Chapter 6 Garden

Standing before the door, Duke Evens Lockheed fumed internally. It had nothing to do with the door his daughter Valentine had destroyed. Humans, even the strongest of knights, could not simply shatter and shove a door aside so simply. Ever since the heir returned, she no longer was a creature under his thumb. No, it had started to fall apart earlier, he remembered a pillar akin to the wrath of God, projected to the sky above from his own garden. It was there when all his plans begin to turn.

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Flame wreathed marmosets, Fire whales of the great depths, the Sanguine Apple blossom flame. Iris was no stranger to fires. A 2-meter armored monstrosity, fire from every joint, with flaming wings was new. It resembled some of the hundred-thousand-year titans, or the Ember Night stalker giant of the central plains, rumored to have become a million year spirt beast. Iris may not of had her arsenal or materializations available, but she always carried weapons. As she surged to her feet, throwing daggers flung from her sleeve, each accurately targeting the joints in the scorched armor. She hadn't fought in a maid outfit before, but that seemed to be the least of her concerns.

"Get clear my lady!" She shouted at the crumbled heap that was the duchy heir. Even after reorienting herself the girl had frozen at the sight of the iron menace. Throwing weapons had bounced off so her next option was up close. She darted in, a short sword in her hand removed from some of the hidden frills of her maid clothes. The armored figure simply drew the sword back and swung. Iris had been a few yards away, and the pressure was enough to give her pause. It also was enough to cause the pergola behind them to sever in half, falling to pieces admis wood popping and clattering. Wood smoke permeated the air, but it failed to hinder sage or angle.

Unrestricted, Iris closed and struck, blade bounced of the armor plating meaninglessly. Her strength a shadow of the former ascendants might. Despite the pointless damage the angel pulled back, moving his large blade in front of himself, grasping the blade above the guard in a combat stance Iris couldn't recognize. It proved effective, the shorten reach allowed it to respond faster, and prevented Iris from getting close.

"Formless arts, Flashing arc point!" Qi funneled into her weapon, gaining an unnatural sheen and luster. Three thrusting point strikes made the move, and she funneled her Tiger phase lynx essence down her arms. She had just refined her soul orb and was unable to properly wield sword aura against her foe. She scoured two hits, the first directed at his sword holding it at bay. She paid them.

The short sword deformed against the armor a few chips glistened as the arced from Iris' bladed. Rather than block, he retaliated with a heavy lit gauntlet directly in the sternum. Iris didn't land for two and a half seconds, and dozens if not a hundred plus feet away. Without speaking it advanced on the frozen girl. His inferno that burned his entire body flared tossing the mess of a girl backwards.

He drove the sword into the ground and from the fire a tome sprang forth. Pages of ash turned as the book opened and settled in front of the shivering noble.

"Valentine Lockheed: Sin, attempting to wage war against the promised lands"

Valentine didn't know what that meant. The entire idea of what Iris had done was not against anything the girl could think of. The tome closed and the executioner drew his blade from the ground to work.

It was a little-known fact that essences flames, consumed and commanded all lesser flames. The Violet Corpse Brilliant Star Flame, was ranked 3rd, surpassed by the heavens fire and darkness fire of the deity's and demons. Angel fire, though it existed on the immortal plane, could not compare to a conflagration that gave birth to entire realms. Iris held the case the first fire to grace her earth held sovereignty over the flame burning armor.

There wasn't a name to the attack that used the Corpse Flame. The Rainbow sage wielded the last color of her arc as an ascendant master would. Solid ribbons of putrid purple smoke hiding a fire as dark as the hells themselves. For an instant scarlet trails from the fiery warrior were drawn into the abyssal immolation before the armor ceased producing them.

Iris face was covered in burns, blood flowed freely from cuts on her lips and nose. Her black hair fluttered as she forced overwhelming energy through ever frame of her body. Her maid out fit was dirty but mostly intact aside from the collar that was smoldering and a few tears. Her dark eyes, sharp, assured.

