The Girl Who Killed a God - 044 - The Power of Love (Patreon)

Glancing again through the doorway, Grace couldn’t help but smirk at how the men with the bows hadn’t moved.  They were trained, not wasting an arrow.

She summoned a Wind Blade.  Even though it was her first time, Grace knew how it would work.  No doubt in her body, spirit, or mind about how to control and use it.

Grace tested it further, excited to find she could summon two more simultaneously.  Now, three invisible blades, each a foot wide, hovered inside the doorway, impossible to see.

Smirking because it felt unfair for what she was about to do, Grace looked at the group of people staring at her, wondering how she would be able to get through the doorway and defeat the Lord Knight.

The mana inside her swirled as the blades hovered, begging to be released in the direction she aimed them.  The feeling was wonderful and yet overwhelming as she knew there had to be people like the priestess and Max who were far stronger and deadlier than she was even now.

This problem first.  Then get Levi safe.

No flick of her wrist was needed, so the blade sped through the doorway, each slicing off the guards' heads with the bows.  The sound of bodies and heads hitting the ground was all she needed to hear, turning to enter the doorway smiling as she came.

“Impossible!” the older man shouted as he looked at the men dead at his feet.

His eyes came back to her, and the sight of one so young, so tiny, yet covered in blood caused him to consider his options.

“Don’t think about it,” Grace called out as the man shifted toward one of the fallen bodies.  “I’ll kill you as I did them.  Your only choice now is to fight me with that sword and see if you’re anything at all like I heard you were.”

The Lord Knight hesitated, glancing down at the bow and arrow within reach, trying to decide if Grace was bluffing.  She walked and glided like she was moving through a park, not a care in the world.  An aura of danger seemed to resonate from her to his trained eye, and the man struggled to believe she could be this strong.  He knew if she had another use of that spell and used it on him, the odds were not in his favor, as the precision and destruction on his men was not something he had seen in ages.

“You wish to duel me? One-on-one?” he asked before starting to laugh, moving slowly around the table as he shifted his shield into a better position and regripped his sword.  “You do realize I’m not like the rest of the cattle you have struck down.”

Grace nodded at him, only a slight smirk on her face, not caring how much the older man scowled.

“Seems then you should be in a good position,” Grace replied, continuing her walk, now only ten yards separating them both.  “Do you need a moment to prepare, or are you ready?”

“Why would I need a moment?” he replied, scowling even more, his eyes narrowing for the slightest moment before returning to normal.  “You’re trying to upset me.”

Grace nodded once and raised her sword slightly.  It was a little longer than the one she had used earlier, but the weight of it was far better, and the blade was made of something stronger than the rest.

I’m very interested in knowing what Marcus did before he came here…

“I was returning the favor since you thought mocking me and my brother would make me rash.  Instead, it just sealed your fate,” Grace stated as she adjusted her stance, setting her feet and bending her knees so she was perfectly balanced.

The Lord Knight saw how she stood and scowled once more as he charged. He knew her stance and that this wouldn’t be the fight he had hoped for.

His sword came at her on the right side, and she brought her sword up, parrying the blow and stepping sideways to avoid the shield he had attempted to hit her with.  He readjusted, kicking his leg out to try and trip her as he stood close, but Grace lifted her foot up, dodging the strike, and gave a push with her hand on his shield, forcing him to stumble backward a step, his body off balance from the leg sweep.

Adjusting his grip on his sword, the older man came again, faster than the other guards, still testing her defenses and responses, reacting much quicker than even the Knight Michael had.

His blade moved with speed and skill from a lifetime of use.  Each strike was perfectly measured, not leaving him open to an attack while also setting him up to use his shield if an opening came.

Grace saw the movements and recognized the strikes as her sword skill told her what the man was doing.  It was like a dance, a downward strike, turned into an upward one, shift to the right, coming across before a shift of his hips, and the sword switched directions, returning to its original position.

A scowl appeared on the man’s lips as everything he tried to do failed, never striking the area he aimed for. Each time he tried to use his shield, she simply pushed him away, using his momentum against him.

He came at her, his sword flashing green, and Grace’s eyes widened.

She didn’t know what skills he might have, and even though she knew the older man was weaker, an empowered strike could destroy her weapon and injure her badly.

