The rhynselk queen broke through the walls with a rush of ice and a burst of physical might. The defenders scattered into new defensive positions before her.

Alyx's hand on her sword tightened. Take us down.

You aren't going to Grand Descend? Kelstor asked, his surprise loud over their bond.

Alyx froze. What?

Aris always jumped into the fray. I'd Battle Cry to intimidate our foes, while she dropped on our enemies, shrouded in wings of flames. An image of Aris doing just that floated over their bond.

Was that a common Dragon Knight skill? Her hand tightened on her sword. Would she have been taught if she hadn't been banished? If her mother lived?

I don't have that skill, Alyx said instead, forcing a confidence in herself back into her thoughts. She had plenty of other tricks. Just take us down; we'll stop her.

Right, Kelstor said, his wings angling down in a sharp dive. Wind rushed past them, cold and biting, filled with more and more ice crystals as they got closer. Just above the heads of the defenders, Kelstor leveled off, charging the queen. His jaws snapped out and his claws ripped into her side.

Alyx leapt from his back, rolling across the icy ground to her feet, already building aura along her blade. She dashed forward, slicing across the exposed flank of the beast with a growing Heaven's Strike. Blood poured from the wound, only to freeze in the creature's coarse fur.

The queen squealed in protest, thrashing her head and throwing Kelstor off with a blast of icy wind. Kelstor was buffeted back, his wings ballooning out and dragging him back a step.

The queen charged after him, her horn glowing with magic. Alyx darted in, Heaven's Blade still burning bright along her blade. She slashed it across the queen's horn, forcing her to the side and away from Kelstor.

From the other side, Captain Jont slashed across the creature's flank with her massive greatsword. A spear dropped from the sky, impaling the beast behind a shoulder blade. Blood splattered over the ice-coated ground.

And then there was heat. That was her only warning. Sudden and burning against her back as her sword sliced into the ice coating the queen's horn. There wasn't time for questions. She activated Forceful Exit before the heat could do more than lick at her summoned Dragon Scale armor.

She flickered out of existence as Dragon Fire filled the space she'd just occupied, washing over the queen, and reappeared a yard back, panting and sweating from the heat.

Did you just Dragon Fire me? She asked, staring in horror as Kelstor continued breathing flames.

Yes?

Are you trying to kill me? Her heart pounded in her chest. Her body shook.

Aren't you fireproof? he asked.

Alyx stared at him, the answer slowly shaping. Was my mother fireproof?

She was the Everburning Flame and my knight, Kelstor said as if that was all the answer he needed to give.

There wasn't time for this. Mana swirled around the queen and a sheet of ice materialized between her and Kelstor, blocking his breath.

Well, I'm not, Alyx said and charged around the queen's side, her sword slashing into an exposed side.

The queen thrashed, a back leg kicking out. Alyx dodged around it, her sword lashing out to slice another long gash.

Oh. Intense regret echoed in that single word. Right. Sorry.

Alyx shook her head. Should she have tried harder to hold on to her mother's Concepts after all? This fight would be easier with the power of the Everburning Flame.

No, there was no time for that kind of regret. She had the Concepts she had. She had the skills she had. This beast before her would fall. She would make certain of it.

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[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 Dex, + 1 End]

And she had the skills to make it happen. She didn't want this to be a battle of endurance, but as long as she didn't fall, it would become one. And she couldn't lose such a fight.

A civilian screamed behind her. The queen wasn't the only enemy, but she'd have to trust Cass and the others to handle the rest.

The queen squealed and a wave of ice exploded up from the ground in deadly spears. One sprouted from beneath her feet. She had only a split second to decide: forward or back?

A grimace spread over her lips as she launched herself forward, driving her sword into the queen's neck.

Alyx! Kelstor shouted behind her as the ice shot up behind her. Blood dripped down her blade and over her hands, hot despite the ice magic the rhynselk wielded.

He spun, his tail sweeping the ice clear and knocking a dozen lesser beasts out of the way.

I'm fine, Kel, Alyx assured him, yanking her sword from the queen's fat neck. But the blade stuck halfway.

The queen thrashed, throwing her head toward Alyx. The horn below its eye gouged at Alyx's armor, denting the plating but not penetrating it. The force of the queen's mass slammed into Alyx, sending her tumbling away.

ALYX! His distress screamed in her head, ringing with the force of the impact. The pain left her reeling.

