xiv

The ray of light emanating from the man was as intense as the sun to Richard. He shielded his eyes and backed up, attempting to block Sorano from the light. He saw Sawyer fall and winced, his warning having come too late.

"I used to think it was ironic that my magic was light. Then again, you have the nightmare man on your team, and I hear he's not so bad anymore." Blinky–the ball of light–spoke out. If Richard hadn't seen him moments ago, he'd have thought the heavens themselves were talking to him.

Having him mention Macbeth made him remember another fight he'd had, long ago. An idea flashed in his mind. He didn't have time to think it through all the way, but at this rate, it was very possible one of them could be captured. Richard strived to avoid that situation.

"Sorano!" he yelled before pushing her back with a wave of earth. He heard a muffled, "Richard!" as a wall formed between the two of them. He hoped she would understand what he was trying to do even without speaking. The earth mage closed his eyes.

"It's almost a shame you guys don't have anything useful. Maybe I'll bring you in anyways though, that might make the Boss consider that promotion, finally. He's never seemed to think too highly of me."

"Don't overestimate yourself. The first step to getting others to assume confidence in you is to open your heart to the people around you, oh yeah."

Richard could practically hear the smirk in his voice, "Pfft, I guess it's true that one of you really believes all that ridiculous stuff about love."

"I daresay, you will soon learn that it's not ridiculous at all." Red consumed his vision behind closed eyes. Richard raised a hand.

Long ago, when he'd fought Macbeth on Nirvana, he thought his Heaven's Eye would allow him to see past any and all illusions. This turned out to be false, and he was defeated in the end. He'd never done much testing of it after the fact, but he wagered a perfect form of Heaven's Eye would allow one to see past anything, into the true heart of what was in front of you. Back then, even though he'd opened his heart, he was still relying on the techniques of old to defeat opponents. Now, with his back to a wall, he could no longer do things the way he'd always done them. He had to change.

He could no longer see the man in front of them. But that didn't matter anymore.

With his eyes closed, he activated his Heaven's Eye.

Immediately the dark world shifted. Despite being closed he forced his eyes to "see" through the things right in front of them. Looking at the light directly meant blindness for sure, so instead, he chose not to see at all. The world suddenly blocked itself out into shapes in his mind. He could make out the forest, the ground, and most importantly, the figure walking around them.

"Don't even think about trying to hit me. In this state, it would only be a lucky shot. By the time this light goes out more people will be here to clean up the mess. Heh, maybe this will be easier than anticipated."

With a swift hand motion, the ground to the side of the man flowed upwards, as if to hit him. He nimbly dodged out of the way. Richard did it again, this time a bit to the other side. Blinky hopped over that as well, barely changing his posture.

"Is that all you go-" Before he could finish, Richard finished the hand motion and made the collected bits of ground dip down, surrounding the man as he caused the earth beneath his feet to sink. Then, in one movement, the ground snaked its way around the man like vines before shooting up dozens of feet into the air. The ball of light in front of them left as Blinky screamed in terror. Richard hesitantly squinted. It was like a second sun in the sky. He'd never seen a light mage burn so brightly for so long before.

"Sorano!" he yelled. From behind him, a huff echoed.

"Geez! At least give me a signal next time!" With a wave, she summoned more angel creatures and directed them towards the ball of light. The earth around Blinky was trapping him up in the air, wrapping around his middle and forcing his hands and feet still. As long as Sorano aimed "towards the ball of light" she was sure to hit the target.

More screams echoed as the dark guild member received a lashing from the angels. Richard fell to one knee, relieved that his impromptu plan worked. Now that he was trapped, all they'd have to do was keep him there, and even with the light, eventually, it would have to go out.

"Hey, is it just me, or is it growing brighter?" Richard frowned at Sorano's statement. Was it? It certainly wasn't getting dimmer, at least to Richard's knowledge. It did feel just a tad bit hotter than before though. The earth mage then gasped in understanding.

The manic dark guild member couldn't move, and was now trapped high in the sky. If he felt desperate, he would pull off something desperate, like increasing his light until he burnt out.

Struggling after the strain of using his Heaven's Eye with closed eyes, Richard moved to cover the other two and himself with a wall.

"Richard!" Sawyer's voice coughed as he rushed towards him. His eyes were shut tight. "Throw me up there! If I'm in range I can hit him." Richard hadn't even noticed that he was up again.

"No, it's too risky. I can barely see. You're injured and no doubt can't–"

"Richard! Please." A note of desperation leaked into his voice. He stumbled forward. "I know I can get him. Just...let me go out on a high note."

Richard grit his teeth. They didn't have a lot of time. "Fine, but you're not going out, I'll catch you." With that, he raised one more hand to launch Sawyer towards the ball of light. It wouldn't be exactly to him, but close enough.

Seconds later, he heard a snap and crunch and then Sorano screaming as two bodies fell from the sky. Richard quickly pulled off one more Liquid Ground to catch the two before they splattered onto the ground, dropping them gently, Sawyer much gentler than Blinky.

