Chapter Fifty Six

Sacrifice

JANUS

Was it worth it? Hell yes it was. Janus smashed his padded elbow into a Blitzguard soldier's face and hoisted him over his shoulder with a tired grunt, watching him finally topple like the twelve others who'd given him a bloody fierce fight.

After Elsa had escaped, he'd held on for as long as he could to stall the Mage Slayers. As expected, he'd been beaten, but not before buying her enough time to get clear. He'd lost this fight, but Elsa had survived. And that was all that mattered to him.

It felt like he'd been stampeded by angry bulls, run over multiple times by hackney cabs and steam engines, and struck by canister shot on a battlefield. The prior fights with the Imperial Blitzguard and the Mage Slayers had drained him immeasurably, more so than ever before. His head ached like hell and his body throbbed with pain, but he'd barely been given any time to rest and recover.

He remembered drifting in and out of semi-consciousness as his limp body was dragged somewhere below and tossed into a cell. His bow and arrows had been taken from him and so had the rest of his weapons and gear, leaving him unarmed to rot behind bars still in his mercenary garb, mask and hood. He knew he was going to die. Maybe an hour had passed, or maybe two, but it was only a matter of time before he was visited by Imperial Blitzguard soldiers, who'd unlocked his cell and dragged him out into a brightly lit arena.

High above in the spectator's seats, the fanatics of the Crimson Order, regular priests and Mage Slayers alike, had looked down at him, laughing and jeering. Even the High Priest, Lord Magnus, was present, the disturbing black sheep mask covering his features. And in the emperor's seat box was none other than the emperor himself. Hans was adorned in a maroon suit and white shirt, golden epaulettes on his shoulders and golden rings around his wrists. His hands were steepled, his elbows rested on the sides of his throne.

And then came the onslaught of soldiers pouring out of the gates. Imperial Blitzguard soldiers that still had blood stains on their uniforms from earlier as well as fresh men were sent into the arena against him. The emperor had no qualms about the Blitzguard knowing about the Crimson Order's existence for he knew he was sending them to their deaths anyway.

And now, twelve of the emperor's best soldiers lay strewn across the arena, all having been killed. But they'd served their purpose in softening him up. Janus doubled over, hands on his knees, clutching his ribs where they'd been brutally attacked. Everything hurts like hell.

"So the rumours are true," Hans clapped his hands, prompting the rest of the Crimson Order to follow suit like the cronies they were. "They told me you singlehandedly killed twenty four men in an enclosed room back in Denmark, and carved through two sections of my elite guard tonight. And that's not all. You fended off the Crimson Order long enough for Elsa to escape. They were not lying at all. You are hard to kill."

"Why don't," Janus managed to retort through his heavy breaths, looking up through his mask which had grown warm on his face. "You come down here and find out for yourself?"

"I have nothing to prove," Hans smiled. "You, on the other hand, have been trying to prove to your loving sweetheart that you're a changed man, that you're no longer a ruthless mercenary. But look around you," he spread his hands. "Is that really true?"

"She loves me for who I am," Janus forced himself to stand tall, his back popping in a few places.

"Elsa deserves better than you," Hans mocked him. "She needs someone strong and powerful to hold her and love her. Someone like me."

"She told me about how you tortured her and forced her to marry you," He seethed through his fatigue, fists clenched despite how sore his knuckles were. His gloves dripped blood. "I still owe you for that, you bastard."

"No, I don't think so." Hans snapped his fingers.

A large iron gate was raised and two more Blitzguard soldiers dragged a plump, snivelling figure out from the shadows, throwing him before Janus and leaving. Janus stared down at the pathetic Duke Anton cowering at his feet and muttering fearfully in Exonite. "What is this?" He shouted.

Hans cocked his head. "What does it look like?"

"Please," Anton begged in English, clutching at Janus' leg and sending a dull pain up it. "Please don't kill me. I did everything you asked!"

"I won't be your executioner!" Janus shouted at Hans. "If you're going to kill me, get it over with!"

"No, you will kill this incompetent traitor who lost my purge list," Hans said. "Or I will have him killed in the slowest, most excruciating way I know how. It's up to you, Prometheus."

Janus sighed and looked down at the trembling duke. He normally had no qualms killing armed men who were trying to kill him first, but he didn't want to have to kill a defenceless man, certainly not one as pathetic as the one before him begging for his life. There was a time when he would've done it without batting an eye, but now…

"Don't do it!" Anton whimpered. "Please!"

