Blazing Glory Ch. 14

Having Death inside her allowed Rae to see the victims the target had killed over their lifespan. She could see how tainted their soul was by seeing the faces of the innocents lost. There was no shielding her from seeing it. She was subjected to it like an exposed nerve. She could handle it better if it was not for the little ones she saw. So many innocent children...

Fresh tears stung her eyes as the drowess hugged her knees into her chest, longing for Richard's comforting embrace. After all this time, she could still not bear the experience of children being lost to the cruelties of life. Her face fell forward, forehead resting on her knees. Her body wracked with sobs, as the tears came flooding forth.

"Why?" Rae cried, "Why am I so weak?..."

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"This way," Rizarra called out behind her as she ran up the steps leading toward a tunnel opening. Blaze and Kendra followed swiftly behind her. Blaze couldn't help but look over his shoulder with worry. He had never seen Rae like that before. The fearful expression on her face had filled him with more fear than one of her venomous threats. He doubted it was because of Nariko. He had seen enough of Rae's capabilities in battle to ease that concern. She had acted as if something more deadly was coming and they would all be in danger if they stayed.

"Wait," Blaze called out as he looked to the ruined city behind. A low mist was spreading throughout the streets behind them. "What is that fog?"

Kendra looked back and saw the same thing. She shook her head and turned back to following Rizarra as quickly as possible. "Trust in Rae, Blaze. She wanted us to flee in all haste for good reason. We must get out of the city." Her demonic senses were screaming at her to run for her life. It troubled her than an immortal's instincts would react in such a way. What did Rae know about this oncoming force that Kendra's instincts told her even an immortal should fear?

She heard Blaze take a deep breath of resignation before they crossed the threshold in ran into the dim light of the tunnel. Minutes passed as the only sound they could hear was their heavy breathing and footfalls upon the stone ground. A near deafening thunderous boom filled the still air, causing them all to stagger as the ground shook violently. Dust trickled from the ceiling about as they all look behind them in shock. By the Abyss, what kind of power had caused that to happen? Kendra could only wonder.

'Sister..." Rizarra whispered fearfully, taking a step back in the direction they had come. The drowess closed her eyes before turning about and running more swiftly than before. "Come!"

Her shout brought them back to reality. They reluctantly turned about and continued on. They did their best to ignore the sounds of a monstrous battle behind them echoing through the walls. A brighter light came into view up ahead along with a different sound she could begin to hear as the other sounds grew more distant.

The party of three emerged from tunnel into a large crevasse. The steep walls extended upwards into the darkness above. She saw what confirmed her suspicions of the sound as ahead of them was a bridge crossing a raging river. The light came from moss that was glowing upon the walls and rocks around them as it thrived upon the moisture of this environment. The river water must have been fresh snowmelt as it was surprisingly clear to where she could see aquatic plants and fish, all glowing with the odd green light. Despite her curiosity, it was not as important as the task at hand in reaching Koas. She focused on keeping behind Rizarra and Blaze as they ran across the length of the low stone bridge.

Amidst the sounds of fast moving water, a laugh caused her breath to freeze in her lungs with horror. The others had not noticed it as she had. Her whip dropped out of her sleeve and lashed out with desperate speed, driven from what her peripheral vision was glimpsing. The red leather coil wrapped about the waist of her surprised lover as she came to a halt and firmly yanked backwards.

"You're mine!" Sonora shouted in triumph as she burst into view from the waters to their right, naginata extended forward to spear Blaze through. The air rushed out Blaze as his body flew backward, the large blade passing through air where he would have been moments before. Blaze's body crashed into hers. She grunted with the impact but kept herself upright as her arms steadied him. The siren landed into the waters on the other side of the bridge with a large splash. Her frustrated scream echoed off the walls.

"Thank you, Kendra," Blaze gasped when his breath finally returned. "She would have had me for sure if not your quick reaction." Rizarra looked back to them before cautiously glancing about their surroundings, the drowess confused by what had occurred.

