“Why the Hells not?” Bex cried as she spun again. “I thought I was like Ishtar now!”
You’re like her in that all demonkind looks to you for salvation,her sword explained.But you’re notactuallya god. The overwhelming fire you used earlier came from the prayers of all the demons in Paradise. They put their faith in you to save them, and so you did. That’s how you earned your new crown, but since you’re not actually a goddess like Ishtar, that power isn’t around all the time. You only get it when people are praying to you, and unfortunately everyone’s a little busy right now.
His blade tilted toward the battle her army was still fighting against Gilgamesh’s terrified sorcerers inside the palace, and Bex gritted her teeth.
“Shouldn’t you have told me all of that earlier?”
I would have if I’d known,Drox said apologetically.This is as new to me as it is to you.
“Well, if I can’t shoot a wall of fire, whatcanI do?” Bex asked, turning to parry the white sword as it shot out of the rain again. “You’re the only one who can actually see this stuff, so what have I got to work with?”
That’s a complicated question,her sword replied.Give me a moment.
Bex nodded and assumed a defensive position, but Drox didn’t seem to be just distracted while he looked something up. His presence vanished entirely from Bex’s mind, leaving her suddenly alone in her skull. She was still trying to get her bearings when something shot out of the pounding rain and crashed into her back.
Fortunately for Bex, it was the prince’s scaled foot, not his sword. It would’ve been game over if he’d planted a Blade of Gilgamesh in her spine.Unfortunately, while a kick was much better than a stab, it still sent Bex flying, launching her out of the pounding rain, over the castle wall, and into the clear sky of the empty city beyond.
The moment she left the witch’s rainstorm, the prince’s fear slammed back down on her like a snapping bear trap. For several horrible seconds, every muscle in Bex’s body was locked in terror. She couldn’t even curl over to protect her head when she landed, which meant she crashed into the line of mansions outside the palace in the worst way possible, slamming headfirst through a gold-tiled roof.
The impact shattered her skull for a second before her regeneration snapped everything back into place. It still hurt like all the Hells, but the intense pain turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it shocked Bex out of her overwhelming terror, allowing her to roll back to her feet before the prince landed on top of her.
He came through the hole she’d made like a missile. By dint of pure experience, Bex had rolled to her feet with her sword already in position, but the paralyzing panic from earlier had snuffed her bonfire, leaving her weak and disoriented as the Prince of Fear slammed his white blade into hers.
She barely managed to keep her grip on Drox. Now that she was back under Heaven’s clear sky, terror was radiating off the prince’s body like cold from an iceberg. It wasn’t enoughto freeze her completely again—Bex was still a queen herself, after all—but it drained her strength and made her movements sluggish. Every block was a near disaster, and she couldn’t hold her ground at all. Each hit drove her backward across the ruined bedroom they’d crashed into. The scaled prince was just about to drive her off the balcony when the intense fear suddenly receded.
Bex had no idea why. Thanks to all the backing up, she was even farther away from the palace now than she’d been when she’d landed. She couldn’t even see the witches’ rainstorm from this side of the building, so how—
She got her answer when she spotted a line of leaves unfurling along the balcony railing beside her. Bex didn’t know when they’d appeared, but the building she’d crashed into was suddenly covered in curling vines. They were all small and new, but the green of their leaves was healthy and shockingly green against the white stone. Their smell was strong as well, an intense mix of resinous sap and grass combined with the familiar loamy scent Bex would never forget even if she reincarnated a thousand more times.
It was the smell of Adrian’s forest. She didn’t know when it’d happened, but his Blackwood was suddenly all around her, and the stronger its presence grew, the more the prince’s fear receded. The rain still hadn’t made it over, but so long as the scent of leaves and loam was in Bex’s nose, she seemed to be in the clear. Now that she was no longer panicking, it was actually easier to fight under a clear sky than in the pounding rain, so Bex decided to make her stand here, using the prince’s momentary surprise at her sudden resurgence to slam Drox into his leg.
She’d hit him with the flat of her blade instead of the edge for maximum concussive damage. Bex knew from experience that shattered bones took a lot more energy to repair than stabs or cuts. If the prince’s regeneration worked the same way hersdid, then all she had to do was keep breaking him until he no longer had enough energy or quintessence or whatever he was using to heal.
Considering Adrian had had enough magic in his white blood to grow that giant tree plus an entire forest, Bex wasn’t sure how realistic that plan was, but it was the best idea she had. She was about to leap on the prince and hit him again when Drox suddenly popped back into her head.
I’m finished.
“Finished with what?” Bex asked as she slammed her blade down like a hammer. Unfortunately, the prince moved at the last second, so she ended up driving Drox into the floor instead. The resulting impact shattered the building they’d been fighting in, forcing Bex to jump out the broken window before she got buried in rubble. She landed on the empty street outside, boots splashing in the river of rainwater that was flowing out of the flooded palace. The green vines were here as well, so at least Bex didn’t have to worry about the fear, but she wasn’t sure where her opponent was. She was scanning the collapsing building for any sign of where the prince would attack from next when Drox answered her question.
I’m finished with my assessment,he explained calmly.As the Blade of Wrath, it is my sacred duty to provide you with the best strategy for every encounter. I can’t do that without a full understanding of your capabilities, so I also have the ability to assess your divine powers.
“Great,” Bex said, falling into a defensive crouch as she tried to watch every shadow at once. “What’s the verdict?”
Complicated,Drox replied.Your powers as the Queen of Wrath remain unchanged, but there are a lot of new things surrounding them that I’ve never seen before. It’s honestly more information than I was created to handle, so I am not yet able to give a complete analysis of your—
“The basics will be fine,” Bex interrupted, turning in a tight circle. “Just give me an idea what I’m working with now.”
It would be easier to say what youaren’tworking with,Drox replied.You occupy a unique position I’ve never seen before: greater than any queen but not yet a god. Your abilities seem to fluctuate depending on the amount of faith you’re receiving at any given moment. With enough prayers behind you, you should technically be able to do anything that Ishtar could. While your subjects are busy evacuating and fighting, however, it looks like you’re limited to the abilities Ishtar granted to demonkind.
Bex looked at her sword in shock and nearly lost a leg when the Prince of Fear shot out of the alley behind her to take advantage of the lapse.
“Demonkind?” she repeated as she whirled out of the way. “You mean I can armor my skin like a war demon or change my shape like Lys?”
Something like that,Drox muttered in a frustrated voice.Like I said, your new abilities are very hard to read. I was only made to be Wrath’s sword, not all these other demons’. I don’t know what to do with their—
“I do,” Bex said, stepping back into an attack position. “Let’s give it a try.”
Give what a try?
