Beauty X Beast ~ Thirty-Nine!

*Blam!*

The Enchantress skid to a halt as the wooden endcap of the bookshelf she was passing exploded into a shower of splinters. Dropping into a crouch, she clutched at her furiously pounding heart and slowly crept forward once more. As Danielle peeked around the wooden barrier, she watched as Gasteel tossed his smoking musket to the side.

“At this range, that could’ve been your head, Comte,” the baron growled, tilting his head side to side and cracking his neck before staring down the smaller man and slowly licking his lips—as though savoring the impending violence. “Instead of putting you down like the feral beast they all say you are, I'm just going to tame you with my fists. You should thank me for my benevolence. ”

Even with his back to Danielle, she could hear the disbelief in LeKrout’s response. “All of the authority of the kingdom at your beck and call, and the first time you get to use it on me properly… it's so you can beat me up?”

“No one splits skulls like Gasteel, demands respect like Gasteel.” The baron was humming in an unhinged tone as he stepped across the smoky space between them. “By the end of this, you’ll beg for a deal with Gasteel!”

“No.” Comte LeKrout shook his head and let out a long-suffering sigh. “It’s time for me to crush the dream of Gasteel. Attack.”

The order was so nonchalant that the baron didn't react immediately, not understanding that the Artificer wasn’t speaking to him. It was only as the first sword whistled through the air, and the hunter-turned-noble instinctively dodged, that he realized what was happening. Gasteel dodged yet another swing from the automatons that had been escorting LeKrout, his eyes going wide in concern. The huge man started backpedaling, both to avoid the attacks, as well as to try and undo what had just been done. “No. No! You can't attack me, you’ll-”

“Yup. That's right. This is me breaking my oath.” The Artificer spoke almost cheerfully, though Danielle could detect a hint of trepidation in his voice. “Death before enslavement.”

Danielle's breath hitched, and the world itself seemed to have frozen in shock. A tangible, physical tension filled the space, causing the hair on the back of her neck to rise and her heart to pound. Trying to inhale, the Enchantress found that the air was heavy and oppressive.

The system was turning its attention to Comte LeKrout, and it was not happy.

“It's not too late, yet!” Gasteel shouted into the room which should have been silent, but instead had a low, rumbling roar rising in intensity and echoing through every speck of matter in the library. “Take a knee; I'll accept your apology! You still have a chance-”

“No.” LeKrout firmly replied, refusing to break his staredown with the baron. “I'm taking you with me. Or, if nothing else, I can be a lesson to you. Sometimes, you just can't make other people do what you want. Sometimes, Gasteel, they'd rather die.”

The smoke swirled through the room as the system began to pass its judgment. A deep, ominous, throbbing green light washed out the surroundings, before quickly collapsing in to surround the Comte. The man spasmed, his body held in place and trembling as it was gripped by impossible force. 

Danielle watched as the light poured into the Artificer, but as she was behind him, she was able to watch as the target of the system’s wrath shifted. As the last of the light streamed into his body, it burst out of his back, flashing past her in an instant, the noise reaching a crescendo, only to be replaced by an unsettling tearing sound. For just a moment, she was able to hear what could only be described as delicate cloth tearing before the sound of shattering glass reverberated through the air.

The light and noise cut off in the next moment, the heaviness in the air vanishing as if it had never been. Ever so slowly, Kota LeKrout collapsed, falling to his knees, then to his back… his eyes wide and staring up at nothing.

“Kota!” Danielle’s shriek was drowned out by Gasteel’s screech of failed ambition, and the Enchantress found her eyes pulled to where the baron was fighting for his life against six automatons.

These were clearly the upgraded versions, which used her captured motion, as they had been dancing around the viciously attacking nobleman, returning his fury with finesse. Yet, as the oaths on the Artificer's heart were physically destroyed, a ripple of chaos was sent through all the automatons, which hadn't had the self-destruct sequence scrubbed away before his fall. 

The coordinated and precise movements of the metal soldiers immediately turned erratic, but the sudden drop in efficiency was more than made up for in their increased attack speed.

Their runescripted systems began to overload, and Gasteel’s enormous sword cleaved through one of them which had begun to jerk and twitch, throwing off its combat capability. As the metal soldier fell, the baron’s eyes landed on Danielle. His surprise shifted to avarice, but he only managed a single step in her direction before the automatons closed the gap in their ranks. Sparks were flying from their joints, the air filled with the sound of grinding gears and hissing steam—even so, it wasn't loud enough to drown out his shouts. 

“Now you see how I'm the better man, Belle!” Gasteel cackled as he continuously tried to fight his way through the metal soldiers, slowly gaining ground as he came for her. “No one's forgiving like Gasteel, at least to the future wife of Gasteel!”

Despite his immense experience and unceasing ferocity, the nobleman was struggling to hold off the automatons—who were now fighting with an absolute disregard for their own longevity. 

Their overheating was starting to reach a critical point, and their chassis were beginning to glow white from the heat radiating off their cores. As the wall of fighters stepped closer to the shelves, books all across the first five rows burst into flame, adding to the rapidly increasing temperature of the library.

“I can't give you another chance after this,” the baron warned Danielle as he carried a wild, desperate arc of a sword, brutally retaliating and sending the metal soldier to the ground as scrap metal—which started melting into slag as soon as it couldn't move enough to vent its heat. “Can’t do it! Belle! You once told me you couldn't be with someone who didn't understand you. Well, now you've seen the strength of my convictions. You understand me… so aren't we already halfway there?” 

Not saying a word, Danielle began slowly backing away, her view of the wild-eyed baron quickly becoming hidden by books and smoke. 

He did not appreciate that.

