Soaring through the sky, she duck and dove every incoming spirit that had the hunger to kill her; not a single spirit got close to her as her azure flame armour burned anyone that got close to her. She flew along the edges of the barrier, trying to get every single one of her enemies away from it, then mend the broken barrier even by a little in hopes of prolonging the time Athena needed.
Chanting on her right hand, two swords manifested into front of her; she wielded them on each hand as she flew around the edges of the barrier that was far away from the pillar of light – the source of all their foes. From a distance, Cecilia could see Athena even though physically she could not; the sea of ectoplasm growing from the path she threaded on was flowing outward, towards the barrier which told her that it was her. Athena was the only one she knew who could do that at a time like this; after all, she was the one who cleaned up her mess at Edinburgh three years ago.
"Athena what are you waiting for?" Cecilia clicked her tongue as she sliced through everyone on her path as much as burned them all as she approached; unlike the lake of ectoplasm forming, her fire burned them to crisp that nothing else was left of them – not even ashes to know if they were even there.
Zooming through the horde of winged skeletal figures, she dispatched them in single slices as she made her way back to the pit that looked like it was in trouble. Without a second thought, she floated up to the sky and with one hand, she uttered a few words that lit up a chant in her hand; three miniscule balls of azure fire formed in front of her. She looked at the pit and saw how much they were in dire need of assistance and aimed carefully before she used her sword to bat the balls into its direction.
The miniscule balls she shot grew as their speed increased, before they merged into one humongous ball that collided with Ford's location; everything was decimated from the blast that left her friend and his men some room to breathe. Chanting, she vanished from her current position and emerged in front of Ford, who was surprised to see her for a moment, but turned to his men and saw how worn out they were from the battle.
"Are you alright?" Cecilia queried as she noticed the way Ford's armed quivered from the way he held his rifle too tight. She can tell from the look on his eye that everything was not going their way, but asked otherwise; there were men scattered around her – bodies of men and women who have died to protect the students of the Institution that were hiding behind their protection.
"We're trying to manage," Ford responded with a small smile that Cecilia knew was a lie; she knew that he was covering his feelings very well for his men to not lose hope, "We're completely outnumbered here," he confessed as Cecilia looked around and noted how tired the rest were, "We may not be able to keep this up even longer."
I know... even I do not know if I can... I am exhausted too...
"Athena and I are trying our best to make sure they don't break the barrier," Cecilia informed him as she turned to the skies and saw how the thin veil was covered in cracks, but not a single hole had opened; she does not know for how long she can defend the barrier, for even she was tired, but kept on fighting. If only she had the power she once had, then this would have been a child's play, but she was no longer who she once was, "We need to close the gate soon, else there would be no tomorrow."
"That won't happen," Ford stepped in as he placed a hand on her shoulder, then smiled even further as they met eye to eye; it gave Cecilia a little bit of hope as Ford gave her a reassuring smile. "You're the infamous Crimson Dragon, aren't you?"
I guess I still am, aren't I? she thought as she smirked and found herself energised at the memories of her infamy – at the times were she was revered as the greatest amongst all mages. That person never really left, it was still her after all; she just do not know if her age could still follow how her mind flows, at how fast she could chant spells when she was at least five years younger than her current age.
"So just burn them all so we can all go back to sleep," Ford smirked as she felt a calm wave envelop her chest that banished almost all her worries.
Chuckling, she nodded and chanted herself to float, then turned to Ford and said, "Stay alive and I'll buy you a drink."
"Don't worry," Ford chuckled as well as he watched a wave of spirits coming towards them at light speed, "You're going to buy all night."
Cheeky, Cecilia thought as she chanted three more azure balls of fire before she vanished to the barrier. As she arrived, she found herself surrounded by a hundred of her enemies, who attacked her as soon as she arrived; before their scythes could even pierce her body, Cecilia chanted a spell in the blink of an eye and conjured her azure armour once again, which seared all those that dared come close to her.
"Geez, don't you guys ever give up?" Cecilia exhaled her frustration as she shook her head whilst she held her hand up to cast a chant as everyone continued to pierce her flaming barrier, but all their attempts were futile. Conjuring her swords once again, she wielded them on each hand and prepared to attack them, but before she could even, she saw a dragon suddenly emerge from the distance and caught her attention; her jaw nearly dropped in confusion, but kept it in place as she tried to discern what just happened.
"What on earth?" she questioned as she saw the dragon fly east of her direction which was towards the pit, "Who is that?"
