CHAPTER XXXI
All or Nothing
Leon panted as the pressure on his body lightened somewhat. He pushed himself up to his knees, straining to look around. His sister was already upright, also out of breath. The others were barely managing on all fours.
"Hey," he said to Athena. "You okay?"
"Funny," she huffed. "I was gonna ask you the same."
The twins looked over at Penny, who was fighting her way to her feet, but they could still feel the pressure and no doubt their instructor could as well.
"She really is something, isn't she?" Leon said.
"C'mon, man," Athena said, sarcasm dripping from every letter.
"Dude! No! I don't mean in that way—"
"You so are checking her out."
"And you aren't?"
"Yo, I'm a one girl girl, 'kay?"
"That doesn't change the fact that Penny's still gorgeous, you know!"
"You know I can hear you two, right?" Penny said, never taking her eyes off the battle further down the parliament chamber.
"Look what you did!" Leon yelled at Athena.
"You're the one staring at her!" she yelled back.
"Guys," Fiona groaned. "Would it be all right for the yelling to stop?"
Penny watched as her four Wraith-Knight pupils engaged the Greater Daemon in a magical battle more magnificent than she had ever witnessed. Only the showdown between Bedivere's Wraith and Weiss almost two decades ago surpassed this one. She balled her fists as she prepared her systems to join her comrades in combat, but it was much more difficult to muster up the wherewithal to even move.
What's wrong with me? Any other day and I'd be down there wrecking stuff right alongside them.
She glanced around. The pressure on the group was mostly gone by now, but everyone around her seemed to be completely devoid of energy. No, it wasn't energy they were missing. The whole party had plenty of physical strength left. It was willpower they all lacked.
Indolence. Malphas's Dominion is Indolence. That's why everyone's so apathetic right now. It's why even I'm feeling like garbage.
"Athena," Penny said. "How are you feeling?"
"Sleepy," she said. "Actually, I don't think I've ever felt so lazy in my life."
"You, too?" Leon asked her.
She nodded. "Perseus?"
The three turned to their friend. He was sitting upright, knees bent and raised off the ground, forearms resting atop his knees. He was stooped over and looked as if he were about to nod off.
"You okay?" Leon followed up.
He nodded, closing his eyes. "Just need some rest."
"What about you three?" Penny asked their companions.
"I think I understand what the rest of my people are going through," Ilia said, leaning against a nearby pillar. "It makes sense now why Parliament's votes were always overwhelmingly against doing anything."
"I'm gonna nap," Hanuman said before closing his eyes and sprawling all over the floor.
"Don't go to sleep here!" Fiona said before shaking him awake. "You might never wake up again!"
"Hey! Don't say scary stuff like that!"
Penny gave the twins another glance. Leon was still seated on the ground while Athena managed to make it to her feet, though she looked like she struggled just to remain standing. Not that it was difficult to physically remain upright. It was more mental than anything.
She turned back to the battle. She understood that joining in now would only put those four youngsters at risk. With the effect of Indolence in full swing against her, she would be at suboptimal performance. She hated the thought of being unable to protect her pupils, but this was a lesson she needed to learn.
Let go, she told herself. And have faith in them.
—
"Teufelsatem!" Xanthus yelled, projecting a fireball from a Fire Rune on his left hand.
"Frostatem!" Yuan joined with his own frost attack from the Water Rune on his right hand.
"Such basic magic has no effect against me!" Malphas said as she deflected both attacks with a wave of the hand.
"Then, try this on for size!" Ingrid said as she dashed in, splitting herself into four forms and assailing her enemy from all directions. Her blitz still wasn't enough. Malphas's declaration earlier was no bluff. She truly had an elevated advantage in this domain.
"I don't get it," Yuan said. "How in the world is she so much stronger than Moloch? Echo got him to leave just by threatening to blow up the world."
"It has to have something to do with her territory," Xanthus said. "If she really has been the one amplifying all of the apathy throughout Menagerie, that means she's been here for a while. I'm guessing it's almost like leaving a magical imprint on the world around you. The more time you spend digging your roots in a place, the more that place bends itself to your very will."
"So, in a sense, we're not only fighting her, but the world itself."
"You've figured it out, young one!" Malphas said before exerting her will on the surrounding environment, forcing it to change to reflect her whims. The parliament building melted away, giving way to the rest of the city of Kuo Kuana, its buildings twisted into grotesque shapes. The Corrupted reflections of the population didn't seem to notice the battle, however.
