Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Skirmish

Chapter 224: Skirmish

Ari’s entire body tensed at Lysette’s declaration as she slowly looked toward the west.  The air went silent, and the rustle of plant and animal life followed suit.  It was as though all of Aimarion tensed up, knowing as well as Lysette did how much the future might ride on the outcome of the battle ahead.

Ari turned to Lysette.  “Are you sure?  I don’t hear anything.”

“No, I don’t hear anything either, and that’s the problem.  There’s usually more noise from animals and plans, but right now I hear complete silence all around.”

“Are you sure you–”  Ari shook her head.  “And just our luck too.”

“Well, it’s like you said.  We have to be prepared for our enemies to attack without warning, and when we’re tired and fatigued too.”

Ari pointed to a nearby series of shrubs.  “Let’s at least get out of the open.”

Lysette nodded.  The two made their way toward a patch of blackberry thickets, and with a bit of cajoling from the demigoddess, sneaked within the woody lattice before covering themselves up.

“Do you have any sort of reconnaissance abilities?” Lysette asked.

“No, I’m a frontline and middle-distance combat specialist.  I can survey from the air, but that’s just placing a giant target on me.  Do you?”

“I–  I do.  I have the ability to detect movement and get a general sense of the strength of anyone within a range of about two hundred yards.”

“Do you sense anyone?”  Ari was now barely whispering her words.

“Not yet,” Lysette responded.  “But the silence out there persists.”

Ari closed her eyes and began coalescing Essence back into her ring.  “How long do you think we have?”

“Probably not more than a few minutes.  Also, I need you to promise me something.”

Ari raised her eyebrows.  Lysette switched to telepathy.

“If we fight, you’re going to see me use my full range of techniques to defend us.  You will forget everything you are about to see.  If you don’t agree, you’re welcome to fend for yourself.”

“You’re a telepath, Karel?”

“Do you agree to my terms?”

“One question?”

Lysette nodded.

“You said you can sense the strength of people within two hundred yards.  Be honest with me.  How do the two of us truly compare?”

“My Essence coefficient is somewhere between two and three times yours.”

“Why–”

“I have my reasons for not revealing my true abilities.  But those reasons are mine and mine alone.  With that said, my loyalty is with Domaria and my reasons for fighting against Elithria are as I said before.  I know telling people to ‘just trust me’ is hardly reassuring, but please.”

“I–  I don’t know if I can expel the memories out of my mind if I have my mind probed, nor resist sufficient torture if I get kidnapped, but I promise will keep your secrets as safe as I can.”

“I suppose that will have to do for now.  Thank you.”

Lysette sorted through her pocket and pulled out the Black Essence truffle, handing it to Ari.  “I sensed it while we were running earlier.  I still don’t know exactly how to prepare these, but I know Black Essence truffles have some value.”

“I–  I’ll hold on to it.  Though I’ll desperately hope I won’t have to use it.”

Back in Ciricu, Lysette withdrew from her other tasks and ceased her passive Cultivation.  After sharing a brief hug and kiss with Mirae, she entered their bedroom, closed the windows, shut off the lights, and let all sights and sounds from the outside world fade away, trusting her love to handle any emergencies as she focused on controlling her avatar to the fullest extent possible.

It would be the first time Lysette would do so in such a manner.  And she recalled Karchek’s information about controlling avatars over long distances— there would be a delay of a few thousandths of a second as information transferred from Ciricu to the Elithria-Domaria border.  That more than anything factored into her decision to prioritize fighting defensively at first, acclimating herself to fighting in such a manner, before switching course toward a decisive victory with her demonic powers.

And so she flared out her aura to its absolute limit.  Still no sign of encroachment into the immediate vicinity, but Ari mentioned through their telepathic link that she could hear footsteps.  Lysette began hearing them as well about twenty seconds later.

It seemed to be a small detachment based on the density of the footsteps.  One by one, they approached, surveying the nearby area where Ari and Lysette had had their impromptu fight.  Nine of them in total.  Of the six that were within her aurasight’s range, none of them were particularly powerful— each maybe half as strong as Ari, possibly a little less.  Unfortunately, neither the leader nor deputy leader were among them, and typically, commanders were quite a bit more powerful than their subordinates.

Lysette grinned and salivated with anticipation for the meal she was about to receive, both for the euphoric rush of power their Sparks would bring as well as the chance to finally deal some miniscule damage to Asterion’s partisans.  And she felt no guilt about what she was about to do.  The Elithrians had invaded her homeland, were doing so again at this moment, and had provoked an unnecessary war at the behest of her sworn enemy.  It was only fair— only right— that it should be their own strength that would be their nation’s and god’s undoing.

By appearing before her, their Essence was forfeit.  But, Lysette’s Domain as a demigoddess did compel her to offer one chance to surrender and be taken captive, just as she had granted the Tereans.  But only one— which was still one more than they deserved, her demon side argued.

She walked into the open, sprouting an icevine plant and wrapping it around her.  She then took a long, deep breath and gently caressed her plant’s cooling leaves to calm herself as she approached the soldiers, followed by a sigh.

