Beauty X Beast ~ Thirty-Seven!

The swords in mechanical hands stopped swinging. Steam, fire, and acid was held back instead of constantly being released at the attackers in great clouds. What only moments ago was unceasing motion began to falter, coming to a halt as Comte LeKrout sent out frantic instructions for them to stop attacking. Now that the order had been given, any intentional aggressive action from the Comte or his creations against the baron would be enough for the oath to be considered as broken. 

Seeing the machines going still, the human soldiers also stopped their assault, pulling back slightly as they waited for their enemies’ total surrender… with one notable exception: Gasteel.

The hulking warrior swung his borrowed sword in great arcs, furiously venting his rage on the now-helpless automatons in his path. Because of the constraints the Artificer had put on them, they could only accept the blows, doing nothing to retaliate. They could still attempt to block, but these older-style automatons were ill-balanced and designed to be chopping and slashing, with very little effort put into allowing them self-defense. 

Gasteel cleaved through two to three of them at a time, opening a wide space around himself, then moving forward, his eyes now locked on the silent Comte. A ragged shout broke through the spreading silence. “Is that all? You're not going to argue, or tell me that I've still somehow truly lost, even though I’ve won?”

“What do you want me to say, Baron Gasteel?” Kota replied evenly, reaching out and taking Danielle’s hand to reassure her. “You were warned, and I'm not going to have to deal with you for much longer, anyway. I'll be under the banner of whoever replaces you soon enough. Most likely, I’ll be sent back to the capital city to produce soldiers, while whoever is in charge of you continuously sends you on missions with the intent of you not coming back.”

“Are you threatening me?” Gasteel scoffed at the higher-ranked noble, his sword continuously swinging back and forth as he slowly cut his way toward Kota and Danielle. 

“No, Gasteel. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I don't need to do anything to you.” The Artificer’s casual attitude only served to infuriate the fuming man even further. “As far as I'm concerned, you've just removed yourself as a threat. The real question is, what do you want?”

The handsome commander finally paused for a moment, “I. Want. Satisfaction. I want to wake up tomorrow morning and have my wife-”

Here, he shoved an accusatory finger at Danielle, “-make me a plate of scrambled eggs! I want her to learn how to prepare a Frontière Flip for me to drink when I get home from a hard day! I want the respect and position I’ve earned with a lifetime of bloodshed and dedication. No one’s done more than Gasteel. In all of Verdelune’s history, no one’s enjoyed war like Gasteel!”

The baron locked eyes with the Comte, then sneeringly looked him over. “In comparison, there’s you. Here you stand, behind a wall of armor and weaponry, weak and unable to defend yourself because you fear mere words binding you.”

“You are the one who couldn't make me bend the knee with the might of his arm. It was you who invoked the oaths, using words to win the fight instead of fighting. Of course… I understand. You were going to lose, so you did what any nobleman in your position would have,” Kota replied mildly, then returned the baron’s sing-song statements with his own. “No one talks a big game like Gasteel… dishonors his name like Gasteel. In our history books, no one will be defamed like Gasteel!”

“You dare?” the baron roared as every speech-capable automaton in the building echoed the Comte’s words. “You want to fight me? Fight me!”

“I'll take that as a direct order.” 

Kota pulled Danielle close as the immense number of metal soldiers surrounding the baron on all sides began swinging their swords. Clearly, he was attempting to spare her the sight of the man being chopped into bite-sized chunks of meat, but she easily squirmed out of his grip and pushed him to arm's length.

“I'm no wilting flower, Comte.” Danielle watched grimly as the baron fought for his life against scores of flashing blades, holding his own surprisingly well. After considering the situation and coming up with a quick strategy, she turned back to the Artificer. “In order to prevent a repeat performance where he gains control by telling you to stop the attack, maybe get your metal soldiers to start stomping, clapping, or pounding on metal to drown out anything he attempts?”

The Comte had barely heard her words before he realized the wisdom in them. Within moments, the beleaguered shouts of Gasteel were completely drowned out by an immense clattering racket. Danielle nodded approvingly, then returned her attention to the reignited battle. Soldiers from Gasteel Company poured into the house once more, and while she was certain they were letting loose war cries and shouting orders, this only added to the ear-numbing cacophony. 

