Author's Note: Finals week is approaching. Gasp.
The Story So Far: Musashi lit a nymph on fire, Monta caught some magic and magma. Hiruma is swearing, though completely unaware and weak. Zork's about to pass out and the lot of them are still not out of the building!
Hidden
By: Bar-Ohki
Chapter 27: Linemen, the Greatest Shields
Upon arrival at the top of the stairs Musashi got caught by surprise by a Hunter. Fortunately, the spell was rendered mostly useless by the football uniform; well, it was mostly useless as it was supposed to be a paralyzing spell and all it did was hurt a lot. With a pained grunt, Musashi fell back against the nearby wall. Monta, thankfully, had been a little more prepared for the magical ambush and managed to catch three spells.
This then proposed a large issue, because Monta had no ball control what so ever and the next action, logically, was to toss the magic back at the Hunters. Monta bit his lip and shot a glance at Musashi, who was slowly getting back to his feet. Deciding to risk it, Monta threw a magical ball in the general direction of the Hunters.
Monta wound up hitting himself in the face with what should have been a fire spell. Thanks to the protection of the uniform, Monta only got sunburned on his face, rather than having his face lit on fire. He dropped the other two spells, which bounced off the floor and rolled towards the Hunters' feet. One of the Hunters dispelled the two remaining spells.
"Think you're clever, eh?" The front Hunter taunted. Monta simply stood in front of Musashi, trying to protect him from any further spells that might be sent their way.
"I'll be okay." Musashi grunted, his body still tingling from the spell. Monta nodded once, staying alert for more spells.
Taki came bounding up the stairs next, startling the Hunters that had been slowly been closing in on Monta and Musashi. The result was that Taki crashed into one of the Hunters. Suddenly the Hunter went up into a pillouette and started going 'ah-ha-ha'.
"Another Taki idiot?" Togano muttered as he came up the stairs with a mumbling Hiruma on his back.
"Get him!" One of the Hunters yelled, pointing at Hiruma.
"Use your shield!" Musashi yelled at Togano. The lineman dropped down onto one knee and set Hiruma onto the ground, he then pulled his huge stone shield off his back and put it between him and the Hunters' spells. All spells that hit the shield were nullified.
"Taki, keep on ramming into people!" Musashi yelled at the confused tight end. Pretty soon Taki had Hunters running from him in order to avoid a complete loss of intelligence. Togano pushed himself forward while using his free arm to drag Hiruma forward with him. Musashi ducked behind the shield while Monta stayed in front to catch spells. When Monta had a spell, Musashi would rush out and kick it, adding to the chaos of the unorganized group of Hunters in front of them.
Kuroki and Juumonji arrived shortly, setting their burdens behind Togano long enough to ready their own shields. Juumonji's glass shield reflected spells back at the caster with a homing missile-like property. Kuroki's small wooden shield didn't seemed to also nullify at first. But after enough spells hit it, it would shoot out a spell of it's own that seemed nasty and left a large bit of destruction in its wake. Komusubi, Ayla, and Suzuna arrived last, startled by the large bit of wasteland between them and the exit.
Ishimaru, still cloaked, bent down and picked up Zork, throwing the boy onto his back. It looked like Zork was floating in the middle of the air, which made everyone recall that Ishimaru was there. Ayla picked up the cooler full of blood and Komusubi picked up Hiruma. This left the other lineman and Musashi and Monta to be able to attack and defend against the remaining Hunters while the party made a run for the exit.
On the other side of the doors, Shin was observing quite the magical battle.
"There's a lot of fighting going on in there." Shin muttered worriedly.
"Why am I here?" The old bus driving lady muttered, still very confused.
"Why am I still following you guys?" Rae muttered, also confused. The two had been in a state of confusion since Zork had left.
"They're coming!" Kurita gasped, right as Komusubi came flying through the doors with Hiruma on his back.
There was a faint gasp when everyone saw the condition of the quarterback.
"Escape!" Komusubi yelled, looking right at the bus.
"Get on the bus, now!" Doburoku ordered, understanding enough of what Komusubi meant. Mamori gabbed both the old lady and Rae with magic and hauled them onto the bus with her. Kurita, Yukimitsu, and Shin quickly followed, not needing to be told twice. Komusubi rushed up onto the bus, managing not to drop Hiruma in the process. Shin helped lay the disoriented quarterback down next to the unconscious Sena.
"Something's horribly wrong." Shin muttered, Hiruma's aura was a mess.
"We don't have time to worry about that right now." Doburoku told them while the 'floating' Zork and Ayla came running onto the bus.
"Where are we going to run?" Ayla asked as she set down the cooler and took a seat next to it.
"Who are you?" Doburoku asked her, eyeing her wearily.
"She's on our side." Ishimaru announced as he uncloaked himself, having already laid Zork down next to his brother. Somewhere during the battle Zork had passed out.
"Why is there a bag tied to his back?" Mamori asked.
"Its got elfin and Incubus bones in it, Zork's the only one that can touch it." Musashi explained as he and Monta ran onto the bus. Doburoku grabbed the keys from the distressed bus lady and started the bus. Juumonji, Togano, Kuroki, and Taki made it onto the bus just as Doburoku shut the door.
