ToC - Chapter 7 - Burn Bright My Soul

"...so after I noticed the pressure around me shift, I saw the agents assigned to me begin to lose consciousness," Ina stated from the front of the board room. Calliope, Kiara, and Gura all sat in the front row with several suited agents filling in the rows of chairs behind them. One agent stuck out more than the rest, Agent Akiro.

"What exactly changed with the air?" he asked, tapping his pen against the pad of paper in front of him. He wasn't rushing her. It was simply a tick that he only does when he's analyzing a problem or situation. Ina still couldn't help but feel slightly pressured by him, though.

"It felt heavier, like something was weighing down on me," she answered. Akiro wrote down nearly everything that she said on his notepad. His job was documenting these meetings and returning to the Foundation with any advantageous information. One could think of him as the main link between Hololive and the Foundation.

None of this helped Ina to calm down. She was used to this from her time spent within the Foundation itself, but it didn't make these debriefs any easier or less stressful. If there was one thing she hated above all else, it would be speaking in front of a crowd. Especially if that crowd included her superiors.

Calliope gave Ina a slight nod, trying to help calm her friend. Emersyn was sitting a row behind the other Myth girls and saw this motion. She made sure to give Ina a rare smile. Both of these gestures helped to ease Ina's growing anxiety.

What didn't help was the sudden opening of the meeting room door. Akiro looked like he was about to ask another question, but everyone's collective attention was swept away before he could.

"We have detected anomalous activity at the cave site!" an agent yelled in through the open door. Calliope and Kiara didn't even look at each other. They simply got up from their chairs and hastily made their way out of the room.

Gura followed after a moment with Ina awkwardly left standing. She only left after Emersyn and Akiro motioned for her to leave, too. She quickly caught up with the others who were quickly marching towards the locker room.

"What kind of activity? Do you know if it is Caesura?" Calliope asked the agent who had interrupted the debrief. They glanced over at Calliope for a second before averting their gaze. It was clear that they didn't really like making eye contact with the harsh looking Reaper.

"S-Some of our nearby sensors picked up a strange vibration. When we triangulated the source, it was from within the cave," they explained. Calliope didn't look satisfied with that answer, so the agent quickly added, "We are not sure if it is Caesura, but it is more than likely." Calliope and Kiara began to move faster.

"What are our rules of engagement looking like?" Kiara asked. Anyone standing near her could feel the heat she was producing. An anger that had been boiling for millennia was bubbling to the surface once again.

"You have autonomy over the situation when you arrive. Do whatever you feel is needed," the agent answered. Kiara gave Calliope a wicked smile when she heard this. "You can expect backup a few minutes after you arrive."

The group got to the locker room and the agent parted ways from them. Technically, only Kiara and Gura actually needed anything out of the lockers, but the others went with them to hear what the situation was.

Kiara grabbed her sword and shield from within her locker. Both of her weapons had undergone minor modifications thanks to the Foundation. Her sword contained a vial of highly flammable liquid that she could use in place of her own fire if need be. Her shield now featured several titanium plates that could extend to provide increased protection. They didn't add much weight either, which was good because her right arm was still nowhere close to being fully healed.

Gura stared into her locker for a moment before grabbing her trident out. After the battle against the Ancient Ones, the top half of her trident had been lost and after her fight against Caesura, the bottom half had been shattered. The Foundation had done a decent patch job, reconstructing the trident using fragments of the shattered trident and light-weight composites. It was harder to channel magic through, but Gura could manage.

They both nodded to Calliope and Ina, before rushing up the stairs to the roof. Ina began to create a magic circle around herself and Calliope. She could technically teleport them all, but she wanted to conserve her magic as much as possible. This was the fastest way that they could travel given their current abilities. It would only take Kiara a minute or so to reach the cave anyways.

"Readings are still indicating activity within the cave," Emersyn's voice came through the earpiece they were each wearing. They all gave their manager a roger, copy, or some other form of acknowledgement. Ina finished her spell and looked to Calliope, who nodded that she was ready. Her scythe appeared next to her from her own shadow.

Ina had never truly been scared to teleport before. Even if she was teleporting somewhere she didn't know very well or into known danger, she could steal her nerves. However, this time was different. Her body was trembling with terror when the purple mist enveloped her and Calliope.

She knew first hand how powerful IRyS was.

If this activity really was her, then that meant she was doing something. A million different possibilities flooded her brain, none of which were good.

And they were just walking right in to fight her…

'Calm down, Ina,' AO-chan told her. The purple mist evaporated, revealing that they were now in a heavily forested area. A few dozen yards away from them was the entrance to the cave. 'IRyS is not the same being that you fought before.' Ina wasn't sure she could agree with AO-chan's reasoning.

