Chapter Seventy Six

Elsa vs The Empress

ELSA

Elsa's steady blue eyes locked with Eleanor's crazed ones, and in them she could see the desperation and the insatiable craving to prove herself worthy of the throne of Exon. In a strange convoluted way, she pitied the Empress. Eleanor was doing all this because she wanted to, because she could. And that was because it all stemmed from an inferiority complex to begin with. Not unlike herself, which was why Elsa half didn't want to fight her. But it was inevitable.

If she didn't fight and beat Eleanor, then the Empire of Exon would go on to engulf Arendelle under their banner. And there was no way Elsa could let that happen. She had sworn back when she was queen to always do what was best for Arendelle, and that meant taking the Empress of Exon down once and for all and ending her reign of terror.

"I know what you're thinking." Eleanor stalked slowly, the both of them moving further away from where General Kane was battling the two archers. "You're wondering if you have what it takes to kill me, don't you?" She sniggered. "I've studied you and your exploits, Elsa. I know that you've never taken a life before, but under these circumstances, you don't really have a choice, do you?"

"There's always a choice, Eleanor."

"You don't get it, do you?" Eleanor shouted. "If you don't kill me, I'm going to kill you and I'm going to raze your kingdom to the ground! All that'll remain by the end of the day is fire and ash!"

Elsa set her jaw. She had been tempted to kill once before by Ingrid Grendstav, and she wasn't going to fall into the same trap again. "I don't have to kill you to end this."

Eleanor barked a laugh. "Stop fooling yourself! You and I both know there's only one way this ends. Look around you." She had her back to the valley where the battle was still raging, and spread her hands triumphantly. "To think that all of this would have never existed had it not been for me, their creator and saviour."

When Elsa kept silent, she went on. "The Imperial Horde, the campaign, the rise of Exon, none of it will never have happened if it weren't for me. And I'm going to get my victory this time!" Eleanor cackled nastily. "There's no way where you come out on top if you don't kill me."

"Actually," Elsa said, a tiny smile forming at the edge of her mouth as she inched closer ever so slowly towards Eleanor. "You might want to turn around."

An inquisitive yet suspicious look formed on Eleanor's face before her curiosity got the better of her. She turned to face the valley and caught a glimpse of the battlefield.

Both sides were still fighting, undoubtedly, but the tide had turned in the defenders' favour. General Frederick's gambit of mounting a shock and awe attack had paid off, as the once mighty Imperial Horde were now on the defence. Exonian battalions were formed in squares, while the Arendellian cavalry and numerous League sorcerers continued to heckle them.

As the Exonians were unable to break formation for fear of being overrun by their magic wielding enemies and riled up cavalry, the Arendellian infantry, artillery and Northuldra skirmishers took the opportunity to strike at them relentlessly, weakening their ranks ever so slowly but surely. The Elemental Spirits would show up every now and then to pick off enemy stragglers from the battlefield who thought they could make a run back to the safety of their own camps.

The enemy artillery was still continuing their bombardment, albeit at a slower rate than before, quite possibly due to the fact that they were running out of ammunition. Their salvos however were drowned out by the screams of the terrified Exonian soldiers and the ragged musketry from the Arendellians and Northuldra which cut them down by the swathes. The Arendellian artillery, with whatever guns hadn't been already smashed to pieces, had also been limbered and hoisted out to the battlefield to join in the assault on the Imperial Horde.

At close range, the effect of the cannons loaded with canister was deadly against the enemy formed in squares. As the volleys of the eight and nine pounders roared, musket balls were sprayed out of the canisters, blowing away soldiers in the hundreds.

It was obvious now where the victory belonged. Eleanor turned back silently, an eerie, uncomfortable atmosphere suddenly making itself known. Elsa felt her stomach lurch as Eleanor fixed her with a deadly gaze.

"Well played, Snow Queen." She finally said, her voice cold and impassive. "Well played."

"It's not too late to withdraw." Elsa hoped that the sight of her forces being on the defence would bring the Empress to her senses. However, she was bitterly wrong.

