Chapter 27:

Take it Like a Champ

The Demon Lord Shouldn’t Be At This Much Of A Disadvantage!!: What do you mean the descendants of the Heroes are overpowered due to nepotism?


Number of times König Geistdunkelrustung has resurrected: 93

Though it hadn’t even been a Facidian week since Geist had last seen Lylia, and by how their rotation was established, it was currently Inessa’s week to come kill him, the armored greater demon couldn’t help but worry about the blonde. In a world with magic, he couldn’t imagine there was a sickness or injury that Lylia couldn’t treat, especially with her Divine Artifacts. The only limitation he knew about was their lack of access to revival magic, and if something that drastic had happened to the blonde, Inessa would have been even more distressed.

Well, I am technically their enemy, so it makes sense there or things they can’t tell me. He thought, slipping under a lackluster swing as the Champion fought while distracted.

Capitalizing on the opening, he twisted and swung his greatsword in a wide, telegraphed arc, catching Inessa squarely in her exposed right side. The force of the attack sent her flying across the barren space, smashing into one of the few walls that had still been standing, but proceeded to collapse on her from the impact.

Since she had begun filling in for the absent Saintess, Geist had been able to land hits on her, occasionally. Every time he did, there was a brief moment of celebration and sense of accomplishment that flooded whatever served as his insubstantial body’s mind with its equivalent of dopamine… which lasted exactly as long as it took for the Champion to stand back up without so much as a scratch on her.

Seriously, how was all of that necessary? I can’t even damage her! He thought, long past the point of questioning whether he should be hitting a woman or not.

Varney, who always watched from some shadowy corner, swooped down and harried Geist with unaffected flaps of his wings, squeaking in protest any time the armored sentient shadow did land a hit on the golden-armored swordswoman.

“Hey, you know she’s fine. Stop that.” Geist said, gently shooing the winged furball away, only for it to fly over to Inessa. “Seriously. You do remember I’m your ruler, right? Such disrespect.” Shaking his head, in all other situations, the bat-like monster was friendly with him. For something simple like him, as long as the owner is kind, like Inessa, that sort of thing, domestication, is fine. But not the sort of coexistence I would like to see between the Pure and Corrupted.

Brushing the debris off as she let her pet monster perch on her arm, Inessa sighed and slumped her shoulders. “Sorry, Geisty. I’m just really not feeling it today. I think I’ll just wrap things up with you and play with Varney a bit, okay?” She asked, not really a question as much as a statement of intent as she pointed her sword at him. “Use: Cleanse.”

Unable to avoid the purifying magic, Geist also sighed as his Dark Magic Corruption value dropped to zero. “Fine. See you tomorrow, Inessa.” He said, accepting the killing blow that followed.

As was always the case, his consciousness lingered after his Mana Crystal formed, though he was unable to reply as she collected his drop. “Yeah… Goodbye, Geisty.” She whispered sorrowfully, clutching the chunk of magical ore to her chest.

Huh? What does she mean by that? He wondered, as the comforting chill of sensory-depriving darkness slowly enveloped him.

“Hopefully, I can come get you, too, in a few days, Varney.” He heard her voice say, distant and quiet. “Be a good boy until…”

*****

Because she would have to leave everything behind once she stepped down from the position as Champion, Inessa lingered in the capital a bit before going to the castle. She visited some of the shops and places she and Lylia had gone to eat, and was met with the warmest receptions she had received since being summoned. The news of how she didn’t hesitate to defend the knights, soldiers, and guards at Fort Galafern had spread even more rapidly than when she aided Dhanfell’s recovery.

She purchased some essentials that she thought she and Lylia might need when they got to the Blighted Forest: axes, knives, tools, rations, and the types of things to solve issues that their magic and techniques wouldn’t be able to. She even stopped by the Brewing Trouble to get some of the Stormy Brew. As night began to fall, she finally returned to the castle, handing over the last Mana Crystal she would gather from Geist, and went to return her Divine Artifacts.

The Royal Treasure Repository was about as far away from the dungeon as one could get, and the security leading to and within it was second only to that deployed for the royal family. With one set of Divine Artifacts currently being kept there, the number of personnel had doubled, mostly Crusaders and Wardens set from the church to ensure the holy relics remained secure.

Inessa followed the queen into the deepest vault where the Divine Artifacts would be kept, accompanied by a dozen guards. It felt excessive, but she also often forgot that she was in possession of ten priceless treasures, nine of which were crafted by their goddess Herself.

As she laid the last piece of her equipment in a plush, cushioned box that presented it in the most aesthetically pleasing light, Inessa wrapped herself in a plain, dark, unassuming hooded cloak.

Inessa the Champion [Advanced] | Race: Human | Level: 10
Hit Points: 264/264 | Mana: 55/55 | Stamina: 62/62
Strength: 57 | Durability: 40
Deterity: 33 | Evasion: 5
Endurance: 33 | Barrier: 21
Vitality: 24 | Force: 81
Intelligence: 19 | Precision: 57
Wisdom: 18 | Arcane: 32
Charisma: 13 | Faith: 31

Looking at her stats, though her body felt heavier and more sluggish, it also felt natural.

