Xilanada - Pursuit Of Regretted Truths/Part 13

Sen fell, teeth bared, and he brandished Crimson Laughter as he came down. The God-Blooded looked up, smirked...and suddenly fell away to reveal Solitary Coil. The white Anathema's smirk widened, exposing fangs, and her snake-like eyes were full of vicious delight.

She executed a swift kata and then gestured forcibly. A silver-white light shot from around her body into a concentrated lash of moonlight that bolted through the air toward him. Only a Charm enabled Sen to evade the mysterious attack, and then he was on her.

Solitary Coil moved like a snake, sliding by every knife stroke as quickly as he could jab at her. He tried to leap back for room and she jumped with him, her foot slamming his back down to the ground, pinning him from his Falling Star Maneuver. She laughed and her fist crashed into his stomach. Impossibly, the force drove him a dozen feet into the wall and he almost didn't realize that her whole arm had stretched to enhance the impact. Reflexively, he slashed downward and almost severed her hand off, bringing a cry from the Lunar.

Glancing up, Sen was just in time to see Xilanada's golden Anima explode in all directions from her, filling the room with sunlight. Her Essence-wrought dress flared and suddenly spun like a fan behind her, winding up like a spring. The glare of the Sun surrounded her as her Anima condescend back and she shot straight down toward Piiro. She struck, sword-first, and both were lost from sight momentarily as the resultant explosion sent rocky debris flying about in all directions.

The dust cleared and Xilanada stood in a small crater, tall and proud with her sword in hand. Piiro had wound up across the room and, though he was still armed and unharmed, that soulsteel chainmail of his was utterly smashed. Tiny links of it hung in tatters about him and more individual rings were spread across the whole Hall's floor like marbles. For the Abyssal's part, he looked stunned. And where was his hat?

"So you're behind the cult," Xilanada said, pointing her daiklave at the prone Abyssal and stepping from the rubble. "I was a fool. I let my own fear dominate me, I allowed it to blind me, and now this disaster happened. Mark this, Piiro or whatever your real name is. I may have failed to prevent it but, the Sun make it so, I will end it."

"You've never finished anything in your life," Solitary Coil said, spitting on the ground. "How about finishing this with me?"

Xilanada turned and her lips parted in disbelief. The Lunar was obviously furious and the tears sparkling in her eyes only made her look more so. The Solar looked suddenly sad and her spirit seemed to leave her.

"You don't need to fight her," Sen shouted across the din of battle, for around them Heaven and Hell still contested each other's power in Creation.

"I'll take care of her," Xilanada answered. A look of cold finality came over her face and Sen shuddered to see it. "Let Piiro alone, though. He's too much for you, too much for any but a good-sized Wyld Hunt."

Her words, innocent as they were meant, burned inside him. Tepet Ajalat Sen was not part of that illustrious band but he was not without skill himself. He'd held his own against the Lunar, hadn't he? Besides, the Abyssal was without armor now and Piiro favored the knife...just like Sen did.

The Solar and Lunar slowly closed on each other and Sen stopped tracking them, concentrating instead on making his way around the fighting toward the retreating Abyssal. Because, sure enough, the Deathknight was falling back. In his defense, it looked like he was more interested in gathering troops or continuing some dark plan than in running. Not that it mattered either way.

Sen soared out of the crowd, his fire burning about him, and he came down with a perfect shot to the Abyssal's back. Crimson Laughter plunged through skin, deflected off his spine and punctured one of Piiro's lungs. Almost a perfect hit! The Deathknight cried out and then backhanded Sen so hard he almost thought his head had come off, when he was able to think at all.

Finding himself on the floor, Sen groggily stood and set his feet apart as he saw the Abyssal facing off with him. Knives in hand, breathing hard, the two watched each other and began to circle slowly.

"So you were an Abyssal all along," Sen said conversationally, watching the blood dripping to the floor from Piiro's back. More blood flowed from the Deathknight's forehead, making a perverse mockery of the Blasphemous' Caste Mark, as it trailed down either side of his nose, around his mouth, to fall to the ground.

"Of course," Piiro answered in an equally casual tone. For all that he'd taken a knife to a lung, he didn't seem to be much bothered by it. That was unsettling. "You may call me Secret Glory in Abjection. It's a pity about this, really. You're a skilled man, Sen, and you have the right core of steel to get any necessary job done. Your Father was always proud of that."

"My Father sold his soul to the Yozi's," Sen replied angrily, remembering at last the stories of the hideous persuasive power of the Blasphemous. "As for yours, it's already damned!" Further conversation could only endanger him, risk turning him into this man's thrall. Piiro had too much to answer for to chance that.

Sen jumped sideways, rebounded off a wall, and rolled into a ball as he flew toward the Deathknight. He bounced as he hit the floor and he came out of the roll in a great, spinning scythe. Piiro lunged backward, soulsteel knife sparking where the two blades met.

The Abyssal grinned cockily and shadows seemed to flow about him as his blade sped in dozen different directions. Sen parried, blocked, parried and finally had to use an Essence-enhanced leap to get him clear of the flurry of blows. The Abyssal was so fast! Was he even using a Charm that cost him effort or could he keep that up indefinitely? Maybe Xilanada was right.

Sen scowled as he landed and he ran right back into the fray. Their knives snapped at each other and Sen had to admit the Abyssal was good. They tried for some holds, each took cheap shots at the other person's knees and Piiro almost got him in the forehead with the hilt once. Sen's Essence was staring to flag but so far the Abyssal hadn't landed a touch on him and that ghostly Anima of his was flaring brighter and darker at the same time.

Then Piiro got a savage kick right across Sen's face. The blow rocked him, almost knocked him out actually, and his vision came back into focus just in time to keep the soulsteel knife out of his neck. Piiro landed a painful jab against a kidney and Sen missed his parry against the knife, having to give ground to keep it from him.

"Most excellent, Sen," Piiro said, breathing hard. Blood trailed from his mouth from the mortal wound in his back but he wasn't slowed at all, didn't even look like he felt it. "Your knife-work is amazing. Who taught you?"

"Just a teacher at the Heptagram," Sen replied, feeling the rising warning of his Oaths at the thought of revealing E'lial's true identity. "You're not bad either. Duelist?"

"I was," Piiro answered in a friendly voice. "Now, I teach people the truth about the world."

"Yeah, not interested," Sen said shortly. "How about we finish this?"

"Fine. Let's." Piiro's friendliness evaporated as quickly as it had come and he lunged with the knife. Hellish purple light bled from the blade's surface and a shrieking howl of deafening proportions resonated from the weapon. Whatever else happened, Sen knew he didn't want that thing sticking him. Time to get desperate.

Sen didn't even try parrying that Charm with his knife. He parried it with his boots. Falling backwards onto one hand, Sen snapped both of his feet up and caught the Abyssal's wrist. With a hard shove off the ground, he pivoted, spinning himself like a top and twisting the Deathknight's arm.

Piiro hit the ground, his knife clattering next to him. Sen landed on his knees, bent over his enemy. In a second, he saw his opening and took it. Crimson Laughter swept down just beneath the Abyssal's arm and slammed in for a perfect heart-thrust.

E'lial himself couldn't have done it better, Sen thought with satisfaction as he rose from the body of his opponent. Piiro gasped once and then his eyes went wide, staring off into the distance at something only he could see. Sen shook his head at the dead Professor and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. It came away with blood. Figured. Damn, if those Deathknights weren't strong.

Sen looked around and took stock. The battle was going well, now. The Army of Heaven was making progress toward the Founder's Wing. As for Xilanada and Solitary Coil...

He frowned as he looked around. They were nowhere to be seen.