Elven Legacy

Chapter 123

Tessa

Karma landed a few paces away from Juna and Leery – who still disturbingly wore Tessa's skin – and as she touched ground the phoenix breathed blue fire all around to let the Chyulin mages know she wasn't messing around.

Delight sparked through Tessa when they fearfully ran away in varied directions, leaving only Juna and Leery to face her and Karma, as the blue flames abated, leaving scant smoke in their wake.

The wind blew strong from the north against her back, and she raised her head with calm dignity, as her cloak flapped like proud banners and her hair danced before falling back down the sides of her face. She resisted glancing at Leery; she wouldn't let herself be irked by the fact that he was her exact replica. She'd be damned if she gave Juna the satisfaction.

Instead she fixed her vengeful gaze on the rapist himself, who wore a small creepy smile on his ageless face, a sparkle in his dark brown eyes, laugh lines crinkling slightly – she would never again entertain the thought that they made him look grandfatherly.

"You got away," Juna said in butchered Azurian, his voice sending shudders scuttling up her spine.

However, Karma's strength and energy made her resilient and impervious. You do not frighten me anymore. Your turn now to suffer, wouldn't you say?

She cleared her mind, clenching then unclenching her fists as she breathed out to steady herself. The air above their heads lay thick with clusters of clouds. The Chyulin warriors seemed busy elsewhere, or perhaps they opted to let Juna fight without interruption. Tessa quirked a smirk. Fine by me.

"You got your demon back," Juna said on a tone that resembled praise, yet still patronizing enough to be true to himself.

Tessa swallowed down a bitter taste in her mouth, as memories of what he'd done to her played behind her eyes.

Perhaps sensing that she was not at all in a chatty mood, Juna raised his dark steel scimitar, right foot forward, his fighting stance impeccable from centuries of training.

Tessa hadn't come here to spar with a blade. She gave the command – a vibrant pulse across her soul – albeit Karma hardly needed it. Blue fire roared out, brightening the thick gray skies, leaping joyful and murderous toward Juna.

But the blue flames clashed against Juna's hefted blade and recoiled like crippled snakes. Tessa felt the collision, the flames hissing back and away with echoes of pain reverberating through her body. The sensation proved so foreign that she was momentarily disoriented and faltered, stepping back from Juna despite her best efforts to stand her ground.

The fire died down, yet Tessa's anger coursed hotter than lava. Again!

Karma breathed out blue fire once more, however this time the flames disintegrated mere inches past her graceful beak. The phoenix uttered a muffled shriek, and Tessa's eyes widened in horror as she saw her neck crumpling in on itself, as though strangled by some giant invisible fist. She glared back down at Juna with pure fury flooding her veins like flammable oil.

The self-satisfied smile on his smug old face lit the match.

Screaming out her rage for the suffocating phoenix, Tessa opened her palms and unleashed her newfound, hard-won magic in the form of black flames, but this time aimed at Leery, hoping to weaken the master by hurting the demon. I'm sorry, Leery.

She knew he would forgive her.

And as these flames roiled out from her palms and slanted toward her look-alike, she experienced the frantic tingle of marks claiming the skin of her legs, yet she welcomed it and smiled.