“You know, many of the members of the Council do not support your decision.” Kathritrina mused once Inessa had removed her equipment and set them in an opulent display that she knew from experience could be moved. “Many, for the reason of being unable to comprehend relinquishing such power and privilege to live in squalor.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ve never really been one for such… fancy living.” She replied with a sheepish smile. “My mother always said I settled when I should have been more ambitious.”

“Wise words. It is only those who are willing to clear obstacles and claim what they desire by force who will find true happiness in life.” The queen replied, making an innocuous gesture with her hand. “Those who settle, on the other hand…”

As the queen paused, Inessa felt a sudden, tight pain in half a dozen spots across her back, accompanied by an intense burning sensation as something spread from each point of contact. Before she could react, multiple voices quickly chanted different spells simultaneously, making it difficult for her to register anything other than the word to invoke each spell.

Weaken.” “Seize.” “Sicken.” “Befuddle.” “Daze.”

Of the five spells cast upon her, one failed to breach her innate resistance to hostile magic, though she had been in the process of adapting to her unenhanced body; this was different.

Inessa the Champion [Advanced] | Race: Human | Level: 10
Hit Points: 213/264 | Mana: 55/55↓ | Stamina: 62/53↓
Status: Burned, Poisoned, Silenced
Strength: 49↓ | Durability: 36↓
Deterity: 25↓ | Evasion: 4↓
Endurance: 25↓ | Barrier: 16↓
Vitality: 24 | Force: 73↓
Intelligence: 19 | Precision: 49↓
Wisdom: 10↓ | Arcane: 32
Charisma: 13 | Faith: 23↓

Collapsing to her knees as she struggled to process what was going on, one thing was clear to the disoriented brunette: she had been had. The poison from whatever was stuck in her back, the spells reducing her stats, even bringing her to such a secluded, secure location, and waiting until she returned all the equipment of the Champion. And worst of all was the grin on the queen’s beautiful, twisted face as she struggled to get her bearings.

“...will be swept aside once their usefulness has been used up. My, how wonderful it will be not to have to allow my precious Liamion to sully himself taking a dark-haired Otherworlder as his bride.” Kathririna finished, her trap sprung, and assassins drawing their weapons to finish off the debilitated girl. Looking into Inessa’s eyes, she saw the shock she had anticipated, but not the bewilderment. Even as Inessa’s focus drifted, she could tell the brunette was laboring under no pretense of misunderstanding. “Oh, wonderful. As you have appeared to understand my intentions, I shan’t waste my breath with a droll explanation. Simply allow yourself to be sent to the Goddess Lini’s side in peace, and this will all be over quickly.”

Of the poisons that had been injected into her body, Inessa’s vision blurred slightly as she resisted the one meant to compromise her eyesight, and the stiffness meant to prevent precise movements faded. Not time to think. They want me dead, and then they’ll kill Lia! I need to rescue her. Ignoring the queen, Inessa looked at the Divine Artifacts before her.

Her goal was simple. Live long enough to get to Lylia and escape. With most of the Divine Artifacts wrapped around a stand or in an ornate box, and time not on her side, her choices were limited. Furling up her cloak to obscure her actions, she grabbed the only thing that could buy her the time it would take to make it to Lylia and rolled out of the retaliatory attack she predicted would come.

Even weakened and without the Divine Artifacts, she was still the Champion, so with the advantage in pure stats, she dashed past Lylia’s set of Divine Artifacts before bolting for the door. “For defense, for offense! Shield Bash (Advanced)!” Rushing forward in a burst of speed and thrusting the shield of gold and light that she pilfered into the face of the heavy-armored Warden blocking the exit. She clumsily toppled over the bulky holy warrior, scrambling to her feet as she took off down the hall before arrows and bolts could find their mark in her unarmored flank. I’m coming, Lia! Hold on, please!

*****

As she watched her elite guard chase after the fleeing brunette, Kathritrina exhaled a long breath of mixed disappointment and begrudging acknowledgment. “I suppose, if nothing else, she was the Champion. Even with all that preparation, she will not be as easy to dispatch as those complacent girls who believed they deserved to be queen with no effort.” She said, looking at the Divine Artifacts with a smirk.

Other than the shield, the Champion’s sword, armor, circlet, mantle, amlute, gloves, ring, belt, and boots remained, awaiting the next Champion to inherit them.

“Sh-She made off with the Saintess’ footwear!” One of the more lightly-armored, compared to the Wardens at least, Crusaders called out, checking the church’s set of Divine Artifacts. “Do not allow her to escape!”

“Worry not. Her destination is no mystery.” The queen said, keeping her composure. “Raise the alarm and deploy guards to defend the route from the treasury to the dungeon. The former Champion plans to free the desanctified Saintess. Use of lethal force is authorized. Kill her!”

