Darquesse Repect Thread

• Mortal Coil: her first appearance, which arose from being possessed by a Remnant, an evil soul. By far her weakest.
• Death Bringer: she makes two apperances, one from being attacked by a spirit, one from her soul trying to be removed. Could fight evenly with Lord Vile.
• Kingdom of The Wicked: arises from her heart being crushed. She has no developed the ability to see magic, therefore her mastery is growing prodigiously. Could beat Mevolent and stomp Lord Vile.
• Last Stand of Dead Men: Valkyrie has been taken over by Darquesse completely. Only appears for a small appearance but solos armies of various mages and Warlocks.
• The Dying of the Light: She has had weeks to learn and adapt and is at her strongest. This will be split into two sections, Late and Early, which represents whether or not Valkyrie has yet been separated from Darquesse. She is weaker without her (Late). Is a city buster while separated.
• Hypothetical: This is the Darquesse we saw when she was ultimately defeated, she was put in an illusion where she won. She evolves into a thought being, burns the surface of the world, wipes out all the alien life in the universe and solves the mechanics of reality. It's validity is questionable, as in, if she would have achieved that level or if she has any of the skills she did in the illusion (most notably Teleportation). Some of the feats she displays early in the illusion world may be applicable as the illusion was designed to be convincing, therefore they may be a reflection of her expectations, which are usually accurate.
• Although not included Darquesse does have a post-vision incarnation which means she has the knowledge and experience gained in her vision, but whether that translates into power is unknown. She also may have died before she rested from the effort of going to the Faceless Ones dimension, so she might have been running on very low level of power. Skulduggery says she could beat two Faceless Ones.

• Cleaver/Redhood: heavily trained soldiers who have enhanced strength and speed, at least blurring speed. They have perfect teamwork and their armour is bulletproof and magic reistant, being immune to fireballs and pillars of condensed air, that can throw people across rooms or lift them into the air.
• Skulduggery Pleasant: a reanimated skeleton which consists of a soul animating it. Has centuries of going on suicide missions and only died once, hehe. Is one of the best hand to hand combatants in the world and a very powerful Elemental.
• Lord Vile: Skulduggery's dark side. Is the strongest Necromancer, which lets him control shadows using his suit of armour. Could kill whole battlefields, fatally cut up to a dozen people with a shadow, use the death bubble and stomp Melancholia in a contest of Necromancy strength, and she could unconsciously crush the rock ground around her with shadows. His durability is high enough to resist being torn apart by a telekinetic girl who could easily flip a speeding car with a blast of energy, even though she was bloodlusted, had grown in mastery and had been amped to several times her strength. Vengeous in his armour was able to manhandle Bliss, who could tear people apart easily, and Vile is easily far superior to that Vengeous.
• The Death Bubble: a Necromancy technique whereby you rip out someone's soul/life force with a thought. Vile was possibly able to use it the kill half the planet's population and Melancholia believed she could use it to kill millions.
• Mevolent: The Voldemort of this verse. In an alternate dimension he conquers the world. He is the strongest Elemental, a master fighter, has a healing factor (acquired by dying every day) and can crush people heads with slight squeezes.
• Elemental
• Adept
• The Faceless Ones : They are old gods expelled from out dimension. They could conquer and destroy the world if ever they returned and spend their time wiping out all the life in every other dimension. Whoops. Stated to be able to decimate galaxies and quench suns.
• The God-Killers : Unique weapons that could kill the Faceless Ones. They have a 100% kill record, with even the slightest nick being fatal.
• The Gnarl : A sixty foot tall quadruped immune to magic and anything magical. Gave Darquesse a fight.

‘’When you walk out of here, you will own your true name, instead of your true name owning you. Armed with this knowledge, you can do great things. You could be the greatest sorcerer this world has ever seen.’’ Nye glanced at her. ‘’Or you could be the most terrible.’’

- Soul Searching.

She rose off the ground, into the rained filled air, floating high above the cottage. She could see across the countryside from here, to the city in the distance. She wondered how easy it would be to turn that whole city to dust. Probably not that hard. Not if she focused.

- The Jitter Girls

‘’You think she stands a chance against the Faceless Ones?’’ Valkyrie asked.

‘’I don’t know. Part of the reality the Sensitives constructed was to convince her that she’d accumulated more power than she had. It probably took everything she had to do it, but that part was no illusion. And if she could do that… she might stand a chance against a Faceless One. Maybe even two.

- Chapter 105 – Chapter 106

‘’She kicked him under the chin, marveling at her strength. His jaw splintered instantly, but her boot continued upwards and his head came apart around it. Some important piece of him, possible his brain, shot into the sky like a football.’’

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks.

‘’She leaped at the nearest one, a sorcerer she had one spoken to in the Sanctuary. Her fingers closed around his throat and she tore out his windpipe. The woman beside him clapped, and Darquesse put her fist through the woman’s chest, then flung the body behind her.’’

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks.

She crushed the skull of a handsome man and tossed him away from her. His body spiraled over the angry crowd. Things were not going as they had planned.

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks.

She reached up with one hand, her fingers gripping his armour, and she pulled him down to her as she rose up, slamming her forehead into his armour-plated face with enough force to break boulders. Vile swayed slightly and she heaved herself out of the depression she had made, flipping them both over, just like Skulduggery had taught her. Had taught Valkyrie. Whatever.

She pushed herself to her feet and kicked, her boot finding a perfect spot on Vile’s ribs. She kicked again, and again, shunting him along the ground. He tried to get up and she grabbed his head, started twisting, aiming to pull the whole thing right off.

- The Main Event

She took hold of his left wrist with both her hands, and squeezed. Vile’s head tilted. He reinforced the armour on his forearm, but Darquesse just squeezed harder. Finally, he had to release his grip, and she smacked him under the chin. He hurtled backwards off his feet and she launched herself into the air, smashing into him, flying low.

- Hero and Villain

Mevolent dived for the sword but she went straight for him, catching him in the side with a kick that sent him hurtling through the wall.

- A Little Bit of War

He grabbed her, lifted her, threw her. She bounced off a house and fell back o the street, looking up in time to see him lob a cart. She punched through it but splintered wood opened a deep cut on her forehead, and then he was beside her, stomping on her knee and then trying to pull her head off. Wow, this guy was violent.

- A Little Bit of War

Mevolent’s fist crunched into her cheek and she reeled back, knocking against a heavy wooden fence post. He came at her again and she grabbed the post, swung it with all her strength. It broke on impact but at least Mevolent was driven to his knees.

Darquesse reached for another post, tore it from the ground and threw it as Mevolent stood. He stumbled back a few steps. Darquesse threw another, and another, plucking them from the earth, throwing them like darts. Mevolent tried to get up. He got to one knee, shook his head beneath that helmet, and stood. He looked around, and that’s when Darquesse hit with the horse.

- Head over Heels

She kicked the truck and sent it sideways.

- Head over Heels

She flew at the roof, punching through and crashing through this floor and then the next, swerving now, crushing through a wall, sensing alarm as Kitana turned. Then she was bursting through, barreling past Doran and Sean, her fists colliding with Kitana’s pretty face. She hit Kitana with the speed of a bullet and the poor girl’s head came apart. Her momentum took Darquesse through into the next room, and she touched down, laughing. Back in a good mood.

