"With that type of aim, you might as well be at target practice, dear," Rosa taunted, flicking her gun up at the group of Affinity that had tried desperately to fire arrows at her. One that had received the brunt of the insults, sneered in a squawking fashion and raised its bow once more to fire at the witch. With a swift step to the side, the arrow flew by with a whistle, causing her hair to flow in the wind.
"Oh dear, now that is just pitiful!" Rosa said, bringing a hand to her cheek with pitiful eyes. Her mouth is obscured with her face mask, but she protruded her lips in a pout, as to mock the angel even more. With a raging screech, it charged her, as well as the other angels surrounding her.
With a small smirk, Rosa lept into the air with a graceful swing and came down onto the Affinities with force and proficiencies. Popping off each angel with a precise shot, her body dancing through their attacks like they weren't even there.
To face the forces of Paradiso again, brought a much-needed rejuvenation to Rosa's spirit. Despite the impending doom the Umbra were facing, Rosa couldn't help but feel joyful when slaying the Laguna in such a brutal matter.
The Unforgiven guns would unleash deafening shot after shot, blowing entire holes out of the angel's bodies, as they fell like pheasants at the hands of a hunter in an open field. Their holy blood sprayed across the cobblestone ground, painting everything crimson red. The quick hands of Inferno greedily snatch eat body like a starving animal.
Once all of the Affinities had been eliminated, Rosa could turn her attention to the distant looming Clock Tower. Amidst the different alleyways between buildings, she could see Umbra running towards it. The angels above were pursuing them, swooping down from the night sky with spears and javelins at the ready.
Rosa had been occupied trying to find Cereza but had no luck. She wasn't going to make progress just looking around aimlessly in a crumbling city. She knew she had to find the others to make sure she wasn't with them. She had an apprehensive feeling about meeting at the Clock Tower. Seeing the Laguna chasing them to the center of the city, she could see her sisters getting cornered and meeting such a helpless end.
Rosa spun up her weapons in her hands, setting off towards the Umbran symbol.
"You shall not pass here! These are sacred grounds!" An Umbra witch cried as a legion of charging Accolade approached a great bridge in a unified line. The witch and the other sisters that stood by her prepared themselves as the horsemen thundered closer. As soon as they were in distance, the witches' bodies swayed and warped in one fluid motion, as they charged out their Wicked Weaves. The combined forces of demonic fists, feet, claws, and even tendrils, blew through the Accolades' line of offense.
"Keep them back, they shall not take what is rightfully ours!" A powerful and resounding cry pierced through the night. The voice belonged to the Umbran Elder, who was adorned with the Crescent Moon symbol and remained cloaked in minimal black robes. But she was not unprepared.
In each hand, she wielded serrated whips. The teeth of each blade stacked and layered over one another like plated scales. A metallic red hue is prominent through the weapons' lengths. The hilt is adorned with bright crimson red jewels, resembling the same color scheme as her whips. A weapon that required finesse and absolute mastery to be used proficiently against all angels. One that the Elder had learned long ago to do, and has been a menace to the holy warriors since.
"I will not let the vision of a delusional Lumen Sage or the armies of the Laguna be the reason the Umbra Clan falls. We are more than that! And we will not falter here. Not now, or ever!" She declared, pointing her weapon towards to next set of angels charging across the bridge. "Ready yourselves!"
With a new sense of encouragement from their EIder, the witches took their stances to break off the next line of attack. As the next wave approached, the witches danced through their attacks with such swiftness and fluid movement, the angels barely had any time to react as another set of Wicked Weaves came plowing through Paradios' forces.
But what the witches hadn't seen was a looming shadow above, bringing its mighty sword down onto the unsuspecting Umbra. The Elder titled her head to shift her eyes just in time to see two Valor knights, swinging down with their swords, with shields in hand. The Elder lept from her spot behind her sisters and met the Laguna mid-air, her whips dancing through the sky.
