[Dawn broke over the gold-streaked hills, and the Empress and her Champion made the climb to the vine-covered cliffs above the Shafts. Faint rumbling emanated from the thorned vines and pumpkins scattered about, and it seemed that some sort of spell dimmed the dawn back to night here. She didn't concern herself with it. Stray would be here all too soon.
And sure enough, even as that thought crossed her mind, a sparking portal tore open on the crest of the tallest part of the mountain, and her brother's silhouette darkened the skyline. As she looked up at him, the Empress felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she met it with her own, turning to see Eugene's worried face.
Softly, the Empress pressed his hand, smiling up at Eugene's nervous eyes even as a bad feeling twisted in her gut. Reaching up, she brushed his cheek and tilted his head down, leaning her forehead against his and closing her eyes for a moment.
Anything could happen on the field of battle. Both of them knew it all too well by experience, her a warrior, him a conquerer. Even in single combat, no amount of preparation could possibly guarantee the results. He had every reason to worry. But his reason to fear was exactly her reason to fight. To keep their home from falling apart.
And she trusted him not to interfere.
With one last squeeze of his hand and a heavily resisted urge to kiss his cheek, the Empress released Eugene and turned towards the hilltop again. Something told her not to go up there, that it would be better to walk away, but how could she? Her honor and home were at stake, her brother awaited, and she would take any possible chance to put this feud to rest permanently.
Steeling herself, the Empress climbed the steep incline to where her brother stood. The wind whipped her hair and skirt in a frenzy, doing the same to Stray's coattails. The laughter of the vines seemed to mock their ill fortune. Neither of the two siblings cared to spare them a glance.
Instead, the blazing masked eyes of her brother burned through her.]
Forty years, brother, since you started this vendetta, and you still refuse to tell me why? Should I not at least be informed of the infraction for which you seek such drastic revenge?
Brother, I do not even know what I could possibly deny or confirm.
And how should I believe the word of a murderer?!
[The Empress blessed the regular training her Champion had overseen for the speed with which she parried Stray's strike. Her brother certainly had not been lax in his practice, and was faster than ever before. His blades, mounted on the outside of his wrists, were lightning quick. Thankfully the rocky, slanted ground was not a disadvantage only to the Empress, as she could tell Stray was losing some power in the effort to maintain his balance.
Her stance was purely defensive. He meant to kill her, but she had no intention of doing the same. Stray was all she had left of her blood family. She would not attack him if at all possible, except for whatever was necessary to drive him off in the end.
The sound of his blades clashing with her fans echoed off the cliffs and the mining equipment below. Reminiscent of the days she sparred with him when she was just starting in the arts, the thudding of wooden training weapons reverberating off the old stone walls of the palace...
A misstep. Her focus snapped back. This was not training. This was her life or death on the line.
And still she didn't know why!
Why did they have to turn out like this? Abandoned, at each other's throats, bitter and resentful and lost?
Why couldn't her brother, if he had to be free... just be happy wherever he lived now?]
You call me a murderer, yet I cannot fathom why! Was a criminal I executed a friend of yours before you abandoned us?!
[No answer, but his next few strikes were much harder.]
Were you fond of that Demonic Sky princeling who died because they did not treat him after I took his arm?
[Still silent, but this time no change either. So she was further from the mark.
A burning magenta blade swiped at her face, and she moved to parry it, but it suddenly swiveled back on Stray's wrist, leaving only a fist. The contact with her cheek caused her to stumble, but she still parried the second strike that followed the first before dancing back to buy a moment to breathe and clear her sight.
She felt a trickle of warmth on her face and knew his gauntlet had cut her. What a hateful look he had in his eyes... It gutted her more deeply than any blade ever could, especially not understanding why it was there at all. Cruel and beyond reason.]
I ruled the Empire for fifty years, fought many battles, executed many criminals. The blood on the hands of an Empress is heavy and layered, though you could not possibly know that.
[He seemed to need a moment. By his stance, she guessed the rocks had turned his ankle, so she pressed while she had the chance.]
Answer me, brother. I am tired of being hunted and not knowing why. If I am truly a murderer, tell me whose blood mine must repay!
[Stray lunged again with a furious snarl, clearly recovered. The Empress once again remained on the defensive, though the power behind his blows drained her strength quicker than an offensive of her own would. One of his blades nicked her arm, but her skinsuit closed over it, shutting down the bleeding.]
YOU MURDERED UNCLE DAICHI!