Jumping back and to the right, she put a few yards between her and the older man, who almost stumbled as he tried to catch her.  She backed up, dodging left and right, zig-zagging back and forth, making the knight of this keep look like a fool, struggling to catch her.

His weapon flashed green again.

“Fight like a–”

“Man?” Grace called out, cutting him off and watching his face turn red. “Please, when have you ever fought fair? When have you not hidden behind your men while you do horrible things?  Did you come personally into the town and burn every house or stay behind these walls, content to simply order the death of so many.”

As she taunted him, calling out his weakness, Grace watched as the man seemed to get desperate, wild swings now taking place.

She stopped falling back and set herself again, parrying and sidestepping, staying close and listening to the man breathe.  His nostrils flared, and his eyes burned with hatred.

His sword flashed green again, and as it did, he spoke. “I command you to stop moving.”

A gentle chill ran through her mind, and Grace smiled, activating a skill she had been waiting for.

[Evasion]

The sword moved like lightning, and Grace realized he had used Flurry

[Battle Accuity]

The blade thrusting toward her slowed down, and Grace watched as time seemed to stretch on.  She could dodge and parry the strikes because of her evasion skill, but she wanted to see how the Accuity ability worked.  Here, in a perfect moment where there was nothing to fear, Grace watched as the Lord Knight’s blade and her danced, each almost touching the other, close enough for mist to form on the blade if she breathed on it.

When his skill deactivated and time sped back up, Grace couldn’t help herself anymore.

She smiled, grinning so devilishly the older man pulled back, staring at her in surprise.

“How? How did you resist my–”

Grace was done.  She had tested the man, and he was worthless.  He had no skill, and the little tricks he had hoped would work had failed.

The way he stood there now and how he sought some explanation for what he should have known from the start frustrated her.

This was the man I feared? An old, weak shell of a man…

Her blade lanced forward, scoring a strike on his shoulder, right between the joints of his armor, as she stepped to the left, thrusting it up and in.

His sword arm immediately went slack, the blade clattering to the ground as she shattered the socket.

“Wait-”

Ignoring his cry, Grace moved in, tossing her sword into the air, grabbing his shield, and pulling so hard with both hands that she lifted him off the ground.

With a twist of her hips, she brought him down onto his back, slamming into the stone floor, causing chips to splash out to the sides.

His grip on the shield expired as the air in his lungs was forced out, and she freed the shield from his hand, tossing it sideways and catching the sword she had tossed up.

With a speed and strength that outclassed the man completely, she drove the sword into his left shoulder, once again destroying the socket and now rendering both arms useless.

With her foot, she slammed down on the top of his kneecap, shattering the bone and joint that had hoped the armor would protect it.  A second later, the second leg suffered the same fate.

Screams of pain and agony tried to come from the man’s lips, but he was still trying to draw breath, unable to fill his lungs enough to make anything more than a wheeze and a wail.

Satisfied with how she had incapacitated the Knight, Grace grabbed his ankle, gripping it tight, and began to drag him over the stone floor and toward the door.

When he finally got enough air to breathe, it was immediately let out as each bump and yank set every joint on fire.

Like a child dragging a toy doll behind them, Grace treated the one everyone had feared as nothing, knowing they needed to see him broken.

The sound of the Lord Knight's armor scraping and bumping against the stone tiles spilled into the area where everyone was waiting outside.  His body clanged down each step, cries and wails leaving the old man’s lips when she finally reached the bottom of the short set of stairs.

Another twenty yards of humiliation gave everyone enough time to come close and see what Grace had brought.

Torches and lamps dotted the crowd as they encircled Grace and the man who had caused nightmares for most.  Every eye in the crowd was filled with rage and anger.

“Kill him!” someone shouted, and other voices quickly called out the same.

The people began to move closer, shouting and brandishing their weapons.

Grace could make out each of their faces, not limited by the light like the rest.  Their fear was gone, replaced with a chance to grasp an act of revenge most never dreamed would come true.

Holding up her hand, Grace was tiny compared to the crowd, but when she yelled, the voice that came out was like a lion roaring in the jungle.

Silence fell upon the men and women, and they all stared at her in shock.

“This is my prize,” she stated, her voice conveying there would be no arguing.  “I could have killed him inside, carried his corpse, and dropped him at your feet, but I knew that wasn’t what you needed to see.  You need to watch as I end his life.”

