Warmth Beneath the Dusky Skies

05, Wistful Drifter

"S-She just had to play hero and ruin everything!" The fuming witch charged up another attack. "This time I won't miss!"

And as if it was an invitation, everyone but the young man launched their respective attacks at the witch, forcing her to hightail out of the building. They immediately gave chase, but the witch covered her escape with a barrier of ribbons, stopping them short from the exit.

Vivianne conjured a blade of lightning from her jeweled scepter and made short work of the barrier with a single swing, only to find more ribbons scattered outside. "That girl's getting on my nerves!" she said, looking over her shoulder. "I'm gonna give her a good spanking! You two should keep an eye on them!"

Marice scoffed, climbing aboard Katherine's shield. "Don't tell us what to do."

"And what? She may be just a kid, but I'm the only one here who can match up to her ridiculous power." She glanced at Katherine. "Err, um... no offense, Kath."

Katherine had a stern expression on her face as a bright red light seeped through the gaps of the barriers. "What is she doing?" she asked, looking up.

"Ugh, I have a bad feeling about this...!"

As Vivianne and Katherine started slicing through the barrier of ribbons, Marice turned her attention back to the young man kneeling next to Richelle's body. Momentary shock aside, the recent turn of events didn't elicit any strong reaction from him. In fact, he looked like he was annoyed more than anything else that Richelle got herself killed.

But much like Richelle, what caught Marice's interest was his vast reserves of demonic ether. She could also sense a dormant yet powerful presence within him, which she initially thought as the source of his power. But unlike typical cases of demonic possession, he seemed to be in full control of his body, and the link between his soul and this presence should allow him to make use of the latter's power in addition to his own.

However, confronting him would have to wait as Katherine had taken down the last barrier, revealing the witch's glowing form in the sky.

"Took you long enough!" the witch shouted, her voice booming from afar. "Now, disappear!"

And with a dramatic swing of her cane, she launched a telekinetic blast in their direction. Windows of nearby buildings instantly shattered as Vivianne and Katherine took refuge behind the former's barrier, but the actual spell had only begun to materialize in the shape of a massive energy ball, closing in towards the surface.

"A... A disaster-level spell?" Vivianne uttered as a stronger telekinetic blast knocked them a couple of floors down. "She's a bigger idiot than I thought! If that thing hits the ground, this entire city's history!"

"Th-Then I'll go after her!" Katherine said, her mask forming over her mouth. "She's gonna escape at this rate!"

"How about you get Marice and the others out of here instead?!"

"What are you saying?! You can definitely stop that thing, right?"

Beads of sweat ran down Vivianne's face as panicked cries and blaring car alarms could be heard below them. "J-Just because I can cast catastrophe-level spells doesn't mean I can stop them on my own!"

"Th-Then what about that huge beam attack you used in our graduation ceremony? You can probably push the sphere to a higher altitude with it, then detonate it safely from there!"

She gasped, tightening her grip on her scepter. "I-I'll try, but you and Marice should still get out of the blast zone! At least that's one thing off my conscience if I screw this up!"

"Oh, stop acting so coy! It's annoying!" Marice said, wincing from another kinetic blast. "We're not going anywhere, so do your thing already!"

She faced Marice, biting her lip. "But you have to—!"