With a mighty swing from both arms, her whips lashed out. Slithering through the air, like snakes maneuvering through the sand. She managed to snag them by their arms and pull them down with a powerful jerk. The Laguna was caught off guard and plummeted to the ground below as the whips had let go.
Crashing to the debris below, the Valor knights struggled to regain their balance. The Elder landed with a subtle 'thunk' to the stone ground, her whips to the side and at the ready.
"You will have to try better than that," She said, as she whisked one of her whips around in a taunting fashion.
The Valor regained their footing and charged once more. With arms outstretched, the Elder rose her wrists and flicked the whips one after the other in quick succession, gaining speed as the angels neared her position. Their swords were thrust up into the air and came down onto the Umbra. But she had been faster, displacing herself into the Witch Time to leap over their heads and wring the serrated lasso around their necks. Coming back to reality, she drove herself down onto the ground, pulling her whips with her. The Valor fell once more, the serrated blades had cut deep into their angelic forms.
Climbing to their feet once more, the angels let out a barbaric cry, one that seemed unusual for an angel to make. But considering their necks were still oozing with Laguna blood, their cries were warranted.
One had taken the charge first, raising its shield as it did. It's sword to its side, at the ready. The Elder used her right whip to attempt to disarm the shield. She let loose an attack, trying to push the shield away. But when she cracked the whip, the angel swung its sword to disengage the whip's attack, tossing it back like a worthless rope. The whip hasn't been severed, but the Elder now had to make the quick decision to try and evade the charging Valor's. She pulled herself over the shield and safely landed. But her success was soon squandered as the other Valor had already begun to charge, and was upon the Elder.
She swung her two whips together in a parallel motion and spun around the way a dancer would. The serrated blades of the whip met the Valor's neck once more, and this time finished the job by completely severing the head from the body.
The angel's figure stood motionless for a moment before dropping to its knees and keeling over to its side in defeat. But the hands of Inferno were already there to grace the angel's body to its final resting place.
The other Valor wasted no time to turn back around and attempt one long overheard attack with its lengthened sword. The blade came down with faint whistling noise. The Elder merely stepped back a footstep for the blade to just barely miss her. Its heavy sword now wedged in the stone, it could not remove it, tugging and struggling to heave it back out.
"Pitiful," The Elder sneered.
She raised her whips to finish off the stuck angel, but a figure had arisen into the sky behind it, the moonlight obscuring their identity. They landed atop of Valor's shoulders and unfurled a volley of bullets into its head before it even had time to look up and see what was happening.
The angel's body collapsed, the figure riding its body down to the ground as it shook the earth beneath it as it crumbled.
The Elder looked up to see who had taken her last kill. Her eyes widened behind her masked face, as she recognized the clanging chains hanging from the figure's body.
Rosa strutted off the dead angel just as the demonic hands grabbed a hold of it. She stopped within a few feet of the Elder, her guns lay idle by her side.
The two were silent for a moment, their eyes locked as the battle around them continued. The witches at the bridge were managing to keep the angels away on their own, but a few Affinity managed to break through and had to be dealt with the other trainee witches struggling in the back.
"I see someone had the bright idea of finally letting you out of that cage," The Elder remarked, her words seemed lighter in a tone than Rosa had anticipated. However, her eyes didn't surrender from their staredown, neither did the fire behind them.
"It would not have been a problem if I hadn't been in the cage at all," Rosa retorted. The Elder's eyes seemingly darkened.
"You have no right to speak in such away. You broke our most sacred rule. The prison was the most merciful option you could have gotten" The Elder hissed back, her grip tightening around the whip's handles, causing the leather hilt to strain.
An Affinity had caught on to the two witches sitting idle. One made a nose dive towards the Elder. But with an already tight grip around the hilt, she lashed out the whip to the approaching Affinity and slashed it in half without even breaking eye contact with Rosa.
