Fuck me. Fuck me and this stupid luck or fate or whatever it is.
The situation was bad. After seeing the werewolf in its full bestial glory, the students and even some teachers renewed their efforts to get out of the hall with a vigor. The bad part was that there was only a single exit and, as big as it was, it couldn’t take everyone at once. A bottleneck had been formed and people were already starting to turn magic on each other in order to be among the first to flee.
“Narh!” Regitris commanded. “Assume order. We need them out before it attacks. We’ll hold it off, but we can’t let loose with everyone here.”
“We can’t let loose while it has the other lycans either, Regitris.” Ravena warned.
The elf nodded, but his eyes were still on the centaur. Who for his credit sobered up pretty quickly.
“Right. Brither. Brither! Are you here? Amnea?!”
Were they two older students or were they faculty members? Regardless, Michael saw them break away from the crowd, heading towards the centaur.
“I need-”
“A roar blasted off and by the time Michael turned his head, the werewolf was already mid-leap. Yet… it looked as if he was jumping in slow motion. Regitris had his hands pointed at him, straining.
“I can hold it there for a minute.” The elf said. “The second it’s free, blast him back.”
“Assuming it doesn’t howl again.” Ravena said, but she nodded.
“…right.” Narh said, now back to being frightened. “You two, use your Skills and magic. We need to get everyone out. As quickly as we can. We only have… Regitris. Regitris, how long do we have?”
The Naturalist leader answered in his stead.
“We have as long as your leader can command Gnosis not to shut its gates!”
“Wh-”
“Gnosis wants to keep its students safe. The only reason it hasn’t closed its doors yet is because it’s allowing us to evacuate. But it’s not that smart, Narh. Eventually, it will close them, regardless of how many had left.”
So the Academy is sentient. Kind of.
He didn’t know how much Narh understood, but Michael saw him jerk, nod and confer with the two mages. Who, after a second of listening, started to use their talents. Michael noticed the crowd start to move more efficiently. More logically. Yet, still… too few of them were getting out.
“I know what it is that you are thinking.” Bob said. “But we cannot help him. We are weak, for all that you are an exceptional first year.”
“I can’t just leave either, Bob. That thing has him.”
“I was not suggesting that either. Yet, it seems to me that not all will manage to exit in time. Those that remain will probably be guarded by the best. We… could remain here.”
“In relative safety.” Michael said, nodding. “To an extent of the word.”
“Yes. To an extent.”
Michael nodded and they moved to the back of the hall. Far away from the monster. And Micah. But they didn’t leave. Michael spent the time they were moving to take in the monster. It was stopped, in a bubble of slowed time. But mid-motion as it was, Michael could see the power behind it. A single leap and it had cleared almost a third of the room. It looked exactly like a werewolf did in Earth’s mainstream media, all fur and muscles. But it was big. Almost half as tall again as Regitris. And had even more muscle than an orc. He remembered what Micah said. If this werewolf also knew magic…
Though that seemed to be likely, given his roar shattered their Spells. The thought also seemed to come to Regitris.
“I can’t hold it for much longer. A minute at best.” He said, straining. “Ravena, how many have left?”
“Of the students, only the fifth year and a quarter of the fourth remain, besides other stragglers and the usual exceptions.”
“Exceptions. The Martials?”
“Almost all of them, except the first years.” She said, sighing.
“Those foo-“
“Don’t strain.” She warned. “|Pinpoint Spell|, |Mana Supercharge|. How much longer?”
“Almost there. Steady… now!”
“|Mountainblowing Gales|!” she said, before screaming again. “|Earth Mother’s Grasp|!”
“|Heavenly Pillars of Binding|.” Regitris also added.
The werewolf was blasted backwards almost as soon as he reentered normal time. It looked as if he would have sailed past the lycans and into the wall, before a bunch of gigantic roots materialized out of the stone and caught him out of the air before proceeding to bind him to the ground. The werewolf started thrashing instantly, even tearing a few vines apart, before Regitris’s Spell made five pillars of metallic looking stone appear. As if from an inexistent sky, they dropped down on his hands, feet and head, pinning him to the ground. Once again he started to thrash, but this time the bindings held. For now, at least.
