Demoness 2 - Chapter 80 - Contemplations and Lines (Patreon)

Note: for some reason the scene breaks didn't copy over properly on release of this chapter. I've fixed that and edited them in.

***

The siege continued for days, a constant exchange of long-range artillery, and direct assaults. The enemy’s attacks battered the district relentlessly, but the divine barrier generated by the Celestial Engine held strong, repelling each assault.

The ammunition they’d collected from the Syndicate helped, too.

Elania stood atop a rampart of the Magistry tower, her eyes scanning the battlefield below.

The weight of the mana shards in her hand tingled, their smooth surfaces cool against her skin as she played them through her fingers.

Her [Divinity] was running low, and she hadn’t recharged the engine.

She needed to. But she hadn’t been able to go out and collect more [Divinity]. Elder Holt and the Lightbringer Paladins had stood in reserve, ready to counter any move she made.

And she couldn’t beat them. Not as she was. And assistance that would make a difference wasn’t available.

So, the Guard and the enemy army squared off, tossing death and destruction at each other. Attrition for both sides claimed its due.

It had left her listless, moving between vantage points and the workshop.

Yolani was hard at work, crafting new weapons with new ideas and solutions. Elania helped as much as she could, but the painful gnawing that she should be doing something else bit at her hard enough to make it uncomfortable.

Elania’s gaze slid across the walls. Machine gun fire spat out over them into streets. Cannons boomed, elemental shells obliterating blocks of buildings whenever too many enemies gathered in one place.

Musket-wielding guards moved from wall section to wall section whenever an enemy platoon snaked through the rubble close enough to attempt a scaling.

Sometimes the enemy would make it onto the wall, but every time so far they had been pushed back with no help from her.

Keswick had spent the entire time avoiding her, only checking in with Yolani while marshaling the forces and staying close to the Celestial Engine.

Elania sighed, rolling the mana shards between her fingers. The [Power] was there, waiting to be unleashed. It just wasn’t what they needed to bolster the engine.

If she couldn’t go out to collect more [Divinity], there was only one solution, temporary as it was, to boost the divine shield protecting the district.

She’d outright rejected it multiple times, but with the memory of Yolani nearly dying, combined with a complete absence of… guilt?

For the first time, she considered it.

That was enough for her wings to flicker slightly.

It felt like she should hate herself.

But there was nothing, nothing, nothing that she wouldn’t sacrifice to keep a certain emerald eyed girl alive.

***

Yolani wiped the sweat from her brow, her fingers stained black from oil and powder.

The lamps lighting the room flickered temporarily with each shake of the tower as weapons rumbled. Failed experiments and discarded cannonballs littered her workbench.

The black powder bombs hadn’t been very successful. She sighed, recalling Elania’s words about the gunpowder’s slow burn rate and low velocity.

Which was a good reason the bombs weren’t nearly as effective as the artifice versions.

But it had sparked a new idea. She examined a shock crystal, its facets glinting in the dim light. With careful precision, she embedded it in a new custom casing. The bullet was too large for a musket, but it was perfect for one of the ‘Gatling’ guns that Elania had helped her figure out.

In the space between the shock crystal and the lead, she poured the black powder. Sealing the two halves shut without turning it into an explosion was a nightmare only solved by the very careful application of a melding wand.

When it was done, though, she let out a breath.

“Smaller bullets, faster delivery,” she muttered to herself. The crystal would convert to energy on impact, then ignite and consume the black powder without any delay. The melding of the two forces would theoretically increase the power and velocity of the explosion.

The outer shell of the bullet was smooth for the flight characteristics, but underneath it was a series of spiked ridges alternating.

When it exploded, those would turn into slivers of metal. Elania had called them flechettes.

It took nearly two hours for her to finish enough for a test magazine. Accomplishment momentarily overrode exhaustion as she wiped her face with a rag. When she stood up, the room swayed around her.

Strong arms caught her, and Yolani found herself looking up into Elania’s concerned eyes.

“You need to get some rest,” Elania said, her voice gentle but firm.

Yolani shook her head, leaning into an embrace. “We need to keep fighting,” she mumbled, her words muffled against Elania’s shoulder. “As hard as we can.”

Elania’s grip tightened around her. “And we will. But you won’t help anything if you collapse.”

It was easy to let the other woman guide her away from the workshop to their room. Elania helped her into a nightgown and then into bed.

