AAS: SEASON 6: CH19: Palace Flames.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” A voice cried as Jack felt a strange power enter him.
Jack blinked, distracted, he was blasted back, hitting a pillar and snapping it in the process of tumbling through the air.
JACK! Sahaqiel screamed, a barrier of wind forming around Jack with Ruby appearing at his side to deflect the rapier that slashed at Jack.
Suddenly the music began to pick up once more, a loud orchestra of strings sounding out as fire took the room.
“Aw what the fuck.” Jack let out, eyeing the Jester corpse that was twitching sporadically, letting out loud snapping sounds in tune with the music like a terrible horror movie.
Maniacal laughter sounded, the Jester standing back up, wobbling to her feet despite missing her spine.
On her barren head, a new white mask grew, a wretched smile plastered on her face as blood leaked from every orifice.
“TrY. a-GaIN!” The Jester sung, head cocking to the side, her bloodshot pupils wide before they were covered by her new mask. “It's time for my swan song!”
“See this shit. This is why you always double tap Jack,” Lilith hissed.
“Right. Double tap… I ripped out her fucking spine!” Jack replied, dodging a symphony of spectral spears and music notes firing at him. “You don't get more double tap than that! If anything I triple tapped her!”
“Obliterate them next time!”
Jack bolted forward, feathers out, the man maid throwing out clay figurines that exploded in the former’s face.
Conjuring wind, Sahaqiel contained the explosion, the force pushing Jack back as dozens of music notes boomeranged and forced Jack back.
“Four! We've got to go! This is a trap! We've been played!” The Man Maid let out, accosting her partner who turned to her fellow pawn.
“What?”
“Five is here! He's here! He's not dead!!”
The Jester spun her head, eyeing the smoldering Jack, the latter confused before the doors to the room burst off their hinges.
“Heeeey, Crotchpuncher!” Tenno yelled, Ada joining the man shortly. “Why didn't you invite me to the party?!”
“Tenno?! What the hell are you doing here?!” Jack yelled back, wide-eyed at the man who was supposed to be protecting the Hoshido village.
“Oh you know me, out for a stroll!” Tenno barked, shooting off the ground towards the pair of pawns with a laugh.
“Fuck you cunt!” The Man Maid spat, the bloodied pawn giving Tenno the middle finger before the entire world was illuminated by a small sun.
“ADA!” Jack called out, eyes wide, his hand outstretched as Ruby's hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back with her shield taking the blunt of the explosion with the two flying from the impact.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Spinning through the air, Jack unfurled his silver wings, taking flight, grabbing Ruby upon being expelled from the castle to see the entire structure up in flames.
“No!”
Somehow the building was already collapsing, imploding from within with multiple detonations going off at the base.
“No… NO!” Jack let out, his voice quivering before he flapped his wings and dove into the red mushroom cloud.
Immediately the heat tickled his skin, burning away what remained of his expensive clothes, yet Jack didn't care, he pressed on, rushing forward as Sahaqiel cleared a path for him through the rubble and debris.
“ADA!” Jack roared, swiping his hand, the wind answering his will and sweeping away a large swath of smoke and flames. “ADA!”
All around Jack, charred corpses lay, his heart beating in his ears, eyes searching for his love.
“Here! Tanji!”
Jack's heart seemed to skip a beat, his eyes fixating on the silhouette amidst the flames.
There, beneath a translucent bubble of golden energy, Ada stood, her earringa radiating protective energy.
“Ruby! Protect her!” Jack ordered, his einherjer leaping forward to collect Ada as Jack and Sahaqiel held the flames at bay.
The fire around Jack seemed to suddenly burn brighter, his HP rapidly dropping from the heat making his skin perspire.
Around him, the roof began to cave, debris and paneling falling as Jack pushed the flames away from him and Ada, creating a tunnel of open air that led to the outside.
“Tanji! Kamila and the others are still downstairs!” Ada cried, stopping Jack right as they came to the crumbling opening in the wall.
Jack clenched his jaw.
“Ruby! Take her to safety!” Jack ordered, a section of the flooring giving way beneath Jack's feet.
Sarah! Find them!
Jack could feel the angel separate from him, the woman phasing through the collapsing palace in search of Kamila and Jack's security team.
Found them! Lower level! Generator!
“Where?!” Jack yelled, stopping in place as he looked down, his vision momentarily overlapping with Sahaqiel.
Below you! Straight down!
Jack activated wind sphere, sucking on the flames, his body courting with lighting as energize compounded the skill and began to chew through the floor and debris.
The ground beneath Jack's feet was obliterated, shredded, allowing Jack to free fall through several floors before he hit the bottom most with an audible thud. Still, he hadn't arrived at his location, his target, another floor down and separated by steel and concrete.
Immediately Jack punched the floor, attempting to break the concrete, his fist creating a crack in the crumbling ground.
“Sigh. Try this instead.”
Suddenly Jack could feel his mana leaving his body, directed by Lilith and creating what felt like a massive maw in the space below him. Then the mouth closed, chomping down, the floor disappearing to reveal a soot-covered Kamila giving CPR to a figure clad in black.
“Kamila!”
“J-j-jack?!” The woman spun, shielding her eyes, disbelief in her tone as heat flooded the basement.
“Hold on! I'm going to get you out of there!”
“Hurry! Yun isn't breathing!”
Jack grit his teeth, his body burning up from within with the constant mana being used to sustain a wind tunnel. Between Lilith, Sahaqiel, and Ruby, Jack's resources were being stretched thin.
“Ok. Just hold on!” Jack scanned the ground below, activating float, dropping off the edge as the world around him burned.
****
Jin frowned, stepping out of yet another mansion filled with corpses, the man’s black-armor covered head to toe in gore.
“The invited have been dealt with,” Jin said, speaking into his gauntlet as other black-clad assassins left the estate, their eyes cast out to the column of flames in the distance.
Not a word was spoken between the warriors, their task, half done, but all shared the same look over the deeds they had committed.
“Good,” Selfia's voice replied back, her voice cold. “Get to the palace. Our uninvited are on the run and Jack's friends aren’t that helpful.”
“Yes, your highness,” Jin replied, nodding his head as the dozen armored awakened took off. “It will be done.”
Jin sighed, rolling his shoulders, taking a moment to eye the carnage behind him that consisted of various nobles, knights, and soldiers he had known and served with for years.
Awakened that were felled by his hands with entire bloodlines now exterminated.
A dark task, but a culling needed to be done to fundamentally change the empire into something more.
Jin gripped his spear, sighing. “Forgive me kid.”