Bound Evil

Emily stared at the throne where a handsome corpse watched them. It hadn’t moved since asking them to bow, and Emily pressed her lips together.

It was hard to make out at first, but if she squinted, she could see the face of the specter. This wasn’t an illusion fueled by magic— his sheer presence was warping the chamber itself. Emily’s vision wavered between two realities: one of cold danger and another of righteous domination.

As she struggled to reconcile these conflicting sensations, another wave of power pulsed from the specter. A sense of nobility washed over her, followed by a wave of nausea. The throne was alluring, and the longer she stood there, the stronger the pull to approach became.

Behind them, the doors slid shut with a finality that made Emily's stomach drop. There was no going back.

The specter’s voice broke the silence.

“I invited you in to fall at my feet. Why do you linger? Come, your Prince insists.”

Its mouth didn’t move, but the command tugged at Emily’s will. The urge to step forward was almost irresistible, and she realized why Alex had warned her.

The creature’s words alone were enough to make her take a step toward the throne.

Alex walked beside her, speaking softly.

“Play along until we get to that corridor. It’s not alive, no matter how it seems.”

Emily’s eyes darted around, searching for the side passage.

There it was—a corridor branching off from the main hall. They’d have to pass it to reach the throne, but it was still a long way off.

They had only made it halfway through the chamber when the specter raised a hand.

“Halt. No further. You may bow from there.”

Emily’s muscles tensed as her body moved without her permission. The pull to bow became overwhelming, stronger than any compulsion she’d ever felt. It reminded her of the subtle title manipulations she’d experienced before, but this was far worse—on a whole other level.

Her knees trembled, the pressure to kneel almost unbearable.

But Emily wasn’t one to submit. The mere thought of bowing to another ignited a fierce anger within her. How dare anyone expect her to bare her neck like this?

The specter’s gaze flicked between her and Alex, his shadowy face twisting into a displeased frown.

“You will bow, or you will die.”

Emily’s resolve only hardened. She wasn’t going to bow to anyone, living or dead.

Alex glanced at her, sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Can you move?”

She grunted.

“Yes... You do what needs to be done. I’ve got a date with this thing. I’ll buy you time.”

“Good. Then get ready.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than Alex bolted toward the side tunnel.

The specter screeched, its voice sharp and unnatural.

“You dare? Seize him!”

It pointed at Alex, and the room’s temperature plummeted. Icicles formed in the air, and ghostly figures appeared, closing in on Alex.

Emily’s eyes widened as the faint outlines of armored guards materialized around him. They hadn’t noticed her yet—but that would change if she moved.

Her hand shot forward, calling to her blood, and a crimson whip lashed out.

“Duck!”

Alex dropped just in time, and the blood whip sliced through the ghostly guards, scattering them like smoke.

He gave a quick nod and continued his sprint for the door.

Emily took a step toward the throne, drawing the specter’s full ire.

“If you want me to bow, you’ll have to come down here and make me.”

The specter’s form trembled with rage, letting out an unearthly wail.

“Death to the intruders!”

The sound was deafening, the cry of a being long dead yet still clinging to power. Emily grimaced, her stomach churning. This thing was far beyond the enemies they had faced before. Its power was a shadow of what it once was, but even this remnant was formidable.

But it was just that—a remnant. A hollow echo of a long-gone ruler.

Emily’s blood stirred with anticipation. If she gave it everything from the start, she could delay him.

A grin spread across her face as crimson welled up from her pores, and her blood sang in her veins.

Red splayed out of Emily, as a gown fell gently around her waist. The dull color of her eyes ignited like two rubies in the chamber's pale light. Finally, a delicate crown gathered above her head. It was still imperfect but the moment it appeared the chamber stilled.

When Emily had first gotten to this world she managed to scrape together enough life force to mimic this technique, but it had only been a shadow of what she was capable of. Having reached her threshold and having so much extra life force at her disposal it was worlds apart from what she had manifested a short while ago

Guards had seemingly abandoned the chase for Alex, and this allowed him to slip away down the corridor unnoticed. The problem was that as Emily stared up at their Prince she felt something shifting in the air.

The specter's anger was palpable as it screamed again, no longer capable of using words. Its full attention had shifted to Emily, or to be more exact the crown that floated above her head. It wanted her dead as a doornail and with a sweep of its palm, it gave the order.

Waves of ghostly bodies pressed in from all around her, rushing to hold Emily down

A harsh light came from her shield as she activated Vital Shell.

“Don't like that, do you? Well then, come let me show why the people of my world call me the Empress.”

A second blood whip shot out from Emily’s shoulder and swiped out, tearing through several guards.