- Head over Heels

She flew to the rock wall, punched it, grabbed a rock the size of her head before it fell. She threw it at the Gnarl. It hit between its scales like a bullet. The Gnarl screeched in anger and pain.

- The Gnarl

She suddenly lunged. Driving her hand through the chest of the Cleaver nearest to her.

- Chapter 10

She grabbed the nearest Redhood and tore him apart. A scythe came for her and she caught its blade in her hand and snapped it, then took out its wielder with an eye blast.

- The Devil Comes to Play

She darted to a little Volvo, got one hand on its underside while the other gripped the frame, and then flung it like a discus at the Olympics.

- Chapter 76

She cocked her hand back and hurled the Sceptre into the air. In an instant, it was a speck in the distance. Then it was gone.

- Chapter 93

Vile opened both hands, pulling shadows from the mouth of the cave. They curled and thrashed behind him, then rose in a giant wave that rolled towards her. Darquesse fell to one knee under the onslaught. It was a test. He was testing her, seeing how strong she was. When the wave was gone, she lunged.

- The Main Event

His fists came down, battering her face. She tried to wrap her legs around his waist but his armour expanded, keeping her from locking her ankles together. His fists were hammers, driving her down into the ground, the earth giving way beneath her. An extraordinary sensation.

She reached up with one hand, her fingers gripping his armour, and she pulled him down to her as she rose up, slamming her forehead into his armour-plated face with enough force to break boulders. Vile swayed slightly and she heaved herself out of the depression she had made, flipping them both over, just like Skulduggery had taught her. Had taught Valkyrie. Whatever.

- The Main Event

She stepped forward to tear him in two and then Vile grabbed her jacket from behind, lifted her off her feet and slammed her through the bonnet of the car.

Her face crunched into the engine block, and he hauled her out before she even knew what was happening and hurling her through the window of a Burger King.

- Hero and Villain

He held her off the ground with his left hand and hit her with his right. His fist was a block of stone, showing her explosions of bright light every time it connected. She needed to stop him before he punched her brain out through her skull. She’d done that once. It was funnier when it happened to other people.

- Hero and Villain

A pillar of darkness erupted from his chest like a piston, throwing her to the pavement. He stood and she waved an arm.

- Hero and Villain

Kitanna fired again and Darquesse held up her left hand, catching the stream in her palm, keeping it from her head. Her palm sizzled but she poured her strength into it, reinforcing it, buying herself some time to recover. Kitana laughed, and the stream intensified, and Darquesse’s hand burned away to a stump.

- Fearful Symmetry

Darquesse wheeled, barely avoiding another arc of lightning that turned the wall to dust behind her. Mevolent fired again and she felt the lightning sizzle by her face as she jerked back. She launched herself upwards, breaking through the ceiling, Mevolent right behind her. Open shy lay ahead. She didn’t know how fast he flew, but she was sure she was faster. Only out here, all he had o do was aim. Down there, there were things to duck behind.

- A Little Bit of War

He grabbed her, lifted her, threw her. She bounced off a house and fell back o the street, looking up in time to see him lob a cart. She punched through it but splintered wood opened a deep cut on her forehead, and then he was beside her, stomping on her knee and then trying to pull her head off. Wow, this guy was violent.

- A Little Bit of War

The world flickered again, and in that moment Serpine brought up his hand and energy exploded out t her. She hurtled back, head over heels through the air, and the world changed and she slammed into a parked truck.

- Head over Heels

She hit the ground with such force that Stephanie could see the shockwaves that threw back Warlocks and Wretchlings and mages alike. Darquesse stood slowly in the clearing, the battlefield suddenly quiet as both sides appraised this new player in the game.

- Uneven Odds

A Warlock tried next. He raised his arm and she raised hers. His hand lit up and a beam of white energy hit Darquesse’s open palm. He stepped forward, curling his body, putting everything he had into it. Darquesse just stood there. When the beam failed and the Warlock sagged, Darquesse flicked her hand and his body came apart.

- Uneven Odds

She swung a punch and her fist connected. Darquesse’s nose smashed, but her head didn’t move back, and Stephanie’s knuckles crumpled under the impact.

- The Eviction

The circle flashed with a blinding light as Darquesse got her power reflected back at her. The force spun her around and she staggered, her eyes unfocused, and fell to her knees. She dropped on to her hands, hr movements heavy.

- The Eviction

...

All the tests had been run, and the Sensitives had been in, and the questions had been asked, and Darquesse had fooled them all.

- Chapter 23

Darquesse could have increased her body’s density in an instant, watched Star shatter her fist upon impact.

- Weird Feelings

Vector saw what he thought was his chance, and his fist came round and shattered against Darquesse’s jaw. He howled, and reeled away.

- Weird Feelings

The Gnarl reared up on its hind legs and almost snagged her foot with its teeth. She flew up, burrowing through the cavern ceiling. She changed direction, carving a large circle through the rock. She kept going, the circles getting gradually smaller and smaller as she picked up speed, and then there was a rumble and a roar and the ceiling fell in, knocking the Gnarl to the ground and smashing its skull and it was buried in rubble.

It was almost disappointing.

- The Gnarl

She grabbed the nearest Redhood and tore him apart. A scythe came for her and she caught its blade in her hand and snapped it, then took out its wielder with an eye blast.

- The Devil Comes to Play

A helicopter gunship.This was awesome.

There was a streak of light and a sudden plume of smoke and before Darquesse even had a chance to turn the rocket hit her.

The explosion sent her spinning out of the sky, trailing smoke and fire, and she vanished behind a building. Skulduggery wrapped his arm round Valkyrie’s waist and they flew to a roof that overlooked the square. Darquesse was on her hands and knees, trying to rise. The helicopter – an AH-64 Apache, according to the pilot Fletcer had been partnered with – opened up with its minigun. Bullets chewed up the ground around Darquesse, pummeling her and driving her back to her knees. The pilot, a sorcerer who could fly anything but preferred aircraft with fun guns, let loose another rocket, and the explosion body limp. She’d been hurt, but there was no blood. No burns.

Darquesse rose suddenly, stumbling away from the minigun’s angry bullets, raising her hand towards the Apache. The minigun altered its aim and loosed nother barrage that thundered into her cheest. She fell to a sitting position, but Valkyrie glanced up in time to see the helicopter’s rotor blades disintegrating. The Apache whined and dropped, and she saw Fletcher grab the pilot and they jumped, disappearing the instant they cleared the stricken aircraft. The Apache had time to flip halfway over before it hit the ground right on top of Darquesse.

- Chapter 74

She reached out with her hands and then reached out with her magic, and white lightning sprang from her fingers and hit Darquesse, made her stumble.

The injured Cleaver forgotten about, Darquesse whirled, and her look of anger became a look of curiosity.

- Chapter 76

The little Volve had just come to a rocking stop beside them and Valkyrie slammed her forehead into Darquesse’s face, and then the back of Darquesse’s head hit the Volvo. Valkyrie did it again, and again, doing her best to turn Darquesse’s head to pulp, but it was the Volvo that gave way first.

- Chapter 76

She saw Darquesse as a speck in the sky, swooping around, coming back down at an alarming speed. Power crackled in Valkyrie’s hands while she waited for her to get near, and then she let loose, and lightning hit Darquesse, making her veer off course and crash into the ground.

