Chapter 95
Far above them, Ruler stood in the ruins of the mansion on the surface, most of the central part reduced to rubble from her entrance.
From afar, it would've looked like a comet slammed into the mansion from the skies, a golden trail of dust left in behind in its path. Using her own body as a weapon, she had crushed the Bounded Fields with her Magic Resistance, breaking them with brute force. They had barely lasted for seconds before they were penetrated, the sheer kinetic force released during her landing destroying the other forms of defense on impact.
Smoke drifted lazily into the air, water spouting from broken pipes and walls. Sparks from the broken lines hissed, with the shattered turrets whirring pitifully in the corners. A few familiars twitched, the limbs struggling to move, before they fell back onto the ground, broken and limp.
Kairi's possessed body was torn apart by the rubble flying at him, his right arm torn off by a chunk of concrete, while several holes of differing sizes appeared in his torso and head from the steel rebar and appliances that were sent flying. His body was already rotten and hollow from Zouken's worms animating it, so it quickly collapsed on the ground, a mere shell of bones and meat as the worms moved it away. It had served its purpose for now, allowing him to get close to the mansion.
Near the stairs leading to an elevator that went down to the basement, specially built to be compatible with magecraft, Ayaka lay on the floor, unconscious.
When the Ruler smashed into the mansion, she had closed the steel door behind her and reinforced it in a desperate bid to hold it together, but the impact had been too much, blowing the door clean off its hinges and sending her tumbling down the stairs, knocking her head in the process.
"Caw!"
A crow hopped on top of her, alternating between pecking her face making harsh sounds into her ears.
Ruler twitched, her head slowly turning to the sound she had just heard, of what sounded like a bird cooing and cawing.
"Ahh...nggghh…"
Her eyes fluttered open, the constant pain of being pecked in the face finally stimulating her mind. The hard beak of the crow with a sharp point left many red spots on her face from where it had pecked, almost drawing blood with how hard it had done it.
Stiffly, her body moved, her hands pushing behind her to get her upper body to sit up, and then lean against the wall to stand. She hissed, feeling the bruises on her butt, knees and elbows when she had tumbled down the stairs and landed hard on the ground. A few scrapes were present here and there, but it wasn't too bad overall.
"Was that...a Servant?"
Looking up at the open doorway above her, she decided that she should probably get down before the enemy discovered the entrance. Forcing her legs to move, step by step, she drew closer to the doors of the open lift, her crow 'Manaka' having pecked the button with his beak to keep it open.
Awkwardly, the torn blue tights stepped over the twisted steel rebar and broken concrete walls, getting closer and closer to the sound she had heard earlier. The worm in her spine at the base of her neck was unable to completely fine tune her movements, causing occasional tripping on the odd piece of broken furniture or debris littering the uneven ground. Eventually, she made it to a jagged, broken wall in the shape of an M, with wires and pipes sticking out of it. In front of it lay a clean rectangle of wooden floor, untouched by debris.
Her head slumped down to look at it, and then she walked onto the floor.
Like water, her legs passed through the floor, her Magic Resistance breaking the illusion hiding the entrance destroyed as it faded away. A short set of stairs leading to an open doorway, mangled hinges on the side appeared.
Ayaka limped into the elevator doors, leaning against the back wall to rest herself. The crow flew into it after she entered, pecking the button for the doors to slide to a close.
*BANG*
The doors dented, the steel deforming with the imprints of two hands. The elevator rumbled from the impact, Ayaka's eyes widening as her breath caught in her throat. Manaka pecked the elevator buttons desperately, turning into a woodpecker as it tried to make the elevator go down.
The chains suspending the elevator clinked and rumbled, the counterweight going up as they started traveling downwards. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ayaka slumped onto the floor of the elevator, steadying her breathing from the shock of the sudden attack.
A muffled rumble sound from above, making Ayaka and Manaka look up at the elevator ceiling. The yellow lights of the elevator flickered, the walls shaking slightly. Then there was silence.