When Iris was a much younger women she got swept up and named a technique series. At the time she was so impressed with herself she came up with a grand name.

"Dazzling Immolation Sparkling Flower Eruption."

At four hundred and thirty-seven she regretted it immensely. It was a simple technique as well. Pick a point to add a pilot and tracer light, then just cram essence fire into a pilot light until it explodes. Every ounce of fire will stream to the tracer light like shrapnel. A vorpal orb formed in front of the sage. Lighting discharged from it as the solid fire built within. If the Knight found it discouraging it was impossible to tell from his unmoving visor. He drew his blade and raised it skyward. Iris came in low the gleaming death ball approaching it limits. Angle waited until the orb exploded, a raging torrent of fire and smoke, in an array of blacks and purples rushed the steady form.

He than simply cut it in half. His downward swing sent wind and dust in all directions. Valentine's scream cut through the cacophony. At the point of contact between Iris flower eruption and the angles ash blade, a crack had formed. Fire and lighting were slowly drawn inside, winds and currents began to form. Caught, unable to hold on was the duchy heir. Iris stood planted by her own will; the amour sans flames was far to heavy to be sucked into the smeared space. For a short instance the noble hung desperately grasping at the ground. Iris leapt without hesitation, but her body didn't listen. Damaged by using ascendant energy, she crashed several feet short. It gave her a great view to watch the girl get comically sucked into the tear. While Iris had left, the burning book once again made its appearance. With nothing left to command it fire spewed from it encircling and encasing the distortion in existence. Letters and characters foreign to her materialized and in short order the tear slowly sealed.

"You…" Struggling Iris stood, balance on her legs because she didn't have the strength to stand. Her arm hung limply, blood rippling down from wounds formed when the energy ruptured.

"Where is she!" The angle knight gave no response. He looked at the mangled body of the rainbow sage and continued his silence. Slowly he belted his weapon. Had Iris been able to move she would be using the second move in the dazzling series. Instead, she stood limply.

"Bring her back, bring" Her voice cracked.

"You will regret, I am the Rainbow Sage, Supreme Heavenly Blade Saint. On my title I will even these scales." It was overly dramatic but had great meaning. Cultivators who advanced often did so by advancing over others. Iris was the eight persons, in over a hundred thousand years, to finish an attempt at immortality. It was more a statement of fact that she could and would force the events to occur. More runes begun to form a rough circle around the knight. The Sage glared; it was all she could do.

Conflagrations flared; the knight ascended like a comet. Scorch marks and scorched earth was all that was left to indicate that an angle had descended. Iris didn't know how long she stood there hardly standing, excruciating breath after breath in front of the crater left by her dazzling attack.

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The study of the duke stood at the top floor of the estate, overlooking the majority of the grounds. At the time he was so busy coming to grips with his heir disappearing and the terror associated with the attack, that he had made a poor choice. It didn't help that several others had seen the maid, bleeding profusely yet still attempting to stand for his daughter. His current wife and youngest daughter would never allow the young maid to disappear. Mary had been a strong voice for in the lady in waiting, the girl was allowed be her Valentines stand in.

He should have never let the fifthly blood of that girl, even pretend to be a noble. The loving father he was for Mary won out, and let the maid be his daughter.

It had taken some staging, but he had managed to convince the outside world that Lady Valentine had been injured in a freak garden fire. This allowed them time to switch Iris in. It also was "very traumatic" which meant the mistakes she made would be forgiven.

For Duke Evens there was no greater happiness than a happy family. He needed the prince to marry his eldest daughter and secure an heir so his little girl Mary could live out her family life in happiness. Never mind that the prince, while competent enough to rule, was a failure as a person.

There would be no end to the affairs and abuse that the prince would get away with as ruler, and the duke certainly couldn't let his sweet, kind baby girl deal with that kind of man. His eldest however…

"Sebastian, contact Count Gerald." Count Gerald was the princes aid, and Duke Lockheed felt that he should be made aware of some facts. Like where the person who attacked the palace guards, and who was harboring her.

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