Chapter 1728: Match Made In Heaven
Black Fang closed the distance in silence and swung for the back of Lilith’s neck.
The void tore open between them and a wall of compressed nothing caught the purple blade six inches from Lilith’s spine.
"Grh!"
Blood burst from Void’s nose before the barrier even finished forming.
The veins along her temples swelled so hard they cast shadows, both eyes snapping open as Black Fang’s strike carried enough force that Void almost lost consciousness just from trying to stop her.
Lilith felt the terrible killing intent washing over her and whipped around. "Bronnya!"
The tanker moved to take over the fight against the elder while Lilith spun and brought her sword up just as the void barrier shattered.
Black Fang’s katana punched through and Lilith’s blade caught it with a clash that nearly drove her into the dirt.
"You want to die, lunatic?!" Lilith grunted through the strain.
Black Fang’s blade came back around in silence, angling for Lilith’s throat with the same efficiency it had used on every body in the corridor behind her.
Lilith caught it on her sword’s edge.
And the impact nearly buckled her stance on the spot. ’She became even stronger since we last met?!’ she gasped inwardly in disbelief. ’No... She didn’t gain more stats... She just became "better" as a combatant,’ she realized through gritted teeth.
She managed to shove the blade aside and returned a cut that Black Fang slipped without effort, violet eyes tracking the arc the way a cat tracked a moth.
Two more exchanges. Every parry cost Lilith more than the attack it stopped. "What did you do to yourself?!"
Black Fang didn’t respond.
"Please stop attacking! We switched sides, Black Fang!" Jallen’s voice tore across the melee.
The spearwoman was twenty meters right with her weapon braced against Tatsumi’s overhead strike, boots sliding in the dirt.
Black Fang’s blade stopped mid-swing and her violet eyes settled on Lilith.
"I killed Scar."
Although she only spoke three words, the meaning behind them was clear to all: ’despite that, you want to become my allies?’
Lilith’s knuckles went white.
Scar was out there right now, blue-skinned and spine-straight, commanding soul armies for the man who owned her soul, and the woman who’d helped put her there was standing close enough to touch.
Seeing the hesitation, Black Fang got her answer.
She lowered her katana and began walking by Lilith.
"Go kill the undead, you’re in my way."
The Spellblade bumped into her shoulder. "You think I’ll just do whatever you tell me to?"
Black Fang’s eyes settled on her, and the violet that stared back was so deep and so empty that Lilith felt she was staring death itself in the face.
"Yes."
But the Adamantite Adventurer held it.
"You better think again, then!"
"Orc boss." Void’s voice came, and for once it was ragged, breathless. "Use your head, please."
Lilith’s eye twitched.
"Let her have the elders!" Jallen shouted, catching the elder’s next thrust on her spear shaft with a crack that split the wood. "She’s got a vendetta while we’re here just because."
The follow-up nearly took her head off. "Let’s go kill undead! We’re professional monster slayers, not destroyers of the elderly."
She was more than happy to get away from the ferocious elders who were pushing her to the brink of death with every attack.
Lilith and Black Fang held each other’s eyes.
The battle raged around their stillness, Bronnya’s shield ringing, Alexios doing the heavy lifting as he fought multiple elders at once.
Lilith broke the staredown first, eyes full of dissatisfaction. "I join Quinlan Elysiar and the first thing I get is this lunatic trying to cut my head off from behind..." she growled. "What a phenomenal start."
Black Fang was already looking at Chizuru, ignoring the dissatisfied rambling.
As she disengaged from the fight, Lilith couldn’t help but look up, eyes landing on Quinlan.
’Did that fucker not tell her about our situation, or did she just ignore it?’
Her eyes narrowed. ’I can’t even decide, they’re both crazy.’
’The two killers of Scar, one more unhinged than the other.’
She scoffed.
’What a match made in heaven.’
...
The Fujimori front was collapsing.
Black Fang’s army had hit the line, and the combined force ground through samurai formations with the efficiency of a machine that multiplied with every kill.
Alexios was at the center of the storm, swinging his longsword wildly at the elders until he sensed the surge of wrongness from behind. "Now what?"
’He has a new power? Again?’ He almost laughed at himself for the thought, but not because such a thought was impossible.
No, at this point the old king half-expected Quinlan to turn up with a new power every other minute.
What surprised him instead was...
That bastard would happily watch Alexios die before sparing a single soldier from his women’s side.
He would be more than happy letting Alexios make a final stand even if it became a 1v5 against all the elders. So why were these creatures rushing to his aid?
Then Black Fang materialized from the press of bodies at his right flank, katana dripping.
’Ah.’ He glanced at the katana. ’It all makes sense now.’
The forces that came to back him up weren’t Quinlan’s.
"Leave," she ordered coldly.
In fact, the forces weren’t even here to back him up, Alexios realized wryly.
He parried a samurai’s desperate thrust without looking and kicked the man into the puppet behind him. The scream was short.
"Leave? I was here first."
"I don’t care. The elders are mine."
"That’s where you’re wrong, young lass. They’re mine." He deflected a strike and decapitated the follow-up in the same motion.
His gaze dropped to the Beloved mark glowing through her clothing, violet light pulsing with her heartbeat.
"Bastard got even you, huh...? Is he really such a charmer? To be honest, I just don’t see it."
The katana was at his throat before the last word settled.
He didn’t flinch, instead standing with an unnatural, ominous blade against his jugular and an expression that suggested mild curiosity.
Finally, he grinned.
"Noted. No staring."
The blade pressed harder. A bead of blood welled.
"Go help your daughter."
"Felicity?" His grin widened. "She’s having fun with her friends. What kind of father shows up and ruins the party?" He tilted his head. "A deeply uncool one."
Black Fang’s expression didn’t change.
His hand rose and closed around the flat of the blade between two fingers, guiding it from his throat the way he’d move a branch from his path.
The grin went away.
"These fossils conspired with foreign powers against my kingdom and my people. Whatever vendetta you carry, I believe I deserve at least a piece of the pie."
The old king did not navigate the political landscape of his rotten court for such a long time without having anything to show for it.
Black Fang studied the king with her blade still in his grip.
She pulled the blade free.
"One."
"One, huh? Hozumi is mine, then. But if you’re slow, I’m killing them all."
They split. Black Fang moved left toward Chizuru with her puppet army in tow, and the old woman’s face went the color of curdled milk as the violet streak she’d been watching from a distance was heading straight for her.
Alexios moved right, longsword low, and Hozumi’s aged expression curdled.
...
While the elders were facing down two deadly executioners intent on seeing their heads roll...
High in the skies, Quinlan was making his next move!