“Soldiers of Elithria,” she said.  “You are trespassing on Domarian lands, an act of war.  Your army has slain far too many of my kin for me to stay silent on this matter.  However, I will grant you one chance.  All of you, drop onto the ground, and your lives will be spared.”

The leader of the detachment chuckled.  “Oh?  And if we don’t?  Do you really plan to fight all of us by yourself?”

Lysette shook her head.  “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?  We live in a world of Cultivation, where people with the strength of the gods walk alongside ordinary humans.  Do you think your feeble numbers can stand up against the might of someone who is an army unto themself?”

“Oh?”  The leader raised his hand, and the remainder of his soldiers went silent.  “You are overconfident if you believe you can defeat so many Cultivators on your own.”

“You’re welcome to gamble your life on it if you’re that confident in your ability.  Just so you know, I’m not going to say I won’t enjoy what will follow if you do.”

“Enough talk.  Just die already.  Soldiers, attack!”

Lysette shook her head.  “That was my line.”

She charged into the fray, sprouting her crystalline Ice wings as she danced in and around the Ice techniques of the two soldiers nearer to her.  And she sighed— they couldn’t even hope to compete with her love, let alone match the beauty and elegance of their technique.

Lysette had briefly considered leaving the soldiers alive despite her earlier promises.  Ultimately, though, it was a matter of operation security that left her with no suitable alternative.  Depowering them and leaving them for dead would be even crueler than a swift death at her hands, and neither taking them captive nor delivering them back to their own base would be acceptable alternatives.

She did spare a moment before her first strike to consult with her Reciprocity if such killing was in accordance with her embodying principle.  But, having already offered them one chance to be spared and being rejected, it seemed perfectly content with either sparing or killing them.  It was almost as though it understood that slaking her vengeance was just as much a part of her Domain as uplifting her allies.  And with that satisfied, she continued with aplomb, deftly defying all attempts at resistance and counterattacks.

A single flick of her icevine whip and it wrapped around the first soldier’s neck.  Another, and his head and body were separated from one another.  And one mental impulse to draw the lingering Spark into her body.

The rush of ecstasy followed as she continued her dance of whips.  The icevine was now moving freely of Lysette, directed to attack the soldiers autonomously while Lysette switched to twin lances of fire, echoing the ability that Serrena had gifted her some time earlier.  And she added Rekindle to her active array of techniques, just in case the leader had some trump card of his own.

The soldiers fell quickly in what could hardly be considered a battle.  Merely the end result of those who dared defy Lysette, who attempted to strike upon her friends, her family, and brazenly do so, so close to her hometown, to where she had grown up and subsequently lost everything.  Smoke and flame filled the surrounding area, though it was quickly quelled by myriad shards of ice she scattered throughout the battlefield to do exactly that.

The leader put up at least a token resistance, batting away the first two searing spears Lysette launched at him.  But it was not without serious injury, as he screamed from the fires which had caught onto his cloak.  He rolled to the ground, coating himself in dirt and mud as he attempted to suppress Lysette’s flames.

His attempts were in vain.  One swift blade through his heart ended his life within the span of a quarter second.  And though those demonic impulses quivered with glee at the meal she had received, she felt no real joy at ending these lives, knowing the friends, the family, and the comrades that each of them would leave behind.  Instead, aided by the rockvine plant from before, she opened a hole in the ground and buried the bodies within, granting them at least that much in the way of last rites before turning back to where Ari had remained hiding.

Ari was barely holding back tears as Lysette approached.  “What–”

“I’m sorry, Ari.  I tried to be as quick and painless about it as possible.  But killing is a gruesome thing, no matter how many times you’ve done it before or how easy it gets.  Probably even more gruesome the easier it gets.”

“Fire, Ice, Plants, Telepathy…  You can fly under your own power, and wield so many different techniques— so many different elements even— all at once while still moving like that.  Just what are you?”

“A Cultivator who lost everything once and is determined both to get revenge and to stop it from happening to anyone else.”

“No.”  Ari dropped to her hands and knees and lowered her head.  “Whatever you are, it’s more than that.  Much more than that.  But I don’t understand, Cadet Tronete.  You have such remarkable strength.  Strength far beyond my own.  Strength enough that you could be a colonel for certain if you wanted the position.  And yet, you want to hide it and feign being just a lowly recruit.  Please, your reasons are your own, but I want to know.”

Lysette dropped to a knee and took Ari’s hand in her own, giving it a gentle squeeze and beckoning her to rise.

“This is the path I need to take to reach our goals, Ari.  It won’t make a lot of sense, but for now, I need to conceal my power.  The time for revealing it will come later, but for now, I need you to remember your promise and keep my true abilities a secret from military command.”

“Of–  Of course, Mr. Tronete, Sir.”  Ari hesitated.  “My agreement aside, I have one request.”

“Name it.”

“I want to train under you.  Clearly, you have abilities far beyond any but the most elite Cultivators of Aimarion.  And I feel that if I follow in your footsteps, I can help end this war and repay all those who’ve given their lives for me and everyone else.”

Lysette nodded slightly.  “I will… consider it.”

Chapter 223: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113256858

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 225: https://www.patreon.com/posts/113256870