"We don't have time to banter about this matter," Rosa cut in, taking a step forward, beginning a slow circling loop around the Elder. But this only caused the Elder to step back defensively. She was being made to feel like prey.
"If you think I came all this way and help you kill a Valor, to then just kill you, then you have truly gone mad," Rosa said, almost with a chuckle. The Elder seemed to relax, but only for a moment. Another Affinity tried to dive to Rosa, but it met its end the same way the other did, with a bullet perfectly placed into its head, with Rosa even looking.
"The children, are they safe? Where is my daughter?" Rosa asked, keeping her eyes on the Elder as she circled her, but also to not lose track of the Affinity that were swarming around them, like a locust.
The silence that befell the Elder made Rosa's stomach churn with worry. Her eyes narrowed towards the Elder witch once more.
"Where is she?" Rosa said, her tone beginning to take on a threatening tone.
"I do not know," The Elder conceded, "I have not seen your daughter...nor Jeanne, since this has all begun."
Rosa's brow furrowed in a concerned look, she saw the cracks in the Elder's will seemingly break, but just a small amount. Another set of Affinity attempted to interrupt their conversation but was quickly disbanded by a fury of whips and bullets, neither of them breaking eye contact.
"Isabelle...we need to find them," Rosa approached once more, this time more direct, stopping her circling motion.
The Elder's eyes widen when hearing her name be used, especially by Rosa. She had forgotten what it was like for people to refer to her by her real name. In that small moment, she had let her guard down, as a feeling of a familiar comfort had resonated with it.
She quickly shook out of her state as an Affinity swung its bladed staff down, and Isabelle quickly moved out of the way just before it could slice her in half. Rosa landed a bullet directly in its head, and it immediately fell with an explosive end.
Isabelle caught her breath, cursing to herself for putting herself in the revealing situation, like that as she had just stepped out of training for the first time as a witch. She spun back around to face Rosa, her brow furrowed.
"I don't have time for this. We are facing the possible calamity of the Umbra, we must make our stand here, and push them back out of the Cresent Valley," Isabelle said, gesturing up to the Clock Tower, to their very symbol.
"I thought that was possible, we have faced many great trials before and have won, but this is not the same. Look around you, they are rallying in an army greater than what we could hold back. We cannot do it with our numbers, we are far too few and inbewteen. We must preserve what we have, and make our escape before all of us fall to the hands of Paradiso," Rosa gestured her guns outward, pointing to the never-ending waves of Laguna forces in the distance. Fortitudo's thundering roars could be heard echo somewhere in the valley.
"How dare you! You speak of treachery! We have held these sacred grounds for more than a millennia! I will not let that Lumen Sage or any Laguna be the reason we fall here," The Elder cracked her whip to the side in a defiant manner, pointing an accusatory finger at Rosa.
"Regardless of Balder's role in this, he never had any ill-will towards the Umbra or myself and Cereza," Rosa objected, her tone bearing low grumble as her beast still stirred within her. Isabelle could tell, she's taking a defensive stance for Balder, whether if she truly meant it or didn't want to believe the possibility that Balder could have caused this event.
"You are a fool to ever trust him. He is the last of the Lumen because of us. He has every right to want this extermination. You had given yourself to him, and now it has led to this. Make no mistake, whatever happens here, is your fault, as well as his," Isabelle said, as she closed the distance between Rosa, their faces merely inches away.
The words seared through Rosa like a blade, but she showed no sign of it on her face.
Rosa's glaring eyes never faltered, but she turned away from Isabelle, heading away from the direction of the bridge, and the oncoming forces.
"Where are you going? You would abandon your sisters in their time of need!?" Isabelle's whip-cracking again. Rosa stiffly turned around, looking up at the clock tower. Seeing the moon's light illuminate it like a beacon in the sky. She turned her gaze back to the Elder.
