Chapter 471 (2/2)
“I’ve got injured with me,” I hurried to say “These two both need healers iuard us, we could—”
Suddenly Claire was spinning and bringing her blade up to deflect a blow I hadn’t even seen co The shockwave threw h to knock the air froe of a crater that had been smashed into the street outside the Earthborn Institute
Claire was face down at the center of the crater A woman with pure white hair and jet black horns stood over her The woarded the coical h the transparent patches of ling inside
The sa curved swords She raised the blade over Claire’s helpless forht it doith a flash of dark fire
Clang!
Wind blew through my hair from the force of the strike and nausea threatened to overwhel a foot and a half above the back of Claire’s neck A cri the blow Lance Bairon held the spear’s haft with both hands, and bright blue lightning ran across the surface of the ararded him with red-riue “For my sister’s death, I’ve come to claim several deaths in return, as I am owed I will start with yours, Thunderlord”
Bairon grunted as he pushed her sword up and away, forcing her back a step “Evil begets evil, Scythe You can’t hope to live a life of dealing death without that sa you”
She shi+fted her stance to soan to circle around him to have a clear path toward us “Evil?” She scoffed, jaded “The High Sovereign wants Arthur Leywin’s core, but I don’t give a shi+t about any of that Leywin killed Viessa, and so I am honor-bound to kill his sister After that, all these asura can choke on their own blood for all I care”
Bairon’s back foot shi+fted, and stone cracked beneath hi the crimson spear forward in multiple quick thrusts The scythe I assu sword even as her second blade beca lines of black wind This second sword snapped out, and the black wind carved the air all around us
I curled into a ball where I lay, instinctively pushi+ng outith mana to form a silvery bubble The bombardment of cuts and slashes tore my mana to ribbons in an instant A heavy, furry presence crushed down onme into the street Metal screaround hard enough to make it tremble beneath me
I couldn’t open my eyes, but I felt each release of runts, desperate htened screams issued from all around me, but I couldn’t move even an inch as spellfire tore the street to shreds
This isn’t the Relictoht with sudden desperation If I die here, I won’t just step out of a portal to try again…
The desperate thought see it iht Scythes or retainers or Wraiths like Arthur could I wasn’t even as strong as Claire or Caera And I’d never get that strong if I died huddled on the ground, fear pu of h our shared connection
My eyes snapped open Through Boo’s shaggy fur, I could justa shi+eld around Valen and Enola, both of ere lying un away froates of the Earthborn Institute had collapsed under the weight of Melzri’s spellfire
“Letto free ht and dense fur eased off, and I scrambled forward toward Seth and the others “Grab the boy,” I ordered my companion as I absorbed another of my stored rabbed Valen, lifting hi her kittens as I threw Enola over my shoulder and held out my hand to Seth He stared at it for what felt like forever, then grabbed it and let hi Mayla and dragging one arirl’s weight
I flinched as a shadow fell over lanced backward, I found Claire, blood-stained but on her feet again, her wings spread wide as she tried to shi+eld us all froainst aze tracked across thebarrier fro off eakening by the second as blades of wind bit into her Uncertain it would work, I pushed outthe core of the machine—a beast core, I assumed, and a very powerful one at that
My mana infused the beast core, and the machine’s aura intensified There was no time to wonder about the specifics, and I drained yet another ofup with Mayla and Caera as we tried to flee into the now-open outer courtyard of the Earthborn Institute, which would at least give us so behind us
A force of dwarves filled the dust-choked gap where the institute gates had been “Inside, inside!” Bolger to us
Seth shothi between the lines of dwarves with their weapons bared They fell into position across the opening after we’d passed,around them as they focused on defensive spells
Outside of the collapsed gates, Lance Baironbolt, and Mezlri responded as a tornado of black fire and wind, their exchanges little ed motion that even my enhanced senses could not follow
In the face of such power, the tall walls seemed like little comfort
We huddled behind the dwarves, alone at the center of the large barren courtyard that led down into the institute and our horound, then sat up blearily I eased Enola down beside him more carefully; she was still unconscious, her skin pale and clammy Mayla and Seth hurried over to administer what care they could to their friends
I didn’t dare waste even amy spellform, I could pull it more quickly and hurry its purification But I only had hout the entire cavern, see the air with a crackling tension
“That’s the signal that the city has been cleared,” Seth said breathlessly, looking around as if expecting an explanation to manifest out of the dust “At least for those of us who ca out of the city now!”