"I take it this river leads to the sea," Kendra called out before the drowess nodded in confirmation. She cursed their luck mentally that the siren would be able to trouble them so far inland. Kendra surmised she must have been waiting for Nariko's findings before reporting them back to her goddess. Her green eyes looked to Blaze before softening. Not again. Her hands pushed the startled human forward. "Rizarra, I am trusting you with getting him to Koas. I will deal with this nuisance so you can get away."

"What? Wait a bloody minute," Blaze said in anger, turning about to Kendra in protest. "I am not separating from you! I never want to lose you like I did with Merodach ever again."

Blaze blinked when Kendra met his gaze with her emerald eyes filled with pain. "Blaze, I can't lose you either. I never told you because it was long ago in the past, but I fell in love with a man named Adrian centuries ago. Out of jealousy and hatred for my beauty and seductive talents, Sonora killed him before my very eyes."

"Kendra..." Blaze whispered, stunned as the tears escaped the corners of her eyes to glide down her face.

"As long as you are here, she will focus you. Because she knows it will tear me apart if I lose another person I love by her hands," the succubus said, wiping away her tears. Regaining her composure, her expression hardened. "Let me finish things with her and I will catch up. I promise you it won't be long."

Blaze still felt unsure about separating from her, but it was not his place or right to interfere with the score she had to settle with Sonora. A part of him felt profound sorrow for this fellow called Adrian. This man could have experienced the joyful life he now shared with Kendra. The mad siren had denied that man that chance. She had intended to wound Kendra deeply and succeeded. Though he would never know him, he would make it his mission to make Kendra happy for the rest of his days, not just because of his own love for her but to honor what Adrian would wish. His jaw tightened in anger.

"Give her hell," He stated simply before running back to the waiting drowess.

"Oh, I fully intend to," Kendra whispered darkly. She watched her lover reach the drowess before they continued on. Crazed laughter echoed through the air, signaling the siren's return. The others were not clear of the bridge yet. The succubus lowered herself into a crouch as her demonic power welled up inside her. Eyes narrowed tightly, she focused on the area around Blaze. True to her colors, Sonora flew out of the waters toward him with weapon aimed to kill. Her arm lashed out and a large fireball of hellfire shot forward. It roared through the air as it closed the distance.

Satisfaction filled her in seeing the siren's eyes turn in surprise to see the attack before growing her eyes grew wide in panic. She was in midair and could not avoid it. The fireball connected with Sonora in a concussive explosion of flame. Her body crashed down into the stone bridge engulfed in flames as Rizarra and Blaze continued on. Her shrieks of pain vibrated the air painfully as she rolled about in agony. Kendra hastily ran forward to finish the Sonora off. Thrashing about wildly, the siren rolled aside until her flaming body tumbled over the edge into the rushing waters.

"Damn it," Kendra cursed as the steam flew up from the water, the flames extinguished. Her eyes glanced about the waters cautiously. Even though she could see into the clear water from the glowing wildlife, it was still at a limited distance within this dim underground environment.

"You fucking whore!" Sonora's hate-filled voice came out of the darkness beyond the threshold of light. Kendra slowly turned about, holding her whip at the ready. "How dare you mar my perfect beauty with your filthy fire."

"You embody the saying that beauty is only skin deep," Kendra laughed in response, hoping to taunt the enraged enemy out into the open. "At least now you must look as rotten as you are to the core."

"I hate you! I HATE YOU!" Sonora screamed, "You think you are more beautiful and men desire you greater than I. Sirens will always be the superior race at seduction and beauty. I can no longer stand a world with you in it. I intend to end that right here!"

"I am glad the feeling is genuinely mutual then, you rotten fish," Kendra answered darkly. Silence was her only response. Kendra turned about as she readied herself for the oncoming attack. The only sound around her came from the river flowing beneath the bridge. As if coming from a long distance away, her hearing picked up the faint muffled sound of a female singing behind her. The demoness turned around, whip raised high in poise for the strike, to meet the siren. What met her instead was a column of water erupting out of the river. But instead of rising directly upward, this forceful jet of swirling water came out at an angle directed toward her.