"What the hell are those?" Echo said before taking aim at the monstrous creatures.
"Those aren't Corrupted," Xanthus said. "And they're not the alien things we encounter every now and then."
"We call them Lesser Daemons," Malphas said. "Appropriately, perhaps, as they do obey my every command."
"I don't think so," Echo said, building up magical energy in her bow before unleashing it in a bright flash of light, which carved a path of destruction in its wake before exploding on impact, vaporizing the massive demon in the distance.
"I see," the Greater Daemon murmured. "The rest of you, keep the others busy!"
The Lesser Daemons obeyed, commencing their assault on Xanthus, Yuan, and Ingrid while Malphas went straight for Echo. The youngest of the group was not to be taken lightly, however. Her close-quarters combat abilities were leagues ahead of how she used to be and she had always been adept at evasion. With the power of Tristan behind her, she was even faster and more nimble than ever before.
"Stay still, you brat!" Malphas yelled as she swung her great hammer over and over again.
"I'm getting mom vibes," Yuan muttered. "And it's making me uncomfortable."
"Huh?" Ingrid said as she ended up back to back with him. She glanced over at Malphas, who swung over and over again, unable to land a hit on Echo, who was much too quick on her feet and with her bow. "Oh. Oh my gods. Yeah, I just got your mom vibes and it's really bad."
"Uh-huh."
—
"Look at Echo," Leon said.
"She's unbelievable," Penny said. "She's always been fast, but to be able to hold her own like this is incredible."
They both turned to Athena, who had an unreadable expression on her face.
"You must be proud, sis," Leon said.
She smirked. "I am."
—
Malphas went for an overhead strike, but Echo was still much too fast. She slid underneath the Greater Daemon while the latter was mid-flight, slashing multiple times with Sentinel in the blink of an eye. Malphas let out a great roar that shook the city, grabbing her abdomen and sides with her free hand. There were a number of arrows protruding from her flesh.
"That's it!" she growled. "Enough with this paltry form! I will crush you like the insects you are!"
—
"What..." Leon began.
"...The..." Penny said.
"...Hell," Athena finished.
The group gawked as Malphas began to mutate, her flesh distending and warping to macabre protrusions and bulges as her size began to inflate. The being which once resembled a twisted version of the timid Velvet Scarlatina was now a building-sized mass of random flesh and blood. The four Wraith-Knights fled from the tendrils and other meat-things that attempted to grasp at them.
—
"Keep your distance!" Xanthus said, adjusting his glasses.
"Are you seeing something we aren't?" Ingrid asked.
He stared intently. He wasn't sure how, but examining the Greater Daemon this closely allowed him to see what should have been impossible for a flesh and blood human being like him.
Is this what Penny sees? he mused as data began to fill his field of vision.
"What's up?" Yuan said.
"Not sure," Xanthus said. "I'll, uh, fill you guys in later, but I'm seeing all sorts of data about Malphas."
"Data?" Ingrid said.
"Y-Yeah, like I said, updates later—"
"Are you gonna reboot after those updates?" Echo quipped.
It took a few seconds, but Ingrid slowly turned to her. "Really? You're gonna channel your girlfriend and her brother at a time like this?"
"Yes," she answered with as straight a face as possible.
Another few seconds passed before Yuan allowed a quiet chuckle to escape.
"You shouldn't be encouraging her!" Ingrid yelled at him. She looked past him at Xanthus, who appeared to be suppressing his own laughter. "You, too!"
"I am guilty of nothing," he said, pushing up his glasses. "At any rate, we should probably turn our attention back to Malphas. It has begun to take definite shape and form. And the EP flow has stabilized into something resembling...I'm not sure how to describe it."
"EP flow?" Yuan said. "You mean you can see the actual flow of Erscheinung Particles?"
He nodded. "You all should be able to feel it, too, if not literally visualize it."
"I think he's right," Ingrid said. "The chaotic feeling is gone."
"And in its place is something like a monolith of power," Echo said. "And, whoa."
"It seems you can sense it to some degree," Xanthus said. "I'm seeing her EP flow coalesce into what looks like a shape. Like...a rune circle."
"Yeah!" Ingrid yelled. "I see it, too!"
"Shit!" Echo said as she and the others scattered, barely dodging a blast of energy that left a crater where it impacted.
"What in the hell was that?" Ingrid yelled.
I see, Xanthus mused. I was able to see the rune forming before everyone else did. Because rune visibility is really nothing more than Erscheinung Particles condensing enough to becoming visible light.