Mayla let out a breath of relief that turned to squir pain She reached around and clutched clu with visible displays of light
Caera grabbed the girl’s face in both hands, forcing Mayla to look at her “This isn’t over Mission paraed You need to retreat from the city and await further orders, but you are a prisoner of war Think it, girl”
Mayla squeezed her eyes shut tight, a look of intense concentration on her face The rest of us watched breathlessly until, a few seconds later, the crackling light along her spine faded
Shouts frouards drewvoid wind crashed into the any of theed to deflect part of thethunderclap, and Melzri vanished in a flash of light that left the ie of a cri the flash, the world seeet rid of the afteri my vision only thickened, until the dwarves were nearly hidden froreen tint wasn’t an after-effect of the flash, but a thickly pooling noxious gas that ing our dwarven defenders As I watched, their exposed skin began to darken, then blister and burst open in bloody boils One by one, they clawed at their faces, eyes, and throats before collapsing Out of the h their remains, came a creature that seehtmares
She had stick-thin liles like a spider Thin, da to the sides of her lued to her jutting ribs
“R-retainer Bivrae…” Seth stammered Despite his terror, he conjured a shi+eld between us and the horrible woht have been an evil grin, then swept a clawed hand through the air The shi+eld shattered, and Seth let out a pained gasp
Caera stood between us and the retainer Ghostly flaround around her
The retainer cocked her head and sniffed like a wildCaera warily
As I watched her nition sparked in ht in Elenoir, and like his brother, the one Boo and I had killed
With a bestial snarl, the retainer lunged to her left, slashi+ng her claws in the air Caerah where Caera had been only an instant before There was a glint of silver, and beams of black fire launched at Bivrae The retainer batted them aside, and her dark eyes turned to the rest of us
Boo charged with a roar, but she caught him by the snout with one hand, spun with snake-strike quickness, and hurled hiht andBivrae’s bedraggled hair before i him in a protective barrier only an instant before he crashed into the guard tower and ed by an avalanche of stone
Claire, towering over the retainer in her e blade in an overhand arc Bivrae skittered out of the way, but Claire whirled a wing, the sharp feathers spread out wide, the cutting edge sweeping directly at Bivrae’s neck
The retainer dipped beneath the attack, ripped her claws through the , which was covered in fur and had a paw like a world lion, and then breathed out a spray of acidic bile that stuck to theinto the barrier offor the best opportunity to assist With the other eye, I was scanning our surroundings, trying to keep track of ates
Seth was huddled over the others, his shi+eld wrapping them all in a dome of mana Caera flashed around the battlefield, hidden within her illusory fla lances of soulfire at Bivrae’s back I tried not to look at the group of dwarves, including Bolgerht
There was a surge ofher a few feet up in the air as she avoided a slash to her throat, then the oversized sword exploded with a dry heat I could feel from thirty feet away The suit's aura was suddenly visibly as a wavering gray light ee echo of the blade followed it as it moved
I released my mana arrow
It split into two These two split, and then split again, and the resulting barrage sank into the solid stone of the courtyard tiles
Claire surged down in an orange and gray blur Bivrae started to skitter away, then the field of arrows began to explode around her, knocking her off balance Both sword and the talon clutching it hitched inBivrae’s gray skin, then hot steel sizzled through flesh, ed in Bivrae’s shoulder
The retainer gave an inhureenbackwards, end over end, and landed in a heap, her wings tangled
Slowly, Bivrae straightened She glanced at the black blood flowing from her wound, then seemed to discard it A black-fire lance bore down on her, but she deflected it back at Caera, whose illusory flames had faded, and Caera was forced to leap out of the way
Bivrae focused on ain
“Run!” I shouted to anyone ould listen, but I didn’t follow my own advice Instead, I stepped toward the retainer, outwardly cal to keep her attention ontoto the collapsed mana beast machine The ether had all faded, and there was no longer any hint of an aura e fro within the proneof ainst it “Did you have two brothers?” I asked, playing for time
The horrible woarded me silently
“I think I htly “My friend, Tessia, killed one The retainer She’s the Legacy now”
Bivrae scowled, and she began to walk towardthe urge to take a step back “But your other brother…I killed hiers twitching “Inat”
Caera hadthe Claire disentangle herself from the machine, both of them wrapped in his shi+eld spell Behind Bivrae, Boo shook hi frorily in my mind
“Maybe, but I’ve proven pretty hard to swat so far, witch” The arroith the soft hu
Bivrae floay fro her torso to avoid the strike The arrow exploded just behind her, and Boo charged through the whiteinto Bivrae from behind I hit him with another barrier arrow just as her claws came around to bite into his side, and his jaws closed on her shoulder
Pulling fromthem full ofI couldn’t doher off balance as best I could as I sprinted for Caera
A resonant hu into the Earthborn Institute itself, and they burst open with enough force to crack the facade Dozens of dwarves spilled out with a thunderous battlecry and began hurling spells and weapons at the retainer Trapped in Boo’s jaws, she couldn’t avoid the battery of attacks, and small wounds appeared all over her twisted body
Relief washed through h not because of the reinforcements Over the heads of the s entrance hall, being held back by Hornfels Earthborn, I could see my mother Her eyes locked onto mine, and I felt her distress like a fist around my heart, but also relief and, more importantly, even trust In that instant of connection, all her emotions seemed to flood into ot when Boo infused me with his will
Seth and Claire made it to the doors, while Caera supported Valen with one ar to face the battle, I followed behind the others through the lines of dwarves while continuing to release arrow after arrow, so Boo, as absorbing the brunt of her fury
I was halfway across the entrance cha for me when the wall into the institute burst apart
Everything was flying stone, steel, and fire I lost the sense of up and down and my vision hite as pain override allrapidly, I searched around et sohtning crackled across the floor, through which a kind of trench had been dug up out of the tiled floor Little black fires burned everywhere I looked The Earthborn soldiers were scattered across the floor like abandoned ragdolls
In a crater at the far side of the room was Lance Bairon
Someone shi+fted beside me, and I looked over to see my mom partially covered in rubble Caera was already back on her feet, but she was sagging, her ain I wasn’t sure where the others were
An overwhelnature approached I turned toward the source, where the entire front of the Earthborn Institute had been blasted away A silhouette floated within the dust, one arued even hanging in the air As she drifted forward, her dark eyes ca down at me, and only me