Author's Notes:
Hey everyone! Sorry for the tardiness. My computer is broken so I've had to write on my tablet. Not a fun experience. Still, hope you enjoy!
Chapter 76:
After only having fought for a few minutes, Saito and his present group of friends were already exhausted from having to fight the deadly monster that surrounded them. It was incredibly fast and precise with its attacks, making sure they had no openings to land any significant attacks.
All the while, it was also well aware of the danger that Louise posed to it. It constantly attempted to break through the defense that Alex and Max provided for her, tiring them out in the process. This fatigue was starting to cost them, as they were beginning to slow down and taking small wounds.
"How much longer?!" Saito asked, holding his arm where a shard of ice had pierced it.
"She's still getting ready." Max said as a scratch on his cheek sealed itself shut.
Inside the little fort that Maximilien had made for Louise, the pinkette's eyes were closed as she gathered magic. She was seemingly oblivious to what was happening around her, with the only thing on her mind being gathering magic.
The great serpent at this time, seemingly irritated by having to deal with so many small targets, prepared to launch a more devastating attack. So quick was the serpent in gathering power to attack that the group of mortals hardly had time to seek cover.
Within a few seconds, they were all blasted by an incredibly, and unnaturally, hot gust of water vapor. It burned their skin severely, even Saito's, whose skin was already very hot on its own. Inside the monstrous gale, sharp piece of ice flew through the air, piercing their burned skin with cold knives of water.
The wind seemed to have no end, forcing all of them to find some kind of cover. Alex hid behind a barrier that Max had made. Shion used her eyes to create a barrier around herself. Sasha, for the first time in years, used her magic to manipulate her surroundings, creating an earth wall to shield herself and Mariel. Saito simply hid behind a small boulder that was just large enough to shield him.
After about a minute, the deadly maelstrom finally subsided. All members of their group were horrendously wounded, although shielding themselves mitigated a lot of the damage they would have otherwise taken.
Many of their lungs were burned inside from inhaling the hot gasses from the attack. Their skin was vivid red where they were burned and covered with blisters. They were bleeding from where they were pierces by ice and other debris.
Slowly, they all got up, trying their best to ignore the pain they were in, but to no avail. Sasha and Mariel were the first to manage to stabilize themselves. Their breathing was heavy as they dealt with the pain they were in.
"I couldn't react fast enough..." Sasha said, straining to talk.
"Nor could I." Mariel said, looking at both her and her sister's sorry state. "We can't afford to take another attack like that."
"We cannot retreat at the moment." Sasha said. "But we are not suited to attack."
"The purpose of our attacks was simply to buy time, not cause damage." Shion said, slowly getting to her feet. "We must keep going."
"We're too unhealthy for that." Saito said. "I might be able to heal with some time, but the rest of you..."
"If I must die to protect Louise, then I will." Sasha said.
"If Louise launches an attack now, we'll be hit too." Alex said, helping Max stand up. "Father cannot keep protecting Louise and himself. He's running out of power."
Alex was correct. The shield that Maximilien had made for Louise was already battered by the sea serpent's constant onslaught. He was becoming incapable of keeping it strong.
As they discussed what they could do, the snake prepared to launch the same attack. This time, Shion protected them from the deadly winds. They lasted for twice as long as before and seemed much hotter and stronger.
When the attack ended, Shion fell to the ground, holding her head in agony. Using her strength so frequently and for such long durations put an immense amount of strain on her, giving her a skull splitting headache.
Worse still, she had been unable to protect Louise's location. The barrier that had surrounded her now crumbled, leaving her and Aigle exposed to any incoming attack.
They were all aware that the next attack would definitely be their last. However, rather than using the same attack that had so gravely wounded the group and incapacitated Shion, the serpent seemed dead set on killing the void mage.
Several dense, sharp spears of water materialized in the air. As soon as they formed, they sped towards Louise. With how injured they were, none of them could keep up with their speed.
In the blink of an eye, they shot down onto where Louise had been standing in a trance, with such force that they sent a great amount of dust and debris into the air, clouding everyone's vision.
Everyone's hearts sank upon seeing this. Not only because it would mean, for sure, that they would die, but because they had lost a very close friend. Sasha, Mariel, and Saito in particular were completely motionless, hoping their eyes were decieving them.
They ran as fast as they could, which given their injured bodies was not very fast, towards where they last saw her. When they arrived, they saw the outline of body laying face down on the ground, all but confirming their worst fears.
However, when they got closer, they saw that it was not Louise laying on the ground, bleeding from severe stab wounds. It was fairy, Aigle, who had pushed Louise away at the last moment, that lay motionless on the ground.
Her now cracked circular glasses still rested over her closed eyes. One of her iridescent insect-like wings had been severed and blood dripped from her mouth from internal wounds.
Everyone was silent as they stared at her. After reality had set in, Sasha, being the closest to the fairy, began to sob. Her sobbing got louder and louder as she held her deceased friend's body.
Everyone around her was silent as she had such a large outburst of emotion. Unfortunately for the mourning group, the giant serpent that surrounded them was not concerned with the fairy's death and prepared to attack them again.
Sasha, although aware that they were in danger, did not seem to care that another attack was about to be launched. She was too consumed by her grief to care.
However, as the serpent was about to fire its final blow, the dust in the air was drawn to a point a few meters away, a being sucked by a vortex.
The point happened to be the tip of Louise's finger, where a ball of light gathered. In an instant, and without saying anything, she shot the ball at the head of the beast. Max used what little magic he had to form a large stone dome that would protect everyone from the blast that was to come.
As soon as the light made contact with the beast's scales, it exploded into a massive bright sphere which soon enveloped the group. Outside, they could hear the sounds of destruction that Louise had caused.
Realizing that Max did not have the strength to keep the stone structure up, everyone who had some magic left helped him, keeping it up just long enough for the blast to calm sown, which it did about a minute later.
When the world around them became calm, they allowed the stone structure to collapse, letting them see the barren landscape caused by the blast.
The serpent that it had been directed against lay on the ground, unconscious. It's head and quite a large part of its body were injured and burned.
The once overcast sky started to clear in the distance, allowing rays of light to shine upon the land. Despite all of this, the mood among them was quite poor.
Using such a strong blast had made Louise unconscious, Shion could no longer move, Max was completely incapacitated, everyone else could barely walk, and worst of all, Aigle was dead. On top of these things came the dilemma of the giant serpent in front of them.
"None of us have the strength left to seal it." Alex said.
"And we're stranded here until Louise can wake up." Max said, very weakly.
"I'm too weak to heal anyone right now." Saito said.
"We must remain here then." Mariel said, sitting on the ground.
"But this thing will wake up again eventually." Alex replied.
"Yes...it will." Mariel said, rather sadly.
Understanding what his mother meant by that, Alex fell to his knees and said nothing. After a short time, he went to sit with Shion, who was leaning against a rock trying to rest her head.
"Our only hope is for Louise to wake up before then..." Saito said to himself.
Realizing that they could only stay put, they all sat silently on the ground. Sasha cradled Aigle's body constantly, silently shedding tears until her exhaustion made her fall asleep.
Max sat with Mariel, hugging her so that she felt a little safer. Saito sat next to his sleeping wife, hoping she would wake up in time.
However, after five hours of rest, with everyone but Saito asleep, the great serpent began to stir. Saito, who had forced himself to remain awake despite his fatigue, immediately thought of waking up his comrades, but decided that if this was the end, he would allow them to leave the world of the living in their sleep.
As the beast began to raise its head into the air, he too allowed himself to drift into sleep. The last thing he saw before the world around him went dark was the serpent opening its blue eyes.