Chandra snarled, "C'mon dammit!" She knocked Jason into the ground. A fireball flew over her head and landed in the middle of the kid, "Stay down for half a second will you?" she watched him for a moment to make sure he was actually down and then turned her attention to Athena. She hovered above them. Her eyes glittered with cold contempt and yet a realization that she had in fact underestimated them. Her face hardened. Athena was determined to defeat them in the most efficient way possible. Golden glowing wisps rose from the ground around her.
Chandra leaped back in surprise. The four of them scattered. It was probably detrimental to be touched by one of them. The wisps solidified into glowing chains. Chandra ducked under one and leaped over another. Unfortunately Athena herself was a glowing ball of righteous hatred. Chandra watched the earth that the chains kicked up disintegrate as it passed through the barrier that Athena had created around herself. Her eyes widened. She leaped backwards and threw a blade into the barrier. The blade turned to shards of metallic dust. Alright. So that's not gonna work. She saw a chain catch Yuri from the corner of her eye. He was slammed into the wall on the edge of the school grounds. A resounding crack filled the air. The blond pyro fell to the ground with a dull thud and didn't get back up. He began to glow gold. Chandra looked from Athena to him and back again, "Alright." She pulled Isabelle out of the way of one of the chains and jumped over one coming at her from behind. She heard Hades snarl in rage. She barely saw him under the seven chains that held him.
Darkness comes with chains of hope and the phoenix shall cease to be.
Chandra gritted her teeth. She set Isabelle down. The girl warped the paths of the five chains that had leaped out at them. That's two. Well. I think I know what the chains are. That means that the darkness is Athena. Well more accurately the power behind her. She glanced at Isabelle, "Can you handle it?"
The girl's eyes were hard with determination but behind that she was obviously exhausted. She nodded stubbornly, "Oh yeah. I can go for as long as I need to."
Chandra nodded, "Alright." She looked up at Athena. Damn. What the hell are we gonna do about you. She heard the clinking of chain links behind her. She grabbed the exhausted Isabelle and leaped away. The extra weight slowed her down but she wasn't going to leave her to her own devices. Everyone was at the walls like she'd told them to be. At least they're out of the way. However if we fall their next. I hope they can handle it. Hades no longer had chains holding him to the ground but he was unconscious and his body glowed gold, the same as Yuri. Chandra's eyes narrowed. Hope you say? Darkness comes with chains of hope. What kind of hope? Is that what's going on?
They're dreaming. Dreaming dreams they always wanted.
She leaped away from the chains again. She couldn't keep this up. Isabelle was less than able to get out of the way on her own. Chandra growled. This isn't getting anywhere. It's nice to know they're dreaming. WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT IT?! I have to figure out how I'm going to get past that barrier of hers. If the barrier falls then so will she. Eventually. As long as we can keep her from putting it back up. The chains were becoming more frequent. She cursed violently. She knew that if Athena kept that barrier up and kept coming with more and more chains that even she'd drop eventually. Isabelle was caught and pinned under four chains. It took nine to hold and keep Chandra. Even so, they didn't pin her to the ground. The moment a chain touched her she felt an almost false euphoria overcome her. She gritted her teeth and pushed around it. She sliced through two of the chains.
Draw on it. You have a protocol of your own. You can draw on her power. Store it for later.
Chandra's eyes widened. WHAT?! She did as she was bid though, seeing it as the only real option. Athena pulled back away from her in absolute shock but the spell had taken affect. Chandra collapsed with a final snarl.
"Kurai. Lend me your telepathy," Elspeth said evenly.
The demon nodded, "As you wish, Elspeth."
"Gideon, Nissa," Elspeth turned to the two of them, "Keep the goddess preoccupied."
"Kyle and Rick will protect everyone else from any stray attacks," Lilianna inserted confidently. She didn't feel nearly as confident as she sounded but had learned a while ago that putting up a face of confidence even in a situation where she lacked it was the best way to get what she wanted.
Elspeth nodded.
Lilianna turned to the two boys she'd spoken of, "You two."
The two of them got to their feet and walked up to her.
"Yeah?" Kyle asked. His usual lazy, whiny attitude was gone. Even he was serious and willing to do anything.
"You're job is to protect the rest of us from any stray attacks from Athena," Lilianna explained.
The two of them nodded and positioned themselves next to each other in the center of the where the gate and entrance had been before the Black Lotus had so kindly destroyed it all. Gideon and Nissa leaped forward. Nissa used the power Elspeth had shown her how to use and turned the earth around her into monstrously powerful creatures. Lilianna scanned the gathered students. Her eyes narrowed, "Erin."
"Yes?" The runner hurried the short distance to her side.
"Get me Cristi, Kamiya and Caedrus." Michael, David, and Onyx are already nearby so I'll talk to them now. Lilianna watched Erin go. I swear to God, you redheaded idiotic self righteous pyromaniac if you die during this I'm bringing you back and making you my slave for all of eternity. She walked over to Michael, David, and Onyx, "Help Gideon and Nissa but don't get in their way."
The three of them nodded. Michael and David looked as though they'd actually gotten better over the course of the war. It was now well past sunset. It had started that morning. Echo if you're going to do something then hurry it up. You're taking way, WAY too long. She looked around. Erin was talking with Caedrus and had Cristi standing next to him. He was running around the outer edge of the battle field. Luckily Athena was too busy to notice him. He turned and hurried over to Kamiya. Once the two of them finished talking the girl teleported the four of them to Lilianna's side.
