Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  After thirty seconds of silence, the king gave his response. “I refuse.”

  “Very well. We do this the hard way,” Remy growled. “Vix, are you here?”

  A voice replied from the shadows. “Indeed I am.”

  A dark elf Assassin emerged behind François with his daggers gripped in his hand. It was Vix, Tempeste assumed.

  Tempeste cast Elemental Weapon: Lightning, imbuing her Spellsword Saber with lightning magic. She hurried forward in defense of her father—

  François’s scream was a sound that would haunt Tempeste in her sleep for years to come.

  Her father’s HP dropped. Vix made his attack. Every single hit from Vix’s onslaught of dagger stabs sunk into François, coating the carpet below with gore. Vix brought François’s HP to zero so fast it looked like he one-shotted him. Tempeste should have known this was Remy’s ancillary plan. She found herself unable to hold back the tears that gushed from her eyes. Her father’s crown rolled off his head when his body hit the ground. Remy retrieved and offered it to her.

  “I believe this makes you the queen,” Remy said. Then he took it back, wincing, and tossed it over his shoulder. The crown hit the glass tiles with a clang.

  “No, it does not,” Vix said, and strengthened his grip around his daggers. The dark elf Assassin stood over her father’s body then plunged his blades into his dead chest. “A permanent death would make her the queen. Right now, a healer could resurrect him.”

  Vix stabbed the king’s corpse. He was mutilating it, squeezing out more blood on the glass floor, and forcing his LP to dip to zero.

  “Stop!” Tempeste yelled and ran to strike down Vix.

  Remy grabbed her wrist hard and yanked Tempeste to him.

  “But Tempeste, my dear,” Remy said to her. “Nobody will recognize your rule until the king is truly gone. It is not our fault the king lost his life at the hands of a dark elf because he chose war over peace.”

  Vix resumed the mutilation, stabbing her father’s LP away. Tempeste fought to break from Remy’s firm grip. According to the small screen hovering above her father’s body, he had 6 LP left. This was her last chance to save her father, and Remy was not letting her go. If Tempeste had used a subclass that granted her a bonus to strength, she would have been able to break free.

  But I can cast magic.

  Ignoring Remy’s grip, Tempeste shut her eyes, targeted Vix, and began casting Lightning. She no longer cared for the dark elves’ inevitable reprisal—

  A second hand tugged on Tempeste’s arm, pulling her back, and interrupted her spell cast. The owner of that hand whispered into her ear. “I would not do that if I were you.”

  Tempeste spun to see who else had grabbed her.

  It was a fae Ranger, a woman who fancied green-colored cosmetics. The Ranger nocked an arrow that magically appeared in her hand. Vix ceased his mutilation of her father’s body and looked at the Ranger, grimacing.

  Remy also grimaced at the Ranger. “Emeraldal,” he said. “Ah, you are here . . . earlier than expected.”

  Emeraldal curled her green, lipstick-painted lips. “Would you rather us be late?”

  Remy grunted. He was not expecting the fae to be there just yet. The imperials being in the city now would make it harder for him to carry out the next phase of his plan—turning against them. The sudden change in the situation bought Tempeste’s father time to get resurrected by a healer. He still had LP, and Remy and Vix’s worried gaze distracted them as they watched more fae enter the throne room. The dark elves shared Remy’s uneasy look. They were looking for a chance to turn against the fae.

  Outside in the halls, Tempeste heard multiple sabatons clank on the glass tiles. More armored men were marching toward the throne room, likely the newly arrived fae.

  Chapter Seventy

  “Damn, we’re too late.”

  The Lumière City burned from the inside out, spewing plumes of black smoke up that made the moonlit night skies glow a frightening dark orange. Lumière’s walls and gates, however, remained untouched, of course. Its sieging adversaries struck the city from within. Guy could hear the clangs of swords and men as their war cries echoed across the countryside. There were a couple of bangs too, likely guns and cannons.

  Guy and Rachael watched the fires rage from the top of a hill as Synaria slowly walked to the city with a wince. He wasn’t sure what Averyl’s reaction was as she was behind, but Guy imagined it was one of horror since Lumière had been Averyl’s home for the past month.

  “This way,” Synaria said, and pointed at a dirt path to the side. “Our hideout is not far.”

