Chrono Continuum Chapter 61
The Ambush
By Cain
602 AD
Hotwire cried out in pain as the claws of the humanoid demon's hand slashed into her shoulder, ripping her suit. Hotwire didn't care about the suit, though. She didn't need it to go Chameleon anymore. But she did care about the gash in her shoulder, which was now bleeding profusely.
Swinging with her other arm, she tried to hit the creature with her spear. The demon simply grabbed the spear, however, and used it to throw her over its head.
She crashed into the ground, rolling until she ended up on her back. She tried to get up, but the demon suddenly landed on her belly, spear still in hand, its sharp toes digging in deep. Hotwire screamed at the pain, but to no avail. The creature simply laughed.
Then, to Hotwire's temporary relief, the creature jumped up a little, and tucked its feet back. It landed on Hotwire again, this time straddling her stomach. Hotwire couldn't see why he'd performed this little maneuver, until it brought her spear forward, and, using both hands, pushed the shaft of the spear against her throat.
Hotwire couldn't even cry out as she felt her windpipe being crushed. In an act of desperation, she grabbed the creature by the shoulders. But inspiration soon came to her.
Her eyes began to blaze with white light, and her hands took on a glow of the same color. The creature's grip slackened as it saw this, afraid for a moment. Hotwire took that moment of hesitation to her advantage.
She released the power she had just felt build up in her mind and body. It exploded outward, through her hands, throwing the demon up into the air above her.
The demon spun in midair abover her for a moment, but soon began to fall. It used the fall to its advantage, changing into a dive, spear first.
With her newfound abundance of power, Hotwire didn't even get up from the ground to defend herself. She simply pointed at the creature. She didn't know what would happen, but she trusted her magic.
The creature screeched in pain, and suddenly exploded into thousands of little black pieces, that rained down on the forest around them. Hotwire subconsciously placed a shield abover her, protecting her from the dissolving pieces.
Once the pieces had all completely dissolved, she stood, wincing in pain. Wow... That attack took a lot out of me. Or maybe it was the fight itself...
She began to walk back to the cabin. She'd been out for a walk when she'd been attacked, and had no doubt that the inhabitants of the cabin were in similar trouble.
She paused. Something was missing...
She suddenly sidestepped, and stuck out her arm, catching the spear in midair as it fell where she'd been just a moment ago.
She pulled it closer to herself, examining it. It didn't look damaged. But something else troubled her. I shouldn't have been able to catch that spear, let alone know it was coming... Is my magic manifesting even more than before?
Her thoughts halted as she heard a collective growl was heard from all around. She glanced around. It was dark now, but she could still see red eyes in the darkness around her. She stepped into a fighting stance.
The eyes moved forward, revealing themselves to be more of the demonic wolves Lucca, Frog, and Glenn had described to them. Once again, they growled in unison. They obviously weren't as peaceful as normal wolves.
Without warning, they all jumped at her at once. Hotwire knew she had no time to do anything, and no avenue of escape. So, her mind activated another act of desperation.
Her eyes shone with bright light, and she threw the tip of her spear into the soft earth. Everything seemed to slow to a stop. Hotwire knew how to do this. She'd always known, deep down.
She released her power, and yelled "Black Hole".
The energy mainifested as darkness, darker than the night around her. It created a black globe around her. She bet the wolves were wishing they weren't hurtling toward her right now.
As the wolves flew into the dakness, they didn't stop, but instead continued on, into the void behind the wall of the globe, never to be seen again in the world of man.
As the hole in reality shrank back down to nothing, Hotwire collapsed. How was it that most of her allies seemed to be able to use all the magic they had, and not physically exhaust themselves. Perhaps there was technique to it she had yet to master.
After a moment, she stood, pulling her spear from the ground. She tried to run in the direction of the cabin, but felt too tired. So she walked.
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Same Time
The demon screamed, and began to dissolve, the crossbow bolt still sticking out of its chest. Marle smiled in satisfaction, but the smile was short-lived, as another demon charged toward her.
