A/N
Long chapter this week. Enjoy!
Chapter 26
Diana was momentarily frozen. She couldn't believe the events unfolding. Akko was there fighting off someone with the face of her teammate while Diana stood there, terrified. The whole exchange deafened by the loud orchestra and was hushed in between thick curtains so the people on the other side couldn't see what's occurring right under their noses.
Mirror Sucy who stayed behind the offense turned her head just slightly, as though she sensed Diana's shocked and worried presence.
So as Mirror Lotte was about to attack again, that was when Diana couldn't afford to keep secrets any longer, but her decision proved to be rash when she waved her wand, yelling. "Murowa!"
A blast of bright teal energy emerged from the tip and hit Mirror Lotte squarely on the chest, knocking the air out of her. Mirror Sucy was stunned to see her fallen comrade. Rightfully so when their supposed Princess emerged a different wand than the regalia she showed everyone and yelled foreign words.
After a few seconds, Diana registered that she made a mistake; Akko recovered quickly and grabbed Diana on the hand to run for the great escape and leave the vicinity of the blind spot.
To avoid stares and distraction, Diana reached for her wand pointed at the Beatrix Cavendish ice sculpture located in the middle of the room "Ansolew Airo!"
With one mighty move, the sculpture announced its presence of life when she changed pose. In order to salvage what's left of the situation, she hid her school wand.
As Mirror Lotte brought back from her stupor, the Filipino mirror stood next to her. The duo became aware of the moving ice's presence when the residents started screaming with delight from the repeated performance their future Empress did during her speech. They both gaped, slightly agitated at the sight of unknown powers while the guests who didn't know the fight occurring in the midst of joy simply clapped at a showcase of kinesis power.
For a few minutes, it helped Diana and Akko gain the upper hand to slip through the crowd without anyone noticing that there were two Dianas in the ballroom.
But, their victory was limited; Akko's boots slipped and Diana failed to hold onto her tight. The icy floor came rushing up to slam into Akko's hands and knees. She slid and scrambled on all fours toward the wall.
"AKKO!" Diana knelt beside her, hastily placing Akko's arm around her shoulder and hoist her up.
This gave Mirror Lotte the advantage to gather up the energy she would need for one more assault. Her short hair started to rise upwards and the strength rising inside her was like a fever. She came after them, with a vow to put her own hands around Akko's throat.
Diana saw in horror as Akko's delicate neck was pulled. She was about to flung herself to save Akko when something around Akko's neck broke. It shook Mirror Lotte backward like an arrow notched up to the opposite direction.
It wasn't Akko's bones, for the sound was brittle and akin to broken shards. With that leverage and blood thumping in her veins, Diana carried her lover and sped out the thickening crowd.
A couple of running distance later, Diana saw it fit to return Akko to the ground when they got farther away from the ballroom.
Akko was a blushing mess that Diana found too cute and adorable, she found herself unable to function like this.
"Diana!" she whined.
"Alright," Diana said with a pout. She loved the redness that plagued Akko's cheeks.
So in collective silence, Diana and Akko held hands, afraid that they would ever be separated again.
The castle walls were either perfectly straight or miraculously curved. Giant windows, cut into facets that held the light like prisms, climbed up the tallest towers. And every structure seemed to fit into the one beside it like a puzzle piece.
Diana was apprehensive, although astonished that Akko knew where they were going. She figured that Akko was really an amazing person and it wasn't just obvious.
The closer they are back to safety, the more light-headed she felt, and she only hoped that she would be able to adjust to it quickly. So far, though, it was making her feel queasy. Diana was unaffected the same way that Akko was, but she, too, felt a bit out of sorts as they parade through the halls back to the undercroft.
Their run slowed down as they got tired and vulnerable. Even Diana, who had been so vigilant, did not notice that they were slowly being surrounded.
"Holy Morgana, you two made it. You're alive." Atsuko welcomed them as soon as they arrived at the hiding place, but wasn't pleased when she caught sight of Akko's neck before she changed it back to fretting.
Diana flinched, at seeing her old companion. It seemed that Atsuko and Akko had turned chummy in a span of hours.
"Thanks for not helping!" Akko retorted.
"Why?" Professor Ursula asked. "Are they supposed to not make it?"
"A mere figure of speech," Mirror Croix added awkwardly while everyone else rushed to help the duo. "Let me fix you both up." She said to Diana, moving her hands gracefully from above her head to her toes.
Diana could feel an invisible icy cool sensation healing her aches as she recounted what happened earlier. The others stood there, aghast.
"Thank the Nine Olde Witches you are safe!" Professor Ursula rushed over to them and wrapped them up in a big hug. While Akko was used to the prospect and simply giggled as she wrapped her arms around their Professor, Diana was tongue-tied before she returned the gesture.
