Lus catapulted himself off the ridge, flying through the air with arc energy like a missile towards the city ramparts. The guards upon them quickly sounded the alarm and attempted to mobilize before being evaporated by Lus' impact upon the walls, shattering them.
Right behind him is Ginzo, rushing in with flaming knives in his hands, all of which a fatal gift for the soldiers trying to move to defend their city. Without much resistance, they're all incinerated to ashes as Ginzo rushes past them and prepares another fan of Knives. The Titan and Hunter rush to meet the now alert army of soldiers heading their way, all of whom are quickly interrupted and atomized due to a devastating beam of energy from Anan on the right flank.
"That's it for the non-hiveified soldiers!" Jose said, flying over the battlefield on flaming wings. "And now for the Hive!"
Jose burst forward over the inner walls towards the now angry horde of Wrathborn Agarthan soldiers, before summoning a Dawnblade and plunging it directly into one, creating a Well of Radiance. Jose whipped out his Lorentz Driver, and landed a perfect headshot on a soldier, creating an anomaly that sucked a chunk in and erased them.
"Detecting Hornet's signal…" Ori calmly stated as Leona rushed to meet with Jose. "It is within the Tower on our left side. Marking it now."
Leona shifted her vector towards the tower, the ground quaking beneath her fleet as the Titaness stomped through the city. But the ground ahead of her quaked too, as a colossal hulk of a metallic being stomped to be in her path.
"The hell is that?" Ginzo let out while simultaneously releasing a Shadowshot upon a heavily armored Agarthan soldier.
"Nothing to be worried about!" Leona replied, her fists swirling with Arc energy as she ran at full speed towards it, the hulk doing the same to her. Leona easily dodged a swing from the hulk with her velocity and comparatively small stature, before Shoulder Charging through one of the hulk's legs, quickly immobilizing it. Leona kept running towards the tower, her speed nearly unchanged.
Anan filled himself with Void energy, phasing around the battlefield towards their target and phasing enemies out of existence. Another hulking thing, the same type that Leona crumpled, marched to be in the path of Anan. Anan barely even acknowledged the Titanus, blinking through it before turning around and slicing into fourths using a larger-than-normal Dawnblade. Anan kept to the skies as they rushed towards their targets.
"Lord Solon!"
Solon nearly growled as a grunt came screaming into his chambers.
"What, fool?" Solon bit, busy maintaining the spell on their specimen.
"We're under at-"
The grunt was rendered to mere ashes as he was struck by a flaming arrow that melted through the walls of the chamber. Solon's eyes widened as he prepared for an attack that never came, acting almost paranoid with dark magic at the ready.
Suddenly, Solon felt two daggers pierce through his chest, covered in what looked to be a purple mist. Solon screamed in agony as his attacker revealed himself.
"Teleport from this, old man!" Ginzo bit as he twisted his Spectral Blades to bisect Solon. Solon couldn't even retaliate before he became mere halves on the floor.
The chains that wound and bound Hornet dissipated, and Hornet quickly resurrected Moa.
"I'm back!... I'm back?" Moa questioned, patting down her body
"Sorry!" Ginzo quickly gestured. "I didn't expect them to kill you!"
"I'll rant later, but thanks for saving me!" Moa replied, readying herself. "But it's strange, I thought they took my Light! I guess I'm fine?"
As the rest of the Guardians arrived in the chamber and quickly grimaced at Solon's body, the group exchanged quick pleasantries with their returned comrade.
"Now, we find the Celebrant." Anan announced.
However, the Guardians were rocked to the floor as the tower they were in began to fall forward. They were sent to the ceiling as the structure continued falling, before resulting in a loud crash that resonated throughout the city.
Save for their shields being depleted, the Guardians were unharmed and quickly recovered, but now were face to face with another army marching towards them, and at the head of it was the High Celebrant, alongside other Hive units.
"Or he finds us." Lus shrugged, flying into the fray with a Thundercrash.