As her eyes were distracted by the appearance of a dragon, her enemies surrounded her once again and blocked her view of the surroundings as they formed a sphere around her that was far from her fire as though to contain her; her vision of the world slowly darkened as the bodies of her foes covered almost all of her with just a length or two away from her fire. A sigh escaped her lips at their futile attempt to prevent her from preventing them from breaking the shield.
This is just too easy, she thought as she expanded the radius of her fire armour and burnt the sphere of renegade spirits that crowded her. Her eyes immediately searched for the dragon that appeared just now, then saw it heading towards the pillar; she was about to fall suit of it, but all of a sudden, a loud crack erupted from the distance that made her spin almost immediately at where it came from.
Shit! She cursed zoomed along the rim of the barrier and immolating those that dared to block her path; she sliced everything that did not burn into a crisp as she tried to get to the where the damage was most in the barrier. Arriving at the crack, there was a swarm of spirits there that seemed to have formed a titan that stood at least ten foot high that already protruded from the trees around it; looking down at it, Cecilia was amazed for a moment to know that they can do such a thing – to form into a much bigger being.
"You guys really don't know when to give up, do you?" Cecilia furrowed her brows as she set ablaze her swords and dove down to assault the gigantic beast that almost looked like a stone golem made out of spirits that bobbed out of its body; it was like a big pile of goo pieced together that was slowly melting, but surprisingly kept its shape. Under normal circumstances, Cecilia would have been disgusted by this thing, but now was not really the time to run away because of a pudding.
Diving towards it, the blob of spirits threw a punch at her, but she merely evaded it and sliced the arm off; as the arm fell, the souls caught in her sword's flares burst into flames and immolated themselves. The souls around the area merged with the gigantic blob of an opponent whenever Cecilia tried to cut a portion of it off; she took off a huge lump out of its head, but they kept on regenerating the beast as though it was their only solution.
As they fought, the blob cut itself into two gigantic blobs, one of them pounded on the thin barrier as Cecilia tried to eviscerate the other one; just like before, the spirits kept on regenerating the blob that only vexed Cecilia further. Turning up the heat, she expanded the length of her swords and roared her irritancy as ravaged the blob to nothing with her swords; the whole blob burst into azure flames and dissipated into nothing in a matter of seconds.
One down, Cecilia thought as she went for the other one who noticed her and started to split, but Cecilia would not have it; clicking her tongue, she chanted a spell in a nanosecond and set ablaze the whole blob and prevented it from splitting, but the stubborn blob of spirits screeched for helped. Black spirits from every direction flew into it to put out her flames and succeed, only to create a hulking twenty foot tall blob that nearly reached half the height of the barrier.
Cecilia was but a small kitten to its humongous size, but it did not stop her from doing what she had to do; smirking, she expanded her own armour and thickened it even further as she chanted three balls in front of her, then batted it towards the blob without a second thought. Her fire collided with the blob, who had caught it at the chest level as though preventing it from splitting it in half; its hands burnt in the process but the souls around him were trying their best for it not to fall.
"Think you can withstand my flames?" Cecilia smirked as she chanted a dozen azure fireballs around her that were half the size of the blob, "Then why don't you try!"
At her command, the fireballs hurled themselves towards the blob and seared its body in a matter of seconds; the other black spirits that were trying so hard to regenerate the blob were burnt in a chain, immolating the line from where they came from. Cecilia watched with an amused look in her eyes, at the beauty of the power she had; it has been a long time since she had used these chants and to feel the power she had running in her veins almost got her hot with glee.
The blob slowly dissipated into nothing as all the fireballs collided and casted a bright blinding light, before it imploded; the explosion sent Cecilia flying as much as it seared all those around it in a wide radius that even the trees were not given a cent of mercy. I did not anticipate that! Cecilia thought as she found herself flying backwards and eventually landed on a field of flowers and finally stopping just before a bush of blue roses. Sighing, she sat up and quickly chanted a spell for the barrier to repair itself by at least another twenty percent.
Whilst she sat there, she heard a loud rumble come from the pillar that made her get on her feet; she watched as it slowly dissipated under the colour of grey, then saw the other spirits slowly disappear along with it before it eventually imploded on its own. Silence erupted all of a sudden as the sky that bore a lot of blackened spirits was once again clear; there was a cry of victory coming from the pit as Cecilia smiled at their victory.
"You did it, Athena," Cecilia exhaled softly as leant on one of her legs and placed a hand on her waist, "I knew you could."