"I'm sorry." Janus swiftly forced Anton to his feet and pulled the duke into an inverted face lock, his arm locked around the front of the man's neck. Before the duke could scream, Janus tugged and felt Anton's neck snap. The duke fell lifelessly to the ground, raising sand and dirt from the ground.

"I'm so sorry." Janus grimaced and felt his blood begin to boil as the emperor began to clap again.

"Marvellous," Hans said. "Looks like the spot for Minister of Propaganda has been vacated."

"What do you want with me?" Janus growled. He could see now why Elsa and Anna thought Hans was the most terrifying enemy they'd ever faced.

"I'm just tying up loose ends," Hans raised his hands defensively. "And what better way than to have the best killer in the game do it for me? Ah," he smiled one of his pleasant grins. "And here comes my champion."

Janus spun - though not as quickly as he could have a couple of hours ago when he was still fresh - and dropped into a fighting stance. His knuckles were sore and his arms ached, not to mention everything else. Eyes narrowed behind his mask, he waited for the next combatant to step out of the shadows and emerge through the entrance. Would it be a Mage Slayer? Perhaps another one of Hans' elite? His heart fell.

Jade marched straight at him, with no emotion or recognition in her eyes. She was dressed in a sleeveless electric blue dress, her hair wild and frazzled, both hands sparkling with electricity.

Forced to backpedal, Janus' hand went to his belt. There were no weapons there. He cursed, continuing to back away slowly from Jade. He couldn't kill her. She was his friend, or at least, she used to be. In any case, he wouldn't kill her, even if he had the chance.

He stared into her eyes and saw only the resolve of a killer there. A killer who knew no remorse or attachment, only her dedication to her master. He couldn't go up against her when she was a soulless assassin like this. And certainly not in the worn down state he was in, because in spite of how good he was, there was only so much the human body could withstand, and he was being rudely reminded of how human he was. If this was how he was going to die, it was going to be a rather painful one.

"Jade!" He hissed, stopping when he was backed up against the wall. "Jade!" A small, desperate part of him stupidly hoped that she could hear him and snap out of whatever trance or spell the Mage Slayers had put on her.

The girl lashed out with a bolt of lightning which sent stone flying as Janus dropped low. He went for her legs, tackling her to the ground and pinning both her wrists.

"I don't want to hurt you!" He growled in desperation. "Please, please don't force me to."

Jade responded with a knee to his groin, and he collapsed on his side with a sharp gasp. Mustering up all his strength, he rolled sideways as Jade's boot came crashing down towards his face. He clutched his crown jewels and staggered from the pain as he circled round so that he no longer had his back to the wall.

"Damn it, Jade!" He forced himself to raise both fists in spite of the searing pain between his legs.

The Elemental Sorceress picked up a longsword and laced it with lightning, then swung it at him two-handed. Janus ducked, then snatched up a fallen sabre belonging to one of the dead soldiers. It was a little too unbalanced for his liking, but this was no time to be choosy. He parried quickly as Jade lashed out at him with her longsword and slammed the pommel of the sabre against her chin, snapping her head back momentarily.

He dove out of the way as she hurled a massive surge of lightning straight at him. Traces of lightning caught his arm and he felt his arm light up in shock. Grunting, he raised the sabre as Jade leapt into the air and brought her lightning-laced longsword down. The impact from the clash sent him flying a few feet back and his sabre fell a good distance away.

Jade was coming at him again, giving him almost no time to recover or regroup. He turned and ran straight for the curved wall, knowing she would give chase. This was his last hope. Slowing his pace slightly till he heard her just two steps behind him, he reached the wall and jumped, planting his boots on the wall and giving himself a push. Hurtling off the wall and leaping past Jade, he hooked his arms around her and swung himself sideways so that he landed squarely behind her.

He kicked her knees out from behind her and leaned his entire weight on her as he applied a tight sleeper hold. "Come on," he gritted his teeth, willing for her to pass out. She struggled against him with a screech, flailing like a damn animal and fighting for all she was worth. But she could not break his iron grip.

"Come on!" He growled as he felt her slowly growing less resistant. Almost!

Then suddenly there was life. She drove her elbow into his ribs with all her strength, and the wind was knocked out of Janus. Normally, his high tolerance for pain would've aided him and he would've held on, but the night of constant fighting finally took its toll. He loosened his hold on her, and all hell broke loose.

Jade turned and blasted him with lightning at point blank range, throwing him halfway across the arena. Before he could sit up in a daze, she was straddling him, hands on his chest, glowing with intensity. In that moment, her eyes flashed with anger, hatred, pain, and Janus even saw a faint glimmer of regret. But it was too late. His body lit up with jolts of electricity, shocking his blood and organs, the agonising sensation surging through every cell of his body. Everything went black.

