Spitefic: Saving Celeste

[pan2000]

While a large part of Stormwolf is busy in the Grand Line, Adrian Andrews and Shailiha have decided to pay a visit to Parthalon.

Ever since Wigg's death and Tristan's reign, everything has gone much better for both Eutracia and Parthalon. Shailiha walks on the ruins of what was once the lair of the Sorceress Coven, thinking how her life could have changed for the worse.

Had she and Tristan listened to Wigg's lies, she would be treated as nothing more than Tristan's backup, she would have been brainwashed to become evil and incestuous, and nobody but her brother would care. Not that his brother would have gotten it much better, as he would have been brutally raped, and his son would turn evil.

And worst of all, Wigg and Faegan, the two abusive wastes of oxygen with zero empathy for anyone else, would have gotten away with everything they had caused, with little, temporary damage.

She hopes her friends in the Grand Line haven't encountered such a person.

As Shailiha and Adrian keep walking, they find one of the last hives of scum and villainy left.

Apparently, while Tristan ruled alone, he hunted down and destroyed most rapists, and also freed every woman he met who was a sex slave. Wigg would have whined about how they are not worth the effort, but he was no longer alive to stop the prince from doing what he wanted.

But the Heretics, unable to restore anyone with the Chosen One's blood to life so they would have someone powerful, have restored Ragnar, a serial rapist who has been killed by Tristan when he destroyed the fluids that kept him alive.

Now Ragnar, perfectly healthy, has kidnapped a woman who once served him, Celeste, and keeps her as a slave. Shailiha senses his blood and tracks him down, Adrian behind her.

They find the hideout, a seemingly unassuming inn, and notice it's sealed by a barrier created by the Vagaries.

"Leave this to me," Shailiha says. "I know how to break it. This blood red color is the color of the Vagaries, and only the Vigors can counter them." Both of her hands glow with azure energy and she touches the barrier, shattering it to pieces in ten seconds.

The door comes next, and Shailiha burns it with a powerful stream of flames.

Ragnar approaches them, surrounded by a few Hatchlings. "Welcome. I've heard of you. Aren't you Prince Tristan's sister?" He points at Shailiha, licking his lips. "I have a score to settle with him. I was a poor man in life support, and he destroyed all of it, leaving me to die. I did indeed die, and met Wigg and Faegan in Hell, until the ones you call Heretics gave me another chance. And now, I..."

Shailiha simply stabs him in the heart with her new broadsword, infused with Vigor.

"...you talk too much!"

---

Ten minutes of intense battle later, his new power has allowed him to heal himself by leeching life energy from all of his hatchlings, but that halves their power and life force. Stunned by Ragnar's criminal incompetence, Adrian recovers just in time to avoid the attack of a hatchling and proceeds to take it out with her bladed whip.

Shailiha, seeing the hatchlings still greatly outnumber the two women, summons butterflies that get on the faces of the monsters, distracting them. Against weakened, distracted hatchlings, Adrian has no trouble dispatching them with her bladed whip at all. Most of them are beaten without being able to react.

The last two attack with their sharp claws, but Adrian jumps away and strikes the ground with her whip, making them flinch due to a gust of wind. Then she finishes them both off with rapid lashes.

Then she runs to Celeste and the other slaves and smashes their chains by using one of her throwing axes for melee slashes.

"What's your name?" she asks the blue-eyed woman that was the closest to Ragnar.

"Celeste."

And at this point, something inside Adrian snaps.

Adrian's POV

Celeste. That name means a lot to me.

I had failed to save a Celeste in the past. She was my mentor, and she was in an abusive relationship with that bastard, Engarde.

He used her, dumped her and drove her to suicide for no reason at all.

He didn't even bother to remember her surname right, the sick bastard.

And now, another innocent woman with the same name suffers because of an evil man, in an even worse relationship.

I will not let this woman suffer. I owe every innocent Celeste in the world!

Third Person POV

Meanwhile, Shailiha has engulfed Ragnar in flames with her fiery butterflies.

However, he uses the fluid from his brain and blinds her, then grabs her by the throat.

"I do not know how you've learned magic as a Chosen One. I know Wigg by heart, and know that the sexist coward he was would never let you do so. He's never done anything right."

He keeps choking. "As for your brother? He is not coming, because he doesn't know I am alive once more. I also know he is distracted, because the last living Heretic, Galdas, is currently fighting him for the throne. Seeing how Tristan is not limited by Wigg and Faegan, he saw him as too much of a threat."

Suddenly, Adrian's bladed whip wraps around his right arm, forcing him to drop Shailiha. Quickly, Adrian, her face red with anger and her eyes blazing, lands fifteen whip strikes on Ragnar, drawing blood on each one. Adrian follows up by punching two of his teeth out with her free hand.

Before he can recover, he gets whipped three more times in the face for good measure.

Once she is done, Adrian gives her bladed whip to Celeste. "If you have anything you want to do to him, now is your chance."

Celeste doesn't hesitate for a second.

---

Tristan, worried about Celeste, is on his knees, his sword knocked out of his hands, as Galdas is standing above him with a gladius and a heavily damaged shield.

"I am surprised you defied the prophecies of your mentors. You could make a good member of our guild."

"I refuse. I won't associate myself with a Heretic!"

"Heretic? That's how the first wizards called us. All we wanted was progress. Just like Wigg and Faegan, they were rigid, refused to adapt to things like powerful women with magic and inhuman creatures. We embraced the name, only because we refused to adapt to the strict rules they had."

Tristan throws two Daggers of Vigor, but the shield blocks them.

"As Heretics, we practice freedom. Freedom to do anything. Anything. Our followers are willing to experience anything that is forbidden. From carnal pleasures, to agency outside of prophecies. Join us, and your reign will not be a burden anymore. Instead, you will do exactly as you like!"

Tristan, in response, creates a storm of daggers from his own blood, leaving himself anemic. They surround Galdas from all sides.

"Chaos is not true freedom. Not since you end up oppressing everyone else."

And thus, the daggers rip the Heretic apart.

As he faints, Tristan smiles. He knows that Celeste will be safe soon. His blood feels it.