There is a loud sarcastic clearing of the throat as Jonah gets a firm poke in his back from the end of a staff, getting his attention.
"You can put her down now," Lefiya stated frostily with a glare while holding her staff aloft.
With a sigh, the Good Hunter carefully repositions Riveria so that she is able to stand, leaving a hand on her back momentarily.
"Watch that hand," Lefiya warned.
Jonah hurriedly turns away to pick up the Saw Cleaver and regards them once again.
"What happened up there?" Jonah asked Riveria.
"That sorcerer got the better of me," she answered.
Bell and Riveria clash with the Pthumerian Elder. Forming a lance out of flame, he jabbed at Bell who managed to dodged. The Elder teleported to near Riveria and swung his staff at her with a scythe, but she blocked with her own staff.
The Elder teleported to reappear nearby, glancing between them. Bell and Riveria tense for the next attack. The Elder raised his staff to form a crossbow and shot first at Riveria then at Bell, then quickly raised the staff to form a scythe and teleported.
Right in front of Riveria and struck her, sending her flying over the side.
"Lady Riveria!" Bell shouted.
"I have to get back up there!" Riveria stated intently while staring back up.
"I'll go instead!" Jonah stated intently as he holds his left hand up.
"Okay," Riveria agreed.
Jonah quickens away.
"Where's Hedin?" Riveria asked the other mages intently.
"He's inside that house," Lefiya said as she points with her staff.
"Then let's go help him," Riveria said.
Bell is having a hard time against the Pthumerian Elder as the Elder now feels that victory is close. He teleports around confusing Bell, lashing out with various melee weapon forms in an effort to confuse the Little Rookie.
A well placed sunburst causes Bell to fall backward and the Pthumerian Elder now towers over him, with scythe formed and raised high.
"BELL!"
They both look.
"Riveria is okay! I managed to catch her!" Jonah shouted triumphantly.
"That's great!" Bell exclaimed with relief.
"Now get up!" Jonah proclaimed. "We have a battle to win!"
"There, you see, Hestia," Hermes said with assurance. "The Little Rookie was in no danger after all. Now sit back and watch the show."
Jonah quickens toward the Elder and slashes, causing him to block his attack with staff. The Elder teleports further away but Jonah is already upon him with another slash, this time catching him across the right arm. He quickens behind the Elder and takes another swipe and the Elder teleports backward close to Bell, who quickly stabs to catch the Elder across the left arm.
The Elder teleports away from them and uses a crossbow to fire flame bolts at them. Jonah quickens around the firebolts and is up in the Elder's face slashing him across the chest, gashing shirt and skin. The Elder teleports away and Bell darts forward to slash him across the hip. The Elder teleports away and swings his staff in a wide horizontal arc so that a blade of flame rushes toward them forcing them to move back repeatedly.
A bell starts ringing and Jonah hazards a glance at the Little Rookie to see a white glow surrounding Bell's right hand.
"Bell!" Jonah shouted while still glaring at the Elder. "The moment I shout your name again, hit him with whatever it is you got there! Got it?!"
"Got it!" Bell exclaimed in understanding.
"Here I go!"
All while that bell continues ringing, the Moon-scented Hunter quickens toward the Elder and slashes once again. The Elder is quick to block the attack with his fire staff and teleport away. Jonah quickens upon him the moment he reappears and slashes again, and again the Elder blocks the attack, though barely. He shoots the Elder in the belly while pulling back his right arm, letting go of the Saw Cleaver so that it gets tossed back, and does a visceral attack.
"BELL!" Jonah bellowed as he quickens back.
The Little Rookie rushes at the Pthumerian Elder, still stunned by that visceral attack, and stabs deep into the gaping wound.
"FIREBOLT!"
The Elder is immolated from within, causing him to make a loud guttural cry of agony with his head arched back as white flames shoot out of his void-like eyes and mouth. Bell pulls back and the Elder falls to his knees and teeters while white fire still burns from his eyes and mouth.
"Bell!" Jonah shouted as he unfurls the Saw Cleaver and holds it in both hands ready to swing. "Get out of the way!"
Bell quickly gives Jonah a wide berth and the Good Hunter quickens forward, beheading the Pthumerian Elder. Jonah stands there for a moment as he furls the Saw Cleaver while staring down at the corpse and head that both disintegrate. They look around and see that the staff and cane had also dissipated as well. They look at each other with satisfied expressions.