Sighing in relief, Cecilia began to walk towards her, but as she took a step forward, she heard a groan from behind her; it made her halt her step as she turned around and saw a man in a white, dirty tank top sit up. She did not speak and watched what would happened, keeping quiet in case it was an enemy; the man held his head for a moment before he looked around and got up almost in a panic.
"Chica, we made it!" the man exclaimed as he looked around for his companions, "Katherine, you did it!"
Katherine? Wilson?
Cecilia watched as the man got up and went over to Katherine's body who was lying next to another body that Cecilia immediately recognised as Alexis, but noticed something odd about her; she watched as the man shook Katherine awake, but not Alexis. Cecilia quietly approached them from behind and saw the young wolf slowly open her eyes; she could tell that they had a long journey – a difficult and dangerous one – from the way their clothes were nearly tattered.
"Are we back?" Katherine spoke as she held her head and steadied her vision; as her eyes focused, she noticed Cecilia behind Art and looked at her, which told her that they were indeed back. Slowly, she sat up and looked at Art, before she turned to Cecilia and said, "Is the gate closed?"
Cecilia nodded, "It seems so."
Art shrieked all of a sudden and jumped in his place holding his chest whilst turning to Cecilia, who seemed rather amused at his reaction, "Dios mio! You gave me a heart attack, lady!"
"Art calm down," Katherine rolled her eyes as she stood up, "It's just Cecilia."
Cecilia nodded at him before she directed her eyes at Katherine, "What happened to you guys?"
Art rolled his eyes as he got up and shook his head, "Long story, my friend."
"We can tell the whole story later," Katherine replied as Cecilia nodded and watched her carry Alexis bridal style, then asked her, "Right now, we need to get Alexis some help."
"I was about to ask that," Cecilia spoke as she examined the paleness of her skin, "What happened to her?"
Katherine lowered her gaze, unsure what to tell her; even she knew not what exactly happened to Alexis, nor does she know what happened to Jesslyn. Everything in her head was blur and most of it she could not remember; all of it felt like a film in her head that she could only watch and not do anything about. Her eyes turned to Art for an answer, who frowned at her for giving her those eyes, before he turned to Cecilia, who was waiting for an answer from the two of them; from the way they acted, she caught the gist of what truly happened.
"Señorita," Art spoke softly as Katherine walked past them and slowly made her way back to the Institution, "I'm afraid that Alexis is no longer with us."
"I see," Cecilia hummed lowly as she looked at Katherine's back, "I guess she's the second casualty of this prophecy."
"The second?" Art queried with a raised brow as Katherine kept her ears open to their conversation, unsure what Cecilia meant.
"Jesslyn is dead too."
Disbelief washed over Art as his eyes lost its colour, the devastation of the news tore through him as he tried to keep standing; he did not anticipate for this to happen. Katherine halted at the middle of her step at this piece of news that made her chest swell with apprehension, unsure what to think or feel. Jesslyn was a good friend to her; she was her teacher, her best friend, but above all, she was the one person who was always there to help her, and the only person who never gave up on her during her darkest moments.
"How?" Art mumbled softly as he tried to contain tears, "How did she die?"
Cecilia shook her head as she gave him a small sad smile before she looked at Katherine, then said, "We don't know, but we found her just as pale as Alexis is right now."
Before Katherine could even react, the suddenly shook and nearly left the trio out of balance; a blinding white light erupted at the distance that had Cecilia's eyes grow wide. Katherine heard the loud explosion and knew that it was the gate; she knew that it could not have been possible to be closed, not without her there. After meeting the mysterious figure in the void of light, she knew that the close could not be closed by normal means; a special ritual was needed to close it this time.
"Shit," Cecilia cursed as she opened her palm and chanted a remedy, "We don't have much time," she informed them as her light healed all of the trio's wounds, "Drop Alexis at the Pit, then we rendezvous with-"
Before Cecilia could even finish her sentence a swarm of black spirits hurled their scythes at them; in a matter of seconds, Katherine raced towards the duo behind her tackled them down to evade the scythes before she got up without letting of Alexis. She roared at them with eyes burning gold as anger rode the edges of her face; she was mad at them, furious to know that Jesslyn had died because of them.
"Come on, I dare you!" Katherine seethed as she roared at them whilst Cecilia chanted a wave of fire to disperse them for a moment; her fire immolated them in mere seconds and bought them time to run towards the pit's direction. As they ran, Katherine smelt blood coming from her and noticed the long gash across Cecilia's chest that made her stop. "Cecilia! Get on my back!"
Art noticed the situation and took Cecilia's arm over his shoulders before they continued their run; Cecilia was rapidly losing her consciousness as she slowly raised her palm to chant a barrier for them at the very least. Unlike other NoMs, mages do not have regenerative abilities since they chant themselves into health; if Cecilia passes out, she may not be able to cure herself.
