Hey guys! I'm sorry this chapter's a bit shorter than usual, but hopefully there's enough action to make up for that! Guildless is finally going into an all out fight, and it's going to get intense! Thank you all so much for reading/reviewing/favoriting; those are the things that really keep me motivated to write these stories!
It might be a little late, but I decided that I wanted to give back some love. Everyone who follows/favorites, I'll be looking at any stories you have! I also will reply to any reviews here now.
So to Lynn (who thanks again for all your amazing reviews!): Don't you know? Secrets never stay buried forever! Just remember: everything comes full circle in the end (all these squares make a circle and I love you if you get that joke).
Chapter 11: Shade's Rebellion
After threatening Brain, Guildless suddenly was moving, her hands together and magic circle pulsing.
She was suddenly gone, then reappeared behind Brain, swiftly slicing her daggers as he turned, grazing his cheek. Brain seemed mildly surprised, yet unfazed by her attack.
Her daggers fading, she placed her palms vertical with wrists together. A sphere of black began to grow as she roared, "Pitch Black Cannon!"
Point blank, her blast sent him thirty feet back into a stone wall.
Lucy stared. "That's crazy..."
Grey agreed, "She's got some punch."
Jura murmured, "But enough to defeat Brain?"
Brain smiled confidently. "You've always been strong, but never strong enough to defeat one like me, you maggot." He raised Klodoa. "Dark Rondo!" A spiral of green shot toward Guildless, but she wouldn't move.
Lucy yelled, "Run, Guildless! Get out of the way!" Yet she stood her ground, arms crossed as the attack hit her head-on.
Brain smiled cockily as he surveyed the damage. Guildless was nowhere to be seen. "That was even easier than I'd thought."
"Think again." A sudden, tiny ball of black light flitted into Brain's face, then suddenly exploding with massive force, sending him flying. He landed on his feet, scowling, as Guildless slowly took full shape again from the mass of darkness she'd been before. "You thought you could beat me with Darkness Magic? And not even a powerful form? The Arc of Night makes me resistant to other Darkness Magics."
Brain barked, "Resistance is not invincibility! You have no tricks left, Guildless. That is your only offensive- your ability to slip behind my defenses. What else do you have to stop me?"
It was quite obvious Guildless wasn't very daunted. "Oh, I'll find something in my arsenal." She hit her palms with curled fingers together. "Blackness Rain!" Nearly invisible flashes of black were all that was visible of her attack as it battered down on Brain, Guildless herself advancing quickly by foot, daggers in her hands once again- but she underestimated Brain's reaction time.
Just as she slashed at his head, Klodoa was brushing her side. She didn't have enough time to stop it as Brain ordered, "Dark Capriccio."
Guildless was swept into a far away building in a raging pillar of red and green. When the dust cleared, it was plain to see Guildless was pressed into the rock, looking close to passing out from the pure force of impact.
Brain bragged, "Perhaps I should take you as my own, as well. You'd make a wonderful puppet. Powerful, but easily controlled. Just as you've always been."
Jura decided, "That is enough. I must intervene."
"No!" The voice that spoke wasn't as weak as it should've been, rage seething beneath the surface. Guildless pried herself from the ruins, stumbling and falling to her knees. As she shakily stood, she continued, "I started this, now I'll finish it."
Brain had made his way to stand over the girl. "Finish it? Not likely, child. Now, the Six Demons can be Five, at the cost of one Demon's Shadow and a Fairy."
Suddenly, Brain was somersaulting across the ground, blasted back by an open, steaming palm. Guildless stood straight, and just as when she'd stood over Inferno, the eyes of her mask glowed with a menacing, very evil looking red light.
Her voice was suddenly colder, more rigid. "One shadow? I'll take that bargain." She hit her fists together, but then slid her left hand back to her elbow as if supporting her right, which now had her first two fingers and thumb pointing at Brain.
Brain saw this gesture and desperately yelled, "You can't! You don't have the strength!"
A cold laugh echoed from inside her mask. "Let's test that theory. Arc of Night: Shade's Rebellion!"
It was unlike any spell they'd ever seen. The magic circle that appeared around Brain was ringed with ancient glyphs, but that wasn't the horrific part.
Brain's shadow was suddenly no longer mirroring his actions. It gripped its head, twisting as if in agony as it suddenly began rising off the rocky ground, taking a full, 3-dimensional form. If Brain had black skin and clothes, his shadow would've been a perfect copy, it's soul-less eyes bearing into its original.
Brain stared at his own shadow in terror as Guildless murmured, "Attack."
The shadow lunged for Brain, the latter quickly casting, "Dark Delete!" Yet the disks of darkness merely past through Brain's shadow as it bore down on him. While unaffected by magic, it was quite solid, locking its unnaturally long fingers around Brain's throat. The man struggled, but couldn't break loose, no matter his fighting or magic.
Jura looked on in shock. "Guildless, stop this!"
Yet she didn't seem to hear, Brain slowly slipping as the shadow eagerly did her bidding.
Lucy yelled, "You've beat him, Guildless!"
Grey agreed, "End the spell! You're going to go too far!"
Grey's words seemed to finally wake Guildless from her seeming trance. Lowering her arms, the shadow suddenly melted back to the ground.
Brain stared blurrily at Guildless with a newfound fear. The girl murmured, "Blackness Rain." And with a final hail of darkness, Brain collapsed, defeated.
Guildless looked at the legal guild wizards, gave a quick nod... and fell herself. Crumbling to her knees and soon after falling backwards, Guildless' every breath echoed in her mask, her eyes trained wearily on the dark sky.
Not a monster. Not yet... She glanced quickly at the guild wizards who rushed to her side, eyes pausing mostly on Grey. I'm holding on, thanks to them. It could've been worse... I could've hurt someone again. She took a deep breath, repeating her mantra in her mind as if her life depended on it- when in truth, everyone's life depended on her believing her words. Not a monster... Not a monster...