One second, the monstrous form of Solana loomed over Lukas, her claws slashing through air aimed at his midriff. The next there was an enormous sound and an explosion of shattering stone that left half a dozen little bruises on his face, and the monster was down on the floor, its long, clawed form twisted in ways that didn’t feel ergonomic at all. The creature’s immense stench that had him ensnared and rooted on spot vanished as well, leaving him slightly dizzy but ready for combat within a second.

Lukas blinked, and turned to his unexpected savior. Her entire body glowing with sigils and runes, and glaring at the fallen creature, was Maude.

“That,” said the Oni, “is just about enough!”

“ONI!” snarled Solana, her voice sounding less human and more like dragging iron through glass. She rolled back and stood up, twisting her arm in ways that just didn’t make sense. “Know your place!”

Guess now he knew why Solana was afraid of Maude. He wasn’t sure how, but Maude was capable of hurting, if not defeating Solana. Whether that was because of her yurei heritage or the vanir was another matter altogether.

“I know my place,” said Maude, a bitter smile on her face. “And I’m standing right there.”

“Why?” Solana snarled. “Why would you betray me?”

“Betray you? Oh no, Leader, this had nothing to do with you.” Maude sounded oddly tired, but there was a strange affliction to her voice. One that Lukas couldn’t place. “This was just me staying true to myself.”

“A fence-sitter!” Solana accused.

“A free spirit,” Maude shot back, her face twisted in sudden and bitter grief. “To be a vanir is to be one with nature. To be a yurei is to be a crafter. I joined the yokai so that I could be free, so that I could stop lying to myself and choose what I wished to be. That freedom is what shapes my actions, Leader. The same freedom you’re denying Tanya by trapping her. And that makes you my enemy.”

There was a slow, low snarl in her voice. She kept it tightly leashed and under control, but he heard it. He recognized it, and he knew what it was like to feel it permeating his words. Maude turned to him and met his eyes.

“Outsider, you will see this through? Till the very end?”

He knew what she was asking.

His lips twisted into a lopsided grin. “Whatever it takes.”

“In that case,” she said, her voice crisp, “your priority is Queen Meynte. Leave Leader to me. Consolidate your power, use that monstrosity if yours if you must, but get that wraith out of Tanya.”

“She’s no wraith,” Lukas replied, firmly meeting Meynte in the eye. “She’s not even a soul. She’s a memory. Preserved for over a thousand years, tricking unsuspecting descendants in a false hope of returning to a splendor that no longer exists!”

“You—” Solana screamed. “You DARE—”

“Yes, I dare,” Lukas snarled, his voice cold and sharp like the edge of a knife. “I dare because I know the truth. The truth that you’re either oblivious to, or wish to ignore. The truth of what that thing really is. Tell us, Queen Meynte, tell us why Tanya is a perfect Host for you. Why is it that among all the descendants in a thousand years, only Tanya became your Host? Tell us!”

“What foolishness is this?” Solana hissed, her dark pupil less eyes glared at him. “Tanya has a physical form, like Queen Meynte before her! That is why she’s the perfect Host! Tsurara, for all her power, could never inhabit a body for too long without killing it. Not Tanya! She’s the perfect avatar.”

Meynte had yet to say a single word.

Maude, who was studying Lukas the entire time, asked in a very precise, very polite voice. “That’s not it, is it?”

Lukas shook his head.

“What does he know?” Solana sneered. “He’s just an Outsider.”

It was almost impossible trying to associate the cold, poker faced yokai leader with this emotionally high bitch. Lukas didn’t know if it was because she was this close to achieving her goal that made her this turbulent, or if the very idea that the truth behind her six-century old crusade could be wrong that was tearing her sanity apart. Human, bremetan or yokai, at the end of it, people fought for their beliefs. For someone like Solana that had borne the weight of her beliefs for six centuries, it was like pushing a mountain.

“Oh I know, more than what you believe anyway,” Lukas said, willfully dragging the conversation. He was still forging featherglass in the back of his mind, and he needed the setup ready before shit hit the fan. Everything he had observed so far told him that Meynte was a creature of pride. Someone like that would not lie, not when confronted by the truth. That said, Meynte was a Queen, and a Queen did not feel it necessary to respond to confrontation in kind. In her mind, Meynte had made herself the judge, jury and executioner of all things in the world. Anyone that did not fall into her idea of reality was simply begging to die.