As the Guardians rushed to clear out their foes, Anan paused for a moment as he felt a presence behind him. The foe tried to lunge forward and plunge a dagger into Anan, but Anan blinked away as if the act of dodging was pathetic to him. Anan looked to his attacker to see a gray-skinned woman with orange hair wickedly smiling and licking her blade.
"Aww, professor!" The foe whined. "You're no fun!"
"I'm sorry." Anan laughed. "Do I know you?"
"Wow…I thought you'd be brighter than that, professor! It's me! Monica!" the foe laughed. "Or rather, Kronya."
"Ah." Anan merely nodded before turning to help his team.
"Hey! Don't run!" Kronya yelled, chasing after Anan.
Anan sighed as he turned to Kronya, blinking towards her before grabbing her neck and slamming her to the ground.
"Know your place. I intend to savor your death." Anan bit, his hand radiating Solar that burned Kronya's neck.
Kronya grimaced from the pain, but latched a hand onto Anan's arm, before using one of her tails to stab the Warlock in the side.
At first, Anan thought nothing of it. But then he felt his Light vanish, causing a wave of weakness to crash over his body and for him to fall to his knees.
"Not so tough now, huh?" Kronya teased, rising up and pushing Anan to the floor. "Do you like my new tricks?"
Kronya slowly marched towards the Warlock, licking her blade. "I hope you don't mind me cutting you up! Not like you have a choice."
And as Kronya tried to take another step, she couldn't. To her shock, she peered down and saw two thick blocks of dark-blue ice sealing her to the floor.
"I said…" Anan sighed, standing up. "Know. Your. Place."
Anan, launched a blast of Stasis that completely encased Kronya, freezing her in a state of shock and horror.
"Your Highness, may I come in?"
Hubert knocked at Edelgard's door, holding an ice cold wet towel, as well as a bucket of ice cold water. Once he received permission, he quickly entered into Edelgard's room, so as to not attract any unwanted attention.
Inside was Edelgard sitting upright on her bed, holding a towel to her neck. Across which was a second-degree burn from a flaming sword. Edelgard quickly thanked Hubert, swapping out her towel for the fresh one that Hubert had brought in.
"Prof-no, Anan is a far bigger threat than I had anticipated. All of the Guardians are." Edelgard sighed, pressing her cold compress deeper.
"Lady Edelgard, rest assured, I am looking for a way to-"
"It's fine, Hubert. There's nothing you can do. I don't want you to get killed foolishly like that."
Edelgard laid back and stared at her ceiling. "My plan is being destroyed right before my eyes, and I'm powerless to stop it."
"Perhaps you could enlist the help of Professor Byleth?" Hubert suggested.
"Even he is probably no match for the Guardians. They're the closest thing to gods in their own right."
Hubert fell silent as he brooded and thought, bringing his hand up to his chin.
"Perhaps it's time the Flame Emperor is no more then."
Edelgard snapped up, shocked at Hubert's notion. "Are you mad? Won't they find us and enshackle us once again?"
"To our knowledge, The Guardians don't know you and the Flame Emperor are one and the same." Hubert spoke. "If they come looking for us, all we must do is call out in distress and they'll save us."
"And I give up control." Edelgard flatly stated.
As much as she despised relying on outside factors, Hubert had a point. The Guardians frequently bested Those Who Slither In The Dark several times. So much so that the Death Knight hasn't been seen since. And if nothing else, the Guardians were much more tangible than the Goddess.
"I hate this." Edelgard whined, tears forming in her eyes. "Realizing that your dreams may never be brought to fruition is crushing."
Hubert quickly stood and hurried to the bedside, kneeling and wiping away Edelgard's tears before offering her a tissue.
"Perhaps they won't be crushed, but rather reformed." Hubert tried. "The future has changed, for better and for worse."
