Fantasia
Arc4: Seeking the origins
Chapter9: Vivian: the queen of thieves
Deep within the Neburan guild of thieves, lied a room of pure luxury, it witnessed many lecherous nights whom Queen Vivian was the protagonist, harassing innocent girls her servants hunted down, but this night was one of its own, for it was for no lascivious aim, because aside from Vivian and her three harems: Nimmy, Clara, and Mariana, there exists the carrier of the dreadful aura; Tsukiname the shadow imp.
Tsuki pointed her magic repelling sword toward her enemy as she revised her plan for the last time:
"Alright, I must keep calm, my enchantment's main rule is fulfilled, as far as I know the queen cannot steal a power she doesn't know about, so I have to keep my phantom slayer my trump card for the last moment, I don't know how many skills she stole, but at least I know three beside her main ability, I know that her power is those of an enchantress, so my sole target must be her enchanted item, if I managed to stab it she'll be nothing but a weak human"
"So you have the power to steal other people's magic? You must be an enchantress" the imp claimed.
"She's right…she came prepared, how interesting" the queen responded.
"But to obtain such power you must set some restricting rules; I couldn't tell them all but at least I'm sure of three to exist" the imp added.
"And they are?" the queen asked.
"First: to steal from girls like this when their magic is suppressed must mean that either your power only works when your victim is not spending aura continuously, making me trust that you cannot take my power while I'm spending my magic, so as long as I fight you, your stealth is useless.
Second: using a charm to prevent men from hurting you means that you are restricted to women only, and it works on any tribe because at least one of those girls is not a human (She refers to Nimmy)"
"Ha ha, wrong! The second rule is wrong, it's just I who prefers female, I have no interest in men's powers!" the queen interrupted.
Tsuki smiled knowing that the queen's arrogant answer confirmed her first claim.
"Third and more importantly: Since your minions used the contest to camouflage this whole operation, I conclude that you must know your victim's magic clearly in order to obtain it, so if I didn't activate any spell you won't be able to steal my powers! And I won't say I'm sure but since you were so selective then I think that you are restricted to a limited number of skills!" Tsuki finished her sentence by swinging her blade.
"So you are willing to take me down without any honed magic, you are brave! I gotta have you!" Vivian applauded laughing deeply, then her aura got concentrated around two main spots: her emerald gauntlet and a fancy stash belted to her left waist which was easily noted by Tsuki's mage eye.
"Imp girl! The glove steals!" Nimmy shouted.
"Silence!" the queen ordered her bubble to muffle the nymph.
"So the gauntlet contains the enchantment of stealth, but what about the bag? Could it be?" the imp wondered.
"That's right, as your friend said my gauntlet is enchanted, I gave it the power of the thief's rose and with it I'm capable to seal my victims magic within it" Vivian quickly moved her left bare hand summoning the gourd that Clara uses to call beasts.
Tsuki bent her back knowing what will come after this, and so it was; the queen summoned a large raging boar that rushed toward the imp directly, who simply gave her sword to her navel arm and grabbed the beast's tusks pushing him back.
"Oh! I never met a woman who can fight a monster like this with pure strength" the queen commented materializing something with pale blue aura from her left hand.
"Don't underestimate ten years of mining labor!" the imp boasted while throwing the boar away to be surprised by a light blue chain that attacked her but luckily her third arm reacted and repelled the attack with her sword.
"Those chains! They have the same patterns as the shackles, they are magic repelling items as well, and she's trying to suppress my aura using them, but wait! If my sword touched them…this means they are made purely from magic, this is good I hope she didn't notice anything then" Tsuki analyzed her situation while charging at her opponent.
The queen stood there when her left hand tilted again summoning Mariana's sand manipulating flute, the imp concluded the next move so she jumped to the ceiling avoiding the large geyser of sand that exploded from the floor.
She then quickly tossed three throwing stars at Vivian trying to create an opening for her, but the queen was aware so her left hand moved again materializing whips of thorny vines (Which were of Nimmy's powers of course) tangling the steel projectiles sending them back at their owner who avoided them to be barely had her dress lightly shredded.
And by using her muscular thighs Tsuki pushed herself like a bullet toward the thief, it was her chance, her claws were pointing directly toward her target's neck, she discovered from the woman's curvaceous build and her attitude of using long ranged attacks that Vivian is a pure magic and her own body isn't of a fighter, so her chances of evading such are low.
But her move was interrupted as the queen used an unfamiliar spell that changed her with the bed behind her, Tsuki's fall destroyed the bed of course but she swiftly pushed herself away from her enemy.
"How do you find it? This is called the astral warp, a power I stole from some Espadian knight months ago, pretty simple yet effective, but I must say you are quite impressive going this far with me using only physical strength" the queen said with a sly grin.
"Trash! How can you be proud of powers you stole?!" Tsuki replied but her mind remembered a small detail she saw the moment Vivian activated the warp; she noticed that whenever Vivian uses a stolen power her left hand moves, no it wasn't just a spontaneous move…she was tapping the stash over her left.
It was all clear now; Vivian's thief's rose's mechanism is no longer a mystery; after Vivian steals her victim's magic using the gauntlet, that power is stored in the stash, which was too an enchanted item (since it glows with the same emerald aura like the glove), and as a restrictive rule, the queen had to tap on that bag in order to summon her power.
So Tsuki simply had to aim for the stash, if she managed to stab it, she'll isolate Vivian from her powers and so she's done for.
The queen then unbuttoned her cape and let it fall on the floor, then she activated another power, breathing life in the cloak by projecting her shadow into a slim red eyed figure, the creature stood tall gazing at the imp with its red eyes.
"Well then, shall we stop toying around and start the real fight" Vivian said materializing her magic suppressing chain.
