Chronicles of Eden - Act XII

by Alexander Gordon

  “Ready or not,” Daemon spoke in a deep voice, the cambion then launching off the ground with a powerful blast of rock and dust as he flew up into the air over the stunned alurane.

  “Here I come!”

  Nuci quickly raised her hands up to follow him, her translucent magical barrier shining brighter now with an increase of magical energy added to it, while the corrupted guardian focused her power to siphon up water from the rolling waves below into her palms where they glowed with a dark cerulean bloom.

  “For my queen!” Nuci screamed, throwing her arms aside and erecting multiple circular spellbases before her, the bright aqua and lime colored rings sparking wildly before the alurane threw the water from her hands through them, casting out a ballistic barrage of brightly burning spears of watery light. Evading the streaking lances in a blur Daemon raced down towards his foe, striking his sword through her casting rings that shattered with sharp flashes and hitting her shield, the impact knocking Nuci down slightly while the waves below exploded from the force. With a fierce shriek Nuci launched her roots up past her towards the cambion, passing through her barrier and failing to strike Daemon as he jumped off the woman’s shield into the air.

  “You forget your place, guardian,” Daemon said, slashing his sword and casting out a blindingly hot arc of energy that seared through the roots and slammed down on the alurane’s shield. Following through he dropped down with a somersault, striking the blade downward and piercing the barrier that cracked with bright fissures of light. Nuci stared with wide eyes at seeing the swordsman’s weapon lodged through her shield as he stood atop it, the cambion then raising his hand and forming a swirling flame of blue and black light that grew above him.

  “You forget who you’re supposed to hold your magic against in this world,” Daemon reprimanded.

  “I forget nothing, you pathetic little dragonfly!” Nuci roared, swinging her hands towards the cambion and launching out ballistic bolts of water from the nearby spinning torrents. Daemon shielded himself with his wings, the blasts striking against them with heavy impacts without budging him, before he leapt up while yanking his sword out of the cracked barrier, the cambion soaring up high and then launching his blazing fireball down towards the alurane that quickly grew with intensity.

  As the blast struck the shield and exploded with a powerful display of magical energy, launching smoke and waves of steam over the wild tides it created below in the lake, another similar outburst of energy was moments away from occurring nearby.

  “Face your end!” Mika shouted, flinging a searing blast of fiery energy towards Daemon’s companions. Sasha ran forward and spun her blade, swinging it before her and blocking the brunt of the blast that exploded into a flaming inferno and threw her back trailing smoke with more force than she anticipated. Charging through the haze Scay and Hollia quickly raced towards the swordswoman, being followed by Forrus and Rulo while Saffron took off to the side while grabbing another bomb out of her satchel. Tabitha however was knocked back with a loud meow as Sasha crashed into her, the two girls tumbling back along the ground with their swords bouncing nearby.

  “Goddammit, Mika!” Hollia cursed as she ran forward with her spear. “Would you please stop it with the horrible life choices already?”

  Mika waved her sword aside, lighting up the casting ring below her that gave off swirling golden trails of light up along her feet, before she suddenly took off running towards the girls at blinding speed. Hollia gasped and quickly angled her lance, blocking Mika’s blade that swung at her as the sorceress ran between her and the naga that she held her other hand out towards with crackling arcs of black and red light swarming around it. In a flash she launched a magical blast of energy at Scay, the naga quickly curving down below it and whipping her tail towards the speedy human. As she did Mika jumped into a spiraling leap, the sorceress running her hand across the sword that she imbued with black and violet light before launching the weapon into a deadly spin at the following girls. Hollia and Scay began slowing down and turning around to watch as Mika rolled along the ground back onto her feet while her blade sliced through the air towards Rulo and Forrus who quickly took notice with surprise.

  “The fuck?” Rulo shouted, quickly dropping down low to the ground with a heavy thump while Forrus nimbly jumped aside, the lycan watching in disbelief as the arching blade sliced just past her breasts and over the orc before continuing on towards where Sasha and Tabitha were getting back onto their feet. The two shook off the crash before seeing the blade whizzing towards them, with Tabitha quickly lunging forward and slashing downward with both her blades in parallel, blocking the swordswoman’s weapon that struck against the two swords right in front of her face. As the neko was blasted backwards again with a burst of red sparks and a painful meow, again right into Sasha who was knocked back into the dirt as well, Mika jumped into the air near Rulo and Forrus, catching their attention as she built up a fiery magical attack in her hands that were held up high.