Calliope and Ina took the minute between their arrival and Kiara's to scout the area above ground. They radioed that they found nothing out of the ordinary. Kiara flew down through the trees a couple seconds later with Gura on her back. The Atlantean jumped off and Kiara landed gracefully on her feet.

All four girls approached the entrance to the cave. They were all surprised that they couldn't sense any magic from within. This provided neither relief nor worry. Kiara entered first, followed by Calliope, and then Gura and Ina. But Calliope put her arm out, blocking Ina and Gura from entering.

"What's wrong?" Ina asked, curious why Calliope had stopped them. The Reaper looked at Kiara who ignited a flame to see once the cave had become too dark. She then turned and looked at Gura and Ina with a worried expression.

"You both should stay up here and stand guard. If Caesura is in there, she might try to avoid us and leave the cave. You two can stop her and allow us to attack her from behind," Calliope explained. Ina and Gura didn't argue with the logical Reaper and stepped backwards.

"Say something if you need help," Ina said.

"I've lost contact with Kiara, so the earpieces aren't going to work in the cave," Emersyn informed them.

"Yell something then," Ina corrected herself. Calliope nodded before descending after Kiara.

Calliope didn't like forcing her friends to stay behind, but it was for their own good. What she had told them about IRyS possibly escaping wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the main reason she wanted them to stay on the surface.

As of late, she was becoming increasingly worried about Kiara's mental state. It wouldn't be out of the question for her to collapse the cave on top of them all just to have a chance at killing IRyS. Kiara and Calliope would be able to survive such an act, but Gura and Ina would not. IRyS' survival was a toss up, but Kiara would be more than willing to flip that coin.

"Keep the light dim," Calliope said after she caught up to Kiara. The Phoenix complied after a moment, bringing her flame down to the lowest level she could maintain. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until they both noticed a glow emanating from deeper within the cave. Kiara fully extinguished her flame upon seeing it. Both of them carefully crept towards the source.

What they thought was a consistent, light pink glow turned out to be a lot more dynamic than that.

Within the walls of the cavern, pulses of deep indigo and light pink rushed through crevices like blood rushing through veins. The pink was much brighter and more common, but the indigo would occasionally plunge them into near complete darkness.

As they got deeper, the colors of magic began to mix with each other. Beautiful swirls of magic danced through the walls. It was almost mesmerizing, but both girls remained focused on what was ahead of them.

The source of the magic revealed itself once the narrow pathway opened up into a larger chamber.

On a pile of soft fabric laid IRyS.

She was mostly still, but she would occasionally twitch, allowing indigo magic into the veins of the cave.

Kiara's eyes were dry from staring without blinking. Her gaze never shifted from IRyS' unconscious form as she approached.

Her sword ignited a brilliant orange as she channeled her magic into it. She brought it over her head, readying a devastating attack.

Calliope lurked just behind Kiara, allowing her friend to attack first. She knew that Kiara wouldn't accept IRyS' death unless it was by her own blade with her own fire. Anything else would simply not be good enough to satisfy her bloodlust.

Kiara let her flaming sword fall down towards IRyS' heart, trying to end her life in one swift strike.

The magic coursing throughout the cavern suddenly faded, as IRyS' eyes flew open.

Kiara's attack was deflected, plunging into the fabric that IRyS was laying on. It ignited in a glorious fireball, allowing her to see IRyS roll away and spring to her feet.

Calliope watched these events unfold before launching an attack of her own. Using the shadow created by Kiara's fire, she appeared just behind IRyS. She swung her scythe in an arc that was nearly guaranteed to hit.

There was a flash of something red in Calliope's peripheral vision just before her blade made contact. She didn't even need to look over to know who it was. But before the name could register in her mind, the cave was plunged into complete darkness. The fabric must have burned out, leaving no light left to illuminate the cave.

But she was a Reaper… This darkness was supposed to be her natural habitat. Her eyes were good enough to see with even the tiniest amount of light. Kiara's mere presence should have given her more than enough light to work with.

So why was it so dark…?

And why had her strike never hit anything…?

She tried to disappear into the darkness, but found herself unable to. Her body wasn't listening to her.

In fact, she couldn't even feel her body.

This wasn't darkness…

It was nothingness…

Oh… so it wasn't that it was too dark to see…

Kiara watched in horror as Calliope was reduced to a shadowy sludge and splattered across the walls and ceiling of the chamber. IRyS recoiled from her actions, looking down at her hands before looking back up at Kiara. Her wide eyes mirrored that of a frightened animal.

The Phoenix let out a guttural, rage-filled scream at IRyS and lunged towards her. Her sword threw streaks of fire all over the cave as she swung it. She tried to keep her fire away from what was left of Calliope, but in this moment her body was fueled by hatred, not reason.

IRyS deflected all of the fire that came her way with relative ease. However, her motions were much less refined compared to the last time they fought. She seemed more desperate and uncertain with every movement she made. Kiara's attacks didn't let up until she took a step back, placing herself in between IRyS and the cave's exit.

