Chapter 51.3
“I’ll be alright, Chloé,” Vee whispered.
Chloé nodded quickly in acknowledgement, then slowly floated into the sky to take stock of the battlefield. She was thrilled she’d given Vee a chance to go on the offensive, even though it had merely confirmed that there was no way to win this fight until the siphons were offline. Now, Vee was busy summoning barrier after barrier, deflecting all of Davenport’s swords as they rocketed through myriad random portals.
A quick glance towards the nearby tree line revealed that Tessa was still safe. She quietly watched the fight from afar, waiting for the siphons to die down before she made her entrance.
Another loud explosion pulled Chloé’s attention back to Amara. Her demonic friend and the telekinetic Miss Gautier were racing around their half of the battlefield, occasionally dashing underneath the waterfall and crashing into the sheer sandstone cliff. Amara did her best to keep up with the Coven Head, using small bursts of hellfire to alter her momentum as she attacked, blocked, and evaded Gautier’s weapons.
The Coven Head herself was cloaked in an incredible amount of magic, to the point that Chloé sometimes had trouble finding the woman beneath the power. She also saw thin trails of magic traveling through the air, connecting Gautier to the very circles they were siphoning power from. As frustrated as Chloé was that she couldn’t contribute more offensively, she tried to remind herself of everything she’d talked about during their meeting with Elizabeth and Palesa earlier today.
Alright Chloé, stay focused. It’s not about raw power; it’s about stalling for time. Until then, watch for unexpected threats, step in when necessary to protect your friends.
Were she on the ground, Chloé would have started jumping from side to side to hype herself up, but she was floating a few dozen feet in the air. Instead, she tested her agility by quickly flying back and forth, then started chasing after Amara to try and keep her safe.
It was difficult to keep up with Amara, and it didn’t help that all of Gautier’s magic clouded the area with a thick magical fog. Chloé watched closely as Amara threw punch after punch at the mad Coven Head, lashing out with her tail and wings just as frequently as she attempted to keep Gautier’s focus on her. The witch’s telekinetic power was so strong that she’d essentially given herself magic armor, able to use her abilities to absorb Amara’s attacks and make her own body move at incredible speeds.
Each punch Amara threw, Gautier blocked with a focused pulse of telekinetic magic. She wasn’t just focusing on defending herself from Amara, however, she was also pulling random objects from nearby and throwing them around the battlefield.
A massive picnic table flew off the ground, nearly knocking Amara from the sky, but Chloé grabbed Amara’s shoulder and the table phased harmlessly through her. Chloé wasn’t able to stop every attack Gautier threw, however; she focused on either larger threats or attacks Amara didn’t seem to notice. The longer the fight continued, the more Chloé noticed that Amara wasn’t the most perceptive fighter.
Soon after the picnic table crashed to the ground, one of Davenport’s portals opened near Gautier and Chloé watched the Coven Heads’ magic intermix briefly. When the magic faded, Gautier was now in command of two of Davenport’s swords.
How many of those does she have? Sheesh.
With faster weaponry now at her command, Gautier began pushing the advantage she’d been slowly gaining this whole time. In addition to easily blocking everything Amara threw at her, she now had an easier time forcing Amara back. Sparks flew as the swords raced at Amara, who narrowly blocked the blades with pieces of her chitinous armor as she tried to keep pace with the Coven Head.
Chloé watched Gautier’s magic closely, following the arcs the swords took, and soon found the opening she was looking for. One of the swords raced behind Amara, who deflected it with the tip of her tail, and the sword briefly pulled back to prepare for another strike. At that exact moment, Chloé flew at the sword and grabbed it, phasing it out of existence and removing Gautier’s control over it. With the weapon now in her possession, she decided to test her luck and make a swipe at the enraged witch, who quickly scanned the area for any signs of where the sword had disappeared to.
Racing behind Gautier, and fighting to make sense of the horrible haze of magic surrounding her, Chloé gripped the sword tightly in both hands and raised it above her head. With no gravity to aid in her attack, she instead spun forward as fast as she could, manifesting the sword at the last possible second.
The sounds of the battlefield briefly returned as Chloé brushed closer to reality, and the sword buzzed in her hand as it collided with Gautier’s telekinetic barrier. Although it didn’t do any damage, it distracted the witch long enough to give Amara a momentary break.
Gautier turned around, briefly looking at Chloé before she disappeared again, taking the sword with her.
“Give that back, you bitch!” the Coven Head shouted.
Chloé didn’t say anything, and instead focused on flying away from Gautier. The magic around her was so strong that, when Chloé had briefly manifested, it had slightly disoriented her. Still, the successful distraction gave her an idea, and she turned her attention back towards Davenport, who had Vee pinned down on the other side of the river.
While the Headmistress wasn’t moving as fast as Gautier, she frequently jumped into her portals every few seconds as she avoided stray magic attacks from Vee. The angel was fighting much safer than she had been earlier, and Chloé was eager to give her a moment to breathe. She flew towards Davenport, hoping the witch didn’t have a way to detect her, but had to change directions several times as the Headmistress disappeared in and out of portals.
Although she briefly considered trying to fly through one of the witch’s portals to catch her off guard, the thought made Chloé shudder. She didn’t have fond memories of portals.
Thankfully, she found an opportunity a moment later as she finally caught up to Davenport. Without a moment’s hesitation, she readied the sword in her grasp and spun herself around again, manifesting just long enough for the sword to make its strike.
Davenport’s telekinetic barrier was nowhere near as strong as Gautier’s, and Chloé’s attack struck true. The blade collided with the Headmistress’s back, and although it didn’t puncture the reinforced outfit entirely, it dealt enough damage to pull her attention. By the time she turned around, Chloé was invisible again, winding up for a second strike.