The shadow man moved like a flicker attacking the imp with his blade like arms, Tsuki managed to avoid his attack with ease, but what troubled her was the chain that was overtaking her every now and then, but luckily her sword sufficed to block it.
"How do you like it? It's one of the best spells I took so far, it's called the black butler, I got it from a Nanalian shadow mage, she had such charm on her" the queen boasted with a deep laughter.
The table had turned against the imp, not only she was driven far from her target, also the butler was getting stronger and faster that it even managed to land few cuts on her shoulders and arms, but for her supreme agility she managed to find a small opening in the shadow's defense and used it to deliver a deadly stab…but alas her claws went through its ethereal body like an illusion.
"Oh, did I forget to tell you that the butler can only be harmed by magic?" Vivian claimed with utter wickedness.
"Damn it, she got me! I can easily defeat this monster using my phantom slayer, but that chain, I know what she's doing she's forcing me to use magic, and use that moment to chain me, but…" the imp stopped thinking.
Suddenly she had an idea; it was risky but probably the most efficient way to defeat the queen; so she simply sheathed her sword up her left sleeve giving it a blade arm like appearance, and decided to use her hands only.
"I must say, some brave gal you are indeed!" the queen commented making her shadow enter in trance slicing heavily trying to hurt the imp severely.
Tsuki was evading the butler's deadly stabs and the chains swings until she found the wall behind her, she gasped and as well did her friend Nimmy who was watching through the silky bubble from above fearing that this will be their end, she tried to break free but the orb trapping her seemed to be made by the same magic of the cuffs that sealed hers.
The imp was surprised by the chain tangling her left arm, while the butler cuffed her right hand and leg, was she finally captured? The queen smirked of joy, and quickly tried to pull her prey but the imp pulled Vivian instead toward her with immense force.
"What the…but how? I dispelled her magic!" Vivian asked.
At that moment, Tsuki's third arm emerged to pass violently through the shadow man, and pin her to Vivian's stomach, then in a flash she shrunk herself to size a child breaking free from the butler's grip.
Despite it was hard to believe how she did it with her magic sealed by the chain, the answer was fairly simple; her magic wasn't suppressed in the first place, because what the chain held was the sword not the imp's arm, it was hard for Vivian to figure it out from the angle she was looking from, and so Tsuki proceeded with her trick and convinced her enemy to lower its guard allowing the queen to be pulled toward the imp, who used her elastic limbs and size altering abilities to slip through the shadow man and head directly toward the thief.
She grew back to an adult and quickly pointed her sword toward the queen's stash, Vivian on the other hand tried to break the chains but the reaction time was reduced to a second that Tsuki used to land her final blow.
"You…got me…damn you!" the queen cursed while her chain, butler and the trap bubbles dispersed.
"Hold still now" Tsuki said pulling her hand off Vivian's bruised stomach slowly.
"Nimmy knew that imp girl will succeed!" the nymph shouted embracing the other girls.
"Don't move a muscle, as long as this sword is in the stash, you are useless and I can kill you any minute" the imp cruelly threatened.
"So it's a magic dispelling sword? You too are an enchantress?" the grimaced queen asked with a grin of disrespect.
"Exactly…" the imp answered.
"But why didn't you use it from the beginning? You could've freed the girls easily with it…" the queen said when she finally came to understand that Tsuki was applying her trick convincing Vivian that this katana was a normal blade, and why she only used it to repel the magic chain.
"I'm not forced to answer, beside it is always good to keep your trump cards hidden to the last moment" Tsuki replied.
"So what're going to do now?" the queen asked.
"First I want you to break Nimmy and the rest free from the curse, then I want you to assure a safe escape for us, and if you have enough obedience I want you to cut this insanity definitively and leave those girls alone" the imp answered "Either that or I'm not capable of holding myself for so long and my friends over there will have to see a blood pool" she added with a cold grin.
"But why?" the queen asked desperately.
"Because what you are doing is wrong!" Tsuki answered.
"Heh, who are you to say it's right or wrong?" the queen glared disgracefully.
"Listen we don't have so much time for the chitchat, so come with me!"
The queen's facial expression changed into a pleading despair trying to draw the least of mercy from the imp's heart.
"Alright, but before I want to ask you something…after seeing the way you fought, your raw strength, you had a rough life, am I mistaken?" was Vivian question.
But there was no response from the imp…
"I can see it in your eyes, in their eyes, all those girls are grieved by this world, I've probably lived longer than you did, I know that women suffer harshly due to their powers, men suppressed us, fate grieved us, so I took by their hands, it's true that I've took their powers but in return I gave them a safe luxurious life I…" the queen stopped talking when the imp threatened her neck with her claws.
"Listen to me, there's nothing I hate in this world more than someone who plays with logic! You address yourself as a caring mother, but you are but a mere thief, no, even a thief has some pride, you are a pitiful woman who's enslaved by bottomless lust, you are blinded by twisted animal instincts! So cut off this nonsense!" the imp yelled at the defeated queen.
"But I…love…you" the crying queen pleaded for the last time.
"I care less" was the cold answer from the imp.
Then silence reigned, nothing was to be heard but the ticking of an expensive clock set on the wall, then the queen released a brief gasp, following it by giggling that shortly turned into a deep crazed laughter drawing a weird situation.
"So you are an enchantress! You have a sword that can cut through magic then!" the queen asked with a loud voice before releasing an immense aura of magic that surprised everyone in this room.
To be continued
Please guys read this chapter good, it's the best chapter so far, I know it had so much hypothesises (I dunno if I wrote it right) I know the ending is some sort of Mexican drama series (Don't blame me they affected my brain since I was a kid) that turned into a, I know Vivian is a super femenist, and Tsuki is abig homophobe, but nevertheless it's worthy of a review ;)