- Chapter 76

Shadows were knives and whips and hammers and chains. They cut, tore, ripped and bludgeoned. Darquesse was given not one moment to recover, not one second to heal. Valkyrie watched in numb astonishment as her adversary, as the adversary, was sent to the ground again and again.

She watched as Darquesse got up, for maybe the tenth time, took a step and faltered.

Frowning, Darquesse looked down at her left foot. It was badly broken, twisted at an unnatural angle. She glared at it, and finally the foot moved, mending itself. But the frown on her face remained.

- Chapter 77

Darkness reared up around her, forming a Venus flytrap of shadows. It sprang, two dozen razored barbs skewering her body. The shadows started to melt and Darquesse stumbled through them, falling to her knees. She started to flicker. She was trying to shunt.

- Chapter 77

Their shadows moved like a thousand tiny snakes, burrowing slowly into Darquesse’s body. Darquesse screamed as blood ran. This time there would be no healing. This time there would be no surviving. They were going to kill her slowly, and make sure there was not even a sliver of life left behind.

…

All they needed was another few seconds and then those shadows would split her apart, and it’d all be over.

- Chapter 77

Philomena shot her point blank in the head. Darquesse gave her s smile, took the gun from her trembling hand and used it to cave in her skull.

- Chapter 94

At first, she wanted to take the cities of the world one at a time. So she took London, and New York, and Moscow and Paris and Berlin and Beijing. She turned missiles to flowers and bullets to rain. She breathed in nerve gas and it cleared her sinuses. She survived the first three nuclear strikes aimed at her by enclosing herself in a little bubble. By the fourth one, she’d figured out how to survive it without the bubble.

- Chapter 98

She healed it and saw Vile, conducting the shadows like an orchestra. She blurred to him, threw him back against the wall, spilling books and breaking shelves. She was on him again, holding him above her as she launched upwards.

- Heroes and Villans

‘’Boo.’’

China spun, her tattoos flashing, and Darquesse dodged a wave of blue energy that cracked the wall behind her. China’s eyes narrowed. ‘’You,’’ she said.

- A Little Bit of War

And then the room exploded.

To her eyes, it all happened so very slowly. The wall to her right caved in, buckling the floorboards and the ceiling, filling the air with shards of wood and stone. Darquesse was picked up, thrown sideways, out through the opposite wall as what looked like the whole building splintered and came after her. She fell to the street, ears ringing, barely able to hear the explosions that followed in rapid succession. A mortar attack, maybe. Softening the opposition before the big push.

She rolled on the cobbled street, the remains of China’s building falling around her. Her skin was lacerated but it was nothing major.

- A Little Bit of War

When she was close enough, he swung. At the last moment she saw something in the blade that shimmered, and moved her head back. The energy that whistled by her throat almost made her cry out. The sword came back at her, impossible light in Mevolent’s hand, and Darquesse stumbled to get away. She didn’t know what it was, but she instinctively knew it could kill her.

Mevolent pressed forward, his attacks relentless, his speed and ferocity robbing Darquesse of any chance to gather her thoughts. The only thing that mattered was keeping away from that blade. She tripped, fell, rolled, scrambled up and stumbled. The blade cut through stone and wood as it came for her, Mevolent twisting and turning beneath it, never leaving himself open. She jumped backwards, into the air, but he came after her, and now they were flying and she still couldn’t make space between them. They spiraled and torqued and that blade just kept getting closer. She ducked, managed to shove him away and retreated.

- A Little Bit of War

He stepped up behind her and spun, driving the sword through her back. She tried reaching for him, but his sword held her where she was and she still had that stupid spear sticking out of her. Then the fourth sorcerer ruined it all by pointing a sawn-off shotgun into her face.

Before he could pull the trigger, she sent her magic into him, boiling his brain in his skull.

- A Little Bit of War

His metal mask turned to Darquesse. The crystal flashed and black lightning streaked by her head as she dived to one side.

- A Little Bit of War

She flew at the roof, punching through and crashing through this floor and then the next, swerving now, crushing through

a wall, sensing alarm as Kitana turned. Then she was bursting through, barreling past Doran and Sean, her fists colliding with Kitana’s pretty face. She hit Kitana with the speed of a bullet and the poor girl’s head came apart. Her momentum took Darquesse through into the next room, and she touched down, laughing. Back in a good mood.

- Head over Heels

Her hands were her swords, her fingers her daggers. She moved impossibly fast, spinning and whirling. Bodies and body parts went flying over the heads of the Warlocks and mages who swarmed her. And swarm her they did.

- Uneven Odds

She heard laughter.

There was a knock behind her, knuckles on glass, so loud and so sudden that Stephanie barked out a cry of surprise as she whirled.

There was a knock on another window.

And another.

Knock after knock, Stephanie turned with each one, faster and faster, catching the briefest of glimpses of something blacker than night blurring by outside, and that laughter, that cruel, confident laughter. Stephanie raised the Sceptre, fired, again and again, trying to catch Darquesse as she passed, trying to anticipate, trying to match her speed, the black lightning disintegrating walls and windows and sections of floor and ceiling. A whole display cabinet full of ties went up in dust.

Stephanie spun one more time and stopped, her head buzzing, adrenaline snapping at her fingertips, fear biting at the corners of her mind. The window before her was in one piece. She saw her own reflection in the glass. She looked pale. She looked small and weak and terrified. She looked like a victim. Like prey.

Then she realized there was a face behind the face of her reflection, and it was smiling.

Darquesse burst through the window and her hand closed round Stephanie's throat.

- The Eviction

She grinned as she stepped between two Cleavers, dodging every move the made.

…

The Cleavers kept attacking – not slowing up, and yet not letting their frustration to show. Impressive.

…

She suddenly lunged. Driving her hand through the chest of the Cleaver nearest to her. The last two closed in, but their scythe blades exploded into rust before they got close. Darquesse flicked her wrists and their necks snapped.

- Chapter 10

There was a squeal of protesting metal, and then Darquesse stumbled from the smoking wrechage. Saracen let loose the arrow, but Darquesse whirled, snatched it from the air before it hit her. Saracen sent two more after it, keeping her busy while Skulduggery ran up behind her. She snatched both arrows and broke them, then ducked the swing that would have taken her head from her shoulders. Skulduggery spun, the blade going low for her legs, but again Darquesse moved just out of range, almost stepping straight towards Ravel’s spear. At the last moment, though, she seemed to sense he was there, and she slipped sideways and backed away from them both.

- Chapter 74

Saracen sent another arrow her way, but she caught it, stopping it millimeters from her eye.

- Chapter 74

She looked up as Darquesse flew in great loops and steep dives, trying to outrun the two arrows that chased her. Skulduggery lifted Saracen, dropped him to the roof ad he nocked an arrow and let it fly. This arrow went at Darquesse from another angle and she barely avoided it. It swerved when it missed, joined the other two in pursuit. Darquesse flew straight up, into the clouds. The arrow followed.

- Chapter 74

The front door burst open into a million splinters and Darquesse came at her like a bullet train, driving her through the wall and into the kitchen in a shower of plaster.

- Chapter 76

Darquesse looked at her, the sunrise on her face quickly replaced by a smile, and the smile quickly replaced by a smile, and the smile quickly replaced by a frown when she saw the Sceptre being raised as Valkyrie ran at her.

Black lightning flashed, turned the wall behind Darquesse to dust.

