Letting out a sigh, Sirius tap his foot on the ground a few times. He looks up at the hole on the ceiling, seeing past it and towards the eternal moon.
Staring at it, his mind is blank.
Truthfully, he doesn't know what to do, how to efficiently use [Stellar Force] to generate more firepower. Should he try to empower his sword with it? But everytime he did, it feels like he's simply... making it heavier.
His mind stops for a moment as he consider how to describe the feeling to himself. He lays back down in exhaustion from the brainstorming that ends with no result.
'... I should check out how the others are doing...'
Sirius stands up, though his body is aching for a bit. He feels that his body is all better now, each move doesn't make his body scream in pain or let blood spill out of him.
Though, it do feel like a day after going through the gym and going till failure.
The black armor dons his body at the same time the blue motes of light covers him.
Walking out of the safehouse, Sirius heads towards the pillar.
'Hope everyone's safe...'
***
A streak of blue plants itself against the Soul of a ghoul.
It falls down in silence, Anna pants as she lowers her bow. Her arms tremble, short heavy exhales escape her mouth.
The party is resting in a rundown house, it seems that they diverged from the original path which led them somewhere else.
The mist covers their sight, looking out of the house, Anna could only see mist. Not even the pillar that is supposed to be a landmark.
Looking back, she could see others resting from exhaustion and pain, some cuts here and there with small bruises on Chad. Everyone could only defend and do minimal attacks as opposed to how they usually go, since if they do go all out, they will be separated from each other.
"Adam, any sign?"
Adam shakes his head, even though he was safe in the inside of the circle, some ghouls manage to claw its way inside the circle and scratch him, leaving a gash on his arm.
Which luckily, Sol manage to heal.
"This really is a tough nut to crack..."
Adam speaks to no one as he gaze up at the roof of the house, Sol sighs and pat Adam on the shoulder before standing up and looking around.
Yuki is with Chad, sitting near a stair that leads up to the second floor. She could see Yuki stealing a glance to his side, to his side a bit away from Yuki is Luna, sitting alone while hugging her knees on a corner.
Sol wants to go to Luna but decides not to, maybe she wants to be alone, Sol thought.
Sol finally redirects her line of sight to a near window.
There she stands with her sword by her side, her brow furrows, her teeth biting her lips as she taps her foot against the floor. One look and Sol knows that her sister is in deep thought.
Sol decides to walk over and stand next to her, Thea doesn't seem to notice her so she stays next to her in silence...
'What do I do now? We should be a few more houses away from the pillar, but we must have strayed away from our original path...'
Thea taps her index finger against her right hand repeatedly, her mind running as she struggles to think up of a plan.
'Should I send out some of us to take another path while the other checks a path?'
Bringing up a hand to her face, she rubs her face as she lets out a sigh before noticing her sister standing next to her.
"Hey..."
Thea greets, her tone seeping with exhaustion, these last few days — if it had been days — ever since Sirius came had been a total exhaustion for her.
But, she shakes it off, it is natural after all to be exhausted and in pain when fighting against the Calamities and clearing the Abyss.
"It's okay Thea. We'll make it out..."
Thea smiles upon hearing her sister's words before chuckling and wrapping an arm around Sol as she squeezes her arm and pull her close.
"Yeah. We will... and we'll kill every Calamities and survive. Love you sis."
Thea grins at Sol, the exhaustion and confusion that painted her face nowhere to be seen now.
Sol hesitates for a bit before smiling back at her and rest her head on her big sister's shoulder.
Ever since the Calamities came, it seems that Sol and Thea had gotten closer to each other, as if afraid that the other will be gone if they don't stay close... or...
Thea snaps out of it and pat her sister's arm once more before looking around, her gaze determined.
"Everyone, I have something to say!"
Thea speaks, getting everyone's attention as they all look at her.
"We'll rest up for a bit, before going back to the pillar to escape up. We'll have to find the gate and escape the Abyss. I'm afraid that... with our current abilities and numbers, we won't make it if we fight that mist."
Hearing this, Adam lets out a sigh of relief as Anna follows up with a nudge to his arm, grinning at him.
He rolls his eyes in response.
Chad pats Yuki's back as he chuckles before looking at Luna.
Luna meanwhile looks at Thea in silence, staring at her. To which Thea seem to notice as she smiles at Luna and nodding.
Luna nods back after a few seconds.
Yuki once again chuckles upon seeing Luna's reaction and response.
Chad, looks at Luna and back at Yuki before letting out a hum.
Everyone starts chatting with one another, with Luna being dragged by Sol to Yuki and Chad, while Sol chats with Thea once again.
If one stumble upon this scene, one wouldn't know that these kids had just escaped the clutches of death.
The atmosphere — though not without a small tension, as if about to perform — is peaceful, just young seeds of life conversing with one another about futile things.
A way to relieve tension.
Some time passes, as they keep their guards up while chatting, Thea decides that it's time.
"Alright, I'm sure everyone's all rested up. Let's go back to the pillar and escape."
A beacon of mana suddenly erupts from the distance, where everyone could feel it.
Everyone suddenly went on alert, the signature of this mana, this feeling, everyone understands and have known of it.
'Sirius...!'
Thea thinks to herself, a grin flash her face as Chad laughs.
Thea quickly looks at Adam and see him nodding.
"Let's go."
Thea speaks, once again, everyone is riled up as they form a circle with Sol, Anna, and Adam inside.
They run towards that beacon where help awaits.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Calamities notice them as they are going out.
Ugly ghouls charge at them, hands aiming at them ready to tear them apart.