The image of the man was fading but Emily caught sight of his face as the illusion dissipated.

It was a look of concern.

The specter's form overshadowed the Prince’s body and wailed orders to the chamber.

Two more whips joined her firsts and lashed out of their own accord at the ranks of ghostly guards. The creatures moved in from all directions but were unable to even get near her as the whips scattered their forms.

Pretty soon Emily came across another problem. Every swipe of her blood dissipated the guards surrounding numbers but they would just reform shortly after and keep advancing. Emily had not felt any life force join her own, which meant that she had not managed to kill any yet.

The specter had begun to descend the two or three steps down to her level as it drew a sword of ice from its scabbard. Or at least that’s what Emily first thought before she realized it was made of some kind of crystal.

Sadly, because Emily was keeping an eye on the Prince, she missed the pair of ghostly hands coming from the ground near her feet.

They grabbed onto her ankles and Emily hissed as the Vital Shell activated but was unable to block out the cold. The blood around her boot froze and Emily cursed, but then a grin broke through her pain. At the point of contact, Emily felt a connection to the creature come into being.

Letting out a laugh, Emily activated her gifts and drew the specter into herself. It wailed and began to break down as it turned into a pure life force. As it turned out these creatures had no physical body and as such no defense against her abilities when they made direct contact with her.

It was the same as if she had just directly fed from them directly.

The cold followed shortly but Emily ignored it for now. More guards followed but Emily began ignoring them in favor of focusing on the specter.

However, she didn't expect what came next. Instead of closing the distance and attacking her with the sword, it took out a crystal scepter that matched the blade.

With a sweep of its weapon, a ripping sound filled the air, and a hail of conjured arrows materialized around it. Formed of ice, they shot toward Emily without hesitation.

Seeing this, Emily switched her tactic and threw up a wall of blood. The screen rippled as wave after wave crashed against it. Gritting her teeth Emily could feel the power behind each strike.

The Prince used no hand gestures and yet Emily felt the magic continuing to rain down on her. Emily glanced over to the empty passage Alex had escaped down.

Emily clenched her jaw and sighed. She wouldn’t get anywhere if she held anything back, so concentrating on her blood Emily lifted herself into the air, moving out of the hail of arrows.

Flight was one of the first things Emily had learned to use her powers for, it was just incredibly resource-intensive. But even so, it was an invaluable trick. Emily put it on the same level as burning money to keep warm, and even though she had reached the first threshold it was still a quick way to go broke, so she only used it in bursts now.

Emily launched herself into the air and dropped right in front of the door.

She lashed out at the guards nearby, but one of them got through. It grabbed hold of her but Emily consumed it as well.

The screen of blood was still up but Emily could feel the specter had abandoned the arrows. She made a gap to see what was happening and her eyes widened. The arrows from earlier had melted and condensed into a ball, coming to rest above the Prince's scepter.

With one short motion, it flicked its wrist in her direction and she knew she had to get out of the way.

Pulling all her blood in she dove to the side as the ball arrived and shook the tomb. The impact caused a burst of heat and cold to explode out, causing the ground where Emily had been moments ago to glow like molten rock and then freeze over. Emily had blocked the residual heat with a thirty-centimeter-thick wall of blood but even then, it evaporated more than half of the blood before flash-freezing the rest.

Seeing the destruction had not even spared the guards Emily turned to look at the exit to the room.

“Alex you almost found what you are looking for? This guy was getting testy!”

Emily eye’s widened when another ball began to form on the end of his scepter. Getting no response from Alex, Emily dove into the air and floated a couple of meters off the ground.

More guards reached for Emily, but she had stopped defending against them entirely. The moment they touched her, they dissipated and became part of her reserves.

Goosebumps broke out over her skin, and she was losing feeling in her fingertips for the dozenth time that day, but Emily ignored it. She refused to take her eyes off the specter, knowing that missing even one projectile could mean death.

Smacking two blood orbs together, Emily began to create an attack of her own, rotating them at increasingly faster speeds.

The second orb of energy fired from the Prince’s scepter, and she launched her own downward. When they collided, a burst of heat followed by cold filled the room, but since it occurred midair, no real destruction followed.

Seeing they were evenly matched, Emily smirked at the creature. The specter paused, looking up at her floating form, and cocked its head. With a hand gesture, the guards who had been trying to find an opening from the start retreated.

Panting, Emily snorted, but her eyes widened as she saw the specter raise its sword vertically in front of its face before charging toward her.

Emily’s smirk faded as she realized the specter was closing the distance.

"Just, great..." Emily muttered.

Blood points: 133