Darquesse darted sideways, but Valkyrie fired again, sending her reeling. Everywhere she moved, every direction, Valkyrie cut off with a streak of lightning, until Darquesse was scrambling backwards and Valkyrie was standing over her, breathing hard, the black crystal pointed right at her face.

- Chapter 93

He was so fast she never even saw him raise the gun. The first bullet hit her throat, the second burrowed through her cheek, and the third blew the back of her head open. They didn’t worry her, of course. The entry wounds were already healing before the exit wounds had even formed. The fouth and fifth bullets caused her a little concern, however, smashing through her brain the way they did, and sixth tore through her breastbone and punctured her heart. That one was probably symbolic.

Six bullets, though. He’d got off six bullets. In the vision, he’d only fired three.

- Chapter 96

She curled her hands into fists and flew straight into him, catching him in the gut, speeding on with him folded over her. His left hand grabbed her wrist, squeezed so tightly her bones broke. She healed them instantly.

- The Main Event

When the pain was too much she shut if off, and calmly pressed the remains of her eye back into its socket. An interesting experiment.

- The Main Event

She blinked. The vision in her bad eye turned from nothing to blurry to perfect. Better than her right eye, in fact. To compensate, she sharpened that eye as well, and then returned her attention to her current predicament.

- The Main Event

Her body was smashed. Her lungs were burst and her heart wasn’t beating. Her limbs were twisted, her spine was pulverized, her head was cracked open. She could feel he brain starting to swell, so that was the first thing that she healed. She wouldn’t be able to do much thinking without her brain.

It was somewhere between four and five on a Monday morning. She healed her spine and raised her head, looking around. No civilians were standing there, staring with open mouths. Pity.

- Hero and Villain

Darquesse repaired her internal organs, restarting her heart and drew air into her newy re-forming lungs. Next came her limbs. Her bones made cracking sounds as they realigned and knitted back together. She reached behind her head, made sure her hair didn’t get trapped in the fissure that healed in her skull. Her ruptured skin closed over. A lot of her blood covered the ground, so she made more, and stood up.

- Hero and Villain

She felt, even in that moment, how her body was preparing to shut down, how it was all going to judder to a stop in the next few moments.

The next few moments were, of course, and eternity for someone like Darquesse. If Kitana had really wanted to kill her, she would have destroyed the brain. Without the ability to think, there’d be no way that Darquesse would be able to ignore the trauma and heal herself over while Kitana’s hand was still inside her.

Kitana’s big blue eyes widened, and she tried tugging her hand free. Darquesse gave her a smile, allowing herself to be dragged forward a few steps. It looked like Kitana’s wrist had fused to Darquesse’s chest. All very amusing. Finally, Kitana freed herself, and Darquesse healed again even before the blood had fallen to the ground.

- Fearful Symemetry

She finished growing herself a new jaw, and teeth and flesh and a tongue and lips.

- Fearful Symmetry

Three seconds to brain death.

The body nudged against her and she tipped herself back, lining up her ruined neck. Tendrils of meat latched on to each other, finding their mate, pulling the head and body together. Vertebrae clicked and cartilage clacked and muscles reached and re-formed and strengthened. Veins and arteries, nerves and skin, becoming whole

Blood surged. Oxygen rushed. Brain death averted.

Darquesse propped herself up on to her elbows and looked at Mevolent, who was striding back towards her. ‘’Wow,’’ she said. ‘’That was something’’.

- Head over Heels

Warlocks and Wretchlings ran at her, then, and she danced through them, ignoring their swords and their magic, her wounds healing even as the blows landed. Her hands were her swords, her fingers her daggers.

- Uneven Odds

Her head smashed back into the wall and Skulduggery headbutted her again and again, crunching bone, caving in hers skull.

Not that a caved-in skull would stop Darquesse, of course. She ducked under Skulduggery’s arm and got behind him, wrapping her legs around his waist. She grabbed his head, went to twist it off, and Skulduggery flew backwards. Even before they hit the ground and separated, Darquesse’s face was already healed.

- The Eviction

She stood, pulled out the scythe and dropped it with one hand even as her fingers grew back on the other.

- The Devil Comes to Play

She moved back quickly, dragging Darquesse the length of the room, then let go and kicked her head so hard she heard the spine snap. But even as Darquesse rolled away, Valkyrie heard the clicks as the vertebrae repaired themselves.

- Chapter 76

Darquesse opened wide, forced the Remnant into her mouth. She swallowed, feeling it claws ripping her insides to shreds. She smiled, healing everything instantly.

- A Card Trick

Shadows were knives and whips and hammers and chains. They cut, tore, ripped and bludgeoned. Darquesse was given not one moment to recover, not one second to heal. Valkyrie watched in numb astonishment as her adversary, as the adversary, was sent to the ground again and again.

She watched as Darquesse got up, for maybe the tenth time, took a step and faltered.

Frowning, Darquesse looked down at her left foot. It was badly broken, twisted at an unnatural angle. She glared at it, and finally the foot moved, mending itself. But the frown on her face remained.

- Chapter 77

He was so fast she never even saw him raise the gun. The first bullet hit her throat, the second burrowed through her cheek, and the third blew the back of her head open. They didn’t worry her, of course. The entry wounds were already healing before the exit wounds had even formed. The fouth and fifth bullets caused her a little concern, however, smashing through her brain the way they did, and sixth tore through her breastbone and punctured her heart. That one was probably symbolic.

- Chapter 96

She raised her hand and Tarry exploded into nothingness.

Sanguine jerked back in astonishment. No lood, no meat, no bones. Nothing.

‘’There,’’ Darquesse said, a smile on her face once again. ‘’I feel so much better now.’’

‘’What did you do to him?’’ Sanguine asked. ‘’Where is he?’’

‘’He’s still here,’’ said Darquesse, her fingers playing lightly against the air. ‘’His atoms are spread out around the room. It’s funny, isn’t it? Group all those atoms together and Nestor has a body. Separate them, and you have to ask where he’s gone. I can put him back together, if you’d like.’’

‘’You could do that?’’

‘’Sure, I think’’

- My Friend. My Furniture.

Before he could answer, she splayed her hand and Tarry exploded into nothingness once more. This time when she closed her fist, however, a chair blurred into being.

‘’There,’’ Darquesse said.

‘’Did you… did you just turn him into a chair?’’

- My Friend. My Furniture

She waved her hand and he exploded into atoms.

Now was the tricky part. She still had control over those atoms and she spun some of them, manipulated them, changed them as much as she was able, as much as her limited knowledge allowed, and she took them and brought them together and a little yellow rubber duck appeared in mid-air and fell to the floor.

It bounced with a slight squek.

- Chapter 23

The other Redhoods closed in. She swept her arms wide and they exploded into nothingness. Then she fixed her glare on Mevolent.

- The Devil Comes to Play

The vampires renewed their attack, but Darquesse was ready for them. The silver light pulsed and three vampire exploded into nothingness.

- Chapter 74

Darquesse raised her hand, very slowly, to the space where Valkyie’s mum and dad had been standing. She narrowed her eyes, bit her lip…

… and then, with a soft whump, Valkyrie’s parents were standing there, blinking.

- Chapter 93

The sorcerers were attacking her now, trying to subdue her, trying to save themselves. She used the air to fling three of them upwards, then sent three spears of shadows after them.