"You had abandoned me in my own time of need. You put chains on me, silencing the very power you had taught me. You separated me from my only daughter, whom I have never truly embraced. It's also you and my sisters' doing of leaving my child and yours to the hands of the Laguna. All that matters to me now is Cereza. Not you, not the Umbra, not even Balder, if he got in my way," Rosa said, her voice unusually quiet. Isabelle took a step back, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
"And I will not let anyone get in my way," Rosa finished, as she saw something in Isabelle's eyes she never thought she could ever see.
Fear.
"I have not been able to find them in the city. The girls knew of the unground passageway that runs through the forest. I had made sure to tell Cereza about Ors Fafen,should a situation on this scale occur. With luck, they have fled the city and are making their way there. I will find Cereza, and Jeanne, and leave this Valley. I have already seen a few of the others fleeing to the woodlands to do the same. They know that is their only safe exit from the valley now."
Rosa turned her gaze to the mountain peaks in the distance, Isabelle following her eyes.
"That also means the Laguna will soon catch on, and see where there are going. I must get to them before any harm befalls them," Rosa said, turning back to Isabelle.
"Come with me, Isabelle. You do not have to die here. You and your daughter can escape this, start a new somewhere else. This does not have to be the end, For any of us," Rosa extended her hand, seeing if she would follow her through. Her eyes softened as she was trying desperately to find any hesitation in her old friend's eyes. But the Elder merely scoffed.
"Traitor," She seethed. Rosa retracted her hand, her eyes narrowing.
"Very well. If it is any comfort, I will tell your daughter that you had fought bravely," Rosa said in such a cold manner. Isabelle's whole face contorted into a disgusted look.
"Coward!" Isabelle screeched, pulling her whip back into a ready position as if to strike Rosa. But Rosa didn't flinch, as she merely turned away.
"Goodbye, Isabelle," She disappeared into the smoke-filled streets, vanishing from view.
With gritted teeth, Isabelle turned her attention back to the bridge, to see the enemy forces were advancing more than they had before. The witches were faltering, as more enemies continued to charge through the pass. The surrounding Affinity that had broken the ranks were cutting down the trainee witches without mercy. Their cries resonated with Isabelle as she looked out to a sea of dead angels and witches. Hands from Inferno, coming to grab all of them.
She looked back to the smokey veil, wondering if she would see Rosa charging back. But she wasn't, she was gone. Isabelle knew nothing would change her mind now.
She turned back to see a slew of Braves and Worships charging through the front lines on the bridge. Her sister's wicked weaves were fading and were failing to stop them in time.
Taking in a deep breath, she readied her whips once more. And with a powerful leap, she cleared over her disciples with a rallying cry and ran headfirst into the oncoming Laguna, whips raised at the ready.
Her left eye searing a brilliant red aura.
In the woods, a small hatch is lifted in a small secluded shack, as the two small children, Cereza and Jeanne, emerged from it. They try to brush off all the dust as much as they can, sneezing and coughing as they did. Cereza was the first to look up to see where they were.
"Wait...wasn't the river usually right there?" She pointed straight ahead, but only a cluster of trees stood. No sound of rushing water came the little girls' ears.
"We took a wrong turn! We're too far up, we'll have to walk down to get to the river!" Jeanne said, looking about as if to make sure the river wasn't just misplaced.
"That's okay, we should be far enough away that the monsters can't find us! We'll just head there as fast as possible!" Cereza declared, pointing down the hill, in the direction of the river they should come out to.
They started down the hill, not steep enough for them to fall over, but they had to make a conscious effort to not too. They cleared through the brush and thick foliage like that had many times before.
The forest was quiet, no animals, birds, or bugs could be heard. Just the faint wind blowing, and the still looming destruction taking place miles off. But the girls could still hear it, something they didn't want to directly acknowledge. The thundering footsteps, ones that they had started to hear near the tail end of their journey when underground. The sound only large Laguna could make.
"Do you think our mummies are okay?" Jeanne asked, her small cat doll pressed up against her chest.
