Destiny No More

Chapter 103

The halls of Beacon around them echoed the sounds of battle distantly, which were at first muted, but growing ever louder as they moved forward. The rapid and repetitive sound of weapons fire was most apparent, but the occasional boom from the Atlesian ships in the distance could still be heard as they did their best to bring down the Wyvern. Above it all however, Pyrrha felt the itch of Magic in the air. The wrongness of the Maiden's power was so heavy in the air that she felt it on her skin and in her lungs. The burning there was a distraction, one that she tried not to focus on as she charged through the halls with Coco and Yatsuhashi at her back. They were second years, but despite that, Pyrrha knew the school halls just as well as them, and had taken the lead as she felt the Maiden powers grow in the distance.

Penny was gifted, that much had been clear, she was a quick learner and had managed to hold many of the lessons Pyrrha tried to teach her to heart, but there was only so much one person could learn in so short a time, let alone when taught by someone who only had a small grasp of the power themselves. After an entire day of fighting, Pyrrha didn't want to think on how drained Penny must have felt; she hardly wanted to acknowledge her own exhaustion. Aura low, her body sore and aching, and her Magic and Maiden powers far from full. She was far from her best.

Pyrrha spotted a junction ahead, a cross section where the hall they were running through met with another. Pushing her Aura to her front, she sprinted around the corner as quickly as she could, bringing Allos up in a defensive position. There was no attack, and so Pyrrha kept pushing on. Coco had slowed when she rounded the corner, spinning to check behind them as Yatsuhashi pushed past. Once they had all cleared the crossing, she retook her place between Yatsuhashi and Pyrrha.

Urban fighting wasn't something covered all too often in the Academy's, the intense fighting that could take place when you and your enemy were only a scant few feet apart from one another with nowhere to go, and any number of easily ambushed points. They focused most often on open, more straight forward fighting, since that was where Huntsmen were most often expected to serve. Pyrrha and her friends were the exception however, and had spent more than enough time on missions with just such limitations. They knew to keep their eyes open and their guard up.

It was only because of that reason, that they weren't killed in an instant.

Aura was a fantastic thing, one that allowed a warrior to challenge nearly any modern implement in combat and still stand a chance, but, as Nora had once told her, enough explosives could level any skill gap. The explosion that rocked the halls had gone off just ahead of them, causing Pyrrha to grind to a halt as the wall caved in and the ceiling began to crumble. The construction was sturdy however, and the building did not immediately topple.

Smoke and dust billowed out, filling the air and threatening to choke their vision before it slowly started to settle towards the ground. Not one of them moved any closer, Coco turning to watch their back while Yatsuhashi moved to stand in front of Pyrrha. For her part, Pyrrha searched the walls near them for any further sign of explosives. There were none that she could see, but that didn't mean that there weren't any to find.

"The halls are starting to look like less of a good idea Yats..." Coco's was steady, and she raised a fair point.

"It is possible the attack was not meant for us." Yatsuhashi replied calmly, yet he didn't sound fully convinced. There was a battle raging outside, one that would define the history of Vale, so it wasn't beyond a possibility, and yet that felt too convenient. The attack hadn't hit them directly, rather the section in front of them, as if to halt them rather than kill.

"We need to keep moving." Pyrrha moved forward. It was something she had read in one of the books Clover had given her after her impromptu commission as a Specialist. The book spoke of ambushes, how to best lay them, and how to deal with them. The best strategy, at least according to Atlas, was to fight your way through it, and circle back if necessary. Never stop in the middle.