Future of Calamity [Under Rewrite]

Chapter 40 - Bloodshot

"I will not let you win so easily. I will use my full strength, as is just and proper."

Like the watching, beady eyes of an eagle he gazed, sharp and hard on the weary group that stared with tense jaws and aching forms. Velvet, who still knelt before them all with the concerned Laphicet aside, held the look of an entire conflagration inside the golden sheen of her vacant orbs; wincing at the many panging wounds to seal into scars across her figure, helped only by the young malak's caring hand and soothing artes. Just behind, the pair of frontline warriors stood, teeth gritted with grips firm on each armament.

Artorias's chilling irises gleamed.

"Aid me, Innomniat!"

The gilded cloak of white, gold and azure had its bristling back to the throne itself, and with this rallying shout did the Shepherd raise his valiant blade skyward; aligned with the mysterious sigil hanging above the decored chair below. And in the sword's piercing thrust aloft, did the tip burst into a manifesting swirl of golden energy, akin to summoning the blazing sun itself. Its auric tendrils flailed about like lapping waves across the engraved chamber, and in its celestial wake, did every bruise - every deadly incision enacted across this royal figure - disappear.

"His wounds have vanished!" the Samurai yelled out with widened eyes beneath his waving bangs. To his side, the Reaper dashed forth, disbelief present in his own pair of icy blues at the godlike display.

"Such power... is it really...?!"

"That is CHEATING!" And so came the shout of a disgruntled Witch, who had similar leapt ahead adjacent to the sighing half-malak that stared with lidded eyes of exhaustion.

"Why did I go along with this..."

Laphicet's verdant pearls were bewitched by something above, even as his palms remained hued by the comforting teal for the seething daemoness, a particular tether jerked his attention - his very soul - to the mysterious sigil that was emblazoned to the chamber's wall, and the twisting orb of light settled at the Saviour's sword. It pulsed with invisible waves of a heavenly mana, a pair in tandem. "Wh-Why do... I...?!"

Badum... badum...

"I remember you... that night..." Velvet's boiling gaze convulsed within the widened sclera, ears blotting out all meaningless sound, as the war-drum of a heart that smashed against ribcage thudded again and again. Her knuckles clenched to a trembling ferocity. "...That terrible night!"

And all of a sudden, with a blinding flash, came an aggressive gust of sheering winds, booming throughout the Throne. It lashed past in seconds, slamming against each member of the group with an unstoppable force. Even in their desperate defense to defy this auric storm, one by one, the grip steadily slipped from their squeaking boots. Magilou was first, suddenly soaring back with a cry as a hand instantly attempted to catch her foot. Nevertheless, it was useless, as the ornate claw soon clutched air, and Sarid was carried away next after passing a gritted curse. Rokurou's attempt to grasp the half-malak was fruitless, as both him and the grunting Eizen were soon swept away in the aureate wake.

Velvet's hold on the young Laphicet was deadly, but even she could not stay embedded in the face of this rushing wave, and the pair was blasted back too. The golden light faded, and each member crashed hard upon the ground; the Witch slamming rough to the marble and the Hunter following suit, and the Samurai's rolling landing still leaving a pulsing pain to pair with the Pirate's hurried realignment. The boy crashed into the arms of a steadily standing Sarid, sending both back to the stone, while the snarling Therion dug her veiled limb harsh into the earth to a still.

With heaving breaths and trembling forms, the group painfully pushed to try and stand up straight once more, with only the groaning half-breed remaining flat upon the worn and battered marble below.