Chapter 80: Interlude Thirteen: Fiona - Plight of the Whimsical Queen

An unusual clarity came to Fiona as her eyes opened to the blood dome that protected them; it was as if all her fear, anxiety, and pain were being pulled into a machine to be torn apart and used as fuel.

Maria and Scarlet were already out, a look of disbelief on the vampire’s face as she stared right through the unicorn.

"...mean that bitch is outside?" Maria snarled, unable to shift in the tight space to see behind her. "What happened to the hare chica? Aye, c’mon! Quit spacing out on—shit..."

Scarlet didn’t answer her. Her left fang punctured her black bottom lip as the veil of crimson split into bars, giving Fiona a full view of the scene. One of the paper doorways was wide open, revealing Relica, Luis, Eliza, and Margaret.

Relica’s dress, shoes, and left arm seemed a tad dirty, as if she had fallen into a semi-dried patch of mud. She didn’t show any discomfort upon addressing them, and Fiona could feel chilled spikes entering her veins with every word she spoke.

Breathing out a long stream of air, she reached for her sugar and calmly scooped up grains to eat as she listened. Fiona’s current sugar level was 104%. She paused a second while they talked to look at her fingernails, glowing between red and light blue; her base white hair mirrored the color variants and streaks.

[Plight of the Whimsical Queen] was flipping her urges from hot to cold, yet both directions ended the same way. Should she go on a rampage? If she did, they could hurt Erika. She could hurt Erika. Doing nothing wouldn’t save her, though. They’d killed and tortured dozens of people and should be punished.

Caught in the middle of unfamiliar and familiar impulses, one on a cliff to her left and the other to her right, she dangled over a bottomless chasm, feeling pulled side-to-side; the unfortunate part was that her feet weren’t touching ground. Below her was a chasm of ice and fire, welcoming her to let go of the rope and embrace the fall into freedom.

"Ah! It took you long enough to notice us," Relica snickered, arms folded and a sneer in her eyes. "I’ll make this simple. What—"

"Where’s Rachel?" The growl in Scarlet’s tone made everyone but the black-haired terrorist back away a step. "What did you do to her?"

Relica’s lips peeled back into a half-smile, yet her fingers twitched shortly after; her gaze drifted to the unicorn. "I trapped her. Give me Maria, and maybe we can make a—"

"Lying bitch," Maria interjected. "You don’t believe that."

"Hmm? Well, heh, I suppose I don’t know what happened to her. My guess, she’s about to die—oh!"

The blood underneath them flooded out, dropping Maria onto her butt. Fiona’s butterfly-like wings automatically flared out of her back, keeping her airborne; the bag hit the wooden planks and sank into them, making her sigh; it seemed 123% was the max her sugar pool would get with the time she had.

[Sugar Pool - Advanced to D-tier]

Luis and the others darted into side rooms, shouting in fear, but Relica didn’t flinch at the spears surrounding her.

"You’re lying! Rachel promised me she wouldn’t—she won’t die! She promised her mom!"

"Ack! Dammit..." Maria grumbled, forcing herself up. "Uh...she believes it. We should get—"

"No," Scarlet whispered, hands knotting against her chest. "No, Rachel’s misfortune ability... I trust her. She won’t die!"

"Kill me if you think I’m lying. Can you? I’ve heard you don’t want to kill anyone."

Relica chuckled and tapped a finger against the crystallized blades pinning her to the spot; she didn’t have much breathing room. However, the weapons redirected to Maria as she grabbed Scarlet’s shoulder, pulling her back.

"Don’t kill the bitch! Shit... Aye, look, she has this link with a bunch of kids. If you kill her, the kids die!"

Scarlet’s frame became shaky. "What...am I supposed to do?"

"Let’s take this nice and easy..."

Akio appeared from a wall, the doors on all sides flying open to reveal hostages; none of them were Erika, but it made Fiona breathe a sigh of relief.

[Warpath: Activated]

"Maria, Scarlet." Fiona floated higher in the air, drawing their attention. Everyone except for the frightened women went silent; scrapes and bruises could be seen across their skin and through their ripped clothing. "You two go free those kids. Okay? I’m going to save my friend."

"Pfft!" Eliza snorted. "What’s a useless enchanter like you going to do? We got hostages, sweetie."

"Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm." Tilting her head left and right as she gave a thoughtful, musical hum, Fiona stretched her hands high above her head; her belly showed as she leaned left and right in the air. "How about some buffs?" she chimed, flashing her teeth.

"Hey, Lizzy, shut up," Margaret hissed, the panther woman’s ears folding back. "Something’s up with this pixy—I’ve got a bad feeling."

[Emotional Surge: Activated]

A light breeze cycled around Fiona, fluttering locks shimmering jade and gold, static sparking around her frame from [Elemental Enchantress]; it expanded to wrap around Maria and Scarlet, causing their frames to illuminate for a moment with the elements she’d granted them. Electricity snapped from Maria’s fists, and wind lifted Scarlet off the floor.

Fiona’s hues of green and yellow faded as a chill escaped her tiny frame, the atmosphere plummeting, and light-blue shades took their place. A thought came with the pale aura that embraced her, her heart beating at an even tempo.

