novelzi Ch 1.46: Defense
Ch 1.46: Defense
Ch 1.46: Defense
Everything was fuzzy. There was a pain in Elaina’s back, a stinging that wouldn’t go away, but gods did that not matter, because she was so fucking horny. She opened her eyes, finding herself in the forest clearing, right outside the cave she’d first met the System in. The bell was still ringing above her head, and it was a beautiful Summer’s day but wasn’t it raining? She looked down and found herself naked but wasn’t I wearing wet clothes earlier?
“Hey there.”
She turned, finding a blurry Tira standing there. Elaina went to cover herself before realizing that Tira was naked too, hands placed on her hips, the fuzziness in her mind’s eye only thing preventing Elaina from seeing everything. “Aren’t you shy?” Elaina asked, half-heartedly hiding her nakedness.
“We wouldn’t be shy around you,” another voice said from behind. Elaina turned again, seeing a hazy Carline standing there naked in all her splendor as well.
“Yeah, why would we be?” another voice said, the voice of an angel descended from the stars.
“Prisma?” Elaina said, turning back again. It was where Tira should have been standing, where Prisma’s voice had come from, but standing there was neither. It was still a woman, still naked, but she was crystal clear, with ghastly white skin and adorned with a smattering of red crystals across her body, blades sprouting from her elbows.
“Afraid not,” Myriala said. Blood dripped from her hands, where her nails had clawed at Elaina’s back but that was healed, right?
“I’m dreaming,” Elaina finally realized, holding her head. It still stung from where she’d been kicked.
“But you know I’m here, don’t you?” Myriala stepped forward, sharp crystal fingernail softly tracing Elaina’s sternum and sending a horrified shiver up her spine. “I’ll be here in this clearing, waiting for you when you wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”
“Wake up!” Carline’s voice said.
Elaina jerked upright, back on the castle grounds, back in the rain. She stood up, feeling the blood rush to her head as she checked her bag, finding the System still inside, glowing dimly. “Carline, I have to go!”
A strong hand grabbed her shoulder. “You’re not going anywhere, young lady.” Elaina looked back and saw a vaguely familiar face, a wrinkled, tall man with a thinning patch of unnaturally dark hair on his head, someone who was always eating at the faculty table. “First years go back inside, or help with support if your aspect allows it.
Elaina pulled away from his hand, turning back towards the forest. “No, I have to...” She slowed as her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, as the scene in front of her unfolded past the garden’s gate. The two creatures from before may very well still have been out there, somewhere, but the grounds were no longer an empty school field, rather a full battlefield.
Dozens of the white humanoids were about, each brandishing some sort of red weaponry attached to their body as they charged forward. The line standing behind the garden fence and holding them back was comprised of a few faculty, but mostly of students. Ranlit was there at the front of them in the center of the open gate, swinging some giant sword and keeping the beasts back as Calivahn and another male teacher backed her up, each wielding spears. A number of students held spears as well, though they stood behind the fence proper, stabbing at anything tying to climb the walls while the faculty kept the main entrance handled.
And that was only the beginning. Beyond the gate, out in the grass leading to the forest the true battle raged. Endrin’s platemail clad guards were out there, dozens of them engaging equal numbers of monsters in a chaos brawl, white limbs and pieces of armor alike flying through the air. But the armored guards were dropping, no reinforcements in sight, and plenty more of the Red Order were flooding in, overwhelming the guards, slipping past them, and eventually being cut down by Ranlit and her flank of spears, for now at least.
The starhound reeled back, clawing at its own throat, mane whipping at the chains around it. The steel was already melting from the corrosive smoke, but not before a blade fell between its eyes, cleaving its face in two.
“Weaver, good work!” Ranlit said, stepping over the beast and cutting down Red Order members as they tried to flow through the whole in the fence. “Can you fix this section of fence?”
Fix it? “I’ll try!”
“Good,” Ranlit said, halving one creature before delegging another. “Forsythe, grab the wounded and fall back.”
“There aren’t any.” Elaina turned to see Carline had followed her, was standing there, her horrified eyes leaking tears. “They’re all dead.”
“Gods damn it all,” Ranlit said before splitting one of the creatures with a loud roar. There were at least half a dozen students at her feet, crushed, torn, and corroded by the starhound. “All students fall back! Shut the entrance hall and barricade in the dining room! And Weaver, put the the fence up behind me before you leave.”
Behind her? Ranlit was in front of wall, still clearing the horde of enemies charging towards the opening, and she intended to stay there after it was fixed. Elaina balled her fist, anger coursing through her as she ran forward herself. “Got it!” She reached out for [Restraint]. That’s what a fence was, right, something to keep things out? Her aspect didn’t agree, and she couldn’t feel the fence itself, so she’d have to try something else. She made chains appear, individual links links wrapping around the fallen fence posts, pulling them upright again, straightening them out, bending them to interlock with the pieces of fence that were still standing, walling off the monsters, Ranlit, and herself.
Carline crashed into the undamaged part of the gate. “Elaina, what’re you doing?” she screamed.
“Get inside,” Elaina said, struggling to force the metal to her whims. “They need healing in there, not chains.”
“Weaver!” Ranlit said, looking next to her as she spun her blade through another body. “I said fall back!”
“I can’t!” Elaina said, finishing up the repair on the fence. It wouldn’t hold forever, would probably fall back instantly if the attackers tried to pull it instead of push, but it would have to do. Maybe they’re too stupid to realize. “There’s something I need to do; I’ll draw them away!”
“Weaver, get back inside, that’s an order! Weaver!”
Elaina was already running north though, along the fence. There were three creatures shambling towards her from that direction, but she caught them with one rope, pulled taught and acting as a tripwire. She jumped over them, leg getting cut by a small crystal knife jutting from one of the creature’s wrists as it tried to grab her ankle.
She tripped, rolling across the ground, but then pushed herself up again and stayed course, regaining her momentum as she sprinted north. Fuck, knew I should have used chains, should have tied them up one by one. No, she couldn’t have afforded the excess mana to tie up those three individually. She’d spent a whole quarter of her reserve fixing the fence, and there was only one chance she’d have of getting away. She looked behind, seeing at least twenty of the things chasing after her, the ones she’d tripped scrambling to their feet and joining the chase. Yeah, they’re after me all right.
Elaina faced forward as she sprinted, tapping into [Restraint], willing her idea to fruition. What she wanted to do counted as restraint this time, right? She felt the resistance of her own consciousness, the inner battle over the definition of the word. This is a restraint for real, gods damn it! Her aspect was resisting though, and an army of monsters was on her tail.