Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 65 - COLLAPSE

Huang reported, "and she's close."

"We need to buy Leviathan more time," I informed him.

I gave the fastest summary I could as I swam up toward the surface through the toxic black mist. The mist curled unpleasantly around my scales as I swam and I could sense the shapes of creatures forming in its depths.

"All right," Huang said. "Back in the walled district, we at least slowed her down. We're going to need to attack her with everything we've got."

"It won't work," I retorted. "She was only toying with us back then. Now she's done playing."

A huge, cacophonous CRACK echoed through the water. My spatial sense warned me of something enormous drifting down towards me, though I couldn't see it through the darkened water. I put myself in a wide arc that took me around the falling object. As I rose past it, I saw the shapes of crystalline buildings. A whole chunk of glass road was sinking into the depths.

"We can at least distract her," Katie suggested. "Huang and I have been making decent progress against the demons."

"She seems to be headed for the tower," Huang added. "I'm guessing that's what she's going to stab to take control."

"How close is she?" I demanded. A harpoon shot at me from the mist and I spun to avoid it.

"We've got maybe five minutes," Huang said.

"That isn't long enough."

A demon drifted out of the mist above me, a collection of white eyes staring me down within a mess of mandibles, spikes and fins. I tried to dart past it, but it was fast, and slammed into me, halting my ascent.

"Hey, bitch!" Katie yelled, presumably at the Angel, "Have some fire!"

I twisted out of the demon's grip as we spun through the water, then dug my teeth into the base of one of its fins. It thrashed to get free, but I held fast, then dug my back legs into its stomach and pushed as hard as I could. I sent it spinning and, before it could right itself, resumed my swim for the surface.

I was now close enough to see the light coming down from above. More shards of glass were sinking around me. Some were small enough to ignore as they glanced off of my scales, but others were miles across, displacing huge sections of water and creating wild currents.

With a final push against the water, I burst to the surface, my leap taking me towards the roof of a nearby building. I landed on it, but I could feel that it wasn't anchored to anything, and my weight caused it to sink even faster. I leapt from it to another building, only for it to do the same.

I had surfaced a short distance from the tower, which still stood firmly in place. The rest of the Glass District was in pieces, like a dropped vase separating into shards, all in a slow descent into the water.

I could see the Angel clearly, floating some fifty feet above the ground, black mist pooling out around her in a cloud. Winged demons darted all around her, in and out of the mist. She held a new blade, identical to the previous one, which she held at her side, pointed down towards the earth.

Katie spiraled above her, cleaving the crowd of demons, and unleashed a fierce gout of fire towards the Angel. The Angel didn't even slow, just continued her slow drift toward the tower, flames blossoming around her.

Huang darted in a second later, dropping demons left and right. His erratic flight took him flashing around the Angel, occasionally brushing dangerously close—testing her defenses. She paid him no more mind than a buzzing fly.