*****

The distant sounds of something going on in the castle had been echoing through the window all night. Occasionally, inaudible shouts of some knight or another drifted in with them, but listening to them would have been about as helpful as trying to hear the guards stationed just outside her cell. While the magic prevented sounds from entering from the corridor, it seemed to be an enchantment on the bars themselves rather than something filling the cell itself. As such, well after the first rays of the light illuminated the land from the west, whatever chaos was occurring in the castle proper persisted. Though it was her day of execution, and she had been left unmolested since being mostly healed the evening prior.

After all the beatings she had received from the bereaved of the knights and soldiers she had crushed, she had to be made presentable to the public for her execution. Maintaining the facade that even the more heinous of criminals were not treated poorly, as the awaited execution ensured the public’s outrage remained completely directed at the condemned. It wouldn’t do if even one person were to sympathize with a bloodied, half-dead pulp.

Still, the commotion had kept her up all night, getting louder and louder, as if it were getting closer, but had gone quiet some time ago. She could try to get some sleep, though the soreness from the persisting internal wounds prevented her from being able to lie comfortably.

“Well, I suppose I will get all the rest I want once I am dead.” She said to herself, hoping the guards were still as annoyed by her cavalier attitude towards the morbid eventuality as they had been. If they wanted her to repent, cry, or beg for her life, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I guess they refused to allow Essa to see me, even at the end… She thought, needing to keep her true feelings to herself. If what Victoria told her was true, her only friend would have been killed by now, assassinated on the queen’s orders. I should have just taken Essa and run. I was too naive, thinking they would spare her…

Out of everything, that was the one regret that lingered in her mind. Her massacre had been as calculating as it was emotional. Her rage prevented her from thinking the extra step to consider if the Council had approved a plot to frame her and Inessa, that they had wanted to replace her at all costs. While she purposely targeted some, like Gloria, she had spared others so that the noble families they belonged to would feel indebted to Inessa for saving them.

As she toiled with her greatest failing, Lylia noticed increased movement in front of her cell. When she actually looked, there were at least a dozen armed guards with their weapons drawn, all facing the same direction. Before she could investigate further, as one of the guards appeared to be shouting something she couldn’t hear, an axe flew into view from the direction they were all facing. The axe tore through the shoulder of the guard who had been speaking and shattered against the stone wall, causing several of the remaining guards to run in the opposite direction. An older, female guard thrust her sword forward, out of Lylia’s field of view, only for the blade to be snapped and fly back, bouncing off her chestplate.

Then, she saw it. A shield of gold and light thrust forward, crashing into and crumpling the chestplate inward, knocking the guard back. The figure the guards had been trying to stop was hidden beneath a hood and cloak, dark and covered in blood, with multiple arrows, darts, bolts, and small knives sticking out of each limb and their back. The aggressor pointed to the door of her cell, barking something that caused the guards to flinch and shake their heads. Stepping over them, the cloaked figure slammed the shield meant only to be wielded by the Champion into the lock of the barred, iron door several times like a crude, blunt instrument. The integrity of the metal failed before the ancient relic, and Lylia’s bloodied, exhausted, barely breathing rescuer stumbled in as the guards meant to stop her dragged their wounded off for treatment.

“L-Li…a…” The soft, weak, feminine voice choked out the word as blood spilled from her lips, unable to raise her head. “Y-You th-there?”

“E-ESSA?!” Leaping up and over to the ragged, staggering brunette before she could fall, Lylia was horrified at the state she was in. She didn’t need to cast a spell to see how severe the damage was, but didn’t have the Mana to cast any of her healing spells either. “Essa! Essa, stay with me!”

The strength entirely spent from her legs, Inessa struggled to lift her shield arm and reveal, tucked between the golden frame and her forearm, two immaculate, golden high-heeled shoes. “Thank g-goodness. You n-need to… run…” The relief of completing her objective washing over her, the tension sustaining the brunette left her body, and she went completely limp in the blonde’s arms.

“Essa? Essa, no. Please. Don’t. Y-You can’t.” Falling to her knees, Lylia could feel Inessa’s heartbeat weakening. “No. Please… Someone.” Her voice barely squeaking out of her throat, Lylia looked around the cell as if there would be something to help her. Gently setting her friend on the floor, she moved to the door and looked down the corridor.

From the direction Inessa had come, she saw a number of bodies between her and an intersection tens of cells down the corridor, some writhing in pain or trembling in fear, others unmoving in pools of blood. Then, from the intersection from which the bloodshed came, she saw a wounded, robed figure peek around the corner.

“She made it to the cell! Quick!” The man shouted back, producing a short bow from under his robes and firing an arrow at her.

Lylia was able to pull her head back just in time to dodge what would have been a headshot. Scrambling to Inessa’s body, she heard multiple sets of footsteps quickly approaching as she quickly put on the divinely crafted footwear.

Where do I go? Essa needs help, b-but who in the kingdom would help us? Her mind racing and time short, there was only one place she could think of that felt safe. “Use: Teleport.”

And in a bright flash of light, before the pursuers promising death could reach them, the former Saintess and former Champion vanished.