"We did it!" Bell sighed.
"That we did," Jonah agreed and makes his move. "Now come. Let's get back down to Riveria and the others."
Jonah and Bell meet up with the mages, with Riveria in the lead. With them is Hedin and is being helped along.
"Lady Riveria, you really are okay!" Bell exclaimed with relief. "And so is Lord Hedin I see!"
"We can see that you were both successful," Riveria said rhetorically with a smile.
"Obviously," Jonah said.
"The monsters are getting fewer," Lefiya said. "Many of us were able to keep watch and blast those that tried to attack us while Riveria tended to Lord Hedin."
"There's another major battle taking place," Jonah said as his keened Insight had also shown him such a place. "And it's at the Twilight Manor."
"What's going on over there?" Riveria asked.
"I get the feeling that the Pthumerian Descendant is battling Miss Wallenstein," Jonah answered, again having to be careful about revealing his Insight.
At the Twilight Manor, the Loki Familia are still too busy dealing with monsters to help Ais as she is dueling the Pthumerian Descendant, who has so far proven to be her match.
The fighting is swift and tense. Those who were able to glance could only see blurs of movement.
There is a momentarily lull in their fight. Ais's clothing is tattered and there are cuts on her. She is gasping with a desperate look in her eyes. The Descendant on the other hand does not look any worse for wear.
This being is powerful! She thought. So skilled!
They clash once again.
Bell and Jonah, along with Riveria and Lefiya, enter the grounds as Jonah slashes off the head of a Mad One. Bete does a double take and furiously kicks a Beast Claw Hunter into a nearby wall.
"What the fuck are you doing back here, you asshole?!" Bete snarled at Jonah.
"Come to join in on the fun, Mister Theron?" Gareth called from nearby as he pulls his axe out of an Executioner's head.
"Oooh, it's Jonah, the Argonaut, Lefiya, and Riveria!" Tiona exclaimed happily after having dealt with a Watcher's Gravedigger.
Tione frowns at Jonah from nearby after slicing down a Celestial Emissary.
Jonah ignores them as he hurries toward where Ais and the Pthumerian Descendant are fighting.
In the meantime, Ais and the Descendant cross swords and the Descendant swings, attempting to throw Ais off her feet, only for her to turn it into a stationary cartwheel and rise with a swing to strike. The Descendant jumps back, having anticipated that attack.
Ais rises and goes on the offense with a flurry of slashes and stabs; only for the Descendant to parry and counter them all. The Descendant jumps away and upon landing throws his scythe-like sword at her, of which she dodges. Then jumps back in to attack.
That is when she realizes her mistake as her heightened senses had her feeling a rush of air returning towards her back and she jumps to her side as that sword returns. Her jump is not quick enough as it gashes her side, causing her to stumble to her side.
The Descendant grabs his returning sword and rushes in to tower over her with sword held high.
"AIS WALLENSTEIN!"
A familiar voice bellowed, causing the Descendant to give pause and look, along with Ais, to see Jonah standing there accompanied by Bell, Riveria, and Lefiya.
"Get up!" Jonah demanded. "Get up and show that Pthumerian why you are called the Sword Princess!"
"Come on, Miss Ais, you can do it!" Lefiya encouraged. "Get up and defeat him!"
"You can do it, Miss Ais!" Bell shouted.
Ais's face takes on a look of awe at them, then furrows and she turns to glare up at the Descendant. She grabs her sword and darts backwards out of range, then rises with defiant eyes at the Descendant.
"TEMPEST!"
The wind surrounds her.
Sensing a change, the Descendant clutches the pommel in both hands and makes a groaning sound then pulls it apart with a loud clang.
"So it's really two swords!" Bell gasped.
Ais charges at the Descendant faster than before. Her blade clashing with dual blades, producing a shock of air with an icy ring being heard. The Descendant slips one of the blades over her head to gash her from the other angle, only for Ais to raise her leg and stop the incoming attack by using her foot against his wrist, then leap up while still pushing the other blade back, raising her leg to give the Descendant a wheel kick as she flips back, causing the Descendant to stagger backward.
