The Seven Guardians

Chapter 25

- Hey! Sorry for the random two month disappearance. Got a 11.5k chapter with some more intense action! And we finally get to meet the fluff!

I updated this with no image bc I felt I left you guys hangin for long enough lol. I'll add the image for this chapter sometime this week or next bc I've really been...well, I've just been struggling lately.
But, I'm finally on break, so it'll be grinding time.

Disclaimer: I do not speak Yucatec Mayan, so please forgive me if I say something inappropriate or unintentionally end up summoning a demon.

Warning: Major violence, gore, blood, graphic descriptions, heavy swearing

~•~
Betty Boop
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Run.

Lungs burning, muscles aching, chest heaving.

Keep running.

Nearly tripping over a gnarled root protruding from the ground like a clawed hand, Seto let out a strangled gasp as he quickly regained his footing, boots rapidly stomping over crunching leaves and snapping twigs in a garbled rhythm. His chest was aching with stress, his legs feeling like hot rubber beneath him, yet they continued moving in a hasty sprint.

Keep...running...

Seto's teeth were grit, face scrunched in a strained grimace as he forced his tired body to keep pushing forward. His magic was sizzling hotly through his veins, his chest tightening and beginning to compress. The battle axe cradled in his arms was proving a heavy burden, the powerful weapon weighing massively like a sack of concrete blocks that only, aggravatingly, slowed him down.

This thing...is so heavy...!

Betty's diamond blade shimmered, emitting a brief glint of light that, for some odd reason, made Seto turn his head to the left.

Just in time for his eyes to open wide as a shadow monster came hurtling at him from the trees.

Having no time for a reaction, Seto let out a startled yell as he ducked his head, bracing himself for pain. But his sudden movement only made him lose his balance, and the sorcerer stumbled forward with a shout, his legs crumpling beneath him and sending him to the ground hard in a rolling tumble. While he fell, a tingle of magic prickled against the skin of his arms and, while his eyes were tightly shut, a brief shimmer of faint green aura surrounded him in a sphere, effectively shielding him from the lunging beast. He could indistinctly hear Tyler's shout behind him.

The shadow monster bounced off of the thin shield with a harsh thump, recoiling back with a pained shriek and collapsing to the ground in a black heap.

Staring at the monster for a second with a shocked expression, Seto wasted no time and gathered up the heavy axe in his arms and took off once again.

"You good, dude?"

Tyler sounded breathless running up beside him, while Seto already felt himself wheezing. There was a slight pain in his shin where the blunt edge of Betty's blade had nicked him.

"Y-yeah...I'm g-good."

Phew, the sorcerer inwardly panted, swallowing thickly between gasps for breath. He glanced down at the axe in his arms gratefully, having felt the magic of the shield although he hadn't seen it. Uh...thanks, Betty...

The diamond axe gave a small glimmer.

Feeling a bit weird that the axe could read his mind (though she really just outwardly felt his gratefulness, strangely enough), Seto inhaled a deep breath, and then he and Tyler burst into the clearing of the temple.