The demon jumped at her, but was surprised to find itself suddenly impaled, by Melchior's sword. The Guru of Life winked at Marle, and turned his attention elsewhere.
Marle sighed in relief. That had been too close. She, Melchior, and Gaspar had been holding the demons off ever since they'd escaped from the back window when they'd heard the demons enter the cabin. Of course, they hadn't expected the demons would have been behind the cabin as well.
Marle really hoped that the others were alright, but they hadn't been able to get away long enough to find out. Sounds of battle from the other side of the cabin suggested that some of their allies were fighting demons in the front. She wondered whom.
Suddenly, one of the walls of the back of the cabin exploded outwards, sending several demons with it. Marle, Melchior, and Gaspar looked to see who the culprit was, and saw Janus walk out of the hole in the wall, still wearing nothing but his pants. A claw mark decorated the left side of his chest.
Janus looked around, and spotted Marle, Gaspar, and Melchior, and began to run over to them. But he yelled out in surprise as a lion-like demon with prehensile claws tackled him to the ground.
It raised its claws up in the air, and brought them down, to slash Janus' eyes out. Janus desperately grabbed its wrists, but knew it wouldn't be enough. The demon was too strong.
The demon suddenly roared out in pain, and collapsed onto Janus. Janus quickly pushed the body off of him, before it began to dissolve. Looking for his savior, Janus saw Dalton, his hand still smoking from the small fireball he had thrown.
Dalton gave him a quick thumbs-up, and ran over to help Marle, Melchior, and Gaspar. Janus was about to go over as well, but he heard something from the front of the cabin.
Looking over to make sure those four could handle themselves, he ran back into the cabin through the hole he had made in the wall of his room. When he came out of the front door, he had to duck to avoid the dissolving body of a defeated demon.
He glanced towards the body's point of origin, and saw that Glenn, Frog, Corea, and Ayla were fighting off a sizable force of demons, that were beginning to dwindle in number. Those four obviously didn't need his help.
Instinctively, Janus ducked again, this time avoiding something he hadn't even seen, only sensed. It was a good thing he had. Behind him, the cabin suddenly burst into flames.
Janus stood up again, and looked forward, to see who the caster of that fireball had been. He sneered. "Lilia and Flite. I should have known it would be you. Only you would try to attack someone while he wasn't looking."
Flite smiled, and ran a hand through his moussed black hair. His navy blue body suit fit him like a second skin, and he wore a white jacket that had many straps for his many knives and daggers. "I wasn't the one who fired, right, Sis?"
Lilia stuck out her bottom lip in an attractive pout. She also wore a skin tight body suit, but it was pink, and had a large, red heart over the left side of her chest. But her simple, childlike demeanor belied her incredible magic power. Her bright pink hair was separated into two separate ponytails, that bounced when she nodded. "Right. It was me. I was hoping I could knock you out without any trouble, and then we could capture you easily."
"I appreciate that," Janus replied sarcastically. "But I think you should leave, before I kill you both." Janus wasn't really sure if he was strong enough to kill either of them, individually, but they might not know that.
Lilia gasped, and partially hid behind her brother. She wasn't used to getting death threats. I feel sorry for her, Janus thought to himself, Having a Hellbound for a brother. He was bad enough before he died.
Flite laughed. "You think you can kill us both, you say? I doubt you could kill one of us, but both of us is something you don't even have a chance of. Right, Lilia," he asked, rubbing his sister's lower back.
Janus grimaced in disgust. He'd heard rumors of Flite's... night life, and whom it involved. For Lilia's sake, at least, he hoped it wasn't true. She should never have asked Valiod to bring her brother back from the dead in the first place. But she was probably lost without his commands, Janus considered sadly.
Flite continued to smile, and crossed his arms confidently. "No brave words now, eh, Janus? Oh, how the mighty have fallen, Prince of Zeal."
Janus clenched his hands in a silent growl. Right now, he could imagine what always made Magus so angry. "Leave my past out of this, Flite."
"Why? It's very interesting. You were prince of the most powerful kingdom in the world, and you lost it all... Your mother, your sister..."
"It wasn't my fault!"
