The Shadow Kingdom

Chapter 28ii

I drop my gun and prepare to make a run for the front gate when she teleports there first. With one of her hands placed on the gate, the steel melts, and the gate is fused shut. Selena smiles and licks her lips like a cat playing with its food. All right, so be it. I strip off my Kevlar and stand fast against my enemy. This is our arena. This is where I will fight and die!

I slowly maneuver myself into the middle of the arena with my hand gripping the combat knife behind my back, ready to make my last stand. Selena releases a cry of unadulterated fury and charges at me like a phoenix. As her blade comes swinging at my face, I pull the Ferrum Vastator out from its sheath, and Selena's attack is parried as the Iron Destroyer morphs from a combat knife, into a great sword.

I had an inkling that I would need every edge in order to take on my demon siblings, so I stole the Ferrum Vastator from the vault before the attack. I studied all of the Timeless Conduit's abilities and practiced using it beforehand. The Conduit is so named because it is stronger than titanium and has a higher melting point than tungsten, yet using it feels as natural as swinging a stick. Selena's fury is augmented like kerosene added to a flame, and I grin. This is it – Ashcroft fire versus Ashcroft ice. "Do your worst, bitch!" I challenge.

Selena takes her ninjato blade and cuts a slit on the side of her white dress. She stops playing games and summons her dragon to finish me off, but the Destroyer reforms into a lance and strikes at her, forcing her to teleport out of the way and lose control of her fire beast. From a distance, she attempts the same attack, but I charge at her this time, and as her dragon comes at me, I slide on my knees across the icy quartzite tiles. I lean back as far as I can, and the dragon's heat narrowly grazes my chest. As soon as I am close enough, the Destroyer becomes a long sword, and I jab it at Selena with all my strength. The blade pierces deep into the courtyard walls right after she teleports to the opposite end.

I pull the Destroyer out of the wall and prepare to face Selena's next hit and run attack. She is just like Nathaniel. After a lifetime of having an unassailable advantage in battle, she doesn't know any other way to fight. She will continue to attack me with fire and retreat whenever I get close enough to retaliate. The critical factor however, is that my army is marching closer to her castle by the minute. All I have to do is outlast her until they arrive.

And I can literally smell yet another advantage coming my way. The temperature has just dropped a couple degrees in the last minute. The air has become moist enough that I can taste the condensation. I lift my head up to see the sky turn a few shades darker, and I laugh at Selena from across the battlefield. It is about to rain!

Selena's blood red eyes falter along with her supernatural fire. I know that she will avoid facing me in melee range whenever possible therefore I summon the water to form a large circle around me that quickly becomes ice. Every new raindrop that touches the ground reinforces my shield, making it strong enough to resist Selena's dragon, assuming she even has the strength to summon it again. "You can still run, Selena. That's what our brother did when he saw things go bad." Selena grimaces at me like the devil incarnate. "And we both know that you are a coward at heart."

Selena screams like a fiery harpy. She stomps on the ground, and a wave of fire spreads through the courtyard, battering against my ice wall. I struggle hard to maintain the ice wall, but ultimately, she melts a small clearing through my barricade and teleports right in front of my face, meaning to jab her dagger through my stomach.

In a change of roles, I spin out of the way of her attack as if I'm dancing, and her dagger stabs nothing but ice. I swing the Ferrum Vastator with a level of grace that amazes even myself, but Selena teleports behind me just as the long sword was about to merge with her neck. We both turn our heads simultaneously to face one another, and Selena's entire body bursts into flames like a blooming flower, which sends me diving for cover.