"…TITANIA, WE ARE UNITED!"
"Whoa…." Bo gasped.
Titania opened her eyes and started casting a defensive spell sigil. A split second later, a wall of ice shot up from beneath Turak'Kahn, Viola, Jurirai, and Ultia's feet and sent them flying into the air. With a flick of her wrist, Titania sent a cloud of crystalline scales that froze the air as they went, creating an ice slide all the way to Jane and Iris' parents. They all slid down the length of the slide and crashed into the ground behind Titania.
"Don't just stand there! Kill them!" Aziza yelled at Rowad and the guards.
I immediately started channeling volt attribute mana throughout my body and reached out to grab Bo and Iris to grab them and run only to have four ice walls surround the three of us just before a hail of bullets pelted us.
"This spell is Jane's! That cast speed is almost instantaneous!" Iris exclaimed.
From outside our ice shelter, the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and ice shattering filled the air. It sounded like a full company going up against an army instead of a fa tion of palace guards going up against one girl.
I channeled float attribute mana and jumped into the air to get a look at what was going on. When I cleared the top of the walls I was mesmerized by the vision of Titania flying high above the coliseum, casting offensive spells that sent icicles flying at guards while simultaneously casting defensive spells that made ice walls erupt from the ground that cut off Aziza and Rowad from the rest of the guards and surrounded Jane and Iris parents, protecting them from harm.
Having suppressed Aziza and Rowad, Titania went full offensive on the other guards. She started casting an offensive spell sigil and a defensive spell sigil at the same time. Both spell sigils suddenly shattered and combined into a hybrid version of both spells. A brand new orange colored spell sigil started casting, and multiple icicles shot up from the ground and impaled more than half the guards.
The rest of the guards freaked and tried to run, shooting blindly at her while they ran, but Titania wasn't letting anyone escape. She started casting two offensive spell sigils, which both shattered and combined into an orange spell sigil. Two black fireballs launched from Titania's hand at the guards.
They both slammed into the ground between a group of guards and exploded into black flames. The flames suddenly froze mid explosion and trapped the guards in a still burning frozen flames that cremated the guards in moments.
I flew up out of the ice blockade, meaning to help Titania fight. However, it looked like she didn't need my help. In a matter of moments, she had cut down the last of the guards, and only Aziza and Rowad were left.
With a snap of Titania's fingers, all of the ice walls she created shattered, freeing Iris and Jane's parents as well as Bo, Iris, Aziza, and Rowad. Titania floated down to the center of the arena and sent freezing wing scales at Aziza and Rowad and froze their feet to the ground.
"Holy shit! She's as strong as Chase!" Bo exclaimed. I floated down to the stands beside Iris and Bo and shook my head.
"No, she's stronger…She's able to cast two spells at once and even combine them, it seems. Plus, she has Ayia'liah's mana channeling abilities. She's literally combined all the abilities of both Jane and Ayia'liah and gave her some new ones…she's multiple times stronger than I am right now." I summarized.
Both Iris and Bo shivered slightly upon hearing that. Our eyes all turned to the arena where Titania had cast four axiom spell sigils and created blades of ice and pointed two blades each at both Aziza and Rowad's neck.
"JANE DON'T!" Turak'Kahn bellowed. Titania looked over her shoulder at Turak'Kahn with a impartial expression on her face. The black raccoon coloring around her eyes made the look more striking.
"We are Titania, not quiet Jane, not quiet Ayia'liah." She said plainly then looked down at Aziza who was cowering at Titania's blade.
"Why are you still protecting her, she tried to kill you twice, she killed the son of your oldest friend, she will surely bring your kingdom to ruin should she ascend to the throne?"
"She's my daughter! Your sister! You can't just kill her Jane!" Turak'Kahn exclaimed.
"I see…familial ties. However keeping her alive will only bring death to you and your family. It might not be today or even tomorrow but sooner or later she will succeed in killing you all." Titania said and pressed the blade against Aziza's and Rowad's throats.
"JANE!" Turak'Kahn snapped and started to run over to Titania only to be stopped by Viola. She spun him around and slapped him hard enough to knock him on hos ass.
"TURAK'KAHN! Wake up!" Viola screamed.