Edelgard continued to wipe away her tears. "It's hard to be an optimist when you've known so much pain…"
"The right path is never easy." Hubert comforted, smiling at Edelgard. "I'll do everything in my power to make sure your dreams are realized. It is my duty, after all."
"Hubert, please don't be a fool. You and I both know you're no match for the Guardians." Edelgard nearly chuckled.
"Your words do sting slightly," Hubert grit his teeth, looking away. "But you're right. I know that very well. Everything we have done to undermine them has failed. And their power lie far beyond any power on Fodlan. That is why I suggested you drop the Flame Emperor moniker." Hubert sighed, dipping the old towel back into the ice-cold water. "Trickery, treachery, and deceit are all things I know very well. But there may be no need for them if we go to the Guardians with an honest plea."
Edelgard scoffed, the notion asinine to her. "And what would we ask of them?"
Hubert smiled. Not a devilish or sinister one, but rather a hopeful one, the look intriguing Edelgard. "To achieve your dreams. To help make Fodlan a better place."
Anan felt his light slowly returning, but certainly not fast enough to help in this battle. He switched to comms to announce the news. "I was hit by one of their Light-Suppressing techniques. I am still combat-worthy with Stasis, but I don't know when it will return."
"That's fantastic!" Ginzo sarcastically replied, dodging a slam from an Ogre before unloading a Golden Gun shot into its head.
"Don't worry!" Moa said. "It takes away your light for a time, but it's not perfected! If you die it's not a permanent one!… I think!"
"How sure are we about that?!" Ginzo asked, rolling out of the way of another Ogre.
"Pretty sure!" Hornet answered. "Thales took Moa's light, or at least suppressed it, so it's probably just like a Suppressor grenade! The Hive are probably still able to fully kill us though!"
"Anyone got eyes on the Celebrant?" Jose asked, flying across the field raining down fire.
"Yeah!" Leona confirmed, slamming a Burning Maul into the side of the High Celebrant. "Currently Fighting him!"
The High Celebrant flinched at Leona's mighty blow, but quickly recovered and punched the ground, shaking it and throwing Leona to the floor. "I could use some help though!"
"I'm right here!" Moa answered, leaping through the air and nailing the Celebrant with a Shadowshot, before hitting it with a Blade Barrage.
Leona used the opening Moa created to unload all rounds of her Hawkmoon into the Celebrant, the bullets ripping through its armor. Still, Xivu Arath's champion stood strong, this time harnessing Xivu Arath's will to restrain the Guardians.
Leona and Moa felt a crushing will heavier than any weight press down upon them, disorienting and discombobulating them.
"This thing…" Moa let out, shakily righting herself. "Is actually pretty tough! Can anyone else help us?"
"Hold on, I'm coming!" Lus replied, emptying his Dead Messenger into a horde of Hive-infused Agarthans. The Solar wave scorched the Agarthans, the heat causing them to drop like flies. But behind them stood another wave, this one managing to launch a few spells towards Lus.
Lus threw up a barricade, using it as cover while he reloaded his weapons. But at his feet appeared a dark compass, signifying a dangerous spell. The Titan tried to dodge at the last moment, but his feet got hit with a blast of Dark-Hive magic, briefly separating him from his Light.
As the Titan attempted to right himself, another sigil appeared at his feet. This time Lus wasn't able to dodge and was fully hit by the Light suppressing magic.
"Dammit!" Lus cursed, hesitating for only a moment before calling upon Stasis, slamming the ground and causing crystals to slice through the Agarthans, freezing some while tearing others apart. Lus quickly used the victory to change course for Leona and Moa, whom he saw dead ahead of him struggling against the Celebrant and Xivu Arath's will.
Ginzo released arrows like a factory, the Solar arrows splitting apart and causing explosions throughout the battlefield burning the Agarthans. His attention quickly split to an Ogre running towards him, before he felt the ground behind him shake, making him spin around and fire arrows into a colossal Titanus with a green aura. His bow did minimal damage as the Titanus charged its blade with Hive runes and slammed the ground, releasing a wave of green energy that Ginzo narrowly dodged.