"I think so! Our mummies are very strong, I bet they've gone through almost all of the bad monsters now!" Cereza said, just nearly tripping a massive tree branch on the ground.
"My mummy is a very good fighter, she always told me one day I could fight the monsters like her too! Does your mummy ever get to fight?" Jeanne asked, avoiding any obstacles in the way that Cereza nearly fell over.
"She said she used to fight, but couldn't anymore because of the chains. And she wasn't allowed to leave because she fell in love with my daddy," Cereza said.
"Do you think she'll get to fight now?" Jeanne asked, now parallel to Cereza.
"I hope so! Mummy said she used to fight all the time, even with your mummy. I bet they looked really cool doing it! Like this!" Cereza said, striking a stoic pose, her arms outstretched to her side and overhead. Jeanne giggled and struck a similar pose with her.
"That's what we'll do when we grow up! We'll be just like our mummies and fight all the monsters!" Jeanne said, the two girls striking up different poses and laughing all the while. But their happy moment was short-lived.
A sound of crashes and ground-shaking impacts could be heard, not too far from where they were. They stopped dead with their playful manner to look in the direction of the conflict. They could hear gunfire, but also the familiar sound of a bellowing Brave.
Jeanne looked over to Cereza. They exchanged a look that said they understood what was happening.
"We need to go," Jeanne said, taking the lead, and grabbing Cereza by the hand to pull her forward. They began to run again, scurrying through the brush like small mice would. They tried their best to keep quiet, but their feet would always make contact with every branch and twig it could, causing a loud snap with each step.
They couldn't concern themselves anymore with how stealthily they maneuvered through the woods. They knew they were being pursued, and it was only a matter of time until they caught up. They focused on running and hoped to hear the sounds of the river soon. And their passage to safety.
The streets of the city had become engulfed with smoke and flame. Nearly every building toppled and set aflame. The witches who hadn't made it to the Clock Tower were trying their best to fend for themselves in the streets alone. But the Laguna had continued to pick them off one by one. On top of the remaining standing buildings, a Lumen Sage was darting between each rooftop. Balder was trying to cover more ground without having to navigate through the flames below. But it was becoming increasingly difficult. Soon there would be no buildings to leap to.
Balder stopped to take a breath, trying to survey the area, but couldn't see through the billowing smoke. He was searching for anyone who was still alive. Any witch that hadn't fallen to Angel's hands. Each one he had come across would immediately meet a gruesome end. He kept looking for Rosa, but also for Cereza. He knew she would still be a little girl. Not even tall enough to reach his knees.
His stomach churned for a moment to the thought, Cereza so small and helpless, being lost within this burning city. He had to find her soon, as he didn't know what the angels would do if they had come across her. He couldn't put any trust in Fortitduo, but he didn't want to believe the angels would harm her in any way. She was just a small child, an innocent. To bring harm to someone like that is not the Lumen or Laguna way.
He wasn't making any progress up above, so with a silent leap, he plummeted to the ground below. Landing as softly as he could, and continued onward. Sprinting through the hazy streets and alleyways. He looked up and down, in every direction he could think of.
But before he could go any further, the sound footsteps were rapidly approaching behind him. But not just any footsteps, claws scraping against the cobblestone. A beast.
He spun around fast enough to just barely duck, as a black tiger leaped over him with a clamoring roar. Its body had golden stripes, with rattling chains all across its body.
Balder knew this tiger, he knew those stripes, and he had heard that roar before.
The creature slid across the stone and stopped a few dozen feet ahead of him. And with the blink of an eye, Rosa had turned back to her normal form. Her body rose like a dark silhouette, then stepped into one of the surrounding fire's gaze. Her face and body became illuminated out of the smoke.
The two stared at one another, both sharing the same awe-struck expression. Balder's glaive slipped from his hand, clanging loudly as it bounced against the ground. His mouth a gap, still just staring in disbelief.
"Rosa."