It was as simple as that.

If Solana really didn’t know the truth, she had let herself be fooled for centuries, then she was up for a grand awakening. Making Solana question her own beliefs would be a blow far stronger than a dozen kinetomancy blows. With her out of the picture, he could take Meynte down himself, with or without Maude’s help.

Getting Solana there was the difficult part.

“Then pray tell, what is this secret?” the skinwalker sneered, her body reshaping back into a humanoid state. In her monstrous form, Solana was immensely strong, extremely agile and could control the terrain like no one’s business. Hell, she had snatched his control despite him running on Hreidmar’s instincts. But the moment the situation slipped from combat to conversation, she’d instantly change back to looking bremetan. Why? Did this form have immense mana requirements? Perhaps she stayed in a human state to save power?

Something for another time.

“The secret isn’t that Tanya is a perfect host, Solana. Neither were the previous descendants less than perfect. If anything, Tanya is the weakest. And not just that, she’s cut off from her true strength, from Everfrost. Remember what Maude told you earlier? Despite transforming, Tanya wasn’t the one she faced. She was still herself. Cut off from her alter ego, her Everfrost.”

“And how do you know that?”

“How do I know that?” Lukas threw her head back. “Because I sealed Everfrost away, you stupid bitch! She came after me, we fought, and I sealed Everfrost away! Yes, she uses the frost, but you’ve noticed it, haven’t you? It’s frost that devours lifeforce, but that’s all there is. All this time, your Queenship has been raining Everfrost on my ass, and every single time, I’ve come out, unscathed. Do you know why? Because this Outsider is keeping the true Everfrost at bay!”

Of all the things he could have said to her, that shocked Solana the most. Her discomfort was rolling off her in waves. There she was, standing in a room that she prized more than anything in her life, a room that Lukas had just destroyed. One of her own had betrayed her and joined forces against her. And now when she had come this close to actualizing her dream, Lukas was telling her that her dream was a lie.

He almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

“Your powers are astounding, Lukas Aguilar,” Solana said at last. She had gained some modicum of control. “To hold back the End of Potential is an immeasurable feat. That you are capable of doing that only proves that you are, and always have been, the Key of Legend. But oh yes, all of this makes perfect sense, in ways that you do not understand.”

Lukas perked up. “Oh?”

“Yes,” said Solana with a wicked little laugh. “Do you not see it, Outsider? Tanya was always meant to be the Glacier Queen’s vessel. She, a descendant that carries Everfrost in her very soul, yet bears a body as mortal as any Asukan. One blessed with potential so high that she can make a King among kami submit to her whims. A walking-talking contradiction like that is the best vessel for our Queen. And maybe you are right. Maybe by weakening her, you fulfilled the condition that allowed the Glacier Queen to be reborn within her. And now, she will summon the true might of Fimbulwinter and bring about the End of the World.”

“Yeah, about that,” Lukas interrupted. “I think you’re getting a bit carried away in your grandiose dreams. Ask that has-been of a Queen exactly why she wouldn’t do what you claimed. Ask her why sealing Everfrost was necessary for her to possess Tanya. Go on! I dare you.”

He met Meynte’s ice-cold eyes. The killing intent in them was palpable. He had clearly struck a nerve.

Featherglass Forging Complete

About time. And now for Step 2.

He focused on the throne.

Running Detailed Scan

Analyzing Structural Lattice

Solana was looking at Meynte, her body rooted on the spot. It didn’t take a genius to realize that she was caught up in her own fanaticism. The harshness and confidence in Lukas’s words demanded an appropriate response, but the only valid response would require her to question the word of her Queen, someone she had sworn her fidelity to. The former was mocking at her resolve and calling it fragile, and the latter… the latter was sacrilege.

Damned if she did. Damned if she didn’t.

Naturally, Solana chose a third option.