Yet the werewolf could do more. It howled. But perhaps the two mages had anticipated this, for though some of the vines wilted and two pillars cracked, the Spells held. But another thing did happen. Michael heard a crash and a slam, before he heard Narh calling out.
“The doors are closed.”
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“Understood.” Regitris said, breathing hard. “We need to protect those that can’t fight. Every student who is not in their fourth year will stand near the wall. Fifth year students and faculty members will defend them. Prioritize creationistic defensive Spells over virtual ones. Artifacts too. Do not attack. Only defend while we deal with this monster.”
“Yet we also need help.” Ravena said. “I will not allow those lycans to be subverted, Regitris.”
“I understand.” The elf nodded. “Can you retrieve them?”
“Not if I have to fight too.”
“I see… Then it is time for others to pick up the torch. I will not fight you on this.”
The woman turned to them, raising her voice as the werewolf once again howled, the pillars and vines weakening further.
“Everyone. We need help. I’ll go and save the lycans myself, but Regitris can’t fight it alone. Who among you is willing to fight?”
Michael wanted to laugh and tear up at the same time, as all remaining Martial members stepped forward, almost at the same time, Bob himself included.
“Only fifth years, you fools.” Ravena snapped, though she was smiling. “I will not have any of you die.”
A lightning quick round of deliberations was had, before the groups were settled. Ravena stood on one side, a single other mage besides her. A human man, looking to be in his mid-thirties. From her own faction, from what Michael could make of it.
On the other side, stood Regitris. And Narh. And fifteen more Ascentionalist mages. Nahlil was there, as was Sinestra. Erea and Alex too. Michael had no idea how many Martials were there, but they had to be over fifty. Most looked scared out of their minds, but they refused to flee. One, he saw, had even magically bound his legs to the floor. Other mages from other factions were there, too. In total perhaps less than a hundred, but only by a bit.
Once again, the werewolf howled and Michael saw all but one pillar crumble. It then started to thrash, ripping away the vines holding him down.
“It will come for us.” Regitris said. “Come for the strongest, out of arrogance. Come for the weakest, out of disdain. But it will come and it will try to kill us all. But we will. Not. Let it!”
“We will kill it.” Ravena said. “And we will save all those lycans. And no one will die.”
“|By my example, grow|.” The elf commanded, and all those behind him stood straighter.
“|I walked the woods unseen|.” Ravena whispered and vanished.
Finally, the werewolf ripped away the last of its bindings and stood up. It was snarling, foaming at the mouth. It crouched and jumped, but as it did, Michael thought that, just for a second, he saw it smile.
“Now!”
The werewolf howled again mid-flight and all manner of Spells were shattered, but the mages were ready for this. Nahlil aimed his wand and a lance of stone flew out. It broke against the werewolf’s fur, but it managed to stop its momentum. Alex and Narh cried out, as did many others, and an assortment of vines and ice and grasping stone hands jumped out of the ground. It broke through them all, but it took it a second. And a second was enough. Sinestra moved forward, throwing a Spell that made the werewolf lurch and heave. Which was the opening Erea had waited for.
To Michael’s growing fright, the blonde elf used the same move she used against the golem. A couple of supercharged rock fists blurred, striking the monster’s snout dozens of times per second. Yet the strike back came all the same, one paw swiping Erea and sending her flying.
Michael’s heart stopped before he saw that she was fine, simply having depleted her mana. Well, she wasn’t bleeding, but the shockwave from that swipe still had her almost kneeling next to her Martials. Yet the cheeky elf still had the gall to grin his way before collapsing.
“Michael.” Bob said. “The lycans.”
Michael turned his head and saw the oddest thing. The girl next to Micah kept flinching. She seemed to drop down, get back up, and try not to kneel again. Yet once more she fell to her knees. A few more seemed to have done this too, since they were now kneeling closer to the sides than before.
