Chapter 271 - The Hall of Ten Thousand Weapons ( Part 2 )

The sword made a roar. Golden light burst from the sword’s surface. The pressure threw Jennie to her knees. Her jacket billowed in the violent wind. The dagger shook in her left hand.

"THEN DIE."

The sword fell down. Jennie acted the moment before it.

Instead of dodging the sword entirely, Jennie went towards the sword and slipped under the largest portion of the blow. The blade ripped her jacket and scratched her side. She did not mind the pain.

With the dagger in her left hand, Jennie hit the sword’s handle. It should not do anything to the sword. However, the broken dagger’s tip got stuck between two golden runes.

Jennie turned her wrist. The sword’s balance changed. For a brief moment, the blade of the enormous sword was pointed at any other direction.

It was enough for her to strike.

With her shoulder Jennie pushed the sword into the floor. A shockwave washed the room.

Before it managed to raise, Jennie planted her foot on the sword’s handle and pushed harder. The sword struggled, the golden light flowed through the runes, but the blade did not get loose.

Jennie stood above it, panting hard. Her left arm shook. The blood ran from the scratch on her side. The dagger was still jammed between the runes.

She did not defeat the sword with her strength. She did not defeat it with better fighting technique. She simply noticed the mistake in its move and used it.

The voice of the sword rumbled below her foot.

"YOU USED THE KING’S KNOWLEDGE."

Jennie looked down at the sword.

She pulled the dagger out.

"I used the knowledge that I obtained from being beaten nearly to death by things that are stronger than me."

For a moment both did not move. Then the golden sword dimmed and raised slowly back to the weapon rack.

"YOU DID NOT PROVE YOUR WORTH."

Jennie put the dagger back in the scabbard. "Good. I was not trying to impress you."

She started moving further in the hall.

Behind her the weapons started whispering. But now the weapons talked differently. Some called her Leonis. Others told stories about the girl who trapped the godly sword with the broken dagger.

Few remained silent. Jennie liked those.

The inner hall was larger than the entrance chamber.

Its ceiling disappeared somewhere among the stars. Bridges crossed the distant balconies and enormous statues of the warriors from another age, wearing armors that had unknown for anyone symbols, stood between the weapons.

In the middle of the hall was the circular platform. Thousands of weapons floated above it, making a huge spiral.

Jennie stopped at its edge. She felt the battles of the weapons—not in the form of memories, but as the echoes of their most important moments.

There was the fear of the spear that defended the bridge against the invader army. There was the final shot of the bow that a huntress used to slay a dragon, saving the village. There was the rage of the black axe of the king who gave his kingdom to destroy the tyrant immortals.

The weapons saw victory. The weapons saw cowardice. The weapons saw deaths.

And the weapons remembered them.

Jennie walked among them. The thin sword started singing.

Its melody was soft, sorrowful. While passing the sword, the sound transformed into voice.

"I REMEMBER YOUR HANDS."

Jennie stopped.

The sword was pale blue with white leather on its handle. It had a tiny crack on its surface.

"I REMEMBER THE DAY WHEN YOU STOOD AGAINST THE HEAVENS."

The images appeared on the surface of the sword. The battlefield beneath the red moon. The young Leonis standing in the middle of the dead, holding the two swords. Golden eyes full of resolve. Broken crown lying on the ground.

Jennie watched the images silently.

The voice of the sword softened.

"YOU WERE AFRAID."

She looked at the blade.

The blade trembled.

"BUT YOU FOUGHT ANYWAY."

Jennie’s look turned distant.

She remembered pieces of that life. Not the whole story and in different way every time. Some memories seemed like a dream. Some were so vivid that Jennie could smell blood on the battlefield.

But she remembered the loneliness. She remembered the weight of the kingship. She remembered how everyone expected Leonis to stand alone after he lost everyone.

And she remembered how tired he was.

Jennie touched the charm of the silver threads and tiny violet crystal lying on her wrist. Roxy gave it to her before everything happened.

An ordinary present. No prophecy. No divine blessing.

Just the promise that someone wants to see her alive.

Jennie lowered her hand.

The sword’s melody was fading.

"YOU CARRY HIS PAIN."

"YOU CARRY HIS MEMORIES."

"YOU CARRY HIS DESTINY."

Jennie looked straight in the blade of the sword.

"No. You are wrong."

Jennie turned away from it.

"I carry my own decisions."

The sword was silent. For a moment Jennie expected it to attack her. Instead it bowed. A bit. Enough to notice.

Jennie walked away.

Further in the hall the other weapons reacted to her presence. The spear burst with lightning. The black axe shook so violently that the chains holding it broke. The staff crowned with crystal eye whispered some name chilling the air.