“Enough of your games, Outsider!” She snarled. “You’ve slandered my Queen, and destroyed my precious Throne Room. I’ve given you multiple chances to stay on our side and reap the benefits, but you’re intent on dying by my hands. And after I kill you, I’ll end this betrayer. Your death will be the herald of Oumagatoki.”

“Listen to me, Solana, that thing has been lying to you ever—”

It was too late. One moment she was glaring at Lukas. The next moment, there was a blur in the air and then a creature was clawing its way at him. It was about the size of a gorilla, but the head on its shoulders reminded him of a dog or a wolf. Massive layers of dark fur covered its arms and its claws, each of them the size of Lukas’s arm, came piercing through the air as it rushed in for the kill.

There was no time to think, so he ran on instinct.

Dropping everything at hand, he planted his feet firmly on the ground, held his palms out and sent out a blast of pure crimson at her, infusing it with anomalous energy. Level-3 flames were already a pain in the ass to deal with, but when infused with anomalous energy, it greatly increased their destructive component.

A howling torrent of pure crimson rushed out to meet Solana, spiraling its way out his hands as it met with Solana’s power. There was a flash of light, a thunderous detonation, and the sharp scent of ozone as his power met with the stabilizing influence of her terramancy.

“Don’t do it, Solana!” He called. “You aren’t going to beat me! You haven’t got what you need.”

“Condescending bastard!” The skinwalker let out a snarl of frustration as she weaved through the flames, her barriers shielding her from the heat while she weaved through the momentum behind his blow, her sharp claws shining malevolently as she brought them down to tear his head off.

Lukas knew he couldn’t stop her. Not with fire. Perhaps with force.

He was already raising his arm, Inanna’s power flooding his veins, the brown in his eyes shifting into specks of emerald. Pain rushed through his brain vessels as he closed in on her motion trajectories. He’d need to stop her for a moment before tearing her to pieces but before he could get there, someone else beat him to it.

Maude stood before him, the sigils and runes in her body glowing with an eldritch power. The aura of life energy swirling within her was so dense and potent that for a moment, Lukas wondered if she was even using lifeforce in the first place. He wasn’t sure how, but Maude threw her hand out like a claw, seemingly to catch something in midair and the next moment, Solana’s neck was within its clutches. Maude crouched, completely avoiding Solana’s claw as it passed over her head, before hitting her with a finger right below her left breast. And for a moment, Solana slowed down, if for a second, and that allowed Maude to let her neck go, and she hit Solana at several other spots, all in a single breath. It was so fast that Lukas could barely follow through but he thought he saw her aim for her collar bone, windpipe, diaphragm and ribs among others.

Solana staggered, like she had been hit by a hundred force-blasts from every side all at once. Dark ichor erupted out of her mouth, and she fell, like a stringless marionette. Her body fell like a mass of broken limbs, and the only reason Lukas knew she was alive was the tiny, screeches that left her throat.

She didn’t move after that.

Lukas gaped at her. “How did you—”

Maude looked at him and said, “I’m a vanir naturopath.” And then she smiled, as if that explained everything.

Lukas shook his head. He had too many things to worry about at the moment. How a vanir doctor could paralyze the crap out of a six-century old skinwalker that lived through a Level-4 kinetomancy blast with just some well-placed finger-jabs was the kind of headache he didn’t need right now.

Maybe next week.

“She’s going to stay down?”

“Until I heal her, yes,” said Maude. “Her body is in perfect condition. She’s just paralyzed. Any attempt to use lifeforce will utterly destroy her formations. She’ll still be able to pull herself back, but it’ll take several days at best.”

He blinked. “I’m not sure if you’re awesome or terrifying.”

Maude

“Remind me to stay on your good side,” he quipped. “You’re scary.”

“Focus!” she snapped. “You still have her to take down.”

Both of them looked ahead at Meynte, who was standing before her throne. The Queen watched them with keen interest, her eyes as cold as death, drawing in everything and giving nothing in return. She had watched the exchange with the interest of a general observing children at chess, lips pursed thoughtfully.

Finally, she shook her head to the right and sighed.

“Fine. It’s time to end this.”

She took a step to the left and—

Rift Detected

— Vanished.