Rita stepped out onto the front patio of her workshop and a wicked grin spread across her face as she spread her fingers wide on her left arm. The shadows gave a momentary pause as if to assess the new situation. Rita stuck out her left arm palm out and fingers pointed up. “I'll give you something to look at.” A torrent of flames broke forth from her palm and sprayed down upon the shadows. They were all too quickly consumed by the fire and disappeared into clouds of smoke.
Once they were all down Rita looked back at Lapis. “Where did you see the other bad guys?”
She was crying, her eyes red from tears and possible pain. A small trail of crimson ran down her lip as she sat there with trembling arms. “T-the main entrance.”
Rita nodded, looked toward the front entrance and saw the doors had been smashed inward. “Makes sense.” She checked the gauntlet. One of the five gems was already burnt out and cracked, it’s once bright red huh was now dull and gray. “I’ll take care of this. You just stay here and keep them safe.”
Lapis pulled a small potion from her dress pocket. “I-I will.”
The light blue glow of the potion told Rita that it was an aether potion. It would give the drinker a temporary bit of aether to use in an emergency. Of course it didn’t heal any damage done from aether exhaustion, so it would be Lapis’s last resort to actually use the energy should she need it, but Rita was comforted by the fact that she did indeed have the ability to fight.
Lapis looked back at the others. “A-and I’ll figure out what’s wrong with them. Be careful… okay?”
Rita started to shut the door behind her. “Careful is for cowards.”
Once the door was shut completely Rita ran to the castle. She couldn’t afford to waste anymore time if the castle was being invaded by the shadow things then that meant they were here to free their leader. However, Nightmare was going to stay locked up if Rita had anything to say or do about it.
Rita hoofed it to front doors as fast as she could but upon reaching them she didn’t see any of the villains. The door to the great hall was knocked off its hinges, there was a massive series of cracks against one of the walls, and there was some blood on the floor near the front entrance. It took only a moment for Rita to realize where the villains had to have run off to.
“The dungeon,” Rita cursed under her breath as she started running for it. She could still hardly move the fingers on her right hand, not to mention that she was only just in the middle of working on way to bypass the failing of her body in that department when Lapis came knocking. So now she was left with her power gauntlet and her willpower to stop the bad guys before they could free Nightmare.
The dungeon’s entrance was only a little ways away and Rita was able to make it in quick time. Just outside of the entrance stood Fiona. She was looking down the stairs with an almost stoic look on her face. Rita slid to a stop besides her.
“Who’s down there?” Rita asked.
Fiona swallowed. “M-Master Frost Fire and P-Princess Saturn.”
Rita nodded and began walking down the stairs. She could already hear the sounds of fighting. Flames cast orange flickering light across the stairs from the very bottom. Steal clanging against hard surfaces. Shouts and the like.
Rita glanced back only to find Fiona was following closely behind. “There’s a fight going on down there, a dangerous one. You should stay up there where it’s safe.”
Fiona shook her head. “I-I was only up here because the princess asked me to stay there for you.”
Rita shook her head. “I can’t protect you.”
“I-I’ll be fine.”
Well if Fiona was going to be this obstinate then Rita wasn’t going to tell her no. Though despite what Rita had said, she was going to do her best to keep the servant girl safe from harm. It was nice seeing how loyal the woman was to the castle’s household but it wouldn't do if she was to be hurt in the process. It made Rita think of Lapis when she considered how loyal the girl was. It was quite the attractive trait… if only offset by how much of a pervert Lapis was.
Something about walking down these stairs felt familiar this time. Like she’d tread down these steps many times before, though she had rarely ever entered the basement. Once the fighting was closer that old familiar beating in her chest began and adrenaline pumped hot through her veins. She recognized this feeling, it was the way she felt before entering a good fight. There was a monster deep inside of Rita, and that monster craved to fight. Luckily as leader of the Guardian Hearts she had plenty of things to satisfy that lust for battle.
Rita entered the undercroft where an epic battle was taking place. Lamont was at the back standing right in front of the prison door firing short bursts of flame from his stave keeping Mind Sliver and Nightshade at bay. Meanwhile Saturn was in the middle of fighting against the giant Noct.
Rita grinned as she rechecked her power gauntlet. She still had four charges left, which meant she had four chances to totally wipe the floor with these guys before resorting to her revolver. “Stay here.”
Fiona didn’t reply, but neither did she come chasing after Rita once she started running out to meet the enemy. Part of Rita’s heart was fearful. She wasn’t scared for herself, she was scared about her friends coming to harm once again. Lamont’s leg was already messed up, and judging by how slow Saturn was moving, she too was exhausted to properly fight. Lamont was doing great keeping the two opponents he had at bay, then again Nightshade looked wounded with one of her wings clearly struggling to move with her, and Mind Sliver was struggling creating shadows to merely block Lamont’s bursts whenever he got too close.
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For a moment Rita actually had to pause in order to clearly examine the situation once again. It looked like both Lamont and Saturn were doing just great on their own keeping the enemy at bay. They weren’t really landing any critical blows but they were keeping them away from their goal.
It was when Saturn ducked underneath one of Noct’s powerful fists and used a shield bash to shove him back a few feet before lunging with a strike that he swept aside with his arm that made Rita realize the issue. Yes they were defending well, but the enemy wasn’t trying to defeat them with force. The enemy was instead forcing them to wear themselves out.
That cut it, Rita knew what she needed to do as she still held the element of surprise. Taking on the opponent she felt the most comfortable with being the most deadly Rita charged toward Noct. She primed her fist. The thing hissed with both heat and pressure as it was charged for its main function.