Ginzo came out of a roll bumping into an Ogre, which snagged his foot and took him into the air, before slamming him down. Ginzo quickly summoned an Arc Staff, ramming it through the Ogre's hand as it tried to slam him once again, but was hit by another wave of energy by the Titanus, suppressing his light and leaving him between a rock and a hard place.
The Ogre, this time charged with fury, once again tried to slam the ground and crush Ginzo, but found itself turned to ashes by Jose planting a Well of Radiance by Ginzo, helping the Hunter up.
"Yeah, these Light suppressors are definitely a problem!" Ginzo said, regaining his footing
"Ginzo, retreat!" Anan ordered, running to Jose and Ginzo. "You don't have Stasis, so you won't have light for a while!"
"I-I'm fine, I think!" Ginzo brushed off. "I mean, I still got this cool bow!"
"Just don't push it!" Anan relented, quickly freezing the Titanus in Stasis before shattering it.
"On the bright side…" Jose began, firing a Lorenz Driver bolt into an Agarthan which voided it and its allies. "I think that was the last big guy, and the smaller fry are growing shorter in number!"
"Let's help the others!" Anan spoke, rushing towards an already struggling Lus, Moa, and Leona.
Lus slammed into the Celebrant with the full might of a Shiver strike, making it reel and step backward. Lus then used the Celebrant as a springboard, leaping even further in the air before slamming into its head with another one.
Leona used Lus' momentum to ram a Shield in the Celebrant's side, summoning a maul to hammer the shield in even deeper, making the Celebrant scream in agony.
Ginzo quickly swapped his Ticuu's Divination for Cloudstrike, rapidly unloading into the Celebrant's head, creating a storm upon it.
Jose leaped into the air above and boosted towards the Celebrant, slam dunking a Nova Bomb that forced the Celebrant to kneel.
Suddenly, the Celebrant vanished in a Taken flash, leaving only a blighted orb.
"Aw, come on!" Ginzo yelled. "Where'd he go?"
"What's this orb?" Moa asked, reaching out to tap it.
"Don't touch it!" Hornet scolded before a Hawkmoon shot ripped through the orb.
The orb then collapsed and made a portal.
"It's probably in the Ascendant Plane." Anan answered, walking to the portal. "Let's hurry up and finish this."
"Woah Woah Woah! Wait a second man!" Ginzo blurted. "Only three of us fully have our light!"
"But we can still resurrect, right?" Lus posed.
"I mean…" Hornet began. "Y-yeah? I still don't know the specifics of why their Light-suppressing magic doesn't allow us to be fully killed."
"We're wasting time. I'm going in." Anan stated flatly, stepping into the portal.
"Wait-Alone?!" Ginzo yelled.
"I'll go as well. Ginzo and Lus, you guys stay outside and wait." Leona ordered.
"We can help too-" Lus tried.
"It's not worth the risk." Leona shook her head, sticking a foot in.
"There's always a risk!"
"Just listen!" Leona retorted, raising her voice. "We won't be long."
Leona jumped into the portal, causing Moa and Jose to follow.
"Damn." Ginzo sighed. "What's up with that?"
"Why the hell does she think she's in charge?" Lus groaned.
"Well…" Cinnamon began. "She is the most accomplished person here."
"Not helping."
Ginzo and Lus felt the ground shake, making them turn around to see two more Hive Titanuses approaching them.
"There's more?" Ginzo sighed, rushing to meet them in battle.
"Uhh-Scorn?!" Cinnamon exclaimed, confused. "We have Scorn coming in too! Not a lot, but it's enough to cause problems!"
"What?" Lus let out, turning to see a Dark Ether cloud forming. "How?"
"Uhh, guys?" Cinnamon talked over comms, trying to contact the rest of the team.. "Just a heads up, but we have Scorn out here!… Guys? Anyone? Come in!"