“Keep the automatons on the lookout for the Wind Mage,” she shouted into the Artificer's ear just to be heard. “If he has enough power to batter hundreds of combatants at once, he might be able to throw Gasteel’s voice directly to your ears if he gets the chance. Might I suggest that a well-placed harpoon might be able to prevent that?” 

He nodded, then turned back to yell a reply, “We've got most of the self-aware automatons’ cores out; can you take the first crate of them and get to the library? I'll finish the last few and join you there.” 

The Enchantress glanced at him with narrowed eyes, trying to see if he was trying to get rid of her, but he only smiled knowingly and motioned for her to follow him back into the preparation area. There, she found two small crates, just large enough to hold two dozen of the cores each. The first was full, and the second was nearly there. She looked from the box to the man, her left eyebrow arching, “You aren't going to do anything foolish, are you? As soon as you have what you need, you're coming to the escape tunnel? Yes?”

“Nothing foolish, I’m making my escape with you.” The Artificer’s promise was the only thing that made Danielle slowly move her feet, but as she stepped closer to grab the cores, a thought froze her in place. 

“They entered the hallway from the main entrance. My room was the first door, then a few… guest rooms? Coat rooms? But the library is nearly at the halfway point between here and where Gasteel Company is entering. Your metal soldiers are coming up from the workshop, which is even closer to here and completely blocking my path. Even if they weren't, Gasteel has been fighting as hard as he can to get closer. Kota, I think you might be completely blocked in.” 

“A very good point, and also why you should go this way.” Kota gestured to a blank wall with a knowing smile as he stepped past her, picked up the full crate, and handed it over. A moment later, a silhouette of a small doorway appeared in the otherwise white wall, smoothly swinging out and revealing an entrance into what appeared to be a storage room. “Can I just say, this is the first time I feel vindicated in having put secret passages between all the rooms? Before now, I merely felt paranoid for doing so.”

“We’ll be even more paranoid wherever we live next,” Danielle promised as she put the preserved heart on top of the small crate and picked both up gingerly. “Pulley systems, at least two or three escape tunnels, secret passages, hidden rooms… I'm kind of relieved, if I'm being honest. What sort of mad Artificer would you be without a few paranoid passageways?”

He was smiling widely at her, his eyes narrow and twinkling. “You said wherever ‘we’ live next. I never asked… does this mean–”

“A conversation for another time.” Danielle replied firmly, nodding at the last few automatons needing their cores swapped out. “Let's get out of here, Kota. Then we can figure out what we want our lives to look like.”

“Yeah, we-” The Comte coughed into a closed fist, cutting off whatever he was about to say. “You're right, this isn’t an appropriate setting for such an important discussion. Meet you at the library. Remember, whatever goes on, don't show your face in the great hall again—they have to believe we were in here when everything went *boom*, or it is all for naught.”

Moving carefully with her delicate cargo, Danielle stepped through the secret door and into what appeared to be a dry-goods pantry. Moments later, the door behind her silently swung shut, and a set of cupboards in front of her, which held dried beans and tea leaves, split horizontally, the top half rushing up into the ceiling, the lower half into the floor.

As she carefully avoided exposed piping and jagged stone reinforcements, Danielle decided that the secret corridor she was walking through must be a part of the outer wall. Only the light filtering in through the open pantry behind her allowed her to barely pick her way across the straight, narrow space. When that cut off and she was left in near-perfect darkness, the Enchantress very carefully scooted forward until the door in front of her popped open—this time splitting vertically and opening to the left and right.

Happily, this one had deposited her directly into the library, and a glance back the way she had come allowed Danielle to watch as a bookshelf she had frequently referenced slowly slid back together. “There's one mystery solved. I had wondered how the Beast snuck in here time and time again without me noticing.”

“Danielle?” Henri’s muffled voice caught her off guard, and though Danielle looked around questioningly, she was unable to find her father. “Over here… I don't know how to open this abyssal door from the side. It's—oh, there it goes.”

As the passageway hidden behind the bookshelf slid open, Henri stumbled into the library, appearing disheveled and exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Carefully setting her burden on the table, Danielle rushed over and swept him into a hug. “You're safe! Where were you? I was so worried! I thought you might’ve gotten trapped down in the workshop.”

