42. Killing

He lay before me, his black robe sodden with red. More pooled around him. I panted, his blood and my own dripping down my face. I shuddered and stumbled back, leaving his dagger buried inside of him.

Then a light blazed through his robes. An intense brilliance in the shape of a square formed of four arrows like my lightning brand.

My chest sizzled in pain. I gasped, grasping at my skin through my cut-open robes. I felt the new Glyph branding into me.

The stunned, purple-skinned monster girl gasped. She spasmed on the ground where she lay in a stupor. I sucked in a deep breath as I felt my power growing. I had new magic I could use. I had more capacity.

Somewhere in his dungeon, his Void Crystal shattered and all its power rushed into mine, upgrading it.

You saved me, Lord Leo! cheered Souleen.

"Leo," Lana sobbed. She reached me. She had golden blood spilling down her silvery skin. She'd taken a hard sword through the guts. She threw her arms around me and pressed her forehead against mine. Her blue eyes filled my vision. "You're alive. You're alive."

"So are you," I groaned, hugging her tight. I held her to me.

"Lord Leo," groaned the purple-skinned woman. She sat up. She rubbed at a scorch mark on her throat. She groaned as she staggered to her feet. "Lord Leo, are you okay?"

I stared at her in shock. She rushed over to us and glanced down at her former master. She shook her head. Something almost like grief flashed over her face. Then she stepped over him and fell to her knees before me.

"My apologies, Lord Leo," she said, bowing low. "I am your thrall, if you'll have me. Usiku. I'm a fomorian. I can shape darkness. Create weapons out of it. I can serve you as faithfully as I did Mthunzi. Please, please, don't destroy me. I am sorry for attacking you. He was my master, but now I'm yours. Please, please, I beg you to spare me."

"Not going to... destroy you," I groaned and staggered to my feet, Lana clinging to me. "Help me with her. She's in pain."

"Yes, my Lord," Usiku gasped. She stood up and darted around to Lana's other side. She slipped her arm beneath Lana Fulmine.

Together, we carried her out of the room.

"I worked with him at a cafe in Swansea," Usiku said as we helped Lana lie down on the bed. I had used my robe to bandage her wound.

"Then I was here. He brought me from that life of drudgery and gave me something amazing." Grief flashed across her face.

"You loved him?"

She nodded, her eyes blinking. "But I am still your servant. Don't think I'm not." She touched my chest, the square Glyph of Darkness. "I can sense you're a good man. I want to serve you. He made mistakes. I won't betray you. I can't."

"So he's from England," I said, shaking my head.

"Welsh," she corrected. "The United Kingdom, not England. That's a different part of the country."

"Sorry," I said, giving her a brief smile. Then I groaned. "I need to do some work. Heal her. Restore my will o' wisps."

"They were brave fighters," said Usiku. "But we were prepared for them. We were watching Astovin and spotted you and Lana there. We followed you back and figured out your magic. I didn't give them much of a chance. They're low-level monster girls. They are not well-matched against companions like myself or your Lana."

I nodded, feeling drained. Empty. I had killed a man. It was self-defense, but I had been so wild. So angry. So out of control there at the end.

Nothing had mattered to me but killing him. I just had to stab his dagger over and over into his body.

I sighed and stumbled into the vault room. My Void Crystal hummed away as it drew in mana. Souleen appeared on it. She gave me this concerned look. Such motherly love and warmth in her eyes as she quivered atop of it.

"I'm so sorry, Leo," she said. "I didn't want you to have to do that so soon."

I just nodded. "That's what I'll have to do again and again? They'll keep coming for me?"

She hesitated. "Yes. Other Dungeon Builders, and the heroes. They either want your power or to stop you from growing it."

"Why?" I asked. Something brittle broke in my voice. "Why was I brought here and put in this position?"