CHAPTER 436: ARC 6, CHAPTER 52: HOW BEAUTIFULLY VEXING

Scuffed, breathless and fizzling with sparks—she flung herself back into the railing to avoid the green beam of energy that shot past her, roaring like a hundred car engines.

The massive beam melted the metal walkways and lasered into the cave wall. Speaking of the walkways, several were ripped, destroyed and or dangling perilously as metal strips that whipped through the air.

Jotou eyed the stalactite closer than ever and no more catwalks were above her. What was above her however, were hundreds of orange solar flares that arced and lashed towards the blonde from all around her.

She did not hesitate to lift her boots off and take a dive backwards. "WHIP-LASH!" All the flares thrashed into each other and disintegrated without a sound while Jotou plummeted.

"Tnk!" "Mgh!" "Creak..." she grabbed onto one of the lower railings and pulled her shoulder. Each finger gripped desperately, but each one was slipping off by the second as her strength was simply not enough.

The blonde instead let go and looked down. Her coat and torn attire flapped all the way down till, "Kickbolt!" Seeing an opportunity she flipped herself onto a much lower catwalk with a boosted kick.

"Bang, clang..." She rolled onto it and got back on her feet. ’If only I could fly...’ "Rejuvenate," Jotou glanced at her hand as lightning spiralled over her fingertips and formed a mini lightning bolt that struck the centre of her palm.

Her arm juddered, followed by her entire body. ’Well, I guess there’s technically a way.’ Not that she was going to attempt it now of all times.

Several cracks had shown upon the glowing pillar before her, leaving dark spots where no glow ebbed, up and down, all around—wherever a strike could be blown given her situation.

Her lower lip bled from her own accidental bite, several blonde locks hung loose from the bind of her ponytail and sweat gave her skin a shine that made hair stick to her face—she still held her sword firm in her right and wiped the blood with her left, smearing her lips in red.

A strike of thunder against that pillar would potentially cause a lot more damage of course. However, with conserving what magic she had left, she was not too fond of the idea of being completely vulnerable in the aftermath...

Panting, her eyes trailed up to watch Ceridwen drift down with a maelstrom beneath her. The spirit-mage took steps downwards in the air, aided by whirlpools of roiling green water under each foot till she met the walkway.

Another soul lunged into Ceridwen’s form, knocking the prior one out. Just as Jotou lifted her blade, Ceridwen’s eyes clouded over with inky-black and her fingers sharply curled inwards-

"Hykh!" Jotou’s knees jerked and her elbows froze. All her joints tingled uncomfortably as a chill ran up her spine. Her skin crawled, but she could barely feel it, for the sensation of all her nerves freezing up was much more overwhelming.

It was as if millions of ants were running inside of her and they had made her heart their nest.

Ceridwen walked languidly towards the blonde with her right hand out, in the same curled position. She curled a single finger and Jotou made a small gasp in response.

That buzzing in her heart shifted, feeling like a finger wrapped around it tighter. Every beat of her strained heart thumped in her ears, slightly muting the ruckus of gunfire below.

Jotou’s widened eyes watched helplessly while Ceridwen inched closer and closer till they were face to face completely. Ceridwen cocked her head to the side, causing her hat to tilt while she examined the blonde.

Her dainty fingers slowly reached out towards Jotou’s chin, making Jotou try to pull her head back, but all she could manage was to wince her eyes and shake her sword a smidgen.

Through satin gloves of cream-hue, long nails caressed past her chin and crept up her jawline softly, just enough to scrape against.

Ceridwen’s right hand pressed against the blonde’s chest, right above her heart and Jotou felt the sensation grasping her heart tighten alongside each breath she made.

"You know, I attempted this first and it did not have the intended effect," the spirit-mage uttered.

Jotou was forced to gaze at Ceridwen’s visage—at the silvery-gold of her eyes, the river-like runes down her skin that pulsed with inky-black smoke and her thin lips neither smiling nor in a frown.

Ceridwen’s gloved right hand slid up the blonde’s sternum and caressed the centre of her collarbone which she promptly pressed firmly against.

It was lazy—each movement of her fingers, each blink of her lashes. She was examining Jotou like she was a fragile glass doll. "However, one then recalled a moment ago of the words told by a friend of yours—a woman of reptilian heritage."

Her words were soft and powdery over the sound of Jotou’s beating heart. "Necromancy—an immunity to a single school of magic is hardly impressive, however, worth noting. Even so, I manage now to hold your heart."

Ceridwen tilted her head back up and stared into Jotou’s eyes, "What a soul you have. You made one such as myself work for my reward and while I loathe that over all, you only made yourself that much more worthy of a present to behold."

Forced to listen to her monologue, Jotou’s lips quivered and her pupils shifted to glance at the fingers still cupping her face.

"Ah, you wish to speak," Ceridwen’s hand resting on the blonde drifted up her collar and curled around her throat, while she removed the fingers around her jaw. "Is it in reverence I wonder, or to protest. Or is it for meaningless banter?"