—
Damn it, Penny thought to herself as she balled her fists. There's nothing I can do to help them. Why? Why must I be so powerless again?
She reflected on her battle with Cinder, who had been enhanced by her pact with Azazel. Cinder had merely a slight advantage over her during that fight, mostly due to the fact that her bond with Azazel had yet to reach a perfect state, but it was an advantage nonetheless. Penny might have pulled off a victory if she didn't have to worry about constantly protecting the unconscious Xanthus at the time, but even then, Cinder was able to overpower her with the magic Azazel granted her through their bond.
Even now, I can do nothing to protect them.
Malphas was building up another blast, which was larger than before. Penny and the rest of the group were dead in her sights.
"Move!" Penny yelled. "Everyone, get out of here!"
The crowd scattered in every direction, barely evading the shockwave from the blast's impact. They continued fleeing until they stood atop a bluff that overlooked the city. Penny glanced around, performing a headcount. Her charges were still safe, at least.
—
Yuan wrestled with a Lesser Daemon, which was somewhat humanlike in its shape, but grotesque and deformed. He eventually overpowered the monster before dodging a fireball attack Malphas had sent his way. He held Heaven Scorcher over his head, manifesting a dozen projections of his weapon, before launching them all simultaneously at his oversized enemy. Each halberd exploded on contact, but had little effect on the massive Greater Daemon.
"I've felt mosquito bites more annoying that that!" Malphas guffawed before launching another blast his way.
"Take this!" Ingrid said, sending a powerful clone out, which latched onto Malphas leg and exploded, knocking the Greater Daemon off-balance for a moment before she engaged the two in battle again.
—
"Are you all right?" Xanthus asked Echo, who was panting.
"Yeah," she said. "I've been through worse."
"I think we all have, honestly." He looked at the towering monster in the distance. The Lesser Daemon attack subsided for now, but it was only a matter of time before more came to assist their master.
"Ready for another round?" Echo said.
"Hang on a minute," Xanthus said.
She watched as he studied their enemy intently. He looked no different from Penny when she was in the middle of data analysis. "So, can you really see numbers and stuff in your field of view?"
He nodded. "There. I think that's it."
"What's it?"
"Notice how Malphas does that really powerful attack from time to time?"
"Yeah, that super energy blast that leaves craters everywhere."
"That's the only attack she does that draws on so much of her magical energy that it forms a rune circle in the air."
"What are you getting at?"
"A visible rune circle is nothing more than a coalescence of EP that gets so dense as to become visible light. That EP has to come from somewhere."
"It's her energy."
"That's right. Every time she fires that big magic attack, she's literally putting her life force into it."
"I think I know what you're getting at," she said as she readied her bow.
"Aim right for the center of it."
—
"Ingrid!" Yuan yelled before holding his hands up in the air to project his aura as a shield between Malphas's enormous war hammer and their bodies.
"I've got you!" Ingrid said, sending out another set of clones to attack, but incoming Lesser Daemons interfered with them and they couldn't get to their target on time.
"This is your end!" Malphas said, building up magical energy into a visible rune circle in front of her mouth.
"Hey!" Xanthus yelled, catching her attention.
Before Malphas could react, a bright flash of light flew from Echo's bow into the center of the rune circle she had conjured, shattering it and sending her crashing to the ground.
"I think it worked!" Echo yelled.
"You miserable wretches!" Malphas roared so powerfully as to shake a few nearby buildings to their foundations.
"That looked like it hurt," Yuan said as the building-sized Greater Daemon worked its way back to its feet.
"She's getting up again!" Ingrid yelled.
"Okay, Xan-chan," Echo said, pushing up his glasses for him. "You can see the rune circle before it forms, right?"
"Mm-hmm," he said. "Right hand."
Malphas gave another cry of pain as Echo's energy arrow impacted its target.
"Every time Malphas's EP flow coalesces to fire at us, it makes her essence vulnerable to our attacks. It's pointless for us to hit her mountainous body with our weapons, so I figured we'd try something like this."
"Works for us," Yuan said. "You two keep at it. Ingrid, we have company."
"Right," she said, splitting herself up into three while Yuan surrounded himself with projections of his Ji halberd.
—
"They look like ants down there," Leon said. The group had since relocated somewhere safe further away from the battle.
"Ants that are actually doing damage to that big ugly," Athena said.