“Think they’re breaking away from the werewolf’s commands?”
“Perhaps. Yet their behavior-“
“Block it!” Regitris yelled. “|Arctic Prison|!”
The Spell reached the monster, turning half of him to ice, but not before it managed to swipe back, sending a shockwave towards the lycans.
Micah!
But it didn’t reach them. Instead, the shockwave collided with… a man. A middle-aged man. It… sliced him to pieces, the chunks of flesh falling by the sides. But the blood seemed to hover in the air, in a roughly humanoid shape. Before a woman came into view. Covered in the man’s blood.
Ravena. But- How did- Did I forget her?
She stood, stock still, looking at the man who had probably been a member of her faction for quite some time.
“Damn you!” Regitris roared. “You would kill one of us? Of us? Foul beast. Wretch of a dead world. Die! |Lightning Pillar|! |Storm’s Eye|! |Lightning Spear Barrage|!”
“Enough!” Ravena screamed.
The old elf blasted the werewolf with his magic, but in his rage he seemed to have forgotten something. Namely that while other mages like Ravena could take this kind of attack, some couldn’t. And even she only barely managed to, considering she had to protect the lycans behind her.
Once his vision cleared and the flashes were gone, Michael saw the aftereffects of the Spells. The entire hall was blackened in places. Some of Regitris’s own mages got taken out by his Spells, the lightning not discriminating in where it arched. The beast was scorched and singed almost all over its body. And Ravena… Ravena was kneeling, breathing hard. The remnants of a wall-sized shield still crumbling in front of her.
“Get your… temper under control… old man.” She huffed. “I can’t fight and protect at the same time.”
“Not a man…” the elf said, abashed, before nodding. “But understood.”
“Can’t move the children.” She said. “Some kind of nature magic is preventing it. Not without hurting them.”
“Then we kill their warden.” He grunted.
“Unlikely.”
The hoarse voice chilled Michael’s blood. He felt Bob’s hand on his shoulder and nodded. How could he have not noticed who had just spoken? The werewolf cracked his neck, standing up. He wasn’t snarling anymore, nor was he flexing his claws. Instead… his behavior only denoted a kind of lazy arrogance.
“Thank you for being weak enough not to take me seriously.” He spoke. “It gave me time for the blood-lust to pass.”
“You mean to say your instincts are no longer there?” Ravena asked.
The werewolf looked at her, before barking out a laugh.
“Fool. You still hope, Child of Forests. Do you not know who they belong to?”
In a flash, the werewolf was there. Next to her. Holding her by the throat.
Michael saw an array of wands being raised, before Regitris waved them down. The werewolf didn’t even glance at them. It was only looking at Ravena, as if deciding from where he wished to take the first bite.
“My hatred for you is still here. My desire to take my rightful place is still HERE. I only mean to say that I am now able to think. And I think I will kill you.”
“Kill her and we will kill you.” Regitris warned.
“Not with your precious students behind me you won’t.” He snarled. “Blood for my pack!”
It swiped, claws extended. Right at Ravena’s throat. Yet the hit got blocked.
An orc stood there, looking pretty miffed.
“No.”
The counter blow knocked the werewolf’s head back, making it back away a few steps. Kelunad blurred and in a second, he was standing a dozen paces away, letting go of Ravena. The woman stood up and massaged her neck, as Regitris appeared behind them.
“You are late.” The elf said.
“Yes.”
“Where were you?” Ravena asked.
“Away.”
The two looked annoyed at the serene display, but didn’t have time to do anything about it. Their enemy stood up again, this time looking in tune to his bestial nature.
“You three think that you’re better than me? You think that you’re the only ones to possess magic? I will end you and end this entire academy!”
“No.” Kelunad said, only this time the other two smiled.
It was a frightening display. An old type of magic made flesh. But it was also exciting. Because here stood the greatest three mages of Gnosis. The leader of the Ascentionalists, the first among the Martials and the head of the Naturalists. And they were about to let loose.
Michael only hoped the measly shields they had put up would be able to take the splash damage.