Lilianna looked at them, "Caedrus, help Gideon. Kamiya you're in charge of transportation basically. If someone get's hurt get them out."
The teleporter nodded. Caedrus was already gone.
"Cristi," Lilianna turned to the girl, "Help Kyle and Rick."
Cristi nodded. Her ability allowed her to create shock waves when her fist came into contact with something. She could also create those waves with her voice. More often than not she combined the two for a very destructive effect. With that ability she could redirect stray attacks and break up the earth, creating jagged pillars. That would allow Kyle to more quickly move the earth because he doesn't have to take the time to break it.
Lilianna could see Dawn tending to those too wounded to fight, and Ral because his idiotic self decided to draw on mana. Luckily he didn't draw on enough that he would die. He was just going to be very unpleasantly sick for the next few weeks. Tina shook the medic off and leaped into battle, even with a wounded shoulder. She admitted that Gideon and Nissa could probably do their job. But also the more targets Athena had the more likely she was the be occupied until Elspeth finished doing whatever it was she was doing. The fact that even Elspeth had called on the assistance of a demon surprised Lilianna. But then again this wouldn't be the first time the knight had done something unexpected. The battle was turning into a war of attrition. Athena had so many protective enchantments up that hitting her was very close to impossible. She did not however use her chains. Something about Chandra seemed to have made the goddess reluctant to do so again.
Jenny was constantly running over her magic circle to keep Cain out of the fight. Jace and Alice had long since lost consciousness. Luckily that kept them out of the fight. Lilianna knew that Jace at least, would've been a problem. There was definitely something none of them knew. Lilianna resolved to question them. Not immediately but she was going to get all of her answers. Hopefully there aren't any others. There's Hades and Athena. I hope there aren't others. Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. If there are we're all screwed. Unless we're lucky enough to never run into them.
Lilianna looked around in surprise as Elspeth approached, "What did you do?"
"You'll see," Elspeth nodded.
Rick barely managed to deflect the blades that rained down over the entire area of the courtyard. Cristi knocked more than she could count aside with a powerful wave. Kyle had a dome of earth surrounding the biggest area he could must. The blades kept falling. How many of these damn things does she have?
Kyle growled, "Why are they still coming?!"
"They're solid representations of her power," Lotus snapped. She dodged yet another blade and ducked under Kyle's earth shield, "They'll keep coming."
"Seriously?" Cristi asked tiredly.
Tina nodded, "Yeah. She is a never ending power supply."
"Is Elspeth done yet?"
"She's talking with Lilianna so I would assume so," Tina said. She looked at her three friends, "Just do your best."
The three of them nodded. Their faces hardened with renewed determination.
Tina leaped back out into the fray. She had to admit, without Gideon and Nissa even with how many of them were fighting at the moment this would've gotten really ugly really fast. As it is Caedrus and David were out. The blades conveniently missed those that were a part of her project as well as those that were under her chain spell. Tina didn't know what that had been but it'd brought down Phoenix which made her very glad Athena didn't seem keen on using it again. She was more than amazed that they'd held out this long even though they knew so little of what was actually going on.
Suddenly a giant flaming bird flew right through Athena. The goddess was left disoriented and forced to land on the ground. A fireball formed underneath her and exploded, sending her flying upward.
"Hey! Aren't you forgetting about somebody?!"
Everyone turned in shock even Athena. Tina felt a smile creeping onto her face.
"Bring down the shields!" Lilianna's voice rose above the relieved excited chattering that had arisen.
Rick, Kyle and Cristi pulled their shields down and leaped out of the battlefield. Everyone backed off.
Phoenix. Buy me three more minutes.
The redhead nodded, "You got it Echo." She looked at the three standing around her, "You guys up for it? Three minutes."
Hades and Yuri nodded.
Isabelle smirked, "I'm down."
Athena growled in frustration. The chains leaped out at them again. Chandra leaped forward and sliced through two of them. Isabelle warped the paths of the rest. The chains imbedded themselves in the ground instead of wrapping around them.
"What are you doing lying down here?"
Chandra glared at Elspeth but could hold it for long, "Took you long enough." She took the blond's outstretched hand and rose to her feet, "I was getting tired of fighting with an illusion."
She had woken up and suddenly everything was exactly how she'd always wanted it to be. It was weird. The peaceful air was almost suffocating. Everything she'd wished she'd done had been done. Everyone she'd wished she'd been able to protect was protected. They were alive and well but, though it was everything she wanted, it wasn't right. Life was boring. It wasn't what she really wanted. She'd often wondered what life would be like if she'd made all the right choices. She realized that making all the right choices wasn't what life was about at all. It was the wrong choices that made life fun. That made life exciting. That made life worth living. She smirked, "So when do I get to go back then?"
Elspeth met her gaze with calm blue eyes, "Whenever you like." The images around her faded and she opened her eyes to cold hard ground. She could hear battle going on nearby. She got to her feet and shook her head. The other three were also waking up. She saw an earthen wall between Athena's torrent of blades and those gathered at the walls. So many of her friends were fighting the goddess. She smirked and looked at the others, "Ready to go?"
"More than," Yuri nodded.
Isabelle was already on her feet and ready to go. Her eyes glowed with a kind of confidence that Chandra hadn't seen in her before. Hades looked just as ready, "Anytime you are."
Chandra smirked, "Yuri."
"Hm?"
"Fire if you please?"
He complied.
Chandra grinned excitedly. Three minutes. That's all the time we need to buy. This'll be fun!