Cinnamon kept calling out for the other fireteam, but to no avail. "I can't reach them!"
"This is great!" Ginzo let out, rolling to dodge slams from the hulking things. "Lus, let's switch! You take the big guys, I'll clear the Scorn out!"
"Got it!" Lus said, calling upon Stasis before slamming through the legs of a Titanus.
Ginzo whipped out his new bow and began slinging arrows towards the now attacking Scorn, easily blowing them up and tearing through them.
Lus, now having severed the legs of one Titanus, charged his fists with Stasis as he latched onto its body, temporarily freezing his arms to it. Lus then fought to pick it up, lifting it a few feet off the ground before swinging it around and toppling the other Titanus. Lus then let go, jumping high into the air and slamming down to the ground with a glacial fist, penetrating through both targets.
Lus then turned to Ginzo, slamming the ground and freezing a wave of Raiders which were surrounding the Hunter. Ginzo then spun, releasing arrows everywhere which combusted the Scorn left.
"Hah…is that all of them?" Ginzo sighed, lowering his weapon as he surveyed the field, littered with bodies of Scorn, Hive, Agarthans, and Titanuses.
"I think so…" Cinnamon spoke. "Not detecting anything else."
"Holy hell…we actually did it…" Lus sighed. "Well, out here at least.
But suddenly both Ginzo and Lus shivered as a deep, dark chill shot up their spines. It even made the Ghosts hesitate for a moment before the feeling was gone.
"Huh…" Ginzo let out, eyes darting around. "Just got the chills…"
"Yeah, same." Lus nodded. "Cinnamon, are you picking anything up?"
"No, not at all." Cinnamon shook. "Whatever that was, it's gone."
"Hmm…has anyone seen Thales, or sharkboy, or whatever we're calling him?" Fortune tried.
"That's a good point, I mean I got the old creaky librarian dude, but honestly, even a good ol' huff and a puff would've turned him to dust," Ginzo answered. "He's not coming up on any scans?"
"Nada," Fortune replied. "But even if he did, I don't think he caused us to feel…whatever that was."
"We'll have to keep an eye out, I guess." Lus sighed, lowering his weapon and stretching. "For now, I guess we wait until everyone comes back."
Ginzo laid down on the floor, limbs outstretched. He shifted as if he was going to take a nap, but quickly saw Lus lift a few inches off the ground.
"Oh, I think your Light is back!" Ginzo cheered, pointing at a levitating Lus.
"Oh, you too!" Lus replied, doing the same to Ginzo. "But I don't feel anything…"
"But you're floating." Ginzo deadpanned, looking down at himself doing the same. "...Me too…uhh, help?"
"I-I can't move!" Lus gawked, trying to struggle as he was lifted into the sky. "Cinnamon, what's going on?"
"I don't know! We're getting pulled by an unknown force!"
"Guys, help!" Ginzo called out into the team channel, to no avail. "Anyone? We're kinda in a pickle out here!"
Ginzo struggled in the air, trying to break free. "Okay, no more jokes, help is needed urgently! Emergency! Mayday! Just please help us!"
"Please help!" Fortune called out. "Please?"
The Guardians and their Ghosts disappeared in a flash of light.
Leona, Anan, Moa, and Jose tore through hordes of Hive in the Ascendant Plane, making their way to a central tower where the High Celebrant was currently shelling them with shots from its Boomer cannon.
Even with his Light suppressed and slowly coming back, Anan sliced and diced his way through Acolytes and Thrall with his Black Talon, leaving a path of Hive chitin and body parts behind him, which were subsequently crushed by Leona's furious Arc-filled charge, electrocuting any Hive soldier that made it through or even dared to try to flank them.
Jose soared through the dimension like a fighter jet, held up by wings of flame and his weapon a blazing sword. Discs of fire turned the ensuing onslaught of Hive into mere ashes. Moa's light was still weakened, but she more than made up for it by the way her Shadowshots pinned down any Hive soldiers that reinforced the Hive's futile defense against the Guardians.