Playing with her new toy, Ceridwen’s face began to wilt and with an audience of wailing souls watching all around her, she kicked the blonde in the legs with no effort. Even that was enough to force Jotou to her knees; the armite sword pinged onto the metal catwalk.

Her body collapsed on its own, the dull buzzing in her joints jerking her entire body as if she was attached to puppet strings. The sensation of pins and needles did not end and she was only held up by her throat which Ceridwen so lazily grasped.

"That tongue of yours ought to be severed. The pristine blade you flourish pales in comparison. Now, what is occurring below-" Ceridwen eyed down past the railing, but she felt all her runes suddenly hum against her skin. They flashed a bright white-

"CRSH!" The rupture of glass was followed by more, then even more. Below, the pillar’s foundations which were being coated in sheets of metal were ripped and peeled open. Stone pillars had made a wreck of the cave floor with Forallei not in current view.

White light no longer dimmed and instead a bright flurry of wisping lights escaped from the broken glass and ripped metal, gushing out like water that rocketed up to the ceiling.

The escaping wisps tore the glass and metal further, which made cracks rise up the pillar, aided by the cracks Jotou made.

Cracks began to web an entire side of the pillar till- "Crack." And that was it. "CRSSHHHH!!!" The entire pillar came crashing down, fragment by fragment with one side left standing as a broken glass case.

One loud shriek echoed throughout the cavern as a beam of the escaping light blasted the sphere atop apart and dissipated against the ceiling continuously.

Within seconds, it was all gone. The entire cave grew darker without the beacon’s light and Ceridwen was left standing as she watched it all come crashing down...

Down below, purplish-black shadow blinked all over the place, closely followed by pillars and waves of roiling greyish-silver stone. Fumeko’s scarf drifted with each blink and her dagger was the only thing gleaming in the dark before lanterns were lit in a panic.

Ceridwen turned to face the blonde on her knees; the ghosts provided a dim glow. She knew Jotou would be smirking if she could. "A twist?" Ceridwen hushed audibly.

In the dim light, Jotou saw the corner of Ceridwen’s lips begin to curl up. "Perhaps not, for I was never the intended target." Ceridwen grinned with her lips shut. She took a step forward and lifted Jotou up by placing a finger under her chin.

The blonde felt the hold on her heart lessen and her legs could move on their own—just barely.

"What a spectacle you have created before me. Perhaps the play has found its climax," Ceridwen brushed Jotou’s hair behind her ears. "Very well, all your actions have garnered my attention. Enjoy this brief victory while it lasts."

Jotou was able to knit her brows, but still not move her mouth.

Ceridwen laid a thumb on the blonde’s earlobe, the grin had disappeared. She whispered, "Your presence ought to be elsewhere dear hero. Do put on a grand show, one awaits your performance with bated breath."

She leaned back and sat on a ghost that emerged through the floor. Floating upwards, she watched Jotou with the back of her knuckles under her chin. She trailed off into the air, her audience of spirits following behind her.

"Hah!" a single loud gasp escaped and Jotou collapsed onto her knees and elbows. The grasping feeling around her heart disappeared.

With each short breath she felt her blood flow return to normal and she just let herself fall prone. She dragged herself till she could peer her head under the railing and watch the blinking brunette evading gunfire with ease.

She smiled, watching how Forallei could not trap her in such an open space and Fumeko seemed to have figured that out as well. "That’s my detective," she hushed in pride and let her forehead slam into the metal.

"Woosh."

"Hi Meko, nice work," Jotou stated without looking up.

The sweating Fumeko who just appeared next to her, through ragged breaths replied, "Incoming!" The brunette leaned down and grabbed Jotou by the arm to lift and push her up.

The blonde forced herself onto her feet and indeed saw what was incoming. Her eyes shot open and she wrapped an arm around Fumeko, "Shoulder-Charge!"

She slid forward-

"BASH! CRASH! THRASH!"

Several spikes of greyish-silver jetted up from the side, tearing and rupturing several catwalks and pinned them together all the way up to the roof of the cave in one strike.

Jotou leapt further with Fumeko hugged between her arms. "Thud!" "Ugh," the blonde threw her arms open, away from the new greyish-silver cave formation that turned into gravel.

Fumeko blinked away and stood next to the fallen Jotou in an instant. Static made her dark brown hair stick up and frizzy; she shivered, "That stings," she complained while slapping down the goosebumps over her arms.

"Sorry, I’ll be less shocky next time," Jotou grabbed the railing and groaned herself up.

"Where’s Cerid-whatever?"

"I’ll explain later, but dealt with for now," Jotou saw her armite sword spinning in the air from above as it fell through the fresh giant gap in the catwalk. She sighed, "I need like five minutes."

"So do I, but we have five seconds," Fumeko adjusted her scarf and tapped the heel of her shoes a couple of times.

"I hope the others are doing better," Jotou climbed atop the railing.

"CrckSH!"

Fumeko stepped into shadow and Jotou jumped off, just before a slate of stone swiped from one side of the cave to the other, cleaving through where they were.