CHAPTER 140: BECOME A FIGHTER

Aelin

Three of them.

Clothed in dark robes, each wearing a mask — a skull, a laughing child, and the third with no features at all. That one made my stomach twist the most. Just a blank white mask like a mirror with no reflection.

I backed up instinctively.

"You don’t need to be afraid," The Skull said

I shook my head, "You plan on using me to open another gate, don’t you?" I said and what followed was silence from their side

My heart fell

I only said that because that is what has been happening. People are going missing, strong people and then the stronger the people sacrificed, the bigger the gate is.

Then one of them moved — the blank one. So fast I almost didn’t catch it.

My hand shot up. Shield.

Golden light burst from my palm, curving into a tight arc around me. Their attack — a wave of dark energy — smashed into it, sparks flying as the shield held. Just barely.

I flinched as the pressure pushed against me, my knees nearly buckling.

"You can’t win," the skull-mask said, voice low and coarse. "You’re not trained."

He was right.

I could barely keep my breathing steady. My magic burned at my fingertips, wild and slippery, never quite forming the way I wanted. And yet... I stood my ground.

"I can," I said, trying to sound brave. But at the same time, I said that to myself.

Inside, my heart pounded like a trapped bird.

The laughing child mask tilted their head. "Even your lies are weak."

The third one, the blank mask, didn’t speak. But I felt it—the tension in the air shift. And then he charged.

I barely had time to throw up another shield.

The impact was like a hammer hitting glass. My legs gave out, and I dropped to the forest floor, biting back a cry.

Get up, get up, get up.

I rolled and scrambled behind a tree away from the clearing, into the tree line, panting. My shield flickered and reformed just as another dark spell crashed against it. Bark exploded near my shoulder.

Think, Aelin, think.

They were stronger than the creatures. Smarter. Trained. This wasn’t like killing monsters that ran at you headfirst. These were people — abyss worshippers — and they were coordinated.

I peeked out from behind the tree and focused on the skull-mask

.

My hand shook, but I stretched it forward, calling to the magic.

There — a thin golden thread connected from my palm to the center of his chest. I could see it. I could feel where the core was.

But I had to hold the thread long enough to charge the spell.

I whispered the words, coaxing the white-gold flame into my palm.

But the blank mask appeared beside me again.

I threw myself back, barely dodging a slash of shadowy claws. My concentration broke — the golden thread snapped.

"NO!"

He didn’t give me time to recover. He was fast. Every time I cast my magic, one of the others would disrupt me. They weren’t stupid.

They knew what I needed.

They knew if they didn’t let me focus, I couldn’t kill them.

The laughing one hurled something again — not magic, but a jagged black blade. It hit my shield and bounced off, but it still made me stumble.

You can’t win, that voice inside said again. You’re not fast enough.

No,.

I didn’t need to be stronger. I needed to be smarter.

So I stood. I let the light from my palms dim. I pretended to stagger, to falter — and it worked.

The skull-mask lunged.

I sidestepped, and only God know how I managed to do that. I Dropped my shield just long enough to focus.

Thread. Core. Fire.

I didn’t whisper the spell, I just imagined it in my mind which was way faster.

My flame shot from my hand, white and gold, ripping through the golden thread and searing straight into his chest. The core cracked — he screamed.

Then he dropped.

One down.

The other two froze for just a second — and I took it.

I backed up, making them think I was scared. But my mind was sharper now. I was learning.

The blank-mask didn’t hesitate. He pointed a finger to the sky, and a red smoke signal exploded, spiraling upward in thick curls.

My heart dropped.

And then — they closed in.

One on my left, one on my right.

I was surrounded.

The other two stopped moving.

The one with the laughing child mask tilted their head again, but this time the mockery was gone — replaced by a sharpness, a sudden violence in the curve of their stance. The blank-faced one turned his head slowly, as if recalibrating.

Then they moved.

Faster than before. Much faster.

The blows came hard — so hard that my arms ached as I threw up shield after shield, my breath growing ragged with the effort. I barely managed to block a sweeping kick that sent dirt flying into my eyes.

They weren’t trying to knock me out anymore.

