Hello again my awesome readers! Time for another severely belated update^^;
As I sent another doll flying against the wall, the air behind my felt chilly.
I turned around to see a line of frozen-solid dolls holding Tech9's, and a very relieved Mizore. "That was close." she said.
She ran over and hugged me. I was so caught up in the moment that I almost missed another doll running at me with a knife.
Mizore saw it first and pushed it to the ground with her ice claws. She looked at me and said "These are just dolls right?" I nodded and she split it in half.
"Oh, hello Mizore!" called Zayt, holding two dolls above his head.
"What happened? I saw you go into the library and I heard gunshots." Mizore asked. "We don't know, these things came outta nowhere." I said, turning to shoot at an armed doll across the room.
Then I heard it, a loud, whistling screech from outside.
Everything slowed down; I had heard a screech like that once before, from a rocket-propelled grenade.
My eyes darted to the wall, I deduced that it was comprised of dry-wall and wooden frame with a brick exterior, which the explosion would tear up and pepper the room with shrapnel. Mizore had, out of instinct, put up a hasty barrier of ice; but I knew it wouldn't be enough.
Completely focused on protecting Mizore, I grabbed her arm, pulled her to ground, and laid on top of her. With any luck my body would absorb the shrapnel and she'd be unharmed. I didn't care about what would happen to me as long as she was safe.
I closed my eyes. In that instant, I got another physical sensation similar to that of yesterday. My heart sped up like crazy and my body felt covered by something, I didn't know what.
Just then I heard an ear-shattering bang, accompanied by the sound of random objects being blown against the floor and an intense heat. But there was a distinct absence of pain, strange given I had never known an explosive device to not injure someone in the immediate area of impact.
I opened my eyes and oddly enough my vision was obscured by a large bundle of white feathers. As I moved them aside, I felt an unseen limb move as well.
Looking underneath me I saw Mizore, astonished but unharmed. "Your... wings are back." she said, blushing lightly. "I guess they are." I said, smiling.
I looked up to see the rear of a pair of leather shoes, inches from my face. Looking further up I saw Felix with his back to us, standing with an open palm outstretched towards an open view the city (the wall had been blown apart) and an accumulation of ash in front of him. The rocket had filled this whole area of the building with smoke and dust.
"Are you alright?" I asked Mizore. "Yes, I am. But..." she began, "..your hair turned white, and your eyes... they're gold."
"Ya don't say? Well, guess my powers were triggered again." I looked up at Felix and said "Thanks for shielding us."
"I only stopped the debris, not the force of the blast. You didn't feel anything?" he said, eyebrow raised. I shook my head and he turned towards the skyline.
Then I remembered I was still on top of Mizore. "Oh, sorry about that." I said. She smiled and said "It's fine, I like having you on top of me."
I blushed red and said "Oh uh, you're welcome?"
"You're kidding me!" called Zayt. He was a ways behind us, pinned against the wall by a bookshelf and looking at the two of us on the floor.
He angrily shoved the bookshelf over. "You okay?" said Mizore. "Yeah, thanks for asking." he grumbled.
Felix spoke up "Anywho... that rocket came from nearby, you should probably..." he stopped. The ground began to shake and I heard the cracking of concrete. "Earthquake?" I exclaimed.
Looking outside I saw saw that a giant tree was sprouting up from a manhole on the street below. It got bigger and bigger until its branches engulfed our side of the building and half the block. Wood powers? Could it be... I thought.
"The hell's going on here?" said Zayt, standing with us at the hole to outside. The wood of the tree was black, as were the leaves. I could also vaguely see a figure darting around in the darkness.
"Something's out there." I said. "Felix, can you... Felix?" I turned to see Felix slowly fade away into nothing, but not before saying "Oop, my times up. Gimme an hour or so." and he was gone.
"What just happened?" asked Zayt. "Wish I could tell you." I said, scratching my head. "Who was that man?" asked Mizore. "It's a long story." I said, not sure if now was the right time to go into a long explanation.
"You guys should make your way out the ba-" I was cut off by a mess of vines coming out of the dark. Before we could react they tied each of us up.
The vines pulled us in, under the cover of the dark tree. They stopped and we hung in midair, only able to see specks of light through the canopy of leaves.
A voice rung out in the dark, "So you're the boy I've heard so much about." The vines suspending me were cut and I fell perhaps twenty feet before landing on a large branch.
I broke out of my binds with the help of my wings and looked around. The light was no better than on a starry night, but I could see the figures of Mizore and Zayt still tied up above me. I flexed my wings and made an attempt to get airborne, but felt a solid punch to my face and I fell back down.
"Those two aren't going anywhere." said a man's voice in the dark. That voice isn't Murudo's, that's a relief. I thought. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you!" I said aloud. I never liked the thought of anyone getting hurt on my watch, but this time I felt something unreal, driving me to protect everyone from the darkness.
I stumbled to my feet and strained my eyes to get a look whoever hit me. Still no good, but I'll have a fighting chance if I can coax him out of hiding. I thought. "Coward! Fight me like a man!" I shouted.