  “Mika!” Forrus yelled, herself and a stunned Rulo seeing the sorceress striking downward towards the orc who watched with wide eyes and an open mouth. Moving at the last second Rulo rolled aside, just as Mika struck down with her fist and blasted the ground apart with a powerful boom of light. As Rulo and Forrus tumbled away in the rolling waves of rock and dirt Mika slowly stood up with magical energy coursing around her arm, the woman’s glaring eye moving around from one girl to the next before catching sight of a sizzling bomb flying at her. She quickly moved her hands over to form a magical barrier before the bomb exploded, shattering the shield that took the blast while stumbling back a few steps with her cape flowing wildly behind. Recovering from the hit Mika held out her hand towards Saffron, the ant girl lighting another bomb and tensing up from seeing the sorceress forming a casting base before her palm as she aimed her attack. Summoning dark bolts of lightning and crimson orbs around the circle Mika roared as she wound back to strike, her hand moving forward and touching the spellbase before bolas were wrapped over her neck from behind.

  “Enough, Mika!” Forrus scorned, yanking the woman back with the bolas and throwing her aim off as she fired her spell. The torrent of deadly electrical waves and crimson light seared through the air and blasted across the ground just beside Saffron, launching her aside with a loud squeak and flailing arms, while Forrus struggled to hold the sorceress back with her weapon’s rope. The ant girl got up and growled at the hunter, her eyes taking brief notice of the burning fuse of her bomb before she quickly threw it behind where it exploded violently away from her.

  “Stand down, you fool!” Forrus ordered. Her only reply was Mika bashing her head back into hers before grabbing the lycan and spinning around her, grappling her into a headlock as they stumbled in their wrestle. The hunter grabbed Forrus’ head from behind and held it forward while holding her other hand aside, her weapon flickering with golden light briefly before it was cast from the ground back towards the human’s open palm in a wild spin. Forrus snarled and struggled to move as she saw the blade whipping through the air towards her, coming short of being caught by both Mika’s hand and the lycan’s face as Hollia quickly parried the blade with her lance.

  “Mika, stop this at once!” Hollia yelled, with Forrus elbowing the hunter and letting go of her bolas so she could get away. The centaur thrusted her spear towards the sorceress, just missing her head as Mika growled with a vicious glare at her before leaping up with a kick to her jaw while grabbing hold of the pole. Knocking Hollia back with a grunt Mika yanked the spear out of her grip, spun it around her body and towards the centaur, with Forrus kicking her hand to knock the strike away from her companion’s face, and in turn causing Mika to spin around and whack her with the pole instead. Mika sharply spun the lance around her neck while pulling the lycan’s bolas off from it as well, smacking Scay who rushed at her with the wolf’s weapon before she tried spearing Hollia again, the centaur jumping aside and grabbing hold of the lance to wrestle it away from the agile human. Mi
ka swung the bolas at her, the centaur quickly ducking low to avoid the hit, with the swinging weights then wrapping the rope around Scay’s head and whacking her in the face. As the naga tumbled away while trying to free herself with a loud whine, Mika and Hollia tugged back and forth with the centaur’s spear.

  “Mika, it’s us!” Hollia cried out. The human merely pulled her closer to bash her face with her forehead, jumped and kicked Forrus back with a howl, ducked down and under the lance to uppercut Hollia with her head, yanked the lance away from the centaur and spun it around to quickly parry Scay’s dagger before bashing the naga in the head with the pole, and finally ducked down under the spinning spear and slashed at and missed Hollia’s head with not an inch to spare.

  “Mika, stop!” Hollia demanded as she again grabbed the lance and tried to pull it away. “Stop this! Hey, a little help over here, girls!”