The second swipe missed as Davenport disappeared into another portal, but Chloé gave chase once she saw where her opponent had disappeared to. As she followed Davenport around, occasionally shouting to keep her distracted, Vee was able to shift her focus away from defending herself, and more holy arrows started flying through the air at Davenport. Several of Vee’s attacks passed harmlessly through Chloé, and while they didn’t hurt, it was impossible not to notice the strange buzzing sensation that Vee’s magic seemed to cause.
Chloé managed to catch Davenport two more times, each attack again fraying bits of her reinforced outfit. As the seconds ticked on, however, Chloé’s fatigue grew. Holding the sword, keeping it invisible and intangible, was beginning to feel like the ghostly equivalent of lifting an incredible heavy object.
Just let it go, Chloé. You gave Vee a break, and that’s great! You’re more helpful on defense, so stick to the plan.
At that moment, a massive burst of telekinetic energy overtook the field, nearly disorienting Chloé. She looked up at Gautier, who was screaming in frustration at Amara as her magic wrapped around the nearest tree. The magic intensified, gripping the trunk tighter and tighter, before pulling the entire tree out of the ground. A massive network of roots came with it, and Chloé watched as Gautier’s magic directed the tree at Vee.
No!
Chloé threw down the sword and flew towards Vee, locked in a terrible race against this massive threat. Vee was pinned down, unable to move as more of Davenport’s portals unleashed attack after attack, and Chloé wasn’t sure if she saw the tree hurtling through the air at her.
Moments before impact, just as Vee manifested a massive Enochian barrier to keep herself safe, Chloé grabbed Vee’s shoulders and pulled her out of reality, letting the tree harmlessly pass through them both. Chloé heard Vee panting heavily, and once the tree was entirely gone, Vee looked up with a smile on her face.
“Great save, Chloé. Holy shit.”
“Keep at it! You’re doing great!” Chloé said, turning her attention back towards Gautier.
The Coven Head seemed more comfortable with the incredible amounts of magic coursing through her, and she started reaching further and further for things to wield as weapons. She uprooted a second tree, trying to knock Amara out of the sky, but Chloé pulled Amara to safety before letting her return to the fight.
In addition to watching the random debris flying around the field, Chloé kept watching Gautier as well. The magic surrounding her seemed to be thinning somewhat, but Chloé wasn’t sure if that meant the siphons had been disrupted, or if Gautier was just using more of it.
As she kept watching, she saw a look of realization cross the Coven Head’s face. Following her eyes, Chloé looked over to the tree line, where she saw Tessa scrambling for cover. The last tree that Gautier had uprooted had been the same tree keeping Tessa hidden, and Chloé knew exactly what that meant. Gautier was no doubt furious at how long this fight had gone, and the appearance of Tessa meant she had a way to turn the tables, to start attacking the group where they were most vulnerable.
Gautier’s magic reached even further, traveling into another field nearby, where it grabbed something massive. Chloé watched as a huge car crested over the canopy, and with each passing second it picked up speed as it rocketed towards Tessa.
In a panic, Chloé started racing towards Tessa to try and keep her safe. She felt Gautier’s magic swirling on her heels, threatening to overtake her, and she watched in horror as the car flew past, completely outpacing her. Chloé began panicking, trying desperately to fly faster, but nothing she tried worked.
A massive explosion erupted behind her, and Amara raced in front of the car at blinding speed. The vehicle suddenly stopped, glass shattering and steel screeching as it froze in place.
Chloé finally caught up with the car, and on the other side of the vehicle, she found Tessa crouched on the ground barely a foot behind Amara, who now held up the car entirely on her own. Her muscles tensed, her tail and wings were embedded in the sides of the vehicle as she held it aloft, preventing it from crushing Tessa completely. With a loud gasp of effort, she slammed the car back on the ground and pulled her limbs from it, shaking bits of glass and steel off them.
As Amara turned to check on Tessa, Chloé hovered over the car to look back at Gautier. The Coven Head hovered near the top of the waterfall, scowling as she prepared another attack. Chloé again noticed a strange effect in the magic surrounding her, and this time, she tried to look for the magic trails connecting Gautier to the circles.
But she didn’t see any.
With an excited gasp, Chloé flew back behind the car and started talking. “Amara! Gautier’s magic is running out; we need a distraction! Give me an illusory Tessa to charge at Gautier, then you two to take to the skies. I can give you an opening!”
Tessa gripped her newly acquired knife, nodded slowly, and grabbed Amara’s arm to stand up. The two of them prepared to take to the skies, and before Amara took off, she created an illusory copy of Tessa that ran out from behind the car. Chloé followed this illusion closely, revealing herself as she extended an arm towards fake Tessa. Another tree, as well as several smaller objects, flew through the air at them. Each one passed harmlessly through them both, crashing into the nearby river, hopefully tricking Gautier into thinking that this was the real Tessa.
Once Chloé was close enough, she turned invisible, and the illusion vanished as well. She flew into the air, waited for Gautier to spin around in search of her, then took a deep breath.
Chloé let loose an ear-piercing scream, the ethereal energy in her body rippling out and distorting the space around Gautier. The Coven Head’s magic coalesced in between them, attempting to shield the witch from Chloé’s shriek, which was exactly what she wanted. She felt her strength leaving her, and just before she completely exhausted herself, she cut off her voice and backed off.
Above her, appearing from seemingly nothing as she fell out of Amara’s flight mirage, Tessa held her weapon at the ready. She landed on Gautier’s back, plunging the knife into her shoulder, and Chloé stepped back from reality to recuperate.