[Sweet Magic Boost: Activated]

"You have hostages, so we can’t do anything, right?"

Scarlet stepped to the side as the liquid in the air around them condensed into snowflakes from the dense magical energy gathering. "W-What are you doing, Fiona?"

"Aye, they got kids," Maria hissed, but Fiona’s thoughts and heart were elsewhere.

[Fae Queen’s Ire: Activated]

[Ephemeral Grace: Changed to Active]

One particular piece of wisdom came from the arctic gale that brought out a part of her she’d never had to use in her happy, positive life.

"What’s she doing?" one of the men holding a knife to a bound woman’s abdomen mumbled. "Stop it! Stop it!"

Luis leaned closer to Eliza, whispering, "I feel something’s different about the—"

Fiona focused on the nervous man threatening to kill the hostage if she didn’t stop. "You can’t negotiate with terrorists; one hostage turns into two, and it only increases until the root of the problem is dealt with."

Hand rising into the air, the magic leaking out of her body collected above her fingers, enhanced by her many active Feats, high sugar pool, and frigid emotional state; within two seconds, jagged crystals formed into an ice javelin two and a half meters long.

Without hesitation, she smiled at the stunned man. "I appreciate you making this easier on me."

A blast of biting wind sent the projectile into the man’s eye, out the back of his head, and ripping through paper wall after paper wall beyond it; the hole where the spear had punctured began to ice over, freezing what was left of the man’s brain.

Relica’s brow furrowed. "How...did Rachel manage to put into motion this misfortune? Her powers grow by the minute."

"Aaaaah!" The woman he’d held screamed, shoving the dead gangster’s body away as she tripped and scrambled away.

Fiona didn’t feel a thing as her wintry blue eyes surveyed the crowd for her next target, another javelin forming in her hand, yet the doors slammed shut as Akio sighed, flipping the rooms around. However, a slight smirk lifted Fiona’s cheeks as they stopped.

Crying and curses were heard in the distance, but that didn’t bother Fiona. She’d already heard where they were keeping her best friend, and this instinctual clarity from the cold side of [Plight of the Whimsical Queen] filled her with delightful thoughts.

"Aye, what the hell was that?!" Maria snarled, but Fiona pointed at the hole in the ceiling. "They could... Oh."

Scarlet’s eyes widened, hand flying to her ear. "Astra? Astra—what? No, I have Maria and Fiona, but...but we need to rescue the kids. Huh?!"

Fiona floated down to pat the floundering girl on the cheek to grab her attention. "Hey. It’s okay. Mhm. You and Maria go after Relica with her purifying power; I will rescue the hostages and draw their attention."

Maria caught on quickly. "Aye, you’re loco, chica, but don’t go dying on me. Okay? Damn. Let’s go, fangs!"

"H-Huh?! She just—in his head!"

"Shit!" Akio floated after her, trying to change more rooms around to confuse her, but she saw a glaring weakness in the ’endless’ rooms. "Luis, Eliza, get her ass!"

Waving at the vampire, she flapped her wings and shot toward the hole. Straightening, her energy-like wings vanished, letting her go straight through. Wings reforming, she flipped in the air as gravity shifted in the new space.

A bright light sparkled to Fiona’s left; she spread her wings, resistance flipping her out of the way as a beam of energy nearly grazed her leg. Spear forming, she shot it at the cursing elf woman; the doorway snapped shut, carrying her away, and Maria called out.

"Hijo de puta! Aye, watch it!"

Fiona huffed at the smirking ghost; he’d likely swapped rooms to make her hit Scarlet and Maria. Yet, she met his grin while stabilizing herself, a spur of manic energy blooming within her as the blue aura flipped crimson, and she summoned the power of mayhem.

"What are you going—shit, don’t!"

If a ghost’s face could go ashen, Fiona was sure Akio’s certainly would have as her fingernails sparkled a ruby hue; a fireball the size of a beach ball blazed into being.

[Elemental Magic - Advanced to E-tier]

"Love the paper wall aesthetic, but you really didn’t think this through."

"No!!!"

Fiona launched it at the corner of the room as Margaret jumped out of the floor doorway, claws extending and glowing with brilliant light. She used all six surfaces to reposition and try to cut her to ribbons; Akio seemed to try to help her by flipping the room. Maybe he was bringing someone to put out the fire she’d started, but she didn’t care since she could just make more.

Margaret was fast and agile, yet Fiona felt like she’d been born with her wings; she had full maneuverability in the air, unlike the panther. Timing the launches, her inferno shot for the woman’s face, making her ears fold back.

Luis jumped out of the shadows in the corner to tackle her out of the way. Fiona laughed while sending another ball of flames after them; the door didn’t close fast enough, erupting on the other side.

"What have you done?!" Akio cried, and she giggled when she saw him holding what looked like a burned spot on his arm. "You’ll kill everyone; you’re insane!"

///SMENote///

How about a Power Stone Goal?

Every 200 Power Stones this week = +1 Extra Chapter

We could have the normal 2 Daily Chapters... Or +2 Extra Chapters Every Day. The power is in your hands! Or should I say Stones?