Hands seized her from behind, trying to choke her. She poured her darkness through her skin into his, and the man shrieked and fell back, his hands melting away to stumps. A stream of energy sizzled to her and she caught it in her palm, countering its effects without even knowing how she was doing it, and threw it back. The stream hit its owner, and its owner split apart in a fine red mist.

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

Darquesse clicked her fingers and flame enveloped her. Her skin and hair and clothes all burned, fiercely and brightly, but the fire didn’t damage her. People scrambled to get away. She held out a hand and fire leaped at them. They rolled and writhed and screamed. She laughed.

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

The energy the enveloped him would have turned rock to dust, but all it did to Vile was send him staggering to the metal shutter covering the shop window.

- Hero and Villain

Before he could pull the trigger, she sent her magic into him, boiling his brain in his skull.

- A Little Bit of War

The world tilted and the floor spun onto her face. She started to laugh as Vile knelt on her back. This was fun.

She threw him back with a simple pulse of energy and she called to his armour and it flowed to her hand, collecting into a spinning ball o shadow and substance.

- Head over Heels

Stephanie watched as they piled on top of her, a mountain of men and women. For a moment she thought they might even succeed, but then she heard the screaming, and a moment later the mountain blew apart.

- Uneven Odds

It had no obvious weak points, but she had yet to encounter an opponent who could withstand her power, so she let her magic pour forth from her eyes in twin streams. The blast hit the Gnarl on the shoulder, should have melted right through it. Instead, the wound sizzled a little.

- The Gnarl

She poured her magic out through her eyes. A beam of energy, no thicker than a pencil, burrowed through Argeddion’s heart.

- The Card Trick

A Roarhaven mage staggered to his feet in the stillness that followed. He sent a torrent of flames straight into Darquesse’s face. The flames swirled around her, but they were darkening, and when she sent a handful back to him they were black, and they enveloped him and her burned where he stood.

…

Warlocks and mages and Wretchling alike tried to run, but the unnatural fire leaped from Darquesse’s hands and spread through them like they were dry trees in a forest. She rose up off the ground, her arms outstretched, orchestrating the flames with her fingers. The fire swirled, and surged, and roared, and Wretchlings burst apart before the fire even reached them, their rotten bodies unale to cope with the heat. Warlocks and Roarhaven mages died screaming, and still the black flames spread.

- Uneven Odds

’If I wanted to kill him, I’d just do it.’’

She clicked her fingers and the chair was incinerated in a burst of black flames.

‘’There,’’ said Darquesse. ‘’Happy now? Nestor is dead. Every last trace of him. His atoms, his energy – gone. He can’t be brought back now. That’s how you kill someone Billy-Ray. You wipe them from existence.

- My Friend. My Furniture.

And then, as if the pain had only been an act, her eyes narrowed and the terror washed away. Black flames consumed the Redhood and burned him from existence. She stood, pulled out the scythe and dropped it with one hand even as her fingers grew back on the other.

- The Devil Comes to Play

Tanith sprang at her from the shadows. Darquesse allowed the sword to almost reach her neck, but she teleported before it scratched her. Tanith’s cry of surprise was amusing. Darquesse punched through her from behind, her fist bursting from Tanith’s chest.

Tanith Low had time to look down at her own heart before she died.

- Chapter 98

Darquesse could have killed her from where she lay on the ground. She could have burst her like a balloon, or taken her head off with a stream of energy. She could have got up and grabbed her and ton her heart from her chest. She didn’t do any of that. What she did do was to reach out with her magic and smother Star’s, keeping it from boiling over.

- Weird Feelings.

‘’Her soul was sealed, Nye had seen to that. It was hers and hers alone.’’

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks.

She could see his consciousness. It formed a shell around his skeleton, a shell of multicoloured lights. It sparkled prettily. This was how he thought. This shell was how he felt. When he had pulled himself back together, all those hundreds of years ago, he recreated himself in a form that only she could see. She reached out and gently dug her fingers into the shell of light. Skulduggery gasped and went rigid. She turned her hand, twisting his consciousness, feeling and understanding how she could tear through it or pull it away, shred it pieces or turn it to vapour.

What she held, buzzing, between her fingers was life itself.

- The Jitter Girls

Valyrie took a breath, immediately felt cold. She could sense Melancholia reaching out with her mind, using her last reserves to expand the death bubble around them both. Then the bubble retracted, and Valkyrie started to go with it, started to leave her body. As she was pulled gently closer to Melancholia, she paused a while to examine what was happened. Her body’s heartbeat slowed. Her brainwaves began to flatten. The bio-electricity in her body dampened. She was leaving her shell behind, and her thoughts were becoming clouded. She was about to lose who she was. Her identity was in her personality, and her personality rested in her body. Fascinating. The whole process was so very fascinating.

She couldn’t allow it to happen of course. She pulled back, felt her synapses firing again, felt her heart quicken, felt her body around her. Melancholia’s eyes were closed. It was all too much for her, the poor thing. Still, she’d done her job. She’d endangered Valkyrie’s life, and awoken the beast within.

Darquesse stood up and looked at Lord Vile.

- The Main Event

Pulling off a plaster is best done quickly, so that’s what Darquesse did. She wrenched open Tanith’s mouth and jammed her hand in, breakig teeth. Tanith’s eyes bulged, her lips burst and he skin tore as Darquesse shoved her hand down the throat, ignoring the sounds of breaking bones and the gurgle-spit of screams. Deep inside, her fingers puncturing organs and rupturing meat, Darquesse called the Remnant to her. She poured her magic through her arm, into her hand, and this magic dragged the Remnant from Tanith’s being, corralling it, forcing it to take form. Piece latched on to piece and bit by bit the Remnant was put back together. Darquesse kept her eyes closed the whole time, seeing it in her mind, focusing on what she needed to happen. She was only dimly awae that Tanith had stopped struggling. She was only dimly aware of the massive damage she was doing, or the mere seconds Tanith had left to live.

And then the Remnant was whole again, and her fingers closed round it, and she pulled her hand out.

It writhed and squirmed in her grip, and she almost lost it for a moment, but then she opened wide and forced it into her own mouth. She swallowed, felt it tearing at her throat. Then it was inside her, and she took it apart once more. The memories of all its previous hosts washed over her. Tanith’s were the most vivid.

- A Brutal Act of Kindness

Darquesse gave it as long as she possibly could, and then she grabbed him, rammed her hand into his mouth and forced it down his throat.

Argeddion struggled. He wasn’t strong yet, but she could feel his power returning to him. It woulndn’t be long now.

It squirmed and squealed in her grip and Argeddion collapsed, his throat in ruins and his jaw smashed. Darquesse opened wide, forced the Remnant into her mouth. She swallowed, feeling it claws ripping her insides to shreds. She smiled, healing everything instantly. The Remnant struggled inside her, tried to escape, but she kept it where it was. After a few moments, its natural processes took over, and she felt it try to slink into her mind. Instead, she pulled it in, isolated it, extracted its memories. Once she was done, she burned it, fed on its power.

- The Card Trick

And when her mouth opened, the first Remnant slipped in.

The the second. Then the third.

And then a stream of Remnants flowed down from above, straight into her open mouth, and her hands were at her bulging throat and her eyes were wide, but there was nothing she could do to stop the flow. Hundreds of Remnants – no, thousands – flying into her faster and faster, overpowering her, taking control even as black veins started to rise beneath her skin.