"This changes nothing. You haven't won yet." Eleanor's expression changed to that of a snarl in a heartbeat. "I will beat you to a bloody pulp and make sure you remain alive long enough to see me kill your sister in front of you. And then when it is done, and I see the despair in your eyes," A black tendril of ominous, unknown magic formed in Eleanor's hand. "Then I will allow you to die." She lashed out and the tendril produced an ear piercing scream as it whipped towards Elsa.

Elsa dove out of the way as the tendril shrieked past her head, nearly chopping off her hair, and found herself teetering at the edge of the hill. Bad move. She struggled desperately to maintain her balance and not end up careening off the hill.

The hysterical and enraged Empress capitalised, barreling right into Elsa's midriff and sending them both flying off the edge of the hill. Elsa could feel the wind in her face and hair, and gravity tugging mercilessly as they both went free falling through the air. Before she could summon Gale to break her fall, Elsa and Eleanor were both met by a ridge not far below which broke their fall.

Groaning, Elsa's world was thrown into black and white. Feeling as if every bone in her body had been broken, she coughed. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and was horrified to see blood. A dull throbbing pain covered her entire being, but she willed herself to get up when she saw that Eleanor had already recovered and was stalking towards her.

Levering herself to her feet with great effort, Elsa supported herself with her hands on her dust covered knees. The rest of her white dress and pants were stained brown, and her feet were coated liberally with dust and soil. The same could be said for her hair which was now peppered with bits of debris as well.

With immense difficulty, Elsa squinted, trying hard to get rid of the double vision that was plaguing her sight. Vaguely, she could see the forms of two tendrils forming in Eleanor's hands.

The Empress, equally dusty and soiled, whipped the tendrils at Elsa, who ducked below them just in time before the tendrils could take her head off. She evaded them time and again, feeling the blood pounding in her head as she exerted herself to steer clear of the enraged tyrant's attacks. Eleanor pressed her advantage and drew closer, forcing Elsa to backpedal till she was cornered at the edge of the ridge.

Elsa had to stop, since there was literally nowhere else for her to move. She desperately faded sideways to avoid a tendril, and got caught on another which wrapped itself around her body. There were no physical spikes or shards of glass on the weapon itself, but the strange, unknown demonic energy from the tendril seemed to embed itself into her skin, sending what felt like jolts of electricity through her veins and enveloping her already wounded body.

Grunting in pain, Elsa was jerked forward by Eleanor's retraction of her weapon, and held in abeyance in the middle of the air by Eleanor's sheer willpower. Squirming to break free of the demonic restraints in midair, Elsa tried not to pass out from the sharp pain flowing through her. She swore she could even feel the tendril tighten as Eleanor extended her hand in her direction and clenched her fist.

"You're weak." Eleanor gloated, walking nearer with her hand still outstreched. "And to think that I admired you. The legendary Snow Queen, the Pilgrim of the League of Sorcerers. You know how they say never to meet your heroes? Now I understand why."

She tightened her grip and the tendrils contracted, the invisible spikes and sharp glass biting deeper into Elsa's flesh, causing her to gasp in agony.

"You're nothing more than a fraud. An overrated legend just waiting to be exposed and laid bare."

Unable to respond due to the tendril squeezing the air out of her lungs, Elsa simply willed her own magic to work against this frighteningly powerful demonic force. Ice exploded out from her being, freezing the black tendril almost instantly. With a single thought, Elsa shattered the ice and the tendril along with it, spraying shards and fragments of ice everywhere.

Elsa dropped to a knee, breathing hard as ice rained down across the ridge like hail stones. The Empress simply raised her hand, and all the ice around her hovered in mid air as if there was an invisible umbrella above her.

"So maybe you have some fight in you after all." Eleanor said, whipping her hand aside and the ice fragments fell away uselessly. "Good. That'll make your defeat all the more satisfying. Then this campaign wouldn't have been all for nothing."

Pulling herself to her feet, Elsa launched a volley of ice that would have in theory covered the narrow width of the ridge they were fighting on. It did, except for a spot in the middle where Eleanor stood. The ice parted around her like an ocean wave hitting a large rock, at the simple extension of a hand on the Empress' part.