  Guy, Averyl, Nijana, and Rachael followed Synaria. The path had taken them from the burning city, into the Guillaume Meadows, then through a small forest seated at the foot of the Antoinette Mountains. As Guy recalled, the PKer’s secret hideout was up in the mountains. Nijana and Averyl both visited the place days earlier and commented that it would take almost a whole day just to walk to it. They had already spent nearly an entire day hiking to Lumière City. Guy’s feet weren’t looking forward to another long trek, especially when lives were being lost in the ongoing siege—

  Multiple elves leaped from the trees.

  Some held crossbows, some wielded maces, others had swords. The Mages of the elven group opened their spell casting tomes and surrounded them. Guy and Rachael stood back-to-back, weapons drawn and eyes forward at the ambushing elves, light elves at that.

  Synaria didn’t draw her twin Marauder’s Dirks. She walked to the elves ahead with her hand raised in a greeting.

  “Easy, Hugo,” Synaria said to the lead elf. “They are with me.”

  Hugo was one of the elves wielding a crossbow, a young man with short blonde hair, wearing a leather vest that exposed his bare chest covered with shimmering sigils. He looked at the two fae princesses Guy and Rachael were protecting.

  “Oy,” Hugo said. “Am I seeing double here? Two Nijanas?”

  “Long story,” Nijana said.

  “Send word to the other groups,” Synaria said to Hugo. “The dark elves are not to be trusted. They plan to break the nonaggression pact with us soon.”

  Us, huh? Hmm, so these must be the PKers. Guy examined the elves around them closer. Yeah, for sure they are. I recognize a few of their faces when we first arrived on this world.

  “You know this for a fact?” Hugo said.

  “Vix attacked us recently,” Synaria said, then gestured to the fae behind Guy. “He and another kidnapped Nijana too.”

  “I am Averyl.”

  Nijana pointed at herself. “I’m Nijana.”

  Synaria snorted at the two identical princesses, hands on her hips. “Whatever!” The druid angled her gaze up to Hugo. “Look, what I said is true, regardless. New Svartálfar had no intention of protecting us when they eventually win the war.”

  “Wait, hold on,” Rachael cut in. “Is that the reason you PKers made the nonaggression pact?”

  “Of course,” Synaria said. “New Svartálfar did not want to fight Lumière, knowing that we might intervene.”

  “And us having a little fun with the locals divided Lumière’s army,” Hugo said. “One half defended against New Svartálfar, the other half hunted us.”

  “Well, your protection’s gone now,” Guy said, stepping forward. “Your best hope for survival now lies with helping me.”

  “You? Ha!” Hugo erupted with a mocking laugh aimed at Guy’s face. “Do not make me laugh, star-man. Syn dropped yer arse quickly when I last checked.”

  Guy confronted Hugo and stood face to face with him. “I’m a lot stronger now, pal.”

  “As a level 19 Spell Lancer?”

  “This is my sub,” Guy said. “My main is a 20 Paladin. And as soon as I can switch my classes, I’ll show you what my power could do.”

  “I would suggest you use the astral cluster at our hideout,” one of the PKers said, a tall elven woman with two blonde pigtails. “But fae roaming the mountains forced us to flee.”r />
  “Fae in the mountains,” Synaria said with concern. “Is that why you are out here?”

  “Aye,” Hugo said. “The fae killed some of our scouts too, then cut up their bodies to . . .”

  “Harvest their soul crystals,” Guy finished. “That’s the fate that waits for you all unless you help us. The Autumnfall Empire is only helping New Svartálfar to weaken both sides. Once the war’s over, they’ll attack the winner before they get the chance to recover. Then, they’ll slaughter every elf on the planet for their soul crystals.”

  Hugo gave Guy’s words some consideration. Afterward, he stepped off from confronting Guy, looked at him, and asked, “What do you want us to do?”

  “Hold on a sec,” Guy said. “I’ll get back to you on that.” He turned to Nijana, opened his Inventory screen, and pulled out Asteria’s Sword. The damn blade hit the ground with a thud. Guy wasn’t worthy to wield it as a Spell Lancer. “So, Nijana, I heard you wanted my sword.”

  He kicked the blade to Nijana.

