True Love's Seventh Kiss

Prologue

Rain cascaded down the face of the clocktower on that dreary night. A woman wrapped in dark colored armor finished clipping her wires and setting the magic crystal in the brass harness. The constant ticking of the clock tower's inner gears covered her silent work. But the steady clack of heels on the finished wooden platforms caught the woman's attention. With one final twist the elaborate bomb was set to blow up the entire tower and half of the church next door.

Only the face of the clock had been lit at first but now that the bombs were armed the entire room lit up with blue magic light from the crystals set to explode. The footsteps stopped and a one-armed woman in a battledress stood in front of the clock face creating an intimidating silhouette.

"I was wondering how that filthy pirate kept getting away, it seems he was getting help from you." the woman said as she drew her sword with her left hand. "I always knew you were a traitor, always slinking around like you knew everything."

With a sigh the woman in the dark corner stood up and turned around. "It looks like my luck has finally run out now that the sword saint showed up." she turned to face the woman in the battle dress. Then with a flick of her wrist she pushed a button on a handle and a short sword unfurled in her hand. She noticed that the sword saint no longer had her right arm and smirked. "But I like my chances after that pirate took a bite of you with him. You deserved a lot worse if you ask me, Sword saint."

The traitor woman knew this was the end of the line for her. The sword saint wouldn't come without back-up and now that she had been caught there was no point running. She was 50 years old, and although she was in great shape for her age, she didn't have much left in her. This would be her final crescendo either way.

The traitor stepped forward and rolled her shoulders. Even if she couldn't get away from this fight, she could make that sword saint witch pay for what she had done.

"Rion is a good man and you all beat and broke him for your own gains. You are the worst perpetrator. You brainwashed his son, and if that boy hadn't stepped in the way and died for you then you wouldn't have been able to run away like the coward you are." the traitor accused.

"Rion was a tool. A sky pirate who was no better than the loot he raided from our enemies. A barbaric fool who doesn't know his place. And since he bit the hand that fed him, that pirate is no better than a rabid dog that needs to be put down. At least that boy proved he was a worthwhile tool and died for his owner." The sword saint hissed with mocking venom.

"You made a father kill his son; do you really see nothing wrong with that?" The traitor seethed.

"We made one mutt kill another mutt, whether he was his son doesn't even matter, we just needed another leash to control him since he was getting too strong." the sword saint laughed. "That woman laid with so many men, it was the pirate's own naive nature that led him to believe it was his son. Or maybe some misguided paternal instinct led him to believe he must take responsibility for that runt. Either way he is a fool, and you will not stop us, we will put him down tonight."

"You are not even human!" the traitor cursed, as she ripped off her mask.

The Sword Saint stepped forward until the blue light revealed her face. The woman should have also been in her 50's but had the appearance of a young woman she didn't have a single wrinkle.

"That's funny coming from you, traitor. Even at fifty years old you look no older than a freshly married maiden." the sword saint also taunted.

"To think I used to look up to you. You used to be an honorable knight. A woman of class and distinction." The traitor said as she flexed her magical circuits for one last time. The gather magic made her hair dance on whisps of ghostly wind.

"Do you really think a woman of class and distinction could become a sword saint? No, I've always been like this, clawing my way up in power until that pirate bastard got in my way! He stole my GLORY! We sent him on so many suicide missions... he shouldn't have returned victorious he should have been DEAD!" the sword saint finally cracked revealing her ugly snarling face beneath her youthful beauty. Her sword glowed with sword aura only it was fowl tainted by her fall from glory into madness.

The traitor smiled, "You can't kill him, you will never be able to. Rion is a survivor! And as soon as you actually break him, he will destroy everything the Imperial villains like you put him through."

"You..." the sword saint chuffed as she came to a realization. "You love him, don't you? HA! That's it isn't it? Even after everything you did to him you fell in love with him!"

"Yes, even after everything I did. The folly of my youth and the pain I caused him. That's why I've had to make it up to him all these years, even if I had to do it behind his back and under your noses, he deserves better than you, then us."

"Too bad you will never get to see him again, the traitor and the pirate, you would have made an ugly couple." the sword saint mocked.

They had rounded the small room and now the traitor had her back to the cloudy yellow glass of the clock face. Rain washed over it as the hum of the distant thunder almost covered up what she wanted to hear.

"He is escaping! Get the rabid skydog! Put him down!" shouted some soldier near the church outside.

That was her cue.

"Unfortunately, you are right. He was much too good for me." the traitor resolved. She rushed forward and traded swords with the sword saint for a few scant moments until the hilt of the sword saint's blade pressed against her armor. A dark spike protruded from her back, but the traitor smiled.

The traitor dropped her sword and twisted her fist in the sword saint's blouse and held her as if she were the cold grip of death herself. "Let's be kinder in our next life."

The traitor then held up the remote for the bombs and pressed the button.

The blue magic light turned red.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion was enough to vaporize the clock tower and damaged a solid portion of the church next to it. The church where a certain outlaw skypirate had beseeched the church's Saintess for mercy only to discover it was a trap. The explosion caused enough chaos for him to get away and later enact his terrible revenge.

No one should have known about the Traitor's last act of love and revenge.

But there was a single spectator.

A certain god trapped in this wicked world who cursed the death of one of the only two decent people left in this rotten world. The valiant knight fell into the cursed sword saint, the sleepy saintess became a neglectful pawn, the witty schemer died a sad traitor's death. And the gods in charge weren't just enabling it, they were encouraging it.

No... worse... they were the architects.

They were the cold puppeteers who steered the noblest characters down paths of destruction in their sick twisted games. Creating a world where heroes couldn't exist if they didn't fall or turning them into outlaws and traitors.

He had been able to tolerate it for a couple hundred years, but this generation was the worst of them all. This god sympathized and resonated with the roguish Captain Rion who survived the worst of all odds. For 50 years he managed to remain a good man despite the very gods and 'the powers that be' nipping at his heels and systematically taking away everything he knew and loved.

But now Rion had fallen into the darkness of his heart. his last allies and glimmers of hope gone. Rion's path of revenge would send this entire empire spiraling into destruction

After watching this tragedy, this spectator would not be able to just watch any longer.

It was time to plot and plan his own brand of cavalier revenge.