…

Darquesse smiled, but the smile turned sour, and she frowned.

The veins faded again before rising. She was fighting it.

‘’Practically all of you?’’ she rasped. ‘’Should’ve brought more.’’

She stood up straight, eyes locked on Vex. ‘’I’m killing your brothers and sisters.’’

For the first time, Vex lost his confidence. ‘’Impossible’’

‘’I’m killing,’’ Darquesse said slowly, ‘’every last one of them. I’m burning them inside me. They want to… they want to get out…’’

‘’Stop,’’ said Vex. ‘’Stop!’’ Energy burst from his hand, but Darquesse caught it in her palm. Her skin sizzled, and healed.

‘’They’re making me stronger,’’ she said. ‘’Every one of them I kill makes me that little bit… stronger.’’ The last of the veins faded. He lips returned to their full, natural colour, and she smiled.

Vex launched himself at her and she batted his hands away and grabbed him by the throat. She forced her hand into his mouth, shoving it down his gullet.

…

She yanked the Remnant free and Vex sagged, and she threw him away.

…

The Remnant wriggled in Darquesse’s grip, but its struggles only made her widen her smile.

- Chapter 88

She reached out to him with her magic, started plucking at the energy holding him together. His fingers went first, and the gun and the glove fell, the finger bones rattling on the street. She kept pushing, skewering his magic, and she watched his arm fall, his sleeve flapping in the wind.

His other arm now. And then she went low, to stop him from getting any closer. She sliced at the magic around his feet and then his ankles fell apart and he dropped to his knees and his hips went and he toppled backwards and now he was just a skeleton in a suit that was quickly deflating around him.

He tried to sit up, tried to raise his head, but she finished him off and his bones clattered. The only magic remained in his skull, and she plucked it from his spine and held it up, made sure he could see her, and then she kissed him, with all the love she could muster. She kissed him goodbye, and when she let the skull fall the last of who he was disappeared into the ether, and the skull broke and the jawbone spun away.

- Chapter 96

‘’Me?’’ Darquesse said, and smiled. ‘’Oh, you’ve never met me before.’’

China nodded to the Cleaver and he stepped forward. Darquesse glanced at him and turned his lungs inside out. He fell, clutching his throat.

China raised an eyebrow. ‘’I see.’’

- A Little Bit of War

Darquesse sent her magic forth. Mevolent took a step back, confused at the sudden sensation as every bone in his body strained, cracked and snapped. He fell, and Remit stumbled away, eyes wide. He vanished and she let him go. She was here for the Sceptre, nothing else.

And the slowly, Mevolent got back his feet

- A Little Bit of War

A Warlock tried next. He raised his arm and she raised hers. His hand lit up and a beam of white energy hit Darquesse’s open palm. He stepped forward, curling his body, putting everything he had into it. Darquesse just stood there. When the beam failed and the Warlock sagged, Darquesse flicked her hand and his body came apart.

- Uneven Odds

Stephanie stepped to the magnifying window just in time to see Darquesse gently sweep her arm to one side, her fingers curling. She suddenly snapped her arm back and a line of Warlocks split apart, limbs twisting in the air.

- Uneven Odds

She suddenly lunged. Driving her hand through the chest of the Cleaver nearest to her. The last two closed in, but their scythe blades exploded into rust before they got close. Darquesse flicked her wrists and their necks snapped.

- Chapter 10

When the Sanctuary was clear of the living, when Synecdoche and Clarabelle were resting in peace and when Erskine Ravel had screamed his last, Darquesse reached her magic into the very foundations of the building and shook them. The walls cracked and the floors crumbled and the world was filled with a thousand roars, and the Sanctuary fell.

Roarhaven fell soon after. She left it in her wake, a flat and smoking ruin.

- Chapter 98

She flew high ad fast, and he gave chase. The sky was cloudless, the moon half-full, the stars out over the countryside that flashed beneath her. He was gaining and so she flew faster. She glanced back in time to see him give a burst of speed, and they collided, went spinning through the air, grappling.

- The Main Event

She was on him again, holding him above her as she launched upwards. She smashed him through the ceiling into the floor above, smashed through into the floor above that, and the floor above that.

- Hero and Villain

Darquesse wheeled, barely avoiding another arc of lightning that turned the wall to dust behind her. Mevolent fired again and she felt the lightning sizzle by her face as she jerked back. She launched herself upwards, breaking through the ceiling, Mevolent right behind her. Open shy lay ahead. She didn’t know how fast he flew, but she was sure she was faster. Only out here, all he had to do was aim. Down there, there were things to duck behind.

- A Little Bit of War

She flew at the roof, punching through and crashing through this floor and then the next, swerving now, crushing through a wall, sensing alarm as Kitana turned. Then she was bursting through, barreling past Doran and Sean, her fists colliding with Kitana’s pretty face. She hit Kitana with the speed of a bullet and the poor girl’s head came apart. Her momentum took Darquesse through into the next room, and she touched down, laughing. Back in a good mood.

- Head over Heels

She hit the ground with such force that Stephanie could see the shockwaves that threw back Warlocks and Wretchlings and mages alike. Darquesse stood slowly in the clearing, the battlefield suddenly quiet as both sides appraised this new player in the game.

- Uneven Odds

She heard laughter.

There was a knock behind her, knuckles on glass, so loud and so sudden that Stephanie barked out a cry of surprise as she whirled.

There was a knock on another window.

And another.

Knock after knock, Stephanie turned with each one, faster and faster, catching the briefest of glimpses of something blacker than night blurring by outside, and that laughter, that cruel, confident laughter. Stephanie raised the Sceptre, fired, again and again, trying to catch Darquesse as she passed, trying to anticipate, trying to match her speed, the black lightning disintegrating walls and windows and sections of floor and ceiling.

- The Eviction

The Gnarl reared up on its hind legs and almost snagged her foot with its teeth. She flew up, burrowing through the cavern ceiling. She changed direction, carving a large circle through the rock. She kept going, the circles getting gradually smaller and smaller as she picked up speed, and then there was a rumble and a roar and the ceiling fell in, knocking the Gnarl to the ground and smashing its skull and it was buried in rubble.

It was almost disappointing.

- The Gnarl

She looked up as Darquesse flew in great loops and steep dives, trying to outrun the two arrows that chased her. Skulduggery lifted Saracen, dropped him to the roof ad he nocked an arrow and let it fly. This arrow went at Darquesse from another angle and she barely avoided it. It swerved when it missed, joined the other two in pursuit. Darquesse flew straight up, into the clouds. The arrow followed.

- Chapter 74

She could see his consciousness. It formed a shell around his skeleton, a shell of multicoloured lights. It sparkled prettily. This was how he thought. This shell was how he felt. When he had pulled himself back together, all those hundreds of years ago, he recreated himself in a form that only she could see. She reached out and gently dug her fingers into the shell of light. Skulduggery gasped and went rigid. She turned her hand, twisting his consciousness, feeling and understanding how she could tear through it or pull it away, shred it pieces or turn it to vapour.

- The Jitter Girls

What she held, buzzing, between her fingers was life itself.

The girl was trivial, and didn’t deserve her attention. The power she wielded, however, was something that demanded more study. Such a delightful thing.

