Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (51 page)

“We are… very similar,” Bella said sadly. “I wish I could make it more worth it.”

“If you’re the reason for all that I’ve been through, then I’m grateful for all of it. Every hardship and trial just made me more capable of fighting for you now; I’m even willing to thank my father for putting me through such intense training,” Haruka said with a chuckle. “Trust me, Bella;
If I could add a single day to our time together by going through all of it again, it wouldn’t even be a hard choice.”

Isabella looked down, shook her head, and then turned and hugged her tightly. “You’re going to make me cry,” she said with a laugh. “Even though… It’s all worth it even though we have such little time?”

“Yes. Never doubt that. In fact… I don’t want you to forget how much I care despite that limited time. So… Bella…” She smiled. “When this is over, will you marry me?”

Isabella grinned at her. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes, and yes! I mean, we’re basically
already
married, but if you want to make it official,
absolutely
.”

“We should; you deserve it.” Haruka ran a hand through her hair. “We have people to invite, you know; they’ll kill us if we don’t.”

“…You’re right! I never…” Isabella shook her head. “I never thought I would be, and especially not inviting…” She cleared her throat and looked away. “Damn it… I’m not supposed to be all emotional.”

Haruka smiled and kissed her head. “I like it. It lets me know when I’m doing something right.”

Isabella looked back at her. “You’ve done
everything
right, somehow. Even the fact that whenever we talk about things like this, it’s always in some place that isn’t
at all
safe while we’re surrounded by enemies.”

“Forgive me for asking you
here
instead of some beautiful spot on a cliff or beach somewhere.”

“No, no, this is perfect! It fits exactly what our relationship has been like so far, surrounded by danger and ignoring it for more important things.” Isabella leaned up and kissed her, taking her time before pulling back. “This is one more thing they’re in the way of, you know.”

“Mmm.” Haruka straightened and looked down the hallway. “Then let’s get rid of these obstacles and move on to things that are worth our time.”

Haruka led the way and, though everyone knew they were here now, still no one knew their location, so they went quietly, avoiding patrols of Black Sun members that were looking for them. Somehow they made it to a final hallway deep within the fort; at the end was an open pair of double-doors and beyond them was a huge amount of webbing strung all about a vast room. Only three guards were visible inside, but Haruka’s attention was solidly on her target: Aranea was in view, and still had no idea they were right there…

…At least, they had no idea until Isabella started coughing. Her sickness hit her hard and she slid to her knees, cursing and placing one hand on the ground and another over her mouth as she coughed violently and blood slipped through her fingers. Aranea saw them instantly and her eyes went wide. She sent out a fort-wide alert and ordered the three Black Sun monks near her to attack Haruka; as soon as they were out of the room she slammed the doors shut behind them and began warding them. Haruka cursed, looking at Bella worriedly before turning a glare on the three monks and sprinting down the hall towards them. She recognized each one, and they recognized her; each of them was elite, and the one in front held a staff, the second held two curved swords, and the third held a straight sword. And Haruka was going to put them down before they could be a threat to Bella.

As she neared the monk with the staff she slid into a sweep-kick; the monk flipped over her as she’d expected and she spun to her feet and ran up the wall, leaping off and kicking her out of the air and into the opposite wall. Haruka landed as the second charged her and stabbed forward with his two swords. She arched her back and set her hands on the floor, caught his wrist between her feet, and flipped him over her. She landed back on her feet as the third monk arrived
and thrust his sword forward. She deflected the strike with an arm guard, smacked the flat of the blade to knock the pommel into his chin, then grabbed his wrist and turned her back to him before turning her body to the left, curling his arm in and forcing him to stab himself in the neck with his own blade. As his eyes went wide she spun back in the other direction, freeing the blade and slashing across his stomach in one movement.

Without even waiting for him to fall Haruka turned to her right and met the monk with the staff, blocking her strikes with the sword. A quick kick hit her stomach and gave Haruka enough time to surge energy into her arms and bring her sword down in a powerful chop. The monk raised her staff to block but the sword cleaved straight through it and through her. As the two halves of the staff fell from her hands, the last assassin was coming back at Haruka with his twin swords ready. Haruka kicked one half of the staff into him to slow him and caught the other half in time for his arrival, using that and the sword to deflect his rapid attacks. Her eyes followed the movements of his two swords before finding an opening; she threw the remaining half of the staff at his face, distracting him for only a moment. In that moment she went low and cut his legs out from under him, sending him to his stomach. Without hesitation she brought the sword back around and stabbed it down into him, pinning him to the ground.

Haruka stood and ran back to Bella, who was kneeling and supporting herself on one arm. Both of them looked back as the sound of a lot of footsteps came from behind them, approaching the hall they were in. “I’m sorry,” Bella said. “I ruined our surprise attack.”

“It’s not your fault,” Haruka assured her, glancing from the end of the hall to the door at the other end.

“Go,” Isabella said. “I’ll hold off the guards.”

Haruka looked at her. “Bella-“

“Go!” Haruka nodded, backing away slowly before sprinting towards the door. “Ruki!” Haruka didn’t know how, but she knew exactly what to do; she leapt into the air and spun around, catching the sheathed Mercy that Isabella had thrown to her. The sword flared with power as she completed the spin and, using the momentum her running jump gave her, slammed it into the door as she reached it, shattering
all
the wards on it and splintering the door inwards to a cry of surprise from Aranea. The Hand of the Frozen Web was no pushover, though, and three poisoned knives had left her hand before her cry was even done. Haruka knocked them away with Mercy and then blocked a fourth strike that came from a long whip Aranea held.

The woman looked darkly at her, retracting the whip with a crack. “I guess Sayuri betrayed me. Now I’ll have to deal with you myself.”