Kendra doubled over as it slammed into her torso and sent her flying high into the air. The force was strong enough to cause her to black out briefly. She was jarred back to consciousness when her body slammed into the bridge after her fall. That siren was playing dirty. Hiding within the safety of the river while using the force of her voice make the water fight for her. Droplets of water dripping from her soaked body, Kendra staggered to her feet. She cried out in pain as a force slammed into her back, causing her head to snap backward as the water lifted her high once again. She grit her teeth in fighting to maintain consciousness as she was spun about in the air. If she fell into the river below, she would be at a greater disadvantage. Her wings thrust out with a wet snap and beat the air to keep her aloft. Another column of water burst out toward her but fell off before it could reach her.

"You can hide in the river all you want, but I have the air above," Kendra called out as her eyes scanned the clear waters for any sign of the siren. She paused when she heard the same musical tone coming from the waters, but at a much higher pitch. Sonora was still trying to reach her this high above? Desperation was beginning setting in, Kendra supposed.

Water burst forward from the river once again, but Kendra's looked on with shock as she saw it was not a large column of water like the others. Thin as a string, the narrow water shot towards her with unfathomable speed. She cried out in fear as she dove downward out of its path. The water flew past her before slicing into the granite walls behind her. The succubus looked behind her as she trembled in a shaken state as the water cut through the hardened stone. How could she give the water so much force to do that? It would have sliced her in half. Mortal weapons could not harm an immortal, but she was unsure if she wanted to find out if that beam of water could actually decapitate and kill her.

Kendra gasped as she heard another sharp tone. Her wings beat the air with thunderous flaps as she quickly lifted herself away before water sliced through the air below her feet. Kendra found the timing between the water firing upwards toward her and reaching her was very minimal. Several sharp tones followed to force the winged demon to circle and weave through the air in desperate attempt to avoid them all.

"Smug wench thinks she can prove me wrong does she?" Kendra growled with increasing irritation. She would have to be careful as she had been previously in using it. Too much power would alert the gods, including Koas. That would put Blaze in immediate danger. Her eyes began glowing the ominous green as she wove through air filled with deadly water shots. "Time to learn your place once and for all!"

Round spheres of magic glowing with the same malicious green light formed within her hands before she hurled them downward where the attacks were coming from. The orbs broke the surface with a splash, descending further into the watery depths. Moments after entering, the river surface bowed upward before geysers of water shot outward in all directions from the large concussive blasts that filled with air with an explosive roar.

Water droplets rained down everywhere as her vision caught sight of Sonora's body crashing against the stone wall before the impact sent her rebounding back into the air. Her face was a mixture of shock and pain as she fell back into the swirling waters of the river recovering from the disrupted flow. Kendra felt a wave of satisfaction from seeing the siren suffer. It was only a small amount of payback owed for the hurt she caused.

Sonora's head appears above the water's surface, skin burnt and blood trails cascading down her face. Her eyes were wild with furious hatred as she glared up at Kendra. The succubus simply smirked down to her in response, which only fueled the siren's seething madness further as she took in a deep breath.

"YOU BITCH!!!" Sonora shrieked, her voice echoing in an ear-piercing pitch that rang the air so intensely it vibrated all the air around Kendra. The demoness quickly covered her ears from the pain, but it did not help much to block it out. Nausea threatened to overwhelm her as her balance in the air wobbled with the erratic flapping of her wings. Her version narrowed into a pinpoint tunnel of light as the reverberations of the scream continued without end. She felt the sensation of falling before the cold, wet impact shocked her back to her senses.

The swift current of the river took hold of her body plunging into its depths, sweeping her away while she tried to recover. No! Her mind realized too late that she was being taken away from the path Blaze was on. She couldn't afford to be swept away and become lost in the vast maze of the underworld. The demoness quickly swam upward as she fought against the powerful current with all her strength.

A glint of metal caught her attention as she was about to reach the surface. Kendra kicked aside desperately, the blade of Sonora's naginata slicing across her back from the narrow miss. The siren's large fish tail smacked against her head as she swam past. The jolting pain caused her to nearly release her breath. The siren's form was like quicksilver in her aquatic element as she disappeared from Kendra's view. She looked back and saw the bridge fading into the darkness before a laughing siren darted into view again, her blade slicing across Kendra's abdomen as she desperately dodged.