- Fearful Symmetry

He was using a trick that was affectionately known as the death bubble. She watched it expand to envelop the boy, and the life energy around his body dimmed immediately, losing its colour, fading into grey.

- Fearful Symmetry

He made a decision, the magic solidifying round his body, but when he went to attack, the magic betrayed his intentions and she dodged it easily.

- Fearful Symmetry

And Darquesse hovered above it all, searching for one person in all the madness, reaching out with her magic to locate the unlikely leader of the Resistance.

- A Little Bit of War

When she was close enough, he swung. At the last moment she saw something in the blade that shimmered, and moved her head back. The energy that whistled by her throat almost made her cry out. The sword came back at her, impossible light in Mevolent’s hand, and Darquesse stumbled to get away. She didn’t know what it was, but she instinctively knew it could kill her.

- A Little Bit of War

She studied Viles armour, saw how it moved. She looked closer, deeper, saw how Necromancy inhabited it. The armour was a living thing, though not a living thing with any degree of sentience. Magic livedin it, and magic was alive, ad so the very nature of the armour was transformed as a result. She saw it and understood it, and once she was ready, she focused her mind and called it.

- Head over Heels

Lightning travels at 3,700 miles per hour. By the time Stephanie registered the black crystal flash, the lightning would have already struck its target. She took a deep breath, and aimed.

And just as she was about to fire, Darquesse turned her head and looked right at her.

‘’Oh, hell,’’ Stephanie breathed.

- Uneven Odds

Every living thing had its own energy signature. She could see sorcerers through walls by focusing on their magic, but she couldn’t see the Gnarl thing.

- The Gnarl

There was a squeal of protesting metal, and then Darquesse stumbled from the smoking wrechage. Saracen let loose the arrow, but Darquesse whirled, snatched it from the air before it hit her. Saracen sent two more after it, keeping her busy while Skulduggery ran up behind her. She snatched both arrows and broke them, then ducked the swing that would have taken her head from her shoulders. Skulduggery spun, the blade going low for her legs, but again Darquesse moved just out of range, almost stepping straight towards Ravel’s spear. At the last moment, though, she seemed to sense he was there, and she slipped sideways and backed away from them both.

- Chapter 74

A stream of energy sizzled to her and she caught it in her palm, countering its effects without even knowing how she was doing it, and threw it back. The stream hit its owner, and its owner split apart in a fine red mist.

- Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

A floating sphere of white energy drifted to Darquesse as she stood there. She observed it, reached out to touch it. Stephanie was pretty sure she saw her smile, and then it exploded so brightly that she had to look away. When she looked back, Darquesse was still standing there.

- Uneven Odds

Two words. China wanted to say two words. She only wanted to say I’m sorry, as she reached out through the darkness, found Darquesse’s arm and closed her hand round it.

‘’Oh, dear,’’ she heard Darquesse say. ‘’Did you really think that work work?’’

China tightened her grip, but she had no more strength and her knees were about to buckle and she steped back and there was something cool pressing against her chest.

‘’It’s going to be OK,’’ she heard Darquesse whisper.

The darkness shifted to gloom and then brightened and she had eyes again, and she could see Darquesse standing there, her left hand sucking the heat from China’s body. It fill Darquesse now, making her glow, incinerating her clothes, burning through the gold bands in her hair, turning the arm bracelet to ash. The Necromancer ring burst open as it disintegrated, the shadows curling and twisting madly.

China stepped back, repelled by the heat, but in an instant it was gone, absorbed, and Darquesse stopped glowing.

- China’s Final Act

She studied Viles armour, saw how it moved. She looked closer, deeper, saw how Necromancy inhabited it. The armour was a living thing, though not a living thing with any degree of sentience. Magic livedin it, and magic was alive, ad so the very nature of the armour was transformed as a result. She saw it and understood it, and once she was ready, she focused her mind and called it.

Vile inclined his head, and stopped tapping his leg

She called again, more forcefully this time, and the armour reacted, straining against Vile’s ommand. Black droplets of shadow splashed to the ground and Vile struggled, the armour turning solid again, solid and sharp. Darquesse ducked a swipe at her throat. She moved in but he was fast, grabbed her and twisted and smashed her head through the wall. He pulled her on to his and flipped her. The world tilted and the floor spun onto her face. She started to laugh as Vile knelt on her back. This was fun.

She threw him back with a simple pulse of energy and she called to his armour and it flowed to her hand, collecting into a spinning ball o shadow and substance.

- Head over Heels

He turned his head to her. In that moment, she examined his power, poked and prodded at it, saw how it worked. Then she flicked her fingers and his heart burst inside his chest. He made a small round and keeled over, and Desmond and Melissa both jumped to their feet.

- Chapter 94

‘’I just want him,’’ she said loudly. ‘’I learned how to shunt and came all this way simply to make sure he didn’t run off. Hand him over. You can do what you want with the others.’’

- The Devil Comes to Play

She started to flicker, slowly at first and then faster. The gun in Mevolent’s hands was getting ready to fire again, but before he could aim she straightened up, looked over at Valkyrie and gave her a shrug, and then she shunted.

- The Devil Comes to Play

Two words. China wanted to say two words. She only wanted to say I’m sorry, as she reached out through the darkness, found Darquesse’s arm and closed her hand round it.

‘’Oh, dear,’’ she heard Darquesse say. ‘’Did you really think that work work?’’

China tightened her grip, but she had no more strength and her knees were about to buckle and she steped back and there was something cool pressing against her chest.

‘’It’s going to be OK,’’ she heard Darquesse whisper.

The darkness shifted to gloom and then brightened and she had eyes again, and she could see Darquesse standing there, her left hand sucking the heat from China’s body. It fill Darquesse now, making her glow, incinerating her clothes, burning through the gold bands in her hair, turning the arm bracelet to ash. The Necromancer ring burst open as it disintegrated, the shadows curling and twisting madly.

China stepped back, repelled by the heat, but in an instant it was gone, absorbed, and Darquesse stopped glowing.

- China’s Final Act

Tanith lay at her feet. She was ruined. There was blood everywhere. Darquesse could sense her life about to leave her. Poor Tanith. She hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Not really. She knelt, placed her hand on Tanith’s cheek. She wasn’t at full power yet - not even close – but even soshe knit those broken bones and repaired those failing organs and healed that flesh and that skin, and when she was done she stood up and almost blacked out.

- A Brutal Act of Kindness

Darquesse took another step backwards and Billy-Ray Sanguine reached up, grabbed her ankles, pulled her into the ground, down to her knee. The vampires broke off on cue and Skulduggery brought the sword down in an overhead swing –

- And Darquesse raised a hand and the sword hit an invisible barrier, centimeters from her skull.

Valkyrie’s eyes widened. Suddenly she could see the magic. Everyone in that square had an aura around them.

The vampires shone with a dull, pale blue. Saracen was surrounded by a deep purple, and Ravel by a strong shade of orange. Darquesse had a silver light that shone from deep within her, and it was this silver light that the sword was pressing against, trying to break through.

Skulduggery Pleasant burned with a brilliant red.

As Valkyrie watched, entranced by this new facet of her power, the silver light wrapped round the sword and she was about to cry out, to warn Skulduggery, when the blade shattered. Darquesse grabbed him, threw him into Saracen just as he was about to let loose another arrow. The vampires renewed their attack, but Darquesse was ready for them. The silver light pulsed and three vampire exploded into nothingness.

