章 60: The Break of Dawn
The three ladies faced off in a triangle, with Bee and Fireshing spreading as far apart as they could. The harder it was for Thorai to keep them both in her sight, the better it would be for their numerical advantage.
For the first time in the duel, Thorai summoned a weapon. A naginata shimmered and took form in her graceful hands. The polearm was as lightweight as it was strong, ending in a deadly curved blade above her head. The reach of the weapon was even farther than Fireshing's spear, but that was not the only problem.
'Oh!' Queen Bee suppressed a groan as her eyes were flooded with an overwhelming light. The sensation temporarily blinded her.
'That blade is like the sun!' Fireshing was also stunned. 'I cannot see.'
'I think it is just temporary.' Bee tried to keep both herself and her friend calm. 'Don't look directly at it.'
'I…I think I have a Memory for that,' the fiery Awakened answered tentatively. Sparks were already beginning to form around the redhead's face. 'It should lessen the effect enough for me to function. Do you have anything?'
'No.' The noble Queen had many, many Memories–most of which she would be reluctant to use as part of her Dreamscape duelist persona–but none of them would help her against this particular kind of attack. 'I'll figure it out.'
Her vision cleared enough to see a shape rushing towards her. Bee barely got her estoc raised into position before the naginata came down on her like a guillotine. Unable to look directly at the blade, Bee used the blurry form of Thorai to gauge the woman's attack.
A large ball of fire hit Thorai from the side.
The last of Dawnbreak was momentarily stunned, giving the Queen enough time to back up and get her bearings.
Bee blinked the last of the fuzziness away as she shot away from the sizzling clouds.
Fireshing now wore an elegant glass visor on her head. The reflective front obscured the woman's features, but Queen Bee could tell that Fire's face was turned towards her. Bee responded with an affirmative nod; she was fine.
The next few passes were incredibly taxing. It was nearly impossible not to catch glimpses of the naginata's curved blade as it whizzed through the air, giving Bee flashes of temporary blindness at each pass.
Each bout lasted a different length, and it seemed to depend on how close the metal was and how long the weapon remained in the Queen's line of vision. It was very difficult to fight against a blade that Bee could not reasonably view, but somehow she held on.
Barely.
Thorai was quite skilled. And the reach of her Naginata meant she could keep both competitors at bay without risking too much harm to herself.
'Can you get her with your flames?' Bee asked Fire. 'Or are you running low on essence?"
'I am low, but I have enough essence. It's just…She's moving too much, I am afraid I'll hit you!' Fire responded.
Even in the transmission of the thought Bee could sense the other woman's concern. Bee allowed a little of her essence to help calm Fire, much to the redhead's relief.
At the same time, the floating Awakened continued to ward off Thorai's assault. 'Don't worry about me. I'll distract her and you blast her with everything you have got as soon as you get an opening. Only one of us has to survive to win, remember?'
Bee didn't have to see Fire's face behind the visor to know that she did not like the plan. It was fine to sacrifice a queen in a game of chess, but a very different thing to do in a duel.
'But I…' Fireshing struck forward with her 'Aching Ember,' saving Bee from a nasty blow by Thorai's hand.
'Let's end this.' Bee did not let her teammate share her doubts. They would not do either of them any good.
Fire nodded her reluctant agreement and fell back from the fighting. Nightmarish seconds passed as Bee tried to maneuver Thorai into position.
The time-altering duelist was very good at avoiding Fire's balls of flame as well as both ladies' weapons. It did not seem like Thorai was using her Ability to undo any of their strikes anymore. It either took too much concentration or essence for her to do so. Or maybe she just didn't want to.
'Thorai radiates sheer confidence.' It was becoming overwhelming.
Taking in as much of it as she dared, the queen then sent the confidence to Fireshing, hoping that it would help her teammate know what to do.
Bee struggled to fight the other duelist in between bouts of blindness. Forced to rely on her battle instincts, the Queen dodged, blocked, and struck using all of her wits to keep herself alive.
Each attack was more fearsome than the one before it, and every moment Bee believed might be her last as the Naginata continually forced her into a world of only white.
After a time it felt like every other blink was making her sight disappear.
But then…
It was strange. Somehow, for fleeting moments, Bee could still see Thorai's outline. It was wielding the spear in a delicate arc, continuing the move which Queen Bee had seen just before her vision vanished. Like a majestic afterimage of her powerful foe. Trying to focus on the image made it vanish as inexplicably as it appeared. It was drowned out entirely by the blinding light.
'What in two worlds?' Bee could not fathom what she was seeing. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Was Thorai's weapon giving her some mind attack? Causing her to hallucinate? Or was it something else entirely? Could it have been a vision of the future?
The whole experience shook Bee to her core. Her eyes swirled with every color of confusion. In her panic, she missed her stroke to block the next attack.
'Argh!' Bee screamed in her head. 'It was not a vision of the future!'
Intense pain wracked Bee's body as Thorai's Naginata sliced between two plates in her armor, nearly cleaving her left leg clean off. If Bee had needed her leg to walk, she would have crumpled to the ground. Instead, it hung limply as she held it and worked to get away from Thorai's long reach.
It would only take one more of those catastrophic strokes to completely sever the Queen's leg from her body. It would be impossible to hide her hovering nature without pretending to limp.
Though, if Bee had to guess, Thorai would take her opportunity to strike at a different target: either Bee's torso or head.
'I need to get back!'
Bee's eyes opened just in time to see the Naginata come within a hair's breadth of her Fraudulent Facade. The move had nearly unmasked the Queen.
More than that, the up-close look at the blade had been like looking directly at the sun. It was worse than being enveloped in darkness and just as blinding.
Afraid of having her mask torn off by the next blow, Bee turned away.
The Queen gasped. Like a ghost, another afterimage of Thorai invaded her consciousness. It brimmed with the characteristic confidence that the might warrior had shown the entire duel. The strange part?
The image was somehow…behind her. 'How is that possible?'
Rather than dwell on the why of the revelation, Bee embraced the information. Reversing her estoc, she focused on releasing her [Unlikely End] at just the right moment.
'Now!' With all her energy, Bee bent her working knee and thrust her sword from her grasp. It went flying behind the Queen, stopping its singing slice a moment later.
Thorai grunted.
The confidence of the time-twisting Awakened suddenly dwindled. It was replaced by pain. Bee had hit her mark. A second source of confidence brimmed nearby.
'Fire!' Bee suppressed her scream even as the word passed through [The Other's Voice].
Except the Queen wasn't crying out to her friend. She was reacting to the environment in which she suddenly found herself.
All around her was fire.
Hot, immolating flames.
Fireshing had used all she had in one final, all-out attack.
The baker had lit the furnace. Bee and Thorai were the bread.
Horrified, the Queen felt the unimaginable pain of being burned alive.
'BLAZING BEES!'
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