"You might see Aziza as your daughter but she obviously only sees you as a obstacle to the throne! Twice in as many days she's tried to kill you, your wife, and your other children! This isn't something that can be simply forgiven or swept under the rug! Royal dignitaries have died because of her and her plans, our country could be facing the worst political disaster since the third world War because of her! She needs to be punished!"
"I did punish her!" Turak'Kahn defended.
"You gave her a slap on the wrist! A mosquito bite is would have been more punishing." Viola chastised then pointed to Ultia and Jurirai. "How the hell can you expect Jurirai or Ultia to continue to serve our family after you let their son's murder go unpunished? How can you expect me to stay with you if you let this go unpunished?!"
"Stay with me? You mean…?" Turak'Kahn started only to be interrupted by Viola.
"She has tried to kill our children Turak'Kahn! Jane and Leonard! She would have succeeded if it wasn't for Chase! You're planning to let her go free knowing this! How can I trust you to keep our children safe when you won't even acknowledge how messed up that is?" Viola snapped. Aziza started laughing manically and looked at Viola.
"AND THERE IT IS! I was wondering how long it would take for you to use the 'we have to kill her for the sake of our children' line!" Aziza yelled then pointed a accusing finger at Viola. "You've wanted me dead since you became engaged to my father!"
"THAT'S A LIE!" Viola snapped then stormed over to Aziza. "Everyday of my life with Turak'Kahn I tried my hardest to get closer to you, to forge some kind of bond with you! You made it clear from the beginning that you didn't need a mother since yours gave her life to bring you into this world so I at least wanted to be friendly with you…obviously I failed…I failed in a lot of ways. Not just in trying to bond but also in raising Jane."
Viola looked to Titania and smiled softly. Her gaze however seemed to look through Titania, to the part of the hybrid creature that housed Jane and Ayia'liah's separate personalities. She closed her eyes and shook her head.
"I should have seen how much her grandmother was messing her up inside. I should have seen how much the hatred between you two was growing instead of burying my head in the sand and letting Turak'Kahn sort you out. I should have stepped up and been a mother instead of distracting myself with ancient myths and legends…I'm more of a failure as a parent than my father was. At least he was involved in my life…I was a stringer in Jane's…." Viola sighed.
Aziza gritted her teeth and slammed her fist into the ground and glared up at her step-mother.
"You think some half-hearted confession is going to change me, make me feel sorry for you because you suddenly realized you were wrong!" Aziza snapped. Viola shook her head then knelt down in front of Aziza to look her in the eye.
"I have never once saw you as a enemy Aziza in the entirety of our relationship, until I heard you were the one behind the attack. Every instinct in my body is telling me to slit your throat right now and get rid of a threat to my children and myself. But if I do that I will lose my husband forever…." Viola looked back to Turak'Kahn and stood, the look she gave him was authoritative and regal. "…So I'll leave it with you Turak'Kahn. Death is off the table but I refuse to let her go unpunished and the ruling you gave is far from satisfactory. You decide here and now the fate of our family."
"The fate of our family?" Turak'Kahn repeated then narrowed his eyes at her. "You do want me to chose between you or my daughter?!"
"No I want you to chose to do the right thing. I want you to chose to protect our family our children. She doesn't have to die but I refuse to leave our children vulnerable to assassination!" Viola snapped.
All eyes were on Viola and Turak'Kahn. The two seemed locked in a silent battle of wills as The Pharaoh stood, silently staring down his queen as if hoping she would change her mind. Everyone had been so enthralled in the silent combat between those two that we'd all taken our eyes off Aziza and Rowad.
Rowad suddenly knocked the blades that Titania had pressed to his throat and then tackled her to the ground and pulled a dagger from his belt.
"FOR THE ONE TRUE QUEEN!" Rowad bellowed as he brought the dagger down only to be flash frozen by the scales on Titania's wings and shattered into a million pieces.
In that brief moment that Rowad provided Aziza raised a gun that Rowad had handed her as he tackled Titania and pointed it at Viola and pulled the trigger, shooting the queen in the back.
"NOOOOOO!" Turak'Kahn bellowed and ran towards Viola catching her as she fell.