"I don't understand," Fiona said. "Just now I had no will to even stand up, let alone fight."
"Because all of her EP is concentrated in her body now," Penny said. "That's the reason why her mass swelled so much, and also why she's that big demonic looking thing."
"So, her Dominion is no longer spread across the land?" Ilia said.
"Yup. It also means she can marshal all of her might against the four of them."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Leon said, getting ready to teleport, but a strong grip on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to face his sister. "Athena?"
"Don't you get it, Leon?" she said, her face still unreadable to him and the others. "Those guys down there are like ants. You said it yourself. You and I could barely stand under the pressure of her Dominion. If we ran into that mess right now, we'd literally get squished under her big toe."
"Not to mention get in their way," Hanuman said. "I mean, I don't like the thought of just sitting this one out either, but, like, they have to do that special attack thing Xanthus and Echo are doing and they're still barely scratching at her armor."
Leon turned back to the fight, balling his fists out of frustration. That was when it hit him. He looked at Athena out of the corner of his eye. No one else seemed to notice except maybe Penny, since she was the most perceptive out of the group, but Athena was fighting to keep a lid on something.
Right, he thought. Of course.
—
"Enough!" Malphas roared. "You are mere insects to me! Do you understand!"
"Uh-oh!" Yuan said as he darted out of the way, barely evading the great hammer, which was the size of a truck. "Really, though. Why me? And why that weapon of all things?"
"Get over it, Yuan!" Ingrid yelled before turning to their giant enemy. "Hey! I'm your opponent!"
"You think I don't see you, tiny kitten?" Malphas yelled as she swung at Ingrid, missing three times before finally landing a hit on her while she was mid-jump.
"Ingrid!" Yuan cried as he caught her and broke her fall.
"That hurt," she said. "Nice catch, big guy."
"Are...are you flirting with me?" he said with a puzzled look.
She giggled.
"And you get mad at me for making jokes in the middle of a battle?" Echo said. She turned to Xanthus. "Hey, what's taking so long? Where do I shoot next?"
"Malphas stopped forming her aura around her," he said. "Every time she concentrated all that EP to fire at us, she exposed herself, but she's stopped."
"Clever boy!" Malphas roared, stomping at them and forcing the group to scatter. Though the Greater Daemon no longer used her strongest magic attack, her sheer physical might was as much a threat to the youngsters as ever.
—
Penny could feel the frustration growing in her twin pupils, only adding to her own aggravation at her lack of ability to aid in the battle.
If only I were stronger. Heh, you must've had that thought on more than one occasion, haven't you, Lilly? It's too bad you aren't here right now. Cuz this is a pretty spectacular battle you're missin' out on. Although, something tells me you've probably seen crazier.
Meanwhile, Perseus maintained his distance from the group. He had been able to keep it under wraps for a while, but it was no longer possible. At least the battle had everyone preoccupied. That way, they wouldn't be in harm's way when it finally happened. He knew Penny's Semblance would eventually point right to him if it wasn't already. There was probably something else keeping her mind off of him for the time being. Eventually, though, this crushing weight would overpower even whatever was keeping her attention.
—
"Yuan!" Ingrid yelled as Malphas's great hammer impacted his Heaven Scorcher.
He gritted his teeth as he fought against the weapon's colossal weight, but it was a bit much, even for him.
"Take this, bitch queen!" Echo yelled as she fired a fully charged lightning arrow, generated by the Wind Rune on her right hand.
Malphas blocked with her free hand, but it wasn't enough to save Yuan just yet. Xanthus's attacks, however, were effective in doing just that. While she was preoccupied with Echo's lightning arrow, Xanthus reached an elevated position, unleashing the power of both the Fire Rune on his left hand and his right hand's Water Rune, flooding his swords with magic and sending a combined conflagration of flame and frost into Malphas's back. It was enough to give Yuan the break he needed to properly parry the great hammer. Ingrid was quick to get him out of harm's way, dragging him outside of Malphas's reach.
"Thanks," he said. "My hero."
Ingrid chuckled. "After what I pulled earlier, I guess I can't really be mad at you."
He dusted himself off, facing off with Malphas alongside all three of his comrades as the Greater Daemon roared at them.
"This has gone on long enough!" Malphas roared. "I shall burn you from the face of this world!"
"She's doing it again, isn't she?" Echo said, looking over to Xanthus, but his face was masked with alarm. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I don't think your energy arrows are gonna do it this time," he said. "She's gathering way too much EP in one spot. It'll serve as a barrier in its own right."