"The... pit..." Cecilia coughed out blood as she managed to chant a shield around them that followed them as they walked, "Other... students.... Ford..."
With the last of her breath, Cecilia fainted from the amount of blood she lost; her body felt on the ground as Katherine halted in step and put aside Alexis before she went to the mage's side. She slapped her cheeks lightly to try to get her stay conscious, but her attempts were for naught.
"Cecil, stay with me!" Katherine pleaded as she continued to tap her cheek, but when her third slap did not wake her, she carried her without question then stood up, "Art carry Alexis! We need to get to the pit!"
Art nodded instantly and obeyed Katherine, picking up Alexis as they resumed their run; as they made their way to the pit, the renegade spirits did not let up on their assault on the shield Cecilia chanted. Katherine could see it slowly disappear with each strong blow they dealt against it, which made her roar at the slow pace they were going; Art could not keep up with her and if she got further ahead of him, the barrier cannot shield him. Her pace was determined by Art's capability.
"Run faster, Art!"
"I'm trying! I'm trying!"
"Try even harder!" Katherine roared as she diverted from the stone path and took to the trees, hoping to cut their distance from the pit by at least an eight of the way. Running and running, Art's calves were burning as he tried to keep up with Katherine; he duck and dove, jumped and evaded every branch and log that got in their way. His body was not built for this kind of run that had left him nearly exhausted; as they cut through the river, his foot tripped on a branch he failed to see under the dimness of the path, and left him stumbling. It caught Katherine's attention and made her stop, then turned to him; Alexis was thrown a little bit away from him, which made her click her tongue.
There were choices to make in front of her: whether she leaves Art to die and save Cecilia, or save Art and allow Cecilia to bleed out. Does she sacrifice Cecilia for Art, who was just a mere human? Or does she sacrifice Art and save Cecilia, hoping that they could still save him later? Either choice she made, one would have to die.
"Chica, leave me!" Art shouted as the souls surrounded him before they feasted on his soul; fear crossed his face as beads of perspiration fell from his forehead like a faucet never shut. He tried to crawl towards Alexis, but the renegades seemed to have ignored her as though she did not have a soul to even feast on. "Save Cecilia!"
Shit, shit, shit!
"Go!"
Damn this!
Without a second thought, Katherine rushed towards Art and tried to get to him, but the renegades around her blocked her clear path, which prevented her from getting to him quick enough. Roaring, she rammed the enemies around her, but her attempt backfired and caused the shield that protected them to break; falling on her back, she saw the circle of spirits cornering her and not attacking. They were not there to physically kill her, aware that they were there to eat her soul; she held on to Cecilia tight as she prayed to whatever god there was to save them.
This is really game over.
Accepting defeat, Katherine held Cecilia tighter as she closed her eyes and waited for them to swallow her soul; it would be a slow torture, but she did not care. It was price she was willing to pay, especially now that she knew that Jesslyn perished because of them and Alexis too. As the hope within her slowly dissipated, she recalled the special ritual that was needed to close the gate; it was only her who knew how to do it.
"Like hell am I going to give up!" Katherine roared as she opened her eyes and got her feet under her, ready to fight for her soul. However, as she got up to fight, there was not a single soul in sight; it was if they were decimated by a single blow and was left without a trace. Turning to Art, she found him wide-eyed with his jaw on the ground as though it total disbelief, "What's the matter?"
"You really are a moron, wolf," a familiar voice spoke as she smelt a familiar scent nearby; she slowly turned her head to where it came from and almost dropped her jaw just like Art, but instead her lips curve into a smile, relief on her face at the sight of her, "Did you honestly think I'd die without completing my mission?"
Katherine exhaled out of her nostrils and said, "I never doubted you, Alexis."
"Good," Alexis sheathed her sword as she slowly made her way to her; there was a slight stagger in her step as she cleaned herself with each step she took, "But it appears my mission has changed."
Katherine raised a brow as Art stood beside her, "Changed? How? I thought only someone from the clan can do that?"
"Yeah, you've been out of touch with them awhile, don't you?" Art added.
"I was commanded by the best," Alexis chuckled as she looked over her shoulder which made the duo look at where she was looking, but there was nothing there.
"Who commanded you?" Art queried with confusion as Alexis began walking towards the pit just as a spirit attempted to get closer, but she drew her yoyo and smit them before they got closer.