The rest of the ridge was covered in ice and snow, leaving a trail in the middle untouched. Elsa blinked in surprise and dismay as Eleanor advanced unhindered, and launched a second attack, this time with both hands invoking twice the power. She pulled all the power of a snow storm into her being, and released it all in one fell swoop. Ice swirled from her hands and burst forth in a tirade, a coruscation of blue and white aimed squarely at the demon-wielding Empress.

The ice hit Eleanor head on, or at least Elsa hoped it would. Things however went rather differently. Like before, upon nearing Eleanor, the ice was blocked out by an invisible umbrella pointed forward like a shield, swirls of black tendrils and an unknown substance fighting off Elsa's own magic. From behind the impact of both forces of magic, Elsa could see an amused smirk across Eleanor's face, almost as if to say "that's all?"

Elsa withdrew her hands and rolled below a whip of a black tendril, and stopped short in front of another slashed in front of her face. She was quickly becoming aware that even with all of her own abilities, she was outmatched by Eleanor, who wielded a demon's power that was far more deadly and foreign than anything else she had combatted before.

"You can't beat me, Elsa!" Eleanor shouted as she swung another long tendril at Elsa, which seemed to have a life of its own, snarling at her as it flicked past her face. "Stop trying to fight!"

Refusing to indulge Eleanor, Elsa rolled underneath yet another strike to emerge behind her opponent. With both hands, she unleashed a strong wave of ice, rocketing out of her hands towards the small of Eleanor's back before she got a chance to turn around.

The ice hit Eleanor squarely this time, and the Empress was pushed across the length of the ridge, now narrowly teetering on the edge where Elsa had once been. Elsa pushed her advantage, continuing her assault on Eleanor, who had by now managed to spin round and fend off the ice once again with the imaginary shield with little more than the wave of a hand.

"Now that's more like it!" Eleanor's shrill voice was carried across the ridge above the sound of the ice scraping against the invisible umbrella. She took a step towards the ice, and then another, followed by yet another, and it was apparent to Elsa that her attack was waning against Eleanor's superior power.

And then all of a sudden, with another wave of Eleanor's hand, the ice was abruptly cut off, even without Elsa willing it to. She found herself at a loss, unable to access her powers to her horror. Briskly pushing her hands out towards Eleanor again, she found that no ice flowed forth, and she stared at her hands in dismay.

"I have to admit it was a valiant effort, Elsa." Eleanor's hand was still held up as she closed the distance. "But there was never any doubt in the outcome." She shot a quick burst of dark grey energy towards Elsa, which punched her off her feet.

Elsa, thrown back by the demonic force from Eleanor, landed on the ground back first, and made haste to scramble out of the way of another shot placed in contempt. Forcing herself to her feet, she supported herself against the steep side of the ridge, pain dull but annoyingly present throughout her body.

"You never stood a chance." Eleanor clenched a fist, swirling with black, volatile magic, and swung at Elsa, who dropped to the ground quickly. The punch landed on the rocky wall, sending a small explosion of black magic which caused a ripple effect to reverberate out and fragments of rock to dislodge itself from the wall and crumble around Elsa.

Eleanor withdrew her hand, which wasn't even hurt from the impact and winded up again. She lashed out at Elsa with a glowing overhand punch to catch her, but Elsa back-pedalled quickly to put distance between herself and the deranged, sneering tyrant.

She tried desperately to reach out to any of the four Elemental Spirits, but found that her personal connection with the Elements had been also severed. At this point, she realised that she wasn't even sure what other abilities Eleanor had up her sleeve. The demon she harboured had really made her quite unstoppable.

Elsa found herself wondering at this point, if this was really her end. Her powers had been cut off, she was vastly outmatched against a villain who distinctly had the upper hand, and she was alone. Staring back at the Empress, she set her jaw and raised her fists in the amateurish way she knew how, and prepared to make one final stand against the Empress. If I'm going to die today on these hills, then at least I should go down swinging.

Eleanor barked a hysterical laugh, a wild, bloodthirsty look in her eyes as she cornered Elsa on the ridge. "Resorting to desperate measures, aren't we?"

Narrowing her eyes in resolve, Elsa stood her ground as Eleanor stopped a safe distance away from her fists.

Sighing, Eleanor shook her head and formed two long black tendrils in her hands. "Well, this has been fun, I must admit, but this is where you're beaten."