*DON*
The elevator shook a second time, this time more violently as the entire box swayed from side to side, the lights flickering in and out incessantly. Manaka squawked and flapped its wings before it smacked into the walls of the elevator, the trauma of its beak hitting the hard marble surface jolting it and sending it flying onto the floor.
Ayaka braced herself against the walls and the floor, her hands gripping onto the handrails for dear life as her body shook with the elevator. Her glasses almost slid off, but the hooks behind her ear barely managed to stop them from falling off. Brown hair swung in front of her eyes, coupling with the flickering lights to disorient her as darkness and flashes of light filled her vision.
It was over quickly, the elevator still moving slightly as Ayaka stood up. Manaka fluttered its wings weakly, before hopping onto it's legs and twisting its head to glance at its master.
"Caw?"
Several small pieces of white marble dropped onto the floor from the ceiling, with white dust filling the enclosed space.
Ayaka glanced down at it, then looked up at the ceiling.
Two dents the size of human feet could be clearly seen, the marble above cracked and missing small several small pieces.
"MANAKA!"
The crow flew into the air, stopping right above her, and spread its wings.
Feathers filled the air, the wings expanding as it became large enough to cover Ayaka's body, who was hiding in the corner of the elevator. The glossy feathers encircled her body, hiding her from sight within the elevator.
Bright flash filled the space, the ceiling disappearing as it was blown to pieces, marble, steel and glass raining down on Ayaka and bouncing off Manaka's feathers. A hole appeared at the top, the lights all permanently down as the elevator was plunged into darkness.
Looking through the swirls of dust, Ruler's emerald irises zoomed in on Manaka.
Flipping another red card emblazoned with a sun emblem into her hands from the deck at her side, she lightly flicked it at the black feathers.
The shield of feathers blew apart, some of them catching fire as they drifted to the floor. The entire box was filled with black feathers, blocking Ruler's line of sight as they hid Ayaka from her. The possessed Ruler twitched her neck, her hands jerking slightly as they took a stack of green cards, the cards shuffled into her hand with dexterity, her skills remaining even with mind gone as her body automatically acted.
Cutting the air like knives, the green cards with circle motifs on them sliced into the elevator, cutting through the feathers like chaff. Every corner was struck, with every angle that she could hit used.
Yet, there was no cry of pain, no muffled hiss or any indicators that Ayaka was hit. Tilting her head, Ruler's glazed eyes stared into the box as the feathers finally settled onto the ground, seeing nothing in the elevator.
"Seichō"
A rush of green vines, sturdy and thick, rushed up through the opening in the ceiling that Ruler was standing next to, a wave of nature that entangled her legs, creeping up her waist and going all the way up to her chest, even spiralling around her arms to restrain her.
Before she had a chance to break free, Manaka flew up out of the opening, and flapped its wings at Ruler. Black feathers with smoke trailing behind it shot out, blurring with speed as they pierced into Ruler's face, cutting deeply into it. Her nose was sliced in half, her forehead and cheeks bleeding from the wounds. Most importantly, Ayaka had made Manaka target her eyes to distract her, the feathers possessing qualities that allowed them to hone in on specific body parts. By adding her blood to the feathers, and some materials from the body part she wished to target, she could make feathers that automatically sought out that specific area when triggered.
With her vision gone, Ayaka dropped from the upper corner of the elevator she was hiding in, her arms, legs and core muscles aching from the stress. The upper corners were hidden from sight if one looked from the opening in the ceiling, and any thrown objects would be unable to hit her unless they rebounded, so she had been safe there.
*ding*
The doors opened as they reached the destination, the elevator going down the entire time they were fighting.
Sprinting through the doors, she raced to the control room where Caules and Org undoubtedly were, Manaka flying beside her.
With little effort, Ruler broke free of the leafy restraints, the vines sliced by the green cards she had.
"Hoh, seems like I'll have to make Ruler get serious to catch them. Hah, I was hoping to capture them alive and whole, but if they get injured then it can't be helped."
Zouken stroked his chin in his material body above ground, instructing Ruler to stop holding back.