  “For crying out loud, somebody take her down!” Rulo shouted as she and Sasha rushed towards them. Hollia scampered about and tried pulling the lance back, with Mika quickly jumping onto the pole and then over onto the centaur’s back. With a tight headlock she threw Hollia off-balance and down onto the dirt, the hunter rolling back onto her feet away from the grumbling centaur before turning and quickly launching a blast of crimson magical energy at her. The attack struck Sasha’s blade that she swung down to block with, the reptile girl then swinging at the human who nimbly ducked and darted away before Rulo’s hammer smashed down into the ground behind her.

  “Are you even in there anymore, Mika?” Sasha asked as she swung her blade at the hunter, with Mika dodging around the swing before grabbing hold of the handle. Wasting not a moment Sasha yanked her closer and bashed her head using her own, knocking the human back a step before she quickly recovered and jumped into kick, striking Sasha in the face and knocking her aside with a grunt. Moving fast Mika jumped back as Rulo swung her hammer down at her, the orc then gripping the handle and jabbing forward with the stone block that knocked Mika back into a stumble.

  “Scay, do your thing!” Rulo shouted.

  “STABBING TIME!” Scay screamed as she quickly slithered over and tackled Mika to the ground where she coiled her up in her body. Bright red glows erupted where the human’s hands were bound beneath the naga, with Scay then crying out in pain as she quickly unraveled with scorched scales and smoking skin before Mika jumped atop her chest and grabbed her face. She slammed the naga’s head into the ground and built up a magical charge in her hand before quickly leaping away as two katanas swiftly crossed by where she just was.

  “Don’t hurt my friend!” Tabitha yelled as she lunged at the human while swinging her blades inversely. Mika dodged and evaded each strike before moving closer and grabbing the neko’s hands, holding them away and bashing her knee into the woman’s stomach. She then grabbed the cat’s blades and kicked her thigh, knocking Tabitha down onto her knees while spinning her to face away. Winding back Mika prepared to behead the neko with her own weapons before hearing a sizzling sound, her eye quickly looking back to see a bomb rolling onto the ground behind her. Mika spun around and dropped the blades as she formed a protective shield, the bomb exploding against it with fire and rubble as the hunter braced from the impact. Before she could move Tabitha yowled in anger while pouncing against the woman from behind, knocking into the barrier that she then grabbed and slammed Mika’s head against with a snarl.

  “How do you like it, bitch?” Tabitha yelled as she struck Mika’s against the barrier again, dropping the woman to her knees while the neko quickly picked up her blades. With a hard kick back Mika struck Tabitha away with a yowl and managed to turn around just in time to dodge back from her own sword just missing her.

  “You dropped something!” Forrus raged as she swung the blade with sharp shrills at the hunter. Mika dodged and weaved back before jumping away as Hollia struck at her with her lance. The human focused her magic along her arm towards them before Scay quickly wrapped around her body tightly and grabbed her other arm to keep away from her this time. The naga swung her dagger at Mika’s outstretched arm, the human quickly moving it aside then holding it back at the monster’s face. Scay screamed and dropped them to the ground as the hunter fired a blast of energy just past her head, the two tumbling around on the dirt before Mika grabbed hold of the ground with a firm grip. A bright blue casting ring lit up below them, the three girls moving closer to attack the sorceress before they were all thrown into the air by a boom of energy. Again the casting ring vibrated, knocking the girls upward and into each other, and then again, with Scay letting go of the human as she collided against Forrus before they all dropped to the ground with hard thumps.

  Getting back onto her feet Mika held her hands down, shifting the casting base’s colors to a dark red with black streaks flowing through it. Her cape flowed into the air while the three monsters around her noticed the ground below them was now glowing with a menacing hue. As they got back onto their feet they were quickly lifted into the air while electrical arcs jumped around the spellbase below, the girls turning their sights from the magical circle that glowed brightly with an energy buildup to the sorceress who was glancing around at them with a cold gleam in her eye. She started to wave her hands around, causing bolts of energy to spike up around the three levitated girls and even sear through the side of Hollia’s shirt, until Saffron raced over and swung her fist at the hunter. Mika dodged the punch and then the next one as the ant girl weaved around the pulsating light beams coming up from the ground and continued striking at her, then being joined by Tabitha who darted closer and swung at her with both blades and fevered meows. Rolling to the side under a near hit to her head Mika waved one hand around in the air before pointing at Saffron, in doing so launching a screaming Hollia through the air and crashing into the ant girl. Leaping away from Tabitha’s strikes Mika then threw Forrus at her, the neko quickly jumping up onto the lycan before kicking off her towards the human with a yowl. Before she could strike Mika with her swords Scay was hurled into her with a scream, sending the girls flying back into a crash next to where Saffron was trying to push Hollia’s rear off her and Forrus was lying face first in the dirt with a twitching tail. Mika scoffed at the girls and held her hand out towards them before noticing a reptile girl quickly rushing towards her.

