Thea huffs, her legs trembling as she hiss in ache.
She landed on top of a house when she charged at the werewolf, her body aching as she fell down to the roof.
Looking back, she sees Sirius kneeling on the ground, sword in hand acting as a crutch while looking at her.
Thea smiles sheepishly as she scratch the back of her head. Sirius merely smiles upon seeing her gesture before slowly forcing himself up.
Thea looks around and see a black gleaming orb hovering near the place where the werewolf died.
She gasp before grinning and jumping up to grab the black orb.
As she does so, the black orb slowly turns white, the black colour burned away.
The newly white orb slowly dissipate and seeps inside her body, enriching her soul as she hums in satisfaction.
A transparent blue pop up hovers right across her face, she examines her status as she sit down.
Status: [Blessed]
Name: Thea
Class: [Evoker]
Soul Purity: [5/6]
Body: [Tainted]
Blessings: [Silver Light] [Winter's Ember] [Silk Breeze] [Alloy Frame]
Runes: [Plasma Core]: [Lightning's Blessing] [Conduction]
[Heatstorm]: [Burst] [Flowing Heat]
'I can feel it... I'm close to saturating my Soul. A Usurper should be enough, but... I can't. I can't get too greedy and die a stupid death. Worse... leading Sol to her death.'
Thea sighs before shaking her head.
Going back, she could see Sirius and the others finishing up their work. Now that the mist has cleared up for a bit near the entrance and they know where the path out is, they no longer hold back.
Thea quickly jumps down from the rooftop, landing roughly on the ground as she groans. She can already feel her legs protesting.
Looking at her companions, she could see them rushing over to the pillar as they hold off the ghouls.
"Come on... stupid legs...!"
Thea staggers on her steps as she approach the others, seeing Sirius running at her, she relaxes for a bit but still keep up her pace.
Catching Thea, Sirius throws her left arm around his shoulder and drag her towards the others as they run towards the entrance of the pillar.
"Over here!"
Adam shouts, waving his hand as the others slay the raging ghouls. Not stopping, he barks more to the party, ordering the others where to strike and stop.
The ghouls appear to be an endless swarm, each time they kill one another would take its place.
Some try to approach Sirius and Thea, but with the help of Anna, some is shot dead before they could.
Not only that, Sirius and Thea kills the ones that Anna couldn't kill, with Sirius and his threads, he precisely wrap the threads around the ghouls to stop their movements or disturb them.
But his blue threads still kills off the ones on the left, since Thea couldn't exactly reach them.
Meanwhile, Thea kills off the restricted ghouls with her right arm. Thrusting and stabbing at their souls directly while exploding lightning bursts that destroys the other ghouls.
A ghoul sneaks up from behind, but Sirius catches its claws with his blue thread that wraps around its neck before it could kill the both of them.
Sirius' brain runs at full speed, his world narrowing to the feeling of forming threads durable enough to restrict the ghouls' movements and sharp enough to kill the ones on the left.
But, he can feel himself getting used to it. For the first time ever since he fought those days ago, the feeling of being back in battle fills him.
Slowly but surely, he grasp the feeling of simultaneously making a durable thread and sharp enough thread.
The ghouls starts on dying.
Even the ones on the right dies, Sirius' threads wraps around the necks of the ghouls, not sparing any one of them.
Thea slips a glance at Sirius, and upon seeing the curled corner of his lips, she raise one of her eyebrows.
'Huh.'
Thea thought to herself as she sees his smiling but frowning face. Looking back at the battlefield, she could see that they're close to the others.
And as expected, not long after that they reached the group.
Sirius could feel himself trembling, as if having just discovered something out of the world.
Shaking himself, Sirius hands over Thea to the others before looking back at the oncoming ghouls.
"We're not out of it yet..!"
Adam speaks, as everyone prepares to run up.
"I know this might sound dumb or crazy... but what if we go down?"
Sirius adds suddenly, looking down at the stairs that seemingly go on forever with no light.
"The Mist doesn't seem keen on going down there, there never was a trace of it going down. I remember traces of the Mist going up in the pillar, never down."