Thea grits her teeth as she shouts,
"Keep on moving! Don't stop!"
Everyone moves quickly, dispatching any that are a nuisance to their path and dodging those that aren't on their path.
***
Sirius pants, his body aching once more.
'At this point... I really think I'll have to get used to this...'
Using [Supernova's Crown] really takes a toll on his state, he could feel his body weakening from exploding that burst of mana.
But still, despite the negatives, the positives do bring some weight to even the scale.
'So it can actually dismiss the mist...'
Looking at his surrounding just past the entrance of the pillar, he could see some cracks on the walls of the pillar and the ground around.
Though it didn't clear all of the mist, it at least provides a better clearance.
Sirius raises his red sword, waiting for any sign of enemies.
'Hope that Adam can pinpoint my location and get here... I don't know what they're doing, but they might have been stuck here.'
Sirius had scouted the second floor to see if Thea and the others were there, to no avail.
Thinking they had gone down to the third floor, he decided to go, only to be greeted by this mist right up the entrance...
It also appears that there's no bridge down here unlike the second and first floor, and the third floor is the bottom of the city.
So... where do those stairs on the pillar lead to if it doesn't stop right on this floor?
Sirius shakes his head, he'll figure it out later. For now, he'll wait here for the others to come over and regroup with him.
'It's taking them some time... and I can't hear anything on the other side of this mist...'
Sirius summons [Red Horn], his trustworthy sword. Holding it with both hands, he waits for any enemy to ambush him.
'Wait... what if I do this...'
Sirius walks towards the area in front of him that is clear of mist, as he does so, he stores all the mana instead of letting it escape his body.
Once again, he explode the mana as it was storing up in him past when it should've been released.
A wave of mana explode outward, clearing out the heavy mist once more. Sirius stumbles to his knees before finally noticing the outline of a group of humans.
They're running towards him.
Suddenly, the sound of screeches and battle become increasingly clear as the mist dissipate more and more.
"!"
Sirius clench his teeth as he dashes forward.
"Thea!"
Sirius shouts, noticing the others being bombarded by the Calamities.
A sense of dread suddenly fills him, honed through the countless of threats that have aimed for his life.
Sirius throws his body to the side, barely dodging a black blur that aimed to gut him.
Rolling and stopping, Sirius straighten up his body and is met with a fist coming right at his face.
'Shit.'
Sirius forms a blue circle barrier in front of him, he tries to add as much mana as possible through the [Stellar Force] but is unfortunately too slow.
The barrier shatter under the force of the punch, striking Sirius' face square on.
Sirius staggers backward before quickly skipping back a few steps to dodge another oncoming blows.
His vision blurs, seeing the black figure towering in front of him, he quickly shoots a huge blue arc and blast it forward.
The black figure hops up, no, gets yanked up by an invisible thread.
Sirius' eyes shortly focus, and the corner of his lips twitch.
"Nice to meet you."
His lips curls up.
"This is our third meeting."
The wolf flies straight at him, aiming at him as Sirius tighten the grip on his sword and whips it up.
A loud clang echoes, Sirius' arm is yanked as the werewolf is also yanked away from the impact of their clash.
Sirius doesn't ease up, instead opting to dash at the werewolf.
Now he understand that he should be aiming to dismember the werewolf instead of trying to kill it. Because it might have already been dead this whole time. Trying to aim for its soul or for its heart or head won't do.
It is a mere puppet after all.
Sirius dash in the range for a stab as he thrust forward, using [Stellar Force] simultaneously, he wraps a thread around the arm of the werewolf just as it lands.
Sirius' stab reach his target, at the same time, Sirius pulls at the thread, flexing his hand as the threads squeeze the arm. Sirius push forward, trying to cut the werewolf's arm as he could feel his sword about to cut off the arm.
The werewolf doesn't stay idle, it tries to chomp on Sirius' head, but he quickly dodges it before whipping his arm up, cutting off the werewolf's arm more easily due to that.
Not done yet, he whips his body to the side, whipping his sword right at the werewolf's incoming strike.
Instead of trying to parry it, Sirius cuts away at its elbow, though Sirius did get punched right on the face once again, he manage to dismember its only arm left.
Sirius staggers, going dizzy from the punch. His nose must be broken by now — hopefully just fractured — he figured.
But at least from this he confirms one thing, the mist is nowhere near him.
Otherwise he is sure that, that blow would've destroyed him.
He remember how strong it had been when the mist was close to it, how Thea had to speed herself up with her lightning rune and strengthen her body with mana.
But still, just because of that, Sirius doesn't let his guard down as he quickly raise his sword up with both of his hands, and as expected, the werewolf is already on him with a kick.
Sirius shifts his sword, protecting his head with the blunt side of the sword and his backhand next to his head to block the kick.
A loud bang echoes, Sirius follows up with a wrap of thread around the werewolf's leg and squeezes it.
The werewolf easily breaks free of the thread, Sirius strikes horizontally with his sword, only for the werewolf to escape back. It quickly is taken aback by the mist, as if dragged back.
"Oh no you don't!"
Sirius' face twist, about to dash at it, but a streak of blue lightning catches the attention of his eyes.
"Thea...!"
Suddenly, his left hand throbs, an aching pain searing him as he notice blood dripping down to the ground.
"Shit..."
Sirius kneels down, coughing, his vision going double. He takes in deep breaths as he roars to keep his consciousness going.
He looks up, seeing Thea clutching at the werewolf and the mana density thickens. Burst of lightning erupts, along with raging fire as it engulf and burn the werewolf.
Slowly... but surely.
The werewolf burns to crisp.