Broker

Chapter 147

The din of battle raged over the other side of the wall, shouts and screams shook the air. A masked man was flung skyward, falling unceremoniously to the ground while four more were sent hurtling away in an arc that briefly revealed them to those on the other side. The wolfmen moved in from all sides, claws extended and eyes filled with bloodlust as they focused their bestial fury on the red-light wielding archer.

The blonde man scowled at the pair as the glimmering sheen crawled across their bodies, the music once again changing the nature of the fight. He strode to the right and then the left like a caged animal, this gaze contemplative. Crowley shifted a bit where he stood, his legs tensing as he readied for another movement. “There is something strange with his weapon, be careful,” He said in a low voice, glancing towards Canis, “There are odd letters that glowed faintly when he used his abilities. They’re connected somehow.”

Canis tilted her lupine head, yellow eyes narrowing a little as she looked the man over. Her pointed ear flicked and she let out a low, predatory growl, “I see them,” She murmured.

The man stopped pacing and clicked his tongue, throwing his arms out wide, “The song only lasts so long doesn’t it? What are you waiting for? Come at me!” He barked out. “This Sir Ewen will be your executioner, fake heroes!”

Crowley reached out and put a hand on Canis’ arm, “We must vet him, we don’t know how his powers work yet, though I am beginning to suspect a kinship with the Guildmaster.”

“Right,” Canis agreed and dipped low into an open grappling stance. With a mighty roar she charged just as the wolfmen leaped from every conceivable angle, going high and low, from the side and from the front, any way to throw off his extremely directional attacks. Fur and claws closed in on the man as he stood there, hand clutched around his bow. A heartbeat, a flurry of movement, and as Canis sped across the field in his direction she bore witness to a dome of red arrows spraying out in all directions, her wolfmen carried off with them. She grit her teeth and charged, throwing her shoulder into the attack as he became visible.

He was standing with his hand held up like he was holding a tray, hovering over it were several red arrows. He smirked as she collided with him, crashing into the wall. A glob of blood pouring from his lips as he looked down at her with madness in his eyes. He didn’t defend?

“CANIS!” Crowley shouted, a cloud of birds wrapping around her and pulling her away just in time to avoid the arrows that had skewered her wolfmen returning to their sender and turning the spot she’d been standing at just a moment before into a glowing pincushion. She glanced up at him in gratitude before getting to her feet, she scanned the area as the shouting intensified on the other side, the loud bangs coming more frequently. I hope Axel’s alright. 

Sir Ewen clicked his tongue and wiped his lips, “Worth a try,” He wheezed before wrenching up his hand, the arrows of red light dissolved into motes that raced to his palm and formed a shifting and roiling glob. “Suppose I should stop messing around,” He said with a sigh and threw the glob at the ground at his feet. It vanished as if the ground wasn’t even solid. Canis and Crowley didn’t wait to see what he had planned, Crowley burst into a cloud of birds and spread out, hiding his location while Canis charged in again.

She brought her clawed hand up and down, raking at Sir Ewen as he hopped to the left, raising his bow and creating a faint dome of red light that she easily cleared even if it prevented her from hitting him. He skipped back a few more paces and whipped around, throwing a backhand at Crowley as he took form and readied a swing of his cane. Crowley took the blow to the face, the shimmer on his skin flickering for a moment as he burst again into a flock before reforming in front of Sir Ewen, swinging his cane up and catching the man on the chin.

As the archer took a half step back from the blow, Canis lunged and swiped her clawed hand across his chest. He threw his arms up in a cross, a thicker panel of red light appearing between him and her. He narrowed his eyes as her claws dug into it and threw his head forward, spitting a red glob into her eye. She gasped and stumbled as he created an arrow in his hand and drove it forward at her heart. The glimmer gave way but the loss of force from piercing the musical barrier left it helpless against her metallic fur. He grunted and hopped back a few more paces, glancing up towards the furiously playing Rouge.

“Just about-” He muttered as Crowley reformed to his right, his eyes wide and turning an off-orange color. Crowley let out a screech and Ewen peeled away from him, cupping his ear in irritation. “Little shit,” He snapped and threw out his hand, a flurry of arrows bursting from his palm, passing through the cloud of birds that was Crowley and riddling a hunk of wall with holes. “I take it back! You two are a genuine pain in the ass!” He laughed, “But! All good things come to an end and we’ve played enough!” He shouted as he pivoted, throwing up two domes on either side of himself and catching a furious claw strike from Canis and a brutal caning from Crowley.

