"The Legion?" Evie asked.
"I don't like that name," Felix began, but was interrupted by a blast of yellow Mana vapor. It dry roasted the mansion's entire first floor, and flames soon followed. Cal was thrown backward, out of the house, but she reoriented mid-air and landed in a skidding crouch.
"That didn't go well, I assume," Evie said. She blinked at the inferno before them. The heat was intense, so hot it was charring the stonework.
Song of Absolution is level 66!
"You killed them, Fiend?" DuFont's voice crooned from the conflagration. She stepped through the flames as if impervious, though her red cloak had all but burnt away. Wooden struts and beams around her popped in mini explosions as the heat redoubled. "Good. Less for me to clean up, after."
Evie threw her chain only moments before Cal hurled daggers, and Felix sent two orbs of acid flying at her.
Rerouting Mana Reserves.
What? Felix shivered at the voice he heard, its warm tones at odds with the eerie premonition he experienced. Then another phrase, uttered with the same cheerful disregard.
Song of Siege, Activating.
A glowing, narrow orichalcum wall rose from the earth, blocking both his acid and Evie's chain. Cal's daggers ricocheted and clattered to either side of it. The wall was just big enough to hide DuFont entirely from view.
"You've no idea the power Authority grants me!" Dufont raged. The wall shifted, speeding toward them faster than even Felix could perceive it. It slammed into him, and all he could do was put his shoulders down and take the hit. The impact drove him back into and through the half-melted fountain. Evie and Cal were thrown from their feet as Felix plowed deep into the flagstones, only barely able to bring it to a trembling halt.
"I could tear all of this city to pieces, and turn you into quivering wrecks! With a single note of a symphony of power!" DuFont kept shouting, but with the structure so close he couldn't see her. Evie and Cal climbed to their feet behind him though. He met Cal's eye and she nodded and signed at him.
Got it, he mouthed. "Then why don't you," Felix grunted. "You've had Authority for less than a day and this city is a warzone! Why not stop the monsters?"
"And let you band together and take this from me? I've tried too long to rise to greater places, Felix. This is my right! And you will never, ever, take it away from me!"
"Switch Reversal!" Cal shouted, and DuFont suddenly gasped in obvious pain. The wall slackened against Felix's Strength, though he didn't realize it until he'd nearly pushed it over. He could see DuFont clearly now, from her charred armor to the hanging sleeve that had once held her left arm. She writhed on the ground, two foot long blades sunk hilt-deep in her shoulder and back.
"Now that you're holding still," Cal said, removing two new daggers from her belt and stepping around the dimming orichalcum wall. She met Felix's eyes and he nodded in agreement. "I Challenge you, Eliza DuFont."
A rapid melody played at the edge of Felix's hearing, and lightning crashed above them, loud enough to shake the earth.
"I have come to claim your Authority."
Authority Contested!
Reminder! You May Not Use Your Authority Directly On Any Challengers!
Light swelled in DuFont's vision, even as blackness edged her sight. The blades Boscal had ambushed her with had sunk deep in her shoulder and back, piercing most of what she needed to live. Eliza knew it, with a clear, cold certainty.
She was going to die.
Challenge Issued!
Challenge Automatically Accepted!
Terms: Surrender or Death!
You have Chosen this Path of Kings, Now You Must Defend Your Reign.
Walk Onward, Ascendant.
Ascendant?
Then Cal was on her, fast and furious and entirely too skilled. Too fast. DuFont had to throw herself wildly back to her feet, and even then she just barely evaded the treasure hunter's Skills. Eliza's heat magic blunted the edges of Boscal's attacks, forcing the woman to withdraw as her power swept outward in small bursts. But it wasn't enough.
Insistent strains of music called to her as she fought for her life, and DuFont refused to accept its siren call. It was the greatest and most terrifying of Authority's Songs. To Sing it, she would put her entire foundation at risk. Her Temper would suffer; she could even lose entire Tiers. All of this she knew intrinsically. In her bones.
I...I can't...!
It would risk everything she had built. Yet Boscal was not toying with her; she fully intended to kill her. Eliza managed to parry the woman's dizzying display of dagger work with her own hooked blade, even cancelled out a Skill or two the woman tried to send her way.
Strike after strike, they came too fast for Eliza to track. Her Skills were great, but her Body was not her greatest Aspect. She stumbled beyond the edge of the courtyard, the blades already within her grinding against everything vital.
"Lady DuFont!" a familiar voice screamed, and Eliza grabbed at the white-armored figure in anguish. He grunted in surprise as her superior Strength dragged him close.
"Fatal Flurry!"
Seven attacks blurred forward from Boscal's refined Body, and Klark served his last, most honorable purpose. He jerked in her arms as the blades carved him apart.
I'llI'll remember you, boy. Eliza gasped and fell away from his corpse.
Authority! Sing the Song of Fury!
Authority Accessed.