war like this gone on for a hundred years? Unless the groups just kept coming in unending numbers…'

Even without Kosi by her side, the duelist was not even breaking a sweat.

Side by side, she and Counsel were moving deeper and deeper into the horde.

Sometimes they were back to back and others they were side by side. They were like a wedge leading the charge to finish this war once and for all.

There was only one problem.

The sky darkened overhead. Counsel's face lost its stalwart expression as he looked upward.

"The Queen was right. It's here," he breathed.

'It?' Noble fought back a beetle and squinted.

The passing glance was all she got before everything changed.

Counsel took her hand and pulled her firmly. "Retreat!"