Magica Index: The Dark Rising (Completed)

Chapter 15: Rise of the Young Mage

Still on the ground where she was left, Tessele slowly comes to after being struck down by Ereldra. She gathered herself and coughed multiple times. Dried blood stained the corners of her mouth, the pain from her back was almost too much to bear, but she knew she needed to move. Looking over, Malanie was unresponsive. From a mixture of being exhausted and the severity of her wound, there was a high probability that she would have already succumbed to her wounds. Tessele knew this and slowly rose to her feet before anything else could happen. She stumbled over to the high elf and fell to her knees, getting ready to teleport the two out of the area before she gazed over to her left, seeing Lina and Lelli both fending off against the tiefling that managed to one-shot both her and Malanie. Tessele began to fear for her and made her way over to the young mage, but then her thoughts changed and she stayed beside Malanie, teleporting them away.

Outside the Slyborne House, Elizar was carrying Colton before Dyana and a bunch of healing mages came to their aid.

    "Gere, make sure he gets help." he said before turning away. Dyana reached out and grabbed his arm.
    "Wait, what happened? Where's Lina and the fairy?" worry was seen across her face.
    "Their leader did this, a tiefling. Lina and Lelli are probably fighting them right now. I must go back and help." soon, Tessele flashed before them along with Malanie in the worst condition the house of mages has ever seen the two. Elizar and Dyana were in quiet disbelief along with the rest of the mages that accompanied them.
    "H-help...us." the archmage could barely lift her head before blacking out from the pain again. Multiple people came to their aid, lifting the two carefully and carrying them inside to be healed. Dyana and Elizar were still in shock from the sight.
    "You said that Lina is fighting Ereldra herself and she did that to two archmages? Lina doesn't stand a chance." Dyana was about to storm straight to her sister before she was stopped once again by Elizar.
    "Please, give her a chance to prove herself. This is the moment." he insisted before she scoffed and snatched her arm away in frustration.
    "This is the time for proving one's self, this is survival! If we do not pull through, then our efforts will be for nothing!" Dyana spoke against Elizar's request, going back into the house and leaving the lone mage there with his thoughts, making a straight route to Astra's office.

In their battle, Lina was knocked back across the field. Her clothes were damaged with smoke drifting off areas she's been repeatedly hit in. She came to a skidding stop, breathing rugged and in quick bursts. Her legs were beginning to tremble from moving so fast and so much. Ereldra was stalking the young mage, her scythe being substituted with a claymore-style blade, the area from the middle to the top was snaking. The blade itself was a cursed deep blue that flawlessly transitioned into black. The hilt and guard were made out of a dark cobalt material and seemed to be drawn to her cold, steel-like demeanor she now held in the moment. Lina was almost exhausted while Lelli was still amped with as long as the magica was still inside of her being. The fairy looked over to her friend, wondering just how much she could go before her body or weapon gave out.

    "There's no use in resisting, you know." the tiefling empress called out to them, holding her blade behind her. "This is how things were always meant to be, let nature take its course."
    "You are forcing this act of violence. This is not natural!" Lina dashed forward, finding some resolve, and began to swing with precise strikes, but none of them were hitting Ereldra. She was dodging the young mage's attack without any effort with a bored expression on her face. Suddenly, she struck Lina with a solid knee into her stomach, forcing air out of her lungs. Lina dropped her weapon and felt the long nails of Ereldra's fingers grab her head.
    "Lina!!" Lelli flew in as fast as she could, charging up the fire within her. Ereldra looked the girl straight in her eyes, her irises held an even colder grasp than her hand did.
    "Then allow me to show you that I am indeed above nature." she stated before rearing her sword back. Just as she was about to impale the half-elf, Lelli showed up and released the store energy she had in a massive blast radius. The force knocked Ereldra back from the two by a good margin. Lelli went down next to Lina, hovering in front of her.
    "Can you stand?" she asked, clearly worried about her friend. Lina groaned, the pain from the kick still present as she nodded.
    "Y-Yes, I can stand." she answered, grabbing her sword and propping it in the dirt to help herself up.
    "But not for long." Ereldra called out from beyond the haze that Lelli created. They both looked in the general direction of the voice. A hand reached out and grabbed Lelli tightly, forcing a hoarse cry to come from the girl's throat. "I will deal with you now."
    "NO!" Lina pushed herself up only to be impaled by her tail in the ribs. She yelled in pain, stationed in a hunched-over position. She looked up in a pure rage at the tiefling. "Let her go!"
    "And why, so that this little insignificant specimen can continue to irritate me? If you are indeed a mage, then battle me yourself." she increased the strength she placed around Lelli, the fairy yelling to the point where she couldn't no more, and a soft sigh was the last thing she bellowed. Lina watched as the young girl went limp. The world seemed to stop as the orange lines on her body were erased away. "Oops, looks like I used too much strength. Oh well." Ereldra then tosses Lelli into the dirt, away from both her and Lina. The half-elf could only watch in disbelief before she grabbed a hold of her tail and stood up through the pain.
    "No more..." she said under her breath.
    "Ohh, what was that dear?" Ereldra turned back to Lina, surprised to see her standing up and grabbing her tail. "How dare you touch me."
    "You're not hurting Ciandra anymore!!!" Lina's eyes and body both glowed and covered her body in an ethereal aura, Ereldra covered her eyes from anything that happened. Soon, the tiefling felt a sharp pain in her tail, hearing a slick and disgusting sound before jumping back and growing, seeing the end of her tail was cut off. "You bitch!! I'll kill you where you stand!" Ereldra cast her hands upwards as a towering inferno of black flames surrounded Lina for only an instance before it and the blue aura was blown away by a much greater force.

Ereldra stared at the young girl before her, her outfit was a majestic white and blue piece of rogue-style armor. She pulled her cloak back, revealing crystal blue eyes. Her shoulders and legs were armored along with her chest, but looked much more lightweight than typical armor. Her blade was curved and stained a royal blue ting with a dark grey Damascus steel guard and hilt. She stared back at the tiefling, pointing her weapon towards her.

    "Like I said. You will hurt no more people." she lowered her stance and placed the cloak back over her head. Ereldra smiled and stood her ground, ready for a real battle to begin.