Chapter Thirty-Five

The Academy had been converted into a fortress. No one opposed her, not after what she did to when she arrived. The survivors had either joined her cult, or slipt out quietly. Those who hadn't now patrolled the halls or fought mindlessly on the front lines.

Zombies were no threat to a proper mage. Kara and Kora didn't wouldn't have even bothered, but Chesi wanted to force Petra to notice them.

And she did. They arrived in the atrium and saw her standing there. Her usual black robes and scythe made her presence obvious.
"So You've come at last."
Kara, ever the outspoken one, cried across the hall, "You will pay for what you've done Petra. You shall atone for your actions in blood!"
"Not likely."

The doors on either side of the hall sprung open and undead began pouring into the room. Chesi and Kara ran to stop them. Petra began hurling shadowy meteors down at them as she hovered in the middle of the room. Kora began deflecting them in order to defend her compatriots.
After nearly an hour of fighting Kora began to notice that the attacks were not emmenating fom Petra herself. Rather, they were coming from the shadows that cloaked the rafters.
She considered her options. Her energy was nearly spent, the perpetual shielding had been exhausting. She could either attempt to combat Petra's power directly by trying to dispel the shadows, an impossible task against her former commander's power. Or she could try a more mundane approach.
"Petra, this is for the people of Tara; who's blood shall never cease in its spilling and who's land is eternally left to the dogs."
She drew her sidearm and emptied all twenty rounds into Petra's black cloak.
The Magess made no atempt to stop her. Rather she took advantage of the distraction and appeared behind the seer. The scythe flew to its mistress, and Petra flung her adversary aside before catching it.

Kora slumped senseless against the wall. Kara turned to see the Necromancer bearing down upon her. She parried every blow Petra brought against her. But her sacrifice to Knarf had left her with a disadvantage in a fight. Petra wheeled to her opponent's left, and used the blind spot to throw her adversary to the ground. Disarmed and dazed Kara could only await the inevitable.

A sweeping blow came towards the daughter of Anatolia, but stopped short. In a rush of adrenaline Kora had intercepted the blow with her body. She had snared the Scythe with her arms, but the blow to her was mortal.
"Good bye sis; You'll make a great empress soon. Tell the puppy I said hello."
With her last breath Kora tore open a portal to Anatolia, and Kara was dragged through it still crying out to her twin.

Chesi stepped up behind her roommate of old.
"It was going to have to be like this all along, wasn't it?"
"We both know no mortal could have defeated me anyways. Which leaves only you." Petra turned to her friend. Chesi could see now what Petra had become. Her skin was thined and nearly transparent. Bone could be seen through what muscle the usurper had left. She retained only a trace of what little humanity had remained when the war began.
"Yes, this is how it must be."