Chapter Thirty-One #2
“ Had to keep my cards close to my chest. Wasn’t sure who knowing what would change factors until today arrived, ” Milo thought.
Campbell waltzed into Milo’s office, careful to lock the door behind her, and set the protective wards before uttering a single word. “Threatening the guild masters with failure after some academy brat called everyone out worked as seamlessly as you predicted. ”
“Let’s hope the gamble paid off,” Milo had said.
“About half the guild masters you wanted are in final discussions. They weren’t keen on being the greatest guild to a dying city.”
“We’ll need them all. Otherwise, those who stay back will end up fighting for scraps before the National Guard comes in too late to institute order to the carnage.”
“You’ll have them.” Campbell half-smiled, always holding back her enthusiasm. “I didn’t become Guild Master to the strongest guild in the state and one of the safest cities in the world just to lose now.”
The memory faded.
“ Did you get the other guilds? ” I studied Milo.
The tilted turn of his head, sharp jaw peeking out above his shoulder, suggested a grin which said yes a thousand times over.
I grumbled. He could’ve simply answered me.
“Now that we’re done with the whole speech on how I figured out your master plan, can we skip to the part where I banish you, and we save the city?” Milo hovered above the ground; pavement crackled beneath the weight of his heavily channeled telekinesis.
Regret from past mistakes faded from Milo as he fixated on tens of thousands of futures he would ensure came in clearly once this chimera, this demon, this devil had been banished forever.
“Perhaps what I considered methodic planning was impetuous. Shame. You are truly one of a kind, Enchanter Evergreen.” The chimera used Jamie’s branch to open a whirlpool portal behind him. “As the mortals say, if at first you don’t succeed—”
“Lock. Lock. Lock.” Acolyte Reed soared past, waving her key for support and aim.
The whirlpool portal vanished into droplets. Jamie’s wrists twisted and tightened, and the devil housing itself within him struggled to flex his wrists. His fingers bent like curved, decayed tree branches .
“Can’t have you bolting like that,” Milo said. “Ruins my master plan. And sure, you’ve got hundreds of branches, but I can’t think of one warp portal user whose instant transportation isn’t linked to the muscles in their arms.”
“He’s not casting branches in his arms anytime soon.” Acolyte Reed beamed.
“Give me back my brother.” Acolyte Novak appeared out of nowhere. Bubbles swarmed entirely around her body, making the touch of my telepathy impossible.
Fascinating how her arcane branch obstructed everything in its path.
She shouted, unleashing hundreds of tiny bursting bubbles in an onslaught at the chimera possessing her brother.
Whether on instinct or a more finely tuned telepathic connection, the devil moved Jamie’s body and spit a purple smog from his mouth.
Once released, it served as a shield from the surprise attack. As something in the entropy branch, even Acolyte Novak’s powerful draining magic struggled to overpower the poisonous decay that devoured anything in its path.
The devil withdrew, distancing himself from the enraged Acolyte Novak.
“Lena.” Milo reeled her back with a wave of his hand, helping her evade the necrotic smog eroding the street. “You have a job to do. Trust me when I say Jamie will be okay, but not if you go off script.”
“Sorry, Enchanter Evergreen, I just—”
“Lock.” Acolyte Reed froze the smog in place, stilling the conversation.
Novak hid her pain and regret as she’d planned when accepting this mission, but I quivered at her hollowed-out heart and her wishes that she hadn’t walked away from the Novak family to pursue her independence.
Had she kept contact, had she attempted to understand her younger brother, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
All she wanted was to escape the insurmountable hatred and pressure her family caused, something so suffocating she couldn’t figure out a single thing she wanted.
She believed it was selfish to fix her broken heart while leaving her brother to fend for himself in a family she hated.
I wanted to call out, to whisper even, that it was okay to walk away and repair your broken mind.
Anyone who said otherwise clearly didn’t understand the devastation of a shattered heart.
Unable to warp travel, the chimera flew away. Milo soared after him. I channeled my levitation and telekinesis roots, preparing to follow.
“ Stay put, ” Milo’s thoughts echoed loudly. “ I apologize for dragging you into any part of this investigation, but your role is done. You’re safe here. Your students are safe. Let me finish this battle alone and ensure everyone else in the city remains safe. ”
Releasing my magic, I obeyed. Milo knew every potential outcome, so if he believed my involvement would hinder his chances, I would stay out of it.
“ Good. ” Milo’s mind remained tethered despite falling out of sight and attempting to murmur himself.
“ It’s a coin toss on whether or not I manage to banish this devil and live to tell the tale.
Dorian can’t witness that. He can’t witness any more horrors this abomination plans to bring out to fight against oblivion. ”
Fuck that. If he wanted me to stay away because he thought I couldn’t handle it, he was wrong, and I’d be damned if I allowed Milo to gamble his future on the flip of a coin. Fate wouldn’t guess at our future. Destiny could fuck itself.
The succubus gripped my wrist, transforming the world into fuzzy rose-colored bliss.
“Stick around, lover. Relax.” The succubus’ hiss held an intoxicating captivation which left me unable to resist, to channel, to move.
Her whim was my rule. Her desires passionate and beautiful and flawless.
I needed to stay. Everything about this battle, this…
It faded, and I stopped, enthralled by her kind smile and gentle words.
“We’ll let those two work things out and await the devil’s return. ”
“Pretty sure I already killed you,” Acolyte Reed said, tiptoeing like this was a fucking game.
Ugh. Ellie. She was one that clung to my memories.
“You cut her head off, which didn’t kill her,” Lena snapped. “Do you ever pay attention?”