She holstered her sword and held her left hand out in front of her. Flames danced across her arm and concentrated in her palm until it turned blue with heat.

"KIARA STOP-" Calliope managed to reform enough of her body to yell at Kiara, but it was too late. The Phoenix shot her fireball straight at IRyS, who was simply carefully watching the attack.

The blue flames reached her within the blink of an eye. But there was no massive, cave-collapsing explosion like Calliope and Kiara had expected.

Instead, the flames parted around IRyS and began to spin around her. Brilliant blue rings of fire danced around her.

Kiara stood frozen in terror as IRyS raised a solitary finger in the air. The blue fire began to concentrate just above her extended finger. A small, but immensely bright point of light now illuminated IRyS' face, allowing them to get a proper look at her for the first time.

Her heterochromatic eyes looked frightened, but quickly they shifted to a more neutral tone. It didn't look like she wanted to fight. However, she would if she needed to.

The speck of light on her fingertip suddenly exploded, creating a light brighter than neither Kiara nor Calliope thought possible. Even with their eyes closed, the bright flash left them completely blinded for several seconds.

In those seconds, IRyS darted around Kiara and quickly made her way up to the surface.

Gura and Ina both heard Kiara scream from within the depths of the cave. They both got into fighting stances, slowly advancing towards the entrance.

A bright flash shone all the way up the long, dark tunnel. The second after, IRyS flew out from the opening.

Gura reacted first, swinging her trident towards IRyS. One of the three tips scraped IRyS' cheek, drawing the tiniest amounts of blood. However, Gura wouldn't get any additional follow up attacks, as IRyS grabbed her face with an open palm.

Instinctually, she rewrote Gura's memories. All the Atlantean remembered was that she suddenly was tossed aside with a blinding flash before landing hard on the ground. She never even saw IRyS coming.

Ina tried to fire a spell, but she hesitated when she saw IRyS' face. It wasn't like the last two times she had seen her. IRyS wasn't expressionless or confused, she was alive and thinking. This moment of hesitation allowed IRyS to forcefully rip the spell from Ina's control.

Once IRyS got her hand around Ina's face, her first instinct was to erase herself from Ina's memories just like she had done with Gura. But she stopped herself just before she did.

She wanted to know something…

Calliope and Kiara both appeared from the cave's entrance and looked around at the scene in front of them. Gura and Ina had both been knocked several yards away from the cave and were struggling to stand.

"Where did she go?!" Kiara asked quickly. Ina leaned against a nearby tree and pointed deeper into the forest.

"I-I saw her run that way," she said with little hesitation. Kiara sprouted her wings and flew off to where Ina had pointed. Calliope disappeared into the shadows and went the same way.

"I'll j-join them…" Gura said quietly, finally getting to her feet and running off towards Calliope and Kiara.

"I'll make sure she doesn't come back!" Ina called out to them, not sure if they heard her or not, "Alright… they're gone…" she whispered to what initially appeared to be just herself, "Please don't hurt me…"

To an outside observer it would have appeared like Ina suddenly vanished into thin air, as IRyS expanded her veil to encompass the two of them.

Just after she had grabbed Ina and stopped herself from rewriting the Priestess' memories, she placed a flaming pink blade against her neck and told her to lead the others away. In their rush, none of them could see through her veil, so it was easier than she expected to hide. And now that they were on a wild goose chase, she wasn't worried about being discovered for the next couple minutes.

"P-please…" Ina begged, feeling the bite of the blade pressed against her skin.

"Don't run, don't scream," IRyS told her. After Ina nodded the little that she could, IRyS let her go. She extinguished the blade, but her eyes still stared daggers into Ina.

"Wh-What do you want…?" Ina asked, unsure if should even be speaking right now. IRyS wouldn't hurt her for speaking right now, right…?

"These memories…" IRyS said, a tiny pause cutting between her words, "...what purpose do they serve?" Ina couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion slightly at the question asked of her.

"I-I'm sorry?" she replied, not understanding what IRyS was asking. IRyS lightly sighed, crossing her arms.

"Why did you do this to me? What do you have to gain from me remembering all of this?"

Author's Note: IRyS appears to have taken a... well, I don't know if 'liking' is the right word... let's just say a particular interest in Ina. They seem to share a lot in common after all.

In case it wasn't obvious, Calliope is fine. She was just completely disabled during the fight in a very grotesque way. IRyS' powers are truly frightening. How can anyone in Myth hope to fight against such a powerful opponent?
Also, don't worry, I won't be talk no jutsu-ing the whole situation away. Kiara won't allow this to be settled with words alone.

Both internal and external fights will be featured. None of which will be easy.

Next Chapter: Looking Within
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