He charged, roaring.

"You okay, girl?" Marco's voice drifted through the ringing. "That looked a bad hit."

Alyx shook her head and forced herself to her feet. He'd stepped in between her and the monster, his shield glowing with his protective aura.

"I'm okay," she said. Where was her sword?

His shoulders stiffened at the declaration, but he didn't argue. "Of course."

Had it come with her?

Kelstor's claw raked across the queen's snout while Captain Jont and Sir Kaiz both attacked its exposed flanks. The queen reared back, its horn glowing.

There it was, still jammed in the creature's neck.

Her hooves crashed back down, a new field of ice spines shooting from the earth.

Pulling it free would be dangerous. She had her second, shorter sword. Except she wasn't hitting anything vital even with the longer Reverberating Blade, what would the short one do?

No, she needed to retrieve it, dangerous or not.

A memory of Cass pulling an orb off the collar of the Herald of the Forest sprang to mind. How had she done that? She had stealth skills for one and probably Salos's help for two.

How would Salos do it? That was the real question. He was an assassin with Fairy Fire. He snuck around while redirecting attention elsewhere.

Fire Breath the queen, Alyx said to Kelstor, as she sprinted past Marco. She had a plan.

Flames erupted from Kelstor's maw. Are you okay?

Fine, I'm fine, she assured him.

But your sword.

I'm working on it. Keep that fire going.

The queen squealed and ice formed a wall between her and the dragon fire. The ice around the edges melted and turned to plumes of rolling steam.

Alyx let her aura dim. She wasn't sneaky, but on this battlefield, she just needed to be the least interesting.

She sprinted through the steam, hidden by it as she slipped up to the queen's neck. She lunged, her hands wrapping around the hilt.

The queen's eye turned on her. She snorted, her breath condensing into visible vapor in the cold. Her head jerked away.

Alyx's aura surged, channeling Radiant Aura along the blade and blowing the rend in the beast's flesh wider. At the same time, she activated the blade's unique effect: Reverberating Strike. Additional wounds materialized across its body, bloody and gaping.

The queen howled.

Alyx wrenched the blade the rest of the way free, and sprinted back, not about to make the same mistake twice.

The queen charged after her.

"Marco, hold it back a moment," Alyx yelled, retreating behind him as her guard's man took the front.

The queen was massive, so she needed a massive attack.

Heaven's Strike charged along her sword, the aura growing. It was a hungry skill, eating up point after point of her Stamina to fuel her aura. This was nothing new.

Yet today, it wanted something more. A Concept.

The Veldors, her family—her father's family?—applied Lightning to it. It was part of the swordplay her grandmother had pioneered. She'd seen Fioreya do it easily, transforming her aura into buzzing lightning along the blade's edge.

She didn't have Lightning. She had made her peace with that.

Really. She had.

She had her own Concepts. Her own path to walk.

Heaven's Strike demanded a Concept.

It could have its pick. Light was an easy choice. It would match her Radiant Aura skill, making them both Light-applied aura attacks. She shoved Light at the skill.

The queen slammed into Marco's shield. His knees buckled, but he didn't budge.

Her skill didn't take Light.

Why? It was so similar to Lightning. She'd used it as a substitute for so long. It was an easy replacement.

Or a shallow copy.

She wouldn't be a copy. She had to be more than that.

The queen swung her horn against Marco's shield. He slid back over the icy ground.

What then? She couldn't imagine how Vines would apply.

Kelstor lunged.

But that just left—Oh.

She could see it. She could feel the skill accept the idea. She could feel her aura deepen as it absorbed the Concept. Her hands twisted around the hilt. She charged in swinging.

Embers fell from the blade as it arched through the frigid air. Her aura glowed with the amber-orange of molten metal.

She could only Forge her own path, even if she didn't know what it was yet.

Concept Applied: [Forge - Heaven's Strike

Central to the Veldor family sword arts, this skill makes manifest the power of the heavens in a way only those who accompany dragons can know. And yet, yours has been re-tempered by the lessons of others. Strike while the iron is hot with the fury of the heavens. …

Association with the Concept of Forge applies the properties of molten metal to the shrouding aura. Charging this skill allows the user to temporarily reforge user's Frt into any Physical or Mental stat.]

Her sword slammed into the queen's horn. Ice struck molten aura.

Horn cracked. Alyx grinned.

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