Revving the engine, Doburoku took off, driving across Liverpool at illegal speeds.
"Where are we going?" Mamori asked, looking out the back at the Hunters chasing them via magical means.
"The Underground." Doburoku answered. "Shin come here!"
The linebacker quickly obliged. Doburoku took a hand off the wheel and set it on Shin's shoulder.
"I'm going to amply your Sight, I need you to tell me where the melfin is from here." Doburoku warned Shin.
Shin had an explosion of colors across his Sight. Suddenly he could see almost all the magic in the world.
"Keep going straight, we'll run right into it." Shin told Doburoku and his vision returned to normal. He blinked a few times, stunned by all the colors.
Komusbui ran to the back of the bus and held up his tower shield, waiting for an opportunity to use it. Monta was ready with his gloves to catch anything that might be coming their way. Fortunately the Hunters seemed more interested in chasing than casting spells.
"Woah!" Juumonji cried as Doburoku made a particularly hard turn, taking them out of Liverpool and into the fields outside the city. Shin could see the melfin, it was a big white ball of chaos. He silently pointed at it. Doburoku turned the bus off the road, onto the field, and towards the melfin.
"Anezaki, use a projecting spell to warn Malhavoc we're coming!" Doburoku ordered. Mamori rushed to the front of the bus and stuck her head out the window. Ahead, in the moonlight, she could see a small figure pounding a stick into the ground.
"Emergency! We're coming Malhavoc-san!" Mamori yelled with an amazingly loud and powerful voice. The figure stopped and seemed to turn around. It pulled the stick out of the ground and rolled out of the way in time for the bus to come crashing by. Mamori observed Malhavoc roll back and quickly finish re-pounding the stick into the ground.
"Givans-Vorzer!" Malhavoc yelled, his voice taking on a high-inhuman shrill. Doburoku stopped the bus as a large, red dome of light appeared all around them. There was a light smacking noise as the Hunters ran helplessly into Malhavoc's massive shield. The small elf walked onto the newly opened bus door, looking annoyed.
It seemed as though Malhavoc had lost his cloak, he looked like a small, adorable child, with soft features, pointy ears, and pupiless red eyes. He had unruly black hair and was currently wearing some dark browns.
"It won't hold them back very long." Malhavoc remarked running a hand through his hair tiredly.
"We're going to run this bus through the melfin." Doburoku told them.
"Then do it." Malhavoc told him as he took a seat.
"Your cloak-" Ishimaru protested.
"Oiled wool, nothing special and completely disposable." Malhavoc waved it off.
"When you are magical, you usually don't have to carry magical items with you." Mamori explained as Doburoku continued to drive the bus towards the center of the field.
"You're a Ventish elf!" Ayla gasped, staring at Malhavoc. He responded by raising his eyebrows.
"Usually non-elves cannot differentiate between the individual races." Malhavoc commented.
"That's an amazing shield…." Juumonji muttered as he looked at the huge red light over their heads.
"It's not as amazing as that shield." Malhavoc pointed at Komusubi's tower shield. "That's the Door-Sealer."
"The legendary Door-Sealer!?" Ayla turned around and stared at the tower shield.
"Huh?" "Huuh?" "Huuh!?"
"The Door-Sealer!?" Doburoku gasped, managing to keep his eyes on the road ahead of them.
"What's it do?" Suzuna asked.
"It allows a non-magical person to open and close doors to the Underground." Malhavoc explained. "It can also be used to create impenetrable walls. And like any good, useful magical artifact it goes missing for several centuries then appears at the most convenient times."
"M-melfin?" Komusubi asked, wide-eyed.
"Of course it can be used to close the melfin." Malhavoc smiled, having understood Komusubi perfectly. "Just say 'Eilwran' as we start dropping."
"That's one of the Old Words!" Mamori gasped.
"And what of it?" Malhavoc asked her looking annoyed.
"All Underground magic is channeled through the Old Words, Mamori-chan." Doburoku remarked. "The Door-Sealer is an old, old magical artifact. Of course it's activated by the Old Words."
"Is rezrov one of the Old Words?" Musashi asked. "Zork used it to open a door earlier."
"…Yes." Malhavoc eyed the unconscious Incubus wearily.
"Are you okay?" Suzuna asked. Cerberus crawled out from under one of the seats and barked once at Malhavoc.
"Cerberus?" Malhavoc blinked at the dog, a little stunned.
"You know Hiruma's dog?" Kuroki was startled by this.
"Dog?" Malhavoc raised an eyebrow. "Familiar is a better word."
"Huh?" "Huuh?" "Huuh!?"
"You can tell!?" Yukimitsu gasped.
"Huh?" "Huuh?" "Huuh!?"
Malhavoc looked thoughtful while the bus began to fall.
"Eilwran!" Komusubi yelled.
And everything fell into darkness.
_=_=_=_=_
Komusubi had an important magical artifact the entire time and no one knew. Let me know what you think!