“So be it! You can burn with the rest of this cursed place!” For just a moment, his face appeared through the smoke, twisted with rage. Then, with a mighty swing of his sword, he knocked back the nearest metal soldiers, turned on his heel, and ran for the exit to the library. “I'll make sure of it! If I find out that you managed to worm your way out of here, I swear by the system I'll hunt you down and finish the job! Cross my heart, and hope to die!”

A burst of golden light in the shape of a bright ‘X’ flared through the smoke, then Gasteel was gone, chased by the four remaining superheated soldiers. One of them threw itself after the fleeing baron, blocking his advance for a moment, but also pushing itself beyond its limits. It exploded at that moment, sending molten shrapnel surfing along an energy-filled shockwave that shattered the oak door and left deep cracks along the stone floor and walls.

Danielle heard a groan, and for a moment, assumed it was Gasteel… until it came again, followed by a familiar, if weak, voice. 

“Uughh… looks like it worked?”

“Kota?” The Enchantress paused for a moment, uncertain if she should believe her own lying ears. Then she rushed out, dropping and sliding across the polished floor to the Comte’s side. “You're alive? I thought for sure the system killed you out of hand while it was trying to fulfill your part of the oath.”

“Nope…” Kota started to chuckle, but it turned into a deep, wracking cough. “Looks like I found a loophole with crossing my heart. All I needed to do was have the organ itself pulled out of my chest and replaced with a different version, not forgetting to leave the main heart intact. There, it could act as a decoy and pull the system's attention to it… to take the punishment of an oathbreaker—*hack*—instead of me. I was pretty sure my hypothesis would work. But who would be foolish enough to test this in my stead?”

“Only you would try something like that. No one else is fool enough to think they can pull one over on the system itself.” Danielle’s bluntness caught the Artificer off guard, and he could only nod as he tried to catch his breath. “Then again, no one else would even be able to think of making something like that work, let alone pull it off. You’re… I can’t believe how amazing you are. Can you stand?”

The man tried, but the invasive energy of the angry system had left him greatly weakened. “That's a no. Maybe with some help?” 

Danielle pulled him to his feet, surprised at how easy and natural the motion felt as she swung his left arm over her shoulders and wrapped her right arm around his waist to support him. They began walking toward the hidden exit as quickly as they could manage. “How long do we have?”

“Minutes. At best,” Kota intoned heavily, before turning to look at her with hooded eyes. “I'd tell you to go ahead, that I’d catch up, but if there's one truth I know about myself, it’s that I learn quickly. I can only ask that you use me as a shield if things start to collapse.”

“Why is everyone-” Danielle grunted as she stumbled over the remains of a fallen shelf, “-so abyssally determined to make sure I make it out of here without so much as a scratch? By the system, just close your mouth and move your feet!”

A series of explosions rang out, and a wash of superheated air flowed over them. Danielle felt her hair scorch and twist, small blisters rising on her skin where the airburst had touched. Both she and Kota cried out in pain as the unbearable heat began to increase even more. 

The Artificer spoke in gasping breaths, his voice raspy from the dry, smoky air. “The building is going to come down; its self-destruct failsafes must be on the verge already.”

“There you are!” Henri’s relieved voice felt like a healing balm to Danielle's ears. He continued to speak, so she used his voice as a beacon, stumbling toward him with her eyes scrunched shut so the heat couldn't burn them. “Get in, right here! There you go…”

Danielle stepped into a cool, dark space, finally managing to gulp down air that didn’t burn on the way down. She tried to open her eyes but found that she could only squint, her skin inflamed and swollen. Henri gently directed her, and only moments later, she found herself pushed down onto a seat. 

“Father, what is this?” Her words were ever so slightly slurred, as her lips had begun to char. “Why are we sitting? We need to run!”

“Don't worry… the barrel will take care of that.” Henri pried her hands away from where they were grasping onto Kota and pressed a cold, glassy object into each of them. There was a *ploink*, the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle, and Henri lifted her right hand toward her mouth. “Drink half of this, then give the other half to Comte LeKrout.”

“Not a Comte,” Kota slurred through his own damaged mouth, a scoff that was half disparaging, half-filled with amazement escaping his steaming lips. “Without my oath to the Kingdom of Verdelune in place, I'm just another commoner. It’s… it’s wonderful.”

“I bet it is.”

“Why can't you help him with the healing potion?” Danielle blinked rapidly as her skin filled with moisture once more, the potent healing potion already starting to have an effect. “Father, what are you doing?”

“What needs to be done, Danielle,” Henri spoke with a tone of grim finality. “That man will never stop hunting you if he has even the slightest inkling that you escaped. I've met his type before. If he can't have you, he'll want to make sure no one can. I can't have that. I can't have you running for the rest of your life. There's only one way I know he'll believe you didn't leave, and that's if he sees the building fall on me.”

“Don’t you dare!” 

Her father wasn't listening. “Take care of her… Kota.”

“I will-”

“You get your butt in here this instant!” Danielle tried to stand, but found a strap holding her in place. She fumbled with its mechanism, but her hands hadn't had enough time to heal, certainly not enough for the fine motor control needed to undo the latch. 

“Oh, my sweet girl.” Henri gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’m so sorry, and I love you, but you can’t tell me what to do. I hope you live a wonderful life.”

With that, he slapped the back of the barrel, and it jerked forward like a horse that had been spurred into action. Kota and Danielle were tossed back and forth as the oversized container ran forward on two legs, the harsh shifts back and forth making it impossible for the Enchantress to maintain her grip on the strap and unhook it.

As they raced down the tunnel, surrounded on all sides by absolute darkness, she could only look back and reach out as Henri watched them go. 

“Father!”