"So Mirror me almost killed Akko?" Lotte asked, face white as paper.
"Mirror Lotte has always loved a good reason to give out punishments to me," Atsuko said.
Diana's observant eyes never failed to roam around and catch a few things. She noticed the similar choker around everyone's necks. With a nod, she noticed the curious little choker that Akko wore. She hadn't had the chance to ask about it earlier but now, her inquisitiveness could be addressed.
"Say Akko?" she wondered. "Why were you wearing a choker?"
"Oh, this?" Akko absentmindedly pointed the ornament around her neck. "It's a way for the Mirrors to know I'm not from here, so they can't read my mind and all that."
Everyone started gasping as blood pounded in Diana's ears, pressed on by a rising heartbeat. Her jaw clenched, grinding her teeth together so she doesn't pale. "Akko," she began. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the choker's broken for a while now."
"What?"
Anxious to tell her lover the truth, Diana licked her lips from getting dry. "During your fight with Mirror Lotte, she managed to break it off your neck."
"EHHHH?" Akko frantically searched for remnants of the broken device, what was left on her neck was a small piece. "THEN THAT MEANS SOMEONE COULD JUST READ MY MIND BEFORE WE GOT HERE."
The witches were on the verge of panicking after seeing Akko's dilemma.
"Do you think no one read my head?" Akko asked.
Diana had no good news to say and turned to Atsuko for answers. There was hesitance on her face. Diana knew they were in trouble.
"Geez, Akko... everywhere you go is an adventure!" Amanda cracked an uplifting joke but it merely passed through one ear and out the other.
It was Akko who dared to stare around the undercroft and saw the eyes in the walls.
She stiffened just like a deer noticing she was being hunted. "Diana," she said in a harsh whisper.
The rest saw them. Diana heard her teammates give a little yelp as everyone scrambled to come closer together.
"Woah what are they?" Amanda barked. Constanze was now hiding behind her hips.
Diana continued to stare all around. The walls, the doors, she saw more pairs of yellow eyes glowing, reflecting the light from the bright moon. Every witch reached for their wands at the same time.
"What are they?" Akko asked in a small voice.
"Wolves," Diana said as she began to suspect that these wolves were not entirely ordinary. "What are their purposes?"
"They are glass wolves, bred especially to be extra soldiers outside the festivities." Mirror Croix said. "They might have sensed Akko as an intruder when she lost her choker."
"Can't you give one to me so I can wear one now?" Akko pleaded.
"I don't have a spare."
"Will the circle of protection keep them away at least?" Professor Ursula asked the mirrors.
"The circle is meant to keep you guys invisible to the eyes of others, not—not glass wolves." Mirror Croix said.
"But it's also meant to protect us," Professor Ursula asked, hoping. "Isn't it?"
"Yes," Mirror Croix said. "You should stay within it while they're out there. Atsuko and I surely won't get attacked if we go out there and disable their command like a computer program."
Constanze's eyes sparkled at the sound of techno-magic. Others stared at the empty space after the mirrors teleported out of the place, leaving them to fend their selves with their own devices.
It was weird to see them disappear like that. Even looking at them go poof made everyone sick to their stomach.
Diana glanced at Akko, who seemed slightly ill at the sight of predators. She crept closer to Akko and asked, "Are you all right?"
"Uh..." she said, but she sounded hesitant. "I feel like dying."
The witches were in chaos. It has been approximately fifteen minutes since Mirror Croix and Atsuko left them to fix the problem. The wolf eyes surrounding them hadn't decreased or lessened. They were still there—waiting, watching, and lurking.
After giving them a speech that would lessen the hushed tones of worries, her goal right now was dissipating Akko's anxiety.
"Akko, calm down," Diana cupped the shorter girl's cheeks. "Calm down, we can fix this."
Deflated, Akko stared up at her—her red eyes glistened with impending tears. "You know how to?"
Diana nodded and brought out her collapsible one that the school provided and focused her energy. "I read textbooks of the Princess' collections during my free time here. I was certain the knowledge will provide the necessary protection."
Diana's heart raced as her nerves nearly got the better of her, making her hands clammy. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. First, she had to find the way in. That was how the textbooks always described it: being sensitive to all the currents of energy around her until she discovered the one that called to her—the one that was her own special path into the unseen world.
Meridians of energy ran through every human being and animal and plant; they lay in limitless lines in the earth and the air like a vast web. Every living thing had its place in this field of energies. The protection shield that the residents of the Blazing World learned from when they were young would reshape portions of that field, reweaving the net into a barrier around themselves.
Diana could do it to herself. That was how she was able to protect herself in this world. If only Diana could do it to Akko this time. Though complicated, she needed to deal with it quickly—the only way to protect Akko.