The others quickly look behind while Sirius looks back at the entrance to the third floor. The ghouls screech as they run towards him, followed by the mist forming behind them as it stride towards everyone.
Seeing everyone hesitating, Sirius sighs before kicking his legs and skipping down the stairs. He knows that action speaks louder than words.
Looking back, he could see the surprised look of others before Thea follows him, running down the stairs as the others follow.
The ghouls stumble past the entrances like a wave, bodies against bodies as some fall from the narrow path of the platform and stairs.
Sirius looks back and tries to conjure a sturdy wall, only to fail.
Clicking his tongue, he extends his arm, as if guiding, pointing at the direction behind the others.
Conjuring an image of a sturdy wall, blue wisps form a wall right behind the group, blocking the path of the ghouls.
They slam against the wall, trying to claw it apart but failed.
"Here!"
Sirius jumps down the stairs, skipping past them, discreetly, he leaves weak threads that lay on the stairs, the threads stretch endlessly, following him as he skips down the stairs along with others.
Looking down, there are still no signs of any ground.
"Adam! See if there's any sign of activity down there!"
Adam nods before activating his Rune, creases apparent on his forehead as he shakes his head.
Sirius nods, before noticing mist forming near the ghouls, and as expected the glassy blue wall breaks.
The swarm of flesh and murderuous intent runs, crawls, and make their way towards them. Following them.
Sirius flex his hand, and the once weak threads straightens. The unfortunate ghouls on the front got their legs sliced.
The pile of mass stumble down on the stairs, to which made the others trip on their comrade's body as some even fall from the stairs and into the darkness down there.
Sirius and the others watch as they run down before hearing a thud after a few seconds. The ground must be close.
Though unrentless, they were a bit slower than Sirius and the others.
But,
"Ah-"
Thea stumbled on her steps due to her trembling legs, falling onto the stairs as Sirius looks back at her before looking at Chad.
"Chad, carry her on your back."
"What?- No, I'm-"
"No. You will only slow our pace down if you ever stumble again. You did your job killing that werewolf so now, just rest!"
Sirius interrupts her before she could argue, slowly nodding, she lets Chad carries her on his back.
Nodding at Chad, Sirius picks up the pace.
Soon, they could see the ground, even from a bit far way.
A screech echoes, and Sirius whips his head to see a ghoul jumping at the group.
His eyes widened as he takes in the sight before quickling conjuring a blue glassy sword that forms next to him.
Sirius extends his right arm, aiming for the ghoul as the sword stabs at the ghoul's head, stopping it midair before it falls down to the lowest ground.
"Run faster!"
Sirius urged, before fastening his pace. The others does so too while keeping sight of the ghouls.
Crazy.
It was a rain of ghouls as they carelessly jump towards them.
The mist that follows at the back of the row, descends steadily as it empowers the ghouls.
The rain struck at everyone.
Sirius, and Thea utilize their Runes, shooting stellar swords, threads, and everything in his disposal. While Thea aims her sword and gathers lightning at the tip before releasing it like a web as the lightning zaps burns a few of the ghouls.
Anna supports by shooting whichever she could kill.
A thought creeps up inside Sirius' head;
'What a waste of Souls.'
Maybe if they were up close and personal, Sirius could absorb the Souls and get stronger.
But no, not when a swarm of ghouls are chasing at Sirius and others along with a Usurper backing them up.
They need to go down fast.
Clicking his tongue, Sirius widens his eyes as a thought clicks in his head.
Sirius thought of a ball enveloping them, with them inside, and once he does so, a barrier expands from him.
Unfortunately, Sirius bumps against his own barrier as he groans. The barrier doesn't move along him as he narrows his eyes.
Luckily, the barrier manage to block the ghouls as they fall against the glassy barrier.
'No, do I have to take in the surrounding too and not just think of a barrier enveloping us?'
"Sirius, did you make this? Turn it off!"
"Just a moment!"
Sirius replied to Thea, his forehead creasing as he take in his surrounding, the stairs, the walls, the feeling of them before dispelling the barrier and expanding another one.
The glassy blue barrier covers the whole group as Sirius runs once more down the stairs.
