Born Warrior

I had taken several punishing blows from the flaming dark hands of Lady Montay. Her strength was awe-inspiring, catching me off guard. A misjudgment on my part, I admitted.

I made desperate attempts to evade the relentless assaults she hurled at me. Rolling and dodging across the ground became my means of avoiding her relentless pursuit. Her hands were relentless, conjuring sharp-edged weapons from beneath the earth and even from the air itself. Swords and daggers shot forth towards her like guided missiles, only to be skillfully parried, shattered, or melted away by her expert defense.

All of my reinvented blades were thwarted. She seemed to have honed her abilities as a direct countermeasure to mine. Could she be a gauntlet bearer too?

My face was thrust into the dirt, the taste of parched soil mingling with the metallic tinge of my own blood. My left eye swelled shut, and the corneal area became a pool of blood. With just one eye left, I strained to observe her every move.

A mocking chuckle escaped her lips as she drew nearer. My vision was now limited to the metallic gleam of her boot soles and toes. "In this world, Idrish, there are only four like you. But there are more of us, more than enough to hunt down all the heiresses. You and your three companions must be captured."

"Who are you?" While I knew her as Lady Montay, her true identity remained veiled. Who was she beneath the façade? Who were her associates? And how was she capable of countering the gauntlet's power?

"To transcend this power, Idrish, you must embrace death," she laughed. I saw her foot ascend, and in the blink of an eye, I felt the hard impact of her booted foot against the back of my head. The pressure increased, and I sank into the mud.

My head was buried halfway into the ground, and I clenched the earth tightly as she bore down, her boot grinding against me.

"You can surrender both your hands and continue living, Idrish. Or you can resist, and your siblings will be entangled in this Meadenach chaos. Killan may have shielded and concealed them, but eventually, the secret council—the Trapiz—will locate him."

Her words resonated clearly and chillingly. They painted the probable outcome, the harsh reality. But what of my vow to my siblings? To House Calore and Killan?

The queen had chosen me for my essence and my latent potential. This couldn't mark the end of my journey; it was but the dawn. My true beginning. I must not be thwarted on my path to the desired conclusion.

Suddenly, the air reverberated with the clangor of metal. Blades materialized, their emergence visualized vividly in my mind's eye. Over a hundred gleaming weapons sprouted from all directions, each one poised at The Miss, perched on my head.

"You've yet to learn your lesson, haven't you? My reborn weapons cannot best me."

I grunted, issuing a command that launched a hundred blades in her direction. The whoosh of their movement followed, and the blades punctured through an apparently protective energy barrier that enveloped her. The sound of metal rending the barrier was satisfying. My attack diverted Lady Montay's attention.

As her foot's weight eased on my head, I seized the moment to break free. Rolling to my right, I gathered strength in my legs. I swiftly dodged backward to create distance.

With a quick motion, I wiped the mud from my face. As my vision cleared, the sight of the multitude of blades surrounding the enemy greeted me. Gradually, they crushed and melted the sharp weapons, reducing them to fragments. The entire process took a mere few seconds.

Emerging from the dispersing shroud of blades, she conjured black smoke in her hands once again. A grin curved her lips, as if she found amusement in our spectacle. "Truly exceptional, Idrish. Undoubtedly an heiress."

Montay lunged toward me, and in a swift response, I swiped my left and right palms. The concealed weapons sprang to life, diverse in size and form, originating from various directions. A single puncture to her skin was enough to throw her off balance.

A battle cry tore from my lips as I stepped backward. I maintained a cautious distance, the rain of weapons relentless. She could crush and transmute the blades, daggers, spears, and arrows into ashes. Redoubling my efforts, I increased the count of reinvented blades. From all angles, they emerged, forming instantaneously.

The air was split by Lady Montay's scream as she lunged towards me. Reflexively, I retreated, summoning weapons into existence on the ground and in the air. Fueled by a potent blend of fury and weariness, a resonating shout erupted from me as I braced for The Miss's impending onslaught.

Bringing my palms together, I directed the pointed tips of the blades to converge on a single, lethal point—Lady Montay's heart. The flash of silver momentarily blinded me as the blades surged towards The Miss with unrestrained velocity.

Still, my adversary refused to yield. She heightened her defenses, manipulating the threads of electricity that enveloped her form, igniting sparks and crackling with energy. The threads effortlessly disintegrated the incoming barrage of swords, reducing them to metallic ashes. Once more, my weapons were rendered impotent, and I found myself ensnared within her venomous grip. Her hands closed around my neck like the constricting coils of a deadly serpent, threatening to suffocate me.

My breath caught, stifled momentarily. I strained against her hold, but it felt as though all the strength and energy in the world had coalesced within her grasp. Agonizing pain surged through me, radiating from my flesh to my very core. I fought against the torment, steadfastly resisting as she effortlessly lifted me into the air.

"This won't be a painful death, Idrish. I'm guiding you to where you belong. No need to—" Lady Montay's words were abruptly cut short. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her grip on me gradually weakened.

With unwavering determination, I focused all my energy into the dagger's hilt, wrenching myself free from her suffocating hold. Echoes of earlier guidance resounded in my mind, a reminder of the option I had been advised to reserve for dire circumstances. You may use this as your last resort, Kenru's voice echoed in my thoughts.

"H—how c—come?" Lady Montay's incredulity was palpable. The tide had shifted, and the realization was evident in her eyes. Her weight now bore heavily upon the very dagger lodged within her chest.

I drove the dagger deeper into her heart—her malevolent heart.

"You can nullify everything conjured by my gauntlet. That's the strength of your power. But every strength harbors a weakness. This dagger isn't restored or reinvented. It's genuine—a vulnerability in your power." I emphasized the dagger's position within her chest, giving the grip a few twists for emphasis.

Her visage contorted in anguish, yet her grip remained unyielding. Blood seeped from her mouth, and her eyes dimmed. "T—the rest of the council, t—they will come looking for you. T—they w—will hunt you. A—all of you."

"I'll be prepared for them... with my gauntlets or with bare hands."