- Chapter 74

At first, she wanted to take the cities of the world one at a time. So she took London, and New York, and Moscow and Paris and Berlin and Beijing. She turned missiles to flowers and bullets to rain. She breathed in nerve gas and it cleared her sinuses. She survived the first three nuclear strikes aimed at her by enclosing herself in a little bubble. By the fourth one, she’d figured out how to survive it without the bubble.

- Chapter98

The Sense-Wardens surrounded her, flooded her mind with pain and misery, made her want to curl up into a little ball, just surrender, stop fighting, beg for the instant release of death. The struggle wasn’t worth it. The anguish wasn’t worth it. Give up. She should give up. Oh God, she wanted to give up. She was crying. Why wouldn’t she? Life was nothing and nothing meant anything and everything was meaningless and she should just lie down and die. Just die, for God’s sake, and let the Faceless Ones judge her in death. Just lie down here and stop fighting and accept the end.

But she didn’t worship the Faceless Ones.

She didn’t believe the straddled life and death. She didn’t believe they would judge her.

These weren’t her beliefs of the Sense-Wardens, the men and women surrounding her and forcing these thoughts into her head. Oh, they were clever, these Sense Wardens. They crept in there and force-fed her these feeling and made her despair. It almost worked, too. But they weren’t strong becoming a god, quickly becoming strong enough to kill the Faceless Ones should she ever meet them again. These Sense-Wardens didn’t have the first idea who they were dealing with.

But they were realising it now.

And some of them were already trying to pull out, but it was much too late. Now she was in their heads, and she was overpowering their puny little minds, crushing them with an ease that was frightening, terrifying. They tried to retreat but she caught them, one by one, and she was turning out the lights inside their minds. One, two, three and look as the bodies dropped four, five, six and they were all gone now, their minds ruined, their bodies shutting down, and Darquesse stood up and willed away the headache.

They hadn’t come at her one at a time like they’d done to Valkyrie the first day she shunted.

- A Little Bit of War

‘’Is this part of it?’’ Valkyrie asked. ‘’Do you use a person’s embarrassment and shame against them? That doesn’t really seem fair.’’

The woman shrugged. ‘’Exposing uncomfortable truths breaks down the biggest walls. You should save youself the trauma. Just let me in.’’

‘’It’s not up to me.’’ Then who is it up to?’’

‘’Me,’’ said Darquesse.

Valkyrie opened her eyes. The Sensitives opposite her sat ramrod straight, her eyelids fluttering, her mouth open. Her nose was bleeding.

It was dark outside. The barn was empty apart from Valkyrie, Tanith and Donegan and the three psychics who were trying to break into their minds.

‘’Release me,’’ Valkyrie said.

The Sensitives moaned, then shifted forward and fell to her knees. She took a key from her pocket, undid the ankle restraints first, then the wrist shackles. Magic flooded Valkyrie’s body and she stood up. The Sensitive whimpered. Valkyrie could see into her mind. It was such a fragile thing. Easily broken.

- In Her Head

It would have been so easy to reach a little further into her mind and wrench everything sideways.

- In Her Head

Darquesse smiled, and a small ball of light started to glow between her eyes. It moved slowly down, glowing through her skin, moving down her throat. It did a little twirl when itreached her clavicle and she giggled, and the it moved under her clothes and off to one bare shoulder, and down her arm, to her fingertip, where it stayed, pulsing gently.

Darquesse tapped Ravel’s forehead, and the little ball of light transferred to him. Her jerked away, panicking, as it pulsed and pulsed again, and faded.

Ravel frowned. Darquesse smiled.

Ravel’s shriek caught China by surprise as his body snapped back. He fell sideways to the floor, convulsing.

‘’Agony,’’ said Darquesse. ‘’Constant agony for twenty-three hours a day. No painkillers or sedatives will do anything to alleviate what you’re feeling. If and when your body compensates, if you find that you’re startin to get used to it, the pain will increase. One hour a day, it’ll stop. You can eat, drink – sleep, if you can. But mostly you’ll just dread the agony returning.’’

- China’s Final Act

‘’It was part of the dream,’’ Finbar said. ‘’And it was also Valkyrie trying to communicate.’’

‘’How sure how you?’’ Skulduggery asked.

‘’Relatively,’’ Finbar said.

- Finbar’s Dream

‘’Valkyrie,’’ Cassandra said again. ‘’If you can hear me, give me a sign.’’

Nothing. No ghost. No lightning strike. The candle didn’t blow out. Not one thing. Just as she’d thought.

‘’I can hear you,’’ Finbar said, without raising his head.

- A Voice from the Darkness.

The circle flashed with a blinding light as Darquesse got her power reflected back at her. The force spun her around and she staggered, her eyes unfocused, and fell to her knees. She dropped on to her hands, hr movements heavy.

…

Panicking, Deacon immediately clasped Darquesse’s head between his hands and the others formed a circle of their own, their hands linked, and Darquesse gasped and snapped her head up.

Her eyes were wide. Unfocused. She didn’t try to rise.

‘’We have her,’’ Finbar whispered.

…

The Soul Catcher shone so brightly Stephanie was lost forced to look away, but then a deep blue spread over its surface, locking the light inside, and the Sensitives stepped away, their link broken.

‘’We have her,’’ Cassandra said, taking the Soul Catcher from Fletcher and holding it like it was a bomb about to go off.

- The Eviction

All the tests had been run, and the Sensitives had been in, and the questions had been asked, and Darquesse had fooled them all.

- Chapter 23

Ravel.

He came through loud and clear, lit up in her mind like a star in the night sky. She turned, her eyes closed, until the star burned bright enough for her to follow.

South. Towards Roarhaven. He was in the Sanctuary.

It was a trap. It was so obviously a trap.

Darquesse opened her eyes and smiled.

Good.

- Chapter 71

‘’Our Sensitives are blacking out,’’ said Rue. ‘’The ones we’ve had searching for her. Finbar says their minds are being overloaded the closer she gets.

- Chapter 72.

Cassandra sagged and Skulduggery caught her. Finbar collapsed and Fletcher only noticed when he heard the thump beside him.

…

Geoffrey and Philomena held out their hands. They were pale. Weak. What they had just done had taken a lot out of them.

…

‘’You think she stands a chance against the Faceless Ones?’’ Valkyrie asked.

‘’I don’t know. Part of the reality the Sensitives constructed was to convince her that she’d accumulated more power than she had. It probably took everything she had to do it, but that part was no illusion. And if she could do that… she might stand a chance against a Faceless One. Maybe even two.

- Chapter 105 – Chapter 106

Darquesse clasped her hands before her. Vile and Melancholia didn't notice. Darquesse's arms started to tremble. Silver light spilled from between her fingers.

Very, very bright light.

Valkyrie ran forward. ''Stop her!'' she screamed. ''Don't let her-''

But it was too late.

Darquesse opened her hands.

...

The silver light exploded and consumed the world.

...

What was that? That was more than an explosion. It had been like a small nuclear bomb going off.

Groaning, Valkyrie sat up.

...

Roarhaven was in ruins.

The eastern quarter had been obliterated. It was a flat, smoking landscape of rubble and wreckage. Fires raged in the southern districts. Some of the northern section still stood, from what she could see. Cars alarms travelled to her on the wind. They sounded like people dying.

- Chapters 77,78,83,84