Book 8 – Chapter 18 – A short peace

Kidra had often called me a ‘petty tyrant sitting on a throne of stolen goods’ (Affectionately) after I’d messed with whoever’s giving her grief at the time. I would be a living nightmare, because my target wasn’t to loot expensive things to sell on the black market, it was far more nefarious.

…

Actually, it usually was to sell junk for a profit, so nevermind there.

But I digress, for the Winterscars in particular, it had a different goal.

Clear tape over the optical sensor of a mouse in their personal study. Switch sugar and salt labels. A stolen left boot. Waiting in the vent until they’d gone through the entire estate looking, before dropping it right back into place.

There were a hundred and one ways to mess with people, and I’d discovered a hundred and two different ones. And that’s what Kidra was mostly referring to.

Even after all this, deep down, my sister knew exactly who I was and always would be.

The emotional damage of having all her plates stolen was almost like a physical punch into To’Sefit’s gut. She started breaking down into a fit of either sardonic laughing, violent screaming, quick attempts to self-control, before repeating the entire process over like a loop.

“Sorry, not sure I understand.” I said, landing right next to her on the other side of the dimensional cape. “Did you want me to hold onto your hat too?”

One hand snatched her hat and held it, while the other held her staff out in my general direction.

The plates remained floating above, and I took all the time in the world to reach out, and grab them like fruit off a tree. Of course, I made sure to describe in detail everything I was doing so my captive audience could tell when each one of her remaining plates were picked clean off and stuffed into my bag.

Toothless, unable to attack me or mine in any way that mattered, and basically defeated, one would think I’d spare her life.

A Shadowsong would have done that, picked the more noble path forward with dignity.

But I’m not a hero of songs. I’ve killed hundreds of screamers and foot soldiers of the machine empire so far, I wasn’t going to hold back on To’Sefit simply because I knew her name.

She’d tried to kill me and mine, and she’d succeeded with Windrunner. Today, I was returning the favor.

The moment I recovered the last of her floating plates and secured them into my bag, I turned and continued my rampage.

Occult rifts opened up around her and the process of whittling her down continued. Stabbing through with occult mirrors, forcing her to chase after the origin rift on the side of my belt, up until I flew higher and flew in circles far out of her range.

She could try jumping after me. Feathers could certainly leap ridiculous distances. But the moment she was in midair, her defensive options got real limited and I’d absolutely start landing hits in. After which, I’d be looking to stab her with my true blade.

She wisely decided against it, fighting off my assault.

It’s a stalemate. If anything, she might be buying time now for something else to come. Superior sent to me.

I know, there’s got to be a better way to kill her. I thought on it harder, juggling a few different ideas and gear choices. I didn’t want to expose more of my bag of tricks, especially not with To’Avalis out there. But in order to kill To’Sefit, I had to checkmate her into a position she couldn’t escape.

Which made me come to a new plan: Doing exactly what she had been planning on doing to Wrath.

In one fell swoop, occult rifts appeared by all four bridges leading out of the mountain spire. One after another, swords broke through into the real world and sliced through each bridge, cutting them apart until they fell down and away. The mountain was now isolated.

Phase one complete, phase two begin. Occult images sprinted over the stairwells and ramps all over this mountain, until all of them had found a lantern. There, they all sliced or stabbed through each, until every single one had been cut.

The entire place fell into darkness.

With the occult lashes, I could fly off back to the nearest mountain and wait there. But instead of doing that, I landed right next to To’Sefit and braced my soul against the onslaught outside.

Father could last hours by pure willpower. I wasn’t as good as he was, but neither was I alone.

A tendril of soul reached out of my chest, and went through the bridge at my belt. Keith Superior grabbed my hand and held on with me. His own willpower flooded through as we both held off the world outside, together.

“How’s your endurance?” I asked. “Because I can keep going for hours.”

To’Sefit stopped moving. “My, my, is this your final plan?” She asked, head looking at all the broken lanterns that littered her final domain. “Standing here to watch me die?”

“More like guarding. In case you try to jump somewhere safe.” I said, “See how good you can dodge and fight off my images in midair.”

I didn’t know if she had some protection against the void or if she was doing something different. She’d been able to move through this biome fast after something changed a little while back. Superior and I were about to find out what it was that made her tick.

“How cruel of you. You take my weapons, abuse my vulnerabilities, stand right next to me – and do all this without even giving a fair fight back?”

“If you expected that, I’d say that’s a you-problem. Winterscar, remember?”

She laughed, and shook her head. “Killed a second time by a human, and this time he does it without even stabbing me through my heart himself. What a miserable way to lose.”

“Windrunner sends his regards,” I said. “Also, after you die, I’m taking your hat too.”

I could sense all the plates had turned off remotely already, so no shooting her with her own beam this time around. But this kind of ending was just as juicy to me.

“I know what you’re after, Winterscar.” To’Sefit said, head snapping up to stare at my general location. “Waiting for me to leave my shell behind, are you? I am not To’Avalis, and I refuse to end like he has.”

“In my defense, I do know someone who could make better use of it. Your name was all about elegantly stepping into godhood right? How about a demi-god as a first step?”

Specifically, one protofeather I knew who was still kicking around somewhere. The things she could do with a fully functional Feather’s shell. I know the nanoswarms in the following generation after the protofeathers don’t have the hardwired permissions to repair and restore some of the more expensive parts of a Protofeather’s shell. So A22 wouldn’t be able to recreate her old body.

But I did have Keith Superior with a direct line to the mites. I might be able to do something of an upgrade. Having a protofeather out in the field again with Wrath would certainly help keep her safer.

Might even be worth the danger of A22 whispering sweet nothings like ‘Alcohol’ in her head.

That’ll be a problem, but the benefits very narrowly outweigh the cons.

“A bold proposition.” To’Sefit said, twirling her staff before ramming it into the ground. With her hand free she brushed dust and dirt off her dress. Her other hand still held her oversized hat with a deathgrip. “However, I will deny that fate.”

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“I’d say you’re a sore loser.”

“Can’t be helped~ I do have one word left for you, Winterscar.”

“You sure it’s just one word? ‘I surrender’ is two words, just for your information.”

To’Sefit gave a slow nod. “One word. Oblivion.”

I beheld a supercritical power cell detonation, point blank, as To’Sefit preferred to obliterate her own shell and hat than ever admit defeat.

If I’d been wearing my old environmental suit with glass goggles, my eyes would have been blinded, possibly for days. Thermal heat and physical damage didn’t reach this dimension, but light sure did since I could see things on this side.

Unfortunately for To’Sefit, I wasn’t looking out the world through glass goggles.