Luckily, as he expected, the barrier moves along with him and the group.
Sirius shouts at the others,
"Conserve your mana!"
As he said so, a ghoul screech and fall towards the barrier, Sirius relies on his hearing to make a part of the barrier that the ghouls is falling on hard. His mind telling the barrier to block the area, to not allow the ghoul to rain down past the barrier.
Fortunately, the barrier manage to block the ghoul as it crashes against the barrier before falling off.
But, he could feel his mana leaving him at an abysmal rate.
His brain runs on full throttle as they run down, down at the ground, they could see a tunnel leading to somewhere dark.
"Go down there...!"
He spoke shortly, jumping off the stairs and onto the ground before slowing his pace as he let the others run past him and the barrier inside the barrier.
Sirius turns his body around as he sees the ghouls running at them, the mist is already closing in. Now, instead of a small part of it, it seems as though as if the whole mist is running at Sirius and the group, intent on following them.
The ghouls that were on the back part of the swarm is now clouded in mist, not visible anymore.
Sirius, instead of forming a barrier that envelopes him, forms a wall instead right at the entrance of the tunnel.
"Sirius! There's a Gate!"
Sirius' eyes widens as he nods, looking back at the others as the ghouls' screech reach his ears.
"Go! I'll follow you guys!"
A crack on the wall made Sirius whips his head back, eyes wide as ghouls dug their fingers onto the glassy wall.
The mist is right in front of him.
The scene of the mist clearing after Sirius explodes with [Supernova's Crown] flash in his head.
Gritting his teeth, Sirius once again locks the mana in the atmosphere inside his body, trapping it in while the mana that is in his Soul is still rapidly leaving him.
The wall cracks, Sirius tries to renew its durability but failed as it cracks once more. Along with it, he could feel his mana about to be depleted.
Instead of focusing on regenerating the barrier, he focuses on strengthening it as much as possible but not too much that it eats away his mana.
His insides once more burns, the familiar pain of feeling his insides bloating as if about to implode register, but Sirius smiles.
'Could I maybe kill it with this? A maximum explosion from my Evoker body that it could handle...'
Sirius grit his teeth, the walls shattering as a shout erupts behind him.
"Sirius! Everyone's out! Come over here!"
"Not... now!"
Sirius roars back to Chad who apparently hasn't leave, Chad looks at Sirius' back. Staying near the Gate as he realize Sirius' plan of blowing up the ghouls and the Mist.
Chad forms a rock barrier around himself, as he awaits Sirius to explode, the mana gathering around Sirius is dense, heavy, and abundant.
The ghouls became more relentless, the mist shrowing the whole ground area of the pillar. Evident from the relentless ghouls, it is as though the Mist is agitated. Trying to consume Sirius, to take him under its command.
To be a puppet.
The edge of Sirius' lips curls as he look directly at the Mist, he could feel the gaze of the Mist, boring direclty at him, glaring at him, before the glassy blue wall shatters and Sirius roars. The wave of mana inside Sirius explodes, evaporating some of the ghouls, mostly sending them back like a bullet to the walls of the pillar.
The tunnel tremors, the ceiling collapsing as shards of rocks rains onto the ground. As it's about to collapse, thick rock pillars erupts from the ground, holding the unsteady falling ceiling.
The Mist had faded, the sound of screeching fading, while Sirius pant and kneel on the ground. He looks up in exhaustion and pain, before looking back and sees Chad running at him.
"Come on! Let's get out of this damn place!"
Chad shouts, grabbing Sirius by the arm and dragging him towards the Gate. Sirius' blurry eyes could see hovering black orbs on the ground where ghouls died.
One black orb, bigger than others hover right near the center, Sirius' eyes widen as he chuckles.
"I... did it...h"
But...
Slowly, mist starts to gather, it was faint but Sirius could see it.
The mist gathers around the orb, before the orb gets hidden by the mist. It stays there, hovering as Sirius keep staring at it with wide eyes. He clench his teeth, staring at it in frustration.
"Damn... mist..."
Was all he could say before he feels a disturbance around him as he is dragged past the Gate.