Time seemed to move to a crawls as I saw Aziza aim the gun at her father and Step-mother, her finger already squeezing the trigger. Titania was still om the ground, not fast enough to stand and protect them. Iris, Bo, and I were too far in the stands to be able to reach her before she fired even with mana channeling.
I felt my heart sink until I saw a glint of metal streak through the air towards Aziza. The glint was a ornate dagger; a stiletto; that soared through the air and struck Aziza through the eye and into her brain killing her instantly. Aziza's head flew back and her body collapsed on the ground.
"AZIZAAAAAAAAAA!" Turak'Kahn roared as he clutched his injured wife in his arms. He looked down at his dead daughter and injured wife, grief, confusion, and horror written across his. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"
"CHASE!" Titania bellowed looking up at the stands to me. I was already channeling float attribute mana as I jumped over the railing into the arena and bit my thumb to write runes on my forearm.
"Mend bone, mend blood, mental heart and soul! Rebuke the pain and remake as whole! ALKI ARKIAS!" I chanted as I starred casting a utility spell sigil. On finishing my chant a second axiom spell sigil formed around the first.
I reached Viola and Turak'Kahn and slammed my right hand in the ground. A green light flowed from my hand and soaked into the sand below us and flowed out in waves that washed over both Viola and Aziza. The both of them glowed bright green as their wounds began to heal.
The stiletto that impaled Aziza in the eye was pushed out as her eye healed and grew back. In a matter of minutes it looked as if She'd never been hurt. Viola's wound took a little longer. The bullet had struck her in the back and bounced off one of her ribs fragmenting it and bouncd around her upper body, damaging her lungs, liver, kidneys, small and large intestines and nicking several major arteries.
"SOMEONE CHECK AZIZA!" Turak'Kahn ordered looking at her helplessly as he held his wife.
Titania moved to Aziza's side and knelt down to feel a pulse. After a moment she started doing chest compressions and rescue breaths. I kept my attention on Viola. Internally all of Aziza's injuries were healed however the stiletto pierced her brain and killed her. I could do a lot woth my magic but I couldn't resurrect the dead, all I could hope to do was leave CPR to Titania and hope she could be revived that way.
"Turry…" Viola whispered weakly. Turak'Kahn looked down at his wife and rubbed her cheek.
"Don't talk my love! Save your strength!" Turak'Kahn told her. Viola shook her head then looked to Titania.
"You had the eye enchanted…with the spell I was looking for…Jane looked so beautiful casting it…" Viola said, her voice weak and low.
"She did! So beautiful!" Turak'Kahn agreed.
"Stop it right now!" I snapped as I moved my hand from the ground and placed it on Viola's chest directly. The healing waves flowed directly into Viola, speeding up her healing. "Stop talking as if you're dying! My spell is working! Slowly but surely it is working!"
Even as I spoke I felt the last of Viola's clipped arteries start to close taking her out of dangerous territory, I was now focusing on the liver and the kidneys. The rupturing of which releases huge amounts of filtered toxins into her blood stream. The main reason the spell was taking so long to heal her was the fact it was also trying to remove those toxins and keep her from going into shock.
"Chase! I still have no pulse for her!" Titania announced much to Turak'Kahn's horror.
"No! NO! NOOO! Keep trying! You have to bring her back! You have too!" Turak'Kahn exclaimed.
I heard footsteps running up behind me and then saw Bo knelt down next to me to look at the queen. I bit the thumb on my unoccupied hand and looked at Bo.
"Give me your hand!" I commanded the young boy. Bo quickly complied and then I wrote a quick spell on his forearm. "Hurry over to Aziza and cast that spell! Place your hand on her chest over your heart when you do!"
Bo nodded then rushed over and did as he was told. I turned my attention back to the queen but heard a loud electric shock behind me which told me he'd followed my instructions. While Bo and Titania worked on Aziza I finished healing up Viola. While I healed the physical damage she was still low on blood thanks to the gunshot and I was low on mana now, having used a advanced spell that required a somatic component for multiple minutes at this point.
"Thank you but Aziza!" Turak'Kahn said looking over at his daughter.
I walked over to Titania and Bo and looked down at Aziza. They were altering between Titania doing chest compressions and rescue breaths and Bo shocking her chest to try and jump start her heart. From the time they had started doing this and I had finished healing Viola more than ten minutes had passed. A total of thirty minutes had passed in total since we started trying to revive her.