Haruka spun the sword in her hand, undoing the leather belt and drawing the gleaming blade. The sword flashed, reflecting light that wasn’t even there as it responded to Haruka’s touch and shone even in the darkness of the room. “That’s what I was thinking. I never liked you, Lith, and I’m definitely not going to regret driving this into your heart.” Aranea growled and a giant spider approached on the ceiling above Haruka, firing webbing over her; however, Mercy cut through the webbing without any resistance, freeing her as soon as she was trapped. “Your tricks aren’t going to work this time,” Haruka said with determination, unafraid of the roomful of poisonous and giant spiders or the sorceress before her. She was going to end this problem now.

IXH

Back down the hall Isabella stood slowly, forcing herself to her feet as Black Sun assassins entered the hallway. She turned to meet them and wiped the blood from her lips, drawing her iron sword in her right hand and her pistol in her left. There were at least a dozen with various weapons, and more were arriving from around the fort. They looked past her to see Aranea fighting until she stepped into the middle of the hallway. “You aren’t getting through me,” she stated, but she wasn’t going to be able to intimidate them, not when she was already breathing heavily and blood was visible on her lips and chin. Her lungs felt like they were on fire and each beat of her heart shot pain through her body, and on top of that her head felt heavy and there was a sharp pain behind her eyes.

They could see this, and she could tell; they knew she was half-dead already. That angered her and it showed on her face as she took a step
towards
them, gritting her teeth and tightening her grip on her weapons. “I am Isabella Enyo! Though I am at death’s door,
none
of you will be a threat to me until I cross his threshold!” She struck her sword across the ground, sending up a shower of sparks from the stone as it cut a long line through it. “I am Isabella of Two Faces, and this will
not
be my end.” They decided to call her bluff and attacked; she met them.

IXH

Haruka flung another spider from her arm, purging the area of poison again. She was then forced to abandon her current position as Aranea warped it with dark magic, rending the air and bending light. Haruka went up onto the wall of the cylindrical room, sprinting around it before launching herself off at Aranea. The sorceress managed to raise a barrier but Mercy smashed through it, nearly cleaving her as well if she hadn’t managed to teleport a few feet away. Haruka would have to thank Isabella for lending her Mercy; the sword was giving her an advantage she never would have had. It seemed to
hate
Aranea’s magic, destroying it with a single blow in most cases while the sheath protected her from magical attacks.

Isabella had told her that, before her change, the sword had been named “Merciless” instead. Because it was tied so closely to her it had changed with her, and it seemed to hold her emotions as well, including a hatred for people like Aranea along with dark magic. Haruka could feel Isabella with her as she wielded the sword, cleaving the legs from another giant spider and piercing its head easily. She purged the poison from her body once more and rushed back in, increasing her speed in an attempt to catch Aranea, her hand tight around Isabella’s sword. And the sword gave her everything it had – just as Isabella did.

IXH

Isabella slid around a sword strike and placed her sword against the man’s neck, slashing it open before kicking him into his ally and using the distraction to gun down his ally with her pistol. Isabella hated killing, she truly did, but monks were ridiculously hard to knock out or injure enough to put them out of the fight because they could self-heal, and if any of them made it to Haruka it would be that much harder for her to win. Bella had no choice but to kill here, especially because her condition made it so much harder to fight.
Eight minutes
, she had told Haruka;
I can fight at full ability for eight minutes
. She was at three minutes now and there were twenty assassins in front of her trying to kill her. It was getting harder to breathe but she ignored it; she ignored
all
of it, throwing it aside.

It drove her
insane
. Back when she had been a monster she’d had the power and skill to destroy
armies
, but now, when she was trying to fight for something
truly
worth it, she could barely fight. As she narrowly avoided an axe that would have taken her head, she realized that there was no option. Either she did something
now
to turn the tide, or she was going to die. She couldn’t use Mercy, Haruka needed it. Her only option was the same method she’d used against the Triad, but could she handle it another time? Whatever the case, they were at the end now; they were going to end things today. It was time to pull out all of the stops.

Isabella leapt back down the hall and fired the pistol rapidly, forcing her enemies to back off. She then tossed the empty pistol aside, having used her last rounds, and slashed her hand open before sheathing her sword. She watched the blood drip from her hand as the assassins came charging down the hallway and she shoved her hand forward. A pulse of power came from the blood and echoed down the hall, throwing them all back to give her more time. Isabella ripped off her leather bracers, then rubbed her hands together and began painting runes along her arms in her blood. She added a few more as the assassins recovered and returned to their feet, charging again. Isabella held Haruka in her mind this time, using her as a barrier to retain her mind as she drew her sword.
Bale… Bai… I need your help again. I have to protect Haruka.
She looked up as the first assassin leapt at her with his sword raised over head. There was a flash of iron and his upper torso hit the ground behind her as his legs landed in front of her. She raised her dripping sword as red and white flames began to lick over her skin, turning hard eyes on the increasing number of Black Sun fighters. “I am Isabella Enyo, and you are
in my way
.”

IXH

Haruka spun through the air and slammed into the stone wall, groaning as she dropped from it and landed on her feet. Aranea sent another wave of force at her and she hacked through it, protecting her from another brutal throw. Still, she was winning; the last spider had finally been slain and now it was between her and Aranea. The sorceress was enraged and throwing everything she had at her, forcing Haruka to focus on evasion for now. She was wearing Aranea down, though, and they both knew it; she would have to do something truly desperate in order to win this. Aranea, however, was willing to do so. She threw her hands down and the room began shaking, and Haruka’s eyes went wide as she realized what she was doing, dodging a falling stone from the wall.