Every time she thought she had found the way, it slid away from her. She was like a fisherman trying to reel in her catch, but it leaped away from her time and time again, splashing back into the sea. And the wind that had whispered in her ear was everywhere, distracting her. It slipped beneath her collar, tickled her earlobes, caressed her skin in cool, lingering breaths.
It took every effort to ignore it, to focus instead on the elusive thread of energy that had come so easily to her when she did it to herself. But Akko wasn't a stranger; Akko was a familiar face in the unfamiliar world. The thought of her love for Akko helped, and she envisioned it in her mind's eye; she could feel the life of it, pulsing.
And then she had it.
She felt the humming threads of life all around her, the same way magic was back on Earth, and they were different here. There was still something not quite right about them, but they were a thousand times more vibrant than they had been on the green planet.
Diana's cast of protection stopped short when they heard the low growls from the wolves surrounding them. They were practically flaunting themselves now; every once in a while one of them would break away from the walls and come closer as if they warped inside no big deal, either to get a better look at them or to demonstrate how bold they were. Diana counted at least three dozen wolves, though she could not be sure.
The temperature in the undercroft was warm because of the makeshift fire they created. But it suddenly dropped. A quick flash of memory came to her from reading the combat books of the Princess' collections.
Diana inhaled sharply. "Look ou-"
A powerful blast from the doorway threw them several feet, sliding across the hard stone floor before anyone could scramble to stand upright again.
"You can't run from us." An eerie familiar voice roused them from confusion.
The Earthens averted their gazes behind them and saw that Mirror Lotte and Mirror Sucy caught up to their prey. And the prey led them to the den. But there were also more of them. Mirror Lotte and Mirror Sucy Mirror green team for assistance. Quickly, Diana took a step in front of Akko and the others, shielding them from the mirrors. She didn't know when she could keep up the charade of bravery.
"There are more of them?" Mirror Amanda gasped; behind her were Mirror Constanze and Mirror Jasminka who couldn't even function at the greatest conspiracy ever.
"Now do you believe our crazy theory?" Mirror Sucy asked her.
"You said there were only two!" Mirror Amanda let out two fingers.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Mirror Sucy replied.
The witches were all still stunned at what was occurring. If Mirrors managed to break through the circle of protection and find them—that means Mirror Croix and Atsuko somehow failed.
"Looking for this, strangers?" Mirror Lotte flushed from anger but doesn't loosen her grasp on remnants of the broken choker. "Took us quite a while to ask help from our real friends," she pointed at the astounded girls beside them.
"Truthfully, we know there was something wrong from the beginning." Mirror Sucy said.
Mirror Lotte's short hair still rose up high like a burning flame; her eyes behind her eyeglass squinted hard. "Yes, at first we thought Atsuko and the Princess were involved somehow, my deductions were proved to be faulty for there are doppelgangers about here. And to our surprise..."
She stared at Lotte with her steely gaze. Lotte has a frightened squeal.
"There's more of you." She drawled.
Diana mentally cursed to herself and rose her hands up in surrender. Everyone else followed her sample. "Let us go, we promise we will leave as soon as we can."
"Strangers bearing the face of our colleagues' requests are non-negotiable." Mirror Lotte suddenly swatted the air as if there was a fly that irritated her.
It was a cue for the glass wolves to attack and everyone fished for their wands.
Being constantly on guard after a sleepless night was a good way to render one's muscles stiff and clumsy, and that was the way everyone felt when the wolves finally moved in. Diana wasn't sure what she had expected, but she knew she hadn't thought they would go after herself first.
Diana was clearly their strongest member.
"Akko, stay behind me!" Diana told Akko when a wolf launched at them. She could protect all of them, she's certain of it. She was an expert at non-verbal offense magic after all.
"DIANA NO!"
She had never used her knowledge of magic as a weapon before, and she knew there were proscriptions against it, which is why Professor Croix has been away. None of that mattered when faced with a slavering wolf. Diana's wand whistled in the air, beaming with teal energy and slammed it into the wolf's shoulder. The beast's snarl turned into a whimper; Diana ripped her wand-turned-weapon out and struck again, drops of hot gold stinging her hands.
When she heard Hannah and Barbara cry out, she was so startled that she almost dropped her wand. By the time she fumbled a spell and twisted in her teammate's direction, Hannah and Barbara were already slashing their respective fire and lightning spells down at the wolves that had surrounded them in a ferocious, snarling wave.
One wolf sank his teeth into Amanda's broom, and another bit into Stanbot's neck, releasing a thick stream of destroyed parts and electricity. Constanze screamed, but she disconnected her wand from her little robot and kept fighting.
Lotte's fingers trembled on her wand's handle as her spirit familiar climbed the tip of her wand and burst into flames. Sucy merely threw some of her prepared potions to attack a group of huddled closed wolves, sometimes burning them and melting them.
