“I am sorry,” his father said as he picked up his sword. “If only I’d taken you from your mother sooner, I’m sure we could have seen eye to eye, but I’m still glad you joined me today, Adrian. It pleases this old poet’s heart to know that the divine executioner who began my journey and the witch who made it possible were the ones who got to witness my final victory.”
He did look happy as he straightened back up, swinging his new white blade a few times to get a feel for its weight before leveling the point at Adrian’s neck.
“I’ll send your mother to follow you soon,” he promised. “She always told me that witches join the Great Blackwood when they die. I don’t know if that’s true or not now that I’ve reopenedthe flow of souls, but wherever the two of you end up, know that I will always remember you with the greatest fondness.”
“I’ll take it to heart,” Adrian promised, opening his arms to accept the blow. “Go ahead.”
Gilgamesh smiled gratefully at his son’s understanding. But before he could begin his swing—which he was performing with great pomp, just as Adrian had hoped—Adrian stomped his foot on the ground and pushed his chair backward.
Since this wasnota threatening action toward Gilgamesh, the sorcery that bound his movements allowed it, dumping Adrian backward onto the stone floor. He rolled the second he hit, ignoring the sound of the white sword whistling through the air where his head had just been to leap at Bex and shove the hand she’d never stopped trying to move the final six inches to Ishtar’s sword.
The second her fingers touched it, the Blade of Ishtar sliced through its sheath. It sliced through the magic trapping her in the chair as well, freeing Bex to surge to her feet. She lit up like a rocket as she rose, slashing her mother’s sword through the sorcery that was still all over Adrian and into the golden table behind him. The attack sent food, wine, and platters flying everywhere, creating the perfect cover for the flaming Queen of All Demons to leap over Adrian—who’d already flattened himself against the floor with Boston clasped protectively in his arms—and stab herothersword, Drox’s smoking pitch-black blade, straight at Gilgamesh’s aproned chest.
CHAPTER 18
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BEX KNEW THE STABwasn’t going to land the moment she launched it.
Her original plan had been to strike Gilgamesh with Ishtar’s Blade using a continuation of the same slash that had cut through the binding sorcery. Drox could’ve executed that move easily, but while Bex had co-opted a large portion of her mother’s power, she wasn’t actually a goddess, and Ishtar’s sword knew it. It fought her grip like a wild horse, filling Bex’s limbs with a power she could barely control.
That was fine for things that didn’t move, like sorcery and tables, but it made striking a skilled opponent extremely difficult, which was why she’d gone back to Drox. Her own blade wasn’t just steadier and more reliable, he was a true partner who could communicate with Bex instantly through her thoughts, which was how she knew they weren’t going to make it. Pulling Drox out of his ring had taken only a fraction of a second,andshe’d used the flying table as cover to hide her attack until the last possible second, but even so, Gilgamesh didn’t look the least bit surprised when she burst through the cover. He mostly just looked smug, taking the time to look Bex directly in the eyes before teleporting away.
Drox stabbed through the space where he’d been half a heartbeat later. Bex was still shifting her weight to stop her momentum when Drox shouted in her head.
Above us!
She leaped sideways the second he called the warning, but she still wasn’t fast enough to avoid the rain of glowing swords. Shining white blades that looked like they were made from the same glowing energy as the Heavenly bombardment that had flattened the Seattle Anchor were suddenly falling around Bex like hail. What was left of the golden table was atomized in seconds. Bex was terrified that Adrian had met the same fate until she saw him and Boston diving for cover behind the golden wall of Gilgamesh’s sleeping sons.
The sight filled her with both relief and rage. Clearly, Gilgamesh no longer gave a damn about who he hurt, if he ever had. But while she was grateful that Adrian was behind cover, Bex couldn’t say the same for herself. Drox had flown up automatically to protect her head, proof yet again that he was the best sword any queen could ask for, but even his restored wider blade couldn’t shield her entire body.
We have to move,Drox agreed as the hail of narrow, white-glowing swords rattled off him.Gilgamesh is fifty feet above us and to the left. I can’t tell where the swords are coming from, but they don’t seem to have an end.
“That’s fine,” Bex said, tightening her left hand around Ishtar’s wildly jerking blade. “We’ll go to him. Ready?”
