While Diana, Akko and Amanda were escaping from Margareth's hands, the other fourteen witches were also going in search of finding the three girls, which is getting complicated with Ford's defenses in full swing, some creatures were starting to go towards them to attack them, All this while the battle of the trio and the other Diana against Margareth was going on, who ended up trying by all means to hold Ford back from running after her friends, even though she felt an immense pain with the arrow that was pierced, that was why she used the magic she had in her body instead of saving her own life.
A manticora appears on the alternative path that the other group of fourteen witches were taking, stopping a little on the way, to fight against that mixture of lion, with scorpion and dragon that was approaching the seven roaring and acting in the most intimidating way possible.
" Stay cool, let's attack this thing together " said Chariot who was already glowing with her wand.
The others too, until Constanze starts shooting after throwing a grenade towards the creature that jumps in the middle of the explosion and that's when Du Nord threw herself into an impulse hitting a two foot volley into the monster's face that ended up with its belly exposed, being the perfect way Croix found to use a blade spell cutting the belly of the creature that was falling dead to the ground after that one.
" Whew... That was easy... " Said Meridies until more of those manticores start appearing, surrounding her from all sides.
" Shit... There are too many, now we have to think of a better way to attack " Said the Du Nord who was about to start shining her wand aiming at one of the creatures.
Surrounded by five other manticores, the girls went about trying to keep calm, Constanze, Jasminka, Lotte, Morgana, Saori, Chariot and Croix, all who were on the alternate path went about taking deep breaths, waiting for the attack of the manticores who advanced all five at once, right at the time a spell of a magic sphere was done where they jumped up a bit and with that the manticores all collided, even poisoning themselves in the process.
" Whew... It was close, but it's already being great " said the Frenchwoman.
" It's useless to use firearms here, these creatures don't feel a shot " Morgana said as some grenades were thrown amidst the manticores causing some explosions.
This with them still hidden inside the magic bubble, raising the most smoke, but even so they were still there intact the creatures, presenting a tremendous resistance against any of the explosives, even still wounded, it was where Chariot descended and transformed her broom into a sword, where it was already up to one of the manticoras battling against the sting of the creature that was hitting against the magic blade, with that the Meridies also descends to the attack hitting well in the head of one of the creatures about to catch Du Nord by behind, killing it, the others were falling of the bubbles and with the magic were sort of tying the monsters.
" Thanks love, you saved me on that one " Said the Frenchwoman who then landed a precise blow on the head of that struggling manticore.
Only three were missing and those were kind of tied by the rest of the girls that was using some magic ropes to hold them in the same place, that's where Croix and Chariot finished the job stocking the remaining creatures, kind of fighting against the stings with precise defenses made by the "blade" of the swords, until hitting them finishing the monsters.
" This one was more tiring, she possibly already knows our way around, but it's funny because she didn't have a camera detected in this location " said the Italian.
" Maybe she's sending everything she has and the creatures that found us," replies the Frenchwoman.
" Anyway let's go, I even felt useless with those weapons, I should have learned magic if I knew it would save my life that much " Morgana said.
They continued through the alternative route in the labyrinths of the Luna Nova dungeons, all this while the main group was dealing with the manticores as well, but these were already being decimated to zero, with the present synchrony between Laura, Bernadette, Marianne and Hellene that formed a strategy that the creatures practically confused themselves and Rita, Abigail and Sucy just watched.
" They really have fun with magic, I wish I had an ability like that," Rita said.
" You don't need much, Marianne is quite untrained, she's just going in sync with Hellene " Sucy said.
" Let's go! These ones here were from the base " Said Laura and with that they kept going along the path towards the entrance, this time kind of running just to accelerate the tension more thinking that Margareth was watching everything.
They were advancing more and more, the corridors were emptier, there wasn't any creature, at least what they thought it would be until arriving very close where it was the entrance for the hiding place, they come across what seemed a tree trunk, beside a wall, from this trunk turning a face is revealed, it was another one of the creatures that was starting to move taking the roots of the ground trying to impale the seven that were kind of dodging.
" If they are attacking us it is a sign that we are about to come and rescue our lassies " McLaren said.
" Let's keep an eye out, we've almost become root beer kebabs " Hellene said.
At that time pentagrams also came out of the ground and from there some imps were being summoned, these creatures were either armed or with imposing claws, about to attack the seven, five of them were summoned and started to go against the girls who were getting ready.
" You look after the imps, we'll prune this tree," said the Irish woman with the minotaur's axe in hand.
" Those things are just scary," said Leclerc.
" My biggest fear is losing my sister," said the motivated younger Cavendish.
