Traitors

"Sofya, Manners." Ikari sneered.

Sofya's eyes went wide with realization, cleared her throat, took one step back, and rephrased her demand.

"H-How, might I ask, did my ex-husband fall?"

"Better." Ikari said, "You should have poured the wine first though."

Sofya's eyes panicked for a second, and she turned to retrieve the wine and goblets she had placed on the floor. Handing a goblet to Ikari and myself, she began to pour.

"See, you can do things when guided." Ikari said with a full goblet.

Sofya went to pour mine, but I backed off slightly.

"If you don't drink yours then she'll drink it for you, and you do not want to see Sofya drunk."

I had to let her fill my cup, even if I didn't want to touch it.

"Ten of us were tasked with clearing out an Exodus that had crossed the river into Tigtsi." I started, "So we went looking for Rats. It was my first big fight and… my armor was the only good thing about me…"

I drank. The heat that flowed down my throat made me cough.

"A lightweight, getting transported here? No wonder you had a rough time." Ikari laughed by himself.

"We dealt with everyone there with the help of a Leshen, until Igrin killed the Leshen in only two spells."

"Two Necromantic Spells." Ikari said immediately.

"Two Fire Spells." I corrected, "And he kept using Fire Spells until Gareth there popped a mana potion."

I took another swig out of anxiety. Sofya was just swirling the wine jug, looking into its dark plum-scented depths, wondering at how good it must taste.

How was I going to tell her that her ex-husband committed Necromancy? How bad was Necromancy? The way she ignored it, maybe Necromancy wasn't a big deal. Or maybe it was, maybe she'd lash out at me for the thought of suggesting that her husband had committed it?

"And then he committed Necromancy, didn't he?" Sofya said without taking her eyes away from the wine that seemed so far away from her.

"He set fire to his camp first, but then… y-yeah, then he committed Necromancy."

"What kind? Igrin was bombastic, he was always one of those wizards who always came up with the weirdest names for spells. He'd be the last person in the world to call a Fireball a Fireball." Sofya said with a somber smile directed at the far off wine.

"He called it… The Last Wall of Nhym… I think."

"Nhym… so he finally invoked its name."

"H-He also breathed in the souls of the slain. I-I don't think he ever gave a name to it but-"

"I know that technique. OH DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! I don't have any magical talent, no talent at all really… I was just… born… and then I followed my father's orders. Look where that's taken me…"

"Mind your tangents, Sofya." Ikari said.

Sofya took one hand and slapped one side of her face, smiling her best smile as one side of her cheek grew red.

"Of course I knew Igrin was using Necromancy. That doesn't surprise me at all. No, I want to know…" Her words got stuck in her throat, "I want to know how you killed him."

"Oh, so you actually understood that much after all." Ikari chuckled.

"Of course I did. I knew someone like Igrin would be able to turn another Vampire just like he turned you, Dear." Sofya wielded that last word like a pike.

"You have too much faith in him, even after death."

"He is a Necromancer, of course he can manage-"

"I JUST-" I boiled over, silencing their spat, "I just wish this could've been solved with words, that this didn't have to come to war…"

"You dense, Pax-Americana dipshit, why do you think there's been such little war in our time? Because someone else did the warring for us! One part of the world burns so that another part can sit by the fire! Japan prospered by having the Americans do it all for us! Korea, Vietnam, the FUCKING MIDDLE EAST that we all need in order to have the freedom to use our flashing, paper stamped hunk of steel we call a car! It sucks, doesn't it! To realize how sheltered and coddled our shitty locked-in lives are! That's why everyone was scared of me, because I saw the TRUTH of the WORLD! That the only thing stopping us from murdering each other were mass murderers that everyone was terrified of! All this morality and ethics, they are all the tools of whoever's in power to make sure they stay in power!"

"You still betrayed him." Sofya mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.

Ikari's gauntleted fist smacked into Sofya's tiny red cheek, spinning her to the floor, the plum wine erupting out of the jug like an explosion of blood, staining everything in its vicinity.

I went for the sword at my feet and brought the flat edge up to block Ikari's advance.

Ikari glowered at me, and in those eyes I saw it. He wasn't just fine with making enemies out of his enemies, he was fine making enemies out of his friends.