"No, of course not. Out of curiosity, did your sister love you as much as mine loves me?"
Janus pointed at Flite. "What she has for you isn't love, in the sibling sense, or otherwise, you sick bastard. What she has is blind obedience, and fear."
Flite trembled with rage. "How dare you! I will not let stand by and let him insult you, Lilia!"
Lilia simply nodded, agreeing unconditionally. She stepped away from Flite as he pulled out two daggers.
Flite sneered at Janus. "We were ordered to try to capture you if possible, but I think I'll enjoy killing you instead..." He stopped for a moment, and reached behind him. He pulled out a long pole, and threw it to Janus, who deftly caught it. Flite smiled slightly. "That's what remains of your spear. I thought it was fitting. An impressibe weapon, but no real threat without a blade."
Janus twirled the shaft of the former spear like it was a staff. "We'll see," was his only response.
Flite suddenly charged him, with more speed than Janus had expected, and jumped into a flying side kick to Janus' chest.
The wizard fell to the ground, but rolled into a standing position, and leapt (yes, that is how it's spelled) at Flite, swinging his staff upwards, catching the man under the chin.
Flite was thrown into the air, but instead of landing on his back, he landed on his hands, and pushed off of the ground, making a back flip onto his feet. Immediately, he threw both of the daggers in his hands at Janus.
Janus sidestepped one, and slapped aside the other with his staff, but yelled out in surprise as Flite's foot came up into his face, knocking him back. Flite followed up with a backhand, and side kicked Janus in the chest.
Janus shouted as the last blow sent him flying through the door of the burning cabin. He shook his head, dazed, and looked around. Fire was all around him.
Suddenly, he was tackled by Flite. Janus tried to get out from under Flite, but Flite firmly grabbed Janus' neck, keeping him from going anywhere. Janus only had a moment to cast a weak protection spell before Flite began punching him in the face, over and over and over.
Meanwhile, outside, Lilia was surprised to see four people run towards the flaming cabin. In warning, she threw a lightning bolt in their path, stopping them. "Don't interfere," she told them in the best authoritative voice she had.
The wierd green person stepped closer to her. "Thou shouldst follow thine own advice, woman. I see in your eyes, thou art no Hellbound. Get thee gone, else we shall battle."
Lilia rose into the air. "Sorry, mister, but you don't understand. That's my brother in there. I gave everything I had to the Almighty One, even my body, just to get Flite brought back from the dead. I won't lose him again."
Magical power, as pure and raw as any of the Timestream Travelers had seen, engulfed the young woman. Her eyes blazed with unbounded power. Her voice was surprisingly soft, however. "Please, don't make me do this..."
The green one looked back at his friends, as if for permission. As one, they all nodded, wearing grim expressions on their faces.
The green one turned back to her. "I'm sorry, dear lady. We can alloweth not our friend to die, much as thee with thine brother. 'Tis apparent that we must fight." With that, he stepped into a fighting position, his large sword facing her. The green-haired man followed suit, and the two girls stepped into fighting positions, one of them holding two rods.
"Very well," Lilia nodded, as her power caused a crater to form in the ground which she was floating above. "I agree..."
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Same Time
With sudden inspiration, Janus grabbed the arm that was holding his neck. Flite paused, unsure of what Janus was about to do, and then desperately tried to pull away as he realized Janus' plan. But it was too late.
Janus released a surge of electrical energy into Flite that was almost the equal of a bolt of lightning. Flite shook and spasmed, until the electricity finally threw him off Janus, back through the front door.
Janus soon followed. When he got outside, he assessed the situation. His allies had surrounded Lilia. And as Janus stood there, Flite was floating in midair, being heal by Lilia.
"Listen up," Janus shouted. "Flite's got no useful magic, and Lilia's not very strong physically. With a little ingenuity, we can take them out."
Flite laughed out loud, now fully healed. "Is that so? Well, we'll see about that."
Janus nodded. "Yes, we will." He looked at his friends to see if they were ready. They were. He yelled the command, "Charge!"
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"Lower thine guard and thou'rt allowing the enemy in."
- Frog
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