The imps were starting to go for the girls, first Laura and Bernadette, but they were intercepted by Hellene and Marianne who hit the monsters, as well as Sucy, Rita and Abigail who were helping with that too, starting a fight of the witches using their spells against the imps.
" Let's see if you infernal creatures are as strong as we are," Rita said excitedly after throwing a fireball towards the imp.
Abigail on the other hand made a glyph of ice with the little she learned also attacking the demonic creature, somehow trying an attack, Hellene was going for the pure beating, using magic only as a way to amplify the strength, already Marianne created a sword of magic and was going for the sword battle with a imp armed with one too, already Sucy used the potions, which ended up turning the roots into mushrooms and that way making a barrier against the imp's attack.
" This is too cool " Said the lively younger redhead slapping the imp.
" Tell me about it, but it's making me tired " said her girlfriend.
Laura and Bernadette dodged the roots and also went on cutting the ones on the way, mainly McLaren when using the minotaur's axe, where she gives a whole impulse with power towards the stem, reaching the point of cutting a big part of it, what ended up also leaving her vulnerable.
The older redhead cleverly used an instant carry magic, stopping where the axe handle was, thus pushing further back, already the imps kept being summoned, Bernadette was giving a little of the rear to her wife, hitting more roots that were going up to her, which was being a very useful strategy.
" What a fucking thick log from hell " McLaren said forcing until the axe finally came out with her throwing herself backwards, but being saved by the woman who then pushes her further back.
The Irishwoman gives a wink then thrusts the axe with everything against the trunk and with that this time the axe crosses with intensity the stem of that trunk, even stopping the invocations of devils and also the root, her wife gives just a little backwards on the trunk that falls all broken relieving a lot the bar for them.
" Whew... We're already at the wall, all we have to do is try to bring this thing down," said Laura.
" Diana! Amanda! Akko! We are here! " Said Hellene excitedly and started punching the wall hard, but to no avail.
" Stop being stupid lassie, let's use the log that fell to knock this thing down, it makes a perfect battering ram," said the red-headed mother, who was beginning to mould it with the wood from the log.
They were already starting to assemble a battering ram to break that wall once and for all and gain the access to that corridor, already the other group was still having trouble with some manticores that were changing the way, going up them.
The trio of the girls was only in the concern of arriving until the exit, the three went running together only waiting the exit, for the corridors where they had not passed, that even so still had defenses.
" Damn her, she won't even let us escape in peace, now she has these traps " Amanda said.
" This is a sign that we are getting out of here," Akko said.
" At least away from their hands we are, she won't get there in time to disturb us," Diana said.
" I hope so, see if you can turn your mouth around, let's not think about the worst, I don't want to go back to that hell, I ended up pissing my trousers because of how disgusting that hole was " said O'Neill.
" Me too, I couldn't take it, I had no choice, that hole was disgusting " Kagari said.
" I didn't even have that option... She watched me every second, but what difference did it make, after the worst that happened I just accepted that " said Cavendish already half"headed.
" Things are going to get better Cavendish, now let's get rid of the clutches of that cursed one," said the American.
" She paid what she deserved and if she comes here she will take another arrow and with respect " said the Japanese woman.
" You two really cheer me up, thank you for that support," said the Scot.
Even with the traps they didn't give up still continuing through the path, trying somehow to reach the end, all they could see was the corridor at the end, dodging all the pendulums and saws that were on the way, besides the flamethrowers, looking like a strange phase of some videogame, but that being very real and equally deadly, while below there was also a pit of thorns that they couldn't fall at all.
On the other side in the corridor of the cells, Margaret was visibly hurt, she is getting up, using magic to heal the hole that was left in her belly, still quite alive and getting pain for the first time in years.
" Damn them! Damn them! They won't get away! Shit! I've got to get out of here with Diana. I've got to get the hell out of here with Diana or else I could lose everything! " Ford said after healing herself and looking at the body of her creation on the floor.
She heals the creature's body, then takes it to the laboratory, checks its vital signs, noticing that it was still alive, which ends up making her open a smile on her face, and with that she starts to tie it up like a package, including the boot inside a box, and puts it on a cart, where she picks up a mobile phone.
[Glastonbury Laundry what can we help?].
[Margareth: I have a cargo I need you to take to the address on the envelope, I need it delivered immediately, it will be at a location near the Luna Nova sewer outlet].
[We will already be forwarding the delivery of your package to you in 10 minutes, it will cost £20,000].
[Margareth: There's 50,000 in the envelope, the change is all yours].
