True Love's Seventh Kiss

Ch.46 Witch Queen Meredith

"My my my. To think someone so young would be so scrappy." The witch said. She was dressed differently than the rest of the guests and wore a full traditional witch's regalia like something straight out of a Halloween story only it was mostly white instead of black. Her eyes glowed a sickly yellow and with a single hand she was able to block Prudence's lightning. "Cute, but that won't be enough to stop me, love."

With a snap of the Witches fingers the male assassins' clothes changed from dress suits to suits of armor and the female assassins mimicked the main witch with more witchy garb.

The Main Witch in all white garb spat out some blood and when she smiled her teeth were dyed red and she spoke with such venom it sent a chill into everyone that heard it. "I was just going to kill you nicely, and then take the girl. But you not only saw through my poison, you struck my beautiful face."

She cracked her fingers and her eyes glowed yellow as magic pulsed around her. A whip of purple electricity swung at her and fizzled out before it got close. "Wait your turn, princess." the witch flicked her finger like she was flicking a bug off her shoulder and the cage was blasted away from the princess. Her guards stood next to each other to block the blast, but they weren't given enough time to summon a shield strong enough to block it.

One of the guards had his whole left arm and half his sword vaporized as he opted to take the brunt of the blast. He was also sent tumbling backwards and crashed into the glass window on that side of the business. It cracked in a spectacular spider web, but he didn't manage to go through it. Meanwhile it looked like the Witch's attack gave some magical feedback to Prudence because she got a bloody nose and collapsed.

"Are you daft! She isn't an opponent we can handle, take the lady and retreat, you blasted fool!" Marion shouted as he rolled to his feet and aimed his gun at the witch. "We will hold them off!"

In the next moment the windows on both sides of the business were busted in from the outside as the Sky naval dove from the air and crashed inside. Several mages flew in on brooms and landed next to Marion and next to Prudence and her guards.

"Lieutenant Commander Bennett of the Sky Mages Division of the Cliffgard branch of the Imperial Sky navy. We have you surrounded, surrender peacefully." Bennett had his war face on. He had a wand that sprung forward like a hidden blade from his wrist. It was attached to his wrist, but he held onto it with his first two fingers and this thumb to steady his aim. Due to air combat dropping one's wand was an unavoidable and deadly hazard, so this assassin style weapon was appropriated to mitigate disaster with mid-air combat.

"Clever boy, do you think I didn't account for this? My name is Meredith Le Fay, the Witch Queen of New Avalon. Do you really think these ragtag sailors can stand up to me?" Meredith laughed.

"Don't underestimate the Cliffgard Marines, lady. Go get 'em boys!" Lieutenant shouted.

The groups clashed in a magnificent fashion and Marion, who hadn't ever seen the Marines in action outside of select expeditions, was quite pleased with their skills and tenacity. Within a few moments the Witch Knights were either pinned to something or riddled with spikes. Unfortunately, the Witch Knight seemed to be made out of sturdier stuff and even the couple of Knights that Marion had thought he had already downed now stood up and evoked some magic that clad them in armor.

Meanwhile some of the marines scooped up the princess and her guards and retreated while the Lieutenant began dueling the Witch queen.

Most territories have a signature magic, and for the Cliffguards, their brand was Gravity magic. It made them exceptional flyers and using the unique Cliffgard techniques passed down the line and improved by people like Irina and Lieutenant Bennett, it made them fearsome opponents. With a flick of his hand and a twist of his wrist the lieutenant hurled a barrage of black orbs the size of soft balls from his wand they arced in different directions that would make them harder to block. When they crashed into the Witch Queen's ward, they exploded causing huge concussive vibrations. They left behind an inky smoke that lingered and crawled around the wards and caused the Witch Queen to frown.

"What troublesome magic." she narrowed her eyes as she waved her hand through the mist, but it didn't dissipate. She then flung a hand at the Lieutenant and began through fire balls. The Lieutenant held up his broom like a shield or a staff and was able to block the explosions and the heat wrapped around the ward as the two then started trading blows with each other.

Their battle shook the whole building, and as tough as the Lieutenant was, he was slowly being pushed back. He even had two of the mages with him flank her.

However, Marion had something else to worry about as a sword pierced his gut and erupted in front of him.

Marion's eyes widened and he turned to see the man he had tumbled with turned into a knight. With a kick Marion was thrown forward as he was loosed from the blade leaving a mortal wound.

"Crummy brat." the knight exclaimed.

"Young master!" The fourth mage noticed Marion's condition and turned her attention to the man who had stabbed her master and was now descending on him. Although it would be a bad match up for her, the sky mage was not by any definition weak. In her fury she tossed him around with gravity magic and slammed him on every surface she could see. However, as many times as she managed to get ahold of him, he broke free and transformed his sword into a segmented whip sword. With that sword and a quick firing version of firebolt they engaged in a deadly duel until another witch showed up.

The Witch and the knight cornered the mage who had her back to Marion and was now completely unable to help him. The Lieutenant was on the other side and was barely keeping up with the grand witch queen whose smile returned and grew ever more sinister.

Marion covered his stomach wound and cursed himself for not being more vigilant. His glasses fell off and were sitting just inches from his face and swore he saw a flash of the red-eyed girl he had fought with when his sister was kidnapped in its reflection. However, the pain impaired him as he fought to remain conscious. With this kind of wound he was sure he was going to bleed out. So in pure defiance he spoke to his god, the Corsair.

"Nice warning. What now?" Marion asked as his vision dimmed and started turning red.

[Cavalier Corsair tells you to stop crying about a scratch. He advises you to pick up your god damned sword and fight.]

"And Fuck you too." Marion cursed as he reached into his inventory and grabbed the hilt of his sword. He might die today, but he was going to go down swinging if he could.