Chapter Thirty-Six

Petra hurled another bolt, but Chesi was having no part of a magical battle. She cast a protective shell of light over herself to prevent Petra's dark magic from affecting her.

"You are stronger than last time. So am I."
Petra focused a narrow stream of power into Chesi's shield, shattering it like golden crystal.
Chesi swayed to dodge a pair of follow-up blasts. She lunged and her hammer connected with Petra's scythe, knocking it away. Petra teleported to it, and unleashed several more shadowy missles.

"Petra, you have to stop this. If you give up now you could just go into exile."
Petra shattered a pillar with another blast. "It's my birthright to rule the empire. No one can take that away from me." Chesi shielded herself again. "I'll give you once last chance, join me and take the throne you deserve. You don't have to die here."
Chesi let the next blast catch her in the chest. It slammed her against the wall, but no blood was spilled.
"We can't Petra. We're immortal, we can't die."

Petra circled the atrium as Chesi returned to the center. She was determined to defeat her opponent, but if she couldn't kill her she would need to get creative.
She began spinning her scythe; it's blade offsetting the rotation.
"But you can't defeat me either."
Chesi brought her hammer to bear. "I can knock you out, and use Alchemy to bind your power. I can't kill you, but I can make you wish I had."
Petra slashed the air, two collumns were reaped by the scar of shadow that formed upon them.
"You'll still have to knock me out."
Chesi teleported up to her. "Not as hard as you think."
Chesi's hammer began coming down. Petra lept back and brought her scythe across Chesi's leg. Blood spewed across the floor and the paladin collapsed in pain.

Petra stepped back and stared at her friend for a while. It took her a while to figure out what had happened. It was the scythe, she must have absorbed the Demon's power. It wasn't killing her, but Chesi's attempts at healing weren't working. Maybe Demons could kill immortals; she'd have to be careful of that in the future. Until then, she now had a way to win.
She cut again, leaving a gash across her arm. Another blow tore into her breast, and the back swing knocked her back sporting a new wound on her forehead.
"Looks like I win today Chesi. I'll be back every day to deal you another blow until you manage to drag yourself out of my palace."