[She barely deflected the strike accompanying her brother's furious scream, the rage behind it making her stagger. It also seemed to take the wind out of Stray, if only for a moment.
In that moment, she lowered her fans in shock.]
... Daichi.... Oh spirits...
The man who had tried to kill her for the throne when she was just a grieving child.
But of course... Takeshi didn't know that. He couldn't know that. He had been gone for over a year. And he had been thicker than thieves with their uncle Daichi, closer than even his own father.
All he knew, somehow, was that she had had Daichi discreetly disposed of in the mountains bordering the Demonic Sky.
He would never believe their uncle Daichi would ever try to kill her, or turn her court against her, or destroy the delicate societal balance their father had maintained.]
So... you are his final revenge.
[A bitter, slightly manic laugh cracked in her throat as her head tilted back.]
From beyond the grave, all these years later, he still seeks to bring me down... and so he tears from me the last of my blood. My own brother...
[Her beloved brother, her dead uncle's willing blade turned at her heart. Daichi's cruelty knew no bounds... not even death.
All hope of reconciliation... had been in vain.]
[She was forced on the defensive again, her brother's attacks holding a renewed strength and rage behind them. By contrast, her defenses were losing power as hopelessness took hold, slowing her down. A few more cuts slashed her arms, closed by her skinsuit, but nothing could stop the bleeding from the light cut on her throat.
They would never be free. The hunt would only end with her death or Takeshi's. They would never be free...
Stray's sharp boot swept the air over the Empress' head as she bent backwards to avoid his kick. Spinning out of his reach, her eyes caught a flicker of movement down the hill.
Eugene was having a difficult time restraining himself. He must have noticed her sudden decline in fighting spirit. He was pacing, too far away to do anything in time, but restless still, and clearly worried. Despite the distance, his eyes met hers. In the moment she had to spare, the Empress smiled.
The world was not this hilltop. She had more to fight for than herself, more to hope for than what had been lost. Her home. Her people. Her beloved son and his love.
She could endure the hunt for as long as Stray pursued it, as long as she had them.
The Empress turned, the strength in her defenses returned, and blocked her brother again, forcing him to lose some of the ground he had gained. Despite the damage she had taken, they were still evenly matched. Her skills truly did not fail her.
The sun was now almost directly overhead. Mist and mocking laughter echoed from the vines. Still, the Empress did not yield, and neither would her brother. There was no reconciliation now, no words to be spoken. There was no point, only the drive to end this as quickly as possible.
The two locked weapons for a moment, then broke apart with a shove. Stray stumbled, and the Empress flared her fans, readying for his next assault. He was tiring, as was she, but his rage spent more energy. She could hear his breathing becoming more ragged, and he wasn't holding himself up as well as he had been.
As he adjusted himself, the Empress caught a flash behind her brother. For a moment she thought it was her old friend back from the grave. It took the shape of Carver... but it wasn't Carver. The twisted being immediately honed in on the two, focusing on the closer sibling, claws reaching for Stray's throat. Her brother remained oblivious as he struggled to catch his breath.
She didn't hesitate. The Empress charged forward, eyes on the massive creature reaching for her brother. Stray jolted at her sudden movement, scrambling to brace himself, but he was prepared to be attacked, not pushed aside. As the Empress shoved him out of the way, she brought her warfan down on the false Carver's head, splitting it cleanly.
At the same moment, she felt something pierce her skinsuit and slip through her ribs, fire searing through her lungs.
With a gasp and cry of pain, the Empress pivoted and instinctively struck at the cause, her warfan splitting bone, another scream echoing hers.
The false Carver dissolved into nothing. Her brother fell to his knees, clutching a massive wound in his collarbone, one of his daggers missing from his wrists. The Empress felt at her side, finding the hilt of his blade protruding from her ribcage.
She heard her name. Someone was screaming her name. Eugene. Oh spirits, he would kill Takeshi for this, oath or not...
Falling to her knees beside her brother, the Empress grabbed Stray's wrist, exposing the portal device. She'd seen him use it enough times. Now she mimicked his movements, and a portal tore open behind him. With the strength she had left, she pushed her brother through, catching his shocked gaze as the tear sealed again, leaving her alone in the mist.
Dizziness started to hit her. The blade had punctured her lung, and the tip was lodged in her heart. Her lung was already collapsing, the space that remained filling with blood. With considerable effort, she seized control of the muscle of the heart, continuing its weakening pulse as well as possible.
About as effective as a piece of tape on a gunshot wound, but it would buy her precious seconds for the one thing that mattered now...]