“Sleep,” Elania whispered, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “No matter what happens, we’ll fix the shop.”

The words were like a hot poker into the back of her neck, and Yolani’s fingers twisted into Elania’s shirt, knuckles turning white.

Tears streamed down her face. “I don’t care about the shop. It doesn’t matter… It doesn’t matter. I just want us to be okay. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Elania’s hand made little circles against her back as she leaned in close, lips brushing against her ear and temple. Little promises of safety and comfort acted like a balm.

But the panic clawing at her chest didn’t relent. “I lost everything,” Yolani choked out. “And then you appeared. And now you’re all I have left. I’m terrified of losing you too, more than anything.”

It felt like a vise had been tied around their necks for as long as she could remember, slowly increasing in pressure.

The face of Lightbringer West flashed through her mind, the memories of the torture, the flaying and healing, repeated over and over again. It was impossible to still the shaking even as Elania clutched her tighter.

“We’ll find a way to be okay. Together.” Elania’s voice was soft, but firm.

Yolani closed her eyes. Fingers carded through her hair, the gentle touch releasing tension she hadn’t known had turned into a knot.

She wiped her face with her arm, then turned to look up at Elania. “I love you,” she whispered.

Elania continued to pet her. “I know.” She leaned in to press a kiss to the top of her head. “And I love you too.”

Exhaustion crashed over her like a wave, and she surrendered to the warmth and safety of the embrace.

***

Elania stood at the window of their room, her gaze fixed on the war-torn city below. She glanced over her shoulder. Yolani slept quietly in their bed, her breathing soft and even.

Her heart ached at the sight of her lover. She had spent hours holding Yolani close, trying to ease the fear and pain that had crushed her.

The entire time, Elania’s mind raced with thoughts of escape.

The idea of abandoning the city, of leaving behind the people, Magister Keswick, the Lightbringers, the monks, and everything else, gnawed at her.

The elevator was supposedly indestructible, but after witnessing the devastating weapons employed by both sides, she doubted anything was truly safe.

Even if she couldn’t take control of the device, maybe it would be possible to fly straight up the elevator shaft and cut their way free. Like they had in the sewer.

It would be an escape. But doubts crept in. What would await them on the surface? Would it be any safer than the Magistry tower, as besieged as it was?

The world above was a mystery. Sure, she’d read some textbooks on it.

She’d read the textbooks on the depths around Neftasu as well.

The words and drawings on the pages did the caverns no justice, and she doubted the overworld treatises were any better.

How long before the Lightbringers or monks caught up with them? Because she doubted they would be satisfied with letting them go. Not after she’d bloodied both of their groups by the thousands. Not while they searched for a sword that had been consumed.

Maybe if Yolani went by herself…

Elania crushed the thought. They’d promised. Together. Together. Together.

Her hands clenched, and she forced them to relax.

How far would they have to run to find a place that wasn’t filled with enemies? Far enough they couldn’t follow or send their agents? A place that wouldn’t persecute them for what and who they were?

What they were to each other.

Her mind drifted to Darius and the Black Candle cultists, wondering what had become of them in the sewers. Had they survived the onslaught? His warning had gone unheeded, but he had been right.

Elania’s eyes slid to the distant slums on the far side of the city. Harlock, Kael, Lucas, and the other Ironfist mercenaries were somewhere out there, if they were still alive. Were they still locked in the Ironfist headquarters? Or had they fallen victim to the devastation that had visited the city repeatedly?

Elania slipped her hand into her pocket and played with the loose mana shards. The tingle of [Power] played over her skin as her emotions poked through her defenses.

Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead against the cool class of the window. Through it, the vibrations of cannon hummed quietly.

When she opened her eyes, it was to a wave of golden orbs slamming into the divine barrier, the quiet of the room distinctly at odds with the display.

The dome shimmered, and Elania’s pulse spiked as one of the orbs didn’t wink out of existence immediately. It burned, suspended in the air, as if it were trying to worm its way through the protections.

It finally died a second later.

The divine barrier was weakening.

She hadn’t recharged the engine.

Elania’s mouth went dry.

She knew what needed to be done.

Even if it would only buy them a few more days.

Elania let out a tight breath. She moved to the bedside and with gentle hands she pulled the sheets over Yolani’s shoulder, tucking her in with tenderness.

Then she turned and marched out of the room.

Despite her refusals, Keswick had made sure she knew where the dungeons in the tower were located.