"Wait, she's been able to do this all this time?" Ingrid said.
"Yes, but there must be a reason she hasn't until now."
"You said that it exposes her actual, incorporeal form to physical damage from our attacks, right?" Yuan said. "Like a weak spot in a boss battle."
"That's actually a very apt way of putting it," Xanthus said.
"Then, the answer is obvious. Because she's putting all of her soul into that attack meant to wipe us out."
"So, we can wipe her out instead, right?" Ingrid said.
Malphas laughed out loud. "If you believe you can, then give it your all!"
"She's taunting us," Ingrid said. "We're not taking the bait, though."
"We most definitely are," Yuan said.
"Huh? Why?"
"Because we absolutely must stand our ground now."
"Damn it," Echo said, looking back.
"I've failed you," Xanthus said. "I did not notice that she was directing the battle so that we would all be at this exact spot, facing this exact direction."
Ingrid followed Echo's gaze. Her eyes opened wide with terror when she noticed that the rest of their entire group was directly in the path of Malphas's attack. Failing to counter the attack would mean their certain annihilation.
"Guys," Echo said, her whole body beginning to shake.
"Is it your Semblance?" Xanthus said.
She nodded. "Every single one of us is lit up right now, brighter than I've ever felt it. It's...we're all literally on the verge of death."
"Not if we can help it," Yuan said, swinging Heaven Scorcher around before aiming it forward, allowing the Lightning Dust crystal to emerge. He also called on the power of his magic, the Earth Rune on his left hand and the Water Rune on his right.
Ingrid smiled, standing beside him with her staff in hand. "I'm with you all the way," she said as her hands began to glow with the power of her Water Rune on the left and Wind Rune on the right.
"It was my error that led to this catastrophe," Xanthus said. "Allow me to aid in correcting the error." He joined them, holding up his swords as he powered up his Fire Rune on his left hand and Water Rune on his right. "Echo, we could use your bow to send all of this power at our enemy right now."
Echo swallowed the big lump in her throat. Never had her Semblance left her so paralyzed, sending her warning signals of impending death, but this was not the time to hesitate. This was not the time to fail her comrades. It wasn't just Athena who was about to die. It was her entire team, her whole circle of friends, people who meant more to her than almost anyone else on the planet.
She turned around, defiantly facing the mountain-sized Greater Daemon Malphas, Magistrate of the Dominion of Indolence. She called on her own runes, the Wind Rune on her right hand, and a rune unique to her alone, the Eagle Rune, on her left hand, the physical embodiment of her ability to hit her mark no matter the circumstances. It granted her only one use at a time, but one use was all she needed now.
—
The others stared in bewilderment as a whirlwind of chaotic magical phenomena gathered where the four Wraith-Knights stood. Surrounding buildings were shredded as if made of paper and the terrain was flattened as black lightning struck all around.
"This is it," Penny said. "Either they destroy Malphas right here and now, or we're all vaporized."
"I dunno!" Hanuman yelled. "The way the ground is shaking, I think the whole world is gonna blow up no matter what!"
"C'mon," Athena mumbled. "You can do it."
"Yeah," Leon said. "Do it! Echo!"
"Go!"
—
"We've given it everything we've got," Yuan said.
"It's all up to you now," Ingrid said.
Xanthus smiled at his teammate. "Let 'em have it, Echo."
"Yes!" Malphas roared. "Show me the power of defiant children! Now! Crumble into dust before my Star of Apathy!"
The energy Malphas had been building up peaked at the exact same time as the magical power the quartet had been accumulating. Echo, youngest, smallest, and most timid of their entire circle of friends, stood front and center, with Yuan, Ingrid, and Xanthus behind her, strong and resolute. The magical energy of all four Wraith-Knights combined into a single, powerful arrow, manifested in Echo's bow. Sentinel glowed with light comparable to the sun breaking above the horizon.
On this new dawn, Echo would cease to be the support member of the group. She would no longer hide in the shadows, no longer flee in the face of danger. She was running headlong into the fire. She was the fire.
"I am lightning," Echo mumbled. "Witness my thunder shake the world."
Her arrow of light shone so brightly as to eliminate every shadow within eyesight.
"Show me what you've got!" Malphas roared.
"Ashes to Ashes!" Echo screamed as she let loose that mighty golden arrow, which contained the full power of four Wraith-Knights, born of an answer to a call to defend an entire world.