Kendra's frustration grew as her lungs began to burn with the fierce need for breath. An immortal like her would not drown, but lack of breath would cause her to temporarily lose consciousness and go into a state of stasis. While it took time for her demonic powers to repel the water out of her lungs, the current would have long since carried her far away from Blaze.

Sonora's maddened laughter rang through the water as she assaulted the helpless Kendra with repeated swiftness so she could not escape. Numerous wounds covered her body, her noble demonic blood staining the pure river water red. The increasing need for breath and weakening from blood loss was making her predicament increasingly bleak.

Enough of this! Kendra's eyes lit up intensely, flooding the river depths with the unearthly light. She thrust her hand down, the ball of violent demonic energy appearing once more in front of her. She didn't care how much this would hurt as she had to act now. Sonora came into view once again before she saw what was happened. The siren hastily fled the other direction as Kendra detonated the magic point blank. Unimaginable pain from the blast slammed her body as the explosion lifted her body out of the water and send her tumbling uncontrollably through the air.

"Yes," Kendra gasped in relief as fresh flooded her lungs briefly before she nearly lost it as she slammed into the wall. She cried out in pain as she felt her wings crushed, bones snapping loudly. The demoness fell helplessly downward and unable to right herself. Her emerald gaze widened in horror as she saw the floor awaiting her below come into view.

Blood erupted from her mouth as she screamed in pain as the stalagmite impaled her body through her stomach. Sliding down further, she howled in agony until her body finally stopped. By the Abyss, she was going to lose consciousness still after trying to escape from doing so in the river! Blood poured from her wound down the stone to gently flow into the river that was merely a foot away. If not for the pain, she would have been amused at how she had nearly fallen back into the water.

"So it has finally come to this," Sonora's voice hummed in pleasure as she swam into view. The siren folded her arms across each other on the sharp stone riverbank and rested her chin upon it. Her eyes drank in the sight of the skewered succubus, savoring the image. Kendra merely glared back hatefully as she fought to maintain consciousness. "You are like a fish staked by the fisherman at the docks. I could do anything to you right now and you would be unable to stop me."

Sonora's musical laughter filled the air as she pushed herself out of the water a little further so as to reach Kendra. Those webbed hands caressed the blood soaked face of the succubus before bringing it back to lick her fingers clean with a pleased hum. Licking up the last droplet of the demoness's blood, Sonora glanced back to Kendra as her smile slowly crossed her face.

"I know Blaze is heading for Koas," She spoke with growing mirth. "You may not be aware, but the gods are not permitted to kill another mortal being directly due to an ancient pact the made long ago. I know my goddess would love to experience ending that foolish boy's life if she could. But I want you to know, as we finish our personal business here, that I will personally beseech my goddess to be the one to kill him. I will make him suffer long weeks of torture until he is begging me for death, only to deny him multiple times so that the madness may overtake him. Only when I hear him scream out for you, I will tell him of how I killed you myself. In that moment of despair, when he reaches the darkest hell of agony a being can experience, will I finally kill him as he screams in utter despair."

Sonora closed her eyes and threw her head back to laugh in delight at how wonderful it would be. Her breath choked off as a powerful force seized her throat. Eyes bulging open in shock, the looked in horror at the demon's eyes glowing intensely to where it was near-blinding this close. Sonora desperately beat at the arm holding her, unable to break the iron grip she was in. Her body was lifted out of the water as Kendra pulled her close to where they were face to face.

"For once... in all this time," Kendra hissed venomously, blood dripping from her lips, "will you shut the hell up!"

Kendra watched the siren's eyes widen in pain as her grip closed with powerful swiftness. Sonora's neck was crushed in that moment of demonic strength, body going limp from her spine's destruction. She tried to desperately draw breath through her ruined windpipe but could not. The siren's eyes rolled back as Kendra tossed the soon-to-be corpse away. The mad siren's body splashed into the waters, slowly sinking from view as the current took her body away.