"She's gone…I'm sorry…" I said to Turak'Kahn and I honestly meant it. However I felt about her for everything she's orchestrated and done. She was still the Pharaoh's daughter. He loved her regardless of her faults.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no…!" He cried and dropped his head. Viola reached up and hugged her husband, trying her best to console him. Bo and Titania both shared a look before standing up and stepping back from Aziza.
Turak'Kahn laid his wife down gently then crawled over to his daughter. The pain and anguish in his eyes cut me deeply. He hesitated to touch her, as if doing so would make it all too real. He finally brushed from her face and broke down. Cradling his daughter in his arms, he let out deep, soul wrenching cries that rattled me to my core.
I looked around the room and saw Iris standing over with her mother and father. Ultia was on the ground crying hysterically while Jurirai was trying to console her. Iris was crying too as she held her mother and father and the three of them cried. A glance down at the stiletto by Aziza's head told me who threw it.
It was much too small for Jurirai to wield effectively and Viola was the one that was injured by Aziza. Ultia obviously threw it, whether to protect Viola or get revenge for her son I didn't know. Honestly I hoped it was the later, the idea of Ultia and Jurirai throwing away their feelings for their son all for the sake of the royal family didn't sit right with me.
"Turak'Kahn…we can't stay here. We need to get back up to the palace." I said after letting him grieve for a few minutes. Turak'Kahn glared up at me and gritted his teeth.
"MY DAUGHTER WAS JUST MURDERED! CAN'T YOU LET ME GRIEVE?!" He bellowed.
"Unless you also want to bury a son as well as a daughter we need to get back up to the palace." Titania said in a matter of fact tone. "Leonard is still up in the palace, his guardian was wounded. He only has the palace guards for protection which we know are all working for Aziza. His life is in danger."
Turak'Kahn clutched his daughter tightly then looked to Jurirai and Ultia, pure hatred and scorn in his eyes.
"Fine…after he is safe I will see justice for Aziza's murder done!" He declared.
"Don't let your rage alienate the very people you rely on for your safety Turak'Kahn." I warned as I looked towards the exit. "Don't forget: they also lost their son. The same pain you are feeling right, they are also feeling."
***
I was now running through the palace with Iris on my tail. We're trying to find Leon by randomly running through the palace and hoping that Bone-lasher spots him with his electromagnetic vision. Titania was currently flying all over the palace casually casting spells to kill any palace guards that she saw and drawing everyone's attention.
I replied.
Iris and I turned a corner and saw a small group of guards that were a mix of palace guards and Egyptian military. Seeing us, the guards looked surprised while the military men looked confused and worried to see us running through the palace.
Without a word I channeled accelerate and shock attribute mana throughout my body and dashed forward, popping my claws and slashing the throats of the guards before they could react and skidding to a stop before they could react. I made sure to not attack the military which nit Mr in the ass as the bodies of the guards started to fall.
"SHIT! THEY'RE ONE OF THE ATTAKERS!" The highest ranking soldier bellowed and turned to point their guns at me.
"Epsilon, phillakar, Midnight one!" Iris exclaimed. All of the soldiers froze in their steps and then quickly stood up straight and saluted Iris.
"Ma'am! Sargent Biriqi of the 153th infantry, submitting to one of the midnight swords authority." The Sargent exclaimed. I arched a brow at Iris.
"Midnight swords?" I asked.
"The Philari family's code name in the military. Each one of us hold the same authority as a general when we use a code phrase in the presence of military." Iris explained then turned to the soldiers. "This is a order from the Pharaoh, Take out any royal guard left in the palace. Evidence has been found that they were involved in the assault last night. The flying evo assaulting the Palace guards is to be seen as a target of protection."
"Yes ma'am! I will spread these orders to all military personnel stationed in the palace!" Sargent Biriqi confirmed then motioned for his men to follow him as he ran down the hallway, back the way that Iris and I had just came from. I watched as they all left then turned to Iris.
"You're not going to tell them about Leon?" I asked. She shook her head.
"He is still a royal that can't be seen. We have to find him by ourselves." Iris said with a nod, then turned towards the hallway and started running. "…Lets hurry!"