  Nijana smiled warmly at Guy. “You already gave it to me.”

  She waved her hand to open her inventory, then lowered herself to drag it in. Nijana’s comment turned his cheeks a bright red, and Rachael saw it.

  “Wait . . .” Rachael grumbled. “Why did you give her your sword . . .?”

  “Uh, nothing happened!” Guy said in a panic. “I’m sure of it!”

  Rachael pointed at Nijana’s Inventory screen. “You just gave your sword to her.”

  “Oh, right that,” Guy said.

  Rachael raised her immaculately shaped, cherry-red eyebrow. “What did you think I was asking about?”

  “Nothing at all!” Guy shouted. “So, Nijana, Remy wanted to prevent you from bringing Asteria’s Sword to Serzax. He thinks it will turn him into a Paladin like it did to me.”

  “Yeah, I overheard him saying that during my escape from the Sirocco,” Nijana said.

  “Sounds to me like Remy wanted to double cross Serzax and the empire,” Guy said. “Before the empire does it to New Svartálfar.”

  “Serzax met with Remy beforehand,” Nijana said. “He knew that Serzax was planning to send someone, like me, to steal your sword and deliver it to him.”

  Remy and New Svartálfar planned to betray the empire once they got what they wanted, control over Lumière. The empire planned to betray New Svartálfar once they got what they wanted, Lumière brought to its knees at the cost of as many dark elf fighters and airships as possible. Guy needed both sides to betray each other simultaneously, ideally with Lumière still able to fight.

  Guy chuckled as he formulated a new plan in his head. And it involved the muddle potion the White Dragon wanted them to get. He felt like the ultimate chess master.

  “Right, because Remy was planning to stab the empire in the back,” Guy explained. “He wanted to intercept you, Nijana, while you had my sword but failed to do it. You know what I say? Let’s give Remy what he wanted. Nijana, take Asteria’s Sword, surrender yourself to Remy and offer it. That should get you close to Remy and Tempeste, assuming she’s with him, of course. After that, give Tempeste the mushrooms and shadow angel pinion, and have her synth the muddle potion.”

  “Eh,” Hugo stepped forward, one hand raised. “What do you need us for then?”

  Guy addressed the PKer leader as his battle plan continued to take shape in his mind.

  “You PKers are going to get the fun job.”

  Silence fell as Hugo staired at Guy with a perplexed gaze. “PKers . . .?”

  Chapter Seventy-One

  A building collapsed into smoldering debris and smoke, its rumbling groan startling Nijana. The siege of Lumière City was far from over. She trotted to the city’s main gate, alone, unprepared, and uncertain if Guy’s plan would even work, and unsure why she accepted it without a second thought. Guilt, perhaps, she knew that what was going on was partly her fault. Or was it because Dianna’s soul crystal imprinted her essence into Nijana’s mind? Was Nijana doing this because it was what Dianna would do?

  She’d think about it later.

  Two dark elf spearmen saw Nijana walk toward the burning city. They recognized and dashed to Nijana, prompting her to raise her hands up in surrender. Her hands were shaking too, and that wasn’t normal. Dianna’s emotions were a part of her, too. Nijana wondered if she’d be able to go back to being the cutthroat pirate princess again.

  “You have a lot of nerve showing your face here, pixie,” said the dark elf Spell Lancer.

  His partner faced him, grinning. “What shall we do with her?”

  “Listen,” Nijana said. She lowered her hands, then waved them to display her Inventory screen and pointed at the prized sword in it. “I have something for Remy.” They glanced long at her screen. Nijana tapped the close button, making her inventory fade away. “He wanted that sword did he not?”

  The two dark elves smirked, and grabbed Nijana’s arms, one on each side. They dragged her through the burning city, past the dead men and women, burning shops, and children crying for their parents. A battle horn blew in the distance, amidst the crackling flames and war cry screaming men and women fighting fiercely in the streets.

  The men dragging Nijana carried her up the hill where Lumière’s castle sat. Its guardsmen lay dead on the ground, and she saw at least four of them turn to soul crystals as their LP bled away. Once inside the castle, she observed fae gathering soul crystals from the other departed men and women. Guy was right. They were indeed too late.

  A heavy shove threw Nijana face first and into the throne room. She fell onto the glass tiles, then pushed herself up.