For a heartbeat, there was silence. More than just the pause between exchanges. Canis blinked in slow motion as her mind caught up with what he had done. Her eyes went wide and she slammed her foot on the ground, trying to create enough force to put some distance between herself and him. She opened her mouth to shout only to let out a howl of pain as a spike of red light lanced up from the ground beneath her feet, skewering her foot. Another spliced her arm, another up through her other leg’s knee. A screech of pain answered her own howl and through the momentary agony she saw Crowley hung up in the air like a scarecrow, his arms and legs all pierced, his eyes spinning from the pain.

“I heard your guildmaster can create defenses as her specialty, that her powers are like mine,” Ewen said with a sneer, stepping away from the two of them as they struggled to do anything but hang there in blinding agony. “I specialize in constructs, the beams are my weakest spells,” He mocked them.

He took a step backwards onto a panel, then another, and then another, “Now, I would love to kill you two, but I think I’ve killed enough time,” He glanced up at Rouge who turned her speakers towards him, “It’s time!” He shouted and the platform beneath his feet threw itself upwards before vanishing, launching him up into the air and dodging the sonic blast that crushed a portion of the wall where he’d stood into powder, he flipped through the air as another figure darted past him with a whimsical chime following it. 

A secondary chime rang out as a lanky figure landed between both Canis and Crowley as the red spikes dissolved. Before they could regain their senses Sir Ellis threw out his palms and struck both of them in the chest, sending sonic waves through their bodies. He didn’t even stop there, his ankle chime ringing again as he vanished and darted up towards Rouge. Canis stumbled and clutched at her chest, it felt like her organs had been turned to putty for a moment. Her ears rang and she tried to shake her head but even her bones hurt. She looked up to see Crowley in not much better condition. 

That was when things went from bad to worse. A bang and a whistling sound shrieked through the air, drawing everyone’s attention. Over the forest a white-yellow flare arced through the air. Canis narrowed her eyes before a small chuckle drew her attention back to Ellis. She reached up and favored her chest a little, taking a step back and getting ready to move. Ellis just stood there, staring at the flare as he threw his head back and let out a noisy groan, wiping a bit of blood off of his nose, “Finally!” He whined, “Took him long enough!”

Canis lowered her stance, spreading her arms and extending her claws while Crowley’s eyes began to glow orange again. Ellis sniffed and tilted his head slowly before making eye contact with Canis. He broke into a wide smile, “Power from Liberty, I am Sir Ellis of the Round Table,” He intoned and a column of orange-gold light slammed down from the sky as if sent by a god. The column crashed into Ellis who threw his hands out and cackled. A sonic wave rippled down at him from the floating speakers on either side of Rouge, he didn’t so much as budge.

His body grew in size, his muscles becoming denser as his fingers twitched. Another column of golden light fell down on the other side of the wall. Then hundreds of little streaks of coppery light streaming down from the sky in a terrible light show. Canis looked up at the display with wide eyes, “What on earth?” She breathed before turning towards Ellis as the light faded, she raised her guard and he shot a grin in her direction.

“Jingle jingle,” He snickered and disappeared from sight. Her ear twitched and tried to turn her head as he stepped out of the air behind her. His hands reached out to either side of her head, “You got pretty good hearing, huh?” He laughed as a high pitched shriek ripped through her mind. The wavelength burned into her skull, her eyes rolling back as she convulsed where she stood, a silent scream on her open maw. Her hair stood on end as the piercing sound ripped through her senses, blood dripping from her nose, her ears, she-

“Canis!” Crowley shouted, appearing next to Ellis in a flutter of feathers, his cane already moving. Ellis whipped his head in his direction so fast his neck had to have snapped, the man barked out a laugh and opened his mouth releasing a shrill sound that sent Crowley flying backwards, buffeted by the force of it. He flipped through the air and skid to a stop, landing on his back and blinking up at the sky in confusion. He tried to sit up but his balance felt off. He couldn’t hear. He blinked a few more times and rolled onto his side, tilting his head down enough to see Canis drop to her knees before falling face first in the dirt.

