"Well, isn't this an enigma," Lilja countered, closing the spellbook in her hand with a silent sound, simply a second after she reopened it.
"Enigma?"
"Look it up." she responded. "Does anyone have a plan? Anyone?"
Chainz rolled his eyes. "I think it's obvious at this point."
Lilja raised her eyebrows, not exactly amused. "Okay, smart mouth. Enlighten me."
"Don't have to." he answered, a hand pointed out to the squalling dragons. "It's really simple. I could show you. Ishimaru!"
Ishimaru nodded, synchronized to his partner, the emerald book in his hand shining fiercer than a festival lantern. "Hokekeruga!"
Chainz pressed his hands onto the broken ground as explosions of hooks and chains burst out of the floor, damaging the tiles further. They whipped and brutalized the three-headed dragon, evoking vicious screams from the creature, before binding its scaly body in their iron lock. The dragons tried to writhe and fight the hold, teeth snapping the air, howling hellishly, but its efforts remained futile. It was hopelessly trapped. Chainz tightened the hold of his chains, focused, and squeezing, squeezing, squeezing, then the monster dragon as large and empowering as any rampant beast, dispersed into dust.
Chainz snorted with a hint of a smirk. "So much for your spell."
"What?" Kage asked, openmouthed. "What? How did that–what did you–how-"
Chainz and Ishimaru shared a quick look of wordless satisfaction, a nod, before Chainz set back into battle. Lilja pressed her mouth closed and sat back, then raised a hand and shook it at Viola when she automatically tried to follow after him.
Viola leaned over toward Lilja. "What?" she asked, but Lilja gave her no response. She stared ahead as if possessed by a fierce force. "Lilja, what?"
Kage and Chainz traded fists. Kage took a full-powered fist to the nose that gave him terrible whiplash, but none of Chainz's other combos took him down. He swiped a leg under Chainz, knocking him off his feet, jumped back a few feet, and lifted a hand under his nose to survey the damage. His hand came away bright red and leaking.
"Ick," he muttered, wiping his hand. "You're gonna pay for that."
Kage was back to his feet, not one stumble in his step, and Viola was poised to join in, but Lilja lifted her hand back onto her shoulder, stilling her again. Viola faced her with animosity. "Lilja! What is wrong?"
"Hold it." she answered, studying the distance. Viola tried to follow her gaze, squinting, but she couldn't identify the source of her partner's interest. All she saw was collapsed walls and architectural tiles stained completely through by muck and blood. But a moment later, Lilja's hand slipped off Viola's shoulder, sliding to her chartreuse book. "Ezo."
Viola's crossbow illuminated into her hand faster than light. She didn't even gasp.
"Aim for the ceiling." Lilja said.
Viola did, but with confusion, eye in the scope, a pro. The ceiling above appeared mostly clean, considering the carnage among them.
"Do you see the fissure on the far right?"
"Um..."
Viola vied for it. Damage, defection, anything somewhat inexplicable, but the ceiling remained bare and searching for even the thinnest imperfection for so long was unbecoming. From across the floor, Kage caught the knee Chainz was attempting to drive into his stomach, and flung his body sideways in evasion. The blood under his nose had crusted over. He was doing more deflecting than actual fighting at his current rate.
"Lilja, I don't–"
"I see you aiming, but I see no focus." she said. "Focus."
Viola squinted again, reaching for her scope, twisting it for more leverage when she finally saw something. A tiny gap near the corner of the ceiling arch, invisible to any average eye. She directed her partner a nod.
"Aim." Lilja instructed, turning back a few pages in her glowing book. "Fire. Quarrelo Ezo."
A familiar orb exited out of the barrel of Viola's crossbow, slow but ever-moving. It would take forever to reach the ceiling. Viola returned to Lilja's side. "How did you see that?"
Lilja offered a bland smile. "I have the sight of a feline."
"Hiro!" Kage yelled.
"Dagura!"
Kage pushed his hands to the ground and shadow tentacles bustled out. They spread in every direction, creeping across the floor like slimy insects.
"Hokaisho!"
Chainz's eyes faded out as his laser successfully blasted through a good quarter of squirming tentacles. One of them escaped free, wrapped around his ankle, and effectively tripped him but brought him no further damage. At Lilja's approval, Viola lunged forward, started swinging at the remaining tentacles with her crossbow, dispersing them immediately.
"For someone who battled so on par with us before, you're turning out to be a real disappointment now." Viola remarked.
Kage spat on the tile. Blood. "You've seen nothing yet. I've got a whole load of spells left in my arsenal."
"God, a whole arsenal of amateur, half-assed spells. Goody." Chainz muttered.