  “Show it to him,” one of the dark elves said to her.

  Nijana stood to see Remy glaring at her. He was in front of the throne and walked toward Nijana, past a few dark elf Mages, Clerics, and Spell Lancers, as well as a small detachment of fae imperials. Nijana brought her Inventory screen to life again and pulled Asteria’s Sword out. The heavier-than-expected sword hit the tiles with a loud clang, cracking one of them.

  Remy grinned at the mysterious blade, glowing blue with light elemental energy.

  “My deal with Serzax didn’t work out,” Nijana said to him. “I heard you were in the market for a sword such as this.”

  “Indeed, I am,” Remy said and reached for the hilt of Asteria’s Sword. “Indeed, I am . . .”

  He grabbed Asteria’s Sword and pulled, grunting loudly. The sword barely moved from where it had fallen. Remy had to use both hands to hold the sword up, and wobbled.

  “Too heavy for you?” Nijana asked him.

  Remy peered at the stats of Asteria’s Sword flashing beside the blade. He grimaced. “I just do not possess the vitality required.”

  “Same,” Nijana said. “I struggled to get it in my inventory. I needed to drink a vitality potion just to hold it,” she lied.

  “Sadly, I have none of those,” Remy said.

  “I have the materials to synth some,” Nijana lied again. “But I need someone with the alchemy skill high enough to do that.”

  Remy turned toward Tempeste. The blonde elven swordswoman was on her knees, holding a blood-soaked soul crystal. Tempeste’s face was red and puffy, too. Beside Tempeste’s knee was the crimson-stained crown the king would wear. Something tragic happened.

  “Tempeste,” Remy called to her. “Your alchemy skill is high, correct?”

  “It is . . .” Tempeste said with sorrow.

  “Oh,” Nijana said. “Well, what luck! Shall I give the vitality potion ingredients to her?”

  Remy nodded. “Of course.”

  She walked to Tempeste slowly, noting she hadn’t risen or looked aside from the soul crystal in her hands. Nijana glanced at the screen drifting above the crystal Tempeste held.

  François’s Soul Crystal

  The crystallized soul of a land-elf named François.

  Class: Gunner Level: 20 Rank: A

  It was her father’s crystal.

  Nijana felt terrible
for pulling Tempeste away from mourning, but it had to be done. Behind, Remy used all his strength to lift Asteria’s Sword up, drawing impressed glares from the dark elves and concerned murmuring whispers among the faes.

  “This is it, my friends!” Remy yelled. “I shall become the new Paladin!”

  Remy was too busy showing off to look at Nijana and Tempeste. She returned to the elven Spellsword princess, pulled out the shadow angel pinion and two woozy mushrooms from her inventory, and handed it to her.

  “Listen, I’m sorry for your loss,” Nijana said. “If you want revenge, then consider taking these.”

  Tempeste examined the small screens displaying the information of the items Nijana offered her. “These are . . .”

  “Muddle potion materials,” Nijana revealed. The two looked back at Remy and his dark elf friends. They were all distracted by him struggling to brandish Asteria’s Sword. The fae were still mumbling to one another, like they knew something wasn’t right. Nijana whispered to Tempeste. “Make the muddle potion quickly before Remy realizes what I’m doing.”

  Tempeste nodded, retrieved the appropriate crafting crystals from her inventory, and began the synth—

  Clang.

  Remy dropped Asteria’s Sword, shattering another glass tile. He couldn’t hold it for long.

  “Tempeste,” Remy called out to her. “Are you ready with the potion?”

  Tempeste clenched what her alchemy skill synthesized. A glass bottle with a green-yellow opaque liquid inside. “It is ready, but it is very bitter.” Tempeste eyed an open bottle of wine the king was probably drinking before the attack. “Shall I pour it into a drink? Wine perhaps to celebrate your victory?”

  “Yes, yes, that will be fine,” Remy said.

  Tempeste walked to the wine bottle, poured a glass of it into a goblet, then emptied the muddle potion into it. Once completed, she offered Remy the goblet. He took it and gave it a swirl. Nijana hoped he didn’t know the difference in smell between a vitality potion and a muddle potion. Honestly, she hoped he just drank it without question.