"How one fights is hardly important. Only beating your opponent is." the voice answered. "So we're opponents?" I asked, receiving a punch to the ribs. "Obviously." said the voice.
My side was killing me, but I managed to get hold of his arm. It was under a cloak and felt extremely tough, so I could barely hold it for the second I needed. Making a swipe at him, my wing unintentionally followed. My fist failed to connect, but I felt something thud against the wing. I followed with a knee to what I assumed was his stomach.
Before I could topple him, he grabbed me by the neck and lifted me above the ground. Whoever this guy was he was wearing a long cloak, was much taller than I was, and strong, very strong.
While I struggled to breathe, the man said "You're strong, but not enough to impress me." and pushed me up against the trunk of the tree.
Meanwhile, up above...
"Zayt we've got to help him!" said Mizore, suspended and tied up next to Zayt. "Dammit these things aren't coming loose. Mizore, can't you freeze the vines?" he said.
"No. For some reason I can't use my powers." Mizore said, worried. There was a rustle of branches from above and a grey blur landed on a nearby branch.
"Aeon!?" they said together. Their old classmate stood up holding his rosario knife. "You've really gotta take care of these things yourself, but I'll make an exception this once." he said, swinging the knife too fast to see using the cable attached to the hilt.
The vines around them fell to pieces and Aeon tossed the katana on his back to Zayt. "You left that at the apartment. You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days." he said.
"Shut up!" said Zayt, unsheathing the silver blade of his favorite sword. He reached to pull off his ring, but it wasn't there.
"The hell!?" he said, looking at his bare arms. "It must've come off when I was grabbed." he said. "Something else must be suppressing our monster energy. Looks like we'll have to do without our powers for now." said Aeon.
Jacob's POV
I couldn't get loose; my vision was fading and my wings weren't responding. "You resisted the tree's effects longer than I expected, but now your like a salted slug." the man said.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "The darkwood technique does more than just create partial darkness, it suppress all monster energy within the tree's shade. That means you can't fly away." he said.
"So you're a monster then. But that means you can't use your energy either." I said. I broke his hold and made a jab at his jaw, Which was stopped by his hand. "I'd never need any to kill you." he said, headbutting me.
My head was killing me. I fell back against the tree and tried to ignore it, but then he started to repeatedly punch me in the face.
This actually doesn't hurt that much, but I still don't know much more my body can handle. I thought. The man howled in pain and he dropped me. Looking up I saw another silhouette rapidly swiping him with something small and metal.
His attention now on this foe, he almost missed the unmistakable form of Zayt running down the tree with something long and shiny.
Spotting him, the man slammed his free hand on the ground and more vines sprung out to constrict them. But they were ready, both using their blades to slice apart the vines. Aeon then wrapped a cord around him as Zayt came down for a killing blow.
The man quickly sunk down into the wood, avoiding Zayt's blade. The tree then turned to a natural brown and the darkness lifted.
Feeling my strength return, I stood up. As Zayt frustratedly pulled his sword from the wood, his hair and arms were iced-over. Mizore dropped down next to us in her monster form. "Looks like you're all okay, plus our powers are back." I sighed in relief.
Aeon felt the wood we stood on and said "Yes, a technique like this requires a delicate balance of magic and monster energy. The spell was a powerful one, and thus demanded all his focus. Trying to maintain it while fighting multiple opponents would be ludicrous."
"That explains why he tied you guys up before attacking me." I said. "So where'd he go?" Zayt asked.
He was answered by another explosion at below us that made the whole tree shake. It was thunderous and sent wooden shards straight up past us. The tree began to tilt until we knew that it was falling down. We jumped for it, landing about twenty-five feet onto the concrete.
"Now then, let's ramp this up a bit." came the man's voice fifty feet in front of us. The dust settled and we saw him, head obscured by a hood.
"I wasn't planning on fighting you all head-on like, but at least now I'm less restricted." he said, removing his hood.
The man had a tan complexion like Murudo, short black hair, blue eyes, a black scar running from his left eye down his neck, and pointed ears.
"My name is Lucius, and I've come to kill you all in the name of Lord Xandlr." he said with a serious expression and in a menacing tone.
"You're really taking us on? Four against one?" Aeon said, suspicious. Zayt pointed his sword at Lucius and said "If you've really come to kill us, you're the one whose going to die."
"You think so? Well then I can't make it easy now can I?" said Lucius. He drew from behind him a long broadsword with a chain around the hilt and thrust it into the air. A strong gust of wind came and surrounded Lucius. I could feel an incredibly dense aura come from this man, which continued to grow as the wind grew fiercer.
His skin became swollen and knotted, and appeared to be changing into wood itself. He grew taller and bulkier until his cloak tore into pieces. Stray pieces of wood came and neatly morphed themselves onto him, increases his mass until he became one wooden behemoth. His hands had become giant claws and his teeth a set of fierce points.
His monster form resembled a wooden hulk, only more twisted and less symetrical. The brute hung the sword over his shoulder.
"I'm afraid your confidence is severely misplaced." said the hulking form that was Lucius.