As the Guardians pushed past the High Celebrant's last line of defense, it once again called upon Xivu Arath to stun the Guardians but was swiftly met by Jose stabbing his Dawnblade in its face, creating a Well of Radiance that burned the Celebrant.
The Celebrant was quickly inundated by a flurry of Arc-empowered punches from Leona, forcing it back. Leona endured a retaliatory stomp from the Celebrant, by jumping and hugging one of the Celebrant's legs. Leona landed and began to try to tear away one of the legs by sheer strength.
Moa finished off a last wave of Hive before handing off the last stragglers to Anan, the Huntress rolling back before leaping up and spinning, unleashing a Blade Barrage into an already overwhelmed Celebrant, forcing it to kneel. The Huntress used the rest of her airtime to launch a Shadowshot into it, forcing the Celebrant to kneel. Anan diverted a sliver of his attention to the Celebrant, shooting forth Penumbral Blasts to freeze it, before doing the same to a rapidly approaching slew of Thralls.
Leona used this opportunity to plant a shield into the neck of the Celebrant, before hammering it in using a flaming maul, forcing the Celebrant to reel back, exposing its chest to the sky.
Jose took to the skies once again, before swan diving with a flaming sword, penetrating all the way through the Celebrant, ripping a hole through it.
The Celebrant gave one last cry, before accepting its death. But its voice boomed into the minds of the Guardians as if to commend them.
'WELL FOUGHT GUARDIANS. MY STRENGTH LIVES ON THROUGH YOU'
And with their target finally defeated, the battlefield fell silent as the last Thrall perished, save for the howling cosmic winds of the Ascendant Plane.
"Holy shit…we finally did it!" Jose cheered. "We killed it!"
"A lot easier than I thought." Leona mused. "Although we did beat the hell out of it in the normal world."
"No more enemy signals detected," Glaucia added. "We're in the clear."
Moa tapped into the team comms channel. "We did it! The Celebrant is dead!"
But no response was heard from the outside.
"Guys? You busy?" Hornet tried. "Celebrant's dead."
"Huh…" Jose mused. "Maybe they're still fighting?"
"Yeah." Leona nodded. "Let's go help."
Ginzo, and Lus groggily awakened laid out on the floor in a dark, brutalist area, in no small part due to Fortune and Cinnamon pestering them.
"Gah…" Lus spoke, opening his eyes. "What…what happened"
"We got abducted," Ginzo spoke, holding his head for his throbbing headache. "And I bit the hell out of my tongue. But where are we? This looks strangely familiar, but I don't know from where?"
They looked around. They were surrounded by ziggurats, what looked to be chess pieces, preserved...things, and...
Pyramids.
This place looked like a dark museum, made up of an unknown dark metal that was wholly cold to the touch.
"No sign of anyone around here!" Cinnamon called out. "At all!"
"Leona?" Lus tried over comms, receiving no answer. "Moa? Jose? Anan? Does anyone hear us?"
"Nothing!" Cinnamon cried. "We're alone."
"My...my Light is definitely back..." Lus spoke, charging his fist with Arc. "But...why? This place feels so overwhelming. Did it give us our Light back?"
"Now, as I said, I've been to the Hellmouth alone...but this place..." Ginzo trailed off.
"This place scares me..." Fortune let out, quickly hiding with Ginzo. "I wanna go home"
"I think we all do." Ginzo nodded.
The Guardians and their Ghosts were stranded on a lone platform made from the dark material, but in front of them levitated forth a path, formed by pyramid fragments and splinters.
But most notable of all, was a lone voice that resonated throughout their bodies, shaking them to their core.
"Welcome. We have so much to show you."
Hey all! How's everyone doing? I don't have much to say here, but just a quick thanks for the continued support and reads from everyone. It makes me smile! Anyway, things are heating up! As always I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see y'all in the next chapter!