No!

He tried to pull himself to his feet. My arms aren’t working! He gasped, pressing his head against the ground to try to gain some purchase. Need to get to, Canis- white hot agony ripped through his leg. He croaked, his voice barely able to make a sound under the unbelievable pressure. He rolled and looked at the sword stabbed down into his leg. A woman with burned-charcoal hair stared down at him with mild amusement as she pushed her sword forward and then left and right, grinding the blade against his muscle and bones. He screamed as she reached down and grabbed him by the shirt, she said something but he couldn’t hear it. His arms were limp while she dragged him over to Canis and tossed him on top of her.

He felt vibrations in the air, rumblings, something was happening above him. He felt Canis’ slow breathing too, barely alive. His eyes fluttered as he tried to move his head to look up at the action above him. Rouge was on the backfoot, strumming her guitar and launching blasts of sound in the direction of Ellis who was snapping left and right like some kind of horror movie ghost. It looked like she kept trying to start up a new song but as soon as she opened her mouth he would make a shushing gesture and nothing would happen. 

The ground shook and a blast of red light ripped through the wall, with it came Axel, burned and hurtling through the air to land just a few feet away. Crowley tried to push himself up, to see his comrade better but something worse landed between them. His heart sank as Ewen landed and tossed the unconscious body of Bedrock to the ground. Crowley tried to rally himself, he needed to get up! He needed to move! He needed to- pain exploded in his gut. His eyes went wide and he tried again to turn his head. He looked up, horrified, into the face of the sword wielding woman. She sneered at him and with a quick motion pushed the sword through his gut and down. He felt his entire world begin to shatter as Canis’ breathing slowed even more. 

No! He screamed on the inside, his lung was punctured. He could barely breathe. The woman grinned and seemed to take a deep breath, savoring something, a dark aura beginning to form around her body.

Crowley felt himself get lifted to a kneeling position, something wrapped around his torso and squeezed. He looked down at the glowing red ropes around his body. Panic overrode everything. How had things gone so wrong? Why? What was that strange light?

He whipped his head around, taking in his surroundings. Next to him, in a line, were the other three, all in various states of unconsciousness. Canis wasn’t moving. His heart sank. Please no, stay awake! He closed his eyes and tried frantically to use his ability, he had to escape and get some distance. Find some way to turn this around- A sharp pain went through his good leg and he threw his head forward in a scream that he couldn’t hear. His throat was hoarse now. A pair of sandaled feet stopped in front of him and a hand grabbed him by his hair, pulling it up to look him in the eyes. The gray-haired woman shook her head and wagged her finger before glancing up at the ongoing fight between Ellis and Rouge. He glared back at her with all the hatred he could muster.

She let go of his head and he forced it up just enough to see the figure standing just behind the doors of the common building. A sword in that person’s hand.

Don’t. It’s what they want… He begged in silence as he tried to catch his breath.

–

Chunhua stood at the entrance, the students having been sent down to the secure rooms beneath the planetary diorama. She held her sword in one hand, her eyes fixed on the scene outside. Her stomach lurched as she took a step forward only for a hand to snap out and grab her wrist, pulling her back. She rounded on Amos and nearly punched him in the face. He looked more tired than usual as he threw his hands up, “Stop, stop, it’s me!”

Her chest heaved as she pointed towards the scene of four of her comrades in an execution line outside, “You all expect me to stand here when-”

“If you go out there, they’ll broadcast it as proof that the Committee doesn’t hold on to its rulings and is an arbitrary organization, just like they claim. You go out there without clearance and you’ll be proving them right,” Amos snarled, getting right back up in her face. “Calm down.”

“They’re going to die!” She shouted.

“They know the risks!” He shouted back, “I got Carla reconnected to the network, count on her! She’ll pull through! I’m almost done with the contingency I worked out too. If they try to get in you can defend yourself but-”

“Don’t go out there, I know,” She snapped and turned away, rage billowing off of her in waves. The ground cracked beneath her feet and she gripped her weapon so tightly blood streamed down the blade, “Just hurry up! I can barely contain it any longer,” She paused and looked down at the floor, “I hope Lily and the others are alright…”