“Well, I would’ve banished her if Enchanter Evergreen hadn’t held me back.”
“Here’s your chance,” my kind-hearted friend said. “Show me what you little acolytes can do because I’m a hungry girl, and this lovely telepath is off limits.”
No. I resisted the delight elicited by the succubus’ compulsion. It hit harder, so I conjured my telepathy, linking it to Milo.
He’d wandered too far to sync my branch and break this hold. I remained in this place, trapped in a still body, observing the succubus who stretched her fingers far and wide, transforming them into talons ready to shred the acolytes to ribbons.
Each of them weaved around the strikes.
Acolyte Reed aimed her key, locking the talons in place one by one.
Lena released bubbles, eroding the bound talons.
They had this. Milo wouldn’t have brought them here if he didn’t believe they’d be enough to stop the succubus on their own.
Or…with every guild witch spread thin across the city, he had no choice but to entrust two acolytes to handle a powerful demon independently.
I trembled, resisting the compulsion and failing to break its hold.
A single talon wriggled, shifting from a powerful bladelike weapon into a twisting whip .
“Ellie, look out!” Lena shouted.
“Your branch is pathetic.” The succubus snatched the key Ellie used for support and withdrew her elongated fingers, freeing them from the lock Acolyte Reed had used.
“Witches who require items to aid in their magics are tragically weak. What’s the point of a branch if they can’t cast it in their own rite? ”
The succubus shattered the key, laughing as Ellie’s heart sank.
“Weak witches with weak branches have an unsavory flavor.” The succubus skirted around me, eyes trained on Lena and mocking tone directed toward Ellie.
“You should consider yourself lucky, little witch. I’ll make your death quick.
As for the arcane caster…I’ll spend hours devouring her piece by piece. ”
The succubus chased after Lena, who threw bubbles to defend and distance herself.
The demon didn’t evade the burst of magic.
Instead, she took a deep inhale, consuming the bubbles.
Grabbing her throat, the succubus’ eyes widened as she held back a gasp.
I waited for the magic inside her to explode. She rubbed her stomach and burped.
“Apologies.” The succubus laughed. “Your magic doesn’t settle well, but a bit of struggle never bothered me much.”
Lena hurled more tiny bubbles from her palms, attempting to create a wall to trap the demon.
They held a gleam in the darkness but didn’t slow the succubus who sucked the magic in.
Her back swelled momentarily, and I hoped this time, the burst would incapacitate her.
It didn’t. She remained impervious to Lena’s branch, drawing more strength each time the young acolyte cast. Unable to break the compulsion, I watched in horror.
Wriggling, tentacle-like fingers stretched, coiling around Lena’s hands. Augmenting her limbs to bind the witch prevented her from compelling on contact. It didn’t matter, though. Lena fought against the succubus’ grasp but couldn’t break the hold or cast her branch .
“I had hoped for more entertainment.” The succubus strutted closer. “Guess even delicious branches have their limitations.”
“Guess you didn’t realize I was letting you consume my branch intentionally.”
An explosion within the succubus created splatters of tar, painting the street in acidic rot.
One after another, the bubbles the demon had devoured with ease exploded and broke the succubus’ body along with her hold over Lena.
My fingers wiggled and I tightened a fist, resisting the compulsion.
The succubus’ vulnerability was an opening I needed to take advantage of.
She prioritized piecing her body together as bubbles continued exploding inside her.
“I’ll rip your arms off for that, little witch.” The succubus reeled back a single arm—using the other to keep her tarred insides from spilling onto the street—and transformed her fingers into talons ready to slash Lena and the entire block.
Ellie flew behind the succubus and grabbed her arm. “I don’t use the key to enhance my branch; I use it for precision aiming.”
“Release me.” The succubus’ talons retreated, and a rose-colored fog filled the air, something only I could see because I was already trapped by the compulsion.
I clenched my jaw, unable to speak and warn Ellie that once the succubus’ talons had vanished, her compulsion would control a witch.
“Otherwise, I risk overdoing it.” Ellie released her grip on the succubus. “Unlock.”
The succubus’ body shattered into hundreds of pieces varying in size and shape, barely held together by the sticky tar of her insides.
Shimmers of tiny bubbles within the succubus exploded, shattering her broken body into thousands of glowing wisps.
Tar lapped up the wispy energy, resisting the regression of becoming a fiend once more.
The succubus wailed, furious and broken .
Lena strutted forward, confident yet grateful for Ellie’s intervention. It’d have taken thousands more of those bubble burst strikes to truly break the demon apart from the inside.
The acolytes held hands, interlocking their fingers and channeling banishment in tandem. In an instant, the wisps holding together the last fragments of the succubus’ consciousness vanished, thrown back to a demon plain of existence.
“ I’ll be back. I’ll slaughter you garbage witches for this. Just wait. Wait until… ” The demon’s mind ceased, her existence lost unless the chimera resurrected her as expected.
Both acolytes fell to their knees, hands still entwined.
Threads of gold and indigo blossomed as my thoughts became my own again.
Far beyond my reach, Milo’s mind synced to mine once again, revealing pieces to the countless potentials these two women had with each other.
I couldn’t see the futures Milo had, but their futures were solidified now that the demon had died.
Lena and Ellie had something special, even if they didn’t realize it yet.
I channeled magic, flying after Milo.
“Wait,” Ellie shouted.
“You’re supposed to stay here,” Lena explained.
They were too exhausted to follow or stop me, and I couldn’t wait idly on a future which might result in losing Milo.