A jolt of fire and lightning rocketed down from the crest of the hill, catching Eleanor completely by surprise. The flames and electricity licked at Eleanor who flinched and retreated slightly. Spinning around in anger to ward off the attack with her own black magic, Eleanor let out a blood curdling cry of rage as she fought back against the combined attacks of her newest assailants.

Elsa too was caught off guard, but it gave her a moment to reassess the situation. However, she too was interrupted, but not by a hostile attack, but by Vonco appearing out of the shadows on the ridge's wall.

"Get in!" Vonco pulled her into the shadows, which acted as a portal that took them both out of the ridge. They both materialised on the crest of the hill, and Elsa looked round.

Deirdre and Jade were at the edge of the hill, launching an all out assault on the Empress, who was still fending off their combined attacks. Along with them on the hill stood Jordan, Rikhard, Cornelius, and Vonco who had just extracted her.

"You found Jade." Elsa said in relief between breaths.

"Yeah." Vonco said. "We had to take out a few guards to get to Kane's command tent, but she was there with those magic dampening cuffs on, and she was fired up to get back into the fight." He indicated the edge of the hill with a grin. "As you can tell."

Elsa permitted herself a very small smile as she watched Deirdre and Jade continue to rain down fire and lightning against the furious Empress. That moment of relief was however short-lived by the two Elemental Sorcerers hurriedly scurrying back from the edge as a coruscation of dark waves exploded from the ridge, sending dust, grass and rocks flying as thick, grey smoke engulfed the hillside. Deirdre and Jade fell to the ground from the shock waves of the explosion, and Elsa and Jordan rushed over to help them up respectively.

"Are you alright?" Elsa asked Deirdre as she helped her to her feet. The fiery sorceress waved away her supporting hand, and dusted herself off.

"I'm fine." She grunted.

Elsa turned to Jade, who was being levered to her feet by her brother. "Jade. You're…"

"Alive." Jade forced a grin. "Hopefully we stay that way."

Elsa was beginning to feel her powers return to her. It must be a proximity thing with Eleanor's powers. Once she was clear of Eleanor's demonic reach, her powers had been restored.

"Look," Elsa said urgently. "I don't know how we can hold her off. She's too strong and we know nothing about how to combat her demon."

The smoke parted and to her mortification, Elsa saw Eleanor floating through the air, levitating herself back to the crest of the hill with a crazed look in her now glowing red eyes. Her hands swirled with black magic as her feet touched down on the ground, her coat flapping in the smoke generated by her own powers.

"We're out of options." Deirdre said, and stepped towards her sister before anyone could stop her.

"No, wait-" Elsa started, but the fiery sorceress had already made her move.

Deirdre walked fearlessly towards her younger sister, who regarded her with a haughty, unimpressed gaze.

"You're a disappointment, sis." Eleanor's eyes still glowed red. "And to think that I was once jealous of you. Now, you're the one grovelling in the dirt amongst the weak, misusing that power you have. You could have been a god, Deirdre."

"Eleanor, this is madness." Deirdre levelled her sister's wild gaze. "Stop this now."

Eleanor laughed. "I don't know if you've noticed, sis, but you're no longer the favourite daughter of the family, and I no longer bend to your commands in the presence of our parents. They're gone, and I'm the ruler of Exon now. And you? You are nothing. No match for me." She glanced round at the other sorcerers. "None of you are."

"Eleanor!" Deirdre inched closer. "What would Father and Mother think if they could see you like this now?"

"They would be proud!" Eleanor screamed. "I've finally achieved something worthy in my life, and I've risen far above you! Far above anything you could have possibly hoped to accomplish. I raised our home into an empire, and liberated our people from decades of economic disaster and oppression. You're nothing but a cursed sorceress, but I? I am the master of the continent!"

"No," Deirdre gritted her teeth. "They would be ashamed of you."

Eleanor narrowed her eyes dangerously, her teeth bared like a ferocious dog. She leaned in close, till her forehead and Deirdre's were almost touching. "What are you talking about?"