After a minute, the unconscious Blinky's light finally gave out. Sorano rushed up to Sawyer and pulled him up, mumbling, "Idiot, idiot, idiot!" Although Richard noted that she didn't rush him in getting up. He sagged in relief. At least they were all still alive.

She reached to pull off his goggles and check his eyes. Richard turned around to see the handful of men not already defeated fleeing into the woods. He sighed and made a tiny hand motion that softened the ground under the path of the running group. He didn't quite have the strength to do a full attack to bring them all down, but he tried for as many as he could see. The earth mage found himself preoccupied with other thoughts.

Like hoping the others were alright.

Macbeth held on for dear life.

Not because he particularly wanted to, but because if he let go, he knew that the criminal would no doubt escape their grasp entirely. The man–Winky–did hold him tight, for now. But who knew if he would suddenly drop him off and then teleport away again? Macbeth could not rely on the words of a dark guild member to be true, so he held on just as tight. Unfortunately, Winky's ultimate plan boiled down to a very simple tactic–winking in and out with Macbeth as much as possible.

A normal teleportation mage could carry people if they had enough available ethernano to do so. People generally didn't suffer much vertigo or nausea provided that the mage wasn't incompetent or low on energy. However, those who did more and more teleporting reportedly developed bodies that could sustain the burdens placed upon it by magic for more and more frequent jumps. Those that did not have a much harder time dealing with multiple teleportations in short succession, their bodies constantly adjusting to the changes in the environment.

So Winky teleporting dozens of times, even over short distances, was starting to seriously mess with Macbeth's head. Every new teleportation made his stomach turn just a bit more. He lost count after the first dozen times they winked in and out of the woods. His sense of direction fully lost as everything flicked in and out so quickly he could barely discern anything but the blur of trees. Frantic, he tried to twist the clothes of the man, to strangle him before he could move, but as soon as the cloth around him started to twist he simply moved them again and Macbeth's concentration broke, only to repeat a dozen more times.

He tried a stronger reflector spell, aiming for his body by cutting the air around him. But all his attempts came with the increased vertigo, making him miss and strike the surrounding woodland instead. Winky's grip on him was resolute, far stronger than Macbeth would have figured from the casual, almost careless fellow.

Finally, they stopped, and Winky let go of Macbeth, who fell to the ground in a daze. The world spun around him. The ground seemed less and less solid even as his gloved hands dug into it, begging for even footing.

"Sorry for rattling you around like that. The more they struggle the harder you need to go on them. You get what I'm laying down, right?" The words flew in one ear and out the other for Macbeth, who still struggled to concentrate. "Maybe you've lost a bit of your edge though. That's what the Boss's been saying. That you're going soft now that you got that kid with you. What's up with that? That's pretty freaky, right?"

"Who...you...calling..."

"Oh sorry, not you. The girl. What was her name again, Ultear? Like that wild witch from Grimoire Heart? Are they really the same person? Because if they are..." He crouched and tilted Macbeth's head to look at him. The world still spun around him, but somehow, he could perfectly make out the demented look in Winky's eye. Despite his earlier casualness, Macbeth now saw why this man was in a dark guild.

"...that's pretty messed up, don't you think?"

A sudden jolt of anger coursed through Macbeth, as he summoned all the focus he had left to strike the man. He stumbled back, not expecting Macbeth to be able to hit him. He rubbed his cheek and turned away. "Ah, that stings. But I guess that means it's true then. Not that it'll matter much once we've got–"

From the woods, a bullet of light shot out, right in the direction where Winky stood. Barely having time to gasp, he closed an eye and winked away.

Strangely though, the light didn't pause in its movement, merely course correcting at the last second, and shooting away.

Macbeth's world began to spin just a bit less, and he shakily tried to get to his feet. An arm grasped his own and pulled him up, supporting him. He turned to find Erik glaring at him.

"Don't do anything stupid. For once, Jellal's got this."

Macbeth didn't say anything for a minute. He was too busy trying not to feel like throwing up. Erik didn't comment on his pathetic appearance, even though he guessed he wanted to. Finally, he spoke, "How did you find us so quickly?"

"...We saw the ground looking torn up before I could pinpoint him. You'd inadvertently made a trail we could follow. Jellal even pieced together how the freak's magic works."

Moments after Erik spoke a screech echoed the woods and all was silent. A minute later, Jellal held the teleportation mage over his back, dropping him to the ground.

"He moves in whatever direction his closed eye is. I realized after remembering which directions we switched to from before. Tie something around his eyes and then bind him to a tree. We don't have time to waste on him."

Macbeth dipped his head in relief. The world no longer spun wildly around him. He waited for Erik, or even Jellal, to restart on the argument they had just moments ago. None of them spoke though. Macbeth wasn't sure to be grateful or not.

Ultear and Meredy were still out there, and Macbeth found the idea of either of them running into trouble incredibly worrisome. More than he'd ever admit to the other two.