Chapter 378: Cornered
I nodded, my grip on my skirt tightening. "I don’t like being alone. It’s dark, and...scary."
"And vengeance?" Luke asked, surprising me with the sudden change of topic.
I stared at my feet, conscious of my tail flicking back and forth anxiously. "I...I just have to save her. I don’t want innocent people to die, but I will do what I have to save Elise."
Luke blinked several times, something close to disappointment coming over his face. "I see."
"Are you taking Brithlite?" Korra asked a surprise question of her own. "If you do, don’t you dare kill Alverin."
Luke stiffened, his mask cracking with anger. "The king? How could you possibly give your loyalty to that bastard? Don’t you know what his people have done to her?" Her jerked his staff toward me, "And to me?" he echoed softly, almost imperceptibly.
Korra’s aura erupted before she could contain it, making the demons tense, their souls surging with mana. If she were aware of the looming threat, she didn’t seem to care, taking an angry step forward and glaring hard at the demonkin. "Loyalty?" she spat, her face twisting in a scowl. "No, I’m going to kill that bastard myself, so don’t you dare touch him."
The vehemence of her response seemed to catch them all off guard, and Luke’s brow creased with genuine confusion. "You...hate him? But he’s a human. If this kingdom falls, then the entire northern continent is opened up to us. How can a hero possibly think that way?"
"As if I care," Korra returned, still glaring at him. "This war isn’t as black and white as you seem to think, apostle. Xiviyah and I are no more allies of the humans than we are you. Since we’ve been together, we’ve killed way more of them than demons and even killed Levin. At least your Fire Apostle survived."
I bit my lip and looked away, letting my tail droop against the cold stone courtyard. I didn’t truly regret killing Levin, he had tried to kill me after all, but his death was unintentional. It was as much a shock to me as anything I’d done before, proving my powers weren’t as much under my control as I wished. That was yet another reason I hesitated to use the Oracle of Eternity to severe souls from Fate. That wasn’t a power anyone should have.
"Levin? The Earth Hero?" Luke prodded. His tail twitched in confusion, the motion bringing a small smile to Korra’s lips. "He’s dead?"