The Sword Princess lands and goes in for the attack, but the Descendant is quick to recover as he swings both swords from either side with one up and the other underneath in the effort to catch her with either blade. Ais swings out with her blade held vertically, blocking the incoming right blade as she kicks out with her left leg to step up onto his wrist. The Descendant anticipated that maneuver and pulls back, except she steps onto the side of the blade and leaps, bringing up her right knee to hit him fully in the face.
The Descendant goes flying backward through the air but does a somersault and lands, only for Ais to be up in his face once again. He brings both blades down furiously upon her but she manages to block them and push upward. He continues pushing her down.
The Descendant suddenly sweeps his left foot underneath her right, effectively tripping her. She immediately shifts her left hand to grab his right wrist and pull to her right while pulling her blade to her right, causing the Descendant to lose his balance. The Descendant falls onto his side and she quickly gets into a crouch and leaps back.
The Descendant hurls the sword in his right hand at her as he rises, then darts toward her with his other sword raised ready to strike. Ais leaps at the Descendant, tucking her legs in to avoid getting struck by that flying sword and does a successful shoulder strike. As she continues following through, she somersaults forward swinging her legs over and continuing onward until she is flying feet first past the Descendant as he continues to fall backward.
But the Descendant does a mid-air backward somersault to land on his feet, just as Ais lands on her feet, though some distance away. The Descendant turns to Ais and holds out his right hand; the sword he threw suddenly flies into his hand hilt first without him needing to look.
"Do it, Ais!" Gareth shouted words of encouragement.
Jonah and Bell look back.
"There are no more monsters attacking," Bell noted.
"There are at least a few left," Jonah said, he then turns. "Ais Wallenstein! The hordes of Yharnam are all but defeated! All you have to do is defeat that Pthumerian and victory will be assured!"
"Ais, the fact that Mister Theron is here and encouraged you to defeat that being proves that you have what it takes to do so!" Finn encouraged.
Ais and the Pthumerian Descendant stare each other down.
"LIL RAFAGA!" Ais commanded, causing the magic to become more potent.
She charges at the Descendant, faster than ever; their blades clash to produce an even greater gust of air and power, of which the spectators can feel as the ends of Jonah's coat billows slightly. Ais unleashes a barrage of attacks of which the Descendant can now barely keep up with blocking.
The Descendant jumps back and Ais jumps forward, but the Descendant swings inward dually in wide arcs. Ais kicks out with both legs to catch the Descendant in both his wrists, then slashes in a downward arc and hurls her whole body forward, forcing a somersault.
Ais slashes the Descendant across his left deltoid as she continues her somersault over the Descendant while he continues falling to the ground. He lands on his back as Ais lands on her feet. But no sooner had he landed on his back when he immediately rolls to one side and swings, letting his momentum carry him up into a crouching position in the attempt to chop her feet out from underneath her.
But Ais was already doing a leaping overhead slash while turning her entire body around, putting her whole body into her attack.
And chops off his hand.
The Descendant howls in pain as he arches back. He looks at the now bloody stump as Ais lands near him.
The Descendant rises while lunging forward with a backward swing with the other blade. Ais blocks it and he tries to jab her with his stump, but she ducks and savagely draws the blade across his torso, making a deep gash, then lunges forward to stab deeply into his torso so that her blade protrudes out through his back.
He drops his blade as he gurgles and arches his head back, then looks down into her face. She stares up into his void-like eyes with defiance in her own. Ais savagely withdraws her blade while taking a step back.
The Pthumerian Descendant slumps to his knees and falls, his blood seeping across the ground.
"That's my Aisy-poo!" Loki chimed.
"But what a battle that was," Hermes said. "She would've lost if not for the encouragement of Mister Theron and the Little Rookie."
"She did it!" Bell exclaimed.
"Way to go, Ais!" Lefiya added joyously.
Ais turns away from the Pthumerian Descendant to face them.
The Descendant suddenly towers over her with blade raised high. Up in the Tower of Babel, there are looks of shock on the faces of the deities, especially Loki's.
"LOOK-" Lefiya screeched.
Jonah slams against the Descendant doing a visceral attack that causes blood to splatter out, some of which splashes onto Ais, while snarling up into those void-like eyes.
"Does he seriously need to kill 'em like that?!" Loki complained.
"He obviously needed to be faster," Takemikazuchi said.
The Moon-scented Hunter savagely pulls his hand out. Once again, the Pthumerian Descendant slumps to his knees and falls, this time disintegrating along with his swords.
Jonah turns to Ais. They nod at each other.