Professor Ursula had better luck in defending herself and her students. As she gave the glass wolves a roundhouse kick and an uppercut jab with enhanced magic strength.
Diana's blood pounded in her ears. There was no time to think; the wolves didn't stop coming. She could feel them: They were all hungry with vicious need. They were meant for this—to hunt and to kill—and there was a frightening beauty in their sharp silver eyes and powerful jaws. It was the beauty of a creature fulfilling their exact purpose in the world, being the precise thing they had trained their whole life to be.
Three new wolves decided to gang up on her. With annoyance spread across her features, she used the same spell to make the creatures collapsed. When Diana looked up to find her next target, she saw two wolves yanking Akko's sleeve, she was being pulled away from the group.
"Akko!" she screamed.
Akko twisted to see Diana trying to fight her way closer to her.
"Murowa!" she continued to hit every wolf that tried to block her. Terror engulfed Diana, fearing she couldn't get to her lover in time.
"Metamorphie Faciesse!" Akko managed to wrench herself free from the wolves by turning into the little rodent before turning back into a human once she reached safety beside her lover.
As chaotic as Diana's feelings were right now when it came to Akko, the moment the next wolf leaped at her lover, Diana acted entirely out of instinct, driven by panic. She forced her way into the fields of energy around her.
"Shards!" she called forth the magical energies that accumulated in the area, raising her wand up high, and her feet planted apart. "Become my weapons and strike them down!"
She flung it at the wolves, knocking them down like paper dolls. It was as easy as plucking ripe fruit from a tree. She felt like she had been born to do this. Her entire body thrilled with the power running through her.
All the coalescent of energy that ran across the Great Glass buckled beneath her touch, began to run away from her, howling in fear.
Akko stared at Diana in amazement. Unlike on earth, they would see the energy or blades that strike the enemies down, but on the Blazing Earth, it was invisible. It was as if, Diana was using kinesis—except with a wand.
Whatever it was, it struck the wolves like great punches, and Akko saw one wolf's ribcage collapse, while another's snout was smashed, hot gold blood arcing through the air. Diana's eyes were shining, her hair coming loose from how she styled it at the ball. White light pulled at the ends until they swirled around her head in a black cloud. She looked like she was possessed by something as ferocious as the wolves themselves, and Akko was chilled by the expression on her face.
Diana looked inhuman—powerful and frightening and hard as ice. The wolves outside the radius of Diana's power lifted their heads, looking in her direction. They backed away with deep-throated growls. It was as if a lightning storm had settled over her, and they wanted no part of it. As the wolves retreated and vanished, Mirror Lotte and Mirror Sucy took a few steps back before staying on their ground.
"What was that?" Mirror Amanda yelled she was now in a crouched position, hiding behind Mirror Constanze's short form.
A genuine shock could be seen in Mirror Lotte's face. "How can a stranger from this world have magic like that?"
"Solely because we are different than you," Diana snarled.
Mirror Lotte's face flushed; her mouth twisted. "That was an unwise decision," she said, as she stood up. "You know that I can't allow you to leave this place alive."
"They are tougher than they let it seem." Mirror Jasminka clapped giddily.
"Let's do it, everyone!" Mirror Sucy resumed a crane-like position as so did the rest of the mirrors.
Tiny sparks and frosts danced before their eyes, flames and ice materialized in front of the mirror girls. They were as beautiful as fireflies in a purple twilight. And then the sparks and frosts multiplied until they were all the witches could see. Professor Ursula managed to cast a protective magic barrier around the girls within her vicinity, except for Akko and Diana who were out of range.
Akko managed to dodge those flames, as she was perfectly agile, but Diana wasn't. The use of the great spell exhausted her to the point that her reflexes were slowed.
Mirror Sucy swung her hand and a blast of frozen ice slashed through Diana's gown, cutting into her leg. Diana let out a scream, failing to create a barrier or a deflective spell on time; she looked down at the scorched flesh and the blood that dripped onto the floor. A curious steam rose from the wound, and the fabric around it curled back as if it were burning away.
Then, with a gut-wrenching scream, everyone called their friend's name.
"DIANA!"
Akko held onto Diana, to keep her from falling. They both knew that the next hit would prove to be fatal.
The mirror girls were serious in their jobs, but at the last moment, someone whirled the Mirror girls around with an invisible force.
"Ladies!" The mirror girls were startled by the sound of fury on the future Empress' lips.
Princess Diana sauntered through the halls, her face fiercely angry, and her dress swirling around her like a tossing river.
"All these racket before my coronation day tomorrow." She clicked her tongue in disappointment. "I must say I am certainly not pleased with the way you are desecrating this holy ground."