The moment she reached Noct she lashed out with her left fist and screamed, “PHOENIX PUNCH!”
Her arm exploded into a condensed blast of fire and kinetic energy in front of her slamming into Noct’s back with enough force to send the giant off of his feet. Saturn for her part saw the attack coming and swung her shield toward his face as he flew towards her. There was a loud smack as she hit him with the shield knocking him sideways and onto the hard stone floor. Noct twitched a few times but remained down after that.
Saturn shook her shoulder and cringed. “I hate fighting orzu.”
Rita looked at the fallen man once again. She’d never personally seen any of the orzu race before, but upon noticing the trace amounts of bark through the shadows covering his arms and the vine like hair on his head as black as the darkest night she had to admit he could fit the description if she also took into account that he was corrupted by the same dark energy surrounding Nightmare.
Saturn raised her blade over his head. “Time to finish this.”
The memory of how desperate and sad Nightmare had looked when the darkness was completely wiped off of her by the light grenade flashed into Rita’s mind. “Stop!”
Saturn gave her a momentary glance. “Why?”
“I think he isn’t fully to blame here.” Rita then looked over to see Lamont once more and noticed the trail of blood running down his nose. “Besides Lamont needs help, now!”
Saturn looked over and grimaced. “Fine, but if this bites us in the back I’ll hold you responsible.”
If Rita’s suspicion was correct then she’d take that responsibility willingly. For now she and Saturn both faced the other two. Rita had only three charges left, but that was all she needed to win this fight. Saturn charged in taking a swing at Nightshade who dodged it with precision.
Rita charged for Mind Sliver. She primed her gauntlet, and upon reaching him she swung. Mind Sliver looked over at the last second seeing her. He vanished into a poof of black smoke. Rita’s fist hit the air and a blast of condensed fire shot out of her fist flying into the nearest wall and blasting away at the brick leaving a sizable hole.
Behind her she felt something move. A quick turn of her head showed that Mind Sliver was now behind her and swinging something sharp and black towards her neck. Rita ducked and slid back but Mind Sliver pressed forward swinging and slashing left and right. Each dodge cost Rita more stamina, and each time he got closer to his mark. Rita didn’t have time to focus on priming her attack so she did all she could, she activated the secondary fire and sent a spray of flames coming out from her hand forcing Mind Sliver to jump back. She pressed the fire forward and once more he vanished in a poof of black smoke.
Rita began priming her fist as she looked around for him figuring that he somehow had the ability to teleport. Once she spotted him reappearing in another poof of smoke behind her she felt herself grin at being correct. This time she pressed forward just as he stepped out of the smoke and took a swing at him hoping to strike before he noticed.
The poof of shadows formed into one of the shadow beings she had faced outside. It was too late to change tactics as she punched it and the explosive force utterly destroyed the shadow. She looked around once again only to see a pale white hand with five broken nails and one bleeding finger holding a dagger made of shadows going for her.
It was too late to dodge and Rita prepared to take the blow.
A hand lashed out grabbing Mind Sliver’s wrist and twisted it upright. Fiona followed the hand and moved in between the two of them before slamming her right palm into Mind Sliver’s chest sending him back a few feet and onto the hard floor. She stood there staring down at him and moving her body into a combat ready stance prepared to strike him down should he come at them again.
Mind Sliver lay there still as death and staring up through his messy long hair with two cold and calculating black eyes. Something in his eyes sent shivers down Rita’s spine. She’d never seen that look before, but when she looked at Fiona’s calm, and stoic expression she had the feeling that his look couldn’t even touch Fiona.
Nightshade landed besides him on a knee. A fine long cut lined her cheek. “Mind Sliver, we’re getting out. Now!”
Mind Sliver glared at Fiona and then at Rita. “You won't survive next time.” and the two of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Not a second later a white sword flashed through the empty space clinging hard against the stone floor. Saturn shot a dirty look behind Rita, she was breathing hard. Rita followed her gaze to see Mind Sliver standing over Noct. The three of them once again vanished into thin air.
Saturn swore a profanity that made even Rita feel uncomfortable before rising and rushing toward the exit. “You three stay here, I’ll hunt them down!”
Ice formed around Saturn’s legs as she reached the door forcing her to stop in her tracks. Everyone looked toward the wizard responsible, including Saturn who twisted her head back to glare daggers at Lamont. He was breathing heavily and barely standing with almost all of his weight being pressed against the wall.
Saturn’s glare softened quickly as she inhaled deeply and exhaled. “Lamont, you’re not doing well.”
Lamont tried to smile but it came off as more of a grimace. “What gave that away?”
The ice melted around Saturn’s feet and she stood straight. “You three… should rest.”
Lamont slid to his butt on the floor. “I’m not the only one who needs rest.”
Fiona was silent and clutching her left hand into a fist while shaking. It seemed the event got to her more than Rita had realized. With Saturn walking back towards Lamont, Rita decided to comfort the poor girl. “Hey, that was some crazy technique you had there.”
“Y-yeah, I-I was t-trained at a monastery.” Her eyes were firmly planted on the ground.
Rita reached up and put her left hand on Fiona’s shoulder. “It’s going to be alright. We repelled the attackers.”
Fiona looked down at Rita’s hand and swallowed. “I-I know.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
Fiona opened up her left hand revealing the still glowing orange heart on her palm. Rita’s mind went blank as she stared down at the mark and then looked at her gauntlet thinking of the red heart on the palm of her own hand. Rita already knew what symbol was behind orange, it belonged to the man she hated most in the world, Dusk Warden. His symbol, his power, had been the orange heart of-
Fiona’s voice was quiet as she said, “Patience.