Benson takes the box to a hole she made herself for the deliveries, where she was already making the box being taken with all the things inside, there was Diana and also some books and pen drives where she kept all the information she gathered that time written down.
" Now they will never get my Diana again, I just need to win this fight now, I think there is still time to capture those brats back, even so I will get rid of this place as soon as possible " Said Margareth talking to herself.
She was starting to dismantle the whole lab, everything she had in the dungeon, any trace of digital that she had of it, was being thrown away, inside a dump she made herself, washing the place with also the help of magic to speed everything up, as much as it was a tremendous redflag it was where she saw the opportunity, without even seeing how the progress of the defences was she only prioritised one single thing.
" Now you three are going to know what the real Margaret Ford is," said the brownish girl, tensing her muscles and starting to run towards the exit.
In the meantime the group of the seven main witches was trying by all means to bring down the wall, but it was more resistant than it seemed, even with the strength of seven witches pushing multiple battering rams it was no use, it only caused noise, that is until another seven came, which was quite a help.
" Chariot! Croix! Help us break down this wall! " said Laura.
And so were five more joining to bring down the wall, since Saori and Morgana didn't have magic they kind of kept watch armed, this time the force of the shaking of the beats much more intense, breaking the wall little by little.
The trio of girls was slowly reaching the end of the corridor, coming across the staircase beside where they were feeling the impacts of that being knocked down, but they also saw a lever, where they pulled to help and with that they were almost hit by the flying logs, opening the passage.
" Diana! Akko! Amanda! " They all went shouting for them who were soon after running towards them in a hug.
The three missing girls were finally received and rescued by the fourteen heroines, an all group hug, now they were seventeen, all together after a whole week of agonies and tensions, they finally found a peace, even if still inside that scary place.
" Are you all right?" asks a concerned party.
" Now that we've been rescued yes, but I'm starving, we haven't seen a plate of food in five days " O'Neill said
" Tell me about it, but let's get out of here I just want to finally be free of this hell " Kagari said.
" Wait... What about Margaret? We may have our chance to get her for good and end all this, are we just going to stand here and wait? " Cavendish said.
" Our priority is you, we can find Margaret's whereabouts later, let's go back and get them safe," Laura said.
And even though the eldest daughter disagrees a little, she decides to follow her mother, and they all take only a few steps, until they hear sarcastic clapping and the footsteps of someone walking, all seventeen turn back, seeing the fearless Margaret Ford.
" Congratulations, congratulations, you really have managed to get out of your cells, but what a disobedient little witch " Benson said all cheerful.
" What? You were supposed to be dead! That ballista went through you and Diana's body, you were not supposed to be here " Cavendish said in shock.
" Oh how sad, isn't it? The world is unfair, I'll always remind you that today's Diana, I'm not that easy to kill, I even risk healing myself because I know I still have an advantage over you guys " Said the witch all intimidating.
" We are seventeen against one, you should be scared shitless, it's no longer an unfair fight, you get ready against us," Amanda said getting into a fighting stance.
" You guys don't even think about fighting her, go to your room and take your staff, we will more than handle this witch, let's see now if you can still hold your own against the same more powerful witches you faced in 2007 " Said Laura who was starting to crack her fists.
" I'm scared to death " said Margareth debauching the situation.
" Go! " Said the furious McLaren ordering the three to go.
" We're not leaving, we're going to try every chance we can, this damn thing has caused me the worst, I'm not going to give this monster any more chances to survive," Diana said pointing at Ford.
" Diana! This is a matter of life and death! She can't have Claiomh Solais on her hands and neither can I lose you! " said her mother scolding her.
" She already did it once and it was horrible and the staff she will never have because it won't accept her, let's all unite, join our forces to put an end to the terror of Margaret Ford, you don't know what it is to suffer at the hands of this witch mother... You don't know the horrible things I had to go through because of her " Said the eldest daughter raising her voice even more and simply the witch was just getting quiet.
" It makes no difference if you run away or not, it's even better that you are together, I don't want to get involved in the family feud, but you need to get together if you want to endure without dying here and now, if your girls run away with the staff you will die and I will kidnap them again, simple as that " said Margaret shrugging her shoulders.
Now things got very tense, the older ones did not want to let the newly rescued ones fight for protection, but they were not afraid at all, on the contrary they saw a motivation to try some movement against the witch.
Things were getting better, this time the meeting could happen, Diana, Amanda and Akko were rescued from the hands of Margaret Ford, but she still didn't die even after that arrow, just like she is right in front of all the witches showing a huge confidence as if it was nothing, just child's play.
See you, hostage witches...