HANS

Hans walked briskly down the dank tunnels into the catacombs below the castle. He was uncharacteristically anxious to get this done. Everything had gone so smoothly that he'd even had delusions that he could wrap it all up by noon tomorrow. He knew that there were traitors in his midst, and he had all their names on a list, ready to be exposed to the public by the Minister of Propaganda.

But Elsa and Prometheus had forced his hand by stealing the list and who knew what else. The masked man had enabled Elsa to escape while serving himself up to be captured and killed. But no, as much as Hans was livid at the man for upsetting his plans to purge all the Empire's traitors and preventing him from capturing Elsa again, he had more foresight than simple revenge.

He'd made Prometheus suffer earlier this morning, just for the sheer pleasure of seeing him worn down and beaten by Jade, his former ally. It was remarkably satisfying to watch, but he'd stopped her just short of ending his life. And then the Mage Slayers had gone to retrieve the mercenary's unconscious body.

A couple of hours had passed into the wee hours of the morning, but Hans had not rested. He'd waited up in his chambers, trying to shut out the voice of the Eternal King whispering in his head, all the while running through the schemes in his mind. His master plan had been disrupted now that Elsa had gotten away, but he could still turn this around.

And finally he'd received news from Brother Salvadore that Lord Magnus was ready for him, and he'd descended down into the catacombs to see for himself. Magnus, the cloaked priests and Mage Slayers - including Jade - waited for him in one of the larger caverns a few tunnels down from the main foyer. This one reeked more strongly of blood than any of the others, and the cavern glowed red.

"Emperor Hans." Lord Magnus said. His face was impassive.

Hans glanced round. "So this is where you brainwash your prey into becoming a Mage Slayer."

"And this is where many of their bodies fail them," Magnus waved a hand at the mound of decaying bodies, bone and sinews of flesh, all caked in dried blood.

"Hence the smell." Hans kept his disgust from showing. "And how is our test subject?"

"Close to success," Magnus indicated a table in the corner.

Heart thumping in excitement, Hans walked over to where Prometheus was laid on a table with his wrists and ankles strapped down with both leather and chains, unmasked and stripped of his shirt. An ordinary priest was standing by his side, reciting an incantation from a small, leather bound book that looked like it'd been in existence for centuries or more. The red glow was coming from a Mage Slayer's hands and seeping into Prometheus' body.

"Don't interrupt the ritual," Magnus warned. "One wrong word or a break of concentration, and the subject dies."

"And we can't have that, can we?" Hans studied the unmasked mercenary. He was in immeasurable pain, his face scrunched up and teeth bared. Perhaps he was still resisting. Veins were popping prominently in his head, as well as his arms and chest. Prometheus' arms and legs tensed, struggling and pulling, and he would have broken the leather straps if it wasn't for the chains that held him in place.

"We are close," Magnus drawled. "The incantation is coming to an end." Triumphantly, he raised his hands. "Ignahon Malkovtoh."

"Ignahon Malkovtoh," Jade and the rest of the acolytes echoed, raising their hands in some sort of religious fervour.

Prometheus let out a deafening roar of agony as the last line of the incantation was belted out and the red glow intensified in a blinding light. Then in an instant, the glow disappeared and the cavern was thrown into darkness save for the oil lamps hung sparsely at wide intervals. Without warning, the mercenary's body jerked and began to convulse violently.

"What is this?" Hans' heart skipped a beat. He watched in confusion as the convulsions intensified. "I thought you said it worked."

"Give it a moment. His mind needs to settle," Magnus said calmly.

Prometheus collapsed motionless on the table. His arms and legs went limp and his eyes were shut. Features blank, a cold, impassive expression was plastered across his face. His breathing was calm and steady, and for a moment Hans thought he was unconscious. And then, Prometheus opened red eyes.

"Behold," Magnus' drawl echoed throughout the cavern. "Our newest brother of the Crimson Order. Prometheus, the Mage Slayer! Ignahon Malkovtoh!"

"Ignahon Malkovtoh!" The priests and Mage Slayers thundered.

Hans inched towards Prometheus, who lay silently and peacefully on the table, his eyes staring straight up at the ceiling of the cavern. There was no emotion or soul in his eyes. "Prometheus?"

"Your Imperial Majesty."

"Are you ready to serve?" Hans asked.

"Yes."

"Good," He smirked, clasping his hands behind his back. "Now tell me where Elsa has gone. Tell me where the traitors are hiding."