"Look around you!" Deirdre waved a hand at the carnage that lay beyond the valley. By this point the battle was more or less done, the victory lying in the court of the Arendellians. It would be clear, even to a lunatic like Eleanor, that further fighting was pointless. "Your soldiers are beaten. All that remains of the Exonians is you."

Eleanor narrowed her eyes. "And that would be enough."

"Think about it." Deirdre continued. "How do you plan of conquering Arendelle and the kingdoms beyond without an army? And without your army commander?"

"I'll fight every last one of you myself." Eleanor snarled.

"You can try." Deirdre said. "You'll go up against the entire might of the Arendellian army, the Northuldra, the Elemental Spirits of the Forest, and the League of Sorcerers. The outcome is uncertain, maybe you'll win eventually, but it's more likely that you'll fail. Is that something you're willing to risk? Exon without a ruler on the throne? Isn't your first duty to the people of Exon?"

There was a long pause between the two sisters, and Elsa strained her ears, along with everyone else to hear Eleanor's response. And then, the wild look in Eleanor's eyes seemed to subside, albeit slowly.

"And you would know about duty to Exon, wouldn't you?" Eleanor finally chuckled, her rage seemingly dissipated. "The former crown princess of Exon. Now a member of the fearsome and formidable League of Sorcerers."

"Please, Eleanor."

Eleanor shook her head ruefully. "And to think that you were always the hot headed and impulsive one. Look how you've rubbed off on me?"

"It's not too late. Please."

The Empress shook her head again, a look of guilt forming on her face. Her voice fell to a whisper. "I wish things would have gone differently, Deirdre. I wish we didn't have to end up like this."

"Me too." Deirdre said. "Me too."

"A part of me regrets betraying you the way I did." Eleanor sighed. "But I did what I had to do to secure the throne. I hope you understand that."

Deirdre paused. "Don't let this get any worse, Eleanor. Please."

"I'm sorry." Eleanor looked at her with apologetic eyes. "But we both chose our paths years ago. You of all people should know that." The tendrils in her hands vanished, and so did the dark energy swirling round her. Her eyes too returned to their natural green as she inched past Deirdre to stand before Elsa and the rest of the sorcerers.

"Victory is yours," Eleanor said in a loud voice. "For now." She pointed a bony finger at Elsa. "But mark my words. There will be a reckoning."

Before Elsa could get a word out, Eleanor simply vanished into thin air with a poof, without so much as a portal or a whiff of mist.

"She's…"

"Gone." Deirdre turned back to her allies.

From the peripheral of her eye, Elsa saw Janus hobbling over slowly with Melody slung across his back in a fireman's carry. The sorcerers went over to intercept the two archers, who looked like they'd been to hell and back.

"Are you alright?" Elsa asked, glancing anxiously between Melody and Janus who seemed to have been beaten within an inch of their lives by Kane.

Janus gave a grunt and lowered the unconscious Melody to the ground before collapsing to a knee himself. Elsa hurried to hold him up before he could fall any further.

"Janus!" Elsa said anxiously. "What happened?"

"We…beat Kane." He slurred, one eye shut, a bruise big and purple in the centre of his face and blood trickling from his nose and mouth. "But he…disappeared." Janus slumped into unconsciousness in Elsa's arms.

"Looks like the Empress whisked the General away with her too." Jade said.

"Looks that way." Vonco scratched his cheek.

"This isn't over." Deirdre shook her head. "I know my sister. She won't give up now that she knows that we're a force to be reckoned with. Her grip on her Empire will tighten all the more."

"Can we just take the victory for now?" Jade groaned.

"Jade's right." Elsa said, lowering Janus to the ground gently as his chest heaved lightly, resting him beside Melody. "We'll fight Eleanor another day." But for now, she thought to herself as she wiped blood from her face again, we have quite a mess to clean up.

Author's Commentary:

I hope I delivered a satisfying climax. This entire story has been an absolute joy and thrill to write. But here's the plot twist. This is just the beginning of the war with the Exonian Empire. The sequel (Book 4) has already been completed and I'lll be continuing it straight from this current story. Right now I'm working on Book 5 but progress has been slow because of college. But if you enjoyed this story, then you're in for a treat.

For now, let's wrap up this story with the remaining 3 chapters. Thanks for sticking with me thus far!