Drox responded by going still in her palm. Bex tightened her grip in reply as she leaped into the air, keeping Drox above her head with her right hand while she swung Ishtar’s Blade with her left. It was the first time she could remember wielding swords in both hands, but some previous version of Bex must’ve used a two-weapon fighting style at some point, because her body adjusted without her having to think about it. If Ishtar’s Blade hadn’t been constantly trying to rip itself out of her grasp, it would’ve felt almost natural and not like she was swinging a possessed bat.
Bex didn’t know if her mother’s sword was acting up because she’d disobeyed or if it was simply too powerful for a non-god to handle, but it was the sharpest weapon she’d ever held. Even when it was jerking uncontrollably in her fingers, it still cut the glowing swords out of the air with ease, clearing an attack path as Bex blasted up on her fire toward Gilgamesh, who was standing in the sky with his leather loafers planted on thin air like it was solid ground. She was only a foot away when the smug-faced king teleported again.
Bex was ready for him this time. The moment Gilgamesh vanished, she pulled Drox in close and spun to block the attack she was positive was already coming for her back. That was what she would’ve done if she could teleport without a word. When Bex actually did make it around, though, the air behind her was empty. She was wondering if Gilgamesh had taken the safer route and teleported much farther to shoot her from a distance when Drox screamed in her head again.
Up!
Her brain didn’t even have time to process the one-syllable warning. It was pure luck that her flinch of surprise at Drox’s yell caused her to move sideways in time to avoid what should’ve been a skull-splitting blow. The attack still landed in her shoulder, though.
Gilgamesh’s white sword was so sharp she didn’t even feel it go in. There was only pressure and a flash of cold against her flaming skin, and then Bex looked over to find that her left shoulder had been cleaved down to the third rib. She could literally see down into her own black organs before her flaming body pulled itself back together.
Ironically, the healing hurt much,muchmore than the initial wound. Bex could feel every burning inch as Ishtar’s gift of regeneration fused her together again. But while the intense pain sent tears streaming down her face, Bex had neverbeen happier because the return of her healing meant that she didn’t have to keep using Greed’s power. Forcing her body to work like someone else’s had been exhausting, but her natural regeneration was tied to her fire, and Bex could burn all day.
She did so now with a victorious shout, ramping up her flames to sear the last of the cut away as she slashed Drox through the air directly below her. That was where Gilgamesh should’ve been given the angle of the attack he’d just finished. As always in this fight, though, Bex was already too late. The moment her sword went down, the Eternal King appeared in front of her with that same smug smile as he ran her through.
Bex saw the sword go in this time, which meant it hurt a lot more. Gilgamesh didn’t give her a chance to recover either. Her bonfire had barely started cauterizing the wound when Gilgamesh slid his insanely sharp sword out of her stomach and teleported behind her to stab Bex in the back.Thatpain was still registering when he yanked his sword out and did it again, teleporting around to stab her from the left side, then the right.
Bex lost track after that. All she could feel was pain as Gilgamesh’s sword skewered her over and over followed by the scorching heat of her flames repairing the damage. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to say she could burn forever. Even with the wrath of all of demonkind behind her, Bex could feel her body growing weaker. Even her raging bonfire wasn’t enough to boil away all the blood she was losing, leaving it to fall like black rain onto the shattered banquet below. If she couldn’t stop the barrage of constant attacks soon, she was going to bleed out and die in the air before she landed a single hit. It was kill or be killed, so Bex decided to do something crazy.
She couldn’t see Gilgamesh anymore through the raging fire and the blinding pain, but she could feel his sword. She hadn’t been fast enough to block him before she’d been injured, and shedefinitelydidn’t have the speed to do so now, but healways attacked with the same straight, stabbing motion. So the next time Bex felt Gilgamesh’s blade enter her perforated stomach, she pulled Drox back into his ring and lurched forward, sliding her body down the king’s sword to grab the arm he was using to hold it. Since he’d been cocky enough to meet them unarmored, Bex was able to feel his muscles tense through his linen shirt right before she poured her hottest flames straight into him.
The result was a combustion big enough to light up all of Heaven. Bex burned like she was back in the fire she’d become when all the demons of the Hells bowed their horns to her. The difference this time was that, instead of being a pillar of flames that roared into the sky, Bex had focused all her explosive power onto a single, man-sized point. Even the flames on her skin went out, leaving her bleeding like a fountain as she threw every joule of heat she had at the man who’d killed the gods.