The impact between Malphas's Star of Apathy and Echo's Ashes to Ashes obliterated the center of Kuo Kuana, but the battle was not yet over. The power of four Wraith-Knights combined was great, but unable to match the Dominion of the Magistrate of Indolence.
"We don't have enough power?" Ingrid said.
"That was everything we had!" Xanthus said.
"Now do you understand?" Malphas said. "The gulf between us is one that can never be bridged! You are incomplete beings, Wraith-Knights born into alien vessels. You never stood a chance from the start! I am Malphas, a Greater Daemon, perfect in form and essence! You could never hope to defeat me with such paltry magic!"
Yuan looked up at something that had appeared out of thin air, something resembling a shadow. No, it wasn't something. It was someone.
Wait, he thought. Is that...?
"What is this?" Malphas growled as Echo's magical arrow doubled in size, eclipsing her own sphere of destruction and pushing it back. "What is happening? You should not have this kind of power! You are all imperfect! Weak! Mere mortals! Half-breeds!"
"What the hell?" Ingrid said. "Where is all this power coming from?"
"No!" Malphas shrieked as the conflagration neared her, searing away the top layers of her flesh. "How? How is this happening!"
"Go!" Echo yelled, dumping the last of her power into her Eagle Rune, which shone with bright golden light, activating its one and only spell, directing her arrow straight through Malphas's defenses, ignoring them entirely.
The Greater Daemon of Indolence let out a roar that rumbled across the continent, screaming and cursing as the explosion engulfed her body, rending her flesh and pulverizing the environment along with her very essence. The energy released from her death caused havoc untold, tornadoes forming and vanishing just as quickly, chasms opening wide before quickly shutting.
And then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the pandemonium ended.
The quartet panted as the Labyrinth around them shifted, signaling their ascent to the First Layer.
"How are we alive?" Ingrid said.
"Not sure," Xanthus said.
Without a word spoken, Echo collapsed and the others ran to her. As she fell to the ground, her clothing flickered back to her old outfit which she wore in the real world. Her eyes were back to their hazel-green color and the runes on her hands were no longer glowing. Sentinel had also returned to its original form.
"Yeah, I feel it now, too," Ingrid groaned as she also returned to her non-magical state.
"Echo!" Athena yelled as she ran to her side. The others gave her room.
"Hey," Echo said with heavy breaths.
Athena began laughing. "You are so metal, you know that?"
She couldn't help but chuckle. "You're really hung up on those big explosions, aren't you?"
"You better believe I am."
"Jeez," Leon said as he looked at the devastated environment.
"This isn't happening in the real world, is it?" Ilia asked.
"It's never happened before," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "But the only way to find out for sure is to head back."
"Everything should be fine out there," Yuan said. "The two worlds are separate. In fact, the real world is what affects this side."
"Can't be sure about that, though, of course," Leon said. "Still, like Xan-chan said, it's never happened before, so—"
Penny abruptly turned to Perseus as she was overwhelmed with a chaotic surge of emotions, mostly guilt and self-loathing, but there were all sorts mixed in as well; panic, anger, humiliation, dread, sorrow.
"Senpai?" Xanthus said. "What's wrong?"
"Perseus!" Ingrid yelled. "What is that! On your hand!"
Meanwhile, Echo's danger Semblance was alerting her in a way it never had before. It was danger, that was for sure, but not the kind that threatened her life or a friend's life. It was an ominous foreboding, one that was rooted deeper than mere life force.
Something was grasping at her friend's very soul.
The rest of the group stared in horror as the Rune of Atonement on his left hand made its presence known to everyone standing witness. It projected itself into the air above him, exerting its Authority over the world. The scales were tilted maximally to one side and the eye atop the scales was fully opened, glaring directly at Perseus.
"What the hell is that thing?" Fiona screamed.
"Perseus!" Xanthus yelled.
"Stay back!" Perseus demanded. "Don't get any closer to me!"
From the opened eye emerged dozens of hands, stretching out to grasp him, pulling him up.
"No!" Yuan cried as he powered up fully before attacking. Something repelled him with enough force to send him flying back into Penny, who managed to catch him.
Unable to do anything for their friend, the group could only gawk in dread as the hands dragged him into the eye. He screamed as he was pulled through the portal, his cries abruptly stopping as he disappeared from view. The Rune of Atonement cast its gaze upon the others, looking from one to the next before finally closing as the scales balanced back out. And then, it was gone.
"What the fuck just happened?" Athena yelled.