"The same person who told me how to get to you," she replied as Katherine pulled Art on her back once again before they all began their sprint back to the pit. Alexis's answers confused Katherine, but did not pry any further and just focused on making sure not to drop both Cecilia and Art.
"And that person is?" Art pried further, curiosity got the best of him. The young assassin did not respond as she kept herself busy with the incoming horde that dared challenge her; despite her body being a little tired and fatigued, she went on to face them without a hint of fear in her eyes. There was a different fire burning in her irises that duo did not understand; it was neither anger nor fear, nor was it determinations or courage, but was something greater that even hate could fuel.
Alexis dispatched every single renegade that got closer to them and even drew her other yoyo, which left her wielding two – one for each hand; her reach was not far, but thanks to the trees she can hit the those incoming from a mile away. The thread of her yoyo was special and expanded whenever she needed it to; it was her signature weapon. Childish as it may seem, but it was a deadly weapon that catered her certain skillset.
Closer and closer, they got to the pit with ease; Alexis was truly a master of her craft and did not let a single renegade get close to them as though taking revenge on them for taking her soul out of her body. With great ardour, she dispatched them without giving them a fight; even those that thought that just because they could fly meant that they were faster than her, were no match for Alexis's yoyos.
Art was astounded by her as they arrived at a battlefield where several bodies had lain across the dirt path. Shots were being fired at them, but Katherine saw Ford cover their backs as they safely got behind their sandbags; Art immediately got off of Katherine, who took Cecilia to Ford, who was left with a wide-eye.
"What happened?" Ford questioned with confusion and a little bit of shock in his tone; his eye travelled to Cecilia and noted the deep wound that cut her from the chest down to the hip at a slanted direction.
"We were ambushed when the gate tore open," Katherine replied as Ford directed them towards the entrance as Alexis remained on the front line, taking a good look at their current situation before her eyes cast itself at the emerging pillar at the distance, where she was certain she heard a roar come from.
"Take her inside, the physician is there," Ford instructed as Katherine obeyed, then left them to defend the front line. Ford allowed her to enter the barrier they created around the pit before he resumed his defensive line; he noticed another civilian with them and took a gun before he threw it him, who clumsily caught it. "If you can't fight, then just drop the gun and go inside!"
Art dropped the gun without hesitation, "With pleasure!" he proceeded inside the cave as Ford merely clicked his tongue and allowed him to pass through the barrier, "Good luck guys, have fun!"
Ford merely tilted his head at the civilian before he returned fire just as Alexis walked on over to his side and caught her breath for a moment; he noticed the paleness of her skin, which worried him. It was not a good sign and he was well aware that she still had some fight left in her, but even so, she was still a child to fight a man's war. Placing a hand on her, he looked at her with a firm gaze as Alexis looked back at him indifferently.
"Go inside and take cover," Ford suggested, "We can handle it from here."
Alexis shook her head, "I can't. You're not my superior."
"Kid, it doesn't matter!" Ford countered as he shot back for a moment, "You need to get inside and keep yourself safe!"
Alexis shook her head once again, "I told you, you're not my boss."
Alexis barked at both him, lashing out her anger, "I already told you that you don't rank any higher!" she burst out of the sandbags to attack the incoming force and caught them all at the throat with a single thread, which caught everyone's stare, "My orders are absolute and none of you can change it."
There was silence for a moment that even gunfire was suppressed; all eyes were on Alexis as she pulled her hands that crossed her chest, strangling the renegades into nothing – not even a pile of bones, nor a puddle of ectoplasm to show that they died. Alexis retracted her yoyos as she looked over her shoulder, at Ford, as though to ask him if he got the message; she was not one to disobey the person who commanded her because that was not how she was taught.
Another wave of incoming enemies emerged out of the sky that caused Ford's men to aim for the stars, but before they could even pull the trigger, Alexis had leapt up and slipped her yoyo and caught them once again by the throat; it was as if she was a spider that had placed her web and started picking off her food one by one. None of them would be left alive once she had eaten them to nothing.
Amazed, Ford finally understood her before he asked, "And who is it that gave you new orders?"
Pulling on her strings, the row of enemies that came at them disappeared – dead under her black thread that pierced even their scythes to half; she stood in the front line with her head held high before she slipped her yoyos alternatively as though mocking the incoming wave to give it their all. As the incoming wave approached, Alexis slipped her yoyo through the trees and caught two renegades that thought they could kill some of her people.
"None other than the best – Jesslyn Faraday."
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A/N: Alexis is back! With some help from none other than everyone's guardian angel. Will they finally close the gate? Will Cecilia live?
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