“No… no, I remained there for…” Henri studied her intently with sunken eyes before allowing a tight smile to cross his face. “Never mind me, I’ve been waiting here since the Beast sent me through the tunnel, being worried sick about you.”

“Is that all that's going on?” Danielle pulled back slightly, studying his face with great concern. “Did the Beast say something to you? You seem… distracted.”

Her father shook his head, but it didn't escape Danielle's notice that he was avoiding her gaze. “Just trying to stay out of sight and waiting for you. That and, well, thinking. But! Let's focus on getting you out of here; I'm sure LeKrout didn't ask you to wait around for him, right?”

“He didn't, but I'm not going anywhere until I know we're all ready to go. Kota's grabbing the last few cores, but he should be joining us any moment now.” Danielle squinted at her father, who was acting odd and cagey, but decided that perhaps now was not the time to press him. “I don't know if you saw or heard, I suppose, but the Beast fell in combat against a cowardly sneak attack from Gasteel when the man had already surrendered.”

“The Beast is down?” Henri visibly winced at that news, shaking his head and muttering, “Well, that complicates things.”

“What do you-?” Danielle went silent at that moment, as the nightmarish sounds of battle were overridden by a distinctive voice. 

“Fall back! Fall back, prepare to charge!” Gasteel could barely be heard over the symphony of clashing metal, and only because he must have been almost to the doors of the library. Strangely enough, it sounded like he was full-on running when he was shouting, leading the retreat back to the main entrance of the manor.

“What's going on?” Danielle’s eyes were fixed on the oak doors, gouged from where Doc had flipped into them, and found herself drifting toward them almost in a trance. “Just a quick peek… I’ve got to know what he’s doing.”

There was no more clashing, only the sound of feet jostling as the metal soldiers pushed forward to retake the ground they’d lost in the hallway. More flooded up from the workshop, replacing their destroyed brethren as they hurried to remove the invaders from their lord's estate. “Stop! What’re you doing? Don't go out there!”

Henri's voice reached Danielle just as she touched the door handle, snapping her out of the odd introspection that had been driving her to give away her position. She pulled her hand back, brow furrowing in confusion at her nearly very foolish decision. “I don't know why I was-”

“Tremblar, rexum, somberia… dazzle sharp hysteria! Cal-mort, aether, turm-a-lyn, first ray of dawn’s light now begin…” It was a low, ominous murmur, slowly increasing in intensity as the words were chanted over and over. The sound started as a vibration in the floor, seeming to slowly crawl along the floor and coil around her legs before slithering up to her ears. 

“What's happening out there? Why does it feel like I'm breathing oily smoke?” Danielle lifted her hands, running her fingers against her thumbs to try and feel if it was an actual sensation or a byproduct of whatever was happening.

As the air grew heavier, each breath carrying the tang of ozone, the tempo of the chanting increased, a vibration resonating with her bones. Henri quietly called out to Danielle, but the urgency in his voice was unmistakable. “You need to get away from that door… right now! I've heard this before, Danielle. Don't walk, run!”

By the time she turned and started running toward her father—veering off to grab Kota’s heart and the box of cores, much to his dismay—the once quiet library had become a resonant chamber as the air itself began to hum. A spark jumped from the crate Danielle scooped up, causing her to flinch and almost drop the precious cargo as everything in the area began to crackle with latent power. 

It was only as the charged atmosphere sent rippling shivers down her spine that she recognized the feeling. “Is this system energy?”

Henri’s eyes were wide and darting, his mouth clenched so hard he could only nod frantically in response. As she got close, he pulled both of them around a sturdy bookshelf and yanked her to the ground, shielding her with his body as the shadows in the room twisted and elongated, created by flickering lights which danced into and out of existence with each moment. 

A piercing whistle split the air, so sharp and high that Danielle reflexively clamped her hands over her ears—but that barely took the edge off the noise. The room was filled with blinding beams of light, and across the library, books burst into flame wherever the incandescent energy touched. 

Danielle waited for an explosion of power, but between one blink and the next, the energy faded away. No more noise, no more light. “What was that?”

The Enchantress blinked as she realized her words were muted, as though she were holding a pillow to her mouth. Pulling her hands away from her ears, she noticed small spots of blood from where her ears had taken damage… but her father's sharply whispered response was still easily heard.

“War wizards.”