"THE KING WHO WANT TO KILL THE IMMORTAL."

Jennie ignored them. She did not need to prove to every weapon in this place who she was.

She needed Godslayer. She needed the power to stop Zuko before he destroys the world.

And she needed to be sure that, when the time comes, she will be able to fight him and stay herself in the process.

The stairs to the final stage were located on the other side of the room. They were made of white stone and had golden symbols along each step. In front of them, at the top of the stairs, there were two huge gates.

Jennie started walking towards them.

She took only several steps when silence fell. The voices stopped, the singing stopped, even the weapons that had been shaking in their cages became immobile.

Jennie looked upwards.

There was someone standing at the bottom of the stairs.

This was a man of average height, broad shoulders, dressed in golden armor that reached his neck and feet. Ancient runes were glowing on his breastplate. He wore a red cloak and had a helmet on his head which was in the shape of a roaring lion.

In his right hand there was a long golden spear, its tip touching the ground.

Only one sound echoed in the room.

Clang.

The figure lifted his head.

Jennie instantly felt his power. Unlike Zuko, whose power was overwhelming because of his sheer strength, this one was precise and controlled. Each of his breaths was measured and each of his movements carried the weight of a thousand battles.

The guardian looked at Jennie and then said:

"Leonis KingHeart."

Jennie sighed and replied: "Jennie Queens."

The guardian didn’t react.

"You have reached the final staircase."

"Great. I was thinking that this place was designed by someone who hates visitors."

"You will go no further."

Jennie looked at the stairs behind him.

"Let me guess. I have to solve a riddle, defeat a monster or sacrifice something important."

The helmet of the guardian tilted a bit.

"You have already passed the tests of the Battlefield."

"Yes. The place has a very unpleasant hospitality policy."

"Those tests were aimed at testing your endurance, your choices and your willingness to face the truth."

"Then I assume I’ve passed."

"You have survived."

Jennie waited.

The guardian continued speaking: "Survival is not victory."

She looked at him for several seconds. "Of course it isn’t."

The guardian drove his spear into the ground and the golden light spread out from its tip, making a circle around them.

"Before you can stand before Susan, God of War, you have to defeat the weapon you carry within yourself."

Jennie’s face changed. For the first time since her arrival she couldn’t say any sarcastic remarks.

She looked at her hands. In her left hand there was the broken dagger and in the right hand there was nothing.

She could no longer fight the way she used to before. She could not wield any of the five Divine Swords, those which she had used in so many battles. She could no longer summon their powers, and she could no longer pretend that her injuries were just some inconveniences.

During her entire journey she learned how to survive without these weapons.

But what was the weapon she carried within herself? Was it Leonis’s pride? His memories? His desire to protect everyone at all cost, even at the cost of his own destruction? Or perhaps it was her anger since the moment of Rudy’s death?

Jennie looked at the guardian.

"How exactly am I supposed to defeat something I can’t see?"

The guardian raised his spear. "You already know."

The golden circle glowed brighter.

There appeared another shadow behind Jennie. She turned around.

This shadow looked exactly like Jennie. It had silver-white hair and golden eyes. The same face.

However, unlike her, the shadow was standing straight and was uninjured, having its right hand on the hilt of the invisible sword. Its face was serious and in its eyes there wasn’t even a bit of doubt which had haunted Jennie in the Celestial Battlefield.

The shadow said: "You are wasting time."

Jennie looked at it. The guardian stood still.

The shadow continued: "Zuko is destroying the world while you are playing at being human."

Jennie’s jaw tensed. "You aren’t real."

"Does that matter?"

The shadow came closer to her.

"You know what you should do. Stop pretending that you are different from Leonis and that you can save the world without turning into what it needs."

Jennie felt coldness spreading inside her chest. The shadow smiled.

"Take the power. Kill Zuko. Destroy anything which stands in your way."

The room became darker.

For a split second Jennie saw the battlefield through Nharos’s vision. Rudy. Lilia. Snow. Their bodies were lying beneath the sky split with black lightning.

And the shadow was standing over them, holding a sword glowing with crimson light.

"You have already lost everything," the shadow whispered. "Why are you still pretending to be kind?"

Jennie clenched her left hand. The shadow looked at her broken right hand.

"Look at yourself. You cannot even hold a sword."

Jennie’s breathing became shallow.

"You are weak."

These words echoed in the room.

"You are afraid."

The shadow came closer to her.

"You are angry."

Jennie remained silent.

"And beneath all of your lies, beneath the name Jennie Queens and beneath the memories of Leonis KingHeart there is only one thing left."

The shadow leaned closer to her.

"Revenge."