"Good thing we shall not have to wait any further."
"Wha–"
Then, an explosion, one that made them all jump. They all glanced at Lilja for resignation, but she only pointed them to the ceiling flatly. Viola's orb had finally reached its destination, detonated, and essentially blown a hole through the ceiling, leaving a half-dismantled, caved-in dome overhead, a spiderweb of ravaged art.
"Well, Sistine Chapel this ain't."
The floor shook again, but this time everyone stayed on their feet. Chunks of rubble and plaster rained from the ceiling, landing haphazardly between them and heavily denting in the floor.
Viola clutched her crossbow close to her chest, taking in the scene with a worried gaze, then turned to Lilja, but she found her partner pokerfaced. There were war-worn slabs of rubble everywhere, stacked in some places, or simply broken into smaller shards or stomped into dust. The air smelled like must and smoke, and a mild film of stone-spit coated the air, obvious remnants of the minor avalanche.
"What the hell was that?" Kage screamed, looking around.
"What if this castle collapses in on us? Did you ever think about that?" Chainz snapped, glancing cautiously between the ceiling and its crumbled foundation.
"If worse comes to worst, do you think we can somehow prevent that? Maybe with Hokekeruga?" Ishimaru suggested.
Chainz nodded. "We can definitely try."
Lilja let out a sigh, one so exaggerated it echoed, and a vigilant roll of her eyes. When she smiled, it was like a lemon drop. Acrid, but so sugar-sweet. "Please refrain from your artillery fire, boys. The ceiling will not collapse, I assure you of that. What we touched is only a corner piece of the pie. These pretty frescoes cannot be demolished so easy, so please don't stress your cute little faces."
Chainz and Ishimaru blinked. Viola curled in her lip, silent.
"So use your head. It is still screwed to your vertebrae, after all." Lilja said, pointing across the room. They followed her hand, and found Kage trying to reach his partner, Hiro, who looked to be trapped within a boulder enclosure.
"Now's our chance," Chainz said, turning to his partner knowingly.
Ishimaru nodded, reopening the spellbook.
Chainz charged forward, catching Kage momentarily off-guard. "Hiro!" he screamed.
"Ka...Kuraza!"
A shadow spear materialized into Kage's hand, which he immediately sought to fend off Chainz off with. Chainz ducked under the swing of his spear, before driving his elbow into the back of Kage's neck, sending him into the ground and sending his spear sliding across the floor. He continued running, jumped onto one of the semi-broken stalagmites, and began the climb. Kage chased after him, grabbed for his leg, but Chainz sent his foot straight into his face and sent him reeling. When Chainz reached, he found Hiro ducked into a corner, promptly snatched the book from his weak hand, and waved it.
Kage's eyes widened. "No. No! Not like this!"
Viola shoved the barrel of her crossbow against his back. "You're not going anywhere."
"Hokaisho!"
Chainz's laser engulfed the book in a moment, then it fell from his hand as it was taken in by violet fire. Kage gasped, horrified, as his body started sparkling. He looked at his hand and found it transparent, shallow against the sun. Kage drove his elbow, hard, into Viola's collarbone, bringing a yelp from her, and charged over to where his partner was, punching and pulling the rocks away to save him. "Hiro...Hiro!"
When he freed his unhurt partner and helped him over to a safe wall, the marks under his eyes faded, he whirled around to Lilja and Viola with hate in his gray gaze. "You...both of you, are nothing but rats. I wish I could stay longer to see y'all get what's coming to you, but it'll come, believe me. Believe me."
"Viola." Lilja said.
"On it." Viola said, pouncing over to his book, and flinging it against the wall with her crossbow. The remaining half was dissolved by flames, and Kage finally disappeared, arms crossed, half-smiling. His partner was collapsed against the wall, mouth open, unconscious. His book was only ashes.
"What was he talking about?" Chainz asked.
"Nothing of relevance." Lilja replied flippantly. She closed Viola's chartreuse book with a light sound. The crossbow de-materialized. "I am starting to regret these shoes. Pretty, they are, but painful. I am feeling those horrible aching blisters. Gosh, I feel old! Viola, come, come, come, and let's take a glance at that sunset! It looks so grand, yes?"
Viola and Lilja wandered off to admire the sunset from the window, and Chainz walked to Ishimaru. "What do you think he was talking about?"
"No clue, but as long as we're around these two we need to keep on our toes. It seems like they're both playing deliberately dumb...but I don't exactly see why."
Chainz put a hand on his chin, drifted his gaze, then–
"Wait. Where did they go?"
Thus ends the twenty-first chapter. Probably for the next chapter I might have a semi-long authors' note explaining some things, but for now this is for all of you. R&R!