  “I’ve had enough of this!” Sasha roared, swinging down towards Mika who quickly rolled away and grabbed her sword off the ground. She parried and dodged Sasha’s strikes before the reptile girl swung around with her tail, knocking the human’s leg out from under her and sending her spiraling to the ground. Quickly catching herself with her hand she rebalanced on one knee before she parried a swing from Sasha, turned and blocked another two from Tabitha, maneuvered aside as Rulo’s hammer crashed down into the dirt, vaulted over the stone weapon and kicked Saffron away with a sharp squeak, then spun her blade and deflected another swing from Sasha. The reptile girl backhanded her before spinning around with her tail, with Mika jumping backwards over the limb then again as Sasha followed around with her large sword.

  “For fuck’s sake, just stay down!” Rulo shouted as she stepped back and swung around heavily with her hammer. As Mika landed down from her aerial maneuver she turned to face Rulo before leaning backwards, the orc’s hammer swinging just over her chest armor with a hard whoosh. Tabitha and Sasha closed in and struck at the hunter with their swords, with Mika holding a hand behind and below her shoulder, creating a barrier that blocked them while she swung her blade at Rulo. The orc oinked and stumbled back as the swordswoman sliced her blade through the air in front of her face again and again, the hunter spinning around and firing a blast of crimson energy towards Saffron who quickly ducked down to avoid taking the hit to the face, turned and jabbed her blade towards Rulo, then pulled her sword back as she ran her palm against the side while imbuing the steel with a crimson and violet glow. Jumping into a spin Mika slashed across the air with her weapon, launching a volley of energy projectiles that swarmed through the air and ex
ploded in fiery barrage around the other girls, throwing them back with rubble and dust blowing through the air. Landing on her feet she turned and took another swing at Rulo, coming so close to her face that she trimmed her bangs in the process.

  “You goddamned bitch!” Rulo yelled as she swung down with her hammer at the human. Mika stepped aside as the hammer crashed into the dirt, grabbed hold of the mallet with one hand and jumped into a kick against Rulo’s face, and then bashed her again with both feet that knocked the orc back onto her rear with a loud oink. Touching down on the ground Mika charged forward to skewer the orc’s head, only for Rulo to dodge the blade that whizzed past her ear before she grabbed Mika’s chest armor and hurled the human off to the side where she crashed into a pile of rubble.

  “Fuck, I hate her!” Rulo raged as she stumbled onto her feet and picked up her weapon. “She is seriously pissing me off!”

  “Has she always been this strong?” Forrus questioned as she stood up and shook the dust out of her fur. “She’s making a mockery of all seven of us.”

  “She gave me and Scay a hell of a fight on our way down to the City of Eden,” Tabitha chimed in. “Though she didn’t use this much force in doing so. And not nearly this much magic.”

  “She’s really being rough,” Scay coughed as she lifted herself up. “Rougher than before. I don’t think she likes us now.”

  “She’s not any stronger than she was before,” Sasha cautioned, herself and the others watching as Mika stood up amidst the dusty cavern while staring back at them. “She’s just not holding herself back with her abilities with us. This is what she’s truly capable of in a fight.”

  “She really is a monster hunter,” Hollia grunted. “It seems those wanted pictures Tabitha mentioned of Mika and her sisters were not made for just no reason. I believe she earned her infamous reputation quite well.”

  Saffron squeaked and dusted off her tunic and her hair before eyeing over her satchel, seeing it was singed slightly but showed no sign that the bombs inside were about to explode after that last attack.