"SOFYA!" I called over to her, "RUN!"

I didn't even keep an eye on her long enough to see if she did as I heard Ikari's blade sing and spark from his scabbard.I brought up my blade as fast as I could to parry. 

Electricity sparked off our swords, leaving a dull red dent in the edge of mine where they had contacted. 

"You're ruining the one chance you have to truly change the world."

"I'm stopping a mass murderer from murdering a girl!"

"You're going to be sandwiched, SPITROASTED between two mass murderers!"

"And if I win?"

Then I saw the Pistol.

The Pistol clicked, and the white bolt ripped its way towards me. My Shadow went Full Sail against the brilliant lightning, launching me out of its way as tendrils spilled out of the bolt's center like a plasma ball. 

I stuck the landing a good few meters away, but the tendrils had scorched a line across the gambeson's fabric. I recalled my Shadow, which deflated its way to rest on the ground.

"Nice trick."

"I'm a Ninja, aren't I?"

"Hmm… Shadow Magic…" Ikari remarked as he returned his Pistol back into its holster, seemingly to recharge the shot. Then, he struck the flat of his sword against his Hoplite Shield. Sparks crackled across it and his armor, forming a barbed wire of electric charge around Ikari.

I just sighed. Ikari was going to be tough…

It was then that Ikari ducked his head beneath his shield. It took me a moment too long to figure out what he was doing.

Ikari braced himself like he was heading into an Arctic Wind, but suddenly his greaves flashed with power. He surged forwards, the charged Shield coming straight at me as the Zeus face at its front billowed lightning.

I leapt to the side, barely able to keep up with the movement.

I got to my feet as fast as I could, but Ikari had instantly spun out of his charge, and my blade came up just in time to parry him. He'd overcommitted on his sword, but the Hoplite shield was in the way of me taking the advantage. He slid his silhouette behind the Shield and shoved.

The weight of the shield and its accumulated charge slammed into me, bashing me backwards. The discharge was even worse, as the pain surged through my body, my arms, legs and fingers spasming as I tried to regain my composure.

Through gritted teeth, I saw Ikari drop his blade and reach to his holster. I glanced down to my free hand, still spasming from the voltage.

Ikari took aim.

I clenched my fist, hard. It obeyed, and I shunted magical energy through it. Smoke billowed out as I opened my palm, flooding and choking the both of us.

Ikari fired blindly, the Shadow Smoke vanishing in a heartbeat. It had missed, but that wasn't the point of what I was trying to do.

In the smoke, I charged into the coughing Ikari. My blade, wreathed in black smoke, struck against his. Ikari smiled for a moment through his helmet, but the black smoke carried its momentum right into his visor.

He coughed and sputtered backwards, steadying himself quickly as I dashed out of the smoke, but the Smoke followed me, cloaking me in an Armor of Night. 

It had been the first spell I had ever cast, and it had ruined my reputation with the knights at my feet, the ones who I had trained and fought with. But I had been right all this time, that they didn't know everything! That I had found my own path!

I swung my Smoke wreathed blade in a heavy cleave with the flat of my sword. It clanged off Ikari's shield, but the smoke kept going, splashing and drenching his armor before swiftly evaporating against the lightning barbed armor. Ikari stabbed forward with his sword. Ikari's blade sunk into my smoke armor, but the smoke armor's shaggy form made him inaccurate. It was easy to dodge backwards, before I readied myself for another flatsword cleave against his shield.

My sword clanged again, the Smoke splashed against his armor again, Ikari stabbed again, and I disengaged again.

"You could at least strike me like you know how to use a sword!" Ikari roared, furious and utterly disrespected. Then, as he took one step forward, he heard a creak. Cautiously, he flexed his greaves, which creaked with corrosion.

Ikari looked up at me, realizing what I was trying to do. He ducked his head below his shield and I saw his boots flash with energy. 

I leapt again as Ikari Shield Charged towards me, my arm billowing out a smoke cloud again. I had to keep Ikari on the offensive, keep him inside my smoke cloud. Eventually the attrition would hit in and then, maybe, I'd get a chance to kill him.