Grace saw Marcus moving toward her, extending a torch so everyone could see her face.

Nodding, she took it from the man and smiled.

Remember to show emotion.

“You all know what we have suffered under this man,” Grace continued, pointing at the Knight with her sword, the torch illuminating her face.  “It is because of him our families are dead, our loved ones are buried, and we had to become animals for a while, scraping to get by.”

A few whimpers and sobs came from the Lord Knight, yet Grace ignored him, immune to whatever he might say or do.

“We banded together, found hope, and they poisoned it, trying to kill us while we lay sick.  This man oversaw it all.  He kidnapped my brother in the dark of night, planning on using him to torture me in some way.”

Grace moved till she was standing over the man.  Putting a foot against his forehead, she glared at him.

“You thought you could see a world without us.  You were wrong.”

Poking the tip of the sword into his left eye, Grace ignored the screams of pain that came from the man.

Some of the crowd had moved back, stunned by Grace’s action, unsure if this was what they had expected or hoped for.

The man howled in pain, cursing and screaming as blood ran down his cheek.

She spun around and kneeled down, one knee on his chest. Holding the torch between his and her face, Grace shook her head slowly, without expression.

“If it wasn’t for the quest, I would let you live blind and unable to walk or move.  I’d tell Marcus and the others to keep you alive, no matter how much you begged for death, just so that we could always see how weak you really are.  Instead,” Grace paused, pressing the tip of the sword against the Lord Knight’s throat.  “There is no option but to kill you.”

She didn’t hesitate or wait for a response, having become immune to the man’s cries and shouts.  The sword pierced through the man’s jaw and up into the back of the skull, severing the spinal cord and continuing through the tiny hole at the base, coming to a stop inside his brain.

He thrashed for a second and then stopped.

Two red notifications appeared, and Grace ignored them as she pulled the sword free, flicking it at the ground quickly to clean it before turning and handing it to Marcus, who stood nearby, his face like flint.

“It’s done.”

With those two words, Grace moved through the crowd, headed to find her brother, unsure what tomorrow would bring.

As she walked past the keep and the open gate, a person appeared, and she didn’t miss a step, turning to see the man who had started this all.

He wore the mask of the young man, fit, taller, and wearing the same black clothes he always had on.

“Well done, Grace. Well done,” he said, his tone one of approval.  “I must say I wasn’t sure if–”

“Just get to the point,” Grace said, cutting him off.  “I don’t need my arse kissed or smoke blown anywhere.”

His dark eyes locked onto her matching pair, and he grinned, nodding for a moment.

“Very well.  Enjoy this moment.  It won’t last, but you have earned a break.  I’ll return soon enough, and you must be ready to leave.  Grimdom is going to come for you.  I’ll need to take you somewhere to prepare and grow stronger.”

“Anything else?”

Laughter filled the small enclosed space between the keep where the gate protected as the man howled with delight.

“Check your stats.  You have been marked.”

Grace watched as he moved into the shadows, vanishing as always a moment later, and she shook her head, frustrated at his appearance.

Levi is worth this… he will always be worth this.

[Status Check]

*****

Grace Akem

Age: 16

Female

Senior Initiate of Balethem

Enemy off Grimdom

Physical: 21

Mental: 23

Spiritual: 20

Abilities:

Persuasion

Juggernaut

Heal

Evasion

Empower - Advanced

Swordmaster

Battle Accuity

Regeneration

Air Blade Spell

Recall Spell

*****

Two notifications still begged for her attention, but she didn’t care.

Levi was standing on the bridge, a fire going as a group stood near a few barrels they had moved to provide some protection from town.

He was laughing, listening to someone tell a joke.

Picking her pace up, Grace moved faster, her heart cracking under the strain it had held back.  A flood of emotion smashed against the wall she had erected for the last few encounters.

She was jogging and then sprinting until he was just a few yards away, and he saw her coming.

“Sister!”

Tears fell like rain during the season when the clouds are full of water.

Yet joy broke through the barrier surrounding her heart as Grace picked up her little brother, squeezing him tight and feeling him hug her.

“I love you,” she whispered, kissing his cheek softly.

“I know,” Levi replied, squeezing her tighter.  “I love you too!”