They were trying to hurt me.

Magic slammed into my barrier like thunder. My knees buckled. I gritted my teeth and focused, forcing the light to harden around me, but it flickered dangerously at the edges.

My fingers ached.

The core-vision — the thread of golden light that helped me see into them — was gone from my mind. I couldn’t focus on it and shield myself at the same time.

Then a flicker of movement—

Too late.

A foot slammed into my side.

Pain exploded through my ribs as I flew backward, crashing against a tree.

!!!

I coughed hard, tasted iron.

The laughing child rushed toward me again — but I got my palm up just in time. Another shield burst outward in a dome, holding for a second, two — then three strikes later, the glowing light cracked.

My vision blurred.

Everything felt heavy.

I stumbled backward — and my foot caught on a root.

I went down hard. My palms scraped the earth, my shield shattered.

The blank-faced one loomed over me. His fingers crackled with abyssal magic.

He raised his hand, black energy forming into a blade of pulsing darkness.

I froze. My magic sparked uselessly in my chest.

I can’t move.

But then—

A blur of silver and red slammed into the attacker with a violent crash.

The masked figure was flung backward with a grunt, landing several feet away and skidding through dirt.

I gasped as someone dropped beside me, breathless and furious.

"Are you hurt?" a familiar voice asked sharply, his hands already checking my arms, my shoulder, my face.

"Ariston," I whispered.

His jaw was clenched, eyes blazing with rage.

"You weren’t supposed to be alone," he muttered, helping me up carefully. His grip was steady, one arm already positioned like a shield in front of me.

Before I could say anything, the laughing mask lunged toward us.

Ariston met the charge head-on.

Steel hissed from his scabbard as his blade met theirs mid-air, sparks flying from the impact. His stance was confident — but tight. Like even he wasn’t expecting them to be this fast.

The masked worshipper moved like smoke, spinning midair to kick him, but Ariston ducked low and sent a wave of raw wind force from his hand, slamming the figure into a tree trunk.

"Get behind me!" he barked.

I obeyed, but not before I managed to cast a fresh barrier between us and the other attacker, the blank mask who had now risen again.

They were coordinated, like wolves cornering prey.

"Are you able to cast?" Ariston asked without turning.

"Y-Yes," I stammered. "But not while shielding."

"Then I’ll cover you. You find their cores."

I nodded. I didn’t tell him how hard that would be with two of them now actively trying to kill us — but I didn’t want to waste any more time.

I focused. Let the panic fade, let the pain dull.

Blank-mask moved in.

Ariston clashed blades with him, parrying furiously. His swordplay was breathtaking — elegant and brutal. But even he was sweating. Every blow was meant to kill.

And then the laughing one tried to flank him.

I threw up a shield just in time to block it from hitting Ariston’s back.

The moment of safety gave me what I needed.

I held my hand out and searched.

Golden thread — there, winding from my palm to the laughing mask’s stomach. It pulsed, bright and clear.

I narrowed my eyes, called the flame again.

The golden-white glow shimmered into my hand, and I whispered the incantation under my breath.

"Hold them for three seconds" I shouted.

Ariston didn’t respond — he just moved faster.

I braced my feet into the dirt, locked my arm forward, and let the magic fly.

It hit.

The second fell, magic exploding from within, a scream dying in their throat.

Just one more.

But the blank one didn’t falter.

He let out a low hiss and charged again, this time more vicious than before — slashing with claws that shimmered with corrupt light.

Ariston grunted, blocking, but the force pushed him back.

I turned to help — the golden thread already forming.

But this one—

His core was hidden deep, somewhere I could barely feel.

He knew I was hunting it.

He kept twisting and moving, never giving me a clean line. My hands were already shaking from magic drain, my breathing unsteady.

"Hold on," Ariston said through gritted teeth, dodging another swipe.

I wasn’t sure how long either of us could hold.

But I would not go down..

Not now. Not when I had discovered how much I could do

I fixed my eyes on the blank mask. He circled Ariston like a snake